Works in Progress...

I am joining another Make~over party this month on the 25th. Hooray! Just enough "fire" under my butt to actually get motivated to accomplish something around my home! Anywho..... this month I am going to be making over my front patio area. I've been working on a table cloth and pillows for the table and chairs I have under my gazebo....here is a sneak peek of the "before"Here is the after of the table & chairs. I used a potterybarn duvet cover for the fabric :-)Here are some things that I recently picked up for my front porch make-over. All of this is from yard sales... the cement bird bath $15 bucks, the two rose bushes in pots $3 bucks each. The large mosiac bird house $2 bucks (I know what a steal!) The angel sitting on the edge of the pot was $5 bucks.
...stay tuned for more of the "after" pictures coming up on March the 25th. It is very pretty once its all set out. The funny thing is, I never sit out there and enjoy it because I've always got something I'm working on. I've also been making over an Easter Tree. I'll give a tutorial on how I did this...hopefully before Easter. I am hoping to make it more "toddler friendly" as those darn spiral branches and the long strings on the ornaments were to much for my 23 month old grandson to hang the ornaments from. The carnival soiree is fastly approaching.... I've got some things put together as little vinettes. I guess thats what I'm suppossed to do? Who knows.... and I don't think anyone cares!Lastly, of course....a crocheted project is ALWAYS sitting around somewhere as a work in progress. I wish I could stress to everyone just how easy it is to crochet and to start to learn today. There are excellent instructional videos on Youtube.com... just type in "how to crochet" in the search box. Sometimes when I come across a stitch I've never heard of before I google it...and up pops thousands of sites that show how to do that stitch. Now...go grab some yarn and a hook and please give it a try, you'll thank me I promise

Pink & pearl garland

Here is a little something I whipped up recently. You know those strings of beaded garland that are about 18' long that you can pick up super cheap at Christmas time? Well, I crocheted around each bead on this long strand of beaded garland. Kinda cute huh? Its a great project to work on while watching t.v..... something you can just mindlessly work on and before you know it-- its finished! I'm going to add this (and several more) to my Christmas tree next year. Here is the easy-peasy instructions just incase someone out there wants to give it a try~

First of all, your needing to attach your crochet thread to the end of the garland with a slip stitch or knot, whichever you prefer. Once the crochet thread is attached you simply chain 4 stitches then make a sc in between the next two pearls. Thats it....just continue with the ch 4 and doing a sc in between each pearl. At the end chain 12 or more then come back down the other side doing the same ch 4/1 sc in between each pearl. Easy-peasy~ Once your garland is completed.... you could go back up and down each side again adding 5 dc in each ch 4 space and a slip stitch in each sc space. This makes a wider garland, but I was wanting a smaller/simpler garland for my own tree~