Projects for My Primas

I can't believe that it's already late-July.....where has my summer gone?

I've been keeping busy with the boys. We've been swimming with friends and out to the ranch (new kittens!) and to the zoo and the movies. Today we headed to the library for more summer reading.

I've also been busy with projects! During the cousin reunion, my cousin Meri asked me to crochet newborn beanies for her photography business. I made 3 slightly different versions in hot pink and black:

plus 4 flower pins to accent them:

My cousin Josie asked me to crochet a poncho for a gift for a 6-year-old girl. I just finished it in beautiful neapolitan colors of pink and brown (plus another flower pin) and will be mailing it to Albuquerque this week.

Speaking of summer, I've also been working on a special order from The Lavender Lizard. One customer asked me to make a baseball-themed tape measure. I love the way it turned out! This will be available on Etsy, and it's also inspired a couple of new designs that I hope to make and list soon. Stay tuned!

Girls Weekend!

I just spent 3 fun-filled days in San Antonio with 8 of the most loving, creative, fun, and wonderful women I know -- my sisters and my cousins, the Gonzales Girls!

One flew in from California, and her sister flew in from New Mexico. Four came down from the Dallas-Fort Worth area (one of those by way of Mexico -- long story...). One drove up from Brownsville, and the other one drove down from Austin. I'm so blessed that they are my family and also my friends!

Here are the 9 of us in birth order from left to right (I'm the fourth one from the left):

This photograph is courtesy of MeriBella Photography (Gonzales Girl #8), which leads me to a collaboration that I am thrilled to share!

My cousin Meri asked me to create a cocoon/wrap for her to use when taking photographs of newborns. Here's the image she created with the wrap I made for her:

During our reunion this weekend, Meri and I discussed more newborn items/props. I can't wait to create these, and share them with her and with you. More information on MeriBella Photography, based in Brownsville, Texas, is available on the website or the Facebook page!

Reminder: the giveaway for the set of lip balm holders will end on July 1. Please read the last blog entry (I'm Published!) for ways to enter the giveaway. Good luck!

I'm Published!

Well, sort of....it's not the Great American Novel but it's a good start! One of my goals for 2010 was to be published, and it's finally happened, not once, but twice!

The first is a book called Craft Corps by Vickie Howell. It's full of inspriring interviews with famous "crafters". I'm on page 39 (Ds1's favorite number) with a crafty story about making Christmas ornaments for the boys every year.

Thanks for including my story, Vickie!

The second publication just came to me in the mail today. It's the July 2010 issue of the British magazine titled Knitting, and it's about, well, knitting. It has beautiful patterns, yarn and book reviews and makes me wish I could coordinate using 2 knitting needles. (I'm all thumbs when it comes to knitting!) My neapolitan stripe scarf was chosen for their inspiration page! Plus I'm on page 11 -- my lucky number! So exciting!

Thank you Emma, for choosing my scarf!

To celebate reaching this goal, I'll give away a set of the ice cream-inspired (what else?) lip balm holders shown here (a $15 value):

To enter the giveaway, simply leave a comment on this blog post telling me what inspires you. You can earn additional entries for the giveaway by following my blog, becoming a fan of The Lavender Lizard on Facebook (click on "like), or following @lavenderlizard on Twitter. One person will be randomly chosen to receive the lip balm holders on July 1. Good luck!

The End of the School Year!

I finally got around to downloading the photos from the end of the school year. Next year will be monumental in that all 4 boys will be in 4 different places (high school, middle school, elementary school, and the baby at home). Wish me luck!

Sadly, one of our favorite teachers EVER retired this year. To celebrate her retirement, I cross-stitched and framed a quote from Albert Einstein, her hero.


It reads: " Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world."

Here's Mrs. K with the boys in her very empty classroom (except DS4, who of course, wouldn't cooperate). Mrs. K taught GT and had DS1 and DS2 for four years each in elementary school. She's a superb teacher and a great friend, and she will be missed!


