things to make and do

stuff i love sunday #44

2012-01-22T22:04:00.000-06:00

1. WIP - Working on new items, 2. Dresser, 3. Sunday work, 4. belt stripe fabric design, 5. collection_035_2012_01_08, 6. Blogistania, 7. Stripes on me, 8. for a thingie, 9. Power lunch!, 10. Untitled, 11. polainitos, 12. Wooleater WIP CAL 2012, 13. Untitled, 14. Lovesick, 15. Transfert, 16. Untitled, 17. lemon wip, 18. Pre-dinner beverage, 19. .:. For Zoe/Zooey!, 20. Bear., 21. Sixteen small textured squares, 22. leftovers, 23. Untitled, 24. 16/366

thrifty photo book

2012-01-19T22:36:00.000-06:00

After my laptop was stolen a couple of years ago and just about every picture I had was instantly gone, I decided that I needed to do two things. The first was to back up all of my photos on Flickr. If I don't want to share them, I can always change the privacy settings. The second thing was to have more photos printed. I thought it would be pretty expensive, but I was surprised to find that depending on the special of the week at Walgreens, you can get 100 4" x 6" photos for around $10 or less. And if you have a lot of square photos like I do, you can fit multiple smaller pictures per print with a little help from Photoshop. It can be crazy the amount of little pictures you can get at one time if you are willing to cut them apart yourself, which I totally am.

Lately I've been looking for books to hold all of these photos at thrift stores, and when I saw this 4-ring ledger for maybe 50 cents I knew I could use it.

before

I am trying to find the perfect picture for the front to cover up the word "executive", but for now the big letter stickers get the point across. The gray and white marbled paper inside really had to go. I had printed out some of my granny square mosaics a while back that were perfect for covering it up.

For the inside I made 5 x 8 pages mostly of scraps of paper, original pages from the ledger, and some paint chips I have been collecting. I was able to fit about 100 pictures on these 22 pages, but I still have hundreds left over. I see more photo books in my future, but first I need to get some more glue.

stuff i love sunday #43

2012-01-15T23:38:00.000-06:00

At the moment I am searching for the perfect recipe to use for these super cute cookie cutters I bought at the Asian grocery store yesterday. Do you have a go-to recipe that holds it's shape and doesn't require icing to taste good? I want the details of the little stamps to show up in the baked cookie. I am leaning towards a couple of cream cheese sugar cookie recipes, but I'm open to anything.

It seems like most of my pins on pinterest are related to crafts or food. One of our plans for the new year around my house is to make more food at home, and it is not hard to get motivated to do so with all of the great recipes all over the blog world. Here are five I plan to make soon!

lasagna soup from a farmgirl's dabbles (via casey plusthree)

red velvet fudge from i am baker (via kristen smith)

cheesy quinoa bites from so very blessed (via susan sobon)


baked eggs with feta and prosciutto from i will not eat oysters (via sherilee coffey)

peanut butter and jelly pie sticks from spoon fork bacon (via melissa villadiego)

working on a new blanket

2012-01-14T23:57:00.005-06:00

I'm still alive! I took a little blog vacation after posting my last granny-a-day square. I haven't stopped crocheting, but now I'm concentrating on crocheting this mountain of squares together. This particular project is a smallish baby blanket made up of striped and circles-in squares. I'm using an H hook and the method for joining squares of different sizes I showed you here. I hope to have it finished by next week!

365::365 the last one!

2012-01-08T19:57:00.004-06:00

Pattern: "Harvest" from Go Crochet! Afghan Design Workbook by Ellen Gormley.

This is one of the hexagonal motifs from Go Crochet. Using trial and error I turned it into a 4-sided block. The trick is to visualize the corners the way you want them to be and make ascending and descending stitches to fill in the gaps. Working into the back loops only like I did here makes the process more forgiving.

I can hardly believe it. This is the last one! It will definitely not be my last granny square ever, but this is it for my granny-a-day project. I have totally enjoyed the experience of crocheting all year! It feels like I haven't had time for almost anything else, but I did manage to crochet tons of these squares into 4 afghans, a rug, and a cover for my Kindle Fire and post several tutorials and a couple of granny square patterns while grannying up a storm. Here is a little visual roundup of all of that stuff!

afghan #1

afghan #2

afghan #3

afghan #4

felted rug

kindle cover

tutorial: basic granny square

tutorial: adjusting size

tutorial: blocking

tutorial: joining squares of the same size

tutorial: joining squares of different sizes

pattern: chrysanthemum square

pattern: granny flower

interviewed in issue 5 of craftsanity

participated in a square a day in may

Here are all 365 blocks! It is kind of a huge image, so I hope it doesn't break your computer! :) Now that this project is over, I am looking forward to actually having time to crochet the rest of them together into something useful. I've got a couple of afghans pretty much planned out at this point. Expect to see progress on that soon!

stuff i love sunday #42

2012-01-08T15:05:00.000-06:00

1. rita's mum yummiest apple pie, 2. mini bows, 3. 1.6.2012, 4. chicken pot pies, 5. I ♥ crochet!, 6. Bretzel, 7. collection_034_2012_01_01, 8. #12, 9. valentine's day kit, 10. Pink and blue knitted cushion covers, 11. Pictures, 12. sitting room wall, 13. boy or girl blanket, 14. 1950s girl's dress, 15. new dining room lamp, 16. Manta de rosetas, 17. joana rosa bragança, 18. {dispatch from the work table}, 19. diagonale, 20. Spotting And Jotting Rosette, 21. Spiders Web Rag Rug, 22. In the Garden..., 23. december journal 2011, 24. I made falafel for lunch!!

357-364::365 orange & blue squares

2012-01-08T14:10:00.003-06:00

Patterns (clockwise from top left): "South Beach," "Cherry Cordial," "Star Power," "Pick a Posie," "Neapolitan," "Team Captain," "Stain Berry," & "Chair Back" from Go Crochet! Afghan Design Workbook by Ellen Gormley.

I really love the motifs in this book! I have officially made all of the four sided patterns. The only real error I think I have found is in Neapolitan. The first round in the photo looks like it is made up of single crochet stitches, but both the chart and the written instructions say to use double crochet. I think it would be flatter with the smaller stitches. Instead of using these Go Crochet squares as filler for a sampler afghan, I may make a cover for my ottoman.

349-356::365 little rectangles

2012-01-07T00:21:00.004-06:00

Patterns (clockwise from top left): "Polka Dot," "Thumbprint," "Oval in a Rectangle," "Vintage," Cameo," "Last Blueberry," Scary Fun," & "Gift Package" from Go Crochet! Afghan Design Workbook by Ellen Gormley.

Aren't these rectangle blocks super cute? They'll be perfect for filling in gaps in a sampler afghan. I had to turn my brain off of autopilot a few times because I found myself trying to make each side the same when the short sides of some of these could be quite different from the long ones (Cameo and Gift Package in particular). I'm still using my favorite size h hook instead of the larger recommended k size. Maybe that's why they are coming out lots of different sizes.

Here are the latest 25! Almost done!

344-348::365 go crochet squares

2012-01-05T07:43:00.003-06:00

Patterns (left to right): "Puddles Gather Rain", "Eyelets", "Oscar Square", & "Flower Patch" from Go Crochet! Afghan Design Workbook by Ellen Gormley.

I needed some smaller squares to round out my project and fill in some gaps in a sampler afghan, so I bought a second crochet book for my Kindle. Go Crochet! features 50 different motifs (each with charted and written pattern). In addition to square patterns, it has rectangles, triangles, hexagons, and octagons to choose from. The last part of the book shows a few afghans made up of different motifs and gives directions and tips for how to put them together. I've only skimmed that part, but I already know I have to make "All Call", an afghan made up of at least one of every motif in the book! Anyway, as for these squares, each measured about 4", and I didn't have to make any changes to the simple patterns and relied almost exclusively on the charts. As always I used magic rings for the center instead of the suggested chain rings.

337-344::365 popcorn & cluster flower squares

2012-01-02T14:36:00.004-06:00

Pattern: experiment in using different numbers of popcorn & cluster stitches.

This is sort of a continuation of my circle-to-square series. I began with a two round circle made with centers of 4, 5, 6, or 7 popcorn or cluster stitches separated by 3 chain stitches. The second round of each was made with two stitches in each chain space also separated by 3 chain stitches. The ones with an even number of center stitches were pretty easy to transform into squares, but the odd numbered ones were kind of tricky. With a little math and trail and error, it wasn't impossible. For the odd ones I worked a round of single crochet in white, making sure that the number of stitches all the way around was divisible by four so the corners could be evenly spaced. Then I used the next round to square it up.

stuff i love sunday #41 :: happy new year!

2012-01-01T20:54:00.003-06:00

1. New fish baby log cabin, 2. faux doily, 3. Clooney's pet mat after felting, 4. 134/365 Sunshine & Showers WIP, 5. #secretsydney, 6. All the B girls are in their travel cases: BLs, RBLs, EBLs, KBs, and SBLs..., 7. Untitled, 8. day 102, 9. Potholder back {explored 10.02.2011, hurray!}, 10. Cupcakes!, 11. Daisy Crochet Leggings, 12. Creative Energy zine :: Volume 2, 13. Block of the Month 3 - 019 - SOLD!, 14. Wool Eater wIP, 15. up to no good., 16. last days of 2011, 17. Umräumen zwischen den Tagen, 18. collection_033_2011_12_25, 19. cozy2, 20. The year that was..., 21. cuadernos, 22. the cat basting method, 23. Random Blocks., 24. a007etsyea

Happy New Year! I don't really believe in new year's resolutions, do you? They just seem like the type of thing that people say knowing that they will fail. Instead of resolutions, I make plans. This year I plan to make things every day and take more pictures. I will not be doing a big 365 project again this year as I have a million different little things I want to do. I think this year something like the Creative Every Day Challenge (found via Hanna) would be more my speed.

