Wednesday's Works

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My big beautiful bundle of joy was born this morning at 10am, weighing in at 9 pounds, 6 ounces. 

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I had to move furniture in the living room to have enough room to spread her out for photos, and I still had trouble getting her whole self in the pictures.  All of her ends are woven in, and she's all bundled and wrapped for her journey to NH.  I'll be so happy when she reaches her new home safely!

Makeover Monday: 2/25

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This is a standard issue US hospital baby blanket.  It was mailed to me by a repeat sosorosey customer, because this one belongs to her good friend who recently had a baby.  My customer wanted 3 eco-friendly "Baby's First Ornaments" made as a gift for the new mom!

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I really like how the striping made flecks of color throughout each star.  They all say "Nolan 2012" on  the charm, but each star is slightly different in pattern placement.  What a sweet and thoughtful gift!

Snowmen

My photos from the school breakfast event turned out pretty bad.  Too blurry to share, unfortunately.  But, I have another treasure to show you- a story written by Sophie yesterday morning.  She woke up before me and her dad and proceeded to entertain herself by writing this in her sketchbook.

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Page 1: The two-balled snowman was very sad because all of the three-balled snowmen were making fun of him for only having two balls. 

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Page 2: The sun came out and all of the three balled snowmen melted.  The two balled snowman didn't melt because he was so compact.  I love the karma here, and the speech/thinking bubbles are awesome.  You can click these to read and see the detail.

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The moral of the story:  Never make fun of anyone who is different. 

I have a sweetheart with a sweet heart :)

Ombre

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I had a special request in sosorosey for an upcycled catch all basket in red.  I shared several reds with my customer, and she decided she'd like a mix of shades.

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I played with lots of different options for color placement, and decided to try my hand at making this one an ombre effect.

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I started with my deepest cranberry red, circled up through brick, into cherry, and finally wound up with a faded chambray.

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It looks so pretty from so many different angles.  I had wondered if my color efforts would be noticed, but that fear was allayed when Sophie saw the basket this morning.  Right away she commented on how cool it was that the colors went from light to dark like that.

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Final measurements are about 9" wide and 4" high.  I like it so well, that I'm considering making a custom listing for the "ombre catch all".  What do you think?

Friday's Favorite Fabric Finds

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This week's fabrics feature unique patterns and bold colors!  The one on the far left has a blue honeycomb pattern, and the one with the butterfly has blue paisleys scattered throughout.  I figured these were just the ones to post to help us get though this "limbo" time.  It isn't winter and it isn't spring.  We're tired of cold weather and ready for the warmth and change of a new season.  Or is that just me?

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This week's treasure post is postponed until this weekend.  Sophie and the other "quality students" from each grade level were honored in a special breakfast this morning.  I need to go through my pictures to see if I got any that are not blurry.  It was a lovely occasion, and really nice of the teachers and staff to do such a nice job of rewarding these kids for their daily efforts.  We could all use more of that, in my opinion!

Wednesday's Works

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Still growing!  I've made lots of progress on my big rug over the last week- she is now more than 2/3 complete.  Her latest measurements are 50" across and 72" long.  That's 37" longer than last week at this time, and there are only 34" to go.  Barring any unusual circumstance, I will have the final shots to share with you next Wednesday.  Yippee!

Tuesday's Treat

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Today's treat comes to us from Olathe, Kansas!  Lynne sent these sweet photos of her Easter tree all decked out with sosorosey bunnies and stars.  Love that vintage quilt tree skirt, too :)

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Here's the tree at night- so festive with the little pastel lights.  Since Lynne was nice enough to send these photos (and some very lovely messages), we will forgive her for already being ready for Easter!!  Thank you, Lynne- happy spring to you!

Makeover Monday: 2/18

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A new customer from Mississippi ordered up a shabby chic style Easter basket.  She wanted shades of pink and cream, in a rose print.  These are the two fabrics she chose.

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Here she is, in all of her ruffly glory, ready to head off to the post office tomorrow.

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Happy Monday, Friends!!

Friday's Favorite Fabric Finds

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It's been a warm and sunny day today, and I couldn't resist bundling up these new yellow fabrics to share!

These fat quarters will be sold at a discount for the set ($10), or can be purchased individually for $2.50.

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How's the weather where you live?  It was 60 degrees today, yet they are calling for light snow flurries overnight.  Late winter in Virginia is always crazy!

Thursday's Treasure

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"I know a girl

She puts the color inside of my world"

~ John Mayer

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Of course that girl is my Sophie.  My perfect Valentine. 

This is her take on "The Goldfish" by Henri Matisse.  I personally like hers much better. 

Just sayin'! ;)

Wednesday's Works

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I have been toiling away on my large natural cotton rug, and she is now about a third of the way finished!  In this photo she is 50" by 35".  It is so very hard to determine scale in rug photos, so I added my shoes to the background so that you can better judge the size.  Wish I had thought to do that in the first photos so we could see the difference, but I'll include them from here on out.

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When you have to get back so far to capture an entire large rug in a photo, the details get a bit lost.  Fortunately when you are there in person, you can see it in all of its glorious texture and beauty!

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This is one of the most soothing projects I have ever done.  Back and forth with a stitch that I love, just thinking and dreaming and creating.  It will no doubt get more difficult as it grows, since it has to be turned over after every row.  So, who needs the gym?  I'll have crochet arms!

Tuesday's Treat

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Facebook consensus is that this is a female red-tailed hawk.  This photo was taken from my bedroom window!  She was so very close, and so special to watch.  I do love these wilderness surprises :)

Makeover Monday: 2/10

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Sophie began this day as any other 7 year old girl... and ended it as an official Daisy girl scout.  I am so proud of her!

Friday's Favorite Fabric Finds

It has been a blue kind of week around here.  These blue fabrics are of the beautiful variety, though!