Over at the middle school, the PTA hosted an end-of-the-year breakfast for the staff. I made a market bag and two scarves in school colors that were given away as door prizes.

Time to enjoy the summer break!

My Latest Projects

I'm happy to report that I have completed another afghan in the long-running and ever-growing list of blankets for the primos!

Plus the next one for the primos is almost complete; just 10 more rows to go.

In the meantime, I have started a baby blanket for a dear friend who is due in November (yay for Scorpios!). It's made with super-soft, super-plushy Buttercup yarn by Red Heart. I chose the white-multi color since I'm not sure of the baby's gender yet.

I also made a flower scarf for a gift using 2 colors of Loops and Threads (Michaels own brand) Impeccable Yarn, an ombre called Holland and a solid named Soft Fern:

And I liked the combo so much (reminds me of a fruit salad) I made a long, skinny scarf that will be listed at The Lavender Lizard.

What a Busy Week!

The end of the school year brings so many challenges: TAKS tests, projects, field trips, and Morgan's dinner theater have kept everyone busy, plus we've been planning for next year when Morgan goes to high school. Then Tanner was chosen for induction into the National Junior Honor Society! We could not have been prouder, especially since last year, Morgan was inducted.

So last Wednesday (May 5), we witnessed Tanner and over 100 other 7th graders receive their NJHS certificates.

Here's Tanner with his principal and the NJHS sponsor receiving his certificate (sorry it's so fuzzy):

Here's Tanner celebrating with cake (Morgan and Dad are in the background).

We wanted to take photos of all of the boys (everyone was dressed so nicely). However, Connor wouldn't cooperate at all -- seems that he had enough of 'playing nice'. But I figured that we would have another chance at Morgan's dinner theater performance, which was Thursday and Friday (May6 and 7).

Morgan had the role of Bensonhurst, the very proper (read: stuffy!) butler in Murder's in the Heir, a production where the audience chooses the murderer from among the cast.

Morgan and the rest of the cast and crew had been rehearsing for months. And they all did a terrific job! Here's Morgan looking suspiciously at another character:

And we were finally able to take a photo of the boys. Sadly, Connor still wouldn't cooperate completely.

Luckily, we have another opportunity this weekend -- Morgan has been invited to the Awards Ceremony for the Young Pegasus Poetry Competition sponsored by the San Antonio Public Library. Over 2200 poems were submitted, and 82, including Morgan's, were selected for publication. Hopefully, everyone will cooperate at photo time!

The Accidental Gardener Strikes Again....

Saw this happy little sign of spring the other day:

The significance? Well, I thought we lost the passionflower that we enjoyed all of last year. It bloomed and bloomed and bloomed some more. It also attracted a mess of butterflies, so we literally had continuing cycles of caterpillars turning into chrysalises (or chrysalides, according to dictionary.com -- who knew?) turning into butterflies. We even took some of the chrysalises to school for our favorite teacher, Mrs. K. (She teaches the children in the gifted program and kept a butterfly house in her room.)

Anyway, we ended up with a pretty harsh winter for South Texas and the passionflower appeared to have suffered the worst for it. But now, it has three little sprouts coming up from the ground! Can't wait to see the blooms and the butterflies again!

No news on the afghan front for now. I did take a break from the three (yes, three!) different blankets that I have in various stages of completion to make something for me -- a top designed by my fave designer (and crochet genius!) Doris Chan in one of my favorite yarns ever -- Spa, an acrylic/bamboo blend.

DS2 took this photo of some stranger posing in my top. Ok, I confess, it's really me, but I think he must have had a dozen cameras pointed in my direction. You know, because one camera adds 10 pounds. Anyway, I love, love, love this top and thank you, Doris, for such a terrific pattern. (The pattern is available free on NaturallyCaron.com)

I'm planning on making a second top in yellow. The only change I'll be making is fewer rows on the body. Because the yarn is so drapey, it turned out longer than I thought it would. I may even get up the courage to make this gorgeous top, another Doris Chan design: