Photo

I'm posting this photo, so that I can pin it in my Embroidery file.  I want to embroider a bird silhouette for Lydia's room.  I got it from Denali's facebook page - http://www.nps.gov/dena/naturescience/birds.htm

More Crafting

I had some leftover t-shirt yarn from the rug project, so I whipped up some potholders.

This one was done in a traditional granny square for two rounds, then single crocheted around the edge.

I did this one in a spiral in pale yellow (I know it looks white in the pic).  Just kept going around, doing 2 sc in each stitch, until it seemed to want to curl, so I switched to 1 sc per stitch.  Then to make it seem more round than spiral, I did a series of slip stitches until I ran out of material.  I then switched to a darker yellow and did a picot edge, for a sun/sunflower look.  The little bit of brown and the little bit of white on the one above is the printing on the respective t-shirts.

Little Gardener

Bug Photo of the Day

Pitchin' a Tent

More Boy Scout fun.

Swim Time

Ty worked really hard this month to pass a swim test for Boy Scouts.  He had to work on his proper strokes and swim 100 yards--without breaks.  He practiced for an hour, practically every day.  He took the test last Friday and passed!  We are so proud of him!

Montage of photos I took of Ty doing a front somersault and then a backward somersault.

From Rags to Rugs

I cut up some old t-shirts and crocheted a rug.  (Update:  I've received a LOT of hits from Pinterest.  I've added instructions at the bottom.)

It measures about 22 inches across.

This is just a basic single-crochet circle.  Toward the outer rings, it seems to have turned into an octagon, but I followed the directions here to make a circle.  I used 2 strands of t-shirt yard for the first 8 rings because I wanted my rug nice and thick.  But then it was clear that my colors weren't going to make it around each ring as double strands, so I switched to single strands.  The final ring is done in slip stitch, because I didn't think the yellow would make it around in single crochet.

To cut up the t-shirts, I just make a 1" cut on the side seam at the bottom of the tee.  Then start cutting a 1" strip around the t-shirt, spiraling upward.  When you make it all the way around, you have to turn diagonally to keep a continuous strip.  Keep going all the way up to the arms.  Here is a good alternative too - http://www.relevedesign.com/how-to-cut-continuous-t-shirt-yarn/.

Any questions, please let me know.

Mr. Noisy

For the last day, I thought there was a mouse chewing through a wall in my house.  I've heard the sound before--while lying in bed!  The next morning I found a hole in a corner of my bedroom.  This sounded the same, so I waited.  I figured I had to wait until the mouse chewed through and then I would position some poison for the little rascal.

Lydia said to shoot a hole in the wall.  She was joking.  She sat and listened to the "mouse" and kept making noises like cats and red-tailed hawks, to scare it away.

Earlier this evening, I noticed this big bug in between my window and screen--in the same vicinity of the noise.  I then thought the bug was chewing through my house--ugh!!!  It really sounded like an army of bugs!  But I was still convinced the bug was coincidental, and the noisemaker was a mouse.

Finally, I had a theory.  Let's catch the bug and toss him outside and then see if the noise ceases.  Bingo!  You can see in the above video that he makes a definite scratchy noise.  He had been clawing at the metal window frame.  It was really loud.

I'm glad it was not a mouse.  No damage done.  Enjoy some up-close pictures of our Mr. Noisy bug.

Shootin' Bugs

Had some fun shooting some bugs today.  We've had this swallowtail chrysalis in a jar on the windowsill for months.  Today, the butterfly decided to emerge.

When the butterflies first come out, they don't fly, so it's easy to get good pictures of them.

The photo above was taken on "Auto."  The photo below was not.  I hope this convinces you to stop using the auto feature on your camera.  :)  When I tweaked the settings myself, I was able to get better detail of the butterfly's coloring.

Close-up of the beautiful wing.

Close-up his head--look at those eyes!

This one below is a fun setting on my camera that isolates just one color.  I just isolated the orange.

Later this evening, I was able to get some great pictures of a ladybug and dragonfly.  Ladybugs usually will not hold still, but this one did.  And this dragonfly was very cooperative, too.

Designer Clothes

I thought it would be fun to make Lydia some unique shirts this spring.  I bought a plain white t-shirt.  Then I dipped the bottom and the edges of the sleeves in some dye.  Then I embroidered a design on the front.  Pretty cute.