Some Pretty Blues to Share

Well, I thought it might be time for a new post.... after all, it's been a mere 8 months since my last one! I promise.... hope.... that I'll do better in the future!

So I thought I would start back with some blue to share on Blue Monday from Backyard Neighbor....

First up is my little blue bird from my shop (you may remember him from prior posts) -- he has flown in and out a number of times and just recently flew back in!

He loves his butterfly friends and always asks them to fly with him!

Next I want to share this beauty of an Etsy treasury from my BBA teammate Margaret. It just happens to be my personal favorite shade of blue! She has included my tea and cookies set -- and in fact included it a second treasury she made the same day -- oh, my heart is aflutter!

She has titled the treasury "Summer Daydreams"

Perfect!

If you'd like to check out any of the lovelies she selected just click here or on the treasury itself.

And a bit of a pay it forward....

Newborn baby socks with bugs!

Margaret has hand painted and hand dyed these cuties!

I hope you enjoyed my blues today -- be sure to go over to Blue Monday to see more!

♥♥
Sarah Beth

So Ugly It's Cute!

One-eyed, one-horned flying purple people eater -- remember that?

I've got a monster / alien thing going on ... and decided to crochet a monster for my shop. This guy, however, is three-eyed, no-horned, doesn't fly, isn't purple -- and looks too friendly to eat people, but is a monster nonetheless!

Hmmm, do you think he needs arms? I might make one and see how it looks... I guess he's a work in progress at this point!

And, next up, this little green cutie....

I've only got his head done, but I think he'll turn out really cute! (He lives in Roswell by the way...)


sharing on AlphabeThursday for the letter U


♥♥

The Lion Sleeps Tonight

In the jungle, the mighty jungle

the lion sleeps tonight...

Do you remember this?

The Lion Sleeps Tonight by The Tokens

I'm sure you have seen all the news reports about Cecil the lion... 

a magnificent animal

photo provided by the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit

 The song, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, has been on my mind for days and days so in a kind of homage to Cecil, and knowing that L was the next letter on AlphabeThursday, I decided to crochet a roly poly lion for my Etsy shop.

He's not as magnificent as Cecil, but decidedly cuter, and a whole lot of fun to make! What do you think?

Cute, and definitely not cowardly

He was happy to pose 

but grumbled quite a bit when I showed off his cutie patooty...

(I told him it was so we could see his glorious tail -- but I don't think he believed a word of it!)

Of course, this has opened the floodgates of my mind and I'm envisioning roly poly lions and tigers and bears, oh my!! Really, I've already started on a tiger but I haven't done enough for a picture yet. So far, it just looks like an orange circle! I know how I'll make the bear, and I think there might be a roly poly kitty in my future too.... and definitely a cow and a pig! 

Stay tuned :)

~ sharing on 

AlphabeThursday for the letter L

♥♥

A Hot Dog Dream

Last night I dreamed about hot dogs.... 

Weird, I know.

Especially since we rarely, if ever, eat hot dogs!

(and then only Wranglers with cheddar cheese stuck in them)

Remember them? More of a sausage than a hot dog!

And very yum :) 

It's been years and now I don't think they make them anymore. Boo.

But, dream of hot dogs I did -- some friends (have no idea who) were coming over for dinner and they wanted hot dogs. I told them we didn't eat hot dogs and maybe we could have something else (dinner was at my house after all) but, no, they insisted on having hot dogs. 

Maybe I was hungry!

And then I dreamed that they were smoking in the house (a no-no and besides that, we don't smoke!) and they left their ashes everywhere but in the ashtray. 

I dunno.... dreams can be very strange!

So, I woke up with hot dogs on my mind. The closest thing I had to a hot dog was a corn dog (a guilty pleasure of mine) but that wasn't appetizing at 7:00 in the morning! Since Noli is spending a couple of nights with us, maybe we will indulge in those yummy corn dogs for dinner! 

With corn on the cob and French fries.... some of her favorites!!

