Blog Posts of the Week X

Blog posts of the week; a semi-regularly published collection of my favorite blog posts from the past week. (Or however long it's been since the last time I shared my favorite blog posts.)

Jelly Xmas Star Tutorial
Jelly Wares is sharing this cute little crocheted star pattern. Although crocheting is not my preferred mode of crafting, I will be trying this pattern. It looks like the perfect size for my little Christmas tree.

Keep it Simple, Stupid
I'm Knitting As Fast As I Can notes that as time goes by, she seems to prefer simpler patterns. At the end of this post are some clever little I-cord bracelets. Since I love knitting I-cord, I see a few of these in my knitting future.

My Craft Room
French Press Knits has just finished turning her basement into a craft room. As you can see in the picture below, ours still needs a little bit of work to look as clean and organized as hers. She also just had a baby - congratulations!

December 2010 Desktop Calendar
I have been using these calendars from Chocolate and Zucchini all year. They always make me smile, and sometimes crave the food pictured. This month the picture is of chocolate clusters. Yummy!

From The Craftiblog:
Explosion Mini Gift Birthday Box - This is the cutest little box and when you take the top off, it 'explodes' to reveal candy or whatever else you put inside. I think these would be prefect to include with Christmas gifts.
Candy Bar Gift Card- This is also a very clever card and gift box all rolled into one sweet package.

From Jon's Thread Escapades:
Merriment Doily/Coaster - Jon is generously sharing this lovely pattern with her readers. Doilies have always intimidated me, but I think I might be able to manage this one.
Adding a Bead in the Centre of a SSSR - Jon has created a technique to insert a bead in a Single Shuttle Split Ring.


Little Teapots
Umi and Tsuru has been tatting little teapots from Martha Ess' Tea is for Tatting book.

From Yarnplayer:
It grew around a bottle cap - featuring a necklace that started with a bottle cap pendant.
Truckload Giveaway - Yarnplayer is hosting a giveaway, including a 'truckload' of HDT, a copy of her newest book, and some other goodies.

I hope you have fun checking out these blog posts!

Blog Posts of the Week IX

Blog posts of the week; a semi-regularly published collection of my favorite blog posts from the past week. (Or however long it's been since the last time I posted my favorite blog posts.) I can't believe that it has been a month since my last collection of blog posts! I believed it once I started wading through 600+ blog posts!

Tatting Posts

Purple Glory
Yarnplayer dyed some tatting thread in lovely shades of purple, inspired by morning glories.

An Impending Death
TattingChic is back to blogging, and, after lamenting the impending death of her computer, shares a lovely celtic bookmark.

Butterfly for a New Necklace
Umi & Tsuru is a tatting blog that I've been reading for about a month now. I love the original ideas the author has of adding tatting to pre-made shapes, beads, etc. In this post she tatted around the edges of a filigree butterfly.

Knitting/Crocheting Posts

Holiday Gift Time - Shawlettes

Sheri from The Loopy Ewe blogged about how awesome shawlettes are, and quite a few links to various patterns.

NEW Knitterella Holiday Tags!

Kniterella has designed gift tags for knitters to use with their knitted gifts! The best part about these tags is that the back side has care icons, so you can circle the appropriate icon, and not have to write out care directions.

Dishcloth and a '1'st Installment'...

Jelly Wares designed this lovely crocheted little girls dress, and is sharing the pattern! To get the first installment of the pattern, follow the directions in the post.

Miscellaneous

Molly's Sketchbook: Linen Thanksgiving Napkins

This post is from The Purl Bee. Mom and I have been talking about making and using cloth napkins for quite a while. When we were on vacation in Pennsylvania, we bought some fabric to make napkins with. I really like the way the edges were finished on these, so maybe we can try it.

Painting Our Craft Room, Part Two
This is from my Mom's blog, A Crafter's Chronology. This post tells most of the saga of how the project went from simply painting to ripping out the carpet. The new carpet has yet to be installed, and then we will be carefully evaluating everything that goes back into the craft room. I still haven't figured out how we crammed all that stuff in there in the first place. The picture is how our craft room currently looks. The painting is all done. No rug, and no furniture other than the computer desk and chair. The rug has been ordered, but we don't know when it will be installed.

