A New Obsession and a Giveaway!

Last year I made some Christmas ornaments out of felt and really enjoyed it.  In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I can't seem to quit making them.  I started out by making a cute "Ugly Christmas Sweater" ornament.  Then that lead to another and another.   They were so much fun to design and make and they even have their own little hanger to hang them on the tree.  I liked the little kitty ornament so much that I made it in a round version as well, and it has a little crochet covered ring for hanging on the tree.   

In order to continue pursuing my new obsession, I decided to open up an etsy shop to sell some of them.  And to kick off the new shop, I am having my first ever giveaway and I will be giving away one of the ornaments.  All you have to do to enter is to leave a comment telling me which ornament you like the best and would like to win.   (If you are a "no reply" blogger, just make sure I have a way to get ahold of you.)

I will leave the drawing open for a week and will draw a name next Thurs, Sept 6th.

Have a great weekend everyone!!  :)

 

Blog Makeover!

Hello All!  How do you like the new look of my blog?   This poor little blog has needed a facelift for a long time now.  I used to use an online freebie background, but someone let me know that their antivirus system notified them there was malware attached to it.  Now I don't exactly know what malware is, but it did not sound like a good thing.  :)  So I removed the freebie background, and began using one of the backgrounds provided on blogger.  I chose one that I sort of liked, but didn't really love and then I was contacted by someone saying it was too busy and made it difficult to read the items listed on the sidebar.  That wasn't good either!  Next I tried a few very boring and plain backgrounds, which I was not happy with.  Then a few weeks ago I was perusing thru etsy and found that there were blog packages available to purchase.  I had no idea!  :)  There were a lot of great designs to choose from and I got mine from Simply Creative.  Magaly from Simply Creative was so nice to work with.  I had several questions beforehand and she was very helpful.  She also has some great etsy banner designs, so next up will be a makeover for my etsy shop.  :)

Another new thing on the blog is the option to follow by email. I've been asked about this before, but being the low-tech person that I am, had no idea how to set it up.  Then I got an email the other day asking about it (thanks Kathi!) and decided to see if I could figure it out.  So if you are interested in following by email, that option is now on the right sidebar.  :)

And I had to share this funny picture that my dad took the other day.  My nephew Eli is completely obessed with any and all vehicles.  His first word was car.  One of his favorite things to do is to sit in my dad's truck and "drive".  His little sidekick in the picture is my parent's cat Symon.  Symon loves to go for car rides and he even has his own little perch on the passenger seat of my dad's truck where he sits.  He's sitting there so patiently and I'm sure he's probably wondering why the heck the truck is not going anywhere.  :)

 

Flower Power Dishcloth - Free Pattern

These dishcloths work up quickly!  They are made using Sugar 'n Cream worsted weight 100% cotton yarn, and a size H (5.00mm) crochet hook.

Finished size is about 9" across.

Click here to get pattern pdf

Thank you!!

A big Thank You to everyone who left me a comment on the washing machine question!   You were all very helpful!  I have decided that I am going to go with a top loader, and hope to get one purchased this week. 

We got another hard rain yesterday afternoon.  Having such a hot, dry summer has made us get excited anytime it rains.  It rained so hard that it did actually show up a bit in the picture this time.  And afterwards, it turned a weird orange outside.  Thing are finally getting green again and we're sure happy about that!  :)

Thanks again everyone, and I hope you all have a great week!  :)

Washing Machines...Front Loader vs.Top Loader

Sorry for the boring topic!  :)  But my washing machine is on it's last legs and I have been shopping around for a new one, and I'm having trouble deciding what to get.  It seems that the front loaders are very popular now, but I just can't seem to work up any excitement for one.  It might be because I have this irrational fear that water will leak out the door at some point.  Yeah, I'm weird that way. :)

And the new top loaders sort of intrigued me, because I notice that some of them don't have the agitator thing in the middle of the drum anymore.   I kind of liked that, but wonder if that makes them any better.

So if there are any of you out there that have one of these and if you would leave me a comment and let me know pros or cons of either type, I would really appreciate it.  :) 

Thank you!  And I'll try and come up with something more interesting for the next post.  :)