Handmade Ric Rac

      Well it snowed all day yesterday, and was bitterly cold. Much colder this morning tho. News said it was -5 degrees but feels like -22 degrees. Too cold for me. I got bored yesterday, and thinking about my planned crazy quilted pillow. I started thinking about the samples I have seen done that used the wide ric rac then embroidered over it. Couching, I believe its called. I dont have any large ric rac on hand.  My crochet hook ,however was handy. So I got to work on my version of ric rac. I think it worked out pretty well. It will however require a little guesswork for length. I think I crocheted a chain about double the length I wanted finished.

I used a size 6 crochet hook and size 10 crochet thread. It is slightly less than 1/4" wide. About 1/2" overall.

I simply made my chain. Then turn, and sc in second chain from hook. Then sc in next 2 chains. Now do 2 more sc in the same space as that third sc. You will have 3 sc in same chain.

Now sc in next 2 chains.  Then skip next 2 chains, and sc in next.  Sc in next 2 chains. Now for the top peak again, do 2 more sc in same space as last sc.

Basically, to form your peaks you will have 3 sc in one chain, then to form the valleys you skip two chains and sc in the next. Cute Huh?

Pretty Crochet Heart & Crazy Quilitng

        I have decided to finally give crazy quilting a try. I thought about it many times in the past, but always shied away because it seemed like to much work for a quilt. All the beautiful hand stitches people put on these are just stunning. I love doing handwork in front of the TV of an evening, but this just seemed like way too much work.
         I dont know why I didnt think of it before, Looking back on it, I was "crazy" for not thinking of it. Yea, pun intended. I was emailing back and forth with an internet friend who is extremely talented. She is the one that mentioned trying crazy quilting on a small pillow. Duh! I should have thought of that. This was about a month ago. Since then she has frequently been sending me emails with wonderful tips. I have been saving those, and hitting Pinterest, pinning all the beautiful pieces I seen, embroidery stitches, and ribbon embroidery. Check out my pins HERE. For ideas check out  my boards titled Crochet, Crazy Quilting and Embroidery, and Ribbon Embroidery.
         Now that the holidays is over, I have buckled down and started thinking of things I want to add to my pillow block. During one of my many pinning sessions I found this pattern: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/chalklegs/heart-in-crochet
You may have to sign into ravelry to get it. However its simply the pattern found here:  http://www.freecraftunlimited.com/heart-crochet-hot-pad.html
With a different border. The lady on ravelry has you sc, ch 2, sc in each loop around the edge. I wanted a little more ruffled look so I chained 3. Here is my cute little block. It measures about 3" wide by 4" high. It was done is crochet thread that was size 12 I think.

  

Learning A New Craft

        For the about the past month, I have been researching a new interest. I plan on trying out Crazy Quilting for the first time.  friend peaked my interest in it. I had thought about it before, but just didnt think I would have the patience to do all the stitching that would be required in doing a quilt. I had a  "duh" moment when she mentioned just doing a pillow. I dont know why I never thought of that before, but i got excited over the prospect. Here is her webpage.
   During my time researching crazy quilting, I seen several pinned samples of blocks done with tatted pieces. Tatting is another thing I once thought of trying many years ago, but never got around to buying a shuttle. To be honest , it seemed a little difficult when I seen pictures of someone working with a shuttle. Then I came upon a youtube video HERE. I couldnt understand a thing she was saying. Well maybe a word here and there. But her video was excellent to follow. What I noticed was that you could also tat with a needle. I didnt need to learn to use a shuttle! She  made the needle tatting look very easy. Plus I love the delicate look of the lace. She is making earrings, but I thought these pieces would look very nice on my crazy quilt block.
     Then , I found this series of videos HERE. I liked her finger positioning technique. She was able to move very quickly. So with her  video's and the other's I watched, I managed to start a piece. This is only a segment of the earring piece, but it is coming along nicely. Especially considering this is my very first attempt at tatting.