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The second one down is 100% cotton- one of the prettiest striped fabrics I've seen.  I found both the flat and fitted sheets of that one, so there is plenty to go around.  The last one is an all time favorite.  I've been fortunate to find it several times, and it always brings a smile to my face.

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We're in for a cold and windy weekend, but the blizzard pounding the northeast has left us alone.  For that we are thankful!  Wishing all of our New England people well during this crazy weather.

Thursday's Treasure

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A big thank you to Coleen, who took the time to send photos of her stair treads in place... in the middle of her move to the new home no less.  They look fabulous with those white steps and the gray and yellow walls, don't they?!

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And another treasure too exciting to keep to myself.  When I let the cat out yesterday afternoon, I looked down by the pool and this caught my eye.  What the??  My mind took it all in, but it was hard to believe a fox was just curled up and snoozing in the sunshine right in plain view.

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He or she was actually quite lost in dreamland, because I went in and out of the sliding door a couple of times and that didn't even cause a stir.  Finally after I took a couple of photos of the sleeping creature, I made a "psst" sound and it finally looked up at me.  I expected it to be like, "Uh oh, gotta go", but it was more like, "Yes?  Can I help you?"

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I couldn't get Sinatra back in the house at that point, and didn't want my little man to think he needed to defend his territory.  So, I made some more noise and clapped my hands and the lazy fox ambled off into the woods.  It's pretty exciting to stumble upon a wild creature in your own backyard!  Has that ever happened to you?

Wednesday's Works

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Happy Hump Day!  I have begun my latest custom rug order, and I'm so excited about this one.  It will be my largest cotton yarn rug to date- measuring 50" by 106" when complete.  This is what I have so far: 50" by 10".  Just a *little* bit more to go.  You'll probably get to see this in Wednesday posts for at least a couple of weeks.

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Another cat hat - this one bound for Cooper, a furry redhead in Michigan.

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Last cat hat for awhile- this one headed just down the highway to be shared by Lulu and Larry in Warrenton, VA.

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Besides the crocheting, Sophie and I have been working on her class Valentines and a bulletin board at the school.  I have revamped a couple of charm packs for sosovintage, and am finally getting some of my new vintage towel pile photographed and listed.   Busy, busy!

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What have you been working on lately?

Makeover Monday: 2/4

After posting the photo of Sinatra in his party hat on facebook the other day, I had a couple of my cat loving friends take me up on my free cat hat for pictures offer.  I have already made a rainbow party hat for Kookie, Sinatra's Hawaiian "cousin".  He will wear it for his birthday celebration next month!

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The next request came from Emily, pet mom to a little girl kitty named Ezra.  Ezra's head measures just 2.25" between her ears, and Emily was hoping to have a fez made for her.  I do love a challenge!  I googled "fez" to be sure I had the right idea in mind, then got out my red yarn, black embroidery thread, hook and tape measure.

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Tah dah!  Here is the mini fez being modelled by one of Sophie's stuffed cats.  I cannot WAIT to see it atop Ezra's little noggin.  Thanks so much for the fun request, Emily :)

The Hat Post

A longtime sosorosey customer has a friend whose sister is going through chemo treatments.  So, my customer wrote to ask if I could make her a lovely hat.  Now, I am not really a hat maker, but I am always up for a special request.  We perused the different styles on google and etsy, and she decided that she loved THIS ONE. 

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I agreed that that hat was gorgeous, so I read the description of the pattern and contacted the shop owner with a couple of questions.  The owner was quick to respond, and extremely candid and cordial.

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I went ahead with my pattern purchase, and within hours, the pattern- all 10 pages of it!- arrived in my inbox.  I had never purchased a pattern online, and was a little worried that I would have trouble with the pdf format.  No problems!

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Besides not being much of a hat maker, I am also not much of a pattern reader.  I can do it, but when the stitches are unfamiliar and the pattern is super new to me it takes me some time.  I decided to make a trial hat to just see how it went.  That was the pink one Sophie was wearing in another post this week.  It came out fine, but there were mistakes.  Not mistakes that anyone would notice, but mistakes that I noticed.  And I'm a little bit of a perfectionist.  Just a little ;).

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Now what I love about reading a pattern is when it all finally comes together.  The deep orchid hat above is the one I made for my friend.  And this off white number is for my best customer, Mom.  Looking good, right?

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There are two especially wonderful things about buying a pattern directly from the person who wrote it.  One, you can ask them questions if you have trouble.  And two, they have the ability to give you permission to sell the items you make with their pattern.  Many pattern makers do NOT allow this, but this shop does as long as credit is given to them in the listing. 

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My experience with Randy at Beautiful Patterns was wonderful.  My questions were answered, my pattern arrived quickly, the pattern is very detailed and easy to understand, and the product is fantastic.  I wouldn't hesitate to order from them again, and if you crochet and are looking for a cool hat pattern, you won't be disappointed. 

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AND, if you don't crochet and want one of these hats, I am happy to make one for you!  The blog reader price is $20.  Leave a comment with your contact info or send me a message at jennie.thoma@gmail.com.

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Have you purchased any crochet patterns online?  I'd love to hear your experience!

Happy Caturday

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On the one hand, it feels wrong to put this party hat on Sinatra and then snort and giggle wildly at his expense.  On the other hand, he sleeps through it and it's some of the best free entertainment on the planet.  Love this boy!

Friday's Favorite Fabric Finds

Welcome, February!  I am always so very happy to see this time of year arrive.  In honor of the month of love, here are a few pretties in shades of pinks and purples:

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There ARE purple dots in the last one, but they might be hard to see :)

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Here's wishing you a fabulous weekend!  No big plans around here except to continue the decluttering efforts and watch the Superbowl on Sunday.  How about you?