Couldn't Stay Away Too Long

(affiliate links to my designs)

Seeing all the other completed temperature projects others have been posting on Instagram and in online Temperature Quilt groups infected me once again. Oh, boy, I got it bad!

I started out with just a thread crochet temperature snake because that didn't seem like too much of a commitment, and I could use up all my old Lizbeth variegated threads to boot. It will be an interesting project, but I fell in love with it on January 1, and I still today have NO regrets whatsoever. The best part is that I don't even have to do the whole year. If I get tired of it, or it gets too long (I'm doing three rounds of single crochet for each high and each low to better show off each colorway), I can begin the tail and finish it in probably four or five days. Or I can stop and begin a new temperature snake, perhaps even changing up the color scheme... Wouldn't it be cute to have a collection of 12 unique little temperature snakes?!?

By January 2, the temperature project craze had fully engulfed me, and I started a new digital temperature quilt. The idea came to me because I've been trying to create a new valentine card almost every day to launch my new Zazzle card shop. I finally incorporated daily conditions, too, which I'm so loving so far. It's coming out so adorable, I started another new digital temperature quilt a couple of days later.

Four days later, I started yet another. And the next day, oops, I did it again.

So now, after a full year-long break, I have five totally new ongoing temperature projects for 2026, and I still have no regrets. They are all projects I can work on quietly while Lizard sleeps. I feel no pressure. I'm so glad I talked myself into this, and I can hardly wait until the end of the year! But not because I'm tired of any of them. I just think they are all so stinking cute!!!

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Wordless Wednesday

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Scented Surgery

I wish now I had snapped a photo of my oldest and hardiest lavender before giving it the most severe haircut of its 15-year life. It outgrew the garden and was hanging over the sidewalk by a good ten to eleven inches. It complicated snow shoveling in winter, which now is being done more by my kind neighbors than by me, and it was a continual magnet for dog marking.

I hated clipping it back so much. I felt as if I was removing arms and legs. But, oh, my, the aroma!!! Of all the garden work I do, I don't think anything is more pleasant than touching and inhaling lavender!

I got what I thought was this bright idea to try to root some of the clippings. I hadn't done any research at that point as to how to do it successfully. I finished my task (first mistake), then began preparing each healthy sprig for vase living. After dunking about ten vases' worth of sprigs, putting away all the tools and garbage bin, and sweeping the walk, I looked up how to root lavender clippings.

I quickly learned I'd done it wrong. I should have been preparing the sprigs and putting them in a vase as soon as I cut them. I should have cut them with sterilized clippers. I should have clipped the tips, not the entire branches, for rooting, then clip what needed to be pruned. I changed out the water in the vases with homemade rooting hormone, and I moved all of the vases into indirect daylight. Indoors, of course. It was too cold out for anything alive. I did do that part right.

I learned it is possible to root from woody clippings, but it's more difficult and takes longer.

I change out the rooting hormone each week and regularly remove dead clippings. I moisturize the live leaves two to three times a week with a gentle spritzing of clean water. I'm down to four vases now, and I'm continually cleaning up shed leaves. This experiment has not been as successful as I would have liked.

However, I have learned so much, and I expect to be far more successful next year. I have two or three sprigs that seem to be attempting to form roots. And I've had vased lavender throughout my living room and kitchen for going on three months now. My pruned front yard lavender won't be thwarting snow shovels all winter, and it should bloom as always come June. I truly cannot complain!

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Snowflake Monday

Lizard stuffed my Christmas stocking with a handful of glow-in-the-dark sewing thread. Of course, he can't actually buy gifts anymore; I took him shopping in October specifically to fill our stockings after Thanksgiving. I knew he would not remember, so everything would be new to him. I didn't realize I did this so far in advance, it truly was a pleasant surprise to me, too, on Christmas Eve!

I combined all four colors of glow thread with my size 10 white crochet thread for the first sample of today's pattern, then just the blue thread for the second. I think the glow threads added just the right amount of sparkle to my flakes!

Then, on a complete whim, perhaps being just a little crazy, I pulled out my size 13 crochet hook and worked up one more sample with just the glow-in-the-dark sewing thread. I haven't done this in so long, and my close-up eyesight is so poor now, I wasn't sure I could do this anymore.

