Friendship Squares... And Other Stuff...

I thought I would post about the squares I have made recently.  For the Friendshipghan Square RAOK CAL (what a mouthful) at Crochetville. 

This is one of Kansas Hooker's  Baby Uglee's. First time I ever made one. (Finally got around to crocheting one!) I think it turned out super cute. Kinda matches our "uglee" carpet. lol..   I am sending this to someone for the Holidays in July RAOK.

And this is a Tea Cake Box. It's from the February 2011 issue of Crochet World. I'm sending it to a girl I send things to on Pine Ridge. Next month is her "Sweet 16th" birthday. So, I crocheted her a little cake. :P  I will be sending other things, too. I was thinking about a jewelry box. ?? What do you think?  It can't be too heavy, since I have to send it through the mail.

It was a bit of work. But I think it turned out okay. I hope she likes it.

Better Late Than Never...

... at least in this case. :)  I wanted to get these two "graduation" animals done the last week of school, for our two youngest boys. But, the last week of school was so busy for me. Monday was an Awards Assembly for our middle schooler and for me/my elementary schooler.  Tuesday I don't remember what I had going. (I think maybe that was when I started this bear?) Wednesday I was busy making treats to take to the second graders class for Thursday. Thursday I was at his school all day.  I shouldn't have procrastinated, but...  At least I got them finished. Two weeks late. :P  This is the Amigurumi Graduation Bear from the Lion Brand site.

And, I know I already posted about the floppy dog I made. But here it is, with a graduation cap I made him. I knew Eon would feel "left out" when he saw Eli's bear, and say "I want one".  Guess what he said?...  (I was right..)  I made it in his school's color.   

Now I can get back to crocheting for the Holidays in July RAOK at Crochetville... 

Too Hot to Crochet...

It has been too hot here to go outside or even to crochet inside (for me, at least..).It has been in the triple digits here. Summer in the desert~ Here we go... :/ So, I have been making cards. Seeing as how my letter pile is stacking up & I need to answer some letters, anyway.  This one is a new one I tried out. I got the idea from a "Stamp It!" magazine, early 2010. It was originally a thank you card.  It didn't turn out like I had hoped. The original card had a circular stamp inside the punch out. But I don't have anything. And couldn't come up with any good ideas, either. So I tried putting a smaller circle punch-out and stamping around the edges of it. (That's the part that didn't turn out like I had hoped... Sigh.) Oh well. I still think it looks pretty good. I did the white card w/ the embossed dots all by hand/winging it..

And, I made another one of these.  I don't have any more of the puffy "h's" left now. So..  I don't know what I will do for another one.   I have already sent this one out in the mail, and the other one I will need to take up to the post office..

Funny hamsters... this one cracks me up. He's the boy.  He kept trying to drink out of the puppy's water bowl. (A couple times I was worried he would fall in~ he would definitely have drowned)  He drank out of it, a couple times; too.

:P 

Here he is, trying to get into her food bowl.

It was hard to get a picture of him (non-blurry), he moves so fast.  

It's a good thing Jetta didn't see Wickett in her food bowl. She would have gotten scared and went into her corner to hide. :P  She is afraid of the hamsters!   One day, she threw up because she was in the same room as the hamsters, and I guess she felt trapped; because she threw up.  The 14 year old thought it was funny (he trapped her in there). (I should have made him clean it up, then it wouldn't have been so funny...)     This is one of her other "safe" spots~ under the kitchen table.  She will be 5 months old next week.   

I thought I would show a picture I took of our apple tree, yesterday. Look how big the apples are already.  Between the puppy stealing them to chew on, and Eon wanting to eat one;  if we get any apples from this tree to make anything, it will be a miracle.. :P

Today's The Day...

I don't believe it... But somehow I managed to finish something!! Eons' puppy. :P   It didn't turn out as cute as I thought (remembered them to be). But he likes it. He even made it a little dog house. :P  (He named it Fudge.)  I had to make the nose a non-official dog nose color. Since the dog was black. And black eyes wouldn't show up very well on him, either. So I used googly eyes. The pattern is in "Crafting Traditions", an out of print crafting magazine.

Look what I got in the mail a couple days ago! It was Mail Day for me, I got this; and three letters! One was from Mimi. ;)  This is a Friendship Square~ from supermom.  :D  I was really suprised; since I haven't even been on that thread in forever.  I thought, maybe this is just what I need right now, to get back into making Friendship Squares..

