Month: October 2025

A Crafter's Life, Knit and Crochet Away!

48 Granny Squares Now Connected

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I was so inspired by your awesome comments on my post 137 Sunflower Granny Squares Completed that I decided to make a big push yesterday to start getting the blanket assembled from a year’s+ of granny squares made while on the road (as a passenger of course, it’s difficult to crochet while driving, ha!).

“Fantastic! A truly graphic representation of the miles spent on the road”

“All those little squares of sunshine!”

“It will be so beautiful to sleep in a field of flowers!”

“Miles of travel and happy memories, a field of flowers to keep you warm.”

“A certain amount of serendipity seems to fit in with the carefree sunflower theme.”

I searched YouTube for the best method to put them together and decided to go with single crochet. I looked at a bunch of videos and went with this simple one:

So here are 48 of the blocks joined into 4 rows and laid upon the “Design Carpet”.

I have 137 as I mentioned in the previous post on this project, and I am thinking instead of using 120 for a 10 by 12 block layout, I should use 132 for a 11 by 12 block layout.

In case you are curious of what my plan is, first I am crocheting vertical rows and once all those are together, then I was connect the horizontal rows with single crochet. So it will be a bit unwieldy until that part but it will make less ends to weave in.

It was actually very relaxing once I got my rhythm to join the granny squares together. While joining them I fell into some sort of strange YouTube rabbit hole and ended up binge watching Barry Manilow performance videos.

Okay so I shared a little about this back in 2016 in this post Shameless “Thrifting” (wow I have been blogging so long) but when I was 12 or so I was OBSESSED with Barry Manilow.

While other kids of my demographic were obsessed with the Jackson 5/Michael Jackson, I was totally in love with Barry Manilow. I remember having a giant poster of him in my room (not sure where I got it) and my father walking into my room and being appalled (my parents were more traditional R&B and Jazz music people).

So I remember when I was around 12, Barry Manilow had his first TV special. It was like 1977 and there were no VCR, TiVo, etc. recording options and most things were not replayed from live telecasts. My parents made my sister (my brother wasn’t born yet) and I go to a party with them on the night on the Barry Manilow Special.

I had a complete meltdown and thought my world was ending because I had to miss the Barry Manilow Special. My parents were not understanding and I was made to go to the party.

Not me but image from web

(Note this is not me but image from web)

While working on the blanket last evening and falling into the “Barry Manilow Rabbit Hole”, I did search YouTube for any videos/clips from that special I missed back in 1977 (which Barry Manilow ended up winning at Grammy for so it must have been good!) and I found a couple but could not find the full special. That would have been fun to sit back all these years later and finally watch it.

My musical tastes have changed quite a bit over the years but whenever I hear Barry Manilow I get nostalgic for that innocence of a 12 year old girl who thought his songs were all that love and relationships were about.

Well I am sure that is more about me than you wanted to know but occasionally we overshare while blogging, ha!

A Crafter's Life

A Quiet Night of Crafting with John

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

The other night John and I decided to try something different in the evening.

We both have miniatures to assemble – he has a miniature wooden antique car 3D puzzle to assemble, and I have a miniature bookshop that my stepson bought me as a gift to assemble.

So after dinner we went to my studio and sat at my studio table with the Denver Nuggets basketball game on and perhaps a whiskey (sometimes you need a “crafting cocktail”) and got to crafting for the evening!

Here is John working on his project (which had like a million pieces, ha!):

And here I am with mine:

Luckily we had our new glue gun we found at Costco as we had several incidents where tiny pieces broke as were were trying to connect them.

The Glue Gun saved our sanity!

It was a pretty fun evening, I think we crafted for like 4 hours. We are going to do this on a regular basis during the late Fall and Winter season.

Quilt Shop Tours, tierneytravels

The Spinning Scrap Bin

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I don’t seem to be able to control my attraction to fabric scraps – various little bits of tasty fabrics. I’ve culled/curated my collection over the years and have donated the scraps I’ll never use to the charity thrift shops to sale in bundles.

I tell myself that I must use up what I have before I pick up more scraps, but new fabric scraps keep finding their way into my life.