Blog Posts of the Week VIII

Blog posts of the week; a semi-regularly published collection of my favorite blog posts from the past week. (Or however long it's been since the last time I posted my favorite blog posts.)

1 Ball Projects
In an effort to interest folks in some of the nicer, more expensive yarns, Jelly Wares is trying to come up with some one-ball projects. I tend to avoid pricey yarns, especially when you need 6 or more for a project. The little girls dress featured in this blog post seems like the perfect solution.
(By the way, I still don't know what to do with the yarn in the photo - approximately 187 yds, 4 ozs of rayon fingering weight yarn. Any ideas?)

Summer Sewing Wrap-Up
This is from SewChic. The thing that excited me about this post was the bridesmaids dresses at the end. I love the style and color of the dress that Jessica made, especially the rose at the waist.

Customize Your Blog's Background With Your Own Image
For those of you who don't keep up with the Blogger Blog, Blogger has rolled out a new feature for everyone (It's been available in Draft for a while.) This feature allows you to upload your own image to use as a blog background. I have tried to do this before, by playing with the HTML. Let's just say that it's a good thing I have a separate, private blog to experiment on. I did play a little with my background and layout, so let me know if anything shows up oddly, is missing, or broken. (I am aware that the drop down button for 'completed projects' is hidden. Just click on the words and the menu will drop down.)

One other thing before I end this post - I am planning reopen my Etsy shop sometime this week.

Blog Posts of the Week VII

Blog posts of the week; a semi-regularly published collection of my favorite blog posts from the past week. (Or however long it's been since the last time I posted my favorite blog posts.) In this case, it has been a month. It was a busy month with nearly two weeks of vacation in the middle of it. There are a lot of posts, so I'll try to keep my descriptions short.

Tatted Adventures of Complicated Girl
Silver Fever
I just started reading this blog a few weeks ago. I really liked the delicacy of the jewelry in this post, as well as the way the beads were incorporated.

Tatting Tales ~ All Things Tatting
More Blocking Templates for You
This link is to square and oval templates to help block your tatting. There is also a circular template here.

Tat's All She Wrote
This link will take you straight to the blog home page, where Marty has just finished a 16 part series of posts on tatting that she took to the fair, and the ribbons that she won.

Jon's Thread Escapades
Three very informative posts! Two methods for opening closed rings: Method One Method Two.
Tatting Peek a Boo Boo. A post on dealing with tatting 'gaposis'.

Knitted Bear knit some awesome socks!


Kniterella's notepads for knitters have arrived!

A lovely card using a Sizzix embossing folder by The Craftiblog.

Last but not least, for all you Blogger bloggers, Blogger has released a new feature - Blogger Stats. I'm still playing around with it, but so far it seems to be pretty good. If you're concerned about accuracy, you may want to turn off counting your own page views, as described in the article.

That's all for now!

Blog Posts of the Week VI

Blog Posts of the Week: a semi-regularly published collection of my favorite blog posts from the past week. (Or however long it's been since the last time I posted my favorite blog posts.)


From The Craftiblog:
Drawer Box with Easel Card Topper 
This is on my list of projects to make someday. It would be perfect for storing my calligraphy pens.
Delighting in Life in Pink & Orange
I liked this card because of the elements made with a Cuttlebug. When we first bought the Cuttlebug, I didn't use it very much, but I use it nearly every time I scrapbook.

Making Tea the Old-Fashioned Way
This post is from An Herbal Bedfellow. Tea is one of my favorite winter beverages. In the Summer I like to make herbal iced teas. I have not tried this exact method of making tea, but have done the two pots method a few times.

Circle-y Granny Tutorial
From Jelly Wares. If you've followed this blog for a while, you know I'm not a fan of crocheting. However, these are really neat, and I may give them a try...maybe after I finish my never-ending afghan. (There's a picture of it at the end of this post)

The Knit Princess is having a contest!
What's your knitting horror story? The top five stories will be illustrated in the comic.

