Lots of Crocheting Going on Here

For the last few months, I've been working on yarn projects.  I've kind of lost my quilting uuumph, and the knitting and crochet projects are fun.  

I've knit 25 dishcloths.   I think I started by looking at all the projects I have that are UFOs.  I have a basket full of cotton yarn to knit dishcloths.  I still have yarn left, but I've kind of moved on from these to afghans.  

This is a granny stripe afghan.  You can find the pattern for it on my crochet blog here.

Here's the border I added on one side......

and the other side.  This afghan was already started.  I probaby did 3/4 of it this winter.

This one was already started.   I had the center and a couple of rounds done before.  I finished using the yarn I had that would make a complete round.  

There were scraps left, so I made this little throw.  

This is the Costal Ripple afghan pattern from Attic 24 blog.  

This Christmas tree skirt was partially started, and I finished it.  The pattern for this easy tree skirt can be found on my crochet blog here. 

 

I said I'd lost my quilting mojo.  I've pulled out some hexagons that I have prepped because I'm going to the Jane Stickle retreat next week.  I know there will be a lot of inspiration there, and I'm sure I'll be in the quilting mood when I get back home,

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.  

I hope you're finding time to stitch today!!

CHRISTMAS AFGHAN FINISH

I’ve had this Christmas afghan in the works since 2012 as near as I can figure by looking at my crochet blog here.  It’s finally finished and ready for next Christmas.  

I talked about this afghan in process here.  I really do like to crochet, so I don’t know why it’s taken me this long to finish it.  I find that if I’m working on a holiday project and the holiday passes, I put the project away thinking that I’ll get it out before the holiday rolls around again and finish it.  It took me 13 years, but it’s finished.

If you would like to try this afghan, I've written the pattern along with a tutorial on my crochet blog here.  

This is where the afghan was before Christmas.  

I added a simple granny stitch border with a shell stitch finish.  

 I had this basket of scraps left from the afghan, and I knew that if I put them away I’d never do anything with them.  I’ve seen several tutorials on line where granny squares are joined together with one continuous yarn.   I wanted to try it, so I crocheted 9 squares.    

I’ve made granny square afghans before but have never blocked my squares.   I thought it was time I tried to block mine, so I ordered a crochet blocking  board here.  (This post may contain affiliate links.)  It worked out really well, and I'll sure be able to use it in the future. 

I crocheted the squares together and used up all the yarn in the basket adding borders.  This is pretty small but will make a nice table topper next Christmas.  

Here’s my afghan stack from this Christmas before they were packed away.  

                                                                     

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.

I hope you are finding some time to stitch today!!!

 

First Finish of 2026

Hello friends and happy Tuesday

 If you’ve been reading my blog for awhile, or if you follow me on Instagram, you know just how much I love English Paper Piecing.  This quilt is called 1797 Revisited and is my first finish for 2026.  It was a quilt along that went around the internet in 2019 (I think).  This quilt is based on a quilt in the V & A Museum and is made up of 60 degree diamonds that are “snipped” on each end.  

I just finished binding this quilt a few days ago. I had Back Door Quilts do the machine quilting, and they finished it before I had my knee replacement surgery in July of last year.  I just finished trimming and hand sewing the binding on this year.  I really enjoy the process of sewing the binding down to the back of the quilt by hand – especially in winter.  I just had to add some fussy cutting to my quilt.  

I like fussy cutting English paper piecing and glue basting as much as I like the sewing.  I’ve always got some EPP all prepped and ready to sew.  Yes, I even put some in the corners.

Over the weekend we had 12" of snow or maybe a bit more.  We don't normally see that much snow at one time here.  It's really cold outside and with the wind chill it feels like it’s way below zero.  OK.   I don’t really know that for a fact, because I’m not going out there.  I just know what all the internet meteorologists are saying.  Either way, we’re under a travel watch so you’re only supposed to be out on the roads for work or if you’re an essential employee.  This is the drift outside our front door.  

Here in the Midwest, we call this a French Toast storm.  When they predict a big snow most people head to the grocery and buy bread, milk and eggs so they’ve got French toast ingredients.  

While we were snowed in, I decided I was going to find a recipe for French toast casserole on the internet and try it.  It was just ok.  The problem was that I think there was a typo on the instructions because they said to use a 9” X 9” pan.  When the casserole was about 10 minutes from being done, I began to think my eyes were going.  Everything looked cloudy.  OOOpppps.  The 9” X 9” should have been a 9” X 13” pan.  So there was a big burned mess on the bottom of the oven.  I’m surprised the smoke alarm didn’t go off.  I cleaned up the spillage and ran the oven cleaner and then cleaned the grates.  That was something I hadn’t planned to do, but I’m glad it’s done. 

I fixed bacon and sausage to go along with the casserole.  We don’t normally eat this kind of breakfast, but with the weather it just seemed like the thing to do. 

 

More on what I’ve been working on in my next post. 

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.

I hope you're finding some time to stitch today.