This and That

I was wandering through Michael's craft store a couple of weeks ago when I passed a sale bin of yarn. A multi-colored skein got my eye, but I kept on walking. A short while later, I passed the bin again, and this time, I picked up the skein. There are all sorts of free crochet patterns online, and I whipped this scarf up in short order.

I had learned how to crochet way back when I was a fourth grader. I attended parochial school and my third grade teacher was young and full of joy. We would have math blackboard races and other fun learning activities. At recess, Sister would turn one end of the jumprope, and we would squeal with delight when she would sometimes lift up the ends of her long black habit and take turns jumping along with us. When I entered fourth grade my teacher was old, really, really old, but equally nice. She taught two after school classes: crochet on Tuesday and harmonica on Thursday. :-) The classes cost a quarter and the money went into the mission box.

We learned to make granny squares for afghans to be donated to charity, pineapple shade pulls (remember them?), and most fun of all,  sparkly, angora trimmed skating outfits for our Ginny dolls!!! :-)  :-)  :-)

Speaking of crafty things, my young cousins recently came for a visit, and we worked on some Valentine's Day items. The easiest were bookmarks for their teachers and friends.

I found the idea on a website, but unfortunately I didn't bookmark it so I can't credit the source. The next craft I dreamed up. I pre-painted the wood heart form, and then they glued on the buttons.

The youngest girl loves "stuffies," so we made this little woolen penguin. We used the "Wool Chilly Penguin"  pattern by CottonWood Creations after enlarging it a bit.

Finally, last Tuesday at a meeting of the Crosstown Quilters guild we had a fun Valentine bag swap. Our block of the month coordinator had asked anyone who wished to participate to bring in a small brown paper bag filled with the following items: a recipe, a pattern for a favorite quilt block, a heart themed fat quarter, another pink or red fat quarter, a signed Valentine's Day card, some chocolate, a sewing notion, and something sparkly. In my bag, I had put  a very sparkly headband adorned with raised sparkly hearts. Some other sparkly things seen were: sparkly pens, pins, sparkly glue, sparkly fabric . . . lots of creative ideas. I was very, very, very lucky because when the swapping stopped I ended up with a bag with this adorable wall hanging. The snowflakes were the "sparkly. " What an awesome surprise!!!!!!