Favorite Projects

Happy Sunday!

Well, I just finished crocheting another chevron blanket.  This was a custom order for a baby blanket in shades of pink and purple.

I love the way this baby blanket turned out!

It is made with seven different colors of Vanna's Choice yarn from Lion Brand.

It measures 37"x46", which I believe is a great baby blanket size.  It is not too big to be carried around, and it is big enough to still be used into the toddler years.

The pattern I used for this blanket is the Fans and Feathers Ripple from the book "The Complete Photo Guide to Crochet".  This book is still one of the best resources for crochet, in my opinion.  There are so many wonderful patterns and ideas; I highly recommend this book to anyone that loves to crochet.

I squared off the ends using a mix of sc, hdc, dc, tr, 2trtog, dtr, 2dtrtog.  I finished it off by a simple round of hdc to border the entire blanket.

The blanket only took me a little over a day from start to finish, so I didn't get too many progress shots.  But, I did snap a few photos.

Of course, real time progress can always be followed on my @chirpinbirdie Instagram feed.

I have made a few other blankets with this same pattern in the recent past.

This blue and green ripple is still available in my Etsy shop.  If you are interested, you can click on the tab above.

This one sold out from my Etsy shop already.  This blue and orange is still one of my favorite color schemes, and I would be so happy to crochet with these color again.

This pink and green baby blanket is also available in my Etsy shop still.

Best Wishes,

Alison

Tea Time

Happy Sunday!!!

It has been a great weekend so far, here on the sunny California coast.  I have been working on headbands and a baby afghan to sell in my new Etsy shop ChirpinBirdie.  There are some crochet scarves and headbands already available...stop by and take a look!

I am blogging today because I feel the need to share some wisdom from my Yogi tea.  I don't know about you, but I could always use some words of inspiration!

This helps me to remember to give all that I have in every situation, and not dwell on things I want or think I need.  I hope this inspires you too!

~Best Wishes~

Adventures of the Traveling Wiener

Happy Friday Everyone!!!

I hope you all are doing well!!! I know that I have not been on here too much lately, but hopefully that will be changing.  Earlier this week, I took Jixer, and my niece and nephew to Waller Park.  I love this park!  I have been going here for a long as I can remember!

Jixer enjoyed watching the squirrels scurry about.

The squirrels, however, did not show the same appreciation for Jixer, and made sure to keep a close eye on him. 

Like always, Jixer found a tasty stick to munch on.

Jixer also kept a close eye on the kids as they played on one of the playgrounds.

Of course, he can't be expected to watch the kids all afternoon!

It was a beautiful, California afternoon!  There was also a pretty halo around the sun.

The kiddos enjoyed climbing in the trees.

I cannot believe how big the kids are; they are growing up so fast.

Kyra is eight and will be in the 3rd grade this year.

Cody is six, and will be going into the 2nd grade!

We had a wonderful day at the park.  As I said earlier, this is a wonderful park to visit.  There is four playgrounds, a two duck ponds (watch out for the mean geese that will chase you if you have a bag!!!), several areas to have a bbq, the best disc golf course, and one of the best dog parks in town.

Have a fabulous weekend everyone!

~Best Wishes~

Tea Time

Hello Everyone!!! And Happy Monday!!!

Sorry about being MIA lately....still no internet at home.  Things should start picking back up though since I will be at my sister's house all summer and they have internet!  For now, I am doggy-sitting for some friends for a week and am loving having internet again!
Here is my Yogi tea quote of the week:

Have a wonderful week!!!

I will be back in a couple of days to post about my stay here with the doggies.  Two of the dogs are 140lbs each and I am getting big dog fever!!!

~Best Wishes~

Adventures of the Traveling Wiener

Jixer and I are finally on our way back home!!!  I am excited, and I think Jixer will enjoy having a backyard to play in, two big doggies to play with, and of course the beach.

On the first leg of our trip today, we drove down Pintler Loop  from Missoula to Butte and Jixer enjoyed walking in the river and sniffing around in the grass.

He was really enjoying this little stretch of the river.  He was making me nervous walking farther and farther into the water, but luckily he is a good listener and would come back when called!

Jixer found a small patch of grass on the shore of the river to chew on.  He is keeping an eye on me, keeping an eye on him!

Here we are cuddling with each other by the water.  Actually, Jixer was just getting me all wet!

Jixer pretending he is king of the world.  Really though, he is the king of my world!

A couple more miles down the road we stopped at a little recreation area by Georgetown Lake.

This is one of the my favorite places that I have visited in Montana.  It was my 4th time here, and Jixer's first.

He really enjoyed sniffing around in the grass.

And, sniffing around in the grass even more!  This little doggy would have stayed there all day, if we had the time to spend.  

Little Jixer also enjoyed spending time with his Papa.  It was Papa's first time driving Pintler Loop too.

We had a great first day on our way back to California.  I am excited for tomorrows adventure.  We are stopped in Idaho tonight and have a fun day planned tomorrow, so check back to see where Jixer travels to next!

~Best Wishes~

Pretty Bottle Opener

It is Friday....woot!!!

The best thing about this particular Friday, is that my dad is flying in tomorrow and we are driving me and all of my stuff back to California on Monday!  I am almost home!!!
Since I am in the middle of moving, I do not have a lot of stuff out to occupy my time.  I did find Christopher's key ring and stole his bottle opener.  I have been wanting a bottle opener to carry on my key ring and recently bought a sea turtle bottle opener, but it is too heavy to carry around.  It also doesn't work very well.
My dad is actually the one that gave Chris his bottle opener when Chris and I first started dating.  It had a local radio station logo on it, and I wanted a pretty one so it was DIY time!

All you need is a bottle opener and some nail polish in your choice of colors.  I buy all of my nail polish from my sister because she sells Avon, and I love their nail polish!  It goes on so smooth and they often have great deals (I only buy it when it is on sale).

I used six colors to make the stripes.  The color names from left to right: Sunshine, Vintage Blue, Jade, Luxe Lavender, Cotton Candy, and Aqua Fantasy.

This is what the bottle opener looked like before.

Perfectly fine but I wanted a pretty bottle opener!

The first thing I did was a primer coat using the "Sheer French Pink" color, again from Avon.  As you can see it didn't cover it up perfectly, but it did give it a nice base coat.

This shows the progression of adding colors.  Once I used all six colors once, I worked the colors backwards to the other end. I also added a clear top coat for a little protection.

This is the end product!  It is definitely pretty!

It was also nice to be able to work on a project that did not involve packing or cleaning!

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

~Best Wishes~

Tea Time

Wow!  It completely slipped my mind that today is Monday!  Sorry for the late Monday post.

I think this is perfect for this week!  In more ways than one. Always be proud of yourself!  After all, you are the only you, and you are the only person that knows the complete circumstances of your life.  So do not let others bring you down with their actions or words, just because they THINK they know.

As always, best wishes for a wonderful week!