I was doing pretty well controlling my obsession until we went on a day trip to Fort Collins, CO last week and stopped at the relatively new retail location of Pink Door Fabrics in Frederick, Colorado on the way to Fort Collins.

And they had toward the back of the store a SPINNING BIN OF FABRIC SCRAPS!!!

They had organized the fabric scraps (which were fat quarter to nearly half yard sized scraps!) by color and/or fabric line. The spinning bin was some type of industrial organization bin that was repurposed into a fabric scrap bin.

They had a “fill a bag” for a flat rate set up and I filled…two bags.

I started out filling only one bag but the staff was so friendly and got a kick out of how excited I was about their spinning fabric scrap bin and one staff member decided to go out to the Pink Door Fabrics Warehouse behind the shop and see if there were scraps for me to choose from.

She brought back this plastic tub of scraps:

So I ended up filling two bags. Very full. They even let me have fabric overflowing the bag. (I am pretty sure they were happy to get rid of the scraps).

I know I should show you my haul but I forgot to photograph it before I put it away in my already ridiculous collection of fat quarters and fabrics scraps.

If you’d like a little tour of the quilt shop here are some additional photos:

Pink Door Fabrics has an amazing collection of well curated fabrics with a focus on modern quilting style fabric lines such as Ruby Star, Tula Pink, AGF Studio, Riley Blake, Alison Glass, Tilda Fabrics, Anna Maria, Tara Faughnan, Moda, etc.

They also have a nice little seating area in case you have someone with you that doesn’t want to wander the fabric stacks – ha! (hint John)

I really loved this quilt they had displayed:

Postscript

After the “spinning scrap bin” incident, we headed on to spend the day in Fort Collins (which is about 1.5 hours from our home) and found a delicious Ramen place we never tried before (we love Ramen); as well as stopped at one of our favorite Fort Collins breweries – New Belgium Brewery and had a tasty sampler!

Special Events

The House That Keeps Winning Halloween

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Yes I’ve posted about this house before:
The House That Won Halloween

Still Winning Halloween

Well they are at it again and they keep winning Halloween in my opinion!

The other day on my neighborhood walk I took another series of photos of the annual Halloween display of one of the area houses. Posting again for those of you who love Halloween (of course my photos do not do their display justice, it is so awesome and epic in person!)

Postscript

Bonus photo: John loves Maple Leaf cookies from Trader Joes and they finally had them in stock at our Trader Joes. He posed with this cookies in the pumpkin display in front of the store!

Knit and Crochet Away!, Sunflowers!

137 Sunflower Granny Squares Completed

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Here’s an update on this post from September 2025 What’s on the “Design Carpet”: Update on Sunflower Granny Square Blanket.

After lots of time on the road during various roadtrips in 2025 I’ve exhausted my supply of “center flower” yarn for the Sunflower themed Granny Square blanket I’ve been crocheting while riding in the car.

So it is time to make it into a blanket!

There are a total of 137 granny squares!

This might seem tedious but I counted and photographed how many of each different mix of yarns squares (21 different versions of the square*) of the 137 squares I made (the count of each type in lower right hand corner):

I’m not using all 137 squares in the blanket. I figure I will make a 10 square by 12 square blanket and use 120 squares and save the rest (17) for a couple small projects like a pillow or something like that.

I decided not to use the “design carpet” to lay out the sunflower granny squares. Instead I separated them into VERY ARBITRARY “light” and “dark” piles, trying to make the piles as even as possible:

So I’ll post my progress as I crochet together alternating “light” and “dark” squares to make the blanket!

*(Why so many different versions for the granny squares? Well I was using up miscellaneous yarn I had thrifted over the years)

Quilt Shop Tours, tierneytravels

Tooling Around Townsend

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Before we sailed out of Port Angeles, WA to Victoria BC for 24 hours (minus sleep) of fun in July 2025, (see posts A Delightful Bead and Button Shop in Victoria, BC and 24 Hours in Victoria, BC) we spent a lovely afternoon in Port Townsend, Washington.

