Seams of Life

I owe you...

 I owe you (and my Ravelry page) two crocheted blanket reveals. First up is the granny stripe blanket from Lucy's tutorial. I finished it rather quickly compared to how long it has taken me in the past to finish something of this size.

I'm very happy with the way it turned out. I decided to add a scalloped trim (pattern from Crochet Adorned) because it's my favorite edging. I used LionBrand's Babys First yarn. I wish you could reach through the monitor and touch it because it's so, so thick and lush!

 Next is the Clover Hill blanket that I started way back and finished sometime this summer. Orginally the blanket was suppose to be much larger. But then, I found out that I was pregnant and decided it would make a great baby blanket (plus I had an excuse to stop make squares).

Seeing it laid out like this makes me think that I should go back and edge it in another color. But edging aside, I really love it.

And there you have it! Two blankets completed and now I'm ready to move onto making more fun baby things like hats and booties.

playing with stripes

 Pillow covers are my perfect cure for the creative slump I've been experiencing. No matter how simple or fancy I make them, they always provide that instant gratification that I love. I've learned a simple truth about myself :: I like to make things that I can finish relatively quickly and enjoy the results right away. I suppose I should work on my lack of patience in this area, but for now I'll just enjoy the quickie projects.

These pillow covers were inspired by the projects in Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts. In the book, Martha used ticking fabric in many projects like pillow covers and quilts. I love the beautiful simplicity provided by the basic blue stripes and decided to play with those lines. To achieve somewhat of an optical illusion I cut out two large squares, cut the squares into triangles and then sewed them back together. I added a border to compensate for my measurement mistake and did an easy overlapping envelope closure on the back. Easy and quick.

 And they make the perfect backdrop for photographing (mostly) sweet first graders! Yep, my kiddos started back to school a few weeks ago and I now have a 1st grader, a 3rd grader and an 8th grader (my goodness, just one more year till high school!). I'll never get use to how fast these babes of mine grow up. When I look at the picture below all I see is the chubby cheeked baby that use to spend all day on my hip. Now she's almost seven and has plenty of attitude to go around. Lucky for me, I've been through this phase before and I know that it too shall pass. It's no wonder I don't have any patience left for lengthy sewing projects.