Apron

I make such a mess when I cook that it finally dawned on me - that's what aprons are for! So I decided I needed to make one. This apron pattern is Simplicity 3949 and I made apron C. My mom (the expert seamstress) definitely had to help me with a couple parts. Especially the piecing of the two sections with the pockets on them. Sewing the corners to the middle section was quite a challenge!

I love the darts and the style of the skirt very much.

I also bought this apron book from JoAnne's last week by Rob Merrett titled: The Perfect Apron, so expect to see more aprons!

Fat Quarter Bags

I haven't done much sewing in my lifetime, but these bags are so easy to make and a great beginner project! It's also a quick project.. took me 2-3hrs to make one, but I am a slow sewer. All you need are 2 fat quarters, interfacing, a sewing machine, and some buttons. They even have special interfacing with the pattern of the bag already on it. You iron on your fabric, cut on the lines, and then assemble. The interfacing even has lines showing where to stitch!

My Mom helped me on the first one, the one with the brownish orange squares. Then I made the daisy one with the cute bumble bee buttons all on my own using the easy interfacing although I did cut it out on the wrong line so its about an inch shorter than the other two. I made the black and grey plaid one last and it is definitely my favorite and the one I have used the most so far.

The most challenging part was arranging the handles so that when you fold the inside of the bag over it contrasts with the lining. I had to think real hard about which direction to sew them on every time, haha!

CPA Sweaters

This past Friday I received my *PASSING* score for the Financial section of the CPA Exam - my last section!! I am so relieved and thankful to have passed all four parts of the CPA Exam on the first try. I started studying for the first section of the exam last December during Christmas break and it was torture! I studied 8+ hours every day for 3 weeks straight.. not even a break on Christmas day! I had to do something to cope, so I decided to crochet 2 sweaters from the Stitch N Bitch Crochet book by Debbie Stoller. I took the first part of the exam in January, but little did I know that the wait for my score would be 74 days long! I pressed on and took another section before I received the first score. I was also in my last semester of grad school. Needless to say things got hectic. I finally got those two passing scores, finished up grad school, and then took the last 2 sections during the summer. I never stopped crocheting and knitting. It was one of the only things I had to look forward to! I believe that all my projects (plus my friends and family) kept me sane throughout the whole process. And now I am so glad to be done!

Here are the two sweaters I made from the book:

Short & Sweet

Cupcake

Noro Scarf

Its done! I've been wanting to make this one for awhile. The Noro yarn is SO beautiful! I've never knit with real wool before. The yarn splits really easy - I learned not to tie my knots too tight. The yarn is not all the same size either. There were some pretty big chunks of wool that I probably should have cut out, but I didnt. I kept having to pull what looked to me like pieces of grass out of the yarn, but the wool is not as scratchy as I thought it would be.

I chose to use 4 different colors because I couldnt choose just 2! I tend to pick bold colors too - this is probably why half the scarf is basically red and the other half is pretty much blue. In order to make the colors stand out more you really need to pick 2 dull colors to stripe with 2 bold colors. I know that now. I had to cut some of the colors out because the stripes were blending together.

My favorite parts of the scarf are where the colors of one skein naturally fade into another color while at the same time providing a contrast to the color of other skein. Which is tricky to do with this yarn! Hence the cutting. Overall, I am VERY satisfied with how it turned out and as much as I hate the cold weather, I hope we get some this winter so that I can actually wear a wool scarf and not sweat!

It didnt take me as long as I thought it would to make this - less than 2 weeks. I CO 39 and the scarf is about 6ft long. I love the effect that the slipped end stitches give this scarf. It really smooths out the edges. I used all of the yarn except the parts I cut out which wasnt much. I did splurge a bit on this yarn. I bought it at the Knitch in Atlanta. And after visiting that LYS and seeing/feeling all the beautiful yarn, I may very well become a yarn snob! :)

Owls, Owls, Owls!

I love this little owl pattern by Ana Paula Rimoli. You see, I have 2 degrees in accounting (BBA & MAcc) from Kennesaw State University whose mascot is Scrappy the owl. Ever since I got her book about a year ago, I knew I would be making a ton of these little owls for my fellow KSU friends and co-workers.

I worked at KSU as a Peer Advocate in the Career Services Center for part of undergrad and all of grad school helping students with resumes, job searching, and occasionally counseling the accounting students that would wander in on my shift. Since I am no longer enrolled in classes, I can no longer be on payroll so this was my last week at the CSC. Over the past year I have been slowly making owls to give to all my co-workers. People have come and gone, and the final count was 19 co-workers.

They absolutely loved the owls and many of them assured me their owls would be proudly displayed on their desks. I am sad to be leaving, but glad that I gave them something to remember me by. Now begins my 4 month vacation until I start my accounting job at KPMG in December - which I got through the KSU Career Services Center before I started working there :)

Crochet Earrings

I am going to have a lot of free time on my hands until December so I am going to start a craft blog highlighting some of my favorite projects.

I LOVE to crochet. Have been doing it for years. Here are some dainty earrings that I crocheted out of cotton thread: