Easy Mini Bunting, Crochet and Gentle Days

Hello Lovelies!

I've had a bit of a gentle time of it these last few days, having being struck down with the Head Cold lurgy which struck just after Mother's Day and just in time for my Birthday!!  Still, despite feeling pretty groggy and under par, I've managed to sneak in some hooky time and even got around to making something I've been after doing for ages!!!

Before the Nasty Bug descended, we had a rather lovely start to our Mother's Day Weekend.  Saturday saw us enjoying a lazy, unhurried breakfast of poached eggs on rye toast, with fresh juice and hot coffee...oh I do like those sorts of mornings!

(gratuitous photograph of my delicious brekkie)

When we'd finally got ourselves ready, me and the little one did a spot of baking in preparation for Mother's Day ~ we made a special Peyton and Byrne rich chocolate cake, and the wee one made the meringue part All By Herself using the big electric whisk!  I can't begin to tell you how funny she thought it was when I picked up the bowl with the meringue in it and turned it upside down over her head!!!

That afternoon I managed to sneak in some hooky time, for the first time in a long while.  I got out my Rowan Handknit Cotton DK and started to make squares...

The pattern is for a rather delicious bag from my favourite crochet book by Nicki Trench. 
I started out with a green edging, but despite it being a lovely green, decided I didn't want a whole bag in that shade.  So I tried it with blue:

Much better!

I've got a good feeling about it now it's going to be blue.  It's a lovely looking bag too, and if any of you have got the book it's the Patchwork Bag which needs to be lined.  I've chosen a vintage rainbow palette for this project, which you can see laid out in the top photo and am keeping an eye out for some nice fabric for the inside.  I'll keep you posted with it's progress!

Mother's Day turned out to be a lovely one. I had tea and toast brought up to me in bed, and some pretty flowers.  Small was beside herself with the excitement and later that day my own parents came over for a Mother's Day meal and that chocolate cake which was enjoyed by all.  By nightfall though, the lurg had taken it's hold and I lay on the sofa feeling quite awful.  I'm afraid it's one of those that cling on, and so my birthday on Wednesday saw me snorting into many a tissue and not doing much at all (having not the energy or the inclination).  Despite feeling very under par most of the day, I did start to feel a bit better and at teatime we all went out for a delicious meal to celebrate.


Thursday morning though, the Nasty Head Cold was back with a vengeance and Im hoping it disappears by Saturday as Im away to London ON MY OWN, ON A TRAIN to go to the COUNTRY LIVING FAIR!!! Yes, I'm a bit excited.  I'm also going to be meeting a creative chum who I 'met' on Facebook for the very first time so it's going to be a very good day all round!  Her name is Kate and she paints the most amazing cards and childrens name paintings.  You can find out more about what she does here.

(One of Kate's gorgeous hand painted cards)

So the week has plodded on in a gentle and quiet manner; feeling weary has meant not much energy for much at all, but it did mean I could settle down to make something I'd been meaning to do for a long, long time.  

Once upon a long ago we revamped a tired old Welsh dresser, and I recall how I said it absolutely needed Bunting.

And bunting it now has!

 

It is really the fastest, prettiest, ridiculously easy sort of bunting to make.  Here's what you need and how to do it:

 

Fragments of material

Length of ribbon, twine etc

Pinking Shears

Piece of card

Pencil

Tiny Pegs (which you can buy from craft shops, I got mine from Hobbycraft and they're fairy cheap to buy).

Mark out a triangle template on the cardboard and cut out with ordinary scissors.  Draw around this onto the BACK of your fabric and cut out your bunting triangles carefully using pinking shears.

Use two tiny pegs to attach each piece of bunting to the ribbon.  Leave a bit of space between each triangle before attaching the next one.

That's it.

Simple as, but oh so lovely!

 

 

I think it finishes it off a treat, don't you?  I now have ideas of making heaps of this in all sorts of colours and draping it around my house; putting it in windows, along shelves...!  I love it, and it takes no time at all to make, and so very little effort!


That's about it from me for now - I'm away to infuse my congested head with a eucalyptus inhalation...I hope you're all well and thanks for coming to see me today!  I'll be back next week with tales of my trip to London and a bit of Arty News.


Lots of love
J x x x

Anyone for Crochet?

Hello :)

Do you remember quite a while ago I started a blanket from that lovely book by Nicki Trench ~ Cute & Easy Crochet...

I had a stash of acrylic wool (a mixture of King Cole and Stylecraft Special DK), and started in earnest to make four hundred or so little squares...

...well it's been a while since I did any little squares, but at the weekend I decided to dig the yarn bag out and crack on.

Thing was, I felt a little bit burdened by the idea of making four hundred squares.  I know I could have made a smaller blanket, I suppose you can make any shape or size you like with a pattern such as this one, but a New Idea presented itself.  Just as I was thinking 'well if I'm not making my little squares blanket, what on earth can I use all this wool for then?' the answer to that question popped in my head and there was no going back.


I would make a cushion out of the little pile of squares for my little girl's bedroom, and I would use the rest of the wool to make a Granny Stripe! blanket


So that's what I did on Sunday.

