Quirky Winner 2!

Oh my goodness, my day has gotten away from me.  Jake and I spent the morning fixing the handle of the downstairs toilet, and hanging curtains.  We got (almost) done in time for an amazing visit from my bestie, E, and her little guy, S!  We were showing off our chickens (they started laying eggs this week!  How amazing is that?!) and Jake found a "rubber" egg in the coop.  I don't know if it was from one of the girls that is already laying eggs, or if it was a surprise to our last little chicken that hadn't started laying yet, but it was like a water balloon!  Squishy shelled eggs are a fun novelty, but I'm hoping that there won't be a repeat tomorrow.

Back to the curtains for a second...  Um, so you know how I ADORE Pinterest and I think it's the greatest site ever?  Well, Pinterest and I had our first big fight this week.  Over muslin curtains, no less!  If you do a search for DIY Muslin Curtains, Pinterest will bring you all sorts of amazing curtain projects, and will build up your sewing hubris to the point that you will think it's a good idea to MAKE new curtains for all TEN of our living room/dining room windows.

smh, what was I thinking?!  Off the bolt, muslin is perfect, but in order to make washable curtains that won't pucker or shrink, you need to wash and dry your fabric to remove the sizing.  The thing is, muslin wrinkles.  It wrinkles A LOT.  I ended up having to iron all 23 yards of fabric TWICE, because simply ironing it left it too wrinkled, it needed spray starch.  If I had known, I never would have washed it, because honestly, who am I kidding, I never washed the old lace "Haunted Mansion" curtains that had been hanging for 8 years...

I realize now that while, yes, they worked out to about $2.50 a curtain (40% off coupon at Joanns!) whatever I saved in cash, I more than spent in hard physical ironing labor.  If I ever decide to tackle a project like this again I think I'm going to invest in a steamer.  I hate ironing...

Okay, on to the winner of my 2nd Quirky Giveaway!

I had 28 comments on the post, and used Random.org to "draw" a winner of the awesome craft goodies from FaveCrafts.com!

Congratulations to Tammy Crocheter! I will email you to get your info. Thank you to everyone who entered!!!  I loved reading all of your awesome comments!!!

xoxo

Quirky Giveaway 2!

Okay, so the people over at FaveCrafts are just awesome!  They're doing a giveaway involving MY Quirky Crochet Handbag promoting their new FREE ebook: The Best Blogger Craft Ideas 2014!  Today's prize is a variety of Lion Brand Yarns!!!!  Cool, right?  Click HERE to enter!!!  (You can also enter their Super Spectacular Grand Prize Giveaway from that page too!!!)

And since I won 2nd place in the Best Blogger Craft contest, I get to host a giveaway of my own as a giant THANK YOU to all of you!!!  Look at all the cool stuff they're letting me give away!!!

Look at all of the crafty goodies!!!  And they're letting me give them to you because you guys are so amazing!!!  And all you have to do to win them is to leave a comment with your email address (so I can contact you when you win! - See, aren't you glad you followed me by email so you saw this post in time?!).  This giveaway is open to all US and Canada residents only, please, and runs from now until midnight pst on Saturday, April 12, 2014.  I will use Random.org to draw a name from all of the entries on Sunday the 13th!

As always, I'm so grateful for all of you!  Good luck, Dynamos!!!

xoxo

Reflective Yarn!!!

Hi Dynamos!

Whew, our Spring Cleaning has turned into a house renovation.  We've spent the last 2 weeks cleaning and painting and re-imagining what our living space is.  I can't wait to share some pictures with you when we get all done!  OMG, y'all, I'm getting a craft room!!!!

In the meantime, I've got to tell you about an awesome giveaway going on over at All Free Crochet!  Last month I got an opportunity to try out some of Red Heart's new Reflective Yarn and create some patterns with it!  It's so much fun to work with!!!!  And you could win some for yourself if you enter their giveaway (and a cool Red Heart tote to carry it in!!!)!!

