MY NEXT CHAPTER-Paragraph Three

My two previous "NEXT CHAPTER"  posts are a bird's eye view of what is happening and what is not happening in this transition from wife to widowhood, residency from Indiana back to Ohio, almost empty nest back to a full house, evaluating how busy I really want to be, being able to hop from one machine to another-one project to another. 

 

What is not happening:  

being able to hop from one machine to another-one project to another. If you look back at the photos from "My Next Chapter" you'll see the complete mess my future sewing/crafting room were and still are. I can't even get to my machines, let alone hop from one to another and my projects are being crocheted because I can contain them in my room and get to the basket of yarn and hooks.

 

What is happening:

I have completed an afghan for the newest great, grandchild due in March and gave that to granddaughter, Kaitlyn, but forgot to take a picture before she took it home. Am working on some granny squares for another afghan with plans for a matching sweater, bonnet and booties for the baby girl.

 

I rely on the good ol' granny square for most of my crochet projects since they are portable and I can turn them into almost anything. The finished blocks are about 7". I am toying with the idea of setting them on point for a different design.

 

The granny squares were interrupted by a request by great, granddaughter, Hannah for a scarf/hood with pockets in different colors so she could wrap it around her face when it is really cold or put her hands in the pockets. I went to look for it to take another photo but she wore it to school today so here she is modeling her scarf the other night. Don't you just love the robe she has on that belongs to my daughter, Donna-her grandmother.

 

 

The pockets are fringed fleece-they were quicker than crochet. They are top stitched on by hand with the pink yarn.

 

I can get into trouble when there is time on my hands and things are not getting done that I had planned. Several weeks ago, while flipping through tv, I refound public access channels. Refound because over 20 years ago I had videos on the local public access and enjoyed it-that is how I got into videoing. My program was called "Quick Quilts". We showcased quilt tutorials, little old lady quilters and quilt shows. Now, I am one of those little old lady quilters.  

 

At any rate, the local studio was tracked down and the process of submitting videos looked into. Still not doing any current videos, I am editing together some of my tutorials to fill a 1/2 hour time slot. Last week my housework couture series was strung together and this week I turned in a video on some of my American Girl doll clothes designs that I have turned into patterns. The mix and match patterns make doll clothes easier to make without all the small pieces, they are reversible in both the doll and matching little girl's version.   

 

 

Carolyn's Canvas can be seen on UTTV channel 22, Warner Cable:@

                                                            Monday                         9:30am

                                                            Monday                         5:00pm

                                                            Tuesday                        11:00am

                                                            Friday                           8:30am

All the videos can be seen on my Youtube channel also.

 

My patterns are available in my Etsy store @ https://www.etsy.com/your/listings?ref=si_your_shop or

in My Pattern Store on www.craftsy.com @ http://www.craftsy.com/user/43851/pattern-store?_ct=fhevybu-ikrdql-fqjjuhdijehu.

 

Maybe this should have been titled "MY NEXT, NEXT CHAPTER"  since there is kind of a picking up of a past undertaking. I am just not used to not being busy, creating, and love to do different things. In other words, I have the attention span of a maybe 2 year old but life is interesting and bored is not in my vocabulary.

 

God bless you

Carolyn Wainscott

 

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please check out my designs on www.craftsy.com

 

Did you know that you can take classes in your own home, at your own convenience on many different crafts?

 

 

 

 



MY NEXT CHAPTER-Paragraph Two

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about my new home in Ohio:

http://carolynscanvas.blogspot.com/2013/11/my-next-chapter.html. Things haven't progressed very much, in fact, none at all in my sewing room. Still waiting on some things to be removed to be able to get things situated so I am still in the same chapter, paragraph two. It is going to be a longer chapter than I had thought.

 

Having to search for things to do the smallest jobs is the most frustrating thing since everything is still boxed and I lost all control in the move because I couldn't keep track but am so very grateful for all the help I got from everyone.

