Monday, January 28, 2013

Doily Snowman

A free Crochet Pattern


I feel as if I'm really late in the season to get this out but I had an awful time getting a good picture of him. Today it was a high of 57 so I took advantage of it. I took some pictures of the snowman outside and I was finally happy with the results.

I love this little guy. He brings such cheer to the entryway. I really loved having him hang around my house until I gave him away as a Christmas gift.

He is so easy to assemble, and create. You can use the the patterns below for the 2 doilies or you can find 2 already made ones to starch.

Ravlery PDF Download

This pattern is now available for a pattern download through my Ravelry store for $3.00. This is a great option if you are wanting an easy to print and ads free copy of this pattern.
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Doily snowman




Designer: Julia Schwartz
Yarn: Size 10 cotton thread
Hook: Steel hook size 7
 (or two doilies, one that is 7 inches and 
 one that is 8 or 9 inches)
Materials
  • Your choice of starch
  • 2 black 1 inch buttons
  • 6 black  ¼ inch buttons
  • 3 brown 1 inch buttons
  • Old flannel scraps
  • Thick jewelry wire
  • 24 wooden beads

Size: Snowman is approximately 20in. tall when assembled. 

Special stitches
Leaf stitch:  Chain 5 {yo 2 times insert hook into 5th chain from hook yo and pull through, (yo pull through two loops) twice [you should have 2 loops on the hook]} repeat {to} once (3 loops),  (yo and pull through 2 loops) 2 times.

Picot: Chain 4 slip stitch into tr just made.

Tr3tog: {Yo two times insert hook into desired stitch, yo and pull through, yo pull through two loops twice} repeat {to} 2 more times. You should have 4 loops on the hook, yo and pull through all 4 loops.
Tr4tog: {Yo 2 times insert hook into desired stitch, yo and pull through, (yo pull through 2 loops on the hook) 2 times} repeat {to}3 more times. You should have 5 loops on the hook, yo and pull through all 5 loops.

Doily 1 Pattern: 

This first doily has a picture tutorial from the Lacy Japanese Lantern.
 
Round 1: Ch 6, sl st into beg ch, ch 8, {Tr ch 4 in ring} repeat {to} 6 more times, slip stitch into 4th ch at beg. (8 Tr and 8 ch 4 spaces).


Round 2: Sl st into ch 4 sp, ch 1, {5 sc in ch four space} repeat {to}  till end, sl st into first sc. (40 sc).



Round 3: Ch 1, sc in same st, {leaf stitch twice (one will be on top of the other) sk 4 sc, and sc in next stitch} repeat  {to}around to end, ending with 2 leaf stitches, sl st into beg sc. (16 leaf stitches).


Round 4: Ch 5, {leaf stitch, tr between two leaf stitches of previous row, picot, leaf stitch, Dtr in sc,} repeat  {to} 6 times, end with leaf stitch, tr between two leaf stitches, picot, leaf stitch, sl st into 5th ch of beg st.


Round 5: Ch 8, {(tr3tog, chain 3 in picot of previous row), repeat  (to) 2 times. Dtr in dtr of previous row, ch 3}  repeat {to}  6 times, tr3tog, ch 3  times, sl st into fifth ch at beg. (24 tr3tog). 


Round 6: Ch 8, (tr in tr3tog of last round, ch 4,) repeat (to) 2 more times, {tr in dtr of last round, (ch 4, tr in next tr3tog)  3 times, ch 4} repeat {to} to end. Sl st. into forth ch of beg st. 


Round 7: Ch 1, sl st into ch sp, {3 sc, 4 ch, 3 sc in each ch 4 space}  repeat {to} around. Sl st into beg st. 

Finish off. 




