And breathe out

Breathe in ... hold ... and breathe out. Phew. Half term over and the grandparent's 3 week stay is over too. There is now a faint chance that, after all the washing of sheets and towels and straightening of the house, I may, just may, get back to 'normal'. It is lovely to see my parents, but of course, everyday life changes when other people are in your house and speaking as someone who loves being at home, on their own, let's just say ... well, need I say? You know what I mean.




The only thing I've managed to achieve, creatively, is to finish the crochet blanket. Here it is folded in half (lengthways) on the back of the rocking chair. I blocked it last night, which has helped, as it was rather higgeldy-piggeldy when I finished it. It is beautifully warm, I have to say, thanks to the Debblie Bliss Cashmerino that I used.


I'm not sure what project I'm going to start next. My mum bought me a jelly roll to make her a quilt with, so I will start that at sewing class this week, plus I have a short-sleeved jumper which is nearing completion on the needles. I'm still plodding along with the hexes, although progress is slow. Perhaps a cushion cover will emerge soon.



Yesterday I did something I've never done before - bought something on ebay! I really do not like our lounge at the moment, the main problem being the 3-piece suite (which was bought quickly, in an emergency). It's far too modern for our cottage really. I'd rather not show you a picture because it really is not very nice. Anyhow, in my mind I have a picture of 2 lovely wing-back chairs, complete with blankets and cushions, plus a lovely sofa, ditto. So I started to look for a sofa, and there was one, cream, just right, only 15 mins left to bid and no bids! So I bid (encouraged by hubby). And now it's ours!! £50 and in mint condition (I hope). When we got the email which said Congratulations, we both looked at each other and said 'we've just bought a sofa', in a sort of state of shock! Of course, now I that I've started along this path - which, let's face it, was a bit of a whim and one which we cannot really afford - I now have to get some chairs and the walls will need papering and ... oh dear, what have I done?

Phew! What a scorcher!

Well a combo a grandparents staying and 3 scorching hot days has meant a dreadful lack of posting, for which I apologise.

We didn't have a pump to fit the paddling pool, so the boy had to make do with a rather squashed effort - but it was so hot, he was happy anyway.

Fun was had at the beach today - a sand monster appeared,

... and then disappeared in the sea.

But what about the stitching, I hear you ask? Well, I've been hexing in the garden ...

so nice to sit in the sun and stitch away. I think it will just be a cushion cover actually - perhaps not a quilt (!!). And then the evenings have been spent piecing together the granny square blanket.

I still have 2 more long rows to add - I was thinking of doing it long and thin, like a shawl for the summer evenings, but now I'm thinking it might be a bit too thin so - guess what - more squares are needed (hurrah!). I guess that means another visit to the wool shop ... sigh ...

Oooh you ... tinker!

Remember the jelly roll quilt? Well, believe it or not, it's finished! I only started it - what - 2 weeks ago?, at my Wednesday night sewing class and now it's blinking well finished. And it's not like I've spent ages slaving away on it, because I haven't.

Of course, the fabulous nature of jelly rolls is that you don't have to spend too long cutting the fabrics because it's already in long strips. You just have to cut it off to the lengths you want. And I suppose I must have chosen a pretty straight forward pattern because I only had 40 blocks to assemble before adding the border and binding.

Even the quilting itself was straight forward as I was able to follow the lines of the blocks and quilt either side of each seam.

It's now been washed and ... it's in the dryer being 'crumpled'!! Sorry - you'll have to wait till tomorrow to see the finished item. I don't know if you know about this technique where you wash the quilt and then put it in a very hot dryer and it comes out all crumbled and textured and lovely, as if it's been there for years? I used it for my other quilt - this one -

It's a bit hard to see, but it's crumpled and sort of slightly puckered (nb: the above was made from Alicia's fabulous pattern - she suggests this shrinking technique). I loved the finish of it, and it also gets the first wash out of the way - you know, the one you're slightly anxious about in case the whole things runs or bleeds. Actually, I use Colour Catchers, just in case. I shall reveal the results tomorrow.

Meanwhile, crochet granny hanger no.3 has just rolled hot off the press.

I decided to add this lavender-filled heart, too, as I thought it would make the clothes smell nice.

I like the colours in this one - the jade colour with the pink is slightly more girly than the previous grey I used. Do you think these would make nice pressies for girl friends? I thought perhaps a label saying "I couldn't afford a dress, but here's a hanger to put it on" or something along those lines!

The Pefect Shopping Trip

You know sometimes, you go shopping and it turns out to be just about the most perfect shopping trip? Well, this is exactly what happened on Saturday. We went over to Kendal as I needed some more wool. So first stop, wool shop.


Purchase no.1 some more gorgeous Debblie Bliss cashmerino to continue along my crocheting way with the granny squares. This blanket will probably end up costing me an arm and a leg, as the wool isn't cheap and I've already clocked up 8 balls (not including the above). Ahem.

