Back from the beach

Tillie greeting the Atlantic...

I feel like I've been away forever, but it was only a week. We had a very nice trip out to the coast. The kids really enjoyed the beach. I always leave feeling renewed. How could you not after staring at water like this?

I can't tell where the sky ends and the water begins.

EtsyMom Color Challenge 2012

I was so excited about this color challenge, that I stayed up to post pictures of my finished blanket. It's a simple granny square pattern using colors from the palette I selected. I also added some other shades of the same colors to give it a little depth and interest. Then I finished it off with a sc of the vibrant blue and a picot edge of the medium blue. I don't expect to win anything, but it was a nice diversion, and the challenge helped inspire me to try new color combinations.

I didn't want to leave the girls out, so I did one in pink as well (this one is not part of the challenge). I thought it came out with a "woodland-y" feel to it. I'm picturing little fairies, mushroom houses and woodland animals.

This was a lot of fun.

I hope you have a wonderful rest of your week!

EtsyMom Color Palette Challenge

I am on a team called EtsyMoms over at Etsy. They are having a challenge for anyone on the team to come up with a creation using one of the three color combinations below.

You must enter your product on October 8. I like all of these color palettes, however, I've decided to go with the first one - I really like the blue, chocolate and lime - and I think it would make a lovely granny blanket? I'll be sure to post my entry when I come up with something. What a fun idea!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Wednesday!

Daisies and mermaids

I'm almost finished with my first daisies on purple afghan for my Etsy customer, Angela. I really like how the purples make the daisy pop. Two more rows of squares and then onto the edging...

(I used Caron One Pound lilac, lavender blue, jonquil, white and off white)

If you are new to the site, you can find the daisy pattern here.

My daughter, Tillie, said she would like to be a "princess mermaid" for Halloween. I had never done the "crocodile" stitch before, but I knew that I had to use it for her mermaid tail. I've decided to make a straight skirt with some kind of pleated fin (so she can walk!) I'm still working on mastering this stitch - so I'll figure out the fin when I get there...

I found this pattern at Bernat.com. You must sign up to gain access, but they have some really lovely free patterns at their site. The Mermaid Tears Purse was the exact size I needed for Tillie's skirt, so I did not need to figure out how to alter the pattern before beginning. 

By the way, this is a fun stitch to do. The only difficult part is manipulating your work for the first "5dc down..." It's such a great scaly looking pattern though!

Nice change

I'm very happy to work up all of these daisy afghans (although I'm looking forward to getting back to some smaller, kiddie-sized blankets), but it's a nice change to come up with a simple granny pattern for an Etsy customer.

Her daughter requested green and purple, so I worked up alternating rows with multi squares in between. Here's how it came out.

(I used Caron One Pound pale green, lilac and white.)

She asked for a scalloped edge, which I think added a very pretty touch. I hope she likes it.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Another daisy blanket inspiration

A very nice customer named Leslie recently contacted me about creating a new daisy blanket in aqua/turquoise. She sent a photo of some lovely bedding, and was hoping to use that as a reference.

I sent over two samples (the photos are a bit dark). One using a light aqua and dark aqua:

And one with a green sc row as an accent:

She chose the second option. I'm excited to see how it turns out when they are all together. Other good news: the weekend is almost here! Have a wonderful day.

UPDATE: I have one more option. There seems to be so much blue, I thought I would try an option with a light blue and the green/aqua...

I think I like this one best with her bedding. We'll see what Leslie thinks!

A tough day

A year ago today my Dad passed away. I miss him every day. It seems like it was just yesterday - not a year ago - that we lost him. It's such an indescribable pain; it's a hole in your heart.

My mission today is to think of happy times, and remember him there.