MaeLyn's Musings

Something that I have enjoyed doing a lot in the last couple years is using plastic canvas and yarn to make tissue box covers. This is a simple way to be creative and make something that I will use!  I start with 5 pieces of plastic canvas. The top is about 33 holes x 60 holes, two sides are 60x24, and the last two sides are 33x24. The top will have a slot cut in the middle, but the size of the top varies depending on the design. It should at least be large enough to easily feed the tissue through! I usually plan my design before I begin, often drawing it out either on graph paper or sketching it onto the canvas itself with a permanent marker. I like experimenting with different types of stitches and textures to make each one unique in its own way. Once each side is stitched, then I sew them all together. Here are some of my past projects: This is the one I have on my bedside table. The colors aren't good in the photo, but it is navy and pink. The monster box was one of the first o...

 I like to make things. I'm not really content unless I have some project or another to be working on. Here are a couple projects I just completed. When JoAnn closed last year, I took advantage of the discounts at the very end to snag some yarn that is usually more expensive than I care to buy. This blanket was made of Bernat Baby Blanket yarn, which is usually over $10/skein, and I got 4 skeins for about $12. This yarn is very soft, but also thick, and so while I started the blanket in May or June of last year, I put it away for the summer because it was too warm to have on my lap as I worked! I picked it up again recently and finished it yesterday afternoon.  I really like the crosshatch pattern, although if I had been smart, I would have used stitch markers from the very beginning to help me keep track of the pattern. The finished blanket is about 4'x5' and will be great for snuggling under next winter.  The second project I finished yesterday is one that I started mor...

"I feel like making a new quilt," I said. What kind of quilt should I make? Something simple? Nah! I'll make it full of tiny pieces that have to be sewn together in awkward Y seams, and where no seam is longer than about 2 inches. And I won't use any real pattern... I'll just make it up as I go. Sounds like fun!  Three months later, it is done. Although it wasn't easy, I love the way it turned out! (Try not to get dizzy looking at it!)

 This past week has been spring break for two of my boys. Josh is currently only taking one evening class that meets twice a week, and he is still working, so it isn't a huge change for him, but Peter has had more free time than he really knows what to do with. In general he's been sleeping in until noon or so, working on memorizing his lines for the upcoming one-act play he just got a role in, and then spending the rest of the day watching YouTube videos and playing Minecraft. Sometimes he and his brothers will play a game of "Magic the Gathering", usually at night after I have gone to bed. Earlier this year, I noticed that the quilt I made for John many years ago was falling apart, and so I decided to make him a new one. I let him choose the pattern and the colors, and I kept busy for about a month, choosing fabrics, cutting and sewing. I borrowed a quilting frame from the church and for about two days it filled our living room while I spent every spare moment tyin...

The last several months of "safer at home" has meant a lot of time spent within my own four walls. Of course, I'm a homebody anyway, so I'm probably not home much more than I was before COVID and quarantine, but I've had more time with my family around, and less time on the desktop computer that I share with Peter. Of course the usual things like housecleaning and laundry haven't changed much, but I have had a lot of free time on my hands. Here are some of the things I've been doing to keep myself busy over the last few months: Books read:   Charles Todd's Ian Rutledge Series (20 books),  Charles Todd's Bess Crawford Series (9 books),  Jacqueline Winspear's Masie Dobbs Series (Books 1-10... I have 5 more to go).  Miscellaneous Agatha Christy books  The first six or so Lillian Jackson Braun's "The Cat Who..." books  and I don't know what all else I might have picked up to read in an afternoon. The first three above are historic...

When I'm watching a movie, I like to keep my hands busy. So a couple months ago, I decided that I wanted to make a small crochet animal for each of my nieces and nephews to give out at the family reunion this past week. My parents currently have 28 grand children, but my own children already have crochet creatures (see here ), so my goal was to make 24 stuffed animals. I ended making my 26th animal on the drive to Nauvoo. Here is what I came up with, along with the patterns I used. (Freestyle means I kind of made it up as I went along.) Penguin. Pattern from a book,  Vanna's Choice Easy Crochet Critters Lion. Pattern from   Vanna's Choice Easy Crochet Critters Snowy Owl pattern   from Vanna's Choice Easy Crochet Critters Walrus . Pattern from  Vanna's Choice Easy Crochet Critters Elephant. Pattern from  Vanna's Choice Easy Crochet Critters Hippo. Pattern from  Vanna's Choice Easy Crochet Critters Giraffe. Patt...