I got all my squares out that I have recieved so far. Some of them were already edged, and I edged a couple more.  I had to get Jetta in the picture, too. :P   It's a little blurry, sorry..   This picture was taken in my "new" craft room.  Yup, I now have a craft room (once again..)  It has been about 15 years since I've had one. (Before our second son was born, and we only had a 3 bedroom house.)  Well now we have a four "bedroom" house. But one of the "bedrooms" is really an office/extra room.  That was the 8 year olds' bedroom (which he never slept in~ long story).  Well our 19 year old moved out last month. Just out of nowhere.   So, you can see why I am not overly excited to have a craft room again.  :/    I also have all three hamsters in "my" room. :/  (They ARE a pain to sleep with, as they are nocturnal creatures..)  I don't really mind.  I'm the one who takes care of them 90% of the time, anyway.  On a funny side note, that is why Jetta is sitting there, not moving. Because Eon had one of the hamsters out of it's cage. (She is afraid of them! I think it's so funny..)  She is still really just a puppy, though..  She'll be five months old next week. :D   A couple days ago, Steve was playing with her on the floor, and he picked something up and said "What's this? Jetta lost one of her claws." I smiled and said "Or one of her baby teeth?"  ;P   I guess this isn't her first one. I looked at the other side of her mouth; and same tooth, other side, she has one coming in there. No wonder she has been so whiny. She's teething! I've been giving her lots of ice cubes...  :)

You are probably wondering, "What does 'Today's The Day' have anything to do with anything she has posted so far?"; by now....   Well this is it.  My husband is replacing the head (and a gasket) on his truck, today.  He has been working on it a lot, lately. (He would be so mad if he knew I posted this on here... :P)   He had to take everything out of his engine. He was starting to put some things back in and realized the gasket was bad, too.  I know absolutely nothing about cars/trucks/fixing them, so..  My husband tries to show me stuff & explain it, but I just tell him, "I had to go down to a G hook, because the one I was using wasn't getting the right guage"...  :P   (In other words, I might as well tell you about crocheting or knitting, because I don't know anything you are saying about trucks!!!...)  :P

I was fortunate enough to get the summer issue of Interweave Crochet, yesterday! I want to make the cover tank (The Grove Park Tank~ "Cover Tank" sounds kinda weird, lol..)      I would have to order some of that yarn though. Sigh... I hate that. :(  There is a bag in there that I like, the (?) Polka Dot bag..    Not like I NEED another project...  (Sigh..)  I should just stop buying and looking at new patterns..             Well I hope everyone is staying cool (wildfires in Arizona) and dry, if you are having flooding...   Crazy weather! It was 110 here yesterday. I think we broke a record. Maybe not..   It's supposed to be in the triple digits for the next few days. (Why don't they just say the next few months?...  Here we go~ Summer in the Mojave Desert~ Ugh...)  My fourth summer here, and I'm still not used to this heat.   Anyway~~ Have a Great Day, everyone! <3

Not Enough Time In a Day...

Our middle schooler had his Awards Assembly on Monday. He got two awards! He got his First Year Letter (he would have maybe gotten his third year letter, but this is the first year he has gone to this school..). And, he got a Presidential Achievement Award!  Way to go, Eli!! I'm so proud of you. :D   (I had to twist his arm/beg him to let me take this picture..)



Later, the same day; I got an award, too. I had gotten the invitation for this assembly about a week ago. For all my volunteering I do... :)



Eon was feeling left out and "sad, because he didn't get an award". (I was surprised he didn't get one, usually he does!) So...  I made him an award, too; yesterday. Just drew a paw print, and markers/colored pencils. :P I think he loved it. He had the biggest smile on his face when I gave it to him.  :) 

He may not have gotten an "official" award, but he DID get all his Sight Word Tags! (I am SOOO proud of him for getting all of them!!)   Last Friday was the last day for Sight Word Tag Testing; and so I really crammed with him, and he passed. (I was the only one who was testing that day, so I had to test him. But I didn't cheat/let him pass.. I think I am actually even harder on him than I am the other students.)



