Author Archives: littlebitoffoolishness

Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival – Day 3

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Today was the last day of the festival.  I have to say I really enjoyed it.  This weekend was a lot of fun and I learned some fun things and some important things.  Next year I will need to take more classes.  I was afraid of overdoing it this year, but next year I really want to load up on the classes and learn as much as I can learn.

Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival Day 3_15

I strolled along the one wall where some quilts were displayed.  I’ve thought about doing quilting in the past, but I think I’ll stick with my crochet.  There were some beautiful quilts on display though.

I strolled around the marketplace one last time and picked up a couple more things.  Ugh, I just love to shop for craft supplies.  I was trying to stay on a budget this weekend, but I splurged a little.  I also went back to the art exhibit.  Some of the pieces

Fishing Tales of Elliott Fisherman by Katrina Shorter-Harrison won for use of unique material
Whirlpools and Waves by Raesus Cannon won for wearable art
Facehugger by Katie Freeman won for Three Dimensional
Beginnings by Stacy Hortner won for two dimensional
And That Was Called Love by Abby Rammelkamp won for craftmanship

I went to my second class, Into to Freeform with Susan Swarthout.  We learned the bullion stitch and spirals so we could make scrumbles.  Then we pieced our scrumbles together.  The next picture is an example of Freeform crochet, a really gorgeous panel.  The next picture after that is my first attempt at Freeform.  I enjoyed this class, and the freedom of Freeform.  I can really see myself getting into this.  So much fun and creativity.  Love it!

Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival Day 3_11

Awesome Freeform display

Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival Day 3_15

My first Freeform

Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival Day 3_14

My fabric shredding from yesterday.

 

Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival Day 2

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Today was Day 2 of the Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival.  I met up with my friend Dawn from Dawn’s Mystical Menagerie and one of her friends from work.  Dawn makes sewn bags and blankets, etc and sells them at local craft fairs and comicons.  She was interested in the fabrics and sewing equipment at the festival.  Her friend likes to make wreaths, as she said she likes any craft with glue guns.  lol

 

Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival Day 2_7

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Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival Day 1

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Day 1 of the Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival was amazing!  I started the day with the Color Lunch.   The Color Lunch opened at 10 am with a box lunch (turkey and cheddar).  We also got swag bags with some Berroco yarn, a color wheel, some quilting squares, and other little goodies.  I sat at a table of ladies from around the State and another from West Virginia.  We had a great time talking and getting to know each other.  The Color Lunch started with a block printing craft by creating patterns on stamps and making stamps on cloth.  This activity was presented by Nora Peters of The Stitch Party  Then we did another color exercise by Julie Stunden to see how colors react with each other.  Oh, and did I mention that I won a prize too?  A set of circular knitting needles!  Now I really need to learn how to knit.

Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival Day 1_46

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Spring Fashions

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It’s Spring, at least according to the calendar, so it’s time to make some Spring clothes.  I’ve been searching through my pins, trying to pick out some cute items for the spring.  Disclaimer:  I am not fashion savvy.  These are just patterns that appeal to me and my sense of style.  lol

Spring Fashions

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Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival

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The Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival is s little more than a week away! I ended up getting a 3 day pass and I signed up for two crochet classes. It will be my first year attending, so I’m not entirely sure what to expect. Hopefully I will not be overwhelmed.

Online ticket purchases are still available through Friday. And tickets will also be sold at the door.

After next week I will hopefully have a lot more to write about as I continue to work on my WIP.

Crochet Interupted

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There are plenty of things in life that can take over and slow down your crochet time.  For me lately I feel like a lot of things are slowing me down:

  1. I’m dieting.  And my diet involves both diet and exercise including at least 10,000 steps every day.  When you work in an office and you sit at a desk most of the day, getting 10,000 steps a day can be a challenge.  I find myself pacing around my house most nights trying to get to my 10,000 steps, instead of crocheting.
  2. Work.  Work has been very busy lately which has caused me to work some extra hours.  I also used to crochet during my lunch break, but often times I don’t have much time to take lunch, or a use lunch to try to get steps.
  3. My cats keep laying in my lap.  It seems the few times I do get to finally sit down and pick up my hook, one of the cats comes along and plops in my lap for cuddles.  Don’t get me wrong, I do love the cuddles, but it cuts down on crochet time.
  4. My husband.  Sometimes it feels like I never have all that much time to spend on him.  Really he should always come first.  He’s a great guy and has been very supportive of me and everything I do.  I need to also have quality time for him to hang out, go out to dinner, and talk.

And I don’t even have kids.  I couldn’t imagine what it’s like for working mothers.

Crochet Interupted 3

Pumpkin cuddles while still letting me crochet

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My Secret Project – Started

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I finally started my secret project.  It’s a big project, so this will take me a while to complete.  My project is more of a Frankenstein of other patterns I found to accomplish what I’m trying to make.  The first pattern that I used is the Easy Basic Boho Hood.

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Openwork Afghan Pattern

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While I was rummaging through the closet and I  found those afghans by Grandma, I also found one of my afghans.  Many years ago I was in another one of my crochet kicks.  It was probably around 2005 or so.  That one lasted a couple of years and most likely ended because of video games.  Yeah, I used to be addicted to my XBox back then.

Openwork Afghan

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Granny Squares by Grandma

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My Grandma crocheted her entire life.  But for the decades of crochet that my Grandma did, the only thing I ever knew her to make was Granny Squares.  There are three things she liked to do, crochet, garden, and paint the house.  In the summer time she would be out in her garden all day with her flowers.  Every night she’d crochet it front of the TV.  And once a year she’d paint the inside of the house.  After over 50 years in the same  house we used to joke that the rooms were getting smaller from all the layers of paint on the walls.

Granny Square 1

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My First Legwarmer Pattern

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I finally finished.  I made my very own leg warmer pattern.  Granted, it is not very original, but I designed it myself.  This is also the first pattern that I’ve ever written up, so feel free to provide feedback on the pattern.  Note, while this pattern is pretty easy, it’s probably more for people with experience reading and interpreting patterns, since I’m not experienced at writing patterns.

My legwarmers 4

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