40 Squares, part 3, and Spring is springing!

OK, so I didn't think I would have any new squares to show you today, owing to the fact that I had 2 pairs of baby slippers to knit last night.  Here is one of the pairs:

The other pair was exactly the same.  Cute, and easy to knit, but I'm ready for a break from them, especially in hot pink!

I finished them around 11:00 pm, and wasn't ready for bed yet, so I reworked squares 2 and 9.  Do you ever look at something and no that there is something missing, but you can't quite put your finger on it?  That was the case for me and square 2:

Oh yeah!  Dad wears glasses!  That's better.

Square 9 was in desparate need of some outlining around the silver bits:

That helps a little, but I'm still not convinced entirely that I like it.

Next, I tackled square 11.  I wanted to put in the logo of the company I spent nearly 17 years with, so I searched and searched until I found one, as said company has altered their logo slightly since I quit.  Talk about a disaster!  I attempted the darn thing 3 times.  After the third time, I thought, "Hmmm, maybe outlining it will smooth the edges some."  After outlining, I thought, "I'm getting really tired.  I should go to bed (it was 1:30 am), maybe it will look better in the morning.  It didn't.  It looked like this:

That is what the logo is supposed to look like, right next to the stitching.  Yeah, not even close.

After 20 minutes ripping out stitches, and roughly an hour trying to come up with a workable pattern, and another hour or so doing the actual stitching, I achieved this:

Still not exactly right, but a whole lot closer.  At least it's recognizable.

As for new squares today, I have two to show you:

This is Don, my wonderful husband, who is tolerating this project quite admirably.  He's not a golfer, but I think he and I both wish he had the opportunity to play more often.  So far, this was my most fun square.

The next square is when Don and I met, working for the company represented above:

Yes, the faces are a little scary, and will probably be redone.  I should probably explain that Don claims that the first words I ever spoke to him were "Give me what I want, when I want it, and we'll get along just fine."  I maintain that this is untrue.  They weren't the first words I ever spoke to him.  Anyway, that is the reason why my hands are on my hips: as a nod to his recollection.

My sister asked me to show her a shot of all the squares put together, and here it is:

All in all, not bad for approximately 4 days of effort.  I was hoping to get 2 more squares done tonight, but I think, after I hit "publish post", I'm going to call it a day.

In other news today, we had a MOPS gathering, and it was craft day.  I don't have any pictures yet of the craft, as I've left them out in my car, but we made loofah soap.  They provided pieces of PVC pipe and pieces of loofah sponge.  After wrapping the end of the pipe in plastic wrap and securing it with rubber bands, we sprayed nonstick cooking spray in the mold.  We placed the loofah inside, and then poured in melted glycerin soap.  The idea was to take it home and let it set completely, then push it out of the mold and slice it into pieces.  Moisturizing soap with built in exfoliation!  I'm hoping to find some "alone" time tomorrow to finish.

And now, some signs that spring is trying to show itself.  We had gorgeous weather here last week, but it is rainy and chilly again, and they are predicting rait this weekend.  But, I took a few minutes to go out in my yard for some fresh air, and these are the pics I snapped:

A miniature rose, peeking through the greenery.

A promise of blueberries this season...not enough for anything but a taste, but at least it shows the bush is growing.

And some flowers that although rarely tended, and which will be gone in summer's heat, at least stopped to visit for Easter.

Which I hope will be wonderful for you and your families.