333-336::365 fancy squares

2011-12-31T22:25:00.003-06:00

Patterns: "Rosetta Square", "Gracie Square", "Six Point Star", and "Marianne Square" (left to right) from The Granny Square Book by Margaret Hubert.

These four squares are the beginning of my attempt to incorporate some white yarn in my crochet. I have plenty of it, but I never use it unless I'm trying to. I made a few changes to most of these squares (all but Rosetta). The most minor change was to Marianne Square, where I simply left off the last round.

For Gracie square, the first round after the flower was supposed to be worked into the stitches of the previous round. Instead of doing that, I worked them around the posts of round one. It makes the flower pop out a little bit more.

Six Point Star is another pattern with a backwards photo in this book. I'm torn between being kind of shocked that someone didn't catch this mistake and being surprised that it doesn't happen more often. The only change I made for this one was substituting hdc for sc in the final round. It reminds me of a snowflake in the blue I used which is funny because it was 70 degrees today.

I had hoped to have all of my squares posted by today, but I'm not going to beat myself up about it. I've kept up this project through lots of things that have happened in my life over the past year, and besides, I didn't start posting them until after the first week of January. I'll have them up by then!

Happy new year! Hope it's a great one! Thank you to everyone who has supported and encouraged me through this project! I appreciate each and every comment and kind word! :)

329-332::254 purple flower squares

2011-12-30T23:45:00.003-06:00

Patterns: "Filigree Rosette", "Picot Rose", "Nautical Wheel", "Star Grass Flower" from The Granny Square Book by Margaret Hubert.

A super busy week at work and a short yarn supply have delayed the posting of these squares a little. Don't you just love flower squares? I skipped a round of sc for the Nautical Wheel square. Star Grass Flower is more of a rectangle than a square because two of the sides have way more stitches in them than the other side. I can easily use this square in a sampler afghan, but it was kind of a surprise that it wasn't square because the sample in the photo in the book looks like it is. Another odd thing is that the block in the book was photographed wrong side up. I guess that'll happen from time to time.

321-328::365 flower garden squares

2011-12-25T20:25:00.002-06:00

Patterns: The first 8 "Flower Garden" squares from The Granny Square Book by Margaret Hubert.

These 8 squares are the "Flower Garden" blocks from The Granny Square Book that have the same background. After making all of these, I'm sure I could make a square like this from any crochet flower. Another common feature of each one was a center made from a ring of 20 single crochet stitches.

Merry Christmas! I hope you are having a great day! We had Christmas Eve dinner with some good friends yesterday and are just relaxing at home today. Here are my latest 25!

stuff i love sunday #40: christmas edition

2011-12-25T12:40:00.000-06:00

1. christmas cookies, 2. Happy Christmas!, 3. day8 - details, 4. all five christmas stockings, 5. christmas 'tree", 6. DIY girly christmas felt wreath, 7. Brown paper packages tied up with string......., 8. day 96, 9. ., 10. Handmade Christmas ornament I received today. :), 11. luna rock in the house!, 12. christmas decoration

completed: tunisian crochet case for my kindle fire

2011-12-22T23:00:00.005-06:00

I knew from the moment Junior gave me a Kindle Fire, I had to crochet a cover for it! This is what I made from the striped Tunisian block (#318) from the other day. I made the rectangle as wide as the Kindle and long enough to completely wrap around it, then I decreased at the beginning and end of each row until I got to a point to make a triangle flap. I skipped a few stitches to form the buttonhole.

I added a round of sc around the whole thing and then another row on each of the flat sides for seaming. I blocked the whole piece, sewed the seams, blocked it again, and then sewed the lining fabric into place. I wasn't sure how this would turn out as I've never made anything other than those four squares from Tunisian crochet, but it is perfect! I'm really pleased with the result!

feeling better

2011-12-22T13:37:00.003-06:00

Oh, wow, I have been feeling horrible and sick since around Sunday night. I'm just popping in to say I'm still alive! Because half of the office is frantically trying to use up vacation time before it expires at the end of the year (and the other half is sick, too!), I haven't been able to take much time off of work to rest. I've been spending just about every second of my time at home sleeping! I'm finally starting to feel better. :)

I'll be back with a post on my new project made from one of the Tunisian squares (see above!) and tomorrow with new granny squares.

stuff i love sunday #39

2011-12-18T20:03:00.001-06:00

1. Charley Harper Goodness, 2. handmade christmas cards, 3. Puddle of Buttons, 4. Papa's 8 track machine for Lynne., 5. freddie and his yarn stash., 6. more roses, 7. Untitled, 8. Robot softie, 9. Shirt Pocket Advent Calendar, 10. day 85 (domestic bliss week), 11. coffee, 12. road side find, 13. Pink and Blue Mini Tree 2011, 14. IMG_7704, 15. on the 9th day of joyfulness..., 16. Granny Seats..., 17. yoshi, 18. collection_031_2011_12_11, 19. crocodile armor, 20. Christmas Flower Garland, 21. Peace O' Pie, 22. DSC_0429, 23. Vintage button magnets, 24. Christmas chair socks

317-320::365 tunisian crochet squares

2011-12-15T19:05:00.005-06:00

Pattern: These squares are swatches of two different Tunisian crochet stitches, simple stitch and knit stitch.

I've wanted to try Tunisian crochet since Elizabeth at Things Bright first blogged about different types of Tunisian stitches. She's been featuring all kinds of cool Tunisian crochet projects over there, too (like this one and that one)! When I saw her how-to feature in the latest issue of CraftSanity, I pulled out my thrifted size 8 afghan hook and learned Tunisian simple stitch (tss) in no time at all. Her super clear instructions were a great starting point! Each of the squares above were made with this stitch except for the green and purple one in the lower left that was made with knit stitch (tks). How crazy is it that it looks exactly like a knitted swatch? I used the video Elizabeth recommended to learn tks. These stitches are kept on the hook and worked back and forth (in a forward pass and a return pass), unlike regular crochet. Here is a closer look at the stitches:

This first square is made of tss in solid white. It had a lovely texture, but I hated the lack of color, so I cross stitched some little stars on it.

My largest square is made of rows of tss in different colors that I switched out after the return pass. I have big plans for this square and will be adding to it soon.

This square is the one made with ks. I can't wait to experiment more with this stitch! My color change was worked after the return pass.

This square was made with tss, and this time I worked the color changes in on the return pass each time. I love this one. It kind of looks woven!

progress: stash busting rug

2011-12-12T10:00:00.002-06:00

Since I started crocheting, I have collected all of the yarn that I don't really like working with for one reason or another (usually it is because it is scratchy--I hate that!) and stashed it in this giant bag, hoping to put it to use one day. Some of it is from bags of random yarn from thrift stores and yard sales, and some is decades old skeins my mom gave me. Now that winter is setting in, I've decided to use it to make a giant crochet rug to fill my living room and warm these chilly wooden floors.

I'm using a size M (9.0 mm) hook with 3 strands of worsted weight yarn per round. I'm trying to use shades of the same color together to blend in some of the uglier colors inconspicuously to use up those, too. I started out with 8 hdc for the first round and added 8 evenly placed increases per round. Each new round after a color change is worked into the back loop only, giving it the horizontal ridges you can see in the photo below.

So far, the rug is a little over 2 feet in diameter. I'm hoping for at least 8-10 feet before I either run out of yarn or the will to continue. Since this is all washable acrylic yarn, I want it to be small enough to still be able to fit it in the triple loader at the laundromat.

313-316::365 squares with orange

2011-12-11T22:27:00.003-06:00

Patterns (left to right): "Whimsy", "Fiesta", "Fleur", & "Whirlpool" from The Granny Square Book by Margaret Hubert.

I made little changes to a couple of these blocks. On Fiesta, it seemed like the corners would be too crowded with the 3sc, ch2, 3sc called for in the pattern, so I reduced it to 2sc, ch2, 2sc. For Fleur, I changed the last round from solid dc stitches to clusters of 3dc each. I just realized that Whirlpool is pretty much exactly the same pattern as this one from 200 Crochet Blocks! I guess there are only so many ways to crochet a square!

stuff i love sunday #38

2011-12-11T15:40:00.001-06:00

1. :: diagonals again!, 2. every year, 3. day 79, 4. 2012 Calendar, 5. Part of my vintage swatch collection!, 6. Color Me Pretty December, 7. manta bebe - baby blanket, 8. Still-life of Tree & Wallpaper, 9. calendar, 10. Pour une soupe de hérisson!!!, 11. Peekaboo Bears on stone wall, 12. Home box detail, 13. holiday kit, 14. DIY toy hippo planter, 15. Jolly old elf, 16. A view..., 17. collection_030_2011_12_04, 18. Untitled, 19. denwa, 20. Sweet!, 21. Still enamored. Fair warning: this might be the subject of every photo for a month. ;), 22. Birdseeker Young Great Spotted Woodpecker, 23. Christmas Decorating, 24. Tree is up. Ditched tinsel for crepe paper.

309-312::365 squares with purple

2011-12-10T15:08:00.003-06:00

Patterns (left to right): "Frances Flower", "Paula's Pendant", "Block Stitch Flower", & "Savannah" from The Granny Square Book by Margaret Hubert.

