My Rag Rug

When I as younger, one of my aunts made beautiful rag rugs. I have always wanted one; as I got older, I wanted to make one.

 So, I used fabric-I-own to make it, so I can't take much credit for the colors.

I cut about 2 inches into the fabric and about one inch wide so I could tear my strips. Wow. What a mess! 

I like the look of the torn edges but it takes so long!

My mom asked: "Are you using my rotary cutter to cut your strips?"

Me: "No. Brilliant!"

The strips came along much quicker when I used the rotary cutter.  The main difference, besides time, is that when I tore the strips, the mess occurred at that time.  When I cut the strips, I made a mess everywhere I crocheted. Sorry Dad.

 It was easy to make.  I made a chain the length I wanted (to fit in front of my couch) using the biggest crochet hook I could find and single crocheted till it was as wide as I wanted.

Once I had finally tied off, I noticed that I had gotten a little wider as I went along.

Oh well.  I love it anyway.

The kids liked it. It worked well to put Baby Dale on when I propped him up in his boppy.

Perfect.

Another craft well done. 

Ben and Nick Birthday Gifts

Here are the boys's gifts: 

 I have been following a lot of blogs with the help of Pinterest.  I found both of these patterns through there.

The frog will get a crown tomorrow if I have time before the party at 2.

The spider's link is here:
http://craft-with-confidence.blogspot.com/2010/09/spider-bug-buddy-tutorial-bug-3-of-3.html
The frog, here:
http://www.lilblueboo.com/2011/07/a-stuffed-frog-prince-a-tutorial-and-download.html

Daddy and the Babies

Here are a few pictures of Chris with the kids.

 Chris held Dale on his lap and shared his hat with him.

 They were busy getting stuff done.

 Daddy holding Dale after a bath. Dale was all wrapped up in his fuzzy blanket...all warm and snuggly.

 Jess was helping Chris whisk the rue for dinner.

Chris had cooked down the ham bone to make a stock; 

He made ham and potato soup for our dinner last night.

 Jessica was a happy helper.

Here are the two of them in the kitchen.  I love our little family.

Jessie's Poncho

Last year, I started to crochet myself a poncho is this very subtle orange.  When I finally finished it, my daughter and niece both wanted to run around in it.  They were sticking their hands through the holes in mine for sleeves.  I still had at least a skein of the orange yarn so I thought that Jes would like a poncho of her own.  I finished it last night.  I based it on the pattern linked on the bottom of this post.

 Lion Brand makes you sign up for access to their patterns but it doesn't cost and they have a pattern for almost everything.  

When I finally finished the poncho last night, the pattern wasn't handy so I made up the finished edges myself; I like my finish better then the pattern.

I would have taken a better photo except my camera battery died at this point; when I find my charger, I will take another better shot.  It really wasn't very hard and would have been done by now if I hadn't started it right before the Christmas season.

http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/chs-scallopEdgePonchoKids.html?r=1