In the pink baby album and blanket

A lovely, dear young lady who I have the

distinct pleasure of sweating with and then whining about said sweat

(when she isn't pregnant)

when we work out.

As soon as I found she was expecting and knew what

flavor said baby would be I got to work.

 Shocking I know.

This was a 6x6 Recollections paper pad.

 With some extra and leftover embellies.

Love how they both turned out and

she totally loved them.

Whew!

Grass chomping giraffe

Every now and then I truly get lucky with the shots.

Probably should've been a camel since its hump day,

but alas no camels at the zoo.

Not much happening at the Murphy's - however,

the weather is beautiful here - a balmy 71

already this a.m.

Got some things rolling on the desk.

Making Christmas tags for the grandkidlets.

We'll see how these roll.

Oh Oh - I did order their presents on Amazon

and they are being shipped in rapid 

order - however, they are not going to get

them until after Christmas.

Sigh.

But won't they be surprised. LOL!!!

Crocheting a baby blanket and because of the ole

fingers, I have to use a bigger needle

and thread now - because that thin stuff

really racks my fingers and they

are not happy for a long time after.

I'm not sure how I feel about the blanket being "bigger."

Babies should have small and dainty.

However, will anyone but me know the difference??

Shhhh..another gift album and blanket

We had a lovely, relaxing time in the keys.

Being unplugged the majority of the time was really different

and I totally enjoyed it. I do have some

photos that I need to photoshop - I didn't take my computer

out the entire time we were there.

Shocking I know.

And, I was totally bummed that I couldn't attend the shower.

However, I love doing baby stuff - and who doesn't

so its a good thing we got some baby birthin' going on.

This time I went with Little Yellow Bicycle.

 Its a very fun line and I tried to not be so bossy with this one.
I think I only gave a couple hints and tips.

 Love the pocket and tags - that is fun and new for me

and you can bet I'll be incorporating this in the future.

Added some transparencies to protect the pages and add some fun.

 It came out as a mix of whimsical and pretty.

I also got brave and crocheted my first baby hat.

I had a couple of false starts because I read well enough- but don't follow

directions too well. LOL.

It's probably too big for a newborn because when I was rolling

on the 0-3 it just looked way to too small.

In hindsight though a baby's head needs to be that small at first.

It's been awhile.

Well Miss Harper can grow into it.

Hopefully.

What happened at the crop

Stays at the crop!!!

A good time was really had by all 

although it didn't start out that way.

I seriously had second thoughts about going 

as the mojo hadn't been flowing well

for the past month or so,

therefore, when I packed it was haphazard

at best without thought or regard.

THEN......

The morning really didn't go well

and when I finally made it to the crop I was

CRANKY.

To say the least.

Hauled everything out of the car and commenced

to scrapping.

Everything was so disorganized and that it even made me more crankier.

Then the little album I was going to use was a PIA

because even the tiniest bulk didn't work

and broke the page protectors.

So that was eventually scrapped and I broke out 

the chipboard which I should've used 

to begin with....

so I'm glad I did a last minute package of chipboard,
my little hole punch thing and some embellies.

Of course because I am giving the album away, therefore I was more

anxious for it to be perfect than normal.

The crankiness eventually went away as the women

at my table became more interactive

and when the goofin' and silliness started -

the black cloud totally vanished.

And wa-la creativity started to flow
and my goal to finish the album - was met.

Echo Park - baby girl.

And on page 2 my homemade flair badge.

I crocheted a baby blanket and used baby yarn because it
was soooo pretty and reminds me of candy - however, I found it
tough to work with - as my fingers aren't as nimble as they used to be.
 I love that snappy little 

headband I embellished it with and you have 3 choices of bands.
oooo la la

The tag I made to jumpstart my mojo a few weeks ago will be used as a gift tag.

I am on a mission

See this bin? Its filled with bits and pieces of yarn from baby blankets and afghans I made over the years. I decided that the closet could use one less bin and to do that I came up with a GOAL-To make as many baby blankets as I can, using what I have - not buying any yarn to finish it off AND a PERSONAL CHALLENGE.

And I have alot of yarn.

Thus far, I have crocheted a total of eight baby blankets - 2 have been given away. One to baby Sam who really needs it in Brooklyn and the other to my pal Holli to give as a shower gift. Love that. 

Some of the blankets are straight up - one plain color on the blanket and another as an accent on the ruffle AND now I have made blankets that are pieced together with whatever leftovers I could find.

It has been an amazing process and I have to fight my conservative instincts in not getting really wild with the blankets, thus my CHALLENGE. Thus began the rebellion.  The varigated yarn is is the middle *gasp* of the square pattern to help stretch the blue. I left the edging less ruffly on this one. While boys can do ruffles sometimes its good to change it up, and I was kind of running out of blue.

I thought I'd stretch one out so you can see - as the artfully draped really don't show the whole picture. Now this is the next rebellion as you can see it was wild. I mean soft white totally different than white white. LOL. However, this will come as a shock - I was running out of white. So this pretty varigated yarn totally rocked it out and its near the to the corner when I realized the white wasn't going to make it. I saved a bit of the white for the itty bitty corner edge to make it in my mind cohesive and having enough varigated for the ruffle edging.

Getting quite bold here as the reds/pinks actually match better than what this light shows but if not, oh well - I love this one and I think its just so much fun because not only is varigated brought in but there are two other colors *gasp* I am getting quite edgy here.

And my last fav so far - I noticed that I have quite a lot of that green and pink going on. I do take requests or try to match the nursery if I can - and I must admit I quite like being the rebel and mix and matching the colors. I have always been worried that if its too wild maybe it wouldn't get used. Know what? I think I'm over my bad self about that. LOL. 

And here is one in progress. I am a one trick pony as I use the same pattern each and every time. Why? Because I don't have to think about it and its very relaxing not to have to figure out what a pattern is trying to tell me. This is called the crazy brick stitch and the highest count is 6.  It starts as a VEE and turns into a SQUARE. It is then completed, except for the edging. No piecemeal, stitching necessary. Love that. 

Tomorrow I shall attempt to share the pattern if you like. 

I need to work out the logistics. 

*laughing*

this should be good