Flowers on the T-shirt
The Tattingplayer: A bit of tatting for the neckline of a t-shirt. I've seen tatting on shirts before, but it never really appealed to me. This is different because it's not monochromatic, and I think that's why I like it.

25 Motif Challenge...
Tat's All She Wrote is tatting covers for glass balls. They look a lot nicer than mine did. If you look at some of the older and newer posts, you can see a few more of the ball covers.

Drawing Templates for Tatting Diagrams
Jon at Jon's Thread Escapade is always designing lovely bits of tatting. In this post she explains how to design a tatted piece.


Not Spinning but Plying
From the Knitted Bear. This is what I call "yarn p0rn" (yes the 0 is there on purpose - I don't want my blog to become x-rated or anything). I love everything about this yarn - the color makes me think of eating sherbet in the summer.

I will be on vacation next week, but I will try and schedule a few posts to be published while I'm gone.

Blog Posts of the Week V

Maybe this should become blog posts of Every Other Week. The last two weeks are something of a blur; I'm not really sure why, but they are. Today, I'm going to try and get caught up on all the bloggy stuff, and then stay caught up with it!

New Share Buttons
First up in my Google Reader, a new Blogger feature: Share Buttons. Being a fan of sharing blog posts, I immediately went and turned the new feature on. Here's a screen shot:

See the buttons under my Etsy preview? If you really like a post and want to share it, those buttons will, from left to right, allow you to 1) Email it, 2)Blog about it (in Blogger), 3)Tweet it, 4)Post it on Facebook, and 5)Share using Google Buzz.

Mini Beatrice
Moving on to the world of tatting, Marty at Tat's All She Wrote tatted a gorgeous doily. I've concluded that I need to get over my fear of doilies, and (once I find a job and have some extra $$) purchase at least one of Iris Niebach's books.

Some Questions
Kelly at Catherine's Crafting was wondering (among other things) what is Tatting Tea Tuesday. That got me wondering as well, and after some searching, I found this link. I think I will join in, although it may not be right away.

From The Craftiblog Two cards from a shoebox gathering. I'm not sure what a shoebox gathering is, but I like the card the author designed, and this one, designed by one of her friends.

Now that I'm caught up on craft blogs, I'm going to try and write a few posts to publish over the next few days.

Blog Posts of the Week IV

This weeks post is pretty short -I thought I had a few more posts to share, but can't seem to find them.

2010-06-05 CAS No Layer Card with Rose Vine by Stampin' Up
This post is from The Craftiblog. Most of the cards that the author of this blog makes have tons of layers. Not that layers aren't cool, but when I make a card I don't think about layers until I'm almost done making it. It's nice to see a card with no layers once in a while.

 (These aren't too bad, but check out The Craftiblog - her cards are much nicer than mine.)


Balloon Animals
Remember balloon animals? I remember getting a few as a kid. They were fun until you got them home. Then you had to find a place to keep it where it wouldn't get popped, untwisted, or be in the way. They never really lost air, so they just stuck around until I got tired of them and asked one of my parents to pop it so I could throw it out. Now you can knit balloon animals! (That makes them something other than ballons, doesn't it??) Sheri at The Loopy Ewe has this adorable pattern set in her shop.

Blog Posts of the Week III

This bunch of posts spans two weeks since I pretty much quit reading blogs the week before the wedding.

First, my Mom blogged about the ring attendant's pillow that she made for the ring attendant. It's a gorgeous pillow, and I think it's nicer than anything I've seen in stores.

Knitted Bear is expecting, and knitting lots of baby things. These bibs are awesome, and are going on the "to make for my hope chest and/or any pregnant friends" list.

Catherine's Tatting Attempts has some kitties that like to help with tatting. They look so sweet in the pictures, though. I've yet to have our kitties try to help with tatting, but they have tried to help with scrapping, knitting, and quilling projects. The picture on the left is one of my little 'helpers'.

This is one of three posts from Feelin' Feminine. This post has a detailed tutorial on how to fix corner tears in a skirt or dress. I've only had a tear like this once that I can remember. I mended it, but every time I see it, it says "Sarah mended this."

