Z I N N I A S

This is the first time in my adult life I have successfully grown zinnias. The seeds finally got enough water from me and above and finally weren't eaten by squirrels. Me and my little gals grew zinnias and they are beautiful. And they keep coming.

I remember dad and I planting them every summer as a kid. Dad is now a master gardener, but then, then I was just a kid and he was just my dad. Standing in front of the split rail fence he told me to water them well and say a prayer for them.

Thanks dad for teaching me young to pray for the little things and the big things.

Yarn Journal: Granny Square blanket of many colors

Quite a while ago I was inspired by Erin of House on Hill Road and her blanket and I referred to her posts and pictures of it often.

 I started the granny square blanket last summer in June 2012 and finished it early this spring 2013 and kept forgetting to journal it. I took this yarn to Hawaii, Florida a few times (our home away from home), car pool lines, dance class, friends houses, and everywhere in between. As I began planning it I knew I wanted to be a dark denim blue and for it to be a blanket of many colors*.

 I choose the main blue first and then bought many acrylic brights and a few wool super wash yarns to match the shade and the colors we already had in the room. I did not keep track of all the colors. Sorry! I can say I bought everything at our local Joann's, Michael's and Dee's Crafts. 

 I know a few great wonderful yarn crafters and artists and many of them take great pride in using great wool yarns. This allergic gal just couldn't do it. One of the red yarns, one of the yellow yarns, and a couple of the blues are a beautiful wool I got from Dee's Crafts and every day I used them I had a reaction on my hands. But napping under the blanket hasn't been a problem for me (it does make D and Mike sneeze, so they can't use it), so maybe just running the yarn through my hand repeatedly is the kicker for me.

That being said I do look forward to to trying other kinds of yarns in the future. Cotton, linen and alpaca yarns seem like great possibilities for other projects. 

Having made a granny square baby blanket for my niece where I sewed those squares together traditionally, I knew I wanted a different method for this project after I read about "joining as you go". I link to that method below.

Project details-

70 Granny square of 5 stripes in each square plus main color. I learned how to make a granny square several years ago, but here is a great tutorial if you want to learn. 12 different patterns of squares, there are some that I made 8 each of and some I made only 4 of. I just made my favorite patterns more often, winging it as I went. 

Number of Colors 13 different colors ** (Again, so sorry I do not know the names of the colors- those labels are long gone)

3 reds

1 orange

2 yellows

2 greens

5 blues which include the main color that were all a variation on denim blue, turquoise, or robins egg or similar.

I connected the squares with the method of joining squares as you go.

Have you made a granny square blanket? Or have you made a project with granny squares?

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*Theater nerds enjoy this crazy awful/crazy awesome version of Joseph's coat of many colors here and Dolly fans enjoy your coat of many colors here).

**I once overheard someone in a fabric store say that you should have at least 13 kinds of fabrics or yarns in a blanket to have enough diversity to look at and it has stuck with me. So funny that I so often try to stick to that rule.

Birthday Dress

Over the last week I made the Simplicity 2444 pattern to wear on my birthday. I used "It's a Hoot" by Moda quilting cotton that I bought a year or two ago at our local quilt shop, Among Friends Quilt Shop. After using this fabric print in quite a few patch work projects I only had 1 and 7/8 yards left. The original pattern calls for about 3 and 3/8 yards of fabric. I had to strategically cut out the top pieces and then made a gathered skirt using every bit of the yardage I had left.

Despite the generous gather and because of the grain line, it was still a bit short for me to wear comfortably, so I bought a similar colored broadcloth at my local chain store, Joann's  the next day to make the border/hem. Because the background color is off white, it is lined with an off white lining I had in my stash. The zipper is done as a hand picked zipper, my first ever, which I learned via my Craftsy course I just watched this summer,  "The Couture Dress, with Susan Khalje".