However. The boy keeps picking up the squares and rubbing them on his cheek and saying "ahh, so soft mummy", which makes me want to make it the best blanket ever. Plus, they are totally addictive little things these squares and I am loving doing them. Oh, what the hell, I don't need to justify :)

Purchase no.2 a case - to use as a Memory Box for the boy. I have been picturing finding just this very case, in my mind's eye, to put all of the boy's things in that I've saved over the years, e.g. birthday cards, bits of clothing, etc. They are currently in a small box, but it's overflowing, so I needed something a bit more substantial. Now this was found in a shop that was full to the brim with bric-a-brac and bargains galore. The sort of shop you dream of, quite honestly, and best of all - it was all dirt cheap!

So, hot on the heals came purchase no.3 - this little butcher's block thingy.

Just behind the rocking chair in this picture is a little cubbyhole, which is under the 'old' stairs. It is the coolest part of the kitchen - because we have a Stanley (which is like an Aga), the kitchen is always warm and toasty which is great, but sometimes it's hard to find a cool place to store things like cakes. So I needed something to fit into the little space - lo and behold, this little unit was found in the above shop - only 40 quid! Perfect!

And as if this wasn't enough, I still needed some more of the granny coathangers. So, off to Oxfam I went and after asking the man, who had to rummage through his back room, out he popped with these - Purchase no.4 - 10 hangers for £2.50! Hurrah! Now I can get on with some more of these:

Can you imagine how chuffed I was? Flaming marvellous, the lot. Plus, we found a lovely new cafe for lunch - the sort with sofas and leather armchairs, serving crepes (yum!) and it even became a little cinema at night! I mean, talk about - yes, you guessed it - perfect! And 3 out of the 4 items were 'thrifted', which makes it even better in my book ;)

Crochet Crazy

Yes, I seem to be on a bit of a crochet rollercoaster at the moment. Inspired by the likes of Lalabibaby and Posy Gets Cosy recently, I attempted one of these:


and I can't tell you how blinking chuffed I am with it!! I'd always thought that these coat hangers were one step too far down the granny road - however - I take it back because it's just so pretty and really does make your clothes feel special. Imagine a whole wardrobe of different coloured ones, with your dresses draped over them.

Watchout friends, as I think I may be whipping up a few of these for pressies! My only problem is getting hold of the hangers. I know I chucked a whole load of these sort out last year (doh!), and a trip to the local charity shop only produced 2, so I guess I'll be trawling round some more to stock up. Failing that, I'll have to accost some old people in the street ;)

Meanwhile, the boy's patchwork quilt is coming together pretty quickly. I laid the squares out at my sewing class on Wednesday and then we all had a good play around with them to make sure they were 'random' enough - not too many darks together, not too many plains together, etc. It's quite hard to get random right sometimes, isn't it?

Wishing you all a lovely weekend!

Patchwork mania

This is a patchwork quilt I've been working on for the boy. I'm using a Jelly Roll for it, which makes life so much easier because all the material is there for you and it all matches. All you have to do is cut the strips into the required length and then sew them together. Simples!

(If you don't know what a Jelly Roll is - it's the round thing on the cover of this book and consists of 40 strips of co-ordinating fabric).

I found this book in the local library. It's got loads of different quilt designs using just one jelly roll - which is easily enough for a single size quilt. You will need some extra material for the border, bindings and backing though. And the batting. But I still think it's a relatively cheap option for making a quilt. The jelly roll cost £26.99 and the fabrics are a very nice weight, 100% cotton and you get 40 different ones that all co-ordinate so you can put anything with anything. The pattern I chose uses 40 different squares, so each square will be different.

These are my border and binding fabrics, which I bought yesterday.

Meanwhile, the crochet squares are multiplying

but I seem to be running out of wool, so another trip to the wool shop is in order.

Now I really must put my mind to my monthly photo montage thingy. The last one I did was this one - February! In my defence, my print cartridge needed replacing ... ahem ... anyway, I'm on the case now ;)

Growing Pains

Do you remember this? This was our veg plot about a month ago.


And here it is today.

Unfortunately, you can't see the plants in the bed nearest to the camera! They are so small at the moment, but this weekend I've been able to plant out the sweetcorn, broccoli, spinach and onions. It's very exciting and I am really getting into this gardening lark! I'm even going to try growing some flowers for our garden - shock, horror!

Meanwhile, at Crochet Headquarters - the granny squares are multiplying:

I don't even know how big I want this blanket to be, but quite a decent size I should imagine. I am loving working with all this colour - so much more fun than knitting a jumper in one boring old colour.

Oh, by the way, the piglets are growing!

Poor mum - imagine feeding 12 at once!

And I must show you this little ingenious flask which I have taken to carrying around with me practically everywhere I go. It holds just one cuppa, but it's great to take with you in the car if you're going shopping, or to the allotment (of course). Pretty much any time you're going to be away from a kettle for more than an hour or two! It's from Lakeland and was quite pricey at £12.99, but I think it's going to be worth every penny. It keeps it hot for a good 3 hours.