The second post from Feelin' Feminine is for a natural bug repellent. People tell me that the price for being so sweet is being a perpetual target for mosquitoes and other nasty biting bugs. I usually use a repellent with Deet in it, but someone recently told me that Deet could cause some health problems. I'll be mixing some of this repellent up very soon!

The third post from Feelin' Feminine is about Jewelweed. I have never heard of this before, but apparently it helps with acne.  Do you or anyone you know use it? Where do you purchase it from? I have super sensitive skin, and am always looking for gentle ways to deal with acne.

Blog Posts of the Week II

For some reason, last week's post had my Etsy Mini in between every paragraph. That post should now be fixed. I seem to have been in food/recipe mode this week; I have more recipe blog posts than crafting posts.

Pasta Salad with Lemon and Peas

At some point within the past few years I discovered that although I do not care much for macaroni salad, I love pasta salads. As a result, I'm always looking for new pasta salad ideas. I can't wait to try this one from An Herbal Bedfellow!

Tropical Traditions Flax Seed Giveaway

This post is also from An Herbal Bedfellow. Flax seed is something of a recent discovery for me. I'm always looking for ways to get more fiber. Flax seeds are an easy way to get a little extra fiber. I like to put them in my oatmeal, cream of wheat, and homemade granola. The giveaway for a one pound bag of flax seed ends on Friday, May 21, at midnight.

Motif 1&2

Catherine's Crafting recently returned to blogland. She joined a 25 motif tatting challenge. I'm looking forward to seeing more of her work. Welcome back to blogland!

3 of a kind, but no pair

Yarnplayer dyed some more thread this week. Every time I see one of her skeins, I want to buy it! Or learn how to make my own HDT.

Confetti Egg Salad with Olives, Pimentos, Salami, Scallions, and Parsley

Farmgirl Fare is an awesome blog. My basic pizza sauce recipe came from Susan's blog, and has been tweaked to my family's taste. I was also introduced to Pesto on Farmgirl Fare. If I ever get around to making this recipe, I would probably leave the olives out, or put them on the side. Somehow mixing olives and eggs doesn't appeal to me.

Chicken and Radish Salad with Avocado Green Goddess Dressing

This recipe is from one of my favorite food blogs: Chocolate and Zucchini. Not only do I like the name, but the recipes are interesting, as well as the background information on strange-to-me ingredients. I've also enjoyed the Edible Idioms series of posts, and the monthly desktop calendar wallpapers. Clotilde has also published a cookbook, Chocolate and Zucchini: Daily Adventures In a Parisian Kitchen, available from Amazon.com.

Enjoy this week's posts! I will be sewing and helping Mom with preparations for my Sis's wedding all week - less than 2 weeks now!

Blog Posts of the Week I

If you read my gardening blog, you will already know that Google Reader says I have 108 blog subscriptions. In order to better keep up with reading all those blog posts, I'm starting a feature on both of my blogs with the posts I liked best. Both blogs will have recipe posts, but the garden blog will have garden-related posts featured, and this blog will have craft-related posts.

Testing Texture
This is just plain cool. A test swatch of different textures. I could see this turning into a very awesome scarf! Also a great way to decide what texture works best with your yarn, as French Press Knits was doing.

Pretty Posy
Projects as pretty as this make me wish I had more time for tatting. Jon's Thread Escapades is one of my favorite tatting blogs. Jon's work is always lovely, and I enjoy seeing the patterns she designs.

Resurrected
This post falls into the "Will be Useful Information Someday" category. Someday being defined as "Someday, when I've knit a pair of socks that have been worn so much that they now need to be darned". Which is exactly what happened to Knitterella. Her socks have been saved, and she made a great tutorial about how to darn socks.

Clara- Off the Needles
This is another "Someday" post. As in "Someday I will know someone who will appreciate the time and effort put into making a knitted piece and I can make this for their little girl" Or "Someday I'll be married, and hopefully have a little girl I can make this for. Anyway, French Press Knits did a lovely job on this cute little dress.

Shrimp and Feta Orzo
As I mentioned on my other blog, I'm not entirely sure I would enjoy this recipe, but it does intrigue me. If I make it, there will probably be a few tweaks made. Posted by An Herbal Bedfellow.

Hope you enjoy all the posts!!