After making about 10 of the blocks in The Granny Square Book (Kindle Edition), I'm in love. Making squares patterns that have charts is totally the best. The charts are a little on the small side, but I don't have any trouble reading them. It is super easy to notate any changes, and the Kindle keeps track of my last place. For the Frances Flower pattern, I substituted a round of hdc for the last two rounds (of sc) in the pattern. The rest of these four were made with no stitch substitutions.

305-308::365 vacation squares

2011-12-07T22:02:00.009-06:00

Patterns (left to right): "Front Post Double Crochet Square", "Petite Flower", "Forget Me Not", & "Wild Flower" from The Granny Square Book by Margaret Hubert.

For the most part, when I block the squares I crochet, it is just to even out the stitches a little bit and straighten them up for pictures. The first square here (the fpdc square) was one of those that required so much blocking that I would make it differently next time. The corners want to stick out way too far. I think the solution is to decrease the number of stitches in the corners next time.

I've been making these squares with my J hook because I've misplaced my favorite size H one. There is just something I like about the way worsted weight yarn stitches up on larger hooks. It just looks downright fluffy. I haven't had any problem adding squares made with different hook sizes in my sampler afghans in case you're wondering.

I'm getting in lots of crafting time during my week of vacation since I'm just hanging out at home. In addition to making granny squares, I'm also reading the new issue of CraftSanity (I'm in there if you didn't catch that the other day!), baking brownies, and working on a new scrap rug for my super cold floor that I'll share soon.

scrapbook pages

2011-12-06T23:10:00.002-06:00

I am running to bed to hibernate (it is SO COLD!), so the new granny squares I just uploaded photos of will have to wait until tomorrow. In the meantime, here are some newish scrapbook pages I have been working on. The very last one was made in Photoshop with digital elements, but all of the others are paper, photos, random bits, and embroidery floss.

digi kits used:
kitschy digitals - grannys attic & homespun stitches
cosmo cricket - upcycle elements

stuff i love sunday #37

2011-12-04T14:04:00.002-06:00

1. IMG_8036, 2. YAY!!! Baby Abby's blanket finished, 3. New Project in Progress., 4. a little quilt., 5. felt Christmas wreath, 6. Tres Leches (Cake of 3 Milks), 7. a stitch in color twinkle, 8. Flower Bauble Wreath DIY, 9. Whit's Knits: Eleventh Hour Blanket, 10. snowflakes, 11. winter stuff, 12. Owly bag, 13. PAPERBAG WREATH!, 14. My Favorite Things Altered Jewelry/Keepsake Box, 15. Christmas is here to stay ..., 16. Connecting With Food, 17. pill(ow) popper, 18. Muppet Spectrum - Detail, 19. on the 1st day of joyfulness..., 20. 6 in a tram - mini album, 21. Making It Work, 22. friday afternoon, 23. little Christmas tree, 24. my life in wool

Hope you are having an awesome weekend! So far I've been crocheting a ton, reading on my new Kindle Fire, and getting together with friends. I had to work few hours yesterday, but it is fine because I have the whole week off. I'll have time to put up our little xmas tree!

301-304::365 lacy squares

2011-12-02T23:44:00.008-06:00

Patterns (left to right): "Hot Pepper" by Janie Herrin & "Minty Fresh" by Jean Leinhauser in 50 Fabulous Crochet Squares; "Dogwood Flower" & "Cone Flower" from The Granny Square Book by Margaret Hubert.

There's not really a common theme to these squares other than that they are more open than the ones I usually make (with the exception of the first one, but the crossed stitches do leave it a little airy). I was really excited to get The Granny Square Book, my first e-book purchase for my new Kindle Fire. Yay for early Christmas presents! Junior is the best boyfriend ever! It is really convenient to use for crochet patterns. Even though this book has a few patterns similar to some I've already made, there are plenty of unique ones among the 75 in this book. And it even has crochet charts. Pretty awesome! There are also a bunch of ways to use granny squares, but none of them are really groundbreaking. My favorite is a mobius* scarf of "Cone Flower" squares crocheted in fluffy, bulky yarn.

*Wow, check out this super pretty mobius wrap pattern!

interviewed in craftsanity!

2011-12-01T21:30:00.006-06:00

I was interviewed in the latest issue of CraftSanity magazine about my granny-a-day project! It comes out on Monday both in print ($12) and pdf ($5). You can save a dollar if you pre-order it by Friday! I'm really honored to share space with talented contributors like Elizabeth from Things Bright who has a couple of Tunisian crochet patterns in this issue. I'm really excited to get my copy. Yay!

I've been super busy with work this week, but I will be posting a bunch of new squares tomorrow. Hope you're having a happy and productive week!

stuff i love sunday #36

2011-11-27T13:15:00.001-06:00

1. Neat Pile, 2. 23.11.2011, 3. Gracie's FFA2 quilt--no sashing, 4. Line 3, 5. Crocheted Sushi Pincushions and Heart Pins, 6. a load of old baubles......, 7. New bowl set, 8. vitsoe shelving in living room, 9. wip, 10. the life aquatic, 11. Herringbone Crib Quilt, 12. His & Her Hobbies, 13. on the couch, 14. joining, 15. If Moths Could Read...., 16. P1100407, 17. Paper clouds..., 18. advent calendar up, 19. lab natale 061, 20. it's his birthday, i made him breakfast, 21. Sewing some woolly corsages, 22. thrift score: two tins, 1 book, 23. Ingredients for a good Sunday, 24. Pillow Swap 6 - Received!

300::365 celtic knot square

2011-11-25T23:00:00.000-06:00

Pattern: "Celtic Knot Square" by Carola Wijma. (available as a free Ravelry download only)

This square reminds me of my woven circles trivet, and it was even easier to weave together. If you're making something like this, make sure to place each seamed area behind a section that is woven in front of it so the seam will be less obvious. I tried to find afghans that were made entirely by weaving like this with no luck, but the "Chain Reaction" afghan pattern has a couple of squares that feature this technique.

300! I can barely believe it! I've been posting a few squares at a time lately, but this milestone deserves one to itself. Below are my latest 25 squares. If you want to see all 300, check out my flickr set. So far I've made a little felted rug and four blankets (with two more ready to join together) out of these blocks!

296-299::365 more flower squares

2011-11-24T21:57:00.001-06:00

Patterns (left to right): "5-Petal Flower" by SkaMama, "How to Crochet a Flower" by Linda Permann, "Teeny Tiny Flowers" by Lucy of Attic 24,"Large Rosette" from Lion Brand.

Here's an assortment of flower squares made by sewing the flower on to a granny square. This is totally the easiest way to do it. The block on the lower left with the teeny tiny flowers is my favorite, but sewing them on took forever! The rosette on the lower right would make a great brooch.

I hope you are having a great Thanksgiving day! Junior and I had a feast with our friends. I'm so stuffed!

292-295::365 flowers & a kitty

2011-11-20T23:32:00.005-06:00

Patterns: Flowers (pdf) and Kitty (pdf) from Pierrot Yarn attached to granny squares.

Aren't these flowers great!? The yellow one is made in a really long row that you sew together at the end. The result is about 5" wide! I really screwed up on the blue flower. There is a dark blue center that was supposed to be sewed onto the front, but I didn't realize until I had attached it really well that I put it on the back. That one is about 6", and the cute orange one is about 4". I love the little cat face, but the button eyes are a kinda creepy!

I learned a lesson when I had to search through my browser's history for some time today to find the kitty pattern. Clicking around on the Pierrot website wasn't very fruitful since I just happened on the pattern by accident in the first place. Google Translate isn't a big help either since most of the buttons are graphics with Japanese text on them. Anyway, found it! I am going to start pinning the patterns for the squares that are online on Pinterest so that I can keep track of them more easily.

stuff i love sunday #35

2011-11-20T17:13:00.000-06:00

1. MHZZ... wip, 2. Going to a baby shower for a dear friend today :), 3. P8060010, 4. 5, 5. new bracelet, 6. Turquoise Blue and White Daisy with Purple Roses, 7. DAY 57(I Think I Love You), 8. Mr. B. Fugly, 9. felt flower pin, 10. Vintage Sheet Baby Quilt, 11. Flavorites 2011 - Crochet Lampcovers, 12. The layout of the basket of flowers sans straps, 13. Gingerbread Cat brooches, 14. Untitled, 15. Yellow Trees, 16. little gift bag, 17. yarn colors, 18. Milk, 19. sunshine sacks..., 20. Crochet WIP, 21. Collégien giveaway on my blog!, 22. Granny Christmas Stockings, 23. Waldorf school festival 2011, 24. my milk glass collection

granny square sampler baby blanket

2011-11-19T21:14:00.003-06:00

I finally finished weaving in the ends for this cute blanket. I totally want to keep it for myself, but as soon as I make a label for it, I am giving it to a coworker for his new baby girl.

The granny squares used were all from my 365 project, and I joined them using this technique with my favorite size H hook. I kept my yarn colors limited to shades of blue, green, purple, yellow, and white, and I think it kept this sampler afghan from looking as wild as the first one did.

The border was adapted from the #9 pattern in Around the Corner Crochet Borders. I left out a round of cluster stitches because it was using a ton of yarn, and I didn't have very much left of any given color. The green round features crossed treble stitches, and the border is finished off with a round of picot stitches.

I really hope the recipients like this afghan! It is so hard to part with that cute little kitty square that looks like Jim!

288-291::365 even more japanese squares

2011-11-16T23:02:00.005-06:00

Patterns: From Pierrot Yarn (left to right): 1 (pdf), 2 (pdf), 3 (pdf), 4 (pdf).

