Quirky Bean 'Meet the Blogger' Spotlight! Clarinda of 'A Jewel in the Making'

Welcome Clarinda!! Lovely to meet you!

"I am a wife of one husband. We were married in October of 2002. I am also a stay at home mom. My children are an 8 year old girl, an almost 7 year old boy, an almost 5 year old girl, a 3 year old boy, and a 23 month old girl as of 04/12. We are also missing 3 due to early miscarriages as of 04/04, 08/11, and 09/11. We live in the Pacific Northwest of the United States of America. I have live here since I was 9 years old. The rest of the family was born here. We live in a beautiful city next to another major city. We love exploring the area. I am a born again Christian even though I was a “Christian” all my life. I am nothing but a great sinner saved by God’s grace. After a long absent from church, we recently started attending a little church that we love so far. I homeschool my oldest two children. We use Old Fashioned Education with a little bit added in to round out their education.
I love reading, going to the beach, hanging out with my family, listening to music, and socializing (and learning) on Facebook and other social medias. My hope for my blog,  'A Jewel in the Making'  is to bring Glory to God while blogging about the things I’m passionate about: my children, God and theological things, health and diet related topics, recipes, homeschooling, and even a few giveaways thrown in for good measure."


Describe yourself in 5 words - Loyal, caring, blessed, strong and loved.

Why did you begin blogging? - To share what I am passionate about and eventually help with my family financial situation.

What is your all-time absolute favourite food? - Being on a special diet, I'm limited on what I can eat so if I wasn't on the diet I would choose Steak with A1 Sauce with a side of Reese's peanut butter cups and Dr Pepper. For my diet food I would choose Cheesy ground turkey, yummy homemade goat milk yogurt with sliced peaches and Sparkling grape juice.

If you had $1000 to spend on anything in the world, what would you spend it on? - $250 to my sister for all the help she has provided over the years, $250 to people/charities I would want to help out, and $500 to become a consultant for a company so I can help out my families financial situation.

What was the last book you read? - The last book I finished was True Christian Motherhood by June Fuentes, but the last book I read was either Chosen by God or Family Driven Faith, those are just two of the many books I am reading lately.

If you could trade places with any other person for a week, famous or not famous, living or dead, real or fictional. with whom would it be? Esther from the Bible.

If your life could have a theme song, what would it be and why? Trusting in God. Alot has happened in the few years and God has taught me that I need to rely on him. He has given me strength to go through some trials and came out stronger because of Him

Baby Bird Crochet Hat Pattern 6-12 months

*Revised with new photos! No more crummy phone camera images!*

Materials
2 coloured balls of yarn for your hat, I am using a pale yellow and purple
a yarn needle for weaving in ends and sewing
scissors
a 5.00mm crochet hook
a small amount of white yarn for the eyes
a small amount of yellow yarn for the beak
two small buttons for eyes!

For the hat
Start with a magic circle, then 6 hdc into the centre of the ring. Join with a sl st into first st. Ch 1
Round 1
Hdc into same st then 2 hdc into each st around. Sl st into top of first st to join.
Round 2
Ch 1, hdc into same st, then 1 hdc into next st. *2 hdc in next st, one hdc in next* around. Join.
Round 3
Ch 1, hdc into same st, 1 hdc in next 2 sts. *2 hdc in same st, 1 hdc in next two sts*  around. Join
Round 4
Ch 1, hdc into same st, 1 hdc in next 3 sts. *2 hdc in same st, 1 hdc in next three sts* around. Join
Round 5
Ch 1, hdc into same st, 1 hdc in next 4 sts. * 2 hdc in same st, 1 hdc in next four sts* around  Sl st to join.
Round 6
Ch 1, hdc into same st, 1 hdc in next 5 sts. *2 hdc in same st, 1 hdc in next five sts* around.  Join
Round 7
Ch 1, hdc into same st, 1 hdc in next 6 sts. *2 hdc in same st, 1 hdc in next six sts*  around. Join
Round 8
Ch 1, hdc into same st, 1 hdc in next 7 sts. *2 hdc in same st, 1 hdc in next seven sts*  around. Join, finish off.

