Baby knit

Hello Friends,

     This just off  my needles.  Yes, yes, it needs blocked but I had to show you straight away.

Too cute huh! 

Flowers in the back too!

For a more professional looking version, see this same sweater made by Melanie at Jellybean Angel HERE  Thanks, Melanie for  sharing this wonderful pattern.

I know there are a few baby showers in my future so this will go in my gift box.

Talk at you later, Rumi

Great Sew In

Hello Friends,

   I had an absolutely lovely day today.   Stephanie of  Loft Creations invited me over for a day of sewing.  I lugged my machine and all that goes with it to her sewing room and we were off and running.  I worked on my daughter's quilt as well as a tea wallet and Stephanie worked on her fabulous bags.  She is so creative!

I made myself at home and took my shoes off.  Glasses of peach iced tea to quench our thirst during all our hard work.

I brought pesto chicken sandwiches and Stephanie made yummy spinach salad to go with it and a lovely berry crisp for dessert.  Everything was so yummy, we devoured lunch before realizing that we didn't take any pictures of all that tummy pleasing food!  Bad us!  Well at least let me tell you the recipe for the sandwiches.

Pesto Chicken Sandwiches     serves 4

10 ounces of cold cooked chicken, diced or shredded (about 2 cups)

3 ounces provolone cheese, diced small

3 Tablespoons prepared pesto (or see here for recipe)

2 Tablespoons mayonnaise

4 sandwich rolls

    sliced tomato

    lettuce or spinach leaves

  

Combine mayonnaise and pesto.  Pour over chicken and cheese.  Mix until chicken is evenly coated.

Place lettuce and tomato slices on the bottom half of the roll.  Pile on the pesto chicken and top with the 2nd half of the roll.  Enjoy.

Oh man! it was a great day.  OK all, talk at you later.  Rumi

Touching Little Lives

Well the Touching Little Lives 10 year anniversary get together turned out very nice with about 80 people in attendance.  We had a lovely lunch thanks to the wonderul volunteers who brought in all manner of yumminess.  Because our focus is babies, the table decorations had a baby shower feel.  Take a look at what a couple of our volunteers made.

This "baby bootie" is made from a styrofoam cup!

Side view

Pacifier made from 2 lifesaver mints and a jelly bean.

I also came home with a door prize

A red (my favorite color, so yea!) cosmetic bag.  Maybe I'll use it for sewing or knitting notions.

AND, everyone received a cute critter--a frog for me, of course!

All in all, a very good day!

Door Prizes

Hello Friends,
    This afternoon I am going to a get together to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of Touching Little Lives, the charity organization that has wonderful volunteers making a multitude of fabulous items to donate to premature as well as needy babies here in Ohio.  Having been a preemie myself, I have a soft spot for this organization. 
   I am a bit chagrined to say that I have been busy with my ailing mother and my fledgling business and not pulling  my weight lately with TLL.  I must make a promise to myself to set aside a bit of time each week to work on that.
Anyways, I made a couple of little things to donate as door prizes at our get together.

Wish I would have thought to make this cup cozy for Stephanie's recent string challenge.

Matching coaster.

Pieced pin cushion.  With a room full of sewers, I think this was a good idea.

Lovely fabric for the back.

Talk at you later,  Rumi

Froggy Fun

Yea for me!  Look what was in my mailbox yesterday afternoon; a package from Pago Pago.  I won a giveaway from Barb of Bejeweled Quilts by Barb.

Some luscious orange Samoan fabric and a too cute froggy baby quilt pattern.

A closer look at the pattern.

Now what a perfect pattern for little ol' me!  Thank you so much Barb, I'm a lucky frog indeed!

Knit Your Bit

Walter could not be left unsupervised for long so I could not cloister myself in my sewing room this week.  However, I could knit some while he was being good.  I worked on a charity scarf I was making for the "Knit Your Bit" campaign organized by the WWII museum.

I wanted to use yarn that was both economical for me (but I didn't want cheap, scratchy yarn) and  easy care for the veteran who received the completed scarf.  This is 100% acrylic  by Lion Brand Yarns and is machine washable and dryable.

I love this knitting pattern.  It's a variation on a rib stitch and so easy I can knit while watching tv or put it down at any moment  (to run and rescue Mr. Lucky's shoes or my hat from Walter, for example) and know exactly where to start back up.  For you knitters out there, cast on multiples of 3 plus 2. I casted on 32 for this scarf .  Knit the first and last stitch and the pattern in between is knit, knit, purl.  How easy is that!  Makes a nice stretchy reversable scarf that is very warm.  Now to add this to my charity box.

Footnote:

 

Walter went home last night.  He was very glad to see his dad!  As for me, I won't miss his drooling or his mischief but I will miss his sweet face.

Granddog

Hello Friends,
   Not much crafting going on this week.  Why?  We are watching our son's dog while he and his fiancee are on vacation.
Walter (edit: South African Mastiff) is still just a puppy (at 125 pounds!) and really must not be left alone for too long unsupervised.  We have already had him in wastebaskets and the like.  Just like a small child, when it is too quiet, it is time to investigate!

Here is my handsome boy!

He has his rambunctious moments but he mostly looks like this..taking up alot of space in my foyer.

or blocking a passageway entirely.

Java Jacket 2

Hi Friends,
    Do you remember my Java Jacket post?http://luckyfrogblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/java-jacket.html where I made this cup cozy

Because the cup had straight sides, it was a fairly easy pattern to make up.

But what if your cup was shaped like this? The bottom tapers so a straight cozy won't do.

Darts are the answer.

Lining side

There, that's better.

Matching coaster.

Talk at you later! Rumi

Tea and Tomatoes

Hello Friends,

     I've a little bout of wrist tendonitis so not much crafting until that heals a bit.  Did manage to sew a little tea wallet without too much discomfort though.  I've seen many tea wallets on other blogs so mine is nothing new and exciting but I'm happy with it.  Perfect for  a small purse; this one holds 2 teabags.

I put a velcro closure

Inside

Also thought I'd give you an update on my tomatoes.

Regular slicing tomatoes

Roma tomatoes

Cherry tomatoes

Gotta say that that upside down tomato planter is working out pretty good so far!

A parting shot of my out of control mint plant.  Attention! Never plant this in your yard, only plant in a container because it will take over your entire yard in nothing flat!  Well, seems like Mint Juleps are in order--Yum!