Halloween is simply my favorite holiday!

Good Morning all! I just LOVE Halloween, it is quite simply my favorite holiday. Now, I know most would say WHAAAAAAAAATTT??? Why isn't it Christmas? Well, as children, we weren't allowed to dress up and go trick~or~treating, or go to Halloween parties either...maybe that is part of the reason why. I love the fall, and the multitude of colors it brings (well not to the southern part of AZ) and the cooler temperatures. I love the witches, skeletons, pumpkins and ghosts (must be my darker side coming out). Now, I do love Christmas also, but it comes in second to Halloween. With that being said, I have created a couple more Halloween themed hats for <3 Hats from the Heart/My Journey Journals <3 and I might have some fall themed hats for my next update. We shall see what the next couple of weeks holds in store for me, as I always fly by on a wing and a prayer! ;)

The first hat I have for you, was a challenge in itself!! This hat was made from a pattern I found over at Moogly and it is actually for a "big boy's cabled golf hat". Yes, I turned it into a man's golf hat. Not exactly sure I was real happy with the resulting hat and might have to adjust the pattern a bit more to my liking in the future. Here is my version of the Cabled Golf Hat for a man.

After the challenges of the above hat, I found I needed something a little more simple to work on, so I chose to make a little girl's Ghost hat. This creation was inspired by several pictures I've seen all over the internet, but I used no pattern for it. The color scheme was from my internet inspirations and the rest was simply out of my imagination.

This morning, I decided to go even simpler than that and create a little boy's pumpkin hat. I found this pattern over on Ravelry , where you can find all kinds of free patterns for all kinds of things! Now if all the hats were as quick and simple to make as this one was, I would have at least 100 hats made by now!! :D

That is the extent of my creations for this update, but I have one other creation picture for you. This is a fleece hat made by a beautiful lady, Deb, for our project.

One day, we will meet in person! Quite possibly when donation time comes up...oh my, that is RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER!!!! :D I'm running out of time, and I fear I won't get my goal of 80 hats done before the time is here....but it is all good because I just created hat #54! I know that each hat and journal that is created, by myself or by another beautiful soul, will bring smiles and sunshine to the patient that receives it. I am so BLESSED, and I am eternally grateful for the kindness that God has brought into my life from everyone who has contributed in making <3 Hats from the Heart/My Journey Journals <3 successful and ongoing!

This has been quite a lengthy update, but when I forget to update on a regular basis, it becomes that way LOL! I am off to finish my nephew's Chain Chomp Hat (even if it kills me lol), so that I can mail it and get started on another side project...2 baby blankets, Christmas presents, Journey Journals and more hats of course!! :D  Until my next update, May the light of God's love touch your heart and soul and help you to Glow from Within....<3

I love Fall!

I just absolutely LOVE fall and the cooler temperature's it brings! Yes, we do have fall in AZ, just not so much that you can actually "see" changing of leaves unless you travel to the northern part of AZ. It is just beautiful in the mornings and you just want to sit on your patio and enjoy it and watch the hummingbirds as they fly busily about getting ready to migrate south. I hope ours don't migrate, but I will enjoy them until they do. At the start of my vacation, I spent the night at my sister's and when we got up the next morning (amidst trying to get the car packed), we took the time to feed the hummingbirds from our hand! It is the MOST amazing feeling (other than giving of yourself to others) to have a little hummingbird land on your hand to feed ~ I was blessed to have the same one land on my hand 3 times!!!! :) Here is a photo for you to enjoy!

So hard to stand still because you are so excited by it!!! While on vacation I was also blessed with a dragonfly on my thumb, that picture is a little blurry so you will have to just take my word on it LOL Yes, that was pretty cool and amazing too!!

I was able to get 3 hats completed this past weekend, but unable to get to any Journey Journals. I just simply ran out of time, it waits for no one that is for sure! A really great friend stopped by for a visit on Friday and brought me a donation of journaling "stash" as I like to call it :). I am surrounded by the most amazing people in my life, whose kindness knows no bounds! Thank you Mo from the bottom of my heart for always giving freely to this project that means so much to me! <3 

Can hardly wait to dig in and make some Journey Journals, maybe next weekend I can devote some time to the journals! I still have a couple of hats and a baby blanket to get done as side projects for family and friends (when do I NOT have side projects happening?). On to my new creations.

This is a ladies winter white slouch hat with just a touch of color that I finished up on Friday evening. I found this pattern over at Meladora's Creations and she has a ton of great patterns. The picture does not do this hat any justice, because the white yarn has a sparkly thread running throughout.