I love crocheting from these charts! The only change I made for any of these was adding a round of 3dc to the first square. I already have enough squares for my second sampler baby blanket, so I think it is time for some new colors soon. I finally finished weaving in the ends for the first baby blanket, so expect some more pictures soon!

stuff i love sunday #34

2011-11-13T09:46:00.002-06:00

1. Gnome Christmas, 2. Chevron / Zig Zag printable card, envelope & matching gift tags, 3. day 54 (Take This Job and Shove It), 4. a 'rippley' blanket..., 5. Currently Inspired By..., 6. my one true love., 7. suitcase bed with new afghan, 8. a little of this and that, 9. Vintage embroidery and crochet by me, 10. Tiger, 11. vintage zig-zag woollen throw, 12. The Newsprint Series: Placemats, 13. fiber art soft sculpture, 14. collection_026_2011_11_06, 15. Line Study #1 - work in progress, 16. handmade by my great-grandmother, 17. Roda Scarf in morning glory, 18. Untitled, 19. It’s A Closed System/ A New Adventure, 20. A Gift from Skunkboy Creatures, 21. Ruby's Second Birthday Party, 22. my diy packaging, 23. Rosie Rabbit..., 24. vintage recipe potholders

284-287::365 more japanese squares

2011-11-12T23:51:00.004-06:00

Patterns: From Pierrot Yarn (left to right): 1 (pdf), 2 (pdf), 3 (pdf), 4 (pdf).

I made a few more patterns from the wonderful charted squares available here. Several of these are motifs that are meant to be made into sweaters and other non-blanket items, but with worsted weight yarn, they make pretty afghan squares, too. The only changes I made to the patterns at all was that for each one I added one or two 3dc "granny" rounds to give them a finished look. I'm especially in love with the two lacy squares with the orange in them!

280-283::365 japanese squares

2011-11-11T23:11:00.001-06:00

Patterns: These two Japanese patterns from Pierrot Yarn (the PDFs are here; you don't have to read Japanese, just crochet charts!).

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I wish every crochet pattern had a chart. Simple repeat patterns like this barely require more than a glance once you figure out what the symbols mean. The flower square in the lower left was made as shown in the chart with the addition of the final 3dc "granny" round to give it some structure.

The other three squares started out as the circle (and kinda hexagon-ish in the case of the green one) shapes you see below. I'm really enjoying the challenge of crocheting these into squares! I wish I could explain a simple formula for doing this, but it is different every time. I am so ready to experiment with some freeform crochet next year. I feel like I am really starting to understand how to get the shape I want!

276-279::365 a few new squares

2011-11-08T20:11:00.003-06:00

Patterns (left to right): "Water Lily" by Jean Leinhauser, "Cluster Wheel" by Janie Herrin, "Puffs & Posts" by James G Davis, and "Whirligig" by Jean Leinhauser in 50 Fabulous Crochet Squares.

I thought I'd be able to post these squares on Sunday, but after a fun but exhausting weekend of camping, I didn't quite get around to it. I searched up and down for my copy of Beyond the Square so I could make some more circle squares, but I didn't have any luck. I'm beginning to think that I loaned it to someone. Hmm. Anyway, I took this book with me instead and made these four squares. The Whirligig one is my favorite. I really had to work at shaping Water Lily to get it to ruffle evenly. Now that I've blocked it, it looks like it will stay this way.

stuff i love sunday #33

2011-11-06T23:02:00.001-06:00

1. candy hearts, 2. ... giant man-eating cozys!, 3. Kartell KD28 & KD27 collection, 4. DSC_0360, 5. Billy Buttons, 6. day 47, 7. mini granny stripes, 8. Writing paper introduction offer, 9. Tintin Embroidery, 10. eggcups, 11. scrapplique1, 12. vintage sheets :), 13. Owl cushion, 14. Owl Collage Print, 15. Crochet Covered Stone, 16. Beyond the Square - Motif 6, 17. Bohemian Rhapsody Wrap, 18. DSC_0085, 19. vintage_purse 37, 20. welcomed..., 21. vintage recipe potholders, 22. Tweed Christmas Stockings, 23. sunny, 24. The Beehive and Cabins

274-275::365 circles from butterfly wings

2011-11-04T10:45:00.005-05:00

Pattern: Adapted from "Butterfly Apron" by Linda Permann in Crochet Adorned.

I have been searching for my Beyond the Square book for a week now with no luck because it has some great circle patterns in it. Until then, I'm resorting to using circle components in other patterns. The butterfly wings in this one use two different circle motifs. I squared each up in a different way. This is a total trial & error process. The wavy look in the last two rounds of the first block was not intentional. I made that first round and realized I had decreased too severely in the middle, so I worked taller stitches in the middle on the last round. It worked out pretty well! :)

I'm about to hit the road to go back to McGee Creek State Park with Junior, Gerty, and our friends for Junior's 31st birthday! We went there last year and had a lot of fun. I'll be back and posting the rest of my squares for this week on Sunday. Have a great weekend!

Almost forgot my new mosaic!

happy halloween!

2011-10-31T22:07:00.004-05:00

We are having a low-key Halloween at home. We didn't dress up (well, Gerty did as you can see), and a total of zero kids knocked on our door. Junior went to bed early, and I'm watching a horrible/awesome Vincent Price movie on Netflix. We didn't carve pumpkins or decorate in any way, so I'm living vicariously through these Halloween blog posts:

Betty is helping her son dress as Carl Sagan for Halloween.

Cute ghostly brownies at Persia Lou!

Wow, look at all of the awesome food and decorations Elizabeth's family made for their celebration.

I love these nails and really want to know what the rest of her costume will be!

And speaking of cute nails, Dana has that and more on her Halloween post!

270-273::365 circle experiments

2011-10-30T22:54:00.003-05:00

Pattern: none

When I mentioned that it seemed like I have crocheted most of the circle-in-square patterns on Ravelry, my bloggy friend Elizabeth inspired me to try to adapt circle motif patterns into granny squares. These four squares are the result of some experimenting I needed to do before I get started with more complex (and larger) circle patterns. It was way easier than I thought it would be. You can see the basic way I worked the first squaring round below. I drew a square a littler larger than my circle on a piece of paper. Then I figured out where the corners would go by dividing the total number of stitches by four. From there it was mostly trial and error to fill in the gaps with ascending and descending heights of stitches. I'm excited to try bigger circles now!

stuff i love sunday #32

2011-10-30T18:08:00.002-05:00

1. Finish Line in Sight, 2. Trick or Treat?, 3. Mystery Puzzle Quilt, 4. Crocheting stars while the power is out., 5. 3rd Quarter Blocks Received- Hive Six, 6. crochet ripple afghan, 7. Crochet mug cozi with bow, 8. Granny blanket ta-dah 3, 9. Pinwheel afghan, 10. vintage sewing kit, 11. Botanical Still Life - Together, 12. Package From stripy sock studio!!!!, 13. PTS6 - Pillow Talk Swap, 14. swing... !, 15. Untitled, 16. a stitch in color twinkle, 17. Crochet clothes hanger, 18. Knit the Plaza - Bicycle Snake, 19. Too pretty to eat., 20. make-do-mend, 21. anthropologie knotted melati hanging chair, 22. Vintage Wooden Jigsaw, 23. Granny blanket, 24. saff2011 027

How has your weekend been? I've just been crocheting along, doing a little bit of cleaning around the house, and fighting off the worst headache ever. If it goes away soon, I'll be posting my next four squares a little later. Are you ready for Halloween?!

266-269::365 circles-in-squares

2011-10-26T21:38:00.005-05:00

Patterns (left to right): "Victorian Doily" by Jean Leinhauser, & "Ruffle-Go-Round", "Land of the Free", & "Ship's Wheel" by Janie Herrin in 50 Fabulous Crochet Squares.

I've been avoiding using dark colors of yarn for a while now, but I'm basically down to a few blue shades and a yellow until pay day on Friday, so I've resorted to crocheting with this dark blue for a little variety. I have seriously used a ton of yarn this year! My plan for this afghan is to use circle squares like these of all different sizes and some of the squares I've been making from rows for this new baby blanket. (You can see the first one here. I'm not quite done weaving in ends yet! I have finished the border though.)

"Victorian Doily" has a 3-d lacy effect going on. It is almost flowery. I tend to avoid working patterns as written if they say not to join at the end of a round because I'm afraid that the result will not look neat, but I followed the instructions for the center exactly on this one. You really can't tell the difference unless you are looking for anomalies.

The second square's ruffles are created over a mesh of dc stitches created by skipping a stitch in specified places around the circle. Then with a contrasting color, you have to sc & ch 2 three times over each dc from right to left then go to the next dc "spoke" and repeat. That may or may not make any sense. It was a little confusing in the pattern, but I'm pretty sure I did it right!

"Land of the Free" was red, white, & blue in the sample in the book, of course. The center is created by a series of 3dc cluster stitches. It may be the plainest of these three squares as far as fancy stitches go, but I really like it. I had to pay really close attention when I got to the first round after the dark blue circle one because it would have been really easy to miscount stitches.

"Ship's Wheel" is probably my favorite. It really was the quickest of these squares to make. The spokes of the wheel are created with front post treble crochet stitches. Super easy! It really does kind of look like the wheel of a ship.

Do you know of any neat circle-in-a-square patterns I should check out? I'm looking for more!

265::365 breezy filet

2011-10-23T22:51:00.003-05:00

Pattern: "Breezy Filet" by James G. Davis in 50 Fabulous Crochet Squares.

