Finished It

I have finished my Coastal Ripple Blanket and OMGosh I LOVE IT.

I loved everything about it from start to finish, the colours are sublime, the yarn (stylecraft special DK) was amazing to work with, the pattern was fabulously easy for a novice like me to understand, it was reasonably fast to work up, I could, once I got the stitches in my mind, work on it mindlessly while watching TV ... What's not to love.

Oh, it doesn't fit in with current decor ... I just might have to change the decor to suit the blanket!

I was going to sell my lovely blanket but despite several offers, I really cannot bear to part with it. Still up for hooking up another one though, and I have a few commissions to complete before Christmas, I think I'll be busy bunny :D

 

Work In Progress

It's been a while since I last posted. I haven't spent much time in the craft room. I've been sat on the sofa nursing 2 frozen shoulders for the last 18 months, still a way to go but I'm taking my mind of the pain with my new fav hobby, crocheting.

My lastest project is Lucy, from Attic24s Coastal Ripple Blanket. The kit arrived just before I went on holiday. But Unfortunately it was just too big to take away with me so I couldn't make a start until I got home 3 weeks ago. To say its been an addiction would be an under statement! I haven't been able to put it down.

It's been a joy to work with Stylecraft Special DK, I love the colours :D. I've just finished the main body of the blanket, just have the tails to sew in and the then a boarder to put on then I guess I'm ready to start another project, or maybe get on with one of many Work In Progresses.

Thats another reason to love crochet, you can put it down, play with another project, and go back to the original ... Just as long as you remember which hook size you were using ;0)

 

Craft time

My first visit to the craft room since the flower-a-thon earlier in the year. A good crafting friend had a birthday coming up abd I just couldn't bring myself to go out and buy a card, I had to make one for her.

I'd seen Julie's gorgeous concertina cards and knew I had to recreate one. My biggest struggle was that I've sold off or cut down almost all my 12x12 designer paper cardstock!

Luckily I found an unopened pack of Stampin Ups Sycamore Street, an old SAB and set to work

I forgot how much I enjoy cardmaking. My shoulders hate it, but the mind enjoyed it LOL

Most of my free time is still spent on the current crochet project. I love working on this, and of course I have my puppy shaped shadow helper!

It's coming together, the colours are gorgeous!

 

Life is wonderful

So exciting, one of my many packages arrived last week.

I really didn't know where to start! But I was good and made a start on a shawl for my mother in law's birthday present. I misjudged how much yarn I needed and have had to order more, so it will feature on another post.

I also received some gorgeous cotton yarns ....

I set to work making up this hexagon pattern by the fabulous Lucy of Attic24. I plan to join as I go so I'm going to get a whole load of circles ready so the blanket grows really quickly!

 

Friday evening we were really lucky here in that the weather was beautiful. We were out for the evening, to see a theatre production of Agatha Cristie's 'A murder is announced' so we had a really early dinner in town and then had a lovely walk along the prom.

The views were amazing, we could see all the way back to Hastings.

The show was fantastic, if it does a run in your town its well worth going to see.

Yesterday we had to take a day off from home improvements/bathroom and take advantage of the lovely summer weather so we took a drive out to my favourite gardens at Great Dixter, Northiam.

They are full of colour most of the time, but I think this time of the month has to be the best!

 

Just look at the lovely meadows in the Orchard.

The borders are full of planting schemes that can be used in any garden at home.

Just breathtaking.

And today.

I spent the morning filling in job applications and the afternoon watching tennis and crocheting .... Can life be more perfect?

 

A Mandela

I'm still stitching.

I've finished a mandela for Lucy, she's put out a call and hopes to get as many as she can to put on show at Yarndale in September this year. I stiffened mine last night with copydex glue and will get it into the post to her to tomorrow.

I used Lucy's patten as I'm not a very confident stitcher, but I have to say I really enjoyed it.

The next project is coming along nicely. It's a Beautiful Multi Stripped Baby Blanket, I'm following a video tutorial on YouTube by Wooly Wonders Crochet.

I'm not 100% sure I will make it up to full blanket size as I have nowhere to put it, but it may make a nice scarf?

My order is in for a shed-load of cotton DK yarn which I cannot wait to arrive ... I have a project I've been aching to have a go at.

 

Crochet Tote Bag

I am so pleased with how the bag hooked up. I made it up bigger than Lucy's instructions and changed the handles but other than that, its all Lucy. I'm using it to hold WIP projects, so I can grab and run.

It took just less than a week to complete, fitting it in here and there. But I will admit to taking it away with me last week and hooking my way to and from Wales in the passenger seat ... It really makes the miles fly by!

I used Stylecraft DK Special yarn and a 3.5mm Clover hook.

As a learner, I pretty much winged it on the size and guessed on18 rounds for the base and then started to work my way up. The bag is 36 rounds in height (including the handle rounds).

As you can see I used 'Lucy' colours.

I am thrilled with my new crochet bag and am thoroughly enjoying my new hobby. I just hope I can keep it up. I thought I was on the road to recovery but my left shoulder is still in a lot of pain as its in the process of thawing and my right shoulder is now starting to freeze!

 

A Star Blanket

I haven't updated the blog for a while again, but I have been busy.

I finished a granny stripe blanket all bar the border, which I can't decide in on so I've put it away until I come to a decision.

