Today is crazy! There is simply too much to do and not enough time. Â I did find time to weed the flower bed just a bit. Â We found these!
You can see that they are quite well hidden. They are Guinea hen eggs and just slightly smaller than chicken eggs. The mom will come back to the nest and continue to sit on them. The birds are not ours but do roam the neighborhood eating bugs in all of our yards and gardens. They are extremely useful birds and are almost tame.
Talk to you later,
Karen
Do you have a family identity? It used to be a popular thing to talk about. It is a pretty basic concept. What does your family stand for? What does it mean to be a _____________ (put your last name in the blank)? When our kids were small it was pretty simple:
Stewart’s take care of each other.
and
Stewart’s tell the truth.
(I had to work pretty hard on that one.)
Stewart’s wash their hands and use their manners.
(another one we had to work hard on.)
Then it became more difficult as time went on and the kids got older.
It became things like:
Stewart’s do hard things, they don’t give up!
Stewart’s do not leave projects to the last minute before they are due!
Those are also incredibly hard to teach and I am still working on learning them myself. Though, I think the last one was more of a self preservation teaching than a family identity or motto.
I have been thinking about this family identity thing because our home school group has suggested that we come up with a home school mission statement for this year. Public schools, private schools, colleges and universities do this all the time with slogans and mottos. I have been thinking about it. We are close to the end of our homeschooling years and I don’t think that choosing “I can’t wait to be finished” is a good choice for our home school mission statement. I really don’t want our sweet youngest child to think back that Mom couldn’t wait to be done with teaching her. That is NOT a good end to a season of life. I know that there is something more challenging and uplifting that I could use if I think long enough.
I think family identities, mission statements and mottos are good things. They serve as guidelines. They can help you keep on track and remind you of why you do what you do and who you are. I’m still thinking about ours for the year, if I figure it out I will get back to you.
Talk to you later,
Karen
I spent the better part of 3 weeks designing the flower blocks and creating this crochet blanket from them. The blocks are a little intensive and require a tiny bit of advanced crochet skills. I have been waiting to show the blanket to you. It is gorgeous! The flower squares are great for using up small bits of yarn. So it is perfect for using up your stash yarns.
I had some extra flower squares so I created this pillow cover as well. It matches and the black color is really super dark navy.
The back of the pillow with the lovely bright buttons that keep it closed.
Here it is inside on our black couch. The colors still look bright and beautiful inside. I really enjoyed creating this granny square and I hope to have the directions available soon.  The blanket and pillow will both be available for purchase in the Studio. The blanket is 40 x 50″.
Talk to you later,
Karen
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I gave myself a stern talking to; this week. I am spending the day cleaning up my studio and doing some paperwork for the business. It has been ages/months maybe even years since I last sat down and really worked in here. I have been gifted with a bunch of fabric from friends and family. Some I will use or did use in the 100 items in 100 days Challenge but some I won’t use, ever!
Isn’t it awful!
I am making progress. I can see the top of the cutting table. I have decided to give the yards of felt in strange colors, like lime green and black to charity. I have no idea what I would use it for as I am not that fond of working with felt. I could make thousands of brooches and Christmas ornaments with the huge amount of felt that I am not giving keeping. I am getting rid of items that I made five years ago that didn’t sell. Like these pincushions. I have 10+ pincushions and if you know of someone that needs or wants one. I will ship it to them for the cost of the shipping! Just send me a message or leave a comment and I will get in touch with you.
Hubs is getting some organizing items for me from Wal-mart. I am super excited.
Talk to you later,
Karen
Ta dah! I am so glad to be able to show this beautiful crochet blanket to you. It is a lovely copper and cream combination. This time of year when the weather is so hot I always think of the cooler weather of Fall. I can’t wait for the back to school sales and the beautiful new Autumn colors.
The pattern is my own design. The blanket was approved by all the men in my house from my husband to the boys (24 and 19 years old). The deemed it properly masculine, properly soft and just perfect. I wasn’t sure I was going to get it away from them to be able to list it in the Studio shop. 
Even the border was guy approved. Just the right finish to the edging. I left off the picot scallops that were to top the border. It just didn’t seem to need it.
This blanket is longer than I usually make. 
Anyway, it is finished and I hope to put the pattern in the shop as well. It was one of those lovely “let’s see what happens if I do this” paths and it turned out quite nice. You can find the blanket in the studio shop here!
See you later,
Karen
This week has been slow as I had a procedure done at the hospital that forced me to sit around for the past week. It wasn’t a big deal but it has slowed me down. I am not getting out and about. The weather was a unusual 60-70 degrees Fahrenheit  in what is usually the warmest time of year. Today the weather will achieve it usual goal. It should reach about 100 degrees +. So, even if I feel better it is still not enough to go outside  and deal with the heat.
