After a beautiful weekend, Mother Nature has decided to play with us out here in western Colorado. It's cold and rainy today. I'm excited that winter is over and spring is here, but the truth is, I love rainy days too.
This week is shaping up to be very nice. We're all feeling well again, after a couple of weeks of the whole family being sick. Now if we can all just stay healthy....
Krissy surprised me last night when she stopped by after work, to pick up Avery. A guy she works with goes to Mexico during the early part of March every year and this year he offered to pick up the world's best vanilla for anyone who wanted some. So Krissy asked him to bring back two bottles for me. Those are eight-ounce bottles, Ladies, so that's enough vanilla to last me for ages and ages. That may last until he goes back next March. This Vanilla Copali is wonderful - it's such a treat to have two big bottles of it.
Here's my dining room table. I've kept it pretty much cleared off for the past couple of months, but you can see it's beginning to look normal again. LOLI'm not sewing for twelve hours a day any more. I'm not in a big hurry like I was before - the sewing break was good for me and I feel a lot more relaxed about it all. I've sewn all my life and I've always really enjoyed it. When it became a chore and something I hated doing, I knew I needed to back off and get it all back into perspective again.
Remember when I threw out all my pj bottoms and made myself all new ones, a year or so ago? I'm getting ready to make myself another new pair.Years ago, I paid $50 for a pair of simple white cotton pj bottoms at Victoria's Secret. That was seriously out of character for me, to spend that much, but I fell in love with those pj bottoms because they were the very softest cotton I'd ever felt. I've figured out they were probably cotton lawn, a very expensive fabric. I found that fabric on line for $20 a yard and no ma'am, I did NOT order it!
I wore those pants for at least ten years and they finally just fell apart. So last weekend I bought the sheerest, lightest weight white cotton fabric I could find and I'm making myself a new pair. The pair I'm making is going to cost less than $10. :-) I can't wait - they're just the best summery pj bottoms ever.
This is for my sister Bev, who sent me the sweetest Lily Sugar 'n Cream yarn and a pattern book for crocheted dishcloths. I've finished the first one Bev. Isn't it sweet? I adjusted one of the patterns in the book to work with this yarn and this cloth is about ten inches square. I love that it comes out so perfectly square. So rather than trying all kinds of different patterns, I'm going to stick with this one because it's very easy, very quick and it makes a nice solid dishcloth.
Avery's getting pretty noisy - she's in the living room playing with Papa, but he needs to start getting ready for work. So I'm off to give her some lunch and then I plan to get those pj bottoms cut out.
I hope you're having a nice relaxing day today too. :-)
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20 comments:
I'm so jealous of your vanilla! I've heard lots about that stuff. But I guess that would mean I had to bake if I actually had a bottle of the stuff. Hmmm, I'll have to rethink that one. LOL!
Those dishcloths are lovely. I have a friend who swears by them and won't use anything else.
Ack! I need to attempt to make a pair of pajama bottoms. Just to see if I can.
As for vanilla -- I'm DYING to try vanila bean PASTE!!!
I'm glad you're all feeling better.
I see you've been to the library - the Maeve Binchy book is really good.
I love the plaid PJ's - and I love that you match the plaid. I've had friends that sew that don't bother matching plaids, but I have to have everything match up perfectly. It just looks so much better and well made that way. I even match up the designs on wrapping paper!
I've never used crocheted or knitted dishcloths. Do they do a good job cleaning the dishes? Yours looks so pretty!
I'm getting ready to knit some dishcloths out of some organic cotton yarn. They are really pretty - I'll share them on the blog when I am done. Yours are very pretty - you do very nice crochet work.
Your posts are always so newsy and fun - just like getting a long letter from home! Isn't that funny, considering we have never really met!LOL!
I have a ton of sugar and cream yarn I need to use up, I should whip up some dishcloths. I usually knit mine but I like the look of the crochet that you did. Do you think you could put up a dishcloth tutorial? Please : )
P.S. Your spring cleaning blogs were great. They inspired me to do the first heavy duty spring cleaning I have done in years. It feels great to have everything "purged" and sparkly clean! And what a workout!
Love the dishcloth, very, very sweet. Crochet does have such a sweet look to it. The one I did in the same yarn is in my shower and I'm using the daylights out of it. It just feels so much nicer than those net things.
D&J brought us back a bottle of vanilla from their honeymoon four years ago and I still use it - you're right, it's just the best stuff.
That is so funny..I get my vanilla from Mexico too.....and they are in 8 ounce bottles as well...I got 5 last time...gave 2 to my mom and 1 to my neighbor....we love it...i also love relaxing rainy days!