The next two hats I created were with a Halloween theme in mind, because this is just my favorite holiday! It may come from never having the opportunity to dress up and go trick~or~treating on Halloween as a child, but I just love this time of year. I do have to dig out my Halloween village and get it set up and decorate too!!! And who doesn't love candy corn?? SQUEEEEEALLLL!!! :D 

 

Or Frankenstein???? The below pattern was found over at A Chicks with Sticks blog and the above pattern, I am sorry to say that I forgot to grab the link on that pattern. I did add a bow on the Candy Corn hat to make it for a girl, and the buttons for the bolt's on Frankenstein's neck were originally blue LOL I bought a silver sharpie and my daughter colored them for me and I then spray glazed them and voila....bolts on the neck!!! :)

I will sincerely try my best to always add a link to where I find the pattern's for these hats, but sometimes I will forget to grab the link, for this I offer my sincere apologies to those that have allowed me and others to use their patterns! And my heartfelt gratitude for being allowed to use them for the creating and giving of these hats!

I must get busy and find a man's hat to make, and fold some clothes and prepare for the coming work week (it is Monday tomorrow already?). Until my next update may the light of God's love touch your heart and help you to Glow from Within...<3

Back to working on hats and journals!

Happy Monday evening to all! I have been remiss in updating my blog for a few weeks, but I am back from vacation with lots of goodies to update you on! I am working on a ladies winter white slouch hat, so far I am loving the new stitch! First things first though, my vacation was AMAZING!! Though I missed my wonderful hubby the whole time I was away from him, I loved spending a week at the beach with two of my sisters and Aunt's and Uncle...and then having a family get together at my Aunt Debbie's house for more family visiting! My Dad's family is rather large (he was one of 9), and of course through the years it has expanded beyond belief! I can not express my love and gratitude enough to my Aunt Debbie and all of those involved in paying for the condo at the beach and letting us stay at her house until we left. It was a very emotional and amazing trip! I would be typing all day if I put everything down that is going through my heart and brain, so on to sharing some pictures of hats that my beautiful niece made and donated to <3 Hats from the Heart/My Journey Journals <3. Oh and a journey journal that my sister Vicky made while we were in Florida, and my latest creation a man's hat. My oldest sister Lou and I picked up all the following pictures from my niece Eve on our way to Florida, these were all created by Eve and they are simply fabulous!!!

Aren't they just great? I love them all!!! <3  Next up is the journey journal that my sister created. It is simply ARRRRRRRRRR~some LOL

 

And the last picture I have for you is a hat that I made on Saturday. It is a man's hounds tooth beanie, I believe it turned out fairly well for being creatively "challenged" on Saturday. LOL

 

 

 

I may do a couple more like this as I really liked the stitch and how it looked. That is it for the pictures, so even though I was on vacation I still had some pretty great updates for you all! I found the pattern for this pretty cool hat over at Elk Studio Handcrafted Crochet Designs and thank her for sharing the pattern.

 

Hoping to continue the momentum and even if I don't reach my goal of 80 hats for myself for 2013, I feel that I am and have done a pretty great job so far. This includes all the help I have gotten from my sister's Lou, Vicky, Joni, my niece Eve and a pretty great lady Debbie helping make hats also! It also includes all of the numerous monetary and supply donations that I have gotten from too many people to mention, just know that your kindness means the world to me and each patient that receives a hat or journal. "No act of kindness, no matter how small....is ever wasted" ~ Aesop

 

Until my next update may the light of God's love touch your heart and soul and help you to Glow from Within......<3



Superhero's, Minion's and Cephalopod's....?

Happy Sunday morning to you! Hope this finds everyone well and feeling very blessed! I always feel blessed and am very thankful for my many blessings, even when they are challenges! It is another beautiful morning in sunny AZ and I am enjoying the mornings immensely, as the sun makes it's way across the sky, it still heats up the afternoon and runs me in under the A/C though. :) I am hoping that leaves will be starting to turn in a few weeks in other parts of the country that I will be passing through so I can get some pictures of that! Yes, my vacation is getting closer and I'm getting even more EXCITED for it to be here, I am finding that my mind does not want to turn off when I am ready for bed LOL. My oldest sister, Lulu, will be coming next weekend and we are going to go shopping!!! We always seem to go shopping in Tucson, so we are changing it up this time and she is going to stay overnight here and we will be making some stuff for our road trip too. You know, things like Peanut Butter granola, Ranch chex mix, Cinnamon Sugared Pecans....munchies....:)

Okay, I'm sure you are already tired of hearing about my vacation, so on with some new photo's to show you of some new hats! Well, let's start with a Superhero, shall we? This is a "pinspiration", and it took me a couple of weekends to make. I just couldn't figure out the black portion of the mask, and finally figured it out on Saturday. :) So here is Wolverine...some little boy is just gonna love this one!