It been countless years since I visited Port Townsend, WA…not since when I lived in Seattle, WA for 8 years and would stop there on the way to British Columbia (which we visited as much as possible)…. Port Townsend is a city on the Quimper Peninsula in Washington state known for its beautiful waterfront and natural scenery at the northeast tip of the Olympic Peninsula; and many historic Victorian buildings remaining from its late 19th-century heyday. It is also a hub for numerous annual cultural events, and a maritime center for independent boatbuilders and related industries and crafts. (Wikipedia).

John and I had a delicious lunch at thr Sirens Pub with a wonderful view of the water:

Then we wandering around the shops in downtown Port Townsend including a fiber shop – Diva Yarn & Trim.

A shop with yarn and fabric is always my kind of place.

While walking in the waterfront area we came across two ladies playing guitar and accordion and singing in French. Their music was so wonderful I tried to find their tip jar to give them a little something but they said they did it just for fun not for any money.

They didn’t mind if I filmed the area with their music in the background:

It was a glorious day in Port Townsend, WA!

Postscript

When we first arrived in Washington State via the Seattle (SeaTac) airport, we stayed in Olympia and the next day drove to Port Townsend and then on to Port Angeles to take the ferry to Victoria, BC. On our way to Port Townsend, we stopped in Shelton, WA and visited one of my favorite Washington state quilt shops – Annie’s Quilt Shoppe.

I hadn’t been there in years, not since I used to attend an annual quilt retreat in Shelton, WA (see posts A Drawstring-bagalicious Retreat, Part I, A Drawstring-bagalicious Retreat, Part II, Guest Blogger: Quilt Retreat Report from the tierneycreates Beastie, Part I, Guest Blogger: Quilt Retreat Report from the tierneycreates Beastie, Part II, and Riptide Retreat 2022 in Black and White ) and it was nice to return and chat with Annie the owner.

I bought some very reasonably priced fabric to support this awesome shop (that perhaps I did not. need, ha!).

I always get a kick out of this sign in front of the shop that some of the quilters reading this post might have seen in front of other quilting shops:

Finished Projects, U.S. National Parks

National Parks Wallhanging Quilted and Hung

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Now that my year of travel has slowed down (only one more trip to go this year), I am easing back into my studio to make things. (Perhaps someday there will be more “tierneycreates” posts vs. “tierneytravels” posts in the future…)

John and I are obsessed with U.S. National Parks and ended up visiting 6 this year (I’ve only blogged about 2 of them so far as I am quite behind in my travel posts – Badlands and Wind Cave National Parks) and when we redecorated our basement guest room we did it in a Colorado and National Parks theme (see post “Pieces of Colorado” Now Hung in the Guest Room):

What you can barely see in the image above is some of the art on the wall are framed pages from a book I found thrifting for $2.99 (retails for $34.99) of 63 of the iconic Anderson Design Group National Park Posters on individual pages:

Image Credit: Anderson Design Store website

I took this amazing 9″ x 12″ book apart and framed 16 or so of the 9″ x 12″ to use as art in the basement and in the stairwell leading to the basement.

So when during our trip to South Dakota we stopped at a quilt shop in downtown Rapid City, SD (see post A Wander About Downtown Rapid City, SD) and they had the Riley Blake Designs National Parks Poster Panel featuring miniature U.S. National Park Posters by the Anderson Design Group, I had to have it!

Image Credit: Riley Black Designs website

Instead of letting it gather dust in my “impulsive-purchase-quilt-panel-collection”, I decided this week to actually make it into a wallhanging and hang it 🙂

I decided to use strategically placed fusible web tape between the panel and the batting, and the batting and the backing to hold it all together for quilting instead of thread basting or pinning it:

Here the wallhanging hung in the stairwell from the 1st floor to the basement:

Here is a close up of some of the miniature U.S. National Park posters on the panel which mirror some of the posters I hung on the wall from the Anderson Group book I thrifted:

My machine quilting on this quilt was very simple – I followed the lines in the panel and outlined the individual states, the miniature posters, and the longitude and latitude lines. The finished wallhanging measures 33″ tall by 43″ wide.

