Last Doilies

Finally finished all the doilies this week, and blocked them out. They were wrapped in tissue and gifted on Sunday.

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Doily

 I know you're probably getting tired of seeing doilies. I still have a few to make. I started a new one last night. And I still need to finish the one for my mom... I ran out of thread and can't find any to match, so I think the last couple rounds will be a different color with a made up pattern out of my head.

 This one isn't blocked out yet, but I finally finished it. All those double crochet clusters take forever. They are pretty but a pain!

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Doily-ied again

Think since Christmas is over that doilies are done? Think again! Christmas with my Mom's side of the family isn't until late January. I'm still "needling" away (those are the words of my Dad.)







Yet another doily from the Magic Crochet magazine. I think this one is from June 1985.

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Blocking Out

This week I started blocking out the doilies I made.

Half a can of spray starch later, all the doilies that are finished are starched.

 For some scale on these last two, I put a highlighter in the photo. They are huge after being blocked!

I have one in the works right now that is almost done, and then I think I'll do one more.

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Making Memories

My favorite part of being back home again is making memories with family.

Take, for example, Saturday night's Thanksgiving dinner at my Aunt's house. We had a cake to celebrate my Grandma's 80th birthday, my Great Aunt's 76th birthday, and my cousin-in law's 35th birthday. It was exciting to be a part of this. Grandma had no idea (or at least claimed to have no idea) that there was a cake coming for her. To top it all off, this is the first Thanksgiving I've been home for since 2006. I've hosted my parents out in Springfield since then.

 Last night we got snow. Not ver much mind you, but enough to leave a dusting when I woke up this morning.

 And, Grandma and I were crazy enough to can another 21 pints of pear jam. Sunday afternoon, Dad and I picked a five gallon bucket of pears and Grandma and I spent Sunday afternoon peeling. We made 10 jars of jam with Splenda on Sunday night, then ran out of pectin and Splenda.

So I picked up pectin and Splenda last night and we canned 7 jars of Splenda jam and 4 without any sweetener or sugar at all. It's kind of like pear sauce (the pear version of apple sauce). Even though it was hot in the kitchen, my hands were cramped from peeling, and my feet hurt from standing over the stove for several hours, I know I'll look back in 20 years at this time that I spent making jam with Grandma.

 And then I blocked out four of the doilies. There are two left that are finished and ready for blocking, one I'm still crocheting and at least two more I have plans to make for Christmas presents.



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Passing Time: Another Doily

Sorry I can't figure out how to rotate photos in blogger.
I've been working on this doily for the last week or so. It's from a Magic Crochet magazine that dates back to my infant-years.

 Finished size is supposed to be 8-3/4", but mine will probably be closer to 10" after starching.

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More Doilies

  I should probably preface this with the comment that these will eventually be starched and flat. I don't plan on giving out wrinkly/curly doilies for gifts...

This first one is out of the same book as the first doily I made.

 These new two are from a different book. A book that I don't recommend if you want to make doilies. I started three or four different doilies and the directions were all wrong. Making these two required looking at the photos.

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Passing Time

 The lack of my favorite TV channel (ABC) and the shows that come with it (Grey's Anatomy) means I have more time to fill with mindless activities.

In the last several days, I started and finished this doily:

 

I bought this doily book at a flea market in Springfield a couple years ago. At the time, I couldn't decide if I wanted to make bookmarks or doilies for the ladies in my family for Christmas. After crocheting one doily, I decided bookmarks were the better option. They didn't take as long to make. At that point, I was still studying for exams in my free time.

 Talk about cutting it close on thread! I kept looking at it thinking "I'm not going to have enough to finish!", but I did.

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