Ick...I Ran Out of Yarn!

I know it's Murphy's Law of crocheting.  

I'm thisclose to finishing the squares and triangles of the body of my throw, 

pink delight, 

and…

... I ran out of Soft Pink yarn.  

On the last Refreshing square of Soft Pink.  

Errrrr....

Arrow points to last Refreshing square where I ran out of Soft Pink Yarn!

The good news is I finished all 24 of the Half Triangle Grannies.  

Even the ends are weaved in for all.  

Next I will join all the squares and triangles and then crochet the edging.  

I think a simple edging in white will complete my vision.  

Now to ponder how I will join the squares and triangles.  

One thought is to use the gray yarn and have the join show on top. 

Another thought is to join with pink or white and not have it show from the top.  

So...I experimented and joined the first two rounds like I did with my Sparkle Throw.  

I use the color of the first round,"Watermelon," and did

a simple join of single crochet then chain three all the way around on the back side.

But…now I'm at a standstill and can't move on to Round 3 until I purchase more of the Soft Pink yarn.

Darn!

I may frog this join and go ahead of use gray for a one color join for all squares.  

Let's move on to embroidering.  

I have to show you this.  

I have a knit top that I spilled Clorox on the front.  

I like this top and wasn't ready for it to be a work top only.

  

The bleached spot.

So I thought it would be neat to try embroidering a design on it to cover up the bleached out spot. 

I picked a TruEmbroidery design that was about the size of the spot.

You know I like Teddy Bears and it seemed this design wasn't too childish.  

The result!

Hubby said it looks like the knit top came with this design!

Isn't he sweet!

Have a lovely day!

Smiling Snowman Mug Mat

This little appliqué embroidered Patrick Lose design is so cute!

It's almost too pretty to use.

I tried to machine stitch the binding…but it looked terrible so I picked it out and hand stitched it instead.

It looks cute on my crocheted hexagon throw, "Sparkle". 

Smiling Snowman Mug Mat

This is a gift for my hair stylist.  

I'll have to make one for myself too.   

I only have one more fat quarter of the pretty blue fabric. 

 I love it because it looks like snow falling.

 

The Home of Mr. & Mrs. Magano "Marlboro Manor" Circa 1842

Yesterday we went on the 38th Chadds Ford Candlelight Christmas historic house tour.    

We visited 15 gorgeous homes here in SE PA.

This is an event we look forward to every Christmas.

  

"Marlboro Manor"

We weren't allow to take interior photos {{{darn!}}} but I took a few exterior ones to share with you.

"Marlboro Manor"

"Marlboro Manor" (circa 1842) had their porch decorated in Christmas-y reds and greens. 

The Joseph Barnard House circa 1790

A subdivision was built around this historic home, The Joseph Barnard House (circa 1790), …but only on the condition the home was restored.
  

The Joseph Bardnard House 

These homes were filled with beautiful antiques - I can't believe how gracious the homeowners are for opening their homes up for viewing to the public. 

Rosewood, circa 1861

"Rosewood" (circa 1861) sits on 36 acres of beautiful landscaped grounds. 

The Yellow House

And this one sits on top of a hill and is named "The Yellow House of Willowdale" (19th century stucco over stone home) and is used for weddings.

It's snowing!

Today we are having our first snowfall since we returned from Florida!  

Well, I better get back to my indoor Christmas decorating…that is after I sit watching the fire and listening to Christmas music while I drink my morning coffee.  

This is our fireplace mantel... so far. 

Have a lovely  December weekend.

Let It Snow!  

Christmas-y Sparkle

I'm so happy…my Christmas cards are done!

And in between Christmas shopping and outside decorating, I managed to squeeze some time in for my embroidery and crocheting. 

My free motion quilting is a little getting better. 

I sure hope I can finish quilting this Santa fabric panel before Christmas.  

I picked out the Christmas-y fabrics to frame my Christmas Tree embroidery design. 

Yesterday I appliquéd the Christmas Lights on to my next Party with Patrick project, "Holiday Pot Holder".  

This time I bought the appliqué embroidery design on line. 

I was disappointed that it wasn't a complete "in the hoop" design for all four light bulbs but rather just appliqué embroidery files for the light bulb in three sizes.  

So I had to manually position each appliqué in my hoop and stitch each light bulb out individually.  

Wish I could manually stitch a satin stitch this nicely though. 

I don't think it is cheating if I let the machine do the stitching. 

I finished the last round of hexagons in white (54 of them!) on my hexagon throw, "Sparkle".  

Each hexie has a long end tail that I used to slip stitch the sides of each hexie together.

And I found the perfect edging for "Sparke".  

It a Pom Pom edging I found (here) at Robin's "Once Upon A Pink Moon" blog.  

I love it in RED!

I just found Robin's blog and it is fantastic.    

  Oh, yes I finished the Pom Pom edging yesterday!!!

"Sparkle" is done!

It's a heavy throw but deliciously cosy and warm.

No snow here yet.  

Once the service guys are done with installing our new AC today I can drag out my interior Christmas decorations and really go into high speed decorating.

By the way our new furnace is a two-stage gas furnace.

