Caught in Action

Over Memorial weekend Xiera got a hold of my camera and decided to photograph me while I was crocheting.

I must have been either deep in thought in this next picture, or determined. I am not quite sure.

What was it that I was working on, you ask? My cousin had asked me to crochet a Pooh bear baby blanket for her friend who is expecting a baby boy. I finally have it all finished too.

I don't know if you can tell but I made Pooh bear smiling.

I think he looks very sweet when he smiles, don't you think?

Newborn Goodies

I have been working on a few crochet goodies to send to Brittany of Ella Rose Portrait Arts this weekend. I just finished this cute little newborn baby boy pants, newsie hat, with bow tie to match.

I added a few wooden buttons to the hat and one larger one to the pants. I can't wait to see it in action.
Another thing I have been working on is a fringe blanket newborn photo prop. So far I have 300 strands of yarn hooked around. I still have about 150-200 more strands to go.

Pink And Brown Teddy Bears

Yesterday I hosted my best friend, April's baby shower. We had it in a banquet room at the Ramada Inn hotel. The theme for the baby shower was pink and brown teddy bears. I found the adorable bear banner on Etsy. I purchased two of these banners from Calladoo on Etsy.
Calladoo also made the super cute door sign to match.
For the tables, we put little bears inside pink pails and scattered teddy bear confetti around them.
We then attached plain pink and pink baby feet balloons to the pails. I purchased the pink pails at galvanizedpail.com, and the adorable bears and balloons from oriental trading company. I found the super cute teddy bear confetti on etsy and it was created by vintagehillcreations. The gorgeous cake was made by the talented Vanessa Mitchell who had also made Xiera's fairy mushroom birthday cake.
Vanessa outdid herself yet again because this cake was absolutely adorable and almost too cute to eat! I am loving that little pink bow on the bear's ear!

I put little bowls on the cake table filled with gummy bears and teddy grahams.

As all of our guests came in, we had them fill out these sweet little baby well wishes cards as a keepsake for April. I had purchased these cards on Etsy and they were created by erinsartwork. If anyone brought in any diapers or wipes, we had them fill out a ticket to put into the larger pink pail for the special door prize drawing. Once all of our guests had arrived, and finished eating all of the delicious food we had, it was time for games!! For the first game, we had baby word scramble. Whoever could unscramble the most words in three minutes correctly wins.
Of course we had a 5-way tie and we had to have them guess a number between 1 and 50 to see who could guess the number April chose without going over. For the second game we played the toilet paper square game. Whoever could guess the correct amount of squares that go around the largest circumference of April's pregnant belly wins. The answer was 11. We had a 2-way tie for that one, so we had to have another tie breaker, guess-the-number game. For the third game we played Baby Shower Bingo. Everyone got a blank bingo card and had to fill in what they thought April would open. As April opened her gifts, they would mark off what they wrote on their card. Whoever got five in a row yelled out "Bingo" and won. April had so many beautiful gifts!
She had a lot of help opening those gifts from big-sis-to-be, Emma.
My gift to April and baby Keira was a pink bear baby blanket I crocheted. I think it turned out adorable and April LOVES it.
Here is a close up of the blanket and the bear on it.
I had also made a matching baby bear hat that I had given to her earlier as a game gift (because mommy-to-be had to get a gift for each game played. ;)) The diaper cake I made turned out beautiful and I am so proud of myself especially since it was the first diaper cake I had ever made! I have to thank Pinterest because I found the tutorial on there and of course I have to thank the blogger who posted the tutorial, Susie Stamp A Lot.

Hosting my very first baby shower was a lot of fun and I am so happy to have done so for such a great friend. April is the sweetest and most amazing person and I am so happy for her.
Congrats April and I cannot wait to meet little Miss Keira Lynn; my new Crochet D Lane model, I hope! ;)

Butterfly Kisses

Today my cousin, Gabrielle, had her baby shower. She wants her little Payton Elizabeth's nursery to be in lots of pinks with butterflies. I know she loves the Raspberry Tiddliwinks Bedding Collection at Target so I crocheted a baby blanket with matching hat and toy for her little princess Payton. I made the butterfly on the blanket in the same design as one of the butterflies on the Tiddliwinks set. I was a little weary about having little buttons sewn onto the baby blanket, but I know it will be more of a displayed heirloom keepsake. I kept with the same design for the tiny butterfly on the hat but could only fit one button on instead of two on the bottom pair of wings. For the little butterfly toy, I went ahead and made it without the buttons. I wanted it to be loved so I embroidered the eyes, mouth, and rosy cheeks and hand sewn the crochet wing spots on. Gabbi looks so radiant with her pregnant glow. She absolutely loves the butterfly set I made for her little princess too. :)

Little Bundles Come In All Sizes

My best friend is expecting her first baby in August. I am so excited for her and have been planning her upcoming baby shower. She recently found out that she is having a little girl! :) On Friday we went to Target together to start her baby registry. She is wanting a butterfly themed nursery. Once she laid eyes on their Tiddliwinks Raspberry Garden Bedding Collection, it was love at first sight. I just love the whimsical colors this collection has to offer. I have started on a baby blanket to match the bedding collection.

While working on the blanket, Xiera came running in to tell me that she had found a bird egg on the ground outside. I followed her and Zella outside to discover an unusual egg and what appeared to be a nest on the ground.

I soon realized it was a Killdeer bird nest and egg. Xiera was afraid that the egg was left behind and asked if she could bring it in to keep it warm in hopes that it would still hatch. I told her to leave it be and keep an eye on it from a distance because mommy bird may come back. It did look very lonely sitting there.

Sure enough, about fifteen minutes later, guess who came to check up on her only "baby-to-be"?

She seemed a bit camera shy so I tried not to intimidate her too much while I took these pictures at a distance.

How ironic it is to sit inside crocheting a baby blanket to help keep my best friend's baby-to-be warm and cozy, while glancing outside my back door at Momma bird keeping her "baby-to-be" warm and safe.

Dressing Up The Chase With A New Afghan

Remember the afghan I started working on last July? Every time I would glance in my craft corner in the living room, I would see the afghan all folded up unfinished. Looking at it made me feel guilty. I have never left something unfinished for that long. Well I finally finished it today and it is gorgeous!

The colors match perfectly with our living room decor and also adds a touch of spring with those shades of pink and green. The pattern is a bit non-tradtional with half-squared granny squares, making it resemble a patchwork quilt.

I am so pleased and excited to have a new "pretty" to look at and snuggle with.

Projects in the Works

Since the weather has been topping out in the high 90's all week, I have been keeping busy with crochet projects indoors while enjoying our newly installed central air.
One project that has been taking up most of my time is an afghan I am working on for our living room sofa. I just loved this particular design I saw in a Spring issue of Crochet World in April, 2010. The colors really caught my eye and I really love the design as well.

I recently finished a custom order for an infant ducky hat.

Isn't he sweet? I think I shall call him Quackers.
I also want to share a few *SWEET* treasuries. The first is a Christmas in July theme. LOVE all the candy cane stripes! I am so honored that Iamblessed featured my candy cane leg warmers design. You can also view the treasury HERE.

The second one is simply yummy. After I saw it I seriously began craving strawberry cupcakes and had to make me a batch immediately to enjoy. Thank you glassdezignz for featuring my party cupcake top design. You can also view the treaury HERE.