I know this blog entry is about 2 months late, but my new job has definitely been keeping me busy AND tired!

I wanted to show you guys what my booth at Renegade Craft Fair looked like this past July, in case you don’t follow me on Instagram where I tend to post a bit more frequently. I did something really new and different and devoted my entire booth to a cactus theme! This also meant that every item I had in the booth was brand new and freshly designed.

This is the booth sketch I made to help me plan everything first.

I planned to re-use my sneeze guard from Renegade Spring 2016 and turn it into a little green house for baby cacti. Then, Manda helped me make cactus scarf/hat stands out of foam core. Here is the booth in real life!

It was kind of hard to get a good photo since we were backlit by windows and we didn’t have much of a visual separator between us and our neighbors, but I think you get the gist.

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I know it’s fall and that flower crowns are more of a spring thing… but you could play with colors and still be a fall flower princess!

I originally created this pattern for A Beautiful Mess blog, and I taught this class at Craftcation, but I wanted to make sure the rest of you guys had access to this pattern, too.

I’m in a bit of a rush, so I’m gonna slap this link to a PDF download for now! –> Crochet Flower Crown

I’m so excited that my Crocheted Corn class is launching TODAY on Creativebug.com! I love corn so much!

Is there anything cuter than a crocheted ear of corn? Whip up this seasonal favorite WITH ME on Creativebug.com. The nubbly texture of the corn kernels is made from a combination of single, half-double, and half-triple stitches, and when finished, the corn will be 7 inches long. If you’re hooked on making crocheted veggies, learn how to make other delicious (in)edibles in my Eat Your Fruits and Veggies Crochet-Along! 

• Work in the round with magic circle
• Single crochet
• Half-double crochet
• Half-triple crochet
• Slip stitch

Let’s do it! I corn hardly wait! (I tried.)

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I have a new guest column in Issue 60 of Simply Crochet Magazine!

I talk about how I learned to embrace a trend when my instinct has always been to avoid them because I never just want to do what everyone else is doing.

I’m definitely late to the cactus train. Like, really really really late. But once I started thinking about how to do it my way… I fell in love! Read more about it :).

If you want to check out my first Simply Crochet guest column, it was about finding inspiration in Japan!

p.s. for those wondering, YES, I will be releasing my cactus patterns. I just need time to prep them!

Hi, friends,

So sorry for radio silence and lack of real updates. A lot has been changing in my life, and I’ll blog about all of it eventually.

For now, I just wanted to let you know that Bibi passed away on Monday night.

As you might have read before, Bibi has been battling mast cell tumors for more than a year. She has had 3 surgeries, 2 rounds of chemo, and recently, one radiation treatment. Before she had her radiation treatment, we knew we would probably never beat this cancer, but we kept trying, because she seemed to remain in good spirits. However, during her 2nd chemo round, her leg had swelled so much from groin to ankle that her oncologist told us the only way to relieve just the swelling was probably radiation, so we tried. She also started to have difficulty breathing, which was attributed to possible pneumonia. Within a week, she became extremely lethargic, so we held off on any further treatment. 2 weeks later, she was no longer wanting to eat. Her anemia got worse, and she was just so weak. One of her oncologist was trying to figure out why she was anemic and thought maybe there was a bleed somewhere in her GI tract. Bibi spent all day in bed and would only get up to drink water or go to the bathroom. We syringed water into her mouth so she wouldn’t have to get up every time. I ended up  hand-feeding her each meal and making home-cooked food and just trying everything I could to get her to eat something, but it quickly became very clear that she was telling us something, and that it was time to let her go. Manda helped me take her to get one more ultrasound, and it showed a lot of problems with different organs, including her heart. It was a really difficult decision, and you never know if you are doing the right thing. We had a home appointment, and it was very peaceful, and she passed surrounded by the people who loved her the most.

As a single, childless dog-lady, losing my pup has left a huge hole in my heart. Even sadder, Bunny behaved very oddly in the first 48 hours after Bibi left. They had never behaved as if they were that bonded, but Bunny already acted weird when the vet came to to our house, and she became listless and would not eat. Luckily, she has started to eat a little already, and I’m sure she will be ok, but of course, it will not be the same for any of us.

There’s other stuff going on, but for now, that’s all I have time for. I haven’t really had a full-night’s sleep for 2 months. For many weeks, Bibi was in an e-collar and on steroids, so she had to pee every 2-3 hours and couldn’t fit through the doggie door! I’m still trying to catch up, and I just feel exhausted every minute of the day. I said no to an art show I had already committed to and feel really bad about it, but I know I have to look out for me, too.

More soon! I promise.

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