Coolest Friend Ever.

So a couple of years ago we lived in another state on the East Coast. It was away from family, so we decided to come back after we had kids, and made a really spur of the moment cross country move back to Texas. Whew. Thinking over it, I'm still not sure how we moved with a 6 week old baby, 3 dogs, a cat, a 2 year old, and drove cross country. Never again!

While we lived out of state though, we made some lifelong friends, one of which I'm completely jealous of at times.  She has no kids, and all the time in the world to pursue personal projects! Some of that time she fills with crochet. Awhile ago, she had offered to make a crochet afghan for our family, and we went back and forth on patterns.  I like most anything different, in color and pattern.  She wanted to make something difficult that she hadn't done before. Mr. Tupelo wanted something...not in rainbow colors. :) I love him anyway.

Finally, we settled on this one:  Fireside Cheer.  I had run across it on another blog, The Good Life, and really loved it.  It met the qualifications of being challenging to make, different from most crochet blankets, and I picked some colors my husband would approve of.

It took me months to send the yarn to her. Ugh, I'm a terrible person for it, but I hate taking little kids to the post office. They echo, and can't help it. I finally sent the yarn off last month.  Two and a half weeks later - I"M TOTALLY NOT KIDDING - I had the blanket in hand. See why I'm envious of her free time?  I wouldn't trade my kids, but wow, all that time...

It's the prettiest thing anyone has ever made for me, and I"m so ridiculously in love with it and impressed with her skill and speed.  Enough chat - want to see it?

I took a few photos, but not sure what happened to them. Anyway, she used cream colored yarn for the background, navy for the big accents, and maroon for the other accents.  It looks great!

It makes me miss actual cold winters, wood stoves, and snow. Oh well, at least we have that stone fireplace next to the blanket.

Didn't she do a fabulous job? Best gift ever!