I Guess I Didn't Get It Out Of My System Yet...

I crocheted another CO state flag/Broncos hat, this time. :P  I like this one even better, I think. (So did Eon~ and he tried to take it, the second he saw it.)  I was thinking about trying to sell this one... I don't know.

I also tweaked my "Piggy Bank" pattern, and made a Colorado Fund bank, out of a 28 ounce tomato sauce can. I told my husband "It's my Colorado fund, to save money to move back there." ;)  (I am definitely going to need a bigger can!! Lol)

I am crocheting a U of M hat now. Since I am from Michigan. Let's Go Blue! This might turn into a thing, making state/team hats. :P

In Case You Didn't Know...

I love Colorado. It's been over five years (almost six) since we lived there. I really miss it. Most of the time I try not to obsess about it. But... Sometimes it's hard. So I've been googling and pinning pictures of Colorado. Eon had a state project to do in class, for Social Studies. Each student picked five of their favorite states. Eon picked Colorado as his number one choice. (That's the reason they each had to choose five, in case someone else picked their favorite state first.) Well guess what?!! Eon got to pick first, somehow! So he got to do Colorado. I think I was about 200% more excited than he was. (Until we started to do the project.. But.. More about the project later.)  Anyway. I started googling more Colorado images...

I love this one. A little twist on the Colorado state flag, "I love Colorado".  :D  While I was googling images for Colorado state flag; I saw something someone had crocheted like the Colorado state flag. "WHAT?!... That's awesome!" (Why didn't I think of that?)  :)  And then I started looking on Ravelry, thinking there had to be more out there. :D And there is!! (Duh..)  rswanson's Colorado beanie. kmikwilliams' Colorado earflap hat. What? A knitted one, too? Denver Broncos hat, too. :D And so many other hats I have pinned.. 

I actually crocheted one myself, too. :D  Eon claimed it for himself as soon as he saw it. It would be cool if he could wear it while he was giving his Colorado presentation, but... I doubt the school will let him wear a hat.

Here's his state project. I had a hard time "letting" him do it himself. (Especially since he wasn't doing any of the work himself...) BUT. I had to back off. I had an idea to make it somehow look like a Colorado license plate. But...  I couldn't find any green poster board. :(  Then I thought, "The old license plates were red - so maybe it could still work."  I traced an outline of the mountain range, and tried to enlarge it..  But.... I somehow got it upside down and all mixed up. :(  I still think it came out all right. I let Eon do all the other stuff himself. I did help a lot, though. It was due Friday. But he ended up not doing his presentation, because they didn't have enough time. So he'll probably do his sometime this week.

Lookie what I made. A center pull ball of yarn. I have been wanting to wind my own yarn forever. But I never got around to doing it. (One of those things..)  I watched this video. :D (I love you tube..)  This yarn is for another Colorado hat I have in mind. :D

Happy Memorial Day!

What I Have Been Up To..

..besides not blogging. :P  I have just been so busy lately. I don't even have anything to show for it. But.. RL. You know? :) I made some homemade dog treats for Jetta. I have been baking more lately. I wasn't sure if I should even bother making homemade treats for her. Our last dog, (well, our last dog we had for any length of time) Sunny; didn't like homemade treats that well. But... Jetta likes almost anything if I give it to her. :P So.. I thought I would try. I *tested* to see if she liked peanut butter. (Sunny didn't, if I remember right..) She liked it. :P  So, I made some Peanut Butter Puppy Poppers. :D She likes them.  In fact, I think she might even love them. A couple days ago I had been gone for a while. When I came back, I asked her if she wanted a cookie. I got them out of the fridge and when I went to give it to her, she was smiling the biggest I have ever seen her smile. It was so cute.  This is the site I got that recipe off of: Bullwrinkle Recipes.  

The finished dog treats. I got a "dog bone" cookie cutter a few years ago (for Sunny when I made her treats). So it came in handy for these. Who's a spoiled puppy?..  :P 

I have started doing more volunteering in Eons' school again. I used to at his old school. But... I really got burned out. I didn't feel appreciated at all there. Long story. But, a couple months ago Eons' teacher called me and asked if I would like to go on a field trip with them. I had been thinking about getting back into volunteering, but I wasn't sure. Well, this decided it for me, I guess. :P  We went to a Children's Museum.  I think the kids had fun. (I was busy chasing four boys around all day..) This is a (cartoon) picture of Eon and his BF on the bus ride there. (It was a long ride.)

I think Eon had way more fun than he let on. :) 

Then, that Friday was "Bring Your Parent to Lunch Day".  Only I went this year. (My husband and I both went last year).

Some artwork was hung in the hallways. They made masks in Art Class. Eons' mask is on the right. :)

...And, now I am an "official" volunteer. I do Popcorn Fridays. Yesterday was the last Friday of the year (well, for Popcorn Fridays, it was.)  The other volunteer is moving out of the school district, so now it will be me and one other volunteer (Friday was her first time), and maybe one other person. I don't know for sure. I keep hoping (kind of?) that maybe this will lead to a real job...  :D  I've been thinking about going back to work. I would like to just part time, but..  I think a job at a school would be perfect, then I wouldn't have to worry about finding a babysitter during the summer months, or school breaks.  There hasn't been any job listings (I would qualify for) yet. But.  Who knows.

I have also been doing a little crocheting. I dug my Mom's purse out that I had started for her. It's the Bloomin Bag, by Cathy Phillips (it's a free Ravelry download). I don't know why, but it is taking me forever. I'm actually farther along than this, but still..  Maybe I will get to work on it some more over the three day weekend.
 

A Boring Blog Post About Fixing Zippers...

