Howling at the Moon

Do you remember the two ugly brown vases I embellished with cherry blossom last year?   They looked better than they did before, but still I wasn't entirely satisfied with the result. They were standing in my window the whole year, but now I altered them again. I had some pink paint left from the side table I painted two weeks ago and had a bit of copper paint, too, just enough to give one of the vases a make over.    www.betweennapsontheporch.net I admit, it's especially the flowers that look so great! It's an orange Amaryllis and it's the orange that make the vase's colors look so vibrant. But still, I think it's progress that I achieved with painting the vase over again. ~*~   My Nautical Knot Heart and my Air Mail Envelope were both featured by Bowdabrablog!! The Envelope was also featured by Creative Jewish Mom ! The Heart was also featured by Eye Love Knots and Naptime Creations Thanks!!!

Do you recognize this? You are inspired, make one thing after another, but everything you make doesn’t turn out as you hoped it would turn out? I made three things this week, but only one looks like I wanted it to look: I crocheted a butterfly to use as an application on a long sleeve for my daughter. I found this pattern at Le Blog de Anna , a blog I found recently, and which is full of the most beautiful (FREE!) crochet patterns. This is just one of many butterfly patterns. www.betweennapsontheporch.net ~*~ Beautiful orange flowers: I love gladiolus. Little stems, lots of flowers, full vase...

Months ago I found a pattern of crochet cowboy booties and now I finally have the opportunity to make them! A friend of mine, who is as big a fan of Hank Williams Sr as I am, is expecting a little girl, so I’m pretty sure she will appreciate these little boots! I adjusted the original pattern here and there to what I like myself, so the end result of my booties isn't exactly the same as the booties in the before mentioned pattern. Only thing I have to make now is a little shoebox to put them in, for a real professional look. I already found a nice tag for it at Free Pretty Things for You . ~*~ Beautiful orange rose, don’t you think?

Tomorrow my youngest daughter has a Spring Party at Kindergarten. As always they asked the mums (and dads, but for some reason dads never react to such lists) to cook, bake or otherwise make things to eat. You could fill in your name and I was the first to react. Cake Pops Ice Cones I would make.  And now, the night before, as always I ask myself “Why?! Why did you enlist?”. Despite taking time enough for preparation (I started yesterday with baking the cake for the pops, for example), every time I end up with lack of time. The cake pops themselves where finished on time, but for some reason the candy melts didn’t melt properly, so I couldn’t dip in the pops and I had to smear the candy melts with a knife all over the pops myself. Gives not the best result, I can tell you that. And so I’m not very cheerful right now, poor husband of mine. If you have tips on how to make candy melts more fluid, please tell me!! This is the result: ~*~ Because of the lacki...

Last week I showed you some grannies I was working on, to form an afghan in the end (and who knows when that end will be; could be twenty years from now). In the meantime I have sixteen grannies total now. And the good news is: not bored yet!! Because I don’t want to leave the terrible chore of removing all loose ends until the whole afghan is finished, I already put together these sixteen grannies and got the loose ends done. And now on to the next sixteen… ~*~ And again my  African Flower Tutorial  is featured! This time by The Trendy Tree House. It's so nice to know people like what I make!!  Thanks, Trendy Tree House! ~*~ I found beautiful, beautiful orange gerberas this week:

I’m working on a couple of projects simultaneously at the moment: African Flower Pillow  (for previous post look here ) Only have to join the flowers on the outer row and crochet an edge around it and then it’s finished. Play Mat  (for previous post look here ) The panels are connected and form the front side of the mat. Have to cut edges and a back side now. For the finished project look here . For the tutorial look here . New Grannies Although I love to crochet grannies, I can’t bring forth a complete blanket. Too boring, doing the same granny over and over again. So now I’m trying this: crochet one different granny each day, until I have enough to form a complete blanket. Maybe that works for me. Who knows, I can show you a REALLY LARGE blanket in time.  Little Stool Well, actually this stool is a project I did finish this weekend, but I want to make another one. I must say ‘we’, because my husband made the ...

I did it! Finally I finished a blanket!!! It’s a little one, that’s true, but large enough. For now I’m done with projects like this. Takes forever. After making this poncho I only felt resistance and swore to myself never to begin another project involving more than twelve grannies, but when a good friend asked me to make her soon to be born son a little blanket, I couldn’t say no, of course. But I’m sooo glad it’s finished now. Awaiting some black fabric for the backside, I already cut the front side panels for a matching play mat (like this one , but with the colors of English liquorice allsorts ). At the request of one of my readers I will write a tutorial for the play mat after it’s finished, so if you’re interested than visit my blog now and then (or become a follower J ). ~*~ Yesterday I went to the market and found flowers in my favorite flower color again: orange!

My sister had to go to a baby shower this weekend and asked me a couple of weeks ago to make a play mat as a gift for her friend. I made this one: It’s exactly the same as the one I made a while ago for a friend’s shower. I wrapped this one up in transparent foil and decorated it with paper streamers and this heart of polymer clay: The inspiration for this I found here, at a blog called The Crafty CPA . ~*~ And again I found gorgeous orange flowers at the market this weekend!!  I love orange for flowers!

Yesterday I made a start with some granny squares. The idea I found here, at a blog called Dutch Sisters . They look a bit different from the usual granny squares, but that’s just what I like about them. I don’t know yet what I will make of it. I would like a little blanket, but I know myself well enough: it will probably take to long, I’ll be bored after a while doing the same square over and over,  and then I give up. So maybe a pillow cover is a better idea . Note by author: the finished project you can find here ! ~*~ Then again a movie proposal in the horror genre: The awakening – Also about a ghost in a house, just like my last recommendation (although this time it all takes place in a school). Very ominous. ~*~ By the way: don’t you love the colour of this tulips? Orange with a sort of flames all over it. Love it!