Froggy's Quilted & Appliqued Wall Hanging

This is what Froggy gave me when I visited her last week.  It's machine and hand sewed as well as appliqued.  It's a wall hanging, about 20" x 15".  It has a polka dotted background, the edging is bright  yellow with assorted colors on the front.  The center attraction is an appliqued armadillo with a heart on his shell, a Texas flag and flowers including bluebonnets.  The corners have a button, the bottom two are lavender butterflies and the top two are yellow stars.

Froggy obviously put a lot of work into this and I've very happy with it.  Now, we just have to decide where to hang it.  Bill wants it on one wall and I want it on another one!  We both want it in the bedroom, it works really well in there with the quilts we already have and we both like it a lot.

Here's the full piece.

Armadillo!  They are very special creatures to Texans.  Yes, sometimes we do call them speedbumps!  But this little guy is so cute.

Sorry about the string that shows!  It is a stray thread that I didn't notice until just now.  It's not attached, it just landed on the star.

The flag!  And a close up bluebonnet.

Crochet Tote Bag

I made this several months ago, actually I think about a year ago, for Froggy.  At the time, she was learning knitting and I thought that a crochet bag for knitting would be good.  There is a joke about crocheters and knitters not getting along.

It's all single stitch, 5 different yarns.  The bag is basically a very long rectangle, then it's folded to where the two ends are together.  It's stitched together at the sides with a couple of rows of single stitch, possibly 3 rows - like I said, it's been a while since I made this one!  The bottom is lavender, the two sides are pink on the lower half and maroon on the top half.  Both sides are the same.

The handles are single stitch as well and attached on each side with single stitching.  I can't remember if the handles are double or not, but it seems like they are.  (After I looked at the picture, they are a single layer and not double.  I should have made them double as they would have been stronger.  It seems like I intended to make them double but apparently I didn't!).

It's decorated with two crocheted flowers in pink camo which matches the side stitching.

Here's a closer shot of one of the flowers, but it's a little blurry:

I didn't think to measure the bag, I took the picture when I was there last week.

At the time, it was an experiment to see if the side stitching worked like I thought it would.  It did work, and I have used that technique a few times on other projects.

Of course, Froggy gave up on knitting (at leat for a while) but she can use this bag for a lot of other things such as her quilting.

Also, there is a dog story connected with the pink camo.  I absolutely fell in love with the color when I first saw the yarn and hadn't used it much when I started this project.  I had the yarn ball sitting on the lower shelf of the sofa table and Frasier found it.  Which I discovered when I looked out the kitchen window.  And realized that he'd done what he's known for:  taken it outside.  In the rain and left it there.  I was infuriated, but I should have known better than to leave it down in his reach.  The yarn was pretty wet and I also discovered that it smelled like Frasier's breath - which can be fairly bad.  So I tossed it, went to Michael's on my lunch hour and bought a new skein.  And I don't leave anything like that down where he can get to it anymore, it's all in either my crates in the closet or in my ever-expanding collection of tote bags.

Crocheted Soap Holder Bath Scrubbie

This is my latest crochet project.  It only took me a few minutes to make it.  It's a holder for a bar of soap, it's actually a scrubby.  The soap stays inside it and it is used as a wash cloth or scrubby.  This one is made with acrylic yarn, but it could also be made with cotton yarn possibly.  It's a combination of chain stitch and double stitch.  It's held closed with a chain stitch drawstring.

I made this one as a prototype, and Otter was my test subject.  She said that it worked great, she used it and had no complaints.

Crocheted Pot Holders (Edited) (And Added To!)

I started a collection for Froggy a couple of years ago.  I went with something that could be functional but was also decorative.  Crocheted Pot Holders.  I've given her a couple of them over the last few months but I don't necessarily have pictures of them.  I am trying to remember to take pictures of things as I make them.

Here's a few:

Beehive.  With bees.

This one was fun, although the bees are smaller than I'd like.

Candy Corn.  (Or pie, as Froggy thought!)

I didn't have a pattern for this one, I never could find one I really liked.  So I just made a triangle!

Kitty Cat.

This was made from a circular pattern that was actually for something else, I added my own details.  Meow!  The reverse side looks like a curly tail, which is how the yarn just happened to work out.

This was also one that I didn't have a pattern for, besides the heart.  But the heart pattern was actually for something else and I improvised so it could be used as a pot holder.

Chocolate Pop Tart.  Because if it's not chocolate, it's not good!

I think all of these are single stitch.  They are start with a foundation chain and then a certain number of rows, the round ones involve counting stitches but they are fun even though I don't like to count.

