Blankets and wash cloths

The plan for this Christmas was car seat and stroller sized blankets for the youngest of the Grandbrats, a few wash cloths for a 'few' people and that was all the craftiness for this season.
Well that has turned into 3 blankets, cloths for dirty santa at the MIL's this year, AND cloths for a few MORE people.
I have one blanket finished, one will be done by midnight tonight. Yes, I am committed to staying up that late, even with a five a.m. wake up, to finish this blanket and start some cloths that have to be done in less then ten days.
When will I ever, ever learn to start earlier? 😅
I know I work better, faster, under pressure, I've always been a 'last minute freak out and done' kind of person. And this year, it seems, will be no exception.
I will post pics of the blankets tomorrow.
And yes! I will have that second blanket finished by the time I take those pics!
Watch me!

Sewing has been moved

I know, I know
You come here for knitting, for ideas and links and patterns, for knitting. (let's not forget the witty conversation too)
So I have moved the sewing to it's own blog.
Sewinfun (what else could it be?)
All things sewn will be moved over there so don't forget to bookmark it if you did enjoy seeing what I have been up to sewing wise.
The knitting is zooming along.
I finished Trent's blanket and am about a quarter of the way through Ada's. Tho with this one I am on a deadline. Christmas comes early when you have a grandbrat who lives so far away. So you celebrate when schedules allow everyone to get together.
Which in this case means I have 2 weeks to finish Ada's blanket and make at least 8 dishcloths!
Some for my FIL, some for my MIL, no, they don't share, he likes acrylic and she likes cotton. LOL
And some that were requested for dirty Santa this year.
Yes, that's about as dirty as our Santa gets. ;0)

Making personal bags with link to tutorial

 

Once a month we go to a local women's shelter with people from our church.

 DD#1 started going with me just a couple of months ago, and decided we needed to make them bags for Christmas.

Nothing huge, just little personal item bags to put, well, personal items in.

So a call to duty went out and DD#1 and I broke out the sewing machines. She found an awesome video on YouTube 

Zipper Pouch Tutorial-Super easy-5 minutes-5 straight seams

And it was on.

She seemed a little daunted when I told her we would need at least 60 bags. 

And that is how I got involved in her project. 

We each get to make 30 bags and then I will stuff them all.

I am thinking a warm pair of socks, tooth brush and paste, hand sanitizer and maybe some candy.

Anyway, we took last Saturday, before the game and set up two machines on the kitchen table and hung out, laughed, talked and made bags. 

I really love the way the 33 we have made so far have come out. And, I actually stole one of hers, (don't worry we have lots and lots of materials) that I really liked.    

These are just a few pics. When we are finished I will get some pictures for you. 

Who doesn't like Trolls!

Will post pictures of the rest of them tomorrow.

Knitting blankets and Grandbrats

There is still actually knitting going on at the Knittinfun house. Lots of knitting, continuous, one stitch, football watching, evening t.v. knitting.
"Let me make garter stitch blankets" I said, "it will be easy (boring) knitting to make for the babies," I said.
I admit, I get bored really easy with my projects. I can't help it. It starts as a bright flame and visions of piles of garter stitch blankets, and ends with "what was I thinking?!"
But I have a deadline to keep, so I plugged away at it. Sissy B's blanket is probably about only an hour away from being finished. Since she has been the recipient of many of my handmade items when she was little, I had to throw this to the back burner and get started on the babie's blankets to have them finished in time for Christmas.
Don't get all bent out of shape, Sissy B will still receive her hugs from MiMi, just doesn't have to be at Christmas time.

 

Trent's (Grandbrat #7) blanket has to be finished a lot sooner than that. 

The picture is a little dark, but this is the same yarn as Sissy B's in blues,blacks, greys and whites. Perfect for a growing boy.

 

Here is a better picture with some more length on it. 

And yes! I am most definitely still in love with this yarn!

This was just about a week ago, and as of 9pm last night it is finished and put in the drawer waiting for prep day.

I will get better pics of the finished blanket after prep day, when it will be all shiny and new looking.

 

We got a special little visitor a little over a week ago. 

This is Ada Grace (grandbrat #8) 

She is the spitting image of her father and I think she looks a lot like PawPaw also. 

She is the quietest little thing and a tad shy. 

I think that means more trips to visit are in order!

 This little guy is the recipient of the blue blanket.
Trent.
He cam to visit MiMi and PawPaw and all those kids.
He is full of life and wonder. And soooo tiny!

Giving high fives!
He loves PawPaw!


So you see, in and amongst all the sewing and visiting and church and appointments, there is still some knitting going on over at Knittinfun!

And we have a rag quilt

After all the Xs and quilting of the squares, it comes time to start making rows. My squares are simply one fat quarter cut into quarters. You do the math, I hate that stuff!
I did want this quilt longer than it is wide, so ended up having to use a half, two squares to make one more block. So I also got two more napkins for the dinner table out of making this quilt.
Gotta love the lagniappe! 


Don't pay too close attention to the lines, I didn't

Slowly but surely coming together.
All the rows were finished, now it was time to connect everything.


And there she is. All sewn together and ready for snipping.
If you can't spot the personality in this quilt, I am sure not going to point it out. ;0)


The back side is really eye catching. As in, it might give you a headache if you look at it too long.
But I love this quilt.


The only downside about this  is how long it is going to take to get all the little strings washed out of it. But I throw it in the washer every time I wash towels and it is ragging up really cute.
I will have to get a pic of the front now that it has been washed a few times.
When I do, just don't mind all the strings everywhere, I don't.