The reflective yarn is so cool!  It's perfect for safety items, like the helmet cover I created, because there's a reflective filament in the yarn that makes the yarn appear to glow as light flashes against it.  The picture above was taken in normal light, but the flash from my camera makes it look almost fake!  I like that Mims will be more visible to cars when she rides her bike or scooter!  (And moms/grandmas of boys, the ears on the helmet cover are totally optional, if you wanted to add some extra reflective safety to your little guy's helmets).

I also designed a little shrug for Mims to wear on summer evenings. It will be perfect for nighttime walks to keep her extra safe, and it will be so much fun in pictures because it looks crazy cool when it's reflecting light!

If you'd like to see my full review of the yarn, grab my patterns, AND enter the giveaway go HERE!!!  Ugh, break time's over, I've got to get back to cleaning. LOL!!!

xoxo!!!

Pi day!

Happy Pi day, Dynamos!  It's also Veronica Mars day, Marshmallows!  I will be going to the movies, and eating pie today, how about you?!

The FaveCrafts contest winners were announced, and (thanks to YOU) I won 2nd place!!!  Woo hoo!!! Not only do I win a prize, but you guys are going to win a prize too - they're going to let me host a future giveaway just for you with some awesome swag!  I just saw a picture of what they're going to send, and it's so cool!!! So, keep your eyes peeled for that giveaway coming soon!!!!

In the meantime, if you'd like to make the Quirky Crochet Handbag (the name has grown on me!) HERE is the link to the FREE pattern!!!

And HERE is the link to all of the other projects that were submitted.  I think the baby set that Mary Kathryn designed is so precious!  I want to make one for my niece who's getting baptized next month!

We celebrated my grandma's 93rd birthday last night.  It was so fun getting together with my whole family for dinner!!!

Katy's waving hi!  So is Jake!

Jake has declared this weekend the start of Clean Week 2014, so I'm going to be cleaning, organizing, and finally taking control of my crafty clutter!  Hopefully, my reward will be a new home office/craft room! If I de-stash some yarn, does anyone want it?  Once I know how much there is, I'll put a picture on... It's a mish-mash!  LOL!!!

xoxo!!!!

Quirky Bag Yarn Winners!

Good Morning Dynamos!

Thank you for bearing with me during the FaveCrafts competition!  I appreciate every single one of your votes and kind words!!  Even though it may be a while before we find out who won that competition, I am so grateful to have such a wonderful group of friends who have supported me and made me feel so loved.

I had Random.org pick two winners for the Quirky Yarn and Bead giveaway!  We had 55 entries!!!  Woot!

The first winner is:

Chris Hay!

and the second winner is:

RC Rabbit!!

Congratulations to the winners!  Thank you so much to everyone who entered!!!

One more thing, Dynamos.  I need your opinion! What inspires you to make a pattern purchase?  Is it the designs, the price, or is it a combination of both?  I'm getting close to finishing up my new purse book, and I was wondering if you would you be more likely to purchase:

 1.) One ebook with 6 purse patterns, plus 6 accessory patterns to match them for $2.99

or

2.) Three ebooks that each contain 2 purse patterns and 2 accessory patterns for $0.99 each

Bear in mind, YOU won't have to actually buy them, my Dynamos ALWAYS get my books for FREE. :D

xoxo!!!

Quirky Giveaway!!

Happy Sunday, Dynamos!

A few days ago I 'premiered' my latest free pattern, "The Quirky Crochet Handbag", and invited you all to vote for it in a blogging design competition (haven't voted yet? VOTE HERE!!!).

I think it's really cool.  I even took it to the theatre (ooh, la la, FANCY!).  It's the bag that got me a gig designing a purse for the Oscars!  It's a great evening bag!!!  

You can carry it to all your formal/not-so-formal quirky events!  It would be appropriate to carry it to your co-worker's wedding, or awkward convention dinners, or to see your friends play in their new indie band.  It's perfect for first dates, church luncheons, your sister-in-law's baby shower, and your high school reunion! 

It's also super fun to make!  So I was thinking, LET'S HAVE A GIVEAWAY!!!!!

This is the yarn and beads that you need to create a Quirky Crochet Handbag of your own!!!  But you don't have to buy it and spend $15 of your hard earned cash on it, you can win it for FREE just by taking 30 seconds and VOTING for me!!  