I did finish this blanket and I can’t wait to get the pattern written and in the shops. Here are a few sneak peaks. If you are my friend on Instagram or facebook you have probably already seen little photos of this blanket.
It is lovely and warm. The crocheted fabric is not holey and it is larger than I normally crochet. I thought I would never finish it.
I am feeling more like myself and I am hoping to finish another WIP or work in progress this week. I received a wonderful yarn order in the mail last week while finishing up this one and I think that I have an idea on how to use it!
Talk to you later,
Karen
I finished the ridged baby ripple quite some time ago. I hated to show it off until I had written the pattern. Here it is: a wonderful soft cottony baby blanket.
The blanket is 18″ x 24″. A perfect size to cover baby in their carseat.
You can find the pattern on etsy, craftsy and the blanket for sale on Etsy as well.
What are you working on and how are you doing this week?
See you later,
Karen
We took some time this week to go to the Monet exhibit at the Philbrook art museum in Tulsa.
It is a lovely museum with lovely grounds and gardens. It was a bit too warm to wander around the grounds on this visit. We  did get to see the Monet exhibit.
We were not allowed to take photos in the exhibit so the only photo I have of any Monet work is this one from the front entrance. His artwork is lovely and I really enjoyed how he worked with light. We also saw some Native American Pottery.
The pots on the bottom are easily 3-4 feet tall.
I hope that if you live in the are you will take the opportunity and go see the beautiful paintings by Monet. FYI kids 17 and under are free!
Talk to you later,
Karen
I had some polo shirts that I loved wearing. Polo shirts are knit shirts like a tennis or golf shirt with vents on the side seams and a knit collar. Almost as comfortable as t-shirts they are a summer wardrobe staple for me.  I wore them every week but then they shrank in the length. They became uncomfortably short. They were too short to tuck in and too short to wear outside my jeans. While I was out on a date with hubs last night, I had a brilliant idea. What about adding crochet edging to the the bottom of the shirts. If it is crocheted in place and not sewn on then it would look as though it was always there. The shirts were headed to Goodwill since they were too short, what would it cost me to try?
Instructions:
So I whipped out my ruler and made 1/4 inch dots with a pencil along the hem on the wrong side of the shirt.
I then tried several different methods of putting a blanket stitch along the bottom of the shirt.
1st row
The preferred method (for me) was to use the smallest double pointed steel knitting needle to poke a hole from the wrong side to the right side. You could also use a dull needle point needle. Then I crocheted along the bottom edge of the shirt. I ended up only chaining twice between each stitch because three chains made it scalloped, like this.
2nd row
When I reached the end of the shirt at the side seam. I chained twice and turned. This row was simply two single crochets in each blanket stitch.
3rd Row
The third row was double crochet in the top of each single crochet. Chain four and turn.
In the photo above you can see the starting row of blanket stitch, the row of single crochet and then the third row of double crochet.
4th row
Double crochet in the third double crochet from the edge. (You are skipping one double crochet across). Then chain 1, double crochet in the second double crochet across. It creates a grid across the bottom of the shirt. You will repeat this row 2 more times. On the last row chain four and turn.
So you will have three rows of the grid and then the edging. I really didn’t want a frilly edging so I opted for a light scalloped picot border.
The fifth row sets the foundation for the scallops and picots.
5th row
skip one double crochet and single crochet to the next double all the way across.
6th row
6th row single crochet 2 times into the first scallop foundation. Singel crochet again and chain three, single crochet to the same place and then sc 1 more time. There should be six single crochets. The two stitches in the middle will have the picot added to the top. It should look like this.
Weave in all of your ends and you should have successfully added about two inches to the bottom of your polo top. Then repeat this to the front hem of your shirt. Wash the whole thing and hang it to dry. You can shape the crochet lace while it dries and it should reduce ironing. I wouldn’t put it in the dryer as the lace might shrink. Here is mine drying. It will still need a light ironing.
Yay, I am so  happy. I can’t wait to wear it. I have two more polo shirts to fix.I’m off to watch some more netflix and off to fix my knit shirts.
talk to you later,
Karen
Here are the Gladiolus that we planted shortly after we moved in. Thankfully, they come back every year.
The coneflowers that I planted this Spring are growing and seem really happy.
We planted these lilies about five years ago and this year is the first year I remembering them blooming. I keep having to remind the kids that these are not weeds.
This is the Russian sage in full flower. The bees love it and it has been there for about 9 years. It has migrated from the middle of the flower bed to the edge and is now trying to grown in the yard on the other side of the path. I love it because it doesn’t take much care at all.
The yellow Yarrow is growing beautifully and looks great next to the Russian Sage. I transplanted some to the new flower bed and it is growing  nicely.
We also planted some Iris in this flower bed but only one came up. I think that more will bloom next year.
Irises are my favorite flower and when I dig up the iris bed near the street I will move some more to this flower bed.
talk to you later,
Karen