Barbara's Creative Projects
Not all the geraniums that I potted are growing, however, those that survived are coming along nicely!
I’d set them out on my balcony yesterday when the temperature went to 20+ degrees, but as there is possible freezing for the next couple of nights, they are back inside again.
Yesterday Trish took Mom to the Snyder farm to pick up her quilt. It is now on her bed at Heritage House.
I am so very grateful to the women of Bloomingdale Mennonite Church for their willingness to do the actually quilting on my mother’s quilt. Work was started on it today at Kathleen’s home:
Helping today: Kathleen, Marie, Lorrie, Ailene, Sharon, Lois, Linda, Trish and me. By four o’clock this afternoon the quilt was a little better than half done! So grateful!
This morning, after a short visit with my mother in St Jacobs, I drove out to Len’s Mill Store in Hawkesville. This store was recommended for quilting supplies and I needed to get fabric to border and back my quilt squares.
The saleswoman in the store was so very helpful! I am a newbie at this and know very little about any of it. We pick a pale yellow for the borders and a matching yellow flannelette for the back. She figured out the quantities I’d be needing, something I had no clue how to do. I paid for my purchases and home I went to start constructing a quilt.
By 5:30 this afternoon I had my four columns made. Laying them out on the spare room floor it was apparent that one column was too short. 
My grandma made these quilt blocks, likely when she was quite old and her eyesight was not good; they are not very even. The blue square seemed to be the culprit, so I first tried taking it apart and re-sewing it — that wasn’t sufficient. I went looking for fabric to make a new square.
I wanted another blue but didn’t really have much. I did have a bit of fabric that we’d used for Trina’s flowergirls’ dresses — dark blue with silver spider webs. This really appealed to me — I want this quilt to be flower garden like because Mom’s greatest joy in life was her flowers. And it’s my opinion that gardens need spiders.
After supper I cut and pieced my spider web block. Laying it down with the other I realized I’d pieced it wrong. Can you see my error?
Taking it apart and re-assembling it will be a task for another day.
I have a special affection for ladybugs. Started back when Volker wrote me letters decorated with the little critters.
My granddaughter knows that I like them. She informed soon after arriving at my house before Christmas that her ladybug slippers don’t fit anymore. Naturally I promised to make her new ones. (The previous ones had been store bought.)
I looked for patterns online, but didn’t find anything that quite fit. So I decided to wing it. I am not good at writing down the patterns I make up. I like to custom fit things like sweaters, hats or slippers. Mina was at Nana & Poppa’s house when I started the slippers so I guessed (pretty accurately) at the size of her foot. I didn’t buy anything, just used balls of yarn from my stash.
For the sole I wanted a very heavy yarn — the only one I had was navy blue — with dense crocheting, so I used a 3mm hook. I started with a chain 15 stitches long and using a single crochet worked both sides of the chain, putting 3 sc in each end ch to turn. On the second row I put 2 sc in the first 2 stitches (turning stitches), then sc in the next seven, switched to dc, putting 2 dc in each of the turning stitches below; continue in a similar manner down the other of the sole. The third row was essentially a repeat of the second, using dc at the toe end of the sole, and sc for the rest.
I didn’t have heavy yarn in black or red — and the slippers had to be black & red! So I used double strands of both colours. Because I wanted red with black spots I carried one colour along all the time. To learn how to do this visit http://www.crochettoday.com/how-to/how-work-tapestry-crochet. The upper is made of 6 rows. The first two rows are a sc in each stitch around, changing colours as appropriate (my ladybugs are not identical twins). On row three, four and five I used a decrease dc for the head to create the toe shape. The sixth row is a single crochet all around.
For the eyes I just used off-white yarn with a black centre. The antennae are made with a chain 4, dc, sc on side of dc and slip stitches down the chain.
Tomorrow I must go to the post office to send some “Mina Mail”!
Mina has also requested a Ladybug toy, so that will likely be my next project.
P.S. Before mailing the slippers I used some (very old) fabric paint to put dots on the bottom of the sole; when Mina was here and wearing only one slipper she was able to “skate” on my hardwood floor. I hope this will prevent the slippers from sliding quite so nicely.