Of course now the MANY other panels in my “impulsive-purchase-quilt-panel-collection” are envious of the National Parks Map panel as they would also love to be completed wallhangings and hung (or made into quilts). 😉

tierneytravels

Time in Times Square

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Thought I share a little on a recent travel before I work on catching up on my blogging buddies’ posts.

My epic year of travel continues and just a couple of days ago I was in New York City for a couple days with John, my sister and nephew. We had a blast during our 2 day trip to NYC and I will blog more about the trip at a later date, but here are some photos from our couple hours in Times Square.

I hadn’t been to Times Square in like 10 years. We used to stop there every we went to NYC but then it lost it’s excitement for me (super “tourist trap” to the max) and on my annual (or biannual) trips to NYC with my sister in the past we would skip it and just visit places like Brooklyn (see post Springtime in Brooklyn).

We spent about 3 hours in Times Square including our time to eat and I think I am now good for another 10 years – ha! (It is so many people and non stop overwhelming visual stimulation).

tierneytravels

24 Hours in Victoria, BC

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Thought I would finish up the story of our 24 hours worth of adventures in Victoria, British Columbia which I began sharing in the posts A Delightful Bead and Button Shop in Victoria, BC  and Smelling the Roses in Victoria, BC.

We visited John’s cousin in Bremerton, Washington in July 2025 and made an impromptu decision to take the ferry from Port Angeles, Washington to Victoria, British Columbia (Canada) for an overnight adventure.

The ferry ride was smooth until we crossed into Canadian waters and then it got pretty rough but luckily I had taken Dramamine for sea sickness and was okay.

I was pretty happy when the ferry docked after the 90 minute trip from Port Angeles to Victoria!

We stayed at the lovely Chateau Victoria Hotel and wandered around the Inner Harbour area/Downtown Victoria during our 24 hours in Victoria before taking the ferry the next day back to Port Angeles.

We had a lovely breakfast and delicious tea/coffee at Murchie’s Fine Tea & Coffee:

They had an amazing tea shop attached with lots of beautiful tea pots and tempting teas. I did bring some tea home!

We went to several “tourist trap” shops and John enjoyed having his photo taken in with various shop mascots:

We spent a couple hours at one of my favorite museums in the world the Royal BC Museum (where many years ago when I lived in Seattle and would visit Victoria, BC I saw the most amazing Leonardo DaVinci exhibit).

In front of one of my most beloved museums

We saw two wonderful exhibits: 1) Global Threads: The Art of Fashion of Indian Chintz; and 2) Beyond the Beat: Music of Resistance and Change.

John couldn’t refuse having his photo taken on the simulated musician stage with a guitar in hand at the Beyond the Beat exhibit:

We didn’t see 1/2 of what we wanted to see in Victoria and plan to visit next summer.

John fell in love with Victoria and we discussed visiting it every summer!

John has never been to Vancouver, BC and area I also love and we will also plan to visit Vancouver next summer too!

Bags Bags Bags, Finished Projects

Adding a Zippered Pocket to a Golf Shoe Bag

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Back in June I experimented with making a golf shoe bag using a modified version of the pattern I use to make drawstring bags (see June 30, 2025 post Experimenting with Making Golf Shoe Bags). The bags are lined with vinyl so that if grassy/dirty golf shoes are put in it the bag can easily be wiped out.

I made one for John and one for his cousin M who we went to visit in Washington State in July:

I wanted to make another golf shoe bag for another golfer in my life but this time I wanted to add a pocket to the front of the bag. So I used a front zipper pocket pattern from Noodlehead’s pattern for the Firefly Tote (see December 28, 2021 post Adventures in Bag Making: Firefly Tote is done!).

I forgot to take a photo of the bag back in my studio and here I am balancing it on my lap as we are driving to meet up with my golfer friend to give him his gift.

My golfer friend happens to be in the financial services industry so as a little bit of humor I added a money fabric liner to his zippered pocket:

He loved the bag and said previously he was just throwing his grassy golf shoes into the back of his car when he was done golfing. Now they can be in a nice vinyl lined bag!