This huge square measures 13"! I did alter it a little on the final round. Instead of sc, I copied the previous round and worked 2dc, ch1 in each space. I keep forgetting not to use white in a circle like this because it always looks like a giant eye. Maybe someday I'll make an eyeball-only afghan. I have plans to add this to the second baby blanket I have to make, but I wonder if little baby hands might get caught in the lacy stitches.

stuff i love sunday #31

2011-10-23T17:37:00.001-05:00

1. kitchen kitsch, 2. Start of a new blanket, 3. ballantine345237129, 4. deer in my hair to match my dress, 5. collection_023_2011_10_16, 6. Just Thrifted!, 7. Vintage cookie tins, 8. Escargot et champignon au crochet, 9. Leaf Lay Around, 10. Green layer cake, 11. porque a vida precisa de cores!!!, 12. Birdseeker Spotted Woodpecker Pendant, 13. Gaspar's Room, 14. scenes from my studio, 15. sinister postman, 16. festive, 17. Autumn, 18. christmas boxes, 19. Little writing paper giveaway on my blog, 20. Vintage Embroidered Oval Doily in White with Pink and Blue Flowers, 21. girl round ripple, 22. 1969 Sears Christmas Catalog, 23. felt house, 24. day 31

264::365 embossed floral

2011-10-23T11:18:00.002-05:00

Pattern: "Embossed Floral" by Janie Herrin in 50 Fabulous Crochet Squares.

I had put this book on my back burner for the silliest reason ever, but I'm back to it now. I just didn't like the way this square looked, and since I was making them in order, I didn't want to skip it. I think it was just the country blue color of yarn used in the sample in the book that turned me off to it because I like it just fine after making it my own colors.

365 lucky days

2011-10-21T07:50:00.002-05:00

day 31
Originally uploaded by luckyjackson::

I'm totally smitten with Lucky Jackson's 365 project. She's been making these amazing embroidered pieces each day, and even though each new one I see becomes my favorite, I think this Batman & Robin one is for reals! Maybe until tomorrow.

260-263::365 rows & rows

2011-10-20T20:35:00.003-05:00

Patterns: "Squares 24, 7, 37, & 8" from 50 Stitches for Afghans by Darla Sims.

The funny thing about these squares is that most of the patterns are written for one color, but they all totally look better with more. Out of these four, only the square in the upper left corner (#24) was supposed to be made with alternating colors. The two on the right were easy to adapt into these striped patterns by simply finishing off a color at the end of a row. The sort of cabled square (well, rectangle!) on the bottom left was a little harder. For the row that has blue popcorn stitches thrown into the yellow, I used both colors of yarn at the same time and held the unused color to the back of my square as I worked.

Just for the record, the squares I'm making from this book vary in size from about 5" to about 8". I have no idea when I begin each one how big it will be because the book doesn't really give any gauge information. I start out each square with a few repeats of the pattern and work it until I think it looks good. Since I'm planning to make an afghan in rows soon with a combination of these stitches, I may try to crochet a hybrid square next.

In other news, my tattoo new tattoo is healing nicely! :)

Any suggestions for titles for new posts about these stripey squares? I'm so desperate, I've almost resorted to puns. Help!

256-259::365 more rows

2011-10-16T23:52:00.003-05:00

Patterns: "Squares 32, 30, 23, & 26" from 50 Stitches for Afghans by Darla Sims.

I'm having lots of fun crocheting little swatches from this stitch book. The one on the lower right is my favorite, even though there is no turning involved and therefore tons of ends to weave in. I'd like to try it again and modify it so that the mesh part is more continuous. I'm improvising the borders for each of these row squares as I go, and it gets easier every time!

stuff i love sunday #30

2011-10-16T18:53:00.002-05:00

1. PTS6 first block sewn., 2. pancakes, 3. Sedge stitch afghan, 4. Robot and Bear, 5. Reunited, 6. More Merry Mushroom, 7. plants and broken pictures, 8. Cakehouse Pillows + Napkins!, 9. Ask the owl - Fråga ugglan, 10. Calavera embroidery pattern - detail, 11. Washi Collection - Triangulo - Spring 2012, 12. kitschen, 13. Vintage White Porcelain German Vases, 14. Golden Simplicity, 15. Full Spectrum Granny Square Blanket, 16. Untitled, 17. Untitled, 18. day 23 detail, 19. Mario Mushroom Granny Square Blanket, 20. mundal, norway's book town, 21. Art Wall, 22. New plate sets, 23. Pinball arcade!, 24. Crocheted thread holder vintage and made by me

13 Ounces or Less: Sending interesting packages through the mail on giverslog.

This awesome envelope artwork on Present & Correct.

Elizabeth started an interesting conversation about reading fewer blogs. It made me feel better about not being able to keep up with EVERYTHING, and I also don't feel bad about the granny-a-day post I'm about to do combining four more squares worked in rows. Diane brought up some more interesting points here on her blog, too.

I love this tutorial for painting space-y nails!

Oh, and I love my new tattoo from my friend Mike!

255::365 daffodil square

2011-10-12T22:38:00.003-05:00

Patterns: Adapted from "Daffodil" by Linda Permann in Crochet Adorned & a basic granny square.

I have made this flower pattern before as a brooch, and although I like the way this square came out, I think the flower looked better last time. It was probably the smaller hook size I used (F instead of H) that gave the stitches more definition. The yarn was a cotton blend, too, which helped.

Instead of crocheting a square on the back of a flower like I did yesterday, I sewed this flower onto the square.

I have finished the border around the baby blanket I was working on this weekend, but I still have a bunch of ends to weave in!

254::365 6-petal flower & crocheting a square onto the back of a motif

2011-10-11T22:50:00.004-05:00

Patterns: Adapted from "6-Petal Flower" by Linda Permann in Crochet Adorned & a basic granny square.

When I was just about finished with this flower, I realized that I had used this flower for a square this year already. Oops. So instead of sewing it on a granny square like I did before, I crocheted a square onto the back of the flower to switch it up a little. Several squares I've made this year have used this method to attach a motif to a square, and it is super easy!

Here's how to do it. You have to slip stitch into four evenly-spaced stitches on the back of your work. If the motif you're using has four even points around it like a flower with 4 or 8 petals, it is easy to figure out where to place your stitches. If the number of stitches is not divisible by four, as with my flower with 6 petals, just choose four points that are approximately square on the same round. Between each slip stitch, make a few chain stitches. The number will totally depend on the type of yarn and hook you use and the distance you need to cover. I used 4 ch stitches between each slip stitch for this square. Once you have made a square of chains across the back, start making granny rounds of 3 dc clusters and 3 dc, ch 3, 3 dc in the corners.

253::365 rows of fans

2011-10-10T22:43:00.005-05:00

Pattern: "Square 25" from 50 Stitches for Afghans by Darla Sims.

I really love this stitch pattern! I think it looks like little fans. I was excited to be able to use crossed dc stitches again, and I didn't even mind the billions of ends I had to weave in at the end! And isn't this fabric the best? This is probably my favorite vintage sheet find ever.

stuff i love sunday #29

2011-10-09T22:11:00.001-05:00

1. polaroid Friday. . . Vintage Fisher Price, 2. Line Study #1 - work in progress, 3. Hang In There, 4. Untitled, 5. Cross Stitch: Retro Reindeer, 6. Sweet Stitching with Erin: Cross-Stitch iPhone Cases!, 7. Surprise yourself. Experiment with color., 8. Crochet squares, 9. Christmas Stitches sneak peek, 10. Lots of granny stripes and rectangles here, 11. Morning of October 5, 2011, 12. faberdashery cupboard, 13. Fred Rogers, Pray for Us, 14. Mini matroyshka, 15. Crochet blanket, 16. poppy's bedroom, in progress, 17. cozy, 18. day 19 detail, 19. Donuts!!!, 20. Tutorial: Vintage Felt Baubles, 21. Happy Rag Rug, 22. heart award ribbon brooch, 23. Ringo PIe--October--Amy, 24. Playing nice

252::365 5-petal pointy flower

2011-10-08T23:40:00.004-05:00

Patterns: Adapted from "5-Petal Pointy Flower" by Linda Permann in Crochet Adorned & a basic granny square.

I love the flower patterns in Crochet Adorned! This square was made by simply sewing the flower onto the granny square. Easy!

I'm almost done with this blanket that I am making for a co-worker's baby. I joined the squares using my tutorial for joining squares of different sizes, and I'm finally using a border from a book I have had for a while, Around the Corner Crochet Borders. It should be finished by the end of the weekend.

251::365 a square by mistake

2011-10-07T22:27:00.003-05:00

Pattern: "A Square By Mistake" by Sarah Cooper.

After a long week, this cute little 3.5" square is just right! Maybe I'll make a huge one tomorrow to make up for this. Maybe not. I can't believe that I made a 12" square each day for A Square A Day In May because I can barely keep up with these smaller ones lately. In case you're wondering, I still haven't woven in all of the ends on my May afghan. I need to get on that because that huge blanket is going to be perfect for keeping warm this winter.

While I was at Sarah's blog working on this square, I spotted this awesome afghan! So colorful & pretty!

250::365 berry beauty

2011-10-06T18:48:00.001-05:00

Pattern: "Berry Beauty" by Jean Leinhauser in 50 Fabulous Crochet Squares.

This really simple square uses popcorn stitches in the corners to add a little bit of texture. I actually left the corners solid in a couple of the outer rounds, only adding a space on the very last round.