 

One thing I have been able to do is work with the  great, grandchildren, Ian and Hannah, to teach them to crochet [well, Ian, anyway]. Hannah [8 years old] has a shorter attention span than I do and her fingers are not quite working just right yet but she is trying it her way.

 

I taught Ian several months ago how to do a chain stitch and he has been practicing off and on in that time. I ordered a beginner crochet book to help him but he didn't get that until we moved in here. He is really doing great. He has learned how to go from the chain to a double crochet stitch.

 

From that he has been using the book and creating Christmas gifts.  During some sick days last week he learned more using some hair bands that I got for him. I am very pleased with his progress. He has been after me for a long time to learn and now he is following through. He is only ten years old. I told him that the football player, Rosie Greer, does cross stitch and I have known several men who do all kinds of hand work and art work including sewing and quilting.

 

 

Here is Ian with the beginner crochet book that he is using. He started making projects from the book before I knew it and had some things completed. His gage is getting very good.

 He figured out how to load beads on his yarn to be able to crochet them into a necklace. Pretty good, huh??

 

Here are some other things he has made:

 

And here is his tote that he keeps everything in. I took him to pick out some yarn of his own liking and he wanted to get his own set of plastic hooks. Since a couple of them have already broken, he now maybe has learned it pays to buy good tools to begin with.

 

I love it that these kids want to learn to do all these things and will help them in any way I can.

 

God bless you

Carolyn Wainscott

 

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Check out my patterns on Craftsy.com @ http://www.craftsy.com/user/43851/pattern-store?_ct=fhevybu-ikrdql-fqjjuhdijehu

 

 

 

 

 If you want to learn to crochet, bake, draw, quilt or any other craft, check out all the classes on www.craftsy.com

 

 

My Next Chapter

My last post here was in June. A lot has happened, a lot has changed, my life has moved into another chapter. 

My husband passed in June, 2012 after 55 years of marriage. In the months before his death my crafting, sewing, writing was scaled down to almost nothing so I could take care of him and hasn't picked up much since. 

I needed to sell our home because it was too much for me to take by myself and my children and grandchildren wanted me to move back to Ohio. Things didn't move as quickly as we would have liked but I did get moved a couple of months ago and we are still getting settled. 

My daughter spent months house shopping to find the perfect house and I spent months trying to keep my home straight enough to show [this is a person who is not the greatest housekeeper in the world, a great homemaker, but not housekeeper. When sewing or crafting, everything seems to get pulled out, dug through, piled up. I am much better at making messes than cleaning them up]

After seeing lots and lots of houses, when  we pulled up into the driveway of this home, I told her this was the one before we even got to the door. 

I wanted: a porch for my rocking chairs and a swing, my former home had a porch-as you can see it has my porch. 

                       a separate bedroom off to myself-the brick addition on the back is just that with its own bathroom and entrance.

 After living in the middle of 8 acres in complete privacy and quiet, I wanted a yard [no condo!!] and no busy street-there is a 1/2 acre yard with lots of trees and here is the street-no through traffic.

We needed lots of space [we'll go into that later]-the home has 5 bedrooms, family room, dining room, living room, a full basement and a wonderful kitchen.

And of course, there has to be space for my crafting/sewing with preferably no steps. I will be using the garage. For now-this is my studio:

 my long arm quilter is under there somewhere

 there is a sofa bed under the plastic [supposed to be leaving soon]

 there are 2 dressers here [they are on Craigslist-hope to get rid of them soon]

I had high hopes of getting everything in place and back to business in a few weeks but it is taking a little longer than anticipated. There are many boxes in the basement also that will have to be brought up when I get this done. It will be so good to get all my treasures back out and in eyesight to work with. 

 There is a great, granddaughter due in March so I started this afghan for her and purchased more yarn the other day so I can be doing something. This is a bulky, really soft yarn that I haven't worked with before but it will be beautiful. The other yarns are just 4 ply in shades of pink and white for a sweater set and matching afghan. 

Here is the view from my window

These are the first few pages in the next chapter of the continuation of my life.