The next project was another blanket for my daughter who is about to fly to the Falklands for a few months .... It's a tad chilly there she tells me. She requested a star shaped blanket.

She saw the blanket on Pinterest, it was one of many that I'd pinned. The pattern is here.

We were both really pleased with the result, it took me about 3 weeks to complete.

My current project is Lucy's Tote Bag. Its coming along very nicely.

We've just had a long weekend in Wales and of course my hook and wool had to come too!

 

A Star Blanket

I haven't updated the blog for a while again, but I have been busy.

I finished a granny stripe blanket all bar the border, which I can't decide in on so I've put it away until I come to a decision.

The next project was another blanket for my daughter who is about to fly to the Falklands for a few months .... It's a tad chilly there she tells me. She requested a star shaped blanket.

We were both really pleased with the result, it took me about 3 weeks to complete.

My current project is Lucy's Tote Bag. Its coming along very nicely.

We've just had a long weekend in Wales and of course my hook and wool had to come too!

 

Happy Birthday

I really haven't been paper crafty for a while and although I have a card to show you, its one I've had stashed away for a while, ready for my Mum's birthday this week.

She loves the shabby look and I had to use some of my favorite sets. I love this colour combination.

Millie and I went to visit mum and her dogs this week, look at all the good doggies ...

 

My current project

My current crocheting project is growing very, very slowly. I'm managing 4-6 rows an evening, if I get a chance to pick up my hook at all.

I chose a granny stripe blanket after seeing it on Lucy's blog (Attic24) and instantly falling in love with it. I have to say, it is really Not my usual style at all, I don't do bright colours ... But after I saw Lucy's project look what I had to order ...

Oh my ... Just beautiful.

I was really not sure about using acrylic yarn (Stylecraft Special DK) as my previous projects had all been crocheted up using what I thought was a much better quality ( and a LOT more expensive!) but if it didn't say it on the label I wouldn't have known. Stylecraft yarn is wonderful to work with :). And the range of colours .... Wow!

I ordered Lucy's colour pack from Deramores.

I set about chosing my colour combination by laying all the balls on the floor, once I made up my mind I started hooking ... Chained 260 ...

I'm loving it, loving the colour/s

Be back soon with an update on my progress :0)

 

Millie's Blankie

In order to get the full use of my babette blanket back from Millie the puppy I set to work on creating something just for her. I scoured the internet and pinterest and finally decided on Sarah London's Wool Eater Blanket because of the lovely texture, she has a wonderful free pattern here.

The pattern was really quite easy to follow once you get the hang of it.

Millie loves it, but I have to admit that once I'd finished it I actually prefer the reverse side. .... I know I'm wierd like that!

Maybe next time I try this stitch I'll try different colours and the 'right' side will grow on me?

My current project is growing ... Albeit very slowly.

Pics to follow later in the week.

 

My New Addiction

My new addiction.

I didn't ever get round to showing you how my stack of squares turned out last year.

I have to say I was absolutely terrified of sewing the blanket together, it was such an enormous project. I made up a template so I knew which size square went where but the colours were pretty much a lay it out and see how it looks! I even got some help from the cats ... Not!

In desperation I tried to farm out the sewing but couldn't find anyone willing to take it on. So after thinking about it long and hard I decided to divide my pattern into lots and lots of bitesize chunks. It worked, it wasn't nearly so scary, tacking the squares together and sewing them together, then taking those chunks and sewing them to all the other chunks. I did in fact really enjoy it. Although it took me almost two weeks working on it every evening and weekend.

Isn't it just beautiful, even if I do say so myself. Millie the puppy, loves it too! So much so, the next project was a little blankie for her, just so I could get mine back!

All self taught using books and utube. I'd love to find a local class, if anyone knows of one in the Bexhill area?

 

Paper flower wedding

It's been a long while since I last posted. It's not that I haven't been busy in the craft room, I just needed to take a break. I'm back in blogland but I'll be posting about more than just my paper projects from now on :)

What have I been up to?

Big News. Dannii and Ben announced their engagement at Christmas .... Wooohooo

Big Shock. We had just three months to prepare, they'd decided against a long engagement, and "Oh Mum, you'll do all my flowers for me won't you. I would really like paper flowers" ;) and it goes without saying the invites ....

Dannii found some invites she liked on Pinterest which I dutifully put my own spin on. She loved them.

Then she found a bouquet she loved which she asked me to recreate in her colours ...

I invited some really good crafty friends round to help (a really big THANK YOU to Sam, Chris and Cindy for ALL of your help) we needed to make a lot of flowers. Then we needed to make a lot more because they just don't go as far as you think.

I finally finished putting together the bouquets, one for her, and one each for her two bridesmaids and I have to admit I loved the finished item, so much so I really wanted one for myself. They were so pretty. Unfortunately neither Dannii nor her bridesmaids wanted to give them back LOL

I really thought after all the cutting and rolling, I'd have enough flowers left for the cake .... Did I mention she also wanted paper flowers on her cake ... Cue more crazy flower cutting and rolling ....

I also have to thank my wonderful friend Monica Gale for the wedding cake. As soon as Dannii announced she was getting married up North I knew I had to ask Moni to make her cake, and she didn't fail me. It was AMAZING.

I loved all the paper flowers so much I then went on to make the button-holes and corsages

They had a fabulous day .... The new Mr & Mrs