The Ella Afghan

{It's done.}

Get ready for a lot of pictures.

I am so happy to be finished. It feels like such an accomplishment.

This is only the second afghan that I've ever crocheted and the first time that I've used the "granny square" technique.

Like the last one that I made, it is small, it's the perfect size for a baby blanket.

That is why I call it the "Ella Afghan."

If we are lucky enough to have another baby one day (and if it's a girl), her name will probably be Ella.

And this blanket will be hers.

I'm not quite sure how to get good pictures of a blanket, so I enlisted a helper.

He was a great helper. He was very still and modeled the blanket perfectly.

"Momma! The blanket has holes in it!"

This afghan consists of 25 granny squares.

12 of the squares have ruffly flowers on them.

There is a border around all of the granny squares.

And, I finished it off with a slightly ruffled edge.

I tried different ways of attaching the granny squares together.

I decided to go with simply sewing them together in a loopy fashion.

I didn't expect it to, but the back of the blanket looks almost as good as the front.

The center of the ruffly flowers from the front side create a polka dot effect on the back side.

It was a lot of work, but I am very happy with how it turned out.

A lovely addition to my couch...

I'm already dreaming and scheming of the next blanket...

But, I think I'll take a short break so I can give some love and attention to my big guy and my little guy.

In the mean time, I am very excited to announce that I will be creating a pdf crochet pattern for the Ella Afghan. I am hoping to have it up and running in my shop by next week.

I'll be linking up here:

Pumpkins and Donkeys

I got Ande the book "Five Little Pumpkins."

I'm sure you've heard the little rhyme...

Five little pumpkins sitting on the gate.

The first one said, "oh my it's getting late!"

The second one said, "there are witches in the air."

The third one said, "but we don't care!"

The fourth one said, "let's run and run and run!"

The fifth one said, "I'm ready for some fun!"

Ooooooooohhh went the wind and OUT went the light!

And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight!

Anyways, Ande is now obsessed with the book.
I'm not really sure why he loves it so much, but he does.

Whenever he sees a pumpkin, instead of saying "pumpkin," he says "five!"

So last weekend, we took him to a little pumpkin patch, and of course, he was in pumpkin heaven.

It's been unseasonably warm lately.

I think most people are enjoying it, but I am ready for some cool weather.

Warm weather is no fun when the pools aren't even open.

But, at least it's not AS hot as summer.

We can even go to the park in the afternoon without burning up so that's nice.

Look at these handsome fellas!

I mean seriously. These boys are goooooood lookin!

Today, we went over to a petting zoo kind of place called Noah's Landing.

It was pretty cool. They had all sorts of animals from emu's to zebras to lemurs.

But, our favorite were definitely the donkey's.

They are just so funny and the kids got to feed them some yummy carrots!

After all the carrots were gone, Ande just stood there squealing with delight while the donkeys kept wiggling their huge lips through the wire for more food.

What a fun time of year.

I love the falling, colorful leaves, the pumpkins, going to football games, and spending more time outside.

I can't wait for Thanksgiving, and then Christmas when Laurie comes home and we can eat sausage balls galore! Get ready!

3d Wall Flowers

Ok. I'm in a bit of a hurry here.

For 1. I can hear my little guy rustlin' around, about to wake up from his nap.

For 2. I have to document this project before my husband see's it and possibly veto's it!

(He was gracious enough to let me paint our bedroom purple, but flowers on the wall might send him over the edge!)

So, remember this fabric mod podge frame I posted a while back?

Well, that was way back in July and that poor frame (that I was/am so proud of) has been sitting there all empty on our wall ever since. I've been waiting, thinking, pondering...what to put in this frame?

It originally had a mirror inside, but I broke that. Oops.

I tried putting one of our wedding pictures in there, but it just didn't look right.

We considered some sort of vinyl quote, but couldn't think of anything that wasn't too cheesy.

Then, I saw this:

This beautiful wall art was done by the blog Billie Monster. She's an artist, can you tell?

Anyways, I love this! I know that 3d paper art is gaining popularity right now. I especially have loved the butterfly wall art that I've seen for a little girls room.

I just had to see if it could work.

Here is my take on 3d paper wall art and the sad but beautiful fabric frame of mine:

I am trying to get more use out of my Cricut lately and this was the perfect opportunity.

I just cut out various sizes and color patterns from scrapbook paper.

I used a 5 pointed flower pattern.

In Billie Monsters tutorial, she used a pencil to roll the edges of the flower petals.

My petals rolled up on their own while peeling them from the sticky cutting mat.

To attach my flowers to the wall I just used glue dots instead of thumb tacks.

I didn't want to make lots of little holes in the wall in case the dear husband decides this is too girly.

They seem to stick pretty well so far.

Ok...what do you think?

Is this wall art a keeper?

I'll be linking up here:

Memories

Ok, as excited as I am about this...

...It's time to take a little break before my fingers fall off.

So instead, today I'm reminiscing about this:

...and trying to get some work done like this:

and this:

I found out that sometimes it's good to fall behind on scrap booking because then you get to remind yourself of all the great memories.

(ps- Just know that I am pretty lame when it comes to scrap booking, but I love it just the same)

Zoobaloo

On a whim, we decided to venture off to the N.C. zoo on Saturday.

The weather was perfection.

We had a great time, however...

...I think Ande's favorite part was when he climbed on this rock. Not exactly what we drove 1 1/2 hours to do.

He did still enjoy seeing the animals.

Ande made a lot of friends along the way.

He was amazed by the seals swimming around so fast and playfully.

We saw some cool turtles, but Ande is afraid of turtles for some reason.

Still gazing at those fun seals...

I thought this little lizard was hilarious. Nice belly.

Between the 3 of us, our favorite friends were the monkeys (well actually, the apes).

This little Chimp was just sitting by the window watching all of the children. I guess he was enjoying their company.

And, this big fella is our favorite new friend of all!

What a beast!

He was a friendly beast.

He also enjoyed Ande's company.

We walked a lot, but it was well worth it.

Hooray for Ande's first trip to the zoo!