Doll Quilts

It gets boring talking about Lorenzo’s blanket all the time, at least it does for me, so I thought I would highlight some really awesome doll quilts that I’ve seen lately. The idea of doll quilts intrigues me and my short craft attention span.

Sophie has made this great quilt utilizing untraditional fabrics. Unfortunately she doesn’t allow people to post an actual photograph of her work, but it is worth clicking over.

Soto Softies received this quilt as part of a swap:

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Lady Harvatine came up with this unique plaid pattern:

Love this one by Hip to Pieces too:

Finally, I’ll end with one of my favorites, again from Soto Softies:

I’m Baaack

The wedding was wonderful, my cousin (once removed) was beautiful and everything a bride *should* be. She was the exact opposite of bridezilla.

The benefit of having relatives that get married on the other side of the country is that there is plenty of time on the plane to crochet. I made some pretty good progress on Lorenzo’s blanket…

Makin’ Progress…

Mick (the hubby) and I are heading back east (New Hampshire to be precise) tomorrow (Thursday) night so I am hoping to make a lot of progress on the blanket while squished into an airplane seat.

Lorenzo’s Blanket–The New Version

Sorry for the long absence, working full time is really…hard! Hard in a different way than college and law school were. While in school, I probably was putting more hours towards school, but they were spaced out throughout the day. I’d have a morning class, then a break, then another class, then I’d put in a few hours in the library before an evening class. But work is a whole ‘nother ball of wax. It’s 8-10 hours of constant focus. I feel exhausted when I come home. Okay, enough lame whining. I really love my job, so I don’t want to spend too much time saying negative things about it. On to crochet!

I’ve started working on my revised plan for Lorenzo’s blanket. Basically, what I decided to do was wavy stripes, alternating between white and one of the other four colors (dark blue, light blue, green and yellow). The wave is made by stitching two single crochets, two half-doubles, two doubles, two trebles, two doubles, two half-doubles and then two singles.

Here is a close up:

Life is Funny Sometimes

No sooner than I post about doing nothing creative does my neighbor show up on my doorstep asking for my help with a sewing project. One of her husband’s coworkers just adopted a baby with almost no forewarning. Apparently the new mom signed on with an adoption agency and was almost instantly matched up with a bio-mom who was due to give birth only a few days later. Unfortunately, the bio-mom is a 15 year old girl. This is her third pregnancy, the second that she’s carried to term. The other child is currently in foster care as the mom is addicted to crystal meth. She did drugs well into the second trimester of this most recent pregnancy.

So, how could I pass up an opportunity to help my neighbor make something useful for this baby and his new mom? I feel so blessed to have been given the opportunity to help. Apparently my neighbor is the baby equivalent of a horse whisperer. She knows a particularly effective method of swaddling babies and can make even the most colicky baby go to sleep and stay asleep. Apparently these receiving blankets that I hemmed for her are part of the charm…

The Only Thing Remotely Creative I’ve Done Lately…

…is take some pictures of my cat.

I have come to terms with the fact that I will not be able to complete Lorenzo’s blanket according to the original plan and do have something else in mind. Since my crochet group meets on Wednesdays, I will try and get to work on the revised plan later this week. Basically, I plan on doing wavy stripes. Which will hopefully crochet up really fast…

I’ve, Got, The, Craft, Bluuuues.

I think I am in a craft funk. The funk started after a self-imposed ban on new projects and it just spiraled out of control from there. It doesn’t help that I have been unsuccessfully looking for a job. There is nothing that makes you want to craft less than a few career disappointments. Some of the jobs I have been turned down for are rather embarrassing given my education (I have a law degree and was turned down for a paralegal position…). Eventually I found a job with an non-profit organization that I absolutely love and was thisclose to getting the job only to find out, minutes before Shabbat started, that I didn’t get it. That really sucked my enjoyment out of Shabbat. I got a job! Woot!

Also, my parents are out of town right now and I am watching my 17 year old brother. He doesn’t need that much supervision, but he has so many activities going on right now (high school soccer team practice, summer job interviews, soccer camp at Annapolis, dates with his girlfriend, doctor appointments…) that it is almost a part-time job just keeping track of his location and making sure he is home by his curfew.

So, I just don’t feel like doing anything creative. And, it goes without saying that when you are unemployed, you can’t fix the craft blues with a trip to the yarn shop. Besides, I have some stuff I have never even opened: a cool Fern leaf stamp and funky green ink pad; a bunch of itty-bitty flowers; ribbon. Maybe I will take all that stuff out tomorrow and force myself to do something. Maybe a little rebellion against the new project ban will snap me out of my funk.

After I write a billion new cover letters, of course.

Independence Day Photo Essay

Mick and I spent our Fourth at Dodger Stadium, we had a great time! Originally we thought our seats were in the nose-bleed section, but it turned out that we had really great seats in between the Dodger dugout and the foul ball pole.

Everyone sitting in the outfield for the fireworks show had their cell phones out recording the action:

I shipped out my first Etsy order!

A few days ago, I made my first Etsy sale. I am so excited! I shipped out the thank you cards today. Thanks a million Elaine!

p.s. I put a little surprise in there for you, I hope you like it.

Happy Independence Day!