Doily 2

Round 1: Ch 10, sl st in first ch to make a ring, ch 3 (counts as dc here and though out), make 23 dc in the loop, sl st into beg dc. (24 dc)

Round 2:{Ch 3, 2 dc in the next dc, ch 3, sl st into next dc} repeat {to} 11 times. (12 starts to petals)

Round 3: Sl st up the first ch 3 of previous row, ch 4, tr3tog in the next 3 dc completing the petal, {ch 10, tr4tog in next four dc}  repeat {to} 10 times, ch 10, sl st into the first tr4tog. (12 petals) 

Round 4: Ch 1, sl st into ch 10 sp, {(6 sc, ch 4, 6 sc) in ch 10 sp} repeat {to} around, sl st in first sc

Round 5: Sl st in next 5 sc and into the ch 4, (ch 4, tr, ch 4, 2 tr) in ch 4 sp, {ch 7, (2tr, ch 4, 2 tr) in next ch 4 sp} repeat {to} 11 times, ch 3 dc in first tr.

Round 6: Ch 1, sc in same st, ch 4, (2 dc, ch 3, 2dc) in ch 4 sp of previous row, ch 4, {sc in ch 7 sp, ch 4, (2dc, ch 3, 2 dc) in ch 4 sp, ch 4} repeat {to} 11 times, sl st in to first sc.

Round 7: Ch 6, tr in same space, ch 1, (2 dc , ch 3, 2 dc) in next ch 3 sp,  ch 1, {(tr, ch 2, tr) in next sc,  ch 1, (2 dc, ch 3, 2 dc) in the ch 3 sp, ch 1}, repeat around, sl st into first tr.

Round 8: Sl st into ch 2 sp, ch 1, {sc in ch 2 sp, ch 3, 7 dc in ch 3 sp, ch 3} repeat {to}11 times, sl st into first sc.

Finish Off

Assembling the Snowman


Once the doilies are done, starch doilies to where they are hard. I like using a sugar starch (one part water, 2 parts sugar that has been heated up to boiling). 

When they are dry, using a hot glue gun attach the smaller doily to larger one, then add the buttons for his mouth, eyes and buttons. Cut the jewelry wire into four equal parts and string on 6 wooden beads each, and then attach the wire to the snow man. For the last touch cut out some old flannel for a scarf and a hanging loop. 


Pin for Later!

 

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Monday, January 21, 2013

Faith, Hope and Love Throw Pillow

A Free Embroidery Tutorial

I have been working on some sewing projects this month. I wanted a way to use up my scraps and this is the project that I came up with. If you would like to make it to you will need:

  • 8- 8 inch squares in coordinating colors
  • 2 buttons
  • 1 embroidery floss skein
  • carbon paper
  • sewing machine
  • fiber fill 

 Instructions

 1. To start I sewed four the the squares together for the front. For the back I sewed four squares that were the same color.  
2. Next with a word processing program (like word) I picked out which font I wanted and typed out the words I wanted. I chose the french script and I sized it to 104. I printed it off on a piece of  paper.





3. Next I cut out the letters and I cut the carbon paper to fit the size of the cut out words, I etched the words, with the carbon paper onto the fabric where I wanted them placed. I found that it helped to pen down the paper and the carbon paper so it won't move.

4. Next I got out my embroidery hoop and I satin stitched around the letters covering up the carbon letters with the embroidery floss.


5. When all the letters are covered. I sewed the front and back pieces together with the right sides facing each other. I left a small hole in one corner to flip the pillow right side out, and to stuff it.


  6. Stuff the pillow. Sew up the whole with a wip stitch. and sew on the buttons on both sides of the pillow at the same time.

More Embroidery Projects You Would Like


Finding inspiration in nature

It is well with my soul

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Banana Oatmeal Cookies

When I got back from Christmas break I somehow ended up with 9 bananas in my apartment and they were spoiling fast so I was coming up with creative ways to use them besides my typical banana bread. I also have a hoarders amount of oatmeal. So I put 2 and 2 together and made oatmeal cookies.They came out amazingly soft and I know Elvis would be jealous to have a few.

2 C. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 c. white sugar
1c. brown sugar
1 c. mashed banana (or 2 bananas)
2 eggs
2 T. cold water
2 tsp. vanilla
3 c. oatmeal (I used the old fashioned)
1/2 cup of chocolate chips
1/2 cup of peanut butter chips

Sift together the first 4 ingredients. Cream the sugars, banana, eggs and water together. Add the flour mixture until it is all wet. Add the oatmeal and the chips just till mixed. Bake at 350 for 10 to 12 minutes. I got about 30 big cookies out of it.