Feast your eyes on ...

... these! Yes, I'm afraid I've gone granny square crazy, now that I've finally got the hang of it, and I decided to treat myself this morning to a quick jaunt over to the lovely wool shop.


As I was using up my stash of Debblie Bliss Cashmerino, I thought I'd keep it simple and just replenish with the one type of yarn - plus, the colours are so lush anyway. I'm thinking jewell-like, so it's going to be quite a nice, bright, summery blanket.

They don't have fly off the needle though! Hence the urgent need for some yarn - hubby is out tomorrow night so I can hook away till my heart's content (not that I don't anyway!). The good thing about these squares is that it's fun to choose your colours, and they don't take long to do so you don't get bored. I'm not sure how you join them altogether into a blanket - shall have to perhaps consult Attic 24 for a bit of help on that one - but I think once all the square are joined, you can crochet a border around it all, just to finish it all off. The other thing is, I think it might be wise to sew the ends in as you go along, otherwise the prospect of hundreds of ends to sew in all at once could be extremely off-putting!

Wishing you all a lovely weekend!

A Day of Rest

Woke up this morning and felt completely knackered. I think my sudden leap into the outside world has finally taken its toll on my body. I mean, one minute I'm practically hibernating all winter in my sewing room and the next, I'm out planting veg, painting fences and even - wait for it - going for a bike ride! Yesterday, as there was the coldest ever icy wind blowing, despite an otherwise perfect sunshiney day, I thought I'd give the dresser a lick of paint.

You may be able to just see the wear and tear marks on it - it was looking a bit scruffy really. So I wiped it down, sanded it down and then applied a coat of paint (just the bottom half of it).

It looks much better now. Fresher. Anyhow, I then decided that perhaps I should brave the wind and go and do some more fence painting - which I did, for 3 hours. Brrrrrr! All that bending and stretching - I was very cold and very sore by the time I eventually made it indoors to start cooking the tea.

So today, I think it's a well-earned rest day. By the way, here's the jumper I made for the boy:

It was made with Debblie Bliss Aran and he wore it for the first time over Easter. Unfortunately, he did something he's never done before - puked in the car - all over the new jumper! Arrrgggh! Luckily, as you can see, it has stood up to a good wash! (The flowers, by the way, were a Wedding Anniversary present from hubby - 6 years on the 17th!).

And in a bid to sort of kick-start my creative mojo again, I think I might attempt a granny square blanket. This is my first ever granny square - it took me precisely 4 attempts to master it.

I have some lovely colours in this Debblie Bliss Cashmerino, left over from the fingerless gloves, so think I might just keep it as a slow-burning project. A square here and a square there. And they are pretty simple, once you've mastered the first one. I just can't bare to sit down in the evening and not have something on the needles. Or needle. Watching tv without simultaneously creating something seems like a complete and utter waste of time to me. It just doesn't feel right.

And breathe out ...

Phew! Half Term over! Here is a quick summary of events:

Pancake Day

Learning to fly

London

Piccadilly Arcade

Lunch at Fornum & Mason (and yes, I think it was solid silver

because it weighed a ton!)

A Trip to my brother's house - he lives near the Olympic 2012 location, and here

is a building in progress

A good time was had by all, but we are now safely back home. I must say, I find it hard being away from home, even when it's a 'home from home' at my parent's house. I need my bits and pieces around me so that if I suddenly get the urge to make a bag, I can just do it. I need my books, my bits of material, my machine, my magazines and really, my SPACE! The creative brain does not like to be restricted, I'm sure you will agree. Well, mine doesn't anyway.

So now, onto the more interesting stuff. Firstly, I did confess in my last post that I had indulged in a spot of retail therapy. And here is the cheeky little monkey that caught my eye:

It's a beautiful cord coat - I doubt you can get the full glory of the colour on this photo, but the reason I fell in love with it was because it really is the most beautiful shade of blue. A nice little spring number, I thought.

And this is the scarf I have started to crochet to go with it, in some lovely supersoft DK. It's inspired by Do You Mind If I Knit's Little Squares Scarf.

Talking of wool. Yes, I did get some rather expensive Rowan wool, but when you see the pattern, I think you will probably think (as I did) that it is justified:

Oh Yum! Yum, Yum! As you can see, it is a cable design. I am currently finishing off my first attempt at a cable number and really it's been very enjoyable. I just love the effect of the cross-over with cables. So, I'm hoping the cardi will be a nice challenge. I figured it wasn't too hard because all the shaping happens at the sides, which is just stocking stitch, so doesn't interfere with the cabling bit. I absolutely cannot weight to get started, but I am being a good girl and finishing off my other cardi first. I have chosen pretty much the same colour wool as the photo, as I figured it was a good 'neutral' for summer wear (it's knitted in cotton).

I also got some material - an Amy Butler print (gorge-ous) and some light denim chambray:

I think these will make some summer blouses or tops.

So my brain is full at the moment. Full of ideas and projects I want to get started on. Hee Hee! Love it!