With our old furnace we could always hear it when the blower turned on.

We can't hear this one at all.    

And here is "Sparkle"!

(click here for more details)

Hubby asked if I was going to give it away since I already have too many crocheted throws.

I don't know if anyone else is crazy about my color combination but I sure do love it.

Now I ask you, "Can one have too many crocheted throws?"

Disney & Sparkle

I finished several rounds of my hexagon lap throw, Sparkle, while at Disney and on the road.  

I'm on the last round in white.  

It takes 54 hexes.

Then I can crochet the edging.  

I'll probably go with a simple edge using the three colors.

I've decided to machine-embroider labels for all of my throws.

Now to fit that project in with everything else.

I hope to put the Christmas lights and outside decorations up before Thanksgiving.

We won't turn the lights on until after Thanksgiving.

And I hope to cross Christmas cards off my list too.

That will just leave gifts and indoor decorations after Thanksgiving.

I want to leave you with some more pictures of Ft. Wilderness and Walt Disney World.

We had a blast on this trip

A campsite at Ft. Wilderness.

Folks were getting in the mood to start decorating for Christmas at Ft. Wilderness Campground.

For the first time, in a long time, Cinderella's Castle was open to walk through.  

I loved the tile mosaics!

He's all mine!

I saw someone with one of these early on and just loved it.  

But I had no clue where they got it.

As we were walking out of the Magic Kingdom (last time this trip) I spied one.  

They were selling them as popcorn containers.  

We bought one.  

Mickey's hat tips up to get to the popcorn.  

And the popcorn was delicious.  

First time we tried Disney's popcorn.  

Mickey had a birthday in November too!

He looks pretty good for 85!  

If you look close you can see my new birthday gift, a Dooney & Bourke Disney shoulder bag.

I went all over the place trying to find the new Vera Bradley Disney bags.

There were two fabrics, one in pink and another in blue.

All I could find in the pink fabric was a large duffle bag which I didn't want.

I didn't care for the blue fabric or the selection of bags available.

Then we were at the Floridian and I found this adorable Disney bag. 

Gosh, it was expensive…$128 and it is only fabric vinyl.

But…it is so cute.  It has Minnie and Mickey on it.

Tink too and Cinderella's Castle.

I'll have to take a close up photo of it and post it later.

Our last day at Ft. Wilderness the Christmas trees, flowers and outside lights were up.

 When we went to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party we loved the parade.

These marching men were so neat.

After the busy weekend Ft. Wilderness emptied out.  

Everything is packed away and we are ready to leave the next morning. 

Even the folks staying at the cabins at Ft. Wilderness get into the Christmas spirit.

See the serpent by Cinderella's Castle.

The Disney shops were filled with Disney related Christmas items.

Aren't these stockings cute!

Each one was around $90!!!

Too expensive for me but I would love to have them.

The final float in Mickey's Once Upon A Christmastime Parade!

The white specks are fake snow.

And I finish my Disney post with a photo of Hubby and I after the fantastic parade.  

Walt Disney World is truly a magical place.

What a great way to celebrate my 67th birthday!

Crocheting & Sewing

Two of my favorite hobbies!

"Hexie" is coming along nicely.  

Remember I wasn't happy with my joining of the hexagons.  

Well, last night I frogged the single crochet join and started over.  

I more loosely joined the hexagons with a single crochet in the hexes corner spaces with a three chain single crochet three chain join on the sides.

Update:  I named my hexie "Sparkle".  Click here to find more information and link to pattern.

I liked it!

I don't have another skein of the turquoise so this will be the last hexagon round for that color.

I think another round of white, followed by red and a last round of white should do it.

Then I will be able to tell if it is the right size for a lap throw or not.  

On to sewing....my next love.

    

I'm learning how to add lettering - added name of table topper, my name and year. 

I think my eyes crossed from embroidering the satin stitch around all the pumpkins and leaves on my "Party with Patrick" November project, "Pumpkin Patch". 

Everything was double since I appliquéd both sides.

I forced myself to continue with the satin stitch even though with my head so close to the work I could see every little boo-boo.   

This isn't a programmed design where satin stitches turn out beautifully without me doing a thing.  

This is little old me trying to guide the fabric around all those tiny corners.

It ain't so easy.

I know...

Practice makes perfect!!! 

Sorry this one is fuzzy...light is low in our basement.  

I love my background fabrics so much for this project that I couldn't decide which one to use as the top for the appliqués.

Then a light bulb went off in my brain...why couldn't I appliqué both sides?  

So that's what I did. 

The next step is to quilt the top.  

I'm planning on trying "free motion quilting".  

I drafted a vine with leaf pattern to copy for the center of the table topper.

I will practice this before stitching it on the topper.

I may not get to this step until we are back from our upcoming trip to Walt Disney World.  

Our days are busy until we leave next week.   

I can't take my sewing machine with me but my crocheting travels wonderfully!

This is a cute Mickey and Minnie throw from Walt Disney World.

We're going to put this throw up on the front window while we are camped at Ft. Wilderness.  

Hubby asked me to try it out at home before we drag it all the way to Florida.

It works!!!

Laugh of the day: