Dusting Off

Well looky here Pure Joy still exists. It's covered in a nice layer of dust, but I might pull out some Pledge if I can remember how this works. =)

It took more effort than I felt necessary to get blogger to allow me to log on. Of course this all stems from me logging into Kaitlyn Joy's email account then my blog and the two were suddenly linked. =( Apparently it's an unforgivable action for Google.

Moving on...

We have reached the point in the summer where you start to question if God notices us down here in central Texas baking. It's 104° right now. We recently spent two weeks in Minnesota where people complained of the dreadful 85° heat. I'll just insert a head shake right here.

Kaitlyn Joy had a great time on both Clearwater and Gull Lake.

Neal enjoyed seeing both sides of his family. The girl in The middle is Neal's cousin.

I took some of the downtime and crocheted...

...surrounded by people. 

I was alone until they suddenly found me and started joining my quiet space.

We may have done a bit of this too.

Craft Hope Update

The deadline is fast approaching on the third Craft Hope project. Here's a sample of the booties I will be sending off tomorrow hopefully. Remember they are going to India where people wear bright colors. Sorry, the first photo is a bit fuzzy... I couldn't get it to take a clear picture of that pair.

Craft Hope Update

I'm in the process of crocheting booties for the babies in India. So far I have three pairs finished. I finished the last three booties since Kaitlyn has been napping. If you want a quick and easy booties pattern to try hop on over to You Can Make This and check out Cara Scofield Designs. I'm using her Fanci-Flats: Crochet Slippers for Baby and Toddler pattern.

If you want to learn more about Craft Hope check out their website. If I can find where my camera went I will take some pictures of my pink booties.

PJs and Snowsuit update

Last night I made Kaitlyn some sleeping pants out of bright green flannel with red, yellow, blue, and white flowers on it. As you can see from the picture the red flowers are much bigger then the rest. This was the only flannel I bought when the BX put all their fabric on clearance. Today I made a cap sleeved peasant top to go with the pants. Seeing how we will be spending the cooler months in Texas I thought long sleeves would be a bit much. When I originally bought the fabric I thought we might be moving to Montana in October (last month) so had planned on this having long sleeves. It's a bit plain so I'm thinking about sewing a little red bow on the top to give it a little something more then just plain, bright flannel PJs. The pants are the same Boutique Bottoms I make all the time and the shirt is the Portrait Peasant Top by CarlaC Dolly Designs. I'm actually about to use another CarlaC ebook to make a doll gown out of the same flannel I made Kaitlyn's PJs out of. Well here's the debate... I can make pants and a top just like Kaitlyn's or a gown. My plan all along was to make PJs, but now I'm leaning towards a long sleeve gown. This is the cover to the fun doll clothes ebook I'm going to use.

Here's the almost finished snowsuit for Kaitlyn's baby. I've decided not to make her the mittens. Yes, I know her hands will be cold, but I think she will survive. The way her thumbs stick out it can be a bit of a challenge getting her top on at times. Besides, I'm thinking all my hard work in making mittens will be for nothing because Kaitlyn's wouldn't keep them on her. So far she is doing well keeping the snowsuit on. I think the hat needs a chin strap; Heaven forbid it slide off, and it does every chance it has. If I think about it while Kaitlyn is sleeping I need to swipe her doll and put the fur on the hat and top.

Now my biggest challenge is sewing everything I can before our household goods are picked up in less then three weeks. Goodbye sewing machine. *sniff, sniff

Crochet Project

I've decided to do a bit of crocheting. Since seeing the Newborn Doll Snowsuit on You Can Make This I've wanted to make it. I finally broke down and bought the pattern yesterday.

When I started the snowsuit I had no idea how big the doll in the picture is. Kaitlyn's dolls are smaller, maybe 13-15". This doll must be HUGE because there is no way the sack bottom would fit Kaitlyn's dolls. She could lay them in the bottom and use the shoulder straps to carry them around. LOL. I'm only working on the bottom so far and it looks like I will easily be able to shrink it down for Kaitlyn's dolls. I'm a bit worried about getting the top the right size. I guess I will be doing a lot of ripping out to get the size just right.

For anyone who wants to try this pattern and you have one of the average size Little Mommy dolls (or one close to it), I did rows 1-3 then skipped to row 7. To make it fit the chest of the doll a little better I figure as I work up to the top of the sack I will drop the last stitch in a loop a few times. I've already dropped it from 48 to 47 and you couldn't even tell I skipped the stitch. Only time will tell if the top is so easy. I checked the craft store yesterday and they didn't have white eyelash yarn or whatever they call the fuzzy stuff so I'll have to come up with some other kind of lacy trim. Yes, I know it won't be as fun, but why should I spend $5 on something for a doll? I must admit before buying the pattern my main hangup was a snowsuit has no place in Guam even on a doll. Hehehe...

About-face

I've gone from sewing to crocheting. I think the new sewing machine has me to intimidated to try it. It has a computer in it that makes sure the needle always ends in the up position.

One of my projects is a crochet blanket for Kaitlyn. I'm using Jamie Baby Yarn by Lion Brand and a honking big crochet needle. My goal is to have a big weaved, light weight blanket she can cover with even when it's to hot to be covered. She likes covering her face when she sleeps, but if it's 83* in the house I hate to give her anything to cover with. I'm doing it as a simple granny square.

My second project which should have been done by now is a top for Kaitlyn. I've done all the "skirting" for it and just need to do the actual bodice. If I had dug into the pattern and figured out the bodice it would have already been done. It's not a hard pattern and it's free for anyone who would like to give it a try.