I made these for his classroom party for tomorrow (last day of school~ YAY!!!!) They are "Strawberry Mice".  I wanted to make something other than cupcakes/cookies/sugary junk. So I circled "Fruit/Vegetable" on the form; and went on to Family Fun dot com to see what I could find to make...  I saw these and knew right away I wanted to make them.  



Look at that cute face!!!    I can't get over how cute they are. I hope the kids will like them.  I got three containers of strawberries at Walmart.  I had to really dig to find enough for his classroom. Some were totally moldy. The rest were smushy, and not good enough to serve. I wouldn't even make jam with them.   So, I found the receipt and returned two containers. What a pain. Yesterday my husband opened the fridge and said "What's that smell?"  (He has a nose like a  Hound.. lol)  The pork chops we JUST bought smelled horrible, and were slimy! (From Walmart... Again..)  I am getting so sick of them (Walmart, that is...).  He threw the pork chops away. I meant to tell them about them (like it would do any good); even though I couldn't return them~ I did want to complain..  Speaking of complaining...  Did I mention how my whole day has been going? I dropped my son off at school & he wanted me to go in to ask his teacher something (ugh..). So then on my way out, I notice my tire is totally flat. Ugh! I WAS going to go to the bank after I dropped my son off, since it's right around the corner, but noooooo..... I have to go all the way half way back home to the gas station, to put gas in my tire. I didn't have any quarters, so I had to go in to get change (from the money I was going to deposit in the bank-good thing I hadn't made out the deposit slip yet). I walk in to a wall of cigarette smoke. UGH!! I hate these casinos in the gas station where people can smoke. Now I'm getting irritated. FINALLY get four quarters (who knew it was so hard to just get change for a dollar? Sheesh...). Put air in the tire. Go to the bank. Get my checkbook out that I went back in and grabbed early this morning for a deposit slip. No deposit slips. Ugh.....  0.o  Get one, where's the account number? Oh, yeah...   Finished at the bank.  Got home then had to do all that stuff with the strawberries (and make all the food) I just mentioned.  Clean up puppy pee, even though she has been outside all morning while I was making stuff, and I took her out THREE times amidst the chaos of trying to get ready for school.  This whole day has been a two steps forward, one step back kinda day.
   
Anyway~ Back to FUN stuff...  :P

Besides the Strawberry Mice, I also made "Ants on a Log".  :P  It's just celery sticks, with peanut butter and raisins. I got this idea from when I used to take our kids to a friends' house in Colorado, to "Preschool Day".  Someone brought these for lunch.   My kids are all older now, but they all still eat every single one of these, every time I make them. 

I wanted to crochet the Lion Brand Site's Graduation Teddy Bear, and a Graduation Dog (a pattern I have had for a dog, just going to add a graduation cap to it); for our two boys... Our 8th grader is "graduating" middle school this year. And the 8 year old will feel left out, if I don't make him something, too.  I don't know why I put it off until the last week of school, to get started on them???.... I guess I thought I wouldn't have anything to do all week, and could just stay home and crochet. (Sigh...)  Between that and forgetting I was going to, and getting sidetracked...  I did get them both started. Oh well.   :P  Maybe I will stay up all night tomorrow night and finish them. (Ha ha...)   I have a lot to blog about, just not enough time to do it..  Gotta get dinner started. Have a great weekend. :D

Just For Something To Blog About...

I have been working on my Pressed Flowers Afghan a lot, lately. I was working on my other one (can't think of the name of it, right now). But ran out of the color I was doing one row on. So I picked this one up, and have been working on it ever since.  I think it will be done way before winter gets here. I'm sending it to a 13 year old girl I send things to on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. (The other afghan I am working on is for her Grandma, whom she lives with..)  This one is 3/4 of the way done, already. I like doing this pattern.  This one isn't the greatest. But I still kinda like it. I've been thinking about doing a rectangle granny one, for my 19 year old. Out of scraps.  I've been working on an Aqua Chevron Lace Cardigan, too.
I have been on the lookout for the Interweave Crochet Summer issue. I can't find it anywhere. Oh well... I guess I'll find one sooner or later. :)   I sent a picture of my Forest Flower Pullover I finished to them. I don't know if they will use it in the magazine or not. I vaguely recall reading something (I don't remember if it was online or in their magazine) about if they use your photo you will be entered into a drawing to win a years subscription to their magazine. (I read it after I had already sent my picture in.) It would be neat to win, though. :D