As luck would have it I already had a small square cushion pad, and I had sixteen little squares already made up which fitted just right.
Sunday afternoon was spent crocheting them all together, along with many cups of tea and spontaneous games and lego building in between.

I made the cushion envelope style, and sewed on some sparkly pink buttons to fasten it together.  Needless to say, my little girl is over the moon with it, and it now sits with Bunny on her bed.

But you know how it is, when you've got the seed of an idea blossoming in the recess of your mind, you want to get cracking on it.  Well, I do at least.  I was itching to start my Granny Stripe once I'd made my mind up to do it and once Small was in bed, I got busy.

Out came those gloriously sweet shades of wool...and out came the hook...a couple of hours of delicious hooky bliss ensued...

I confess to being in love with Granny Striping; how easy it is, how lovely and rythmical...how soothing it is to work up and down those colourful rainbow enriched rows, and how quickly it seems to grow!

I can heartily recommend doing a Granny Stripe blanket to anyone - it is one of the most satisfying things to have in your WIP basket.  I've decided to make this blanket for my daughter, the colours are so sugary bright and just right for a little girl.  As for the wool, I think I've mentioned before that as far as acrylic wool goes they seem pretty good, not overly greasy or squeaky, and the colours make it a very happy crocheting experience. 

I'll keep you updated on my progress, if I carry on at this rate it might be finished in just a few weeks!

Before I go, I'd just like to thank you for your comments and enquiries from the last post, you're very kind and it's much appreciated :)

I hope you're enjoying a bright sunny week, thanks for popping in to see me today...

Love Julia x

Rainbow Ripple Ta~Daaaaah!!!!

 

I have to warn you - this post is very much a festival of Ta~Daaahing over my newly completed Rainbow Ripple Blanket.  If you are not in the mood for gratuitous shots of bright coloured yarn, and artfully draped blankets then I suggest you skip this post and come back another time :D  If you are, then sit back and prepare your eyes for a burst of rippling lovely~ness!

You may remember me starting this blanket way back in February 2010.  It has taken a long time to finish it - 18 months to be exact but it finally is finished and I have to confess to being absoloooooodely and completely in love with it.

 

Just look at those gorgeous rippling colours...it sends me into a slight trance looking at it.  In fact, this will be the perfect Dreaming Blanket...imagine one of those days where the need to snuggle up and spontaneously nap occurs...  It fits the bill perfectly.

I used a lovely bunch of colours from the Sirdar Sublime Cashmere Merino DK range.  Needless to say, it was not a cheap blanket to make; and that is also one of the reasons why it took me so long to complete (I had to keep saving up for new yarn supplies).  However, it is beautifully soft, and naturally warm and I know it will become a well loved, well used blanket over the years (which kind of justifies the expense).

 

The measurements of the blanket are approximately 130cm x 130cm square.  I would tell you how many balls of wool I used, but as it's taken me so long I've kind of lost count.

There were heaps of ends to weave in, which I finished off last night.  There is something very pretty about all the little inchy bits of wool collected together in a bowl.

 

The pattern, which is fantastically simple to follow, can be found at Attic 24 Blog here.

 

My sofa is becoming one of my favourite, and most comfortable places to be in the whole house.  It is a feast of colour and soft yarn...I love it.

So what next, you may be asking - of course I'm still working on my Japanese Flower scarf which I started in June and it's coming on nicely in fits and starts.  But it seems I cannot be without a Big Project.  No, there has to be something on the sidelines that I can go back to over time, that may take a while to do but is satisfying in that it's there and can be picked up and put down as the feeling takes me.

A Blanket then.  Another one.

And this time a request from my daughter; 'please can I have a blanket for when I get my new Big Girl's Bed?'

How could I possibly say no to that?  So I dug out the only pattern that I'd been itching to do, from a rather lovely book I treated myself to some time ago:

You can find this quite cheaply on both Amazon, and The Book Depository websites.  There are some gorgeous things to crochet in it, but this is what caught my eye:

See that blanket?  Oh my - heart stoppingly glorious!! I am already With Wool for this...

...these are some of the colours my wee one helped me choose, much lighter than my normal bright palette, but she likes the wool that looks like sweeties.  I'm waiting on three slightly more vibrant shades to be delivered that weren't in stock in my local wool shop and I think that these will stop it looking too wishy washy.

The wool I'm using for this project is a rather cheap acrylic one.  The stuff in the picture is King Cole Big Value DK (a couple of pounds for a 100g ball).  I've worked up a few squares already and whilst it's a pretty soft yarn and will make a perfect blanket for general everyday use (read den making, snuggling, spilling drinks on etc) I'm finding it a teeny tiny bit greasy to work with after a time.  I'm guessing it's because acrylic yarns are oil based, but I'm going to bear with it as it ought to be cheap as anything to make; which in these cash strapped times is a bit of a Good Thing isn't it?

Right - well that's about it!  If you're still reading along after all those hooky yarny pictures, thank you!  I'm so glad that you stopped by today and would like to thank you for taking the time to visit and read.  Also, apologies too because my little trips around Blogland haven't been so frequent just lately due to me having a rather Busy Time of it both work and family wise, but I will endeavour to catch up with you soon and just wanted you to know, I haven't forgotten you.

Sending you love

J x