Candles

Lately, I've enjoyed having candles around. Since I enjoy them, and since I've been using my candles a little more lately, I've gotten curious about the processes for making jar candles.

With a little extra candle-wax around, and a bit of informal research, I've started trying to make some candles (even if "making" just involves re-melting candle wax and pouring it!)

I'm finding that pouring candles can be kind of a messy business!

But I'm loving the results -- lots of great candles, without the usual expense!

I'm enjoying my candles, and my candle-making!

I made a doily quilt!

This was a fun project I recently finished ... It's a baby quilt for a friend's new baby girl.

T-shirts on the front ... Doilies on the back.

Lots of T-Shirt squares for a simple patchwork quilt top ...

 

And those doilies I mentioned a couple weeks ago ...

 

 ... added to a gorgeous peach-colored quilt back.

More Video-Game Quilts

Lately, I've had fun making a couple of Minecraft-style quilts (see posts here and here).

I'm working on a couple more! Once again, I'm working with T-Shirt fabrics. These quilts will be small, throw-sized quilts - about 45" x 55".

 

Probably, I'll be able to finish these pretty soon. I'm hoping to donate them to the local foster parents' association, to be given to children entering foster care. Maybe, in a small way, a cozy quilt might help to brighten a difficult time in a child's life. I hope so.  

 

Check back in a couple weeks, to see finished pictures ... 

Spring Flowers

Other than daffodils, these are the first spring flowers that bloom in my yard.

Here they are in a vase, (along with leaves from another plant.)

Little white flowers that grow from bulbs ... Their Latin name is Leucojum, and I think they're also called Snow Bells.

They look a lot like lilies of the valley, but the flower edges are different (less "ruffled", plus the green spots), and the leaves are narrower.

These pretty little flowers are such a nice welcome to spring!

Self-Striping Sock Yarn

I love self-striping sock yarn!

It's so fun to watch the patterns and stripes emerge, without any extra effort.

I'm knitting these socks from the toe up ... Like I did with a previous pair (see this post and this post).

Socks!

There's nothing quite like hand-knitted socks.

This pair is finally finished!

Actually, as sock-knitting goes, this pair was faster than my usual.  

According to this post, I started this blue-green pair of socks in mid-December; they're done before the end of March. Not bad!

 

 

So. I've already bought enough yarn for TWO more pairs of socks!

Up next: Self-striping Heart & Sole "Razzle Dazzle" sock yarn. I love it already!

 

Doily quilt?

For several months, I've been intrigued by the idea of putting doilies on quilts.

So I've been "rescuing" crocheted doilies from thrift stores, and pondering how to make a doily quilt.

Recently, I happened upon some crochet thread, & decided to crochet a few tiny doilies, so I'd have more doilies to try on quilts.



 

A few free patterns later, and I've got some tiny doilies!



 

 

Check back in a week or two, to see what I've been doing with these!

  

  

 

 

Update: See this blog post for a finished view of my first doily quilt!

 



 

Quilting tonight

I'm quilting a couple of T-shirt quilts tonight ... gifts for friends. More details later ...