They were fun and quick.  I have a few more that I didn't get pictures of, including two cookies and a bear's head that is still under construction but is similar to the cat's face.

EDIT:  I think I may have a few pictures of the earlier pot holders I made for Froggy.  I'll do a separate post with them in the next few days.

2ND EDIT ADDED TO:

I spent a few days in Texas with Froggy.  I got pictures of some of the earlier pot holders I made for her.  She has been using them.  Here they are:

Watermileon slice.  This one was made as a circle, then folded in half and stitched together at the edges.  It was a lot of fun.  I think it was triple stitch, but it's been several months and I can't remember for sure.  It might be double stitch.

This is an orange slice, I was never happy with it but Froggy likes it so I'm not complaining!  It's been used, as you can tell by the stains on it.  Which is a good thing, they can be decorative but they are also meant to be used.

Kitty Cat Ears Headband

This is what Otter made for the anime convention she went to a week ago.  This is actually the set that she made for BF, he was a good sport about it and wore them.  They are brown felt, 2 layers with a layer of posterboard between them for stiffness.  The lighter inner color is tan acrylic paint, two coats with a little extra touch up.  The headband was one that she got at Hobby Lobby, it's covered in a brown satin-type fabric.  The ears were hot-glued on and I had to help her with that because the headband had to be held in the shape of the wearer's head for that step.  Basically, Otter covered her head with a hand towel and then a sheet of wax paper.  Then she put the headband on her head over that and I took the glue gun to it.  She had to hold it on her head for a few minutes, long enough for the glue to harden and cool.  It actually looked pretty good "in person" and held up well.  The fuzzy thing on the side of the picture is one of the tails - it was a feathered boa that was hot-glued to a pinback so it could be attached.

Blue & Green Triple Stitch Crochet Scarf (EDITED)

Ignore the fact that this picture was taken on top of my washing machine!  It was the closest spot with a light colored background.

This is my standard scarf pattern, it's a foundation chain with 5 rows of triple stitch.  The yarn is blue & green variegated with some transition colors including a yellowish green and teal.  It's very pretty and I have a little left so I'll have to find another project for it.  It's Red Heart Kids yarn, which is softer than their regular yarn and it was very easy to work with.  I can't remember the name of it for anything, but it's a one-word title and is ocean or water related.  I'll eventually remember, and then I'll post it on here.  (EDIT:  The color is called Beach).

This is the entire scarf.  It's just over 60" long, the fringes on the ends are 9" but are doubled so they only extend about 4".

This is a close-up of the stitches.  The colors in this yarn are absolutely beautiful.  It's a gift for my friend Virginia, I asked her for her two favorite colors and she said green & blue.  All she knows is that I'm crocheting something for her, but not what it is.  She doesn't have internet access so I think I'm safe posting it on here before I actually give it to her.

It was an easy project, it only takes me a couple of hours start to finish on these.  I've made several of them  and they are quick.  I really enjoyed making this one.

Fun Crochet Project - Dog Clothes!

On the main blog, I've discussed our dogs in more detail.  Otter's dog is a beagle, Maggie is her name and she's a typical beagle - crazy.  Maggie came to us as a 2-year old dog, she had belonged to a "little old lady" who passed away and that meant a re-homing for Maggie.  Aside from the fact that beagles are extremely energetic little furrballs which isn't what you'd expect in an older person's pet, Maggie loves to be dressed up and we think that her previous person probably dressed her up on a regular basis.  Maggie has a few bandanas and one "dress", which she will bring to us quite often and gets very excited when her clothing gets put on her.  Maybe it's a good memory for her, I don't know how much dogs can remember since they are very much in the moment, but it's fun.

So, Otter and I decided that Maggie needed something else for her wardrobe.  Otter requested a cape and I had the perfect yarn for it.  Pink Camo just seems to fit Maggie Moo's personality.

This is the entire cape, after we put it on the dog and she ran around for a few minutes.  Then she went to sleep, and she seemed pretty comfortable!

This is a close-up of the flowers.  They are easy to make, they are a combination of half-double stitch, double stitch and triple stitch.

I made a ruffle at the top, which actually covers Maggie's Princess collar when she's in an upright position.  Ruffles are easy, this one is double stitch.

After I took the picture, I realized that the last flower is off-center a little bit.  I'll get that fixed, it's sewn on to the cape so it will only take me a couple of minutes to do that.

The cape is single stitch, with chain stitch ties at the front and under the belly.