That dishcloth turned out very pretty. I wonder if we made them smaller if they'd be good baby washcloths. Hmmmm? I believe a good dishcloth fits the purpose by being the right size. A small one would wash those fat little baby cheeks at both ends quite nicely :)
Oh, and my Butler brings me vanilla about twice a year from Haiti. It is so wonderful. Fresh and real and potent. It is the best for his chocolate chip cookies.
Gotta lurve Mexican vanilla. Mmmhm. Trader Joes sells a close alternative, but it's not what you have, for sure.
Darling washrag. My grandma crochets the scrubby pads out of nylon, but doesn't do too many of them because the nylon (tulle?) is scratchy. I always love it when i get one in the mail on top of the knitted dishrags.
My dishrags are a bit pitiful, but they'll do. Great practice. I think I"m going to add some for myself to the list in pure white so I can bleach them. I know they won't last forever that way, but I like to be able to bleach on occasion.
Glad you're feeling better.
Yum that vanilla sounds so good.
Love the dishcloth, I have a few like that one and they are wonderful, I'll never use anything else :)
Love the dishcloths. Do you think you could post the pattern for the square one at the bottom of this post.
It would be much appreciated !!!
My kids love vanilla milk. I use a bit of sugar (or sugar sub) and a couple of drops of vanilla. They think they have a treat.
I think my mexican/honduran vanilla is almost gone, ack! I love that stuff and you're right, the bottles last a while. It's been mostly warm here but a cold/rainy front has moved through now.
I'm glad y'all are feeling much better!
I did have a good relaxing Tuesday - one of my days off! I read most of the day - it was nasty and cold here, too. I'm reading an older Maeve Binchy book and have the new one on hold at the library.
I'm glad you took so much time off from sewing so that you can enjoy it again. That's why I have always resisted making things fto sell, because I feared it would ruin my enjoyment of my hobby. Now I don't do it any more for fun or profit! Sad.
I spent yesterday in Jonesboro with 3 of my sisters, having lunch at one of our favorite Chinese restaurants and at Hobby Lobby and Kohl's. I looked around a bit but spent most of the time sitting on a bench reading a book. I just can't do all that walking anymore. My arthritis won't let me these days.
It was a good day with my sisters though.
I need to make myself some cotton house dresses. I wear them year round around the house, day in and day out. I can buy them but it's cheaper to make them myself, plus I can choose the material. I just have to buy the fabric and get myself motivated. I bought a new Brother portable sewing machine at Walmart back before Christmas and I've barely even taken it out of the packaging, much less threaded it and tried to sew with it.
I'm going to buy some of that Sugar and Cream yarn and make some of those dishcloths, for myself and for gifts. I like your pattern so I'm going to save it to use. I hope you mention what size crochet hook you used, but I'll probably have to adjust it for myself anyway. I crochet tighter than most people.
Happy smoke free living and doing things at a more leisurely pace, sweet friend. :o)
xoxoxo
Diane
PS: I've never heard of that vanilla, but you can bet I'll be looking for it. We have a large Mexican population here and even Walmart has a good selection of Mexican foods imported directly from Mexico.
xoxoxo
First things first,
I have read your blog for , god knows how long.. a very long time..
I've cried , laughed, admired and sometimes also felt very jealous.. sorry
I am 28 years old, have a sister, a daughter a couple of months younger to Avery, but my mom doesnt take care of her.. you see, i have moved here from india, and so left my family behind.. we all had the same kind of relationship your family has.. so its just long talks over the phone.. but thats life i guess..
I thought it is really awesome that you've quit smoking, and am sooooo proud of you.. first for having admitted you have an addiction and then fought to get rid of it... :)
I have never left a comment here before, so i thought its time i do so..
By the way, does one use only cotton for dishcloths, i have a ton of red heart, and thought i could make some for others, dont use them myself.
And could you please tell me what the pattern number or pattern is for the pj's.. they look so comfy..
take care and lots and lots of love
nandini
To Nandini:
I hope you come back here for the answers to your questions - I couldn't find a link to a blog or an email address for you.
Red Heart's 4-ply worsted weight yarn is 100% acrylic and the truth is, I'm not sure if I'd make dishcloths out of it because I'm not sure how absorbent it would be. I would definitely make pot holders with it. And really, the way to find out if your yarn makes a good dishcloth is simply to make one. They're very easy to make and only take a couple of hours from start to finish.
I used McCall's 2476 for my pj bottoms. They're simply pants with an elastic waist so they're very easy too. :-)
I made my little guy (4 years old) a pair of fleece pj bottoms with a pattern of Dalmatians & red fire hydrants. They ended up fitting him perfectly! I was amazed. He LOVES these pj bottoms and every night he asks to wear, "the soft jammies Mama sewed me". Yep, he knows how to warm my heart.
I'm making him a matching fleece pj top but I've just discovered that the neck of it is too large on him. It hangs lower on his collarbone that I would've liked. Oh well, I know he'll still love it when it's done.
Isn't sewing great?! :)
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