Baby Dodson is Here!

Olivia Victoria Dodson has arrived! I am so excited for my friends, Bret and Sarah. They are totally in love with their little bundle of joy, and what a cutie she is!

After I finished the baby blanket I was making for her, I decided to make a photo quilt. Originally, it was going to be made with baby photos of all the people invited to the shower, but as I didn't get enough interest in it, I decided to use photos TAKEN at the shower instead. It worked out a lot better.

My grandma was nice enough to make me the green squares I used, and my mom was nice enough to help me tie it all together. I was really happy to make it, and I thought it was really nice that three generations were able to work on it together. It makes the gift that much more special. At least to me. :)

Let me know what you think!

I ironed on patches in the corner squares. Bret and Sarah decorated Olivia's room with a jungle theme, so I wanted it to sort of match.

I had so much fun making this gift. It took me forever to figure out how to change the settings on my printer to make the pictures print in reverse on the transfer paper. But now I know. :)

In the end it turned out cute, and I am so excited for them!

Baby Dodson's Blanket

My friend, Sarah and her husband, Bret are expecting their first baby in September. They don't know what they are having (they want to be surprised), so I searched and searched for just the right neutral pattern for their baby. I finally found this one at www.crochetkim.com. I thought it was perfect!
This blanket is a little different than all the others I have done. I had to make the entire outside heart border first and leave a big hole in the middle.

Then I did the middle section that has the wording on it. I could have picked any number of patterns for the middle, but I chose this one because it's nice and neutral. :)

Then I stitched both sections together and added a white border. I think it turned out really cute. Sarah's baby shower was yesterday, and she loved it!

This pattern is now one of my favorites. It actually worked up really fast, and is easier than it looks. :)

First Day of School-2009

Today was Aubyn's first day of 3rd grade. He was so excited last night that he couldn't sleep. As tired as I am sure he was this morning, I barely had to whisper his name before he popped up and started getting dressed! I took this right before we left for school. This was before he was surrounded by all of his peers, so he didn't mind smiling for me. :)

This was the shot I took in front of his classroom. His teacher was standing about 10 feet away and all of his friends were walking around, so he was embarrassed. I could just hear him saying in his head, "Moooooooom, why do I have to take another picture?!" LOL

Maddie misses the cutoff for Kindergarten this year, so she is still in preschool. Her school doesn't actually start until August 10th, but that didn't stop her from wanting HER picture taken! Isn't Pico the dog cute? :)

Is anyone else impressed that I was up, showered, dressed, fed and back and forth to the school twice (Aubyn forgot his medical consent form on the counter) before 8:30am?

Craziness

Sorry I haven't had any updates in awhile. Those of you that know me know how crazy my life has been the last few months. Hopefully it will calm down soon!

Check back in the next week or two, as I will have some new pics to post soon. :)

Christine's Blanket

On New Year's Eve I was at the Olive Garden with my hubby and our kids eating dinner. My hubby and I were chatting about his work and he was telling me about a co-worker of his (Christine) that was pregnant. This is her first child and she and her husband are so excited! She had just found out that she was having a girl and after having a stressful week at work (she works in the HR department) my hubby was feeling bad that she was feeling bad. So in the middle of eating my fettucine alfredo I decided, of course, I was going to make her a blanket. :) As soon as the bill was paid we were off to buy yarn and I had the pattern I was going to make already in my head by the time we got to the store. This may be a familiar pattern to some of you, as it is the same as the one my friend, Sarah, made for her friend, Jennifer, when she was pregnant.

Originally, this blanket was going to be a secret, but in his excitement, my hubby spilled the beans at work, and pretty soon the entire office new I was making it. :)

Due to craziness in my household this blanket took almost 4 months to complete (and every week someone from my husband's office asked me when I was going to be done!). At long last it is done! Yay! So here are the photos.

This is one of my favorite patterns to use. It has every color that a traditional baby blanket needs to make it neutral. I don't often like to do just pink or just blue in case the baby feels like surprising everyone. :)
I love this criss-cross pattern. I often have trouble making the patterns stand out in my photos, but this one turned out so well!


I did a very simple border on this blanket, but it turned out cute.

After taking the photos and washing it (as is tradition, so as not to jinx myself) I was FINALLY able to take it up to Christine yesterday at lunch. She loved it, and her doctor said this week that she's probably got only two or three weeks left until the baby comes. I got it done just in time! :)

As for my next project, I've already started a baby blanket for my friend, Sarah. She's due in September, so I have until then to get it done. Piece of cake!

Crutch-Along Cashiers

So 7 or so weeks ago, one of my co-workers (Tami) injured her foot and needed surgery. She had to take 5 weeks off of work, and even after being back at work for two weeks, she will need to use crutches for another 5 weeks, if not more. We have all been watching her struggle to get from the registers to the time clock and then to her car, and I know it's been horrible. If that weren't bad enough, another one of my co-workers(Sara) had to have foot surgery last week to help correct an arch problem, so now she's on crutches for a few months as well. And while Sara will not be back at work for several weeks, she did come in on Saturday to visit us all and show off her boot and crutches. Well, we all got to talking, and I heard Tami and Sara both say several times how much the crutches were hurting the insides of their arms and chest areas.

And that's how I came up with the idea to make them some crutch covers. I assumed that the uncomfortable crutches were a big problem with anyone who had to use them, so after I got home that night, I searched the internet to try to find patterns that I could use. I was absolutely shocked that I couldn't find a single one. I did find a few sites that I could order some covers on, but nothing with a pattern.

So I came up with the brilliant idea to try to crochet some crutch covers on my own. I went through my scrap yarn box and found some yarn and then sat on the couch and thought about how I could make the shape I wanted. After thinking for awhile I decided to try to wing it and I ended up making some crutch covers that I was hoping were the right shape and size. I finished the first set up Sunday afternoon and was worried all evening that they wouldn't fit. I knew Tami was working Monday, so Maddie and I went up to visit. To my amazement, they not only fit on the crutches, but they fit PERFECTLY! I was soooooo excited. Tami was so happy with them, she wants me to make a few more sets for her in different colors. :)

Unfortunately, I never took photos of the first set, because I wanted to make sure they fit before I committed to the pattern. So you'll all have to settle with photos of the second set that I just finished. I think the purple I used in the first set was so much prettier, but this pinata varigated yarn is nice too. Let me know what you think!

Please excuse the ripped up bar stool that these are sitting on. :)

That's all for now! Later!