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The May Garden

I love perennials in my flower beds. These grow in the raised flower bed at the front of the house. I am transplanting an off shoot to the new flower bed.2014-05-23 15.18.55

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Aren’t they bright and sunny. I can’t remember the name of them. We also have Russian Sage growing in this flower bed. The sage was planted in the middle and has migrated out to the front edge.

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It has bright blue flowers that the bees love. It is tall and ferny and simply lovely and yes I cropped this photo so you can’t see the tree growing in the bed at the back. Here is a good shot of reality. It is the area around the corner from the front garden bed.

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It is pretty wild and needs a lot of work. These are the new flowers that we added last week.

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English daisies and Purple cone flower both of which we had at our last house. They seem to love hot summers and the so- so watering job that I do.

I have too many projects going right now and I feel really stretched thin on the creative side of things. I am in the process of adding some new to the shop and I feel really pretty overwhelmed and terribly forgetful. I am tending to skip around from project to project during the day and not seeming to accomplish much.

I guess I need a new challenge and there is one I am thinking about but I just can’t decide if I really want to participate. It is a daily listing challenge and I am wondering if it would be wise to try it. I would have to list something new in the shop everyday. Summer, has been a little crazy so far. We have three of the kids home. One is working a full time internship with regular working hours and the other is working almost full time hours at Arby’s. This means that he has crazy hours. So I am not sure about the listing challenge. The other challenge is a one hundred Granny Square block challenge. I am still thinking about this one. I have been tossing it around since we lived in Iowa, which is close to 2 years ago. The other challenge has to do with more scrap busting! I am still thinking about this one, but I know that it wouldn’t be wise to totally stop buying supplies like I did for the 100 items in 100 days challenge!  http://www.chocolatedogstudio.com/2014/01/17/1-thing-for-100-days-challenge/

I do need to use up some scraps so we will see!

talk to you later!

Karen

 

 

 

 

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Jam, Jelly and a little Pickled Peppers too!

We worked really hard this weekend. Two of the kids mowed the yard which is huge and the other one helped me to create these goodies.

Strawberry jam and Jalapeno jam…

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and we also made some pickled peppers. I have never made them before and was a little nervous. The color isn’t as good as I had hoped for but I will know better next time. We still have apricots to work with but that will have to wait for another day. Why did we have so much produce? We picked up our order from Bountiful baskets. We had ordered in  a flat of strawberries and then our regular order came with a huge amount of sweet peppers.

Talk to you later,

Karen

 

 

 

 

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WIP’s

WIPS or works in progress have been stacking up at the sewing table. The good news about that is that cleaning has brought a bunch of partially finished projects to light. Here are a few that I have been working on lately.

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There are several many crochet projects in a partially finished state. I tend to work more on inspiration when it comes to the yarny projects. So, yes there are many half done. IMG_4025

Like this one. I am going to take it to the DMV  while I wait for the driver’s license testing to be over. I hope things go well. I also hope that we don’t wait long for his turn to take the test.

See you later,

Karen

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Patriotic Bunting

I’ve tried and tried not to get pulled into the bunting craze but last week I just couldn’t help myself. Here are two sets of lovely red, white and blue bunting!

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This set is little pennants in red, white and blue. Perfect for all those patriotic holidays and Christmas too!

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Here are the beautiful red, white and blue stars garland. I think they would look equally good in a little boy’s bedroom as they would on a Christmas tree or your dining room for the Fourth of July! You can find both of these in the studio.

Talk to you later,

Karen

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Introducing: The Blanket Club

Introducing the Blanket Club:

There are a select few out there in the world today: lovely people that own more than one ChocolateDogStudio crochet blankets. When you own more than one you get the benefits of being a member of the Blanket Club! Members of the Blanket Club have purchased these lovely blankets from the shop over the years.

Blanket Club membership grants you a discount good every day of the year!

Talk to you later,

Karen

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Infinity Scarves

I have been spending my time productively the past few weeks. Saturday our son came over and took some really good photographs for me. He does such a great job and I really appreciate it. I can’t wait to get these into the ChocolateDogStudio shop but I will take my time and list a few a day. It really stretches my mind to come up with flowery, enthusiastic, descriptive phrases. I am really only good for listing one or two things at a time.

IMG_3909 IMG_3904 IMG_3898 IMG_3892-001I really enjoyed crocheting this pattern, it is fun. I love how these scarves turned out. They are stretchy and lacy at the same time. A lovely accessory for those that tend to get too warm with a traditional infinity scarf. Even though, I have stopped the Use your stash challenge, I found that these scarves are great stash busters!

I found the pattern here if you want to make your own. http://classycrochet.wordpress.com/2013/01/12/free-pattern-diamond-lattice-chain-crochet-infinity-scarf/

It is an easy pattern and great for beginners. Jen does a great job with step by step photos, walking you through the pattern bit by bit.

talk to you later,

Karen

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Summer is Here!

We are almost to summer break. I can’t wait. I tend to wake up and sew first thing in the morning. I love working early in the morning. My mind is clearer and I feel more ready to tackle the harder projects. So, my schedule will be changing. There are several things that I want to do this summer.

  • Re-arrange the studio
  • The kids are switching rooms as one room is tiny and the other much larger. So the kid going to college will get the tiny room/office and the one still in high school will get the larger room.
  • Go through the books and get rid of home school curriculum that we will no longer need.
  • Make cushion covers for our large black couch. Someone, who was on pain meds… (me) sat down with scissors in her back pocket and did some bad things to the somewhat leather upholstery
http://www.atticmag.com/2013/05/boldly-upholstered-chairs/

I am leaning in this direction. I also like this idea, too.

http://www.crookedbrains.net/2013/07/creative-ways-to-reuse-denim.html

I can’t decide which one to do since I like both. I think I like the denim one the most. It is in the den and would be super comfortable to have it covered in denim.

I couldn’t wait and started cleaning today. I am so unorganized in my studio that I can’t bear to work in there any more. ( I will post all kinds of ideas later!)

Talk to you later,

Karen

 

 

 

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Boho Poncho

Do you remember these photos?

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Well, here is the finished product! I am so excited to show this to you. It came out beautifully and the photographs truly capture how beautiful it is! IMG_3914-002IMG_3914-003IMG_3923-002 IMG_3915 IMG_3916 IMG_3918-001 It is crocheted out of so many different yarns. It is mostly wool but there are novelty yarns, chunky wools, eyelash yarns, ribbon yarns, cotton yarn and such a wide variety colors. I love the texture of it and the many different ways you can wear it. I love the carefree fringe and I can barely put it in the studio for sale. I see it in the Autumn with boots and leggings, taking the place of a jacket. I see it in the winter adding a splash of color to your life. Yes, this is available in the ChocolateDogStudio Etsy shop. See you later, Karen

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Diamonds into Stars

Remember the stars from yesterday. They were the beginnings of the stars.

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Here are some of the stars! I had great fun putting fabric together. I even made some Doctor Who inspired Christmas ornament stars by using Tardis fabric. If I dig a little deeper into the scrap fabric I might be able to make some with Daleks too!

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You can find the stars in my Etsy shop.

Talk to you later,

Karen