Here are my most recent 25 squares. I really love this mosaic even though there are a couple of repeats in the fabric I used for each day. I can't wait to show you the progress I've been making joining these squares! I have a three day weekend for Columbus Day, and I'm going to get lots of crochet done.

248-249::365 more stripes

2011-10-04T23:12:00.002-05:00

Patterns: "Square 2" & "Square 1" from 50 Stitches for Afghans by Darla Sims.

This is another new book I got for my birthday. Once I'm done with my granny-a-day project I'm going to have to make some sampler afghans that are just rows. This book has lots of pretty stitch patterns to choose from! I made the two squares above with a few repeats of a couple of the patterns from the book and then added borders around so that they will join nicely with the rest of my blocks.

247::365 golden shells

2011-10-03T22:59:00.002-05:00

Pattern: "Golden Shells" by Jean Leinhauser in 50 Fabulous Crochet Squares.

I wish more patterns incorporated crossed double crochet stitches. Those are the "X" stitches on the dark purple round on the center of each side. They look so pretty! I didn't stray from the pattern other than in the corners to create a space. At 7.5", this square is one of the smaller ones in this book.

stuff i love sunday #28

2011-10-02T19:09:00.003-05:00

1. Blankets!, 2. As-is Stash, 3. Mushroom Mario Blanket - progress update, 4. WIP Wednesday 9/27/2011, 5. Sneaky peak of my latest crochet creation :), 6. Matrioskas, 7. Beyond the Square - Motif 98, 8. Untitled, 9. Give me freedom, Give me fire, 10. Rainbow Hearts Filet Crochet Afghan / Curtain, 11. BIG teapot!, 12. lamps, 13. aqua flea market bag, 14. 2, 15. Breakfast., 16. Snowy Owls in Midwinter Blue - Handpulled Print, 17. flickr.com/photos/81869070@N00/6203862807/, 18. Whipped cream amigurumi by Amiguria, 19. My quilt is all basted - Hooray! Now to figure out how to quilt., 20. Antoine et Lili, 21. Woah, orange!, 22. matryoskas, 23. SQUARES da Kátia, 24. flickr.com/photos/81869070@N00/6190951094/

Most of my Flickr favorites from this week are crochet related. Who am I kidding? They usually are! That and food.

Don't forget that you can see my random photos from the past week on my photo blog. :)

246::365 quadruple shells

2011-10-02T17:10:00.003-05:00

Pattern: "Quadruple Shells" by Jean Leinhauser in 50 Fabulous Crochet Squares.

This easy square measures about 8". As usual, the only changes I made were altering the last two rounds so that they have open corner spaces. It looks sort of flowery as it is, but if the first round of sc were in a contrasting color, it would be a more obvious flower. The whole time I was making it, I was reminded of the center of the 5th square I made this year, Coffee & Cream!

245::365 winter rose

2011-10-02T01:23:00.003-05:00

Pattern: "Winter Rose" by Jean Leinhauser in 50 Fabulous Crochet Squares.

The center of my square bears little resemblance to the sample in the book. It is supposed to be kind of ruffly instead of the slightly scalloped circle I have. I'm not sure why this is. I always use a magic ring for the center of my squares, and when a looser ring didn't look great, I cinched it almost all the way shut.

Another change I made was in the final round. I used hdc instead of sc, and I worked them into the back loop and the loop at the very back of each sc of the previous round to create the neat ridge effect.

The fabric in the background is one of my favorite vintage tablecloths. I really need to take a picture of the whole thing!

244::365 cluster dome

2011-10-01T00:48:00.001-05:00

Pattern: "Cluster Dome" by Jean Leinhauser in 50 Fabulous Crochet Squares.

This circle-in-a-square is pretty huge compared to the other squares I have been making lately. It measures about 10.5". As usual, I used my trusty size H hook which must be larger than what was used in the samples in the book (it doesn't specify), because it lists the size of the finished square as 8.5". The only change I made was substituting hdc for sc in the next to last round.

243::365 pretty petals

2011-09-28T22:57:00.003-05:00

Pattern: "Pretty Petals" by Jean Leinhauser in 5o Fabulous Crochet Squares.

Once again, the corners of this square were supposed to be solid, but I added a chain space. The clusters in this square are created by drawing up loops "to the height of a dc". I thought that was going to be tough to do consistently, but I guess practice does make perfect because it proved to be pretty easy. The round 1 instructions are incorrect. It says to work 24 sc in the ring, but you should only work 12 sc.

crochet school!

2011-09-28T13:09:00.004-05:00

If you're interested in learning to crochet, you have to check out Crochet School! Dana from Craftyminx will be sharing a series of crochet lessons beginning October 1st. It is going to be so informative. I wish somebody had told me where to put my stitches when I was learning to crochet! She will be dedicating an entire lesson to just that topic.

And in other crochet learning news, last week was Tunisian Crochet Week on my crafty friend Elizabeth's blog, Things Bright. I've been meaning to learn this interesting stitch, and after seeing the cool examples she has been posting, I think the time is now! Here are all of her posts about Tunisian crochet!

242::365 cluster blossoms

2011-09-27T20:17:00.003-05:00

Pattern: "Cluster Blossoms" by Jean Leinhauser in 5o Fabulous Crochet Squares.

If you've been following my progress on this project, you probably know that my favorite type of granny squares are the flowery kind! This square is the kind I typically save for later because I don't want to do all of the fun ones first, but this book has a decent number of flower squares -- more than 12 out of the 50 are, counting only the obvious flower ones and none of the more abstract. And so far I have been going in order through this book, skipping only the second pattern that is just a basic granny square in rainbow colors.

Isn't this square great? I love petals formed from cluster stitches! The only change I made from the instructions was on the last round. Instead of sc stitches, I used hdc, and instead of solid corners, I worked 2hdc, ch2, 2hdc.

241::365 moody blues

2011-09-26T22:47:00.002-05:00

Pattern: "Moody Blues" by Jean Leinhauser in 5o Fabulous Crochet Squares.

I got this book for my birthday, and it has some really nice granny square patterns! This square worked up to 7". I did leave off the last round of single crochet. Since this square is named after the shades of blue that mostly make up the sample in the book, I had to feature some blue. The pattern did have a yellow center and border. I mainly just switched up the outer part of the circle by changing it from blue to green.

240::365 granny circle-in-a-square

2011-09-25T19:45:00.002-05:00

Pattern: "Crochet Square Tutorial" from a girl in winter.

The only change I made in this pattern is adding an extra chain stitch at the corners for the final round. I find that 2 ch aren't quite enough for me usually, and my square winds up with rounded corners. This pattern is in UK terminology, so it can be tricky remembering to use dc instead of tr, even with the nice reminder at the beginning. This tutorial was so easy with step-by-step photos that I didn't have any trouble!

stuff i love sunday #27

2011-09-25T17:43:00.001-05:00

1. Charity Auction Blanket WIP, 2. Untitled, 3. Pippy Stripe Blanket, 4. Beetle Paper Pendant, 5. My 2011 North Carolina State Fair project, 6. a bowl of nanas, 7. Kitchen, 8. Finished Hexy Blanky, 9. Crochet Coaster, 10. Up!, 11. WIP - Chromatĭcus - Border #103, 12. Line Study #2, 13. CUELLITO CON HOJAS PROFUGAS DE BLOGGER 007, 14. day 6 detail, 15. Patchwork Moleskine Cover #nofilter #flickr, 16. Popcorn Stitch Afghan Square in progress, 17. happy breakfast scene, 18. My own little Collégien collection, 19. Sneak peek of the crochet school textbook :), 20. plesiosaur, 21. PINGOS Necklace - Colar, 22. Stripey mat out of t-shirt yarn, 23. matryoshka card, 24. Fabric Sewing Book

239::365 vintage wheel square

2011-09-24T14:42:00.003-05:00

Pattern: "Vintage Wheel Square" from Designs by KN.

This circle-in-a-square measures about 7.5". I changed the pattern up a little at the end by using a round of hdc instead of sc. Like most other circle granny squares, this one looks like a sun to me.

Thanks for all of the lovely birthday wishes on my last post! :) I celebrated several times with awesome food and good friends. I'll have to blog about my new crochet books soon!

it's my birthday! & more photo pages

2011-09-21T07:45:00.001-05:00

Hey! Today's my birthday! I hate it when it falls on a weekday, but what can you do? Since I was super busy with work related stuff last night in hopes of getting out on time today, I didn't get a chance to post a new granny square. Maybe these photo pages I made will suffice until next time (hopefully later tonight)!

I blogged about the first page I made a couple of weeks ago, and I've been on a roll since then. I still hesitate to call this "scrapbooking" because I guess I feel like there must be some kind of minimum criteria for that classification. I'm probably overthinking it! The page above is my favorite so far. I cut what felt like a billion little scraps of paper into teardrop shapes by hand and glued them down one by one. Aren't Gerty and Jim the cutest when they are on the couch together?

This one features a bunch of photos from our recent trip to La Costa, a Mexican seafood restaurant here in Oklahoma City. Our food was amazing! Junior had some kind of big fish, and I had tacos (not pictured because they were not as impressive-looking). This place is so cute and tiny. I wish I had gotten a picture of the dining area. It was just two rows of booths all the way down with a narrow walkway in between. It felt like a school bus. In a good way.

Jim is in love with Hello Kitty. Above he is pictured dreaming about her.

The page above was more of an experiment than the others, and I wish I had put a couple more photos on it. It may not be finished. These pictures are from one of our favorite Mexican grocery stores. Weird, right? I just love how colorful it is there compared to the bland beige and dingy white of most grocery stores around here. (I'm looking at you, Homeland.)