Crockpot meals: perfect for crafting days

I was wandering around Pintrest yesterday trying to find some good Wednesday night, church night, crock pot meals. While I was there I decided to take this week to try out five different ones to see which ones the fam would like.
The kids are really good eaters so I don't have to worry about someone not eating or complaining about not being hungry.
We started with this Cheesy Lasagna from Recipes that Crock.com

In hind sight, using oven ready noodles and cooking the same amount of time was probably not the best idea. I should have cut my cook time down by about an hour and it would have been better. It was still really good tho and has been added to the Wednesday night meal list.

Tonight we are having Smothered Pork Chops from The Country Cook.net

I have to admit, we have had these before and they are absolutely delicious with creamy mashed potatoes.

Wednesday night we will be having one of the kids favorite crock pot meals so far:
Crock Pot Meatball Sub Casserole from Recipes That Crock

They would eat this every night of the week if I would make it for them.
It really is a good recipe and easy peasy to throw together.


I say all of this to get to the crafting part of this post.
Crock pot meals are awesome for knitting, sewing, crafty fun. Throw everything in there and you have tons of time to get work done.

I started an easy rag quilt made with fat quarters cut into quarters.
Trin jumped in and helped with the cutting and pinning and placement so I was sewing right along in no time. 
If you haven't seen how to make one of these, YouTube has tons, literally, of videos.
And then there is always Google. 

Don't worry about the alignment of the seams in this pic, the strips aren't sewn together yet. They will match up later, I promise.
And you know me, even if the don't "personality" lots and lots of personality!

  

Sissy B's blanket is almost finished. I decided to add just a little bit more of a third skein to add some length. I didn't want her to have to ball up under it to keep warm. 

   

Little Man's blanket is coming right along. 

I really like the blacks and greys in this colorway that fade into a beautiful blue. 

Since there are two more blankets that have to be knit after this one. I need to make sure I put at least 25 right side rows on this a day. That's 50 rows that have to be done a day to stay on schedule. 

Perfect t.v. knitting for when it's time to settle down for the night.
 

So needless to say, I am in love with my crock pot right now. So much to get done, and that little ceramic pot affords me the time to accomplish as much as possible in a day.

Knitting. On the beach. At sunset. In my boots. Picture intense

With Sissy B's blanket almost finished, it was a little too big to bring down to the beach and still keep it sand free. So I grabbed up some extra needles and decided to start on Lil Man's blanket. Still using the Lion Brand Mandala yarn. 

Let me tell you, I washed up BB's blanket so I could give it to Mom, wow! This yarn is soft before you wash it, after, it's almost too soft, which makes it perfect for new babies.

For Lil Man's blanket I only cast on 130 sts. He is a little guy and I want him to have something he can drag around with him if he wants. 

And yes, the kids did eventually, accidentally, sure, uh-huh, knock it off into the sand. 

Luckily the beach was dry and a good shake out was all it needed.

 

I love it when PB comes home from work and says, "Hey babe, want some mullet?" The sunsets on the island are stunning this time of year!

Those crazy kids will get in the water all the way up until December. And if it's a warm*ish winter, they will get in through December!

This right here is the life, point your sailboat towards the setting sun in calm waters and just relax and enjoy!

And wish the people with those loud kids would go home already! LOL


With my boots on! I'm not nuts, I knew once that sun was gone, the temps were going to drop like a ride at the fair. And they did. And a side note: Mosquitoes on the island come pterodactyl size

My first binding, I think. Is this really binding?

It was time to decide how to finish this quilt. I have a navy blue back for it but I wanted that to be a border around the front. 

Not going to lie here, I am totally intimidated by the whole binding process. It just looks like one little mess up and I could mess up my whole quilt! And trust me, my quilt has enough "personality" sewn into it already. I don't need to add to it.

As in the patches that were supposed to be on the top. Well look where they ended up. Distracted by homework, I sewed them on upside down and didn't even notice until I laid it out for this picture. So the top of the blanket quickly became the bottom.

Personality!

Then DD#1 sent me a pic of a blanket she had made, it was the cutest thing.

She had brought the back around to the front and used it as the border. Perfect!

The things we learn from our kids! 

So I cut my backing bigger than the top and rolled it for a hem.

It set the top off perfectly!

Since there were no blue patches (the flags were the 'blue') doing it this way set it up just the way I wanted. So after a half hour discussion with the BFF on the best way to do this, and to quilt afterwards, I finished pinning it all up.

 

I spent an hour sewing the binding down. I set the machine on the slowest it would go so I could follow the lines without messing it up. 

It was so slow grandbrat #5 asked me did my machine go any faster. LOL

So it's all pinned and the binding is sewn on and she is ready for some quilting.

My machine came with a double needle and I am seriously thinking about trying it out for double lines around the seams. It would be the only way there would be any conformity in double lines if I am doing it. 

This quilt is loaded with my 'personality' but I'm not going to point any out. If you don't notice it then it's all good.

Just some gameday photos

For my 50th birthday all I wanted was some Alabama boots.
I love my boots! And that face.
It's always good to be able to get to a game and show them both off.

I love going to Ttown almost as much as my boots.
You just can't beat the feeling of being at a game. The crowd, the noise, the cheers. I just love everything about it.
And it's especially awesome when you meet up with friends, and end up in the perfect seats!

I know most people like the end zone, or being down near the fifty yard line.
Not me, I like being up above the field so I can see everything.

And the sunsets over the stadium! You just can't beat it!

By the time the game started it was a packed out stadium, people were already trickling in an hour before the game.

 

It was a fast and fun trip. We got to meet up with friends and be around adults for a while! I had a blast!