Peace and Quiet

It's all over for another year. The cookies have been baked (all 200 of them!), packaged and given away..

Peanut butter cookies, yum, yum!

The gifts have been made (3 scarves, 12 pairs of slippers, 2 hats, 3 owl purses, 2 sock monkey cozies, and 2 hot pads) and given away...

Love the minion hat! The pattern can be found here.

Bear hat for my baby nephew. Too cute! Pattern is here.

Everyone loved their slipper socks! Pattern is here.

My dad had a wonderful time here and has gone home to Ohio...

Horse riding for the first time in years

Driving go carts with Tim at Fun Spot

Playing with Hope and a remote control helicopter

Now, it's time to relax and breathe. Time to enjoy the peace and quiet. In a few days, the new year will start and the busyness will begin again. But for now, it's quiet.

Another Year Older

My birthday was Wednesday. I turned 33.
Tim made breakfast for me and bought me roses...

Hope made me an adorable card and bought me a cute little sign...

I received a few other gifts: a JC Penney gift card from my mother in law, three baby owls from my friend Jenna, and a Christmas owl from my friend Helen.

So adorable! Can't decide which is my favorite!

Then Helen and I shopped until we dropped. We went to Kirkland's, Michaels, JC Penney, and Walmart.Here are a few goodies I found:

Christmas ribbon (70% off!) and some new hooks

Of course, I had to buy some yarn!

Owls! The brown one is a candle holder, the white one is a vase, and the black one is a Kindle holder.

I love baskets! I've already filled them with WIPs.

Lots of new paper for making cards

Crochet and knitting supplies (I don't know how to knit, but I'd like to learn.)

Containers for next year's Christmas cookies

It was a very enjoyable day :-)

The weather's been crazy the last few days. 40's in the morning, 70's in the afternoon and rainy. I'm taking advantage of it by staying indoors and finishing the blue and brown yo yo blanket. I promised her it would be done by New Year's.

I hope you're having an enjoyable weekend wherever you are :-)

Thanks for reading!

Blessings :-)

Today's Inspiration

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I hope you and your family and friends have a wonderful, blessed Christmas. Eat some good food, enjoy time with your loved ones, and take a moment to remember the reason for it all. Happy Birthday, Jesus!

100 POSTS!!

Today is post 100! Thank you to everyone who's followed me or checked out my blog this first year. I know I've been erratic with posts (something I'm hoping to change next year), but I have thoroughly enjoyed myself. And without you, I'd just be rambling to myself about crochet and scrapbooking and life (I do that anyway!).

Oh, that's right, there's supposed to be a giveaway, isn't there?
Have I held you in suspense long enough?
Well, here it is!
I got my little Christmas bucket...

put all the names in it...

shook them up and drew out a name.

Our

winner

is....

...........

Crochet dyverse!!!

Yay!!!!

Congratulations!!!!

She is the proud recipient of two cotton washcloths.

Okay, crochet dyverse, you have one week to claim your prize. Please email your mailing address to bookworm187@earthlink.net. And congratulations!

Thank you to everyone who entered, be you fabulous new followers or rockin' regular followers!

One last monkey

I can't get away from them!! I thought I was done, but my friend heard about them and asked me to make one for her to give as a gift. 

I'm still crocheting slippers and owl purses, frantically trying to get everything done by Tuesday. I'm down to 5 pairs of slippers and 2 purses and, of course, the yo yo blanket. Kay and Helen came by yesterday and made 40 yo yos for me while I attached two rows to the blanket. Only 80 more yo yos and 12 rows to go! I don't anticipate it being done by Christmas; it'll be a late gift. My goal now is to get it done this year.

Well, I'm off to get by dad at the airport; he's visiting this week from Ohio. 

Thanks for reading!

Blessings :-)

Today's Inspiration

More Slippers and an Owl Purse

Today is post #99! Tomorrow is the big day. Don't forget to enter my 100 posts giveaway! You have until tomorrow afternoon since most of my posts are written in the evening. Good luck!

Nothing too exciting going on around here. I finished my dad's slippers.

The colors are Carrot and Black.
I made two pairs of slippers for friends for Christmas.

These are Claret and Orchid.

These are Black and Pretty 'N Pink.
All of them were made with Red Heart Super Saver yarn. The pattern can be found here.
I also made an owl purse for my neighbor's 4-year-old daughter.

I used scrap yarn so I'm not sure what colors and brands are in there. It was pretty simple to make, but I was surprised at how small it came out. That's a size K hook next to it. I'd like to make one for my niece who's 10, but I think I'll make it with a bigger hook. The pattern can be found here.

Today's Inspiration

Thanks for reading!
Blessings :-)

The Monkeys are Finally Done!

This is post number 98! Don't forget to enter my 100 posts giveaway!

They're finally done! Those monkey cozies took a lot longer to assemble than we thought they would.
First, we had to sew on the eyes.

We had to stitch the mouths and nostrils on the muzzles, then stuff the muzzles and sew them to the bodies.

Finally, we had to sew on the ears.
And, ta da!

All 25 monkey cozies were delivered to the church group. They loved them! Now, please don't mention the words "sock monkey" to me for a long time!

Today's Inspiration

Thanks for reading!
Blessings :-)

Senseless Tragedy

We remember and pray for the residents of Newtown, Connecticut. What a senseless tragedy.

Trading Crochet for Cookies

This is post number 96! Don't forget to enter my 100 posts giveaway!

I put the crochet hook down for this afternoon to make some cookies. We were having a cookie exchange at our ladies night.

I made Red Velvet Cookies with cream cheese icing.

There are lots of good recipes online for these, but I use the one from Joanne Fluke's murder mystery, Red Velvet Cupcake Mystery. 

Because of the icing, I didn't want to put them in sandwich bags to hand out. Then I remembered the containers I bought on clearance after Christmas at Walmart.

These were the smaller of three containers I got for $1.50. They each held 6 cookies perfectly.

But they looked a little drab. So I added a bow.

Better, but still not good enough. So I quickly crocheted six little snowflakes

and attached one to each container.

Perfect! It's not often I get that detailed on the packaging. The little craft gremlin grabbed hold of me and wouldn't let go!

We had a great party at ladies night; we had the cookie exchange, exchanged gifts, and then started working on sock monkey cozies. We got the eyes, mouths, and nostrils done before I left. They were going to stuff the muzzles and sew them on and sew on the ears. Then they'll be done! I'll post a picture as soon as I get it.

It's almost 2 in the morning where I am. I'm going to bed. Good night!
Thanks for reading!
Blessings :-)

Today's Inspiration

WIP Wednesday

Today is post number 95! Don't forget to enter my 100 posts giveaway!

I've made some progress this week.

I finished the slippers for my friends' kids. These are made with Red Heart Super Saver yarn in Buff and Camouflage.

I started my dad's slippers. Same yarn in Carrot and Black.
I finished the potholders but forgot to take a picture before I wrapped them.

I finished the monkey ears. We still have 6 "bodies" to make before we can assemble them tomorrow and Friday.
Just keep crocheting, just keep crocheting... (If you haven't seen Finding Nemo, that doesn't make sense.)

Today's Inspiration

Thanks for reading!
Blessings :-)