So much going on and loving it.

Where to start with this post? I have so much going on and am so excited about all my projects. I guess I will start with the status of my New Year's Resolutions.#1 Cook once a week. I'm not going to lie...I did miss one week this past month that I didn't get to cook. However, I have cooked the rest of the weeks and am learning to cook more things that are actually good. Over the past month I have made Chicken and Dumplings (Recipe from Sandra Lee's cookbook)...they were AWESOME if I do say so myself. I also made Quesadillas, my hubby's favorite, and I actually cooked something without a recipe and just "winged it" they were Chimichangas...and were they good. I was so proud. Unfortunately I didn't think to take any pictures of my dishes, but will hopefully remember to this upcoming month. #2 Post on my blog more. Well, I guess it hasn't been more than a month, so maybe I'm making progress on this one? #3 Work more on my Etsy shop. I am doing well on this one. I posted new items and actually had some sales last month. I was so excited! I also have a photo shoot tomorrow to get a few more items on Etsy. I'm also working on getting more exposure. I signed up for the Sampler Village Feb box and am almost finished with my samples.  I also purchased my first ad spot on Sampler Village's website for the year, and am currently hosting a giveaway on their blog. Ok, so that's the update on my resolutions...now to fun projects I'm working on craft wise.
In January I got a Kindle, absolutely LOVE it. But of course the first thing that came to mind was that I need a sleeve or something for it. So I actually made a sleeve for it that I'm happy with and made up my own pattern for it. Of course I didn't write i down, so I'm going to have to see if I can make another one. I will post pics of it probably in my next post. I also bought some awesome patterns from Crochettrend on Etsy. If you crochet you definitely need to check out her patterns, they are awesome.

I made from a pattern purchased from Crochettrend. Super cute, and fun to wear. It's very different and unique without being too out there. That's all for this post, until next time...

New Year.

So the holidays are finally over and the New Year is upon us. I have made some resolutions for this year already and thought I would share them.
#1. Cook at least once a week. We always eat with my in-laws and it's normally out which leaves me craving home cooked meals. While I am no where near the cook my mom is, I figure you have to start somewhere. My mom always said when she first started cooking she could burn water, so maybe there is still hope for me yet.
#2. Post on my blog more. While I'm not sure that I can do once a week like I would like to do I definitely need to post more than every few months. I just found out yesterday that I had had comments on some of my previous posts and didn't even know it. Hopefully now they are set up to send me email alerts to my phone so I can see them immediately AND respond in a timely manner.
#3. Work more on my Etsy shop LoopyGalCreations. I have been trying to work more on getting exposure to my Etsy shop already. I signed up for the January (Be My Valentine) box at SamplerVillage and if that goes well I will sign up for additional boxes as it's a really neat organization and they do try to get my name out there. For those of you who don't know what Sampler Village is they collect samples from handmade businesses and then put them in a box where people purchase them. To find out more go to their website, hopefully I will have a button somewhere on my blog (maybe in the side bar?).
So those are my top 3 resolutions, I would love to hear some of your resolutions and even updates on how they are coming along.

Ok so on to the pictures. For this post I am going to put pictures up of the some of the scrubbies I sent into Sampler Village for the January Box.

 Pretty aren't they?
And here is a cool hot pad I made when I wrote the "Potholders Galore" post, but I didn't post a pic of it. I thought it was very neat and different so I thought I would post a picture of it in this post. I really don't know how I overlooked it...

Well that's all for this post. Until next time...

Long Time No Post

So it's been a while since my last post. Things have been busy classes started back, work, and of course football! But that doesn't mean that I don't have lots to talk about.

First things first. I FINISHED the Willow Square Afghan. I'm so happy with how it turned out and may do another one in the very far future. Here is a picture of the finished afghan and of course you can see other pics on my Flickr stream.

Also, I have started to sew a little. I have a Halloween Table Runner that I'm working on right now. I bought a pattern on youcanmakethis.com, and I already have so many ideas on how to expand on it and hopefully make a "series". But I need to finish the first one. :) Here is a pic of the runner in progress, it's just so darn cute if I say so myself.

I have one of the spiders appliqued on, just have to do the other one, and then I haven't decided if I'm going to quilt it or not. The pattern does quilt it, but I'm thinking it would look good without being quilted and have some kind of decorative topstitch. (I hope I'm using the right terminology). And you can see more pics of this, as well as a closeup of the spider on my Flickr stream.

Well that's all for this post...'till next time...

Potholders Galore!

Hi All! So I've been busy making hot pads/potholders. I've gotten quite a few made with the scarce supply of cotton yarn I have on hand. I'm trying to find a cheaper way to get cotton so I can have a better color selection at home. If anyone has any secrets let me know. So here are a few of my hot pads/potholders. I didn't save where I got the pattern from, but I'm sure you can find the pattern by "googling" it.