And then there is a cephalopod hoodie that my little sister made, and what is a cephalopod you ask? Well, as near as I can tell, it is an Octopus :D You can read all about this little inspiration over at her blog The Realm of Nevermoore.  I just love the color and what she has done with the buttons for eyes and such! Sorry I really don't have a better picture of it, maybe when she gets back to AZ we can get a better picture of it, but until then here it is.

Now early last weekend, I had wanted to make a little girl's lamb hat, and I succeeded. Now, when I was done with it, I thought it was the ugliest hat I had ever created! :( I seriously thought of tossing this whole hat in the trash, but I posted the picture on facebook anyway, and everyone thought it was cute. I was still having a hard time with this and my middle sister's honey suggested eyelashes. WHAT?! Why on earth didn't I think of this? Yes, sometimes the creative wire in my brain shorts out...LOL So, on Saturday, I added some eyelashes and straightened out her little nose and I am much happier with this hat now. Here is Lambchop, a cute little lamb hat for a girl.

Now, last, but certainly not least....is a purple minion hat by my little sister. I have a purple minion "toy" on my desk at work from my daughter and this hat looks almost identical to it! Isn't he just the greatest?

There are still sooooo many hats I want to make!!! :) Right at this moment I am making a Spiderman beanie for my cousin's youngest son, it was promised over a year ago, but alas, I am behind as always! Thankfully, my family knows and understands that <3 Hats from the Heart/My Journey Journals <3 will always be my priority, and I am very grateful to them for their patience!!!

Well I am off to finish up chores and hat's now...until my next update, may the light of God's love help you to Glow from Within...<3

My weekend FLEW by!

Hello all! I wanted to update yesterday, but before I knew what happened, it was time for bed! I was very busy yesterday, all weekend really, and it did turn into a very productive weekend. I wish they could all be as productive as that LOL! So there is A LOT to share with you all! Ms. Debbie created 2 hats for <3 Hats from the Heart/My Journey Journals <3. I love the colors and simplicity of her hats, they are great! And the bobbles on the edging of this hat are simply fabulous! 

And just look at the hues of this hat! Aren't they pretty? Reminds me of an AZ sunset! :)

I had started on a man's hat at the beginning of the week, but was unable to complete it until Saturday morning. Sometimes you just set out with the best intentions, and somehow they just get blown out of the water LOL, but not to worry, I was back at it with a vengeance to get it done! So here is the man's tweed look hat, I found the pattern over at Crochetville.

I am trying something new with the photo's in hopes that one's focus will be on the hat itself and not my chairs, table or refrigerator LOL. So please give me some constructive feedback and let me know your thoughts! :)  I'm feeling the need to update and make some changes to my blog, all for the best I hope. I will not be taking on that endeavor until after I've returned from vacation, as I still have way too much to finish up before it is time for me to go.

I tried really hard on Saturday to get inspired to make some Journey Journals, but then was unable to do so, so I started a ladies beaded beanie that I finished up on Sunday morning. You can find the pattern over at The Laughing Willow and there is a great video tutorial on how to add beads to your hat so that the beads do not fall through the stitches. We most definitely don't want the patients who wear these hats to have beads scratching their beautiful heads! This was my first attempt at putting beads into my crocheting, and I didn't do too bad, but I really want to try finding some smaller beads next time.

I was able to create two Journey Journals also on Sunday, along with a birthday card and baking brownies ha ha! I had been in a creative slump for a couple of weeks before, and I guess it just hit me all at once this weekend LOL! Here are the two journals, and hopefully everyone remembers that these are given to the patients so that they can write whatever they want in them. The feedback that we received was that they were very helpful for the patients in helping them keep track of medications, dietary changes and numerous other things I'm sure.

I believe that is all the photo's I have for you on this update, but please come back, as we are always creating more! I am positive I wanted to say so much more this evening, but I think my mind is flying so fast that the thoughts are escaping quicker than they can be captured. I leave you with this quote by Emmanuel Swedenborg: 

"Kindness is an inner desire that makes us want to do good things even if we do not get anything in return. It is the joy of our life to do them. When we do good things from this inner desire, there is kindness in everything we think, say, want and do."

May the light of God's love help each and every one of you to Glow from Within....<3

A few new hats for you.

