Fall Friday

We're really enjoying cool (cold!) weather right now...we've been wearing hats and gloves to walk Shepherd in the evening. This is so great! Usually, in Arkansas, October is back and forth, back and forth, cool day then warm day, cool day then really warm day, cool day then plain ol' hot day! But it's been very cool for about a week straight. It feels so...fallish.

I'm hooking away on the granny squares...up to 18 so far. I'm loosely planning on an afghan of at least 8 squares across by 7 squares down. So I need a minimum of 56 (yes! I can still multiply in my head) and I may go for 9 x 8 squares....we'll see when I get into the 40's!

I'm working on some new scissorkeeps, pincushions and such for my etsy shop. It's been rather neglected for several months now. But I'd like to get a good selection in there for the holiday season. I love this fabric with the teacups..brown, orange, and aqua...serious love. Sorry it's a fuzzy picture, the perfectly overcast fall day does not make for great pictures inside. But it sure is cozy.

Crochet Everyday

Crocheting has the hot spot around here right now. I've been crocheting everyday, sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. And reading about crochet. And looking at crochet on the internet. And dreaming up what to crochet next.

I started this shawl over the weekend, and I'm really enjoying it. You have to pay attention to the pattern, so it's a good switch off between the granny squares. I love the granny squares for just zipping along or taking in the car, because they are so easy and fast. I'm up to 16 squares over in the sidebar counter. Sometimes I get a whole square done in a day, sometimes not quite a full square.

The shawl is a free pattern I found on Lion Brand Yarn's website. It's called "Sweet Scallops" and the yarn it uses is Vanna's Choice in honey. I'd planned to buy that very yarn, because it looked great in the photo. But when I got to the yarn section in Hobby Lobby, this yarn was right next to the Vanna's Choice yarn, and this "Autumn Stripe" called out to me. It's a very soft acrylic and I'm pleased with how it's crocheting up.

Autumn Decoration

We're definitely enjoying some cooler days now around these parts. This week we've had rain, gloriously mild sunshine, wind, and an overcast day. All beautiful days in their own way!

When we got back from the trip, I got out my fall decorations and put them out. I'm not one of those people that decorates for every holiday or even every season, but I do decorate for fall. I just love it...love the colors, the leaves, acorns, pumpkins...everything!

The picture above is a corner of our living room. The taffy is from our trip....candy corn flavor, yum!

Above is a picture of the mushroom needlepoint pillow I found on our vacation. It needs to be reblocked and have a prettier backing put on it, but for now it's happily resting in the rocking chair in the living room.

Road Trip Goodies

Here are a few of the treasures we found on vacation:

This is an embroidered placemat. I found a set of 4 with 4 napkins at a flea market. I think it is too cute! Very happy mushrooms.

Of course, the stack of fabric. I think I was pretty restrained this year. This is all I got. I'm loving the orange on top. I'm loving orange right now, as a matter of fact.

And some good Pyrex love. I have a few snack plates in this pattern and I found these 3 little bowls to match. I believe it's called "Primrose." I have a pretty good case of Pyrex love.

I found a great needlepoint mushroom pillow, but I haven't gotten a good picture of it yet. We've had a lot of rain and cloudiness around here, which is good...we need the rain. But it doesn't make for great picture taking!

Road Trip

Whee! We just got back from a great road trip, and came home to a happy dog. We used a pet sitter for the first time, and it worked great. She took care of Shepherd and the house, and we didn't have to put him in a kennel ( I just don't think we could do that anymore, it's just too heartbreaking). He got to stay in his home, on his bed, with his things and his routine. And it certainly made it easier for us to enjoy our trip!

I got a few granny squares made while we were travelling, and read the magazines I'd saved up for a few weeks. The weather was great, we had a few cool days, which were wonderful. I love sweater weather! And managed to bring home plenty of treasure, which I'll give you a peek at later this week.

We were up in Ozark country and it certainly is beautiful. Mountain View and Eureka Springs, Arkansas and Branson, Missouri. Yes, Branson. We love it there. We don't go to many of the "shows", but we always go to Silver Dollar City and historic downtown Branson, and the new Branson Landing is fabulous. We stay at a great B&B in Mountain View called Country Oaks. It is a fabulous place, and the best breakfast in the world!

Granny grows

Um, no one told me granny squares were this much fun! I love 'em!

I make myself weave in the ends of each square after it's completed to avoid the dreaded "I have 40 million ends to weave in!" syndrome.

I'm having so much fun with these, I've even put a little counter over in my sidebar to keep a tally for me. I'm not sure how many I'm going to make just yet, but it'll be at least 64 squares.

Camera Bag

We bought a smaller camera to take with us on trips (our main camera is kinda big and clunky) and I whipped up a little camera bag for it.

I put a layer of quilt batting in it, and a little pocket on the inside for an extra memory card.

I threw it together so fast, I forgot to think about a closure until I almost had it all together. So I just used a couple of buttons and a length of (very cute) ribbon and did it like an old string-tie envelope.

I think the camera is happy in it.