This is the first one, and my favorite. (Of course it's the last one I finished and my "last" project tends to be my favorite). The pattern is called Sunburst Granny Square and the pattern has a 6" and 7" variation. Like I said I'm sure you can find it by using Google or Bing.

This one is called the Pretty Petals Potholder. The pattern is an older one from the looks of the one I printed out, but it looks pretty nice. I've made a few of these in different color combos. They are on Flickr and you can access them by clicking in the right.

Granny Afghan Update: Not much to update. I finished all the squares I had in progress and I still need 18. Of course I have run out of yarn and am waiting on Vanna's Choice to go on sale somewhere so I can finish it up.

Sewing Update: So sewing and I are not getting along at the moment.

Teaser: I bought a great "Scootie" pattern from Annie's Attic last night and I can't wait to get started on it. Of Course I have to wait for a yarn sale but hopefully that will be in an upcoming post. ;)

So that's all for now. I start classes tomorrow night so it maybe a week or two before I can get back on here. Hopefully I will have something new to show you.

Busy as a Bee...

So last week I had finals for the summer semester, I ended up making an A in both classes I was taking so I am very pleased (and not as mad about all the work I had to put into this semester). Hopefully now I might be able to post once a week...that is until fall semester starts up.

Enough with the boring stuff, onto the fun stuff. So first off is the status on my granny square afghan featuring the willow block. Good news is I finished all the blocks I had started...Bad news is that I need to make 18 more. It would be a big enough afghan with what I have, but I'm the type of person that is *serious* about cozying up with a blanket so I am adding a few more rows. Hopefully, I will be finished with all the blocks by next week. I don't have any pictures of them right now, but I will take some when they are all finished and ready to assemble.
I also have another project in the works. I actually started it before the granny afghan but ran out of yarn so I had to take a break till I went to the store to get more. I also can't say much about it, since it is going to be a Mother In Law present. Her birthday is next week so I will post a pic after she has opened it.
I also sewed a coaster, crochet hook organizer, and a checkbook. For some this sounds like an easy task, well for me it wasn't easy breezy, but it was fun. More importantly though they came out looking good. And I completely forgot to take a pic of my crochet hook organzier, hopefully I'll remember for next time.
So this post is looking picture free, huh? Don't worry since my finals I have been on a "deep cleaning of the house room by room" phase. So far I have finished my craft room, my closet, linen closet, and my bathroom. Doesn't really sound like a lot, but trust me I'm making progress. The up side is that I am in love with my craft room and it looks great, but the rest of the house is a mess. So hopefully that is my motivator to get the house finished. Anyways here are the pictures.

So this is from my doorway. The picture isn't great, but it's better than the ones I took last night.

This is next to my awesome big work table. It holds my yarn, scrapbook album in progress, and scrapbook pages that need to go into the album, and magazines with a few other odds and ends.

This is the part of the room I'm most excited about. The shelves are new and hold my fabric, and the top shelf holds my yarn that hasn't been wound yet with a few other knick-knacks. Also, next to my computer is my hubby's grandma's old sewing machine. Of course I have a hard enough time with my new sewing machine that is ubber friendly so I'm just using the table and stool part. But I'm so excited to have a designated area for  it. The little thing next to it holds thread and stuff.

And for my last picture this is my scrapbooking area. I got all these cubes for Christmas and they are awesome.
So now you've seen my studio, and had an extremely long post. So I will sign off until next time...

Slowly but Surely...

Ok, so I missed posting last week. I kept meaning to, but my progress on the Willow throw is slow moving. Luckily, I changed my process and am making a progress a little quicker. This throw is going to be very rustic, not sure if I meant it to be or not, but it is. Also, I am still contemplating on how to actually put the squares together. Initially I wanted to single crochet them together in a rustic brown, but I'm not sure it's actually going to work the way I pictured, so now I'm thinking I might just have to use the cream in putting them together. I don't know I still need to ponder it some more.
Also, this throw has already used up a lot of yarn, I was a little surprised at how fast I can go through a skein. Oh and here is a picture, I have more on my flickr account which you should be able to see in the sidebar somewhere. Till next time...

New Project

This weekend I went and bought 2 crochet books. They are AWESOME! One is The Complete Photo Guide to Crochet and the other one is 200 Crochet Blocks for blankets, throws, and afghans. I was a little overwhelmed at first and couldn't decide on what I was going to make first from the books but finally decided on a granny square. Well I ended up making 2 of them last night and I am in love with how they turned out, I can already see the finished throw in my head. So, even though I said I was going to take a break on the long projects I am going to go ahead and make this one.

Sorry the picture isn't the best, but for some reason I couldn't get it to turn out right. Anyway, I am going to alternate those two blocks throughout the throw, and then use the brown to attach them together and make a nice border around it. Oh I can't wait to get this one done. Oh and I got the color inspiration from the last throw. I really liked the rust, blue, and cream together so I decided to see how they worked on their own. I think they look very nice together.
That's enough for now, and I'll keep you posted! :)