This one has a bunch of random photos all taken in the living room. I'm not sure what I'm doing with that label-y sticker there. I feel like it is a brand new notebook, and I don't want to mess it up by writing anything other than exactly the perfect thing there.

This is another random pictures one. Let's see, there are a couple of photos of the afghan I'm currently working on, my favorite necklace, the dinosaur vs. robot tattoo, and a pendant that I embroidered. You can kind of see my awesome flower nails in that last one. The little paper dinosaurs are from a Martha Stewart craft punch I just couldn't pass up. Most of them are made from scraps of the photos I had printed at Walgreens last week.

Tons of my pictures are square, and 4 x 6 photos are always on sale, so for most of my prints, I photoshopped pretty backgrounds and two 2.5" square pictures onto a 4 x 6 template for each one that I had printed. On the page below, you can see more photos that had been printed with patterned borders.

This photos above were all taken at Birrieria Dias, our new favorite Mexican place. They don't mess around when it comes to condiments. You get about 10 little bowls of stuff to add to your food, depending on what you order!

And last but not least, here are Gerty and Jim again!

238::365 rectangular granny

2011-09-19T23:09:00.004-05:00

Pattern: "Rectangular Granny Square" by SusanB from Handcrafting With Love.

This block is seriously easy to crochet. If I ever make a giant granny square blanket again, I think it is going to be a rectangle like this one. Check out this afghan that is entirely made of these rectangle blocks in a few shades of green and white.

237::365 french nannie's granny flower square

2011-09-19T00:03:00.004-05:00

Pattern: "French Nannie's Granny Flower Square," a Ravelry download from Penny Peberdy.

I kind of cheated when I made this square in that the yellow square had been made long ago (for the rainbow afghan I think). I realized that this flower is made on a regular granny square with the petals of the flower attached between clusters on the first two rounds, so I decided to use the spare square as the base. I sewed a purple X in the center to give it a little extra something.

stuff i love sunday #26

2011-09-18T14:41:00.003-05:00

1. my newest old thing... i love circus things., 2. Kashmiri Trays, 3. a stitch in color :: supersize shoo-fly, 4. vintage melamine stacking cups, 5. Untitled, 6. Candy Conference, 7. Crafting on the Porch, 8. Earrings made out of Paper, 9. Cocoon slippers, 10. Border #17, 11. "YOU are my world", 12. button wall in the studio, 13. finishing summer dresses just in time for fall weather, 14. Recent haul September 2011, 15. Kitchen Utensils, 16. Motifs joined and ends woven in, 17. I Love Yarn Day Badge, 18. hjs, 19. T-shirt yarn stool cover, 20. journal pages 71 - 72, 21. Enchanted Stained Glass Granny Square Umbrella, 22. Voila! The finished blanket (4), 23. A giganto afghan I saw at the thrift store today. Sometimes it worries me, how many handmade blankets you can find...., 24. pop frame die-cuts!

10 ways to repurpose clip on earrings from Ruffles and Stuff.

Stacey Page's embroidery on photos is amazing!

I have to try this recipe for Momofuku Milk Bar’s Crack Pie on A Table for Two!

Check out the book cover embroidery contest at Feeling Stitchy! If I have any free time between now and November, I totally want to participate!

I love Carina's super useful tutorial on the Craft blog that shows how to create a color palette from a photo.

236::365 lacy granny square

2011-09-18T00:53:00.002-05:00

Pattern: "Lacy Grannies" from Crochet Today! Jan/Feb 2008.

You are supposed to make this pattern with crochet thread to make a bookmark or a bracelet, but in worsted weight yarn it will fit in just fine with the other squares I have been making lately for my new sampler afghan. I'm going to have to add another round of some kind of solid stitches. I think 3dc in each chain space and 3dc, ch3, 3dc in the corners will work well for this square.

Below is only a small portion of the squares I have made in these colors. I need to join them to the rest! It is like every afghan I make becomes my new favorite, and I don't think this one will be an exception!

235::365 granny nenúfar

2011-09-16T23:25:00.003-05:00

Pattern: "Granny Nenúfar" from Bigú Handmade.

This may be my favorite granny square ever! The flower is nice, but the leaves are what makes it amazing! The pattern is primarily in Spanish, but there is an okay English translation that (along with a perfectly hand drawn chart!) made it possible for me to crochet this square. I'm not 100% sure I attached the back where I was supposed to, but it worked out well.

234::365 summer garden granny square

2011-09-13T22:53:00.003-05:00

Pattern: "Summer Garden Granny Square" by Lucy from Attic24.

This is the perfect little circle-in-a-square. With the third round in a green color (or in this case, sparkly blue) it looks pretty flowery to me. I have a growing stack of squares to join! I plan to make a little bit of progress on it this weekend.

228-233::365 made up squares

2011-09-12T22:45:00.001-05:00

I made these six squares mostly while traveling for work last week. I can be a nervous passenger, and crochet took my mind off of the road. I can actually crochet squares without a pattern now! I mean like without any hesitation and with pretty much zero ripping out of stitches. I'm kind of excited about it! I wish making crochet charts came as easily* to me. I would love to make charted patterns for these squares. If you click through the picture above to flickr, you can look at each individual square.

*Okay I say easily, but honestly it took forEVER before crochet made a lot of sense to me. I struggled and muddled my way through it at first and I'm always learning from my mistakes as well as my successes.

After today I will be back to my regularly scheduled granny-a-day posts. :)

stuff i love sunday #25

2011-09-11T16:10:00.001-05:00

1. fond and distant memories 2, 2. sunset flowers collection, 3. Hazelnut Almond Mocha Dacquoise-Slice, 4. A day's work, 5. Yummy spirograph Pyrex!, 6. Trees collection print, 7. A few of my favorite things, 8. Sketchbook Exposed, 9. How to make a Rainbow, 10. TESLA Portable Transistorradio Model T2800 B2 (Czechoslovakia ca.1961), 11. Búho ♥, 12. Pickled Beets, 13. tea time, 14. fabrics for a quilt, 15. Dutton's for Buttons, York 2, 16. 125 - O Mundo que nos Espera - 2, 17. Happy Hedgehog, 18. Queen Anne's lace scarf, 19. Eryn's quilt, 20. LET'S CHEER UP!, 21. hmm..., 22. Sleeping Bear Dunes, Hipstamatic, 23. Celebration on the Grand tonight #fireworks #grandrapids, 24. Cute Little Dollhouse interior-2

222-227::365 a study in stripes

2011-09-07T21:22:00.004-05:00

I haven't posted squares in a few days due to the holiday weekend. Did you have a good Labor Day? My mom's birthday was also this weekend, and I wish she didn't live so far away! I crocheted quite a few squares, so rather than make a million posts for them all, you're going to get them all at once (well, some today and some tomorrow anyway). Click on the mosaic above if you want to see the individual squares.

These six squares were an experiment in rows. I used the stitch dictionary section of two crochet books to crochet some swatches and then bordered all but one square with a round or two more. Below are the patterns I used. The first four are from Mon Tricot Knitting Dictionary (Workbook 0D14). This is an old book, and I can't guarantee you could find a copy of it. If you look at the individual squares you could easily figure out the stitches though. The last two stitch patterns are from Crochet Adorned by Linda Permann. This book is easily available and if you like to crochet, why haven't you gotten it yet? It is great!

1: tricolour speckle stitch
2: fancy stripes
3: bicolour seed stitch
4: bicolour fish-scale stitch
5: checkerboard
6: bobble stitch

I think the checkerboard one is my favorite, but it might be too lacy to fit in with the other squares in my latest afghan. That fish scale one is a close second. Instead of alternating colors every row, I did two rows in each color, and that gave it a rick rack look. I was searching for some charts that shows these stitches or similar ones, and I came up empty, but I did find these awesome Bubble Bobble craft projects on Sprite Stitch. That is probably my favorite Nintendo game ever! I even made this last year.

Hey, another 25 squares! Here's the latest mosaic!

stuff i love sunday #24

2011-09-04T23:28:00.001-05:00

1. Untitled, 2. Untitled, 3. Me Time, 4. handy dandy jars..., 5. London double decker bus tea towel, 6. Pinwheel Scones, 7. Untitled, 8. pencil case, 9. borsa granny 60x60 035, 10. mcnay 010, 11. staring, 12. romantic vintage purse, 13. fortune cookies, 14. Pencil box, 15. material escolar, 16. Me, 17. happy newish dresser, 18. Crochet stool cover, 19. dandelion fabric, 20. tattoo day, 21. memories, 22. Picnic umbrella at the ice cream shop, 23. August Mini Quilt: Piecing a Photograph, 24. the latest ones

221:365 daisy granny square

2011-09-04T01:28:00.003-05:00

Pattern: "Easy Daisy Square" from CrochetMaryEllen's Blog.

Other than leaving off the final round, I didn't make any changes to this pattern. I need small squares to add to this new sampler afghan that I'm currently putting together. This easy little flower square worked up to almost 5" for me.

220:365 something pretty square

2011-09-02T22:42:00.003-05:00

Pattern: "Something Pretty" from Mille Makes.

This little popcorn flower square is so freaking cute! I want to make a million of them! This pattern is really simple, and I think I could whip up an afghan full of flowers in no time. Maybe next year! :)

217-219::365 little crewel squares

2011-08-30T22:44:00.000-05:00

These 3 little squares were made from Appleton Crewel Wool from Wool & Hoop. I received the entire set of The New Crewel colors years ago as a Christmas gift. Mostly they just sit there looking pretty, but I have used the thread for crochet before. In fact that picture is one of my most popular Flickr photos, not because it is amazing but because the first two words of the title are somehow a somewhat popular "adult" search term on Google Images. Oh, internet, why!??

