VivaTerra Inspired Rug

So, yesterday I posted a picture of a lovely rug I found via Pinterest. Much to my dismay, while the link redirected me to VivaTerra's web-site (with all of their gorgeous home decor), the rug was nowhere to found. I love the crochet motif of the rug pattern, so it seemed only natural to make an attempt at coming up with a rough imitation. Ever since I saw the rug, visions of it on my craft room floor danced in my head. I set to work in creating an easy-to-remember/easy-to-work pattern for the motif.

It took me most of my Wednesday to come up with something that wasn't complex, laid flat on the bottom, joined easily to each other, was dense enough to withstand foot traffic and 3-dimensional enough to show off its floral traits. Whew!

So today I have the first of my motifs, in my own colorway, connected together in the beginnings of my own 'Mum Rug' (as I'm calling it). They aren't precisely the same as the original, bur I'm excited with the early results and am eager to see how this is going to work up!

I think I stated it in my last post that, if this attempt works out okay, I just might be motivated to create another one for my girls' room... It certainly is seeming to be a fairly quick and easy piece.

The yarns I had in my stash.

The very beginnings of my attempt at my "Mum Rug", inspired by a rug originally offered on the VivaTerra web-site.

Cooking and Crocheting

Ahhh, February has pretty much been and gone and I feel I've barely batted an eyelash. {sigh} It's not as though I haven't been busy. Late January and the first half of February found me refining and testing a six course menu I was going to be cooking for a Valentine's event.

What an exciting gala it turned out to be. It certainly had its challenges... of the eight people originally slated to help me, only four initially showed up.  A couple more helping hands did appear later on in the evening and we cranked it out.

Guests started their evening with homemade rustic crackers served with a Kalamata and black olive tapenade. We followed that with meatballs that had been stuffed with gruyere, saged turkey sausage and apricots in a plate of a cherry sangria sauce. Then we had butternut squash bisque garnished with creme fraische. The fourth course was a spinach chiffonade topped with crumbled blue cheese, pecans and a homemade orange honey dijon dressing. The fifth course consisted of pork noisettes in a raspberry reduction sauce and a side of garlic potato salpicon. And before dessert, we all enjoyed a Champagne, lime and cucumber sorbet.

Everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves... and I have made promises to share recipes!

In the meantime, now that I find myself with a hint of free time, I have had a photo on one of my Pinterest boards that has been screaming my name:

This image originally linked to the site for VivaTerra, but the rug is no longer available for purchase.

The motifs remind me of mums. And, while I adore the color way of the carpet in the image, I'm going to profess my cheapness yet one more time. I already have such an abundance of yarn at my disposal I can't justify spending money on more. And, although I don't have these delicate earthy tones in my stash, I DO have some heavy duty carpet yarn in my possession that is screaming to be used for just such a purpose.

The yarn came to me via my mother-in-law who, in her earlier years, had the same tastes in colors as I do now. I have a yellow that is about the same tint as the one in the photo above. My brown is a warmer color that is closer to tan. And instead of varying shades of grey, I will be working with aquas and dashes of citron green and a royal blue. It will definitely have more of a seaside palette, and will be a nice bright addition to my work area.

The biggest challenge I had was figuring out a stitch pattern that would mimic the design above. I spent a day making notes, crocheting, tearing apart and then ripping things again before I finally came to a solution that leaves me happy. Most importantly, the stitch work is relatively easy and quick to work up. I'll snap a pic tomorrow of the progress I've made so far.  My first endeavor is most definitely going to be small. But if it turns out cute enough, I just might be aiming at a larger scale design for my girls' room in some of the other multitudinous hues still in my yarn basket!...

Finished At Last!

The life of a mom is never dull. Most of you know that (or should I say ALL of you?) I finally had to hunker down and schedule time just to focus on finishing the seat cushion.

It's funny how the odds and ends of life elbow in and vie for first place in the attention queue. And, I'm not sure about you, I tend to feel pangs of guilt when choosing between things equally important to my heart...

This month is an active one. Amongst all my crafty tasks is an endeavor (for the second time) to prepare a six course meal for a Valentine's event. The first shindig was such a success, I simply couldn't resist taking another go at it. But that has meant interspersing baking with sewing; sautéing with crocheting; reducing with drawing. I have to keep reminding myself that my absence from my blog is justified, but I mildly worry I'll let this all fall by the wayside as 'life' scrambles for my attention...

Whew, that felt good to get off my chest! Yesterday was all about getting the seat cushion done, and finish it I did! I streamed Pandora and rocked out as I drew up my pattern and sewed feet and feet of red orange cording. I was even tickled to see my little Tater Tot throw down her toy and start dancing when Duran Duran came on.... there's a kid who's definitely her mother's child. :)

Things went fairly smoothly, though the true success will be hearing whether or not the recipient thinks it works in her over-all design scheme. I'll keep you posted...