Good evening all! I have been remiss in posting for a couple of weeks, for that I apologize. Just not sure if it was the heat or if I was in a creative slump, but just couldn't seem to get any hats made. We have been blessed with some monsoon activity and it has relieved the heat to a certain degree. The rain (when we get it) and the winter in AZ reminds me of why I live here year after year, oh and the fact that my wonderful hubby and kids live here too LOL :)

On to some creations by a lovely lady, Debbie, who has graciously offered to help make hats for <3 Hats from the Heart/My Journey Journals <3. I just love the colors and the simplicity of them, because not everyone wants a hat that has embellishments, stripes or flowers. For some, simple is the best way to go! Here are three of her lovely hats, aren't they FABULOUS?

Now I know for myself, I get bored very easily, so I have to learn new stitches and keep them interesting for me. I LOVE all kinds of colors and I just really enjoy looking at a picture or pattern and bringing it to life under my crocheting fingers. If I follow a pattern, I do try to make it my own in some small way, or somewhere in it, I have made a mistake and it becomes my own LOL!

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am totally addicted to the Pinterest website, so I get a lot of my ideas from there. When I am able to find them with pattern's attached I am thrilled, because creating without a pattern is a big challenge for me. With that being said, I have posted some hat pictures that I call "pinspirations" (I picked this term up from my little sister) and this next hat is one of these "pinspirations". This is a little girl's Chicky ear flap hat, and I am so proud of myself for making the pom pom's!!! What do you think?

I wanted to make a couple of Journey Journals this weekend, but unfortunately, I was unable to get them done. Perhaps I may be able to make some next weekend. I was able to create a ladies Slouchy hat yesterday, and I finished it up this morning. I found this pattern over at Knot Your Nana's Crochet . I do really like her blog and try to follow it on a regular basis, as there are some pretty nifty "freebies" over there. :) Here is my version of her slouchy hat.

Now I guess I must be bidding you Good Evening as it seems as though I am having technical difficulties with blogging. I hope that my blog finds everyone in good health and spirit, and may the light of God's love help you all to Glow from Within....<3

Quiet Independence Day's

Good morning all! Just a brief little update for you this morning. Our Independence Day aka July 4th, was quietly spent at home enjoying each other's company. We didn't have a barbecue or have anyone over, our kids were busy either working or spending time with their significant other's. It was a little too warm outside anyway, so I was busy inside making a couple of hats for the project! As I was making my hats, I was also reflecting on our Independence Day and what it means to keep our country free! The many sacrifices that our men and women of the armed forces make each and every day, yes that is their choice, but without their choice to do so.....would our country still be free? I am proud to be an American and LOVE my country, and as the Pledge of Allegiance has always stated "In God We Trust", so do I! It isn't just a day to have a barbecue or an excuse to watch fireworks, but a day to reflect on the many sacrifices of those that came before us, those in the present making sacrifices and those that will be making the sacrifices to keep us free!

Now, as I stated I made two hats for the project yesterday. I really wanted to make three, but found that after the second hat was finished, my wrists said...NO WAY, are you crazy??? LOL So, two completed hats for you this time.... the first hat up is a little boy's patriotic themed ear flap hat! It was the last hat I finished up yesterday, and it turned out really cute! I found the pattern over at Micah Makes and I am grateful for the free pattern for a basic ear flap hat! It will be put to use many times in the future, I am sure!

I started out the morning making a man's hat with a big chunky yarn by Lion Brand called Wool Ease. Now I loved working with this yarn, the hat worked up super quick and it is a softer yarn, but not fuzzy, so it was easy to work with.

This pattern was found over on the Ravelry website by Dawn Gillis. I love the simplicity of the design and that it has a brim on it. I am going to start trying to give credit for these free patterns that I use to whom the credit belongs to. I'm still learning this "blog" thing, and hope everyone realizes this is still a work in progress. :) Without some of the free patterns from the internet, I'm sure I wouldn't be as far along as I am, because creating your own patterns is a challenge at times!

I received another donation of yarn's, fabric and some buttons from another beautiful soul who saw my "flyer" at work. I will never have enough words to express my gratitude for the many donations I have received and the help I am getting with making the hats! Without the support, donations and inspiration you all give me, it would indeed be a slower process than what it is currently! Thank you from the depths of my soul for your generosity and kindness!

Now I must get up and finish up morning chores so I can get ready to leave for a short visit to my sister's. Going to work on a "travel journal" while I'm there, as my sister and I don't want to forget one minute of our upcoming "Road Trip vacation to Florida"! Until my next posting may the light of God's love help each and everyone one of you to Glow from Within..... <3