For the Love of Autumn

Two posts in one day?! Crazy, I know. But I remembered a cowl that I crocheted last week that I wanted to enter into Rachel's Celebrate Color party.

But more on that in a minute. I wanted to share some non-stitchy fall color celebration first.

I love the way the autumn sun lights up the prairie.

We made a jack-o-lantern the other day, but I only bought one pumpkin. So we decided to make a 2-faced one!

Doesn't he make a great jack-o-lantern??

Cutting up my side.

Jake's side.

My side.

We cut these guys a couple weeks ago so they've already gotten soggy and got thrown into the burn barrel the other day. I still have some mini pumpkins on the table & we'll probably carve another one this weekend for Halloween. :D

The other day we went out into the back pasture to get the horses because Jake needed to take them down to the boss' house for shipping time. The horses like to hang out in the back corner of the pasture so it was about a mile & a half out and back. That's not that bad of a distance on the road, but when you're following cow trails it's a little rougher. Luckily the horses came right up to us & trailed back to the house no problem. The dogs had a great time too!

Our pups playing in the grass.

My tailgater, Fancy.

And now for my first cowl...

This was my first experience with working in rounds. The first time I started it I got it twisted. It took me about 4 rows to figure that out. So I ripped it all out. Next I couldn't figure out how to join each round without increasing the number of stitches. I ripped about twice as much as I stitched, but after 2/3 finished I still had increased by 10+ stitches and the joins looked TERRIBLE! At the Sewing Summit Rachel had a do. Good Stitches bee meet-up with a crochet lesson/session. I really wanted to learn about the bee so this was the perfect opportunity to do that and also get some help with my cowl. The fabulous Suzy helped me figure out where my mistakes were and I ripped the entire thing out and started again. After zillions of stitches I think I finally figured it out.

And here it is! Please excuse the terrible self-portraits. :)

Convertible Cowl from The Crimson Owl

Wide enough to be worn as a hood.

This is definitely my favorite way to wear this. Now I just need to find a cute pin that coordinates.

And just for the fun of it...

Sunrise the other morning. I love the jagged rays in the clouds.

{Sew} Modern Monday

It's Monday! Which means it's time for another {Sew} Modern Monday with Megan at Canoe Ridge Creations. It's been a few weeks since I linked up, but I've been stitching quite a bit lately. Plus I'm super excited to meet Megan & many others at The Sewing Summit in less than 2 weeks!!!

They're taking registration until October 1st. So there's still time if you want to go.

I did some more crochet this week to ensure that I got the basic stitches down. I actually learned some crochet several years ago, but I now realize I only learned the single crochet. Which is probably why I grew bored with it after only a few weeks. :)

A fun new scarf...

...with a scalloped edge!

Next up was these Citrus Twist Dishcloths. I made too many stitches for the border of the blue dishcloth so the sides are a little wavy, but I figured out my problem for the green one & I think it came out pretty nice.

Next came a big fail. This block was supposed to be for the 3x6 & 4x5 bees. Remember my first attempt which was a little boring? Well, this was my "fix", but the squares came out to 6 1/4" instead of 6 1/2" which made the final block too small. Plus, look at all those unmatched "corners."

Maybe I'm being too picky, but honestly I think I'd be a little disappointed if this showed up in my mailbox, everyone is these groups are so talented! Unfortunately, that means I just wasted some of my very special 1001 Peeps, but I'll figure out something to do with this poor little orphan block.

Sadly, this also means I'm back to square one with having no idea what block to make and, of course, I waited until the last week to make these. I had the best intentions to get them done sooner, but it just never happened. :(

If you have any suggestions on what block to make (11 times over) I'd love to hear your ideas!

Another success! I finished my I Love Patchwork Pouch.

I used Martinique by 3 Sisters & Whimsy by Fig Tree & Co for the blocks and muslin for the rest. I'm beginning to discover that I love muslin as much as Rashida loves linen! It's such a great neutral. Especially for the colors that I normally work with.

So this week I'll be sew sew sewing bee blocks and hopefully making a bag or two to carry with me to The Sewing Summit.

Thanks for visiting!

WIP Wednesday...on Thursday

So I wrote this yesterday and then forgot to post it. So here's my WIP Wednesday post...on Thursday.

The ranch my husband, Jake, works for is primarily a cattle/hay operation, but they also outfit for hunters throughout the year. They guide for deer, antelope, buffalo, elk, pheasants, coyote, & picket pens (prairie dogs).

So I decided that Jake needed a camo shirt to look "legit" for the hunters. I found a camo t-shirt fabric on sale at Joann's. I can't remember what pattern I used, it's a baseball tee style pajama top. The problem with finding shirts for Jake is that he's tall & super skinny. He has a long body & long arms so I added approx. 6"(!) to the lengths when I cut. I didn't hem the bottom because I was tired of fighting from the sleeve hems, but he tucks his shirts in anyway so it doesn't really matter. He also had Popeye arms so I had to let out the seam in the forearms about 1/4". For all the alterations I had to make it doesn't look too bad, if I do say so myself. :)

Showing off his bobcat.

Now he's just showing off, but isn't that a beautiful buck he's pointing at? That's mine. :)

Instead of putting a tag in the back I embroidered my brand right below the back collar. At first I tried to add it directly to the fabric with no additions, but it kept bunching so I cut a small piece of mid-weight fusible interfacing. I ironed that to the inside of the shirt & then it was a piece of cake to embroider.

I've thought & thought on my 3x6 & 4x5 bees forever and finally decided on a block. The problem is it's almost to "simple" of a pattern. Good thing I tried it in my colors first. I'm going to stick with this block, but make 4 smaller ones to add more movement.

Pouch from I Love Patchwork by the very talented Rashida Coleman-Hale. This is the lining. I just have to attach the lining then you can see what it really looks like. ;)

My first large-ish crochet project, a new scarf for winter.