Sunday, November 29, 2015

Turtle crochet applique- FREE PATTERN!!

My daughter wanted to make the turtle blanket from here (you might have to scroll down quite a bit). Very cute- shows baby turtles making their way from the beach sand into the water. The blogger used a generic ripple blanket pattern for the base, and paid for the turtle pattern on Ravelry. Me being me (aka cheep cheep), I decided to try my hand at making a turtle myself. It turned out fairly OK, at which point, my daughter said she needed me to write down the instructions, so she could make the rest of the batch.
AND, this led to the evolution of a FREE pattern for you :)
Turtle crochet appliqué pattern
Sz 5 hook
Worsted weight yarn- 2 shades of green- need scraps
With darker green, ch2.
6 sc in 2nd ch from hook, join round with sl st.
Attach lighter green. 3 ch (works as 1st dc), 2 dc in same sc, 3 dc in each sc (18 dc), join with sl st to top of 3 ch.  Cut off light yarn.
With darker yarn, sc on top of 3 ch, *do spike st (pick up st from sc row), 2 sc in next dc, 1 sc in next dc* repeat 5 times. Sl st at end of row.
Making feet and head- 4 ch, sc in 2ch from hook, 1 hdc in next ch, 1 sc in next ch, sl st in base sc row (1 leg made). Sl st to next sc, 6 ch, 1 dc in 3rd ch from hook, 3 more dc in eac ch to end, sl st to base sc row (head made), sl st to next sc, 4 ch, sc in 2ch from hook, 1 hdc in next ch, 1 sc in next ch, sl st in base sc row (2nd leg made). Tie off leaving a tail long enough for sewing your appliqué on.
Skip 6 sc from leg made on left side, attach dark yarn, 4 ch, sc in 2ch from hook, 1 hdc in next ch, 1 sc in next ch, sl st in base sc row (3rd leg made). Sl st to next sc, 2 ch, 1 sc in 2nd ch from hook, sl st to base row, sl st in next sc, 4 ch, sc in 2ch from hook, 1 hdc in next ch, 1 sc in next ch, sl st in base sc row (4th leg made).

My daughter tried it out once, so I'm hoping that you are able to follow and get the same results. But again, I am by no means a professional pattern writer, so this is my amateur attempt- Try it at your own risk :D
Do leave a comment if you are successful!

Sunday, November 15, 2015

Another clutch.....and a cross-stitched pillow!

OK, it has been determined......I am capable of doing short blog posts. The deep, long, thoughtful ones will happen.....later. For now, a couple of completed projects- a clutch with a zipper (yay!), and a pillow cross-stitched and sewn by my older daughter.



The clutch pattern is from here. It was easy to follow, and turned out great. I plan to make another one.
My daughter's pillow turned out really nice too! She did the graph for the cross-stitch on her own, and I helped her sew the pillow.
That's it for now! I want to know what you, dear reader, have been crafting!! Leave me a comment :)

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Long time, no see?

So, I keep thinking about doing these long detailed blogposts, and that never happens! So here's a super quick one..... I decided that I needed more party/ evening/ clutch purses, because now....as an empty nester, I actually have time to change my purse when I go out! So instead of acting like a reasonable person, using my latest Kohl's coupon to buy myself some $30 Juicy Couture clutch, I did what I do best...vowed to SEW myself some!!

After hours spent crazy-PINTERESTING, here is the first one...

So DO I GET TO GLOAT NOW? I love it! Made from left overs from my stash too. Just had to buy the extra firm stabilizer, which was like $3 at Jo-Ann's, and will probably give me three more purses. I followed this great tutorial!
The psychic called! She said she sees a ton more of these clutch purses in my future :D She sees a golden one, and then a brocade one made from a wedding saree!