I have a wonderful home.  I have good health. I am blessed with my children, daughters-in-law, grandchildren and great grandchildren. 

God is good.

Carolyn Wainscott

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Have you checked out Craftsy? It is a wonder world of classes in any craft you can think of, patterns by independent designers and a showcase for your creations.

FREE ONLINE CLASSES

If this 73 year old bod would/could stay in gear 24/7, I don't think there would be enough time to take all the online classes available on www.craftsy.com.

I have downloaded several that I am particularly interested in to better my skills and am working slowly through them. 

The best part is, I can take part any time I want-in the middle of the night, in the a.m. with my coffee, between working on projects-in my pajamas or even n---- [heaven forbid], all at my convenience. I can pick up anywhere I left off. 

AND THE BEST PART IS-a lot of the classes are FREE!

Being a quilter, those are the classes I have concentrated on but there are classes on almost every craft you are interested in whether it be cake decorating, beadwork, crochet, knitting, etc.

Here is the link to take a look: http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=253536&u=705639&m=29190&urllink=&afftrack=

Here are just a few of free classes the above link will take you to:

that reminds me, I forgot to download the serging class just to brush up on my serging. I have had my machine for a long time but never had any instruction on its use. 

Put the coffee pot on with extra strong brew and take a look.

Happy, happy crafting and

God bless you

Carolyn Wainscott

THE SOCKSY MONKEY Quilt Pattern

The Socksy Monkey quilt pattern has been on the back burner for a while now. Not as far back as other things. They are still there. Some have been there quite some time. All in due time, I guess. One of those projects is an official sock monkey made from the work socks where the original idea sprang from years ago. [Who would think of making a monkey from a work sock, anyway?] I have saved the address somewhere for the work socks in case the mood hits to make the stuffed toy. 

I looked for sock monkey fabric but it wasn't available in the Joann's fabric store, just online, so I went ahead and used my original fabric choice anyway. I like it really well. The jungle animal fabric has been in my fabric stash for a long time just, evidently, waiting for Socksy Monkey. I didn't want to wait for an online order to arrive and then not be the exact color I wanted so this is just as well, and, like I said, I really like it and the Socksy Monkeys seem to be right at home with the other animals.

The monkey appliques were almost done and I wanted to finish the quilt and get my pattern online. 

Here is the completed quilt top, waiting, like several others, to be quilted:

Here is the background fabric:

one of the 12" Socksy Monkeys showing the blanket stitch

and the blanket stitching around the 24" Socksy. The stitches are longer since the appliques are larger

The muted striped panels blend well with the other fabrics. I auditioned other fabrics-foliage, solids-but the stripe seemed to fill the bill best.

Here is my video demonstrating some of the techniques used in making the quilt:

Socksy Monkey is fairly quick and easy to construct like most of my designs using basic sewing and quilting techniques and is suitable for boys or girls. The pattern is available in my Etsy store-link at right and in My Pattern Store @ http://www.craftsy.com/user/43851/pattern-store?_ct=fhevybu-ikrdql-fqjjuhdijehu.

Hope you enjoy and happy quilting/crafting
God bless you
Carolyn Wainscott

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"SOCKSY MONKEY" quilt pattern is available along with my other designs in My Pattern Store @

http://www.craftsy.com/user/pattern/store/43851

2 patterns included in Angel Wings baby quilt pattern

Matching girls and American Girl Doll reversible cape patterns plus many other coordinating separates for American Girl dolls

50" x 50" Sunbonnet Sue baby quilt pattern including 14" traditional pattern

50" x 50" Over Sam baby quilt pattern-14" traditional block pattern included

Socksy Monkey baby quilt pattern-50" x 50"

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Have you checked out all the absolutely free classes @ www.craftsy.com? Being a quilter, I lean towards the quilting classes but, my goodness, there are classes on beadwork, serging, cake decorating, tailoring, etc.
Follow this link: http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=253536&u=705639&m=29190&urllink=&afftrack= and pick up a couple to fill your spare? time. You can follow the classes at your convenience, at any time.