How To Enter:

1. Go vote for the Quirky Crochet Handbag on FaveCrafts.com in their Best Blogger Craft 2014 contest, and leave a comment on this post to tell me you voted! (if you voted earlier this week, it counts!! And THANK YOU!!!)

2. If you vote a 2nd time (or MORE!!!) on your Smartphone, Tablet, Kindle, Nook, Husband/Co-worker/Best Friend's computer/smartphone, you get another vote!  Leave a second comment on this post to let me know you voted again!

3. If you'd like to share this giveaway with your friends and family by blogging about it, Tweeting about it, sharing it on Facebook or Google+, or Pinning it to your crafty/crochet board, you can earn a third entry!  Leave a third comment on this post to let me know you shared it!  

***PLEASE LEAVE A VALID EMAIL ADDRESS IN ONE OF THE POSTS so I can contact you when you win!!!***

I've got TWO SETS of Bon Bons and Beads (Mardi Gras shout out, hey!) for two lucky winners that will be randomly drawn on March 12th. (The giveaway ends March 11, 2014 at 11:59pm.)

Have you VOTED yet?  Go do it now, and win yourself an awesome prize!!!

xoxo

Edit 3/12/14:  The giveaway has ended!  Thank you to everyone who voted and entered!  

Volleyball Girl!

Mims starts volleyball practice next month.  This is her first time playing team sports, up until now she's only done solo sports like ballet and gymnastics.  We are all super excited about it!

Since she doesn't have much experience with volleyball yet (an unfortunate game of 'bruise ball' with my cousins when she was 5 kinda tainted her viewpoint), I have been looking for anything that might make practice seem more fun, and less ouchy to begin with.  I found a bounce board on Amazon that I thought might do the trick, until I found the awesomeness that is "passing sleeves"!

Maybe they had passing sleeves when I was a kid, but I certainly didn't have them.  They're arm covers to protect you from the sting of passing the ball when you're first learning.  Brilliant!  They were only about $20 on Amazon, but waiting the two days for the Prime shipping just seemed like agony to me, especially since I had a wrist warmer pattern that I could modify to make some for Mims myself.

Now, my color choices might not be your cup of tea, but Little Miss Mims is in a mismatching phase.  She has gone to school the last two days with purposefully mismatched socks.  So when I asked her what color she wanted for her sleeves, she picked out this combo.  I dig it, it reminds me of Punky Brewster.

**Quick reminder: ***
ch - chain
sl st - slip stitch
hdc - half double crochet
fpdc - front post double crochet
bpdc - back post double crochet

VOLLEYBALL PASSING SLEEVES
to fit most 7-12 year olds

Supplies:
Worsted weight yarn - approximately 200 yards for the pair (I used 100% cotton yarn in turquoise, pink and purple)
Size G crochet hook
Yarn needle

(Make 2)
ch 22, being careful not to twist your stitches sl st to first ch to join round
R1: ch 1, hdc in each ch around, sl st to first hdc to join round (22 st)
R2: ch 1, hdc in each st around, sl st to first hdc to join round (22 st)
R3-4: ch 1, ch 1, hdc in each st around, do not join round, turn (22 st)
R5-18:  ch 1, hdc in each st around, sl st to first hdc to join round (22 st)
R19: ch 2, dc in each st around, sl st to first dc to join round (22 st)
R20-21: ch 2, (fpdc, bpdc) 11 times, sl st to first fpdc to join round (22 st)
Fasten off.  Weave in ends.

I changed color every two rows for the striped sleeve, ending with the same color for the dc rows 19-21.

Rrrrr!  She's got her game face on!!!

One more thing, Beautiful Dynamos!  I'm in a blogging design competition over at FaveCrafts right now.  If you love free patterns, and you want to support more free patterns on CrochetDynamite.com, please go over and VOTE for my project right now. It doesn't cost you anything, and it only takes 30 seconds.  My project is called the Quirky Crochet Handbag.   And if you wanted to convince your friends and family to vote for me too, it certainly wouldn't hurt my feelings!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!

xoxo