Gifts for the twins

I've been racking my brains trying to come up with something special for my cousin's new twin girls. I came across a lovely sunburst pattern (seems very "floral-ly" too) over at Purple Chair Crochet. I think I've seen similar patterns out there, but she has some nice photo instruction as well.

I chose Lion Brand Baby's First cotton/acrylic blend in Twinkle Toes, Fairy Tale, Cotton Ball and Bean Stalk. I'm going to add more squares and perhaps do some granny border in predominantly light pink for one and the darker pink for the other to keep them similar, but not the same. Just like the twins (whose names are Sofia and Lauren - I always want to say "Sophia Loren" :)

I'll post some final photos when I get these done, so you can see how they turn out. Hope you're having a lovely President's Day!

(Un)Perfect pink patchwork

Happy belated Valentine's Day. I sound like a broken record, but I've been busy working on a couple of custom requests. One of which I finished up yesterday...

It's a throw sized afghan. I used Hobby Lobby pink and hot rose as well as Red Heart's perfect pink. Usually, I work each square, lay them all out, and use the join as you go method with a border color, but with this one, I made up and attached each square as I went. It's a bit more difficult, because I like to be able to move things around, but I'm quite happy with how it turned out. I hope my customer is too. I'm in love with random patchwork -- afghans, quilts. I think it's a little like life: it's never perfect, and you make it up as you go along!

Have a wonderful rest of your weekend.

A Valentine's Day gift idea

With Valentine's Day coming up fast, I thought I would share a unique idea I had for a gift to my husband several years ago.

I'm a folk art lover, and I have long admired Catherine Holman's beautiful work, so I contacted her to do a custom painting of the building we were married in. My husband and I were married in December 2005 in a rustic building called the "Chestnut Shelter". We had a massive snow storm roll through on December 2 which made for long travels, but a beautiful setting for our big day - everything was covered in a blanket of white, and there were giant icicles hanging from the awnings of the shelter.

I was thrilled with her rendition and couldn't wait to share it with my husband. Catherine is an amazing artist, and I can't thank her enough for sharing her talents. It is a gift I will treasure forever.

Dreaming of spring

It was in the 60s here earlier in the week, but now we are back down to 17F with bands of lake effect snow. The cold temps and snow are typical for this time of year, but the warm weather had me dreaming of spring. Maybe that was the inspiration for my purchase on Etsy. That and my love affair with the "tempestuous tulip" (if you are a Room with a View fan, like myself, you will appreciate that last bit). Whatever the case, I spied this beautiful watercolor and had to have it.

The painting is by Nancy Dopler of Midwest Gypsy. She has other beautiful art there, so check her out.

Now I just have to find the right frame...