... and some other stuff, too. Like this card I made yesterday.  I saw the cutest idea on Pinterest for a Paint Strip Sample thank you card made with a dragonfly punch. Well, I don't have a dragonfly punch, so I used a small butterfly one I have. And I just kept adding to it..  I think it came out cute. The original site for the pin is from an instagram picture: Dragonfly Paint Strip Sample card.  I have; since I made this card, ordered a dragonfly punch. Because I have been wanting one, anyway. I think this is a really cute card you could do a lot of different things with, too; so...  :)

And I folded my note into a heart. :P  I'm feeling so crafty lately.. Tee hee. I found a video on You Tube and had to try it: How to fold a note into a heart. I think it came out cute.

Eon's zipper on his (otherwise almost brand new) back pack broke a few months ago. The zipper was okay, the pull part had just come off (and I have no idea where it went to..). So he wasn't able to zip it up at all. He had been using his old back pack until we could get him a new one (which only had one strap, and the back part was ripped). Well I hot glued that together, so the only thing wrong with it was it only had one strap (and was really old/beat up). But... he said it was falling apart, and had been complaining about it. And, since I really didn't want to waste money on a new back pack, when his red one was just fine (except the zipper); I kept thinking maybe I could fix the zipper. Or at least try..  So after googling how to fix zippers, and watching some You Tube videos (I love You Tube, Lol..) on how to fix zippers, (that was the first one I watched) and different zipper types, etc, and how to reattach your zipper pull (these last two were the most helpful); I eventually tried cutting the zipper part out of the old back pack and hubby got the pull off. Both back packs have similar sized (I couldn't tell for sure, because I could't find any numbers, and I didn't measure them; but they looked similar in size) zippers. I was hoping they were the same... So I ripped the very end off of the zipper (I could sew it back in later) and sat there for 45 minutes trying to get that pull back on. Well when I asked my husband (maybe I just wasn't strong enough to yank it up?- I was using needle nosed pliers and everything..), he got it on in less than three minutes. :(  I was actually happy, but bummed that my husband is better at it than I am. After weeks of watching you tube videos, and finally trying to do it.. Turned out I was trying to put the pull on upside down. Lol! But.. between both of us, we were able to fix the zipper. I told my husband, "Thank you for fixing it for me, now I don't have to go waste your money on a new back pack for Eon." :P

...Ta da..    You can barely tell (except the zipper pull has a blue string on it :P). I sewed the ziper back down into the back pack, and changed the thread to sew it into the grey part, too.  I just told Eon, "Don't zip it all the way down."  (Sigh... He will probably forget.)

I also patched up this bottom area. It had a couple little rips. So I ironed on a patch into the bottom of the back pack. Yay... This will definitely last him until the end of the school year. Who knows, maybe even all of next year. :D 

For my little business man, Eon..Another office supply item. :P  He had been looking at similar ones. I got him this one (because it was cheaper than the one he had been looking at), and  because it has the clip on the top for a notebook.

Pillowcases and Baby Quilts I Never Finished... :(

A friend of mine from high school (we "found" each other on facebook via another mutual friend) is a Foster Mom. She is doing a pillowcase project for all the foster kids they get in. She posted on fb for help. Since I recently got into making pillowcases, I said I will make some. :D  I tried a new pattern, using only two fabrics. It's so much easier. I used the pattern/tutorial from the Missouri Quilt Company for the three fabric pillowcases, and then found the two fabric pattern after going to the all people quitl one million pillowcase website. I think they are sisters. ?  Anyway, that reminds me I need to enter these on that site. Lol.  I wanted to do more pillowcases, but...  All that cute fabric starts adding up. And I could tell my hubby was wondering what I kept spending money on. :/  I might do some more, but maybe not ten. (Shipping was expensive, too.)   :(  Eon helped me pick out some of the fabric. The Toy Story and Cars pillowcase fabric, he said "You should use this one. Little kids would like it." ;P  ("Little kids", lol...)

When I was going through my tubs of fabric looking for more fabric I might possibly be able to use, I found two baby quilts I had started; and I got them out. This one I actually started for Eon. :(  He's ten years old now... (sigh..)  I didn't have much selection for fabric back then. I think I might have run out of variety, or something. I see one of my husbands' old work shirts. (The striped fabric on the very bottom of the bottom square.) A piece of fabric I used from a little kids rocking chair I "refinished" for Evan when he was two years old- painted and re"upholstered" the seat. :P   I was using the pattern from the book that is next to it..

Can you tell a little better now?... (The one in the crib.) I did Eons' room in a sage green and butter cup yellow.

It was in this book, "P.S. I Love You Two".

And I found all these pieces that I am almost positive I started when Evan was little, or maybe even before he was born? I know I used fabric from a quilt I made for my cousins' baby (who is a year older than Evan), in some of these pieces. I also know I sent a BUNCH of these to someone I read about in a magazine. (I never got a thank you, or even found out if they got to her, either.. :/  Kind of sorry I even sent them.) Oh well...   I have no idea who I could finish these for, except to send to Pine Ridge.   I don't remember where I got the pattern for this, probably from one of my quilting books. I will have to look. I think it's called "Flying Geese", though. :)      I finally got a window bird feeder, I am so happy. I put it on my window outside my craft room. And I love to see the birds come to it while I sew. :)  I can't really see them very well on the feeder in the backyard. Which reminds me, I need more bird seed.. :P   

Okay, it was bugging me... so I went to look through my books, and it is called "Wild Goose Chase" in the book- "Quilts, Quilts, Quilts".  Look a sample of it is on the cover of that book. (It isn't on mine.)  :) That was one of the first quilting books I got. I think it was THE first one.  I sewed a log cabin quilt for Eli (I started it for Evan, though..) from that book. I'll have to dig it out and take a picture of it. He ripped a hole in it and gave it to me to fix. I will fix it... someday.