You may do whatever you'd like with snowflakes you make from this pattern, but you may not sell or republish the pattern. Thanks, and enjoy!

Finished Size: 5 inches from point to point
Materials: Size 10 crochet thread, size 7 crochet hook, empty pizza box, wax paper or plastic wrap, cellophane tape, water soluble school glue or desired stiffener, water, glitter, small container for glue/water mixture, paintbrush, stick pins that won't be used later for sewing, clear thread or fishing line

Sparkle Snowflake Instructions

Make magic ring.

Round 1: 12 sc in ring; sl st in starting sc. Pull magic circle tight.

Round 2: Ch 8 (counts as 1 dc and [ch 5), sk next sc, 1 dc in next sc] 5 times; ch 2, 1 tr in 3rd ch of starting ch 8 to form 6th ch 5 sp of Round.

Round 3: Ch 6 (counts as 1 dc and [ch 3), 1 dc in 3rd ch from hook, 1 fptr around post of next dc, ch 3, 1 fptr around same post, ch 3, 1 dc in 3rd ch from hook, 1 dc in next ch 5 sp] 6 times, omitting last dc of final repeat; sl st in 3rd ch of starting ch 6.
If you're not reading this pattern on Snowcatcher, you're not reading the designer's blog. Please go here to see the original.

Round 4: Ch 4 (counts as 1 tr), [sk next dc picot, in next ch 3 sp work (1 dtr, 1 tr, 1 dc, 1 hdc, 1 sc, ch 3, 1 dc in 3rd ch from hook, ch 5, 1 sc in 5th ch from hook, ch 3, 1 dc in 3rd ch from hook, 1 sc, 1 hdc, 1 dc, 1 tr, 1 dtr), sk next dc picot, 1 fptr around post of next dc] 6 times, omitting last fptr of final repeat; sl st in 4th ch of starting ch 4; bind off. Weave in ends.

Finish: I've been stiffening my flakes with undiluted, full-strength water soluble school glue for quite a while now, and I've been squishing the glue onto and throughout each flake with my fingers (yucky mess!!!) instead of gingerly painting the flakes with glue. Yes, it's a mess. But it's faster. And stiffer.

Tape wax paper or plastic wrap to top of empty pizza box. Pin snowflake to box on top of wax paper or plastic wrap.

If using glue, mix a few drops of water with a teaspoon of glue in small washable container. Paint snowflake with glue mixture or desired stiffener. Sprinkle lightly with glitter. Wash paintbrush and container thoroughly. Allow snowflake to dry at least 24 hours. Remove pins. Gently peel snowflake from wax paper or plastic wrap. Attach 10-inch clear thread to one spoke, weaving in end. Wrap fishing line around tree branch (or tape to ceiling or any overhead surface) and watch snowflake twirl freely whenever you walk by! Snowflake also may be taped to window or tied to doorknob or cabinet handle.

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Friday Fantastic

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Practice Better Make Perfect

(affiliate links to my designs)

For about six weeks now, my goal each and every day has been to get the above baby loaded onto the longarm so I can practice and get the below baby finished and sent to the now three-month-old baby.

There have been moments, perhaps hours or even days, when I thought perhaps I should just quilt the pink baby quilt on the domestic sewing machine.

Ringo the Longarm was serviced back in about September because I hadn't touched it in several years. I remember having trouble with skipped stitches when moving backwards. I remember thinking it was a timing issue. I was ready to use the longarm again, so I took it in for routine maintenance and the skipped stitches problem. It's been more than 90 days, which is all the service warranty covers. So I'm sort of stuck with what I've got for now.

I finally got the practice quilt loaded onto the longarm this week, and I'm SO rusty! I'm having to relearn everything. So thankful for YouTube help videos, which I didn't have access to back when I bought the machine. It came with a DVD. Now all the DVD tutorials are online. And I've been making good use of them.

I'm still skipping lots of stitches, so I probably still have a timing issue. But I'm relearning everything about upper and lower tension, and these are important lessons. I may have to quilt the pink quilt on the domestic machine, and I may have to make lots of practice quilts before I get the longarm running properly. But eventually, I'm going to get Lizard going on art therapy again, and that's pretty darned exciting.

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Wordless Wednesday

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