Ira Ray Crow

Well, I've decided that Ms. Ida Mae has been waiting way too long for her husband to arrive, so it was time to stitch him up!! 

He is such a fun stitch! I love these designs by The Goode Huswife. I am stitching him on 25 count potato lugana, just as I did for Ida Mae. They will be a matching pair :) 

I put out some of our Fall decor, although it's still in the 90's this week... Will it ever end?!! I hope the cooler weather arrives soon!!! I found this pretty Autumn cross for our front door...

More decor for the porch...

I made some pretty wreaths for our back porch too....

Looks so pretty from the inside as well!

I think I will be sewing up some new pillowcases today. And working on this scarf for our church ministry...

Thank you for stopping by and I wish you all a wonderful day filled with many

Blessings my dear friends!

Louise xx

Week one Mary's Mystery Sampler Finish!

I have finished week one of Mary's Mystery sampler being offered by Plum Street Samplers. See post below if you would like to join in the fun to get the link to the blog!

I have decided to use antique white jobelan with DMC threads. I am using the colors called for the black material although I am not using black. I like the muted tones of the threads. I really like how it looks so far and look forward to each new week as each part is unveiled for our stitching pleasure. How very generous of this designer to do this for us! Thank you so much!

Here is my piece so far:

I have also been stitching on my AOY design and here are the updates on that also;

I have also finished a pretty wool scarf in my favorite colors of plum!

Baked an apple pie!

Baked some yummy peanut butter cookies too....

Loved on one adorable bunny named Charleston (my baby!)

Did some shopping....some pretty yarn in more colors of plum!

An armchair caddy for my stitching supplies...I always wanted one of these!

Someone turned 18!

My sweet daughter!!

I talked to my sailor Son on the phone today.

:)

My husband made dinner while I stitched...I am blessed indeed!

Louise xx

Frilly Scarves!

Hello everyone, I hope this day is finding you all well and happy!
I have decided to join the craze at the moment. Everyone was making these frilly scarves and I just had
to try my hand at making them. They are pretty easy to make, although, for me, time consuming.
The end result is fantastic! They are really pretty. You can find the yarn to make these scarves at Walmart, Michaels, and I believe Hobby Lobby has it too. All different colors, some solids, but most variegated.
It is a different type of yarn, sort of like a ribbon, but you spread it out before making your stitches and it looks mesh-like.
Very pretty!
I have pink ones yet to make, and I am looking forward to starting those..the colors are so wonderful.
The pattern I have used is found HERE!
I don't know how to knit, so I used their crochet pattern.

The weather is supposed to be very warm here today ...I hope the sun peeks out and I can open the windows for some fresh air.
Charleston the bunny is getting bigger and he is a bit fiesty! He likes to run all around the house and jumps all the way up on top of our couch.
It is so nice to have a house bunny to love again.
I will upload some new pics of him soon. I haven't been using my camera too much lately ...I have a new iphone that I just love and that gets used all the time now. I will see if I can upload pictures from my phone to here.
Blessings to all of you today, and take a moment to stitch or craft, to smile and love...once tomorrow comes this day will be gone forever, make it a memorable one!
Raggedystitches,

Crochet Projects and Cookie decorating! :)

Hi Everyone!
I have been busy doing some different projects. A dear friend asked me to help out with her grandsons birthday party by making special Spiderman cookies for goodie bags. I made a basic sugar cookie, rolled and cut them out with an egg shaped cutter for the head...

I froze the cookies in rubbermaid containers..there would be no way I could bake and decorate them all in one day...not enough hours in a day!
Then, a couple of days later..I laid all the cookies out on parchment paper assembly style on our kitchen table..

Next up was making the royal icing. This is an icing that uses meringue powder in the mixture. When you frost cookies with this icing, the cookies will dry hard. Good for stacking, or putting in goodie bags! ;)
I tinted the royal icing with Wilton Paste Food Colors. Paste food coloring gives a richer deeper color to your icing...

Then after coloring the icing the different colors I needed in separate batches...I began outlining the cookies to create Spiderman's face...