So, thinking more about hot dogs, I went to my crochet food patterns and realized that it has been a very long time since there were hot dogs or corn on the cob in my Etsy shop! 

I'll be making a set of hot dogs and s'mores soon.

 No s'mores for Noli (I'm not building a fire to toast them!)

 but she can have a chocolate chip cookie! 

sharing on

~ Alphabe-Thursday for the letter H

♥♥

Summertime = Snow Cones and Popsicles

The beginning of summer always brings to mind two things....

Snow Cones and Popsicles!

And the thought of those two yummy delights make me go backward in time for some special memories...

Snow Cones....
When Noli was about four, I took her to a local snow cone stand for her first taste.... and she decided that we should go to all the snow cone stands so she could sample all the different flavors. I, of course (being a lover of snow cones) agreed. I think we hit three or four places over that summer (I didn't want her to go crazy or I'd be in mucho trouble with the mama LOL!)

Noli ~ My favorite is the blue one!

Me ~ Why is that?

Noli ~ 'Cause it turns my lips and tongue blue!

Popsicles...

Now we go waaay back in time to when I was about four or five or so (waaaay back....)

When summer arrived the ice cream man started his rounds, but he didn't have a truck.... he had a bicycle contraption that was part bicycle and part freezer. He'd peddle down the street and ring his bell and all the kids would run out to get frozen goodies from him.

I always got red popsicles or sometimes fudgsicles. 

The popsicles were the double kind and, because I loved him soooo much :) I'd break it in two and only eat half of that popsicle.... and leave the other half for my big brother. 

I never did know if he actually ate his half, but somebody must have because I would check and it was always gone!

Sometimes I got a fudgsicle but big brother didn't get any of that.... hehe.

These two will eventually wind up in my shop, of course ....

The memories of  these two frozen goodies prompted me to make these crochet versions, and that fit right into the Blogging Business Artisans June challenge -- to create something that celebrates the start of summer. This challenge was brought to us by Natasha of Stalking the Wild Snark. 

Now, don't you think it's time to stock up on snow cones and popsicles?!!

♥♥

Little Bluebird

Well, it's definitely been awhile since I last blogged -- the first week of May for the letter Y to be exact. I've had computer problems galore.... wound up getting a new one and a new router/modem combo. I had a backup but not everything backed up.... I'm still working on that.

I'm pretty sure a massive lightning bolt was the cause of my old computer's demise. Oliver and I both ran for the hills (OK, the hall) when that lightening crashed!! Poor cat, with all the rain and thunderstorms we're having, he is just a tad nervous!

Now there's a whole new round started for AlphabeThursday!!

I've been doing a bit a crocheting and came up with this little cutie guy :)

Isn't he a sweetie with his pudgy tummy?! I don't think he's passed up too many worms!

His wings can be "at rest"

or sticking straight out in preparation for flight!

and he's got a cute little tail on his backside!

I plan on making more in various colors.... I've even got a plan for a robin and maybe a cardinal if I can get his black mask right. If not then he'll just be a red bird!

Look for him and some of his buddies in my Magnolia Surprise shop -- hopefully by the time June rolls around!


sharing ~
AlphabeThursday for the letter B
Blue Monday


♥♥

Tea Party for Two

You're invited to a tea party! 

There will be cookies!

OK, so it's not a real tea party... but it could be a doll tea party; definitely a little girl's tea party :)

Looks yummy, huh?

Maybe I should call this "Evolution of a Tea Party" because at first I made just one teacup, and was going to list it in my Etsy shop as a pincushion. 

Then, I decided to make another teacup and list it as a toy. 

But those two teacups needed something sweet to go along with them.... so along came the two sugar cookies! With sweet pink icing. And sprinkles.

Is your sweet tooth acting up yet?

Mine is.

sharing on

~ AlphabeThursday for the letter T

~ Share Your Cup Thursday

♥♥

Johnny's Quest

You remember Johnny Appleseed, don't you? You know, the guy who walked around barefoot and with a pot on his head.... who could forget that!! Lived off the land and didn't change his clothes much. 