What you will have at the end of round 8

 Join second colour for hat in any stitch. Ch 1
Rounds 9 through 15
*1 hdc in every st around* Join. DO NOT tie off

Earflap 1
Ch 1, hdc across 14 sts. Ch 1, turn.
Skip next st, hdc across 12 sts. Ch 1, turn.
Skip next st, hdc across 10 sts. Ch 1, turn.
Skip next st, hdc across 8 sts. Ch 1, turn.
Skip next st, hdc across 6 sts. Ch 1, turn.
Skip next st, hdc across 4 sts. Finish off.

To start second earflap, count across 10 sts and join yarn.

Earflap 2
For second earflap, count 10 sts from first earflap and join yarn in 10th stitch.
Ch 1, hdc across 14 sts. Ch 1, turn.
Skip next st, hdc across 12 sts. Ch 1, turn.
Skip next st, hdc across 10 sts. Ch 1, turn.
Skip next st, hdc across 8 sts. Ch 1, turn.
Skip next st, hdc across 6 sts. Ch 1, turn.
Skip next st, hdc across 4 sts. Finish off.

Finishing the hat
Take your first colour and sc all the way around the bottom of your hat. Weave in all your ends.

For the tassles
Cut 10 x 60cm lengths of yarn in each colour. Seperate the yarn into two halves. With your first bundle of yarn, attach them to the earflaps as shown.

Place crochet hook through the middle hdc on the bottom of one earflap from UNDER the earflap

Fold your first lot of yarn in half over the crochet hook and pull taut. Pull hook through stitch to create a loop 

Bring the tail through the loop and pull gently to secure. 

Braid the yarn and use a small piece of yarn to tie it off at the bottom. Repeat on the other side.

For the eyes
Take your white yarn and crochet hook and make a magic circle. Work 10 hdc into the ring and join with a sl st. Ch 1 and hdc into same st. Then work 2 hdc into each st around, joining with a sl st at the beginning st to join. On the next round, Ch 1, hdc into same st *1 hdc in the next st, 2hdc in the same st,* repeat til end of round. Finish off leaving a long tail for sewing. Repeat for the second eye.

For the beak
Magic circle, dc, 2 hdc, sc, ch 1, sc, 2 hdc, dc into ring. Pull ring closed tightly, sl st into ring to close. Finish off leaving a tail for sewing.
Arrange your eyes and beak onto hat and sew into place. Sew on buttons.

Done! 

I hope you enjoy working on this cute pattern! The best thing is you can make it for girls and boys and the pattern is easily adjusted to fit younger or older children (or even adult size!). If you have any questions, just ask and I'll get back to you when I can!

You're welcome to sell items made from this tutorial, I would appreciate a link back to here though if you'd be so kind..Please do not print then redistribute this pattern; you may not copy this pattern to another site without my permission; pattern is not to be copied/altered/partially reproduced in any way. Photos are all property of The Quirky Crafting Shmoogle Bean.

Owl coffee cup cozy 'Pin-Win!'

Remember last week I suggested that you and I find a project we've always wanted to try on Pinterest and give it a go? Well, I admit I didn't actually finish it last week as planned, I got a little sidetracked with my DIY Book Binding project (it's like that isn't it? I can never just do one project at a time!)... I finally completed my pin-win! I wanted to make something like this as a gift for my aunt (who recently went to see PRINCE live in Sydney with my mum!! ...soo jealous)

Source: redheart.com via Tash on Pinterest

Not wanting to copy this idea too closely, it isn't my design after all, I used the cup-cozy idea and the owl theme to create my own and came up with this for a takeaway coffee cup instead. They're apparantly really great for keeping your drink warm longer and also so you don't burn your fingers....although if you're coming into winter like we are the moment you need all the heat you can get!

So this is my cup-cozy in progress...it was very simple! I got a nice small soft wool/ribbon blend wool for only $2 (and didn't use half of it!) and hdc'd a rectangle to fit around a standard coffee cup. Next all I did was sew the ends together, crochet two circles for eyes and a small triangle for a beak, tie two little tufts of yarn in each corner for ears and made up a pair of wings. Isn't he cute?

Alas I don't have a nice hot coffee in a takeaway cup to model him on (I would LOVE one right now though!!)

So what about you? Did you have a pin-win this week? Link up and share! :o)