Moving right along.....I then filled in the rest of the cookies once the outlining "set up" well enough....

As you can see in the photo..I also made some "spiderweb" designed cookies and added blue sugar crystals to them :)
Of course I made a very special 14 inch, BIG Spiderman cookie for the birthday boy! :)

So, you can see I have been quite busy with that....then on the needlework front, I have been crocheting some scarves. I bought some variegated balls of yarn at Walmart in pretty colors. The back of the wrapper had the directions for this beautiful stitch. Something new for me to learn..it said "easy" on it for directions, so I thought I might give it a shot. It is definitely an easy stitch and I am having lots of fun crocheting each day while waiting in the car line to pick my daughter up from school...I even had a mom in another car come over to me and ask me if I could teach her! :)  It is getting pretty cold here in my part of town. This is the perfect time of year for some crocheting. Thought I might make up some of these nice warm scarves for gifts...
I like the purple colors best! :)

I am also doing some stitching..but just cannot post on that yet. I do have such trouble seeing on 28 count now, even with magnifiers. I am a bit worried about that. I would never want to give up my stitching..but it is a bit of a struggle now. I will have to have another eye exam one of these days.
Blessings to all my readers!
Louise

Granny Scarf

I put all my granny squares together last night and this morning with a single crochet. Then I added a scallop edge.
This was a fairly easy project, but time consuming. I do like the final results! The colors of purple and green look so pretty together.
A pretty scarf is the final outcome. Thick, warm, and perfect for chilly nights to snuggle around your neck.

Sadly though, the housekeeping has been put aside while I work on things such as my crochet. I think I shall start dinner for later and clean a little bit now!
:) I think more granny squares are in my future..they are so much fun to do!
Ta Ta for now!
Louise

Another Crochet Finish

This is a triple crochet scarf in the color "Songbird"..Hobby Lobby "Love This Yarn"!

Raggedystitches,

Crochet

I finished up a pretty new scarf for my beautiful niece for her birthday.
I really enjoyed working on this one.
It is so soft and so warm. :)
I used Red Heart yarn and baby sparkle yarn to make it extra pretty.
I can't wait to see my niece pretty in PINK! :)


Here is a baby blanket that I finished recently...again, I used Red Heart yarn and baby sparkle yarn. Made a big granny square and put a tassle on each corner.
Looking forward to sending it out for a new baby to be! :)




Raggedystitches,

Crochet and a New Year...

I thought I shall post before heading out to work this morning.
I have been busy doing a little bit of crochet. I was trying to teach myself some new stitches (decreasing, etc..)..
well..that wasn't working out too well!! Grrrrrr!

But! I taught myself the treble crochet stitch, and I must say, I am proud of myself for what I have accomplished! I managed to whip up a beautiful scarf in just two days, and plan to start on another one. It is so soft and the colors are so beautiful!
It only took one skein of Red Heart yarn..with a little extra yarn for the pom-poms...I couldn't locate my pom-pom maker (of course!, Ms. Unorganized over here)..so I had to try and make them myself by wrapping yarn around a piece of cardboard. Not as perfect as I wanted them, but they look cute :)I used a 6mm aluminum crochet hook. Loved the way it felt in my hand while working!
I am also working on a small baby blanket..which is a granny square..except I am continuing the square and making it very large..possibly 25 to 30 rounds. (Simple enough!)...I am using Red Heart blue yarn and a baby *sparkle* yarn to make the blanket extra soft and pretty.I like to use a big chunky crochet hook for making the blankets.

Here is a WONDERFUL site I like to go to for all sorts of free crochet patterns.
Click on the link and see what you can find! :)
Crochet Pattern Central

I think perhaps I might be a beginner crocheter my whole life...or maybe a beginner crocheter wanna be advanced crocheter ?? :)

I guess I am just happy that I was able to teach myself something of the sort!

All the best to all of you this upcoming New Year.
May you be filled with all good things and may the Lord bless you abundantly.

Raggedystitches,