Each one of these was an experiment in altering a basic granny square. The first two rounds of all three squares were made using this method with a really small hook (it is so old it doesn't have any size markings). After that I switched to a C hook.

Then for the first square:
round 3: in each ch space & each corner, work 2 dc, ch, 2dc around.
round 4: in the corner work (2 dc, ch 2, 2 dc), 2 dc in next space, 2 sc in next space, 2 dc in next space, repeat around.

For the second:
round 3: in the corner work (dc, ch 1, tr, ch 1, dc), ch 1, (dc, ch) in each every other dc and space between clusters, repeat around.
round 4: 2 dc in each chain space around with ch 2 in each corner.

For the third:
round 3: in the corner work (sc, ch 2, sc), ch 2, sc in between clusters, ch 2, repeat around.
round 4: in the corner work (3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc), 3 dc in each ch2 space, repeat around.

something that isn't crochet!

2011-08-30T13:36:00.002-05:00

From left to right (and bottom to top diagonally): Daisy, Gerty, Snickers, and Jim!

Because I'm crocheting every day for my granny-a-day project, I love when I can get a little break in my routine and make something different every once in a while. (Don't worry, I will be posting 3 squares later today!) I've never really "scrapbooked" before, but after helping a not-so-crafty friend at work make a sweet book for her special someone, I realized how much fun it would be to use up some of my pretty papers. So now I have a scrapbook page with no scrapbook to put it in. It turned out super cute if I do say so myself! Having pictures of my super cute pets all over the page doesn't hurt either. :)

To make this 8 x 8 page, I used small photos of my pets, scrapbook paper, paint chips (the little scalloped circles), and flowers from Kitschy Digitals Candy-Coated Garden: Icing Flowers kit. Oh, and scissors & glue.

I sewed it all together with red and pink baker's twine. Sewing on paper is so easy and always looks great! After tacking the pieces in place with a glue stick, I just placed my paper over one of my foam blocking boards for crochet and used a thick needle with a sharp point to punch the holes prior to sewing. Easy!

216:365 tea for two

2011-08-28T22:19:00.002-05:00

Pattern: "SmoothFox's Tea For Two" by Donna Mason-Svara (Ravelry download).

This circle-in-a-square was a really easy to crochet. The pattern has no color changes, but I like it better this way. I added a final round of single crochet to finish it off.

stuff i love sunday #23

2011-08-28T15:32:00.000-05:00

1. Making homemade chicken noodle soup for my sick husband :(, 2. :), 3. Canadian Road Trip, 4. Molly's Sketchbook: Apple Coasters, 5. Luxor, 6. Stardust, 7. this, 8. pretty boys, 9. Hole Hearted, 10. Bunting, 11. Instagrams, Color, 12. GRANDBOY STITCH DETAIL, 13. The Pizza Eaters, 14. Downtown is a different kind of place on Sunday morning., 15. Granny Flats Artwork..., 16. thrifted, 17. A Bohemian Bangle, 18. 216/365 - Square #34, 19. a dottie angel book..., 20. Nanook and Gaia, 21. flickr.com/photos/81869070@N00/6074936159/, 22. chevron_blanket_700, 23. Untitled, 24. miniature modern // Created with fd's Flickr Toys

How to add pockets to skirts and dresses from the owls are not what they seem.

Making mini polaroid magnets with maggie makes.

How cute are these DIY saddle shoes at Bleubird?

Annalea Hart makes a beautiful slipcover for a lampshade using embroidered linens. So pretty!

Daniel Box made Instagram filters into Photoshop actions! Maybe I'll get over some of my Instagram envy now. It doesn't seem like it is ever coming out for Android!

215:365 square 25

2011-08-27T21:39:00.003-05:00

Pattern: "Square 25" from 101 Crochet Squares by Jean Leinhauser.

The only change I made to this 7" block was leaving a chain space in the corners of the final round. You may or may not have noticed that I always do this. The lavender center looks sawtoothed rather than petal-like. They can't all be flower squares, I guess! :)

rainbow afghan

2011-08-27T00:40:00.003-05:00

I've been meaning to blog about this afghan for almost a year now. I made it from yarn in my stash as a wedding present for good friends. If not for the fact that I can go over to their house to visit it when I want, I probably would not have been able to part with it!

Each granny square is made of 5 rounds of different shades of the same color and another round of gray. I used a join-as-you-go method with the final rounds to connect the squares that is basically the same as this one but much easier because the squares are all the same! It is edged in a rainbow of single crochet and completed with a simple picot border in a slightly different shade of gray than the border around each square. The label is one of these from Boye that I embroidered with my name because I couldn't see spending untold hours crocheting this blanket to just fill out the label with a Sharpie!

I think I'm going to have to make another one for myself! You can see more photos on my flickr photoset.

214::365 square 11

2011-08-25T19:49:00.002-05:00

Pattern: "Square 71" from 101 Crochet Squares by Jean Leinhauser.

Flower squares are totally my favorite ones to crochet! I really like this one, but I think the final petal round looks a little weird in one of the corners where the leaves attach. It is where the petal round was joined, but I think it isn't that noticeable if I don't point it out. I've got to stop doing that! Can you relate? "Oh yeah, it is okay, but I totally screwed it up..." Anyway, this square really needed blocking to flatten out and open up the petals.

213::365 square 71

2011-08-23T23:22:00.002-05:00

Pattern: "Square 71" from 101 Crochet Squares by Jean Leinhauser.

This little 4" square worked up really quickly. I've been busy with work and summer stuff, so it is nice that this book includes quite a few smaller squares. I need some little ones for my new sampler afghan anyway! :) You can see the progress I've made so far in this post from the other day.

212:365 square 74

2011-08-22T21:06:00.003-05:00

Pattern: "Square 74" from 101 Crochet Squares by Jean Leinhauser.

I made a few modifications when I crocheted this pattern. For round 5, I substituted 3 dc in each space & 3dc, ch3, 3dc in each corner. I didn’t put a chain space between the 3dc group, and I left off round 6 which was just a round of sc stitches. The example in the book looked kind of blah, but altering the places you put the color changes can make a huge difference!

stuff i love sunday #22

2011-08-21T18:58:00.002-05:00

1. little treasures, 2. A rainbow of rectangles, 3. a 'bits and bobs' wall..., 4. a 'bits and bobs' wall..., 5. Ric rac and buttons, 6. Morning!, 7. The Entomologist, 8. Sunday Southern Art Revival, 5 points, Atlanta #ElevateProjects, 9. Untitled, 10. crochet pillows, 11. Freshly blue, 12. see no evil nelson street bristol, 13. seenoevil nelson street bristol, 14. Toujours Bohême, 15. Oooh maybe he'll let me get some crocheting done!, 16. Untitled, 17. Brothers :), 18. thanks Nikki, 19. so wrinkly, 20. squidwhale, 21. Eläinsatupeitto / animal themed baby blanket, 22. bloom blanket bag WIP, 23. Pixilated 1up Mushroom, 24. Giant Granny Square Blanket

Hope you're having a great weekend! Sorry no links this week!

211:365 three in a row

2011-08-21T10:38:00.003-05:00

Pattern: "Basic Granny Square" by me.

I have begun to put the squares in this color scheme together using my joining technique. I made this long & narrow motif to fill in a gap. I made 3 two-round squares, bordered them with a round of hdc stitches, and then whipstitched them together in the back loops. I added another round of hdc around the whole thing (in the back loops) and a final round of 3dc "granny" clusters to finish it off.

Here are some pictures of my progress!

210:365 square 85

2011-08-20T15:53:00.002-05:00

Pattern: "Square 85" from 101 Crochet Squares by Jean Leinhauser.

This square is supposed to be a shamrock, but I made a four leaf clover instead by increasing the number of leaf repeats by one. I love easy squares like this that are created by sewing a motif onto a basic granny square.

209::365 square 23

2011-08-18T23:19:00.002-05:00

Pattern: "Square 23" from 101 Crochet Squares by Jean Leinhauser.

I like this simple square, but it is almost exactly like Wisteria from 200 Crochet Squares. The purple round here was supposed to be smaller, but I substituted double crochet stitches for the single ones called for in the pattern.

208::365 square 67

2011-08-17T22:57:00.003-05:00

Pattern: "Square 67" from 101 Crochet Squares by Jean Leinhauser.

This block looks kind of complicated, right? It really wasn't. If I did a better job of planning out which patterns I was going to make in advance, I probably wouldn't waste more time deciding on a pattern than actually crocheting it! This weekend I will map out the rest of the week. Anyway, this pattern creates a lacy starburst in the middle, and at about 9" it is the largest pattern I've made from this book so far.

Here is a closer look at how the two rounds of inverted triangles fit together.

207::365 square 40

2011-08-16T23:33:00.004-05:00

Pattern: "Square 40" from 101 Crochet Squares by Jean Leinhauser.

This circle-in-a-square worked up to about 7". I changed colors right after the circle instead of after the next round so that the posts that attach the circle part to the square part would be yellow. The corners of the final round were supposed to be solid dc stitches, but I put a chain space in the middle because it really helps later when I join a bunch of squares together. Also I like pointy corners, and I think that when you don't use a chain space at the corner it becomes too rounded.

I have moved and reorganized about half of my craft stuff, and the half that isn't nice and neat includes my fabric. That's why I'm using modern fabric instead of vintage today. This Heather Ross fabric is one of my favorites!