Patriotic Top Done!

Whew! I worked on finishing up the pattern (I still had the original top as my guide) for the Patriotic Peasant Stye Top. I have the pattern written out for girls sizes 3/4 (22" chest size), 5/6 (24" chest size), and 7/8 (26" chest size), with instructions on how to crochet the top if your child has a smaller chest size but wears the larger size shirts.



This top was one of my favorites and Im glad I finally finished getting the design all written out! This top fit my daughter last 4th of July and still fits her this year! Gotta love that! :o)

Time to take my youngest to her gymnastics class! She's moving up to advanced preschool class next week!

New Pattern

I finally got my pink summer hat pattern written up and posted to my website! I had to rework it to remember what hook size I had used!



My yarn order from knitting-warehouse came today so I will work on redoing the patriotic peasant top and finish geting the pattern written up for it.

I also want to update my lacy shells tank top with the new style I had designed a while back for someone's daughter. I had started writing out the design as I worked it, but then quit because the lady wanted it quickly to take pictures of it with a skirt she had, so I never finished writing it out. Here's the top I made and added beaded cherries to it, but will probably do it without the cherries for the design.



My daughter's birthday party was this last Saturday, it went very well! We even finished on time! I forgot to get pictures of the drawstring goody bags, but they were a spring green and yellow (like the blue bag in the posts below) with a yellow lining, and I had added their first initial with rhinestones like the grip bags below.

After all the party guests left, we took the kids to see Shrek the 3rd, it wasnt ALL that great. Definately could have waited to rent the DVD. I liked the first one much better.

Last night we went and saw Spiderman 3, I thought it was a pretty good movie! I had seen the first Spiderman, never saw the 2nd, and my husband was reeeeaaaallllly wanting to see the 3rd so we did. It was pretty good I have to admit :o)

My oldest daughter has a teddy bear that she just adores. She's had him for almost 6 years now. Last week she wanted me to crochet an outfit for him. She picked out the colors and told me what color goes where. She wanted a shirt and pants for him, so I just did a one-piece. The outfit is a bit girlie but she doesnt seem to mind and neither does Mr. Teddy :o)



I am going to show my daughter how to crochet a poncho for him. My daughter can do chains currently, so I will show her sc's next and then she can do a chains and sc poncho for him.

I have decided to homeschool my kids next year. My youngest will be home-preschooled while my other 3 will be homeschooled. Since we dont live on base anymore (where their schools are) it's been quite the driving back and forth taking them to school (and with gas prices up so high *oh my*). We dont want to put them into the public schools here in town (having problems with my stepson's current school already and it's supposed to be the best school here in town). Plus I will get to spend more time with my kids. With gymnastics 3 times a week, they go straight from school to doing their homework, then get ready to leave and head to gymnastics for 3 hours, come home, eat dinner and go to bed. I look forward to working on their schooling with them and spending more time with them. I am also going to include learning how to crochet/knit and how to sew as their extra activities.

Second Halter Finished!

I finished the older girls size halter top in my sweetheart fans design. I have the pattern posted on my website.



Now Im going to work on getting that pink crochet hat (the one on my website home page) pattern written to add to my free patterns page, and also the shrug pattern for free also.

I've also been sewing! I am making my girls some skirts to go with the halter tops I make them. I purchased a couple of skirt patterns on www.youcanmakethis.com and have been sewing away! I had to stop at the ruffle part and ordered myself a ruffler foot for my machine so I dont have to hand ruffle it (I tried it and it's very tedious if you're a beginner!).

My daughters birthday party is this weekend so I will be working on getting the drawstring goodie bags sewn up and finished before the party. The girls will be doing some crafts, playing bingo after they color their bingo cards themselves, and will be decorating their own cupcakes. Then they get to go home with their own personalized (first initial) drawstring goodie bag! Should be fun!

Sweetheart Fans Halter Top

I finished my newest halter top design for infants/toddlers! I will work this up in the larger sizes also in a different yarn, but this one is worked holding 2 strands of size 10 crochet cotton thread making this halter very lightweight on little ones.







So precious, I just love how it turned out!

I did open my etsy store under chellescrochet and then named my shop Luv 2 Crochet Designs. Thank you all for your suggestions! I will be listing the above halter top in my etsy store and auctioning it at eBay. The pattern will be posted on my website by this weekend. I have 2 other tops to write up the patterns for also.

Etsy Shop

Ok, Im thinking about opening a shop at www.etsy.com but when I went to register there is already a luv2crochet.etsy.com account which looks like it's been inactive for almost a year, and there's already a chelle.etsy.com LOL so what should I name my shop then... is chelleofluv2crochet.etsy.com too long?

Drawstring Bags

My girls are in gymnastics and they need little pouches or drawstring bags to put their grips, socks, and/or shorts in - ok, they dont NEED them, but it's cute for them to have them :o) Every now and then at competitions they have a chance to win a bag by doing a handstand the longest out of the other girls there competing. My girls have not won any of these bags, so finally I decided I would make them one! I searched the net for instructions on how to sew a drawstring bag (ok, Im not the best sewer but I can do a straight stitch), and came across these wonderful instructions! Now each of my girls have their own gymnastics bags to put their things in! I even made them personalized by adding each of their initials to their bags.









I have decided to make these little bags as goodie bags for my daughters birthday coming up instead of buying paper ones.

Little Material Girl

If you missed the Uncommon Threads show Little Material Girl the first and second time it aired, catch it on the DIY channel on June 18th at 1:30pm Eastern. I would love to have another opportunity like this again someday. Check out my little cutie wearing all of the crochet pieces and holding Cecily's caterpillar.