The NorthWesternBelle

Oh man. October was such a good month! I'm honestly sad to see it go, and not just because I love Halloween a lot (I do, it's true). Are you ready for picture overload? Because we're rounding up a selection of items that sold during October. To start with the best (that's how I roll), I got to make several of these awesome mini Death Stars: They are so fun and come together pretty quickly. I also got to make several of these bad boys: Amazing. I love these nerdy items so much! I am also currently making the first one of these pillows that was ordered in November. It will ship out this week. Speaking of which, my most favorite tie blanket of all time was purchased and shipped this week: A lucky skull enthusiast in NY scooped this gem up. Guess that means I'll need to keep an eye out for another amazing Tuesday Morning deal on the jolly roger polar fleece. We also sold all but four of our cape & cloak inventory, plus two custom-made cloaks,...

This beautiful vintage afghan is on its way to NC as of Friday! This gray and red beauty was part of our very first vintage inventory acquisition earlier this year. I'm actually pretty sad to see it go, but I'm sure its new home will love it a lot! It's built in a BLO SC (back-loop single crochet, for those of you who don't speak crochet), which is a classic technique. My mom has had a BLO SC afghan since before I was born! I actually found a great tutorial on YouTube for this chevron pattern. I'm going to give it a shot on either a lap or a baby afghan soon (Christmas colors might be awesome!), because I finally finished the massive ripple afghan I've been working on for over a year now! Behold: The color in this photo isn't good because one of my bedroom lights is out. Still, you can see, it covers my queen size bed no problem because it's actually more like king-sized. In any case, it's a fantastic blanket that my hubby loves a lot, a...

I was absent from social media and my Etsy/eBay operations this weekend for the most part because I spent four solid days working on a custom photo book for my Grandfather. One of the sites I've used to create custom photo books sent me an email on Tuesday advertising a coupon for 11X9 custom hardcover books with unlimited extra pages for $30. These places are usually running some sort of 40% off offer, but this was the first time I'd seen ANY of them offer me unlimited pages--that's where they get you, obviously. Our Family Reunion was back in June, and my mom and her siblings planned for about two years for the event. It was also Grandpa's 80th birthday celebration, and it spanned four days. About a week before it started I get a text message from Mom that just says "Will you call me when have a minute?" Without any idea about what I could be expecting, I give her a call and find out that, while everyone agreed that a yearbook to catalog his life would be ...

I was up late last night finishing the edging on my niece's crochet quilt! I'm calling it a quilt because it's blocks...and there's applique going on. It's pretty awesome. At this point I've just got finishing work to do, which I should be able to finish at work within the next couple days. The shower is next Friday! I guess I should be happy this post isn't happening on Thursday night lol!  My niece is going to be seriously spoiled. She's the first grand kid on my SIL's side, and she's the first granddaughter on our side (she's already got three older boy cousins). So, we are all pretty stoked. I'm just hoping everyone was smart enough to go with Dark Orchid instead of Amythest....our instructions were plum. The redder orchid is closer to plum, in my mind, than the blueish jewel tone. And my issue with the heather gray dye lots isn't actually that noticeable. The other afghan she's been given that I've seen is in these same c...

Every now and then I make something that won't be available for sale through the NorthWesternBelle. Currently, my parents are expecting their first granddaughter, who will be my first niece! She's arriving sometime next month, so it's double time to get this blanket done before the baby shower in a few weeks. Her colors are gray, yellow and plum. Hence: I came across the star applique a while back and have been dying to use it. I started out using solid circles, but that got boring so I started adding some interest with the yellow. I seriously can't wait to meet her! I had to post the photos here because her parents don't know the specifics yet (so, shhhhhhhh don't tell!). Thanks for looking, loves! Always yours, TheNWB