And planted apple seeds so that we could have apple trees today :) 

That, by the way, was his quest

A mighty fine Q word if I may say so myself!

Which brings me to the cutest Johnny Appleseed you've ever seen...

Her mom bought one of my red apples for Miss Johnny to use for her school project,

and said that the little bag that I sent it in was perfect to use as a seed bag!

and this is the clincher....

the crochet pot hat!

No, I didn't make it, but what a great idea!!

Isn't she cute -- I love her overalls rolled up and a belt used for the seed bag strap

and, oh my, are those braids I see?!!

I love LOVE it when customers share photos with me!

sharing at

AlphabeThursday for the letter Q as in Johnny's Quest!

Share Your Cup Thursday 'cause this Johnny Appleseed makes me smile!

♥♥

Icy Penguins

A Tale of Three Penguins

Penguins are, without a doubt, some of the cutest animals on the planet!

They like to tumble with their friends....

and play follow the leader....

and sometimes play stack the penguin....

OK, maybe not!

In December a friend asked me to crochet three penguins for her.... well, they were actually for her brother -- he had three beanbag penguins that he loved to juggle and she thought it would be fun to get those penguins some cousins!

This little guy may look quite innocent but I can assure you that he is a little rascal in disguise! You see, I finished him -- eyes attached, feet on, beak and wings in place....

and then I realized that my tapestry needle was nowhere in sight.... 

uh-oh....

Now a tapestry needle is what you use to sew on the various pieces parts like the legs. It's not particularly sharp like a sewing needle, and much bigger, but still not all that blunt either. Can you see where this is leading??

I hunted high and low -- on the floor, under the couch pillows, in all those deep hiding places in the couch. No needle. OK, so it must have been eaten by that naughty penguin.... 

Hmmm, methinks, this is for a grown-up who surely would never put a penguin in his mouth.... maybe I could just let it stay. But, no, I'd have to fess up to my friend and I doubt she would be expecting that little piece of lagniappe! (Don't worry, Deb, I wouldn't really leave a needle in a penguin.... ha!)

So I squeeze and squash and pinch and prod -- good grief, it's like hunting for a needle in a penguin haystack! I squeeze and squeeze and.... OUCH! That needle got me -- even kinda blunt it still drew blood! Fortunately, Mr. Penguin escaped with no extra DNA on him, LOL! 

Now that I had a hold on the needle, the next problem was getting the darn thing out. It kept trying to slide right back inside that silly penguin! But I was the stronger of the two, and finally, finally, managed to surgically remove that needle! (I used a jar gripper thingy to pull it out!)

Moral of this story....

Never trust a penguin

sharing this trio of icy, needle-loving penguins....

~ AlphabeThursday where we are studying the letter I

~ Share Your Cup Thursday 

  ♥♥♥ Guess what, guess what!! My puffy hearts are featured on this week's Share Your Cup! Thank you so much, Jann!

♥♥

Hearts Galore!

Holidays always seem to sneak up on you, don't they? I always have good intentions of making holiday items for my crochet shop, but as soon as I start thinking about it, the holiday is peeking around the corner at me! 

Now it's Valentine's Day that's peeking around that corner, and I'm busy making hearts!

  

Just finished up these three cuties....

Small, medium and large

In the past, these heart cookies have been successful,

but I'll be changing to a cotton yarn this year since I prefer making my foodies in cotton 

for less fuzzies!

These puffy hearts are cute and I have to share a couple of stories....

One red heart was a part of a marriage proposal.... helping to guide his love toward her ring. Is that one sweet guy, or what?!!

Then, a set of two hearts, one pink and one red, went to a little girl whose mom wrote to tell me that her daughter sleeps with one, and the other goes to school with her "to comfort her when she's anxious, overwhelmed or stressed." 

I love it when customers share with me! And I love it that my puffy hearts can bring smiles, happiness and comfort to others. 

Guess I'll be making more hearts today!

~ sharing my hearts on AlphabeThursday where we are studying the letter H

~ and on Share Your Cup Thursday

♥♥