My latest finish

A pink, gray, and white afghan for my soon-to-arrive great niece :)  

I used Caron simply soft yarn, 100% acrylic so it will be nice and soft and easy care

April? really?

My last post was in April.
Oh my!
If I was younger I could have made a baby in all that time. 

But I didn't.
I made some baby afghans instead.

I made this custom baby blanket for the granddaughter of a friend. 

Used this pattern 

http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/neat-ripple-pattern.html  

(love love love Lucy's wonderful blos!)

and some thick washable acrylic yarn, I love how it turned out.

Piper is all warm and cozy now.

a few things I have been working on

..

Only 5 months since my last post

Last time I wrote anything  it was hot and Jill was heading off to college.

Now its cold and snowy and Jill hated school. So proud of her that she finished the semester. I know she was miserable there. So now she is home, living on the couch (lol)  and taking some classes at the local tech college. She can regroup, tour some schools this spring and go from there.

Here are a couple of the things I made lately.  A baby blanket with chenille yarn, for the most handsome baby boy!  His mom and dad didn't know what they were having, so I made it boy or girl friendly. And since he was born in January, I knew it had to be cozy.

I finally figured out the waffle stitch. Pretty easy once I actually found a pattern! I had a cone of sage green cotton yarn I got on clearance ages ago. Make a cushy bathmat.

got it done with a whole week to spare!

Jill's quilt.
Big patchwork squares.
Mostly blue and green and novelty fabrics, things that remind me of her.
Ice cream, Charlie Brown, dragonflies, sheet music, golf balls/tees, bowling pinks and pop tarts, the Grinch and Max, little brunette girls and many more.
She picked the fabric for the pieced back" owls, lime green/white hibiscus, Toy Story, pink Bucky Badger, blue and coral/pink polka dots.
 Pink Sherbet Pips squares for the narrow binding.
 (My corners suck. I think all future projects will have rounded corners.)
I thought hand sewing the binding would take forever, but the internet was down at work, so I had some unexpected free time ;)
A bonus picture of our kittens. Ole, Cheddar and Cooper.

Derek, updated

Sunday, our small town was stunned by the accidental death of a 9 year old boy. All week there has just been this dark cloud over the whole town. 

I don't really know the family. I do know they are active in the community, always there to lend a helping hand to any project or donate to a good cause.

Someone started a facebook page,  random acts of kindness in memory of him. I know I will be doing somethings to honor this little boy, not sure what yet. Doubt I will post about it on facebook, just something anonymous. 

Maybe with a note to be thankful for your family, your friends, the beauty around you - or  baseball. Derek loved baseball. 

If you are on facebook, you can follow  #actsofkindessforderek  Over 9000 followers, which is remarkable since there are only 2000 people in the whole town.

finally!

I finished the top and back of Jill's quilt.

Dropped it off yesterday at our brand new local quilt shop to be machine quilted. 

Yay!