I have been....

...away from my blog for a little while.

It wasn't intentional, just a few things kept me busy. I have been ill this week, which meant a hold on all things - work, crafting, posting - doing anything! However, I'm happy to be much better now!

In my last post, I talked about plans for making a vintage toned throw, and how I was giving myself a colour detox. Well, those plans are still a work in progress. I bought some yarn and started working away on a simple granny square throw - small squares in 4 colours joined together. I'll share more on this once its complete. This is a simple project and doesn't really represent what I ultimately had in mind - its more of a step along the way while I get a feel for the kind of colours I want to use.

I have some other, purple toned yarns set aside, which I think will eventually become a vintage style throw. I've just had them on the table while I've been working, looking at them together, trying to decide for sure which colours I like together. Then, once I decide that I need to think about what kind of stitch I want to use - definately something different from granny squares I think!

I've also been trying to take colour inspiration from other things around me, while I plan this project, snapping them all on Instragram to remind me! The purple Dahlia, orchid and dried lavender I have on my windowsill are my current inspiration! Wow, when I look around me and see how many purple things I have, I have to admit it really is one of my favourite colours! I think I'm leaning towards more blue-purple tones at the moment, like the lavender.

Even my china has been helping me on this journey of colour discovery. I was recently lucky enough to get hold of two more Royal Albert mugs to add to my collection - the pink and yellow mugs shown above (the green one I already had). These patterns are from their Bronte series (named after the classic authors, Emily, Charlotte and Anne). I think my favourite is the pink with purple flowers, seen in the foreground of the image just above, but I love them all!

That's about all for now, another post tomorrow I think!

Pretending to be a Provincial Lady

 
I feel I am mentally pretending to myself that I have more time for out of work pursuits at the moment than I actually do. The result of which is this post!

I had my birthday last week, and was given a very pretty copy of E.M. Delafield's Diary of a Provincial Lady which you can just see the cover of in the pictures here. I haven't actually had a chance to start reading yet, though I will very soon! It's something I have wanted to read for ages. Now that I have finished my study course, my brain keeps telling me I should have time for all these things. Somehow it is not quite coming true though!

Sigh. My problem is a very minor one in the scale of things, but still. I think I am experiencing crafting burnout. This is what comes of having no time at all for your favourtie hobbies for a long time, and then suddenly having that time given back to you. You try and pack in so much in such a short space of time that you actually end up stressing yourself out with it!

This is what has happened to me. I now have way to many knitting and crochet projects on the go as well as some sewing I'd like to do, and several potential ideas for future projects floating around my head. Its starting to make me feel a little crazy as I don't know which to do first!

I have still squeezed in time to spot the lovely Royal Albert Blue Damask Old Country Roses tea cup on eBay and purchase it! This is the blue tea cup which you can see in the pictures (with tea in it), and goes so well with the Peppermint Damask pattern cup which I bought in the summer. I felt so lucky to be the high bidder and snag this cup!

Well, back to crochet. I really can't list all of my crochet projects here, but I can tell you about a couple of them!

Christmas cushion covers

I decided it would be nice to make some simple red and white cushion covers, just to help tie the Christmas colour scheme together in our living room. This isn't an ambitious project - I am only aiming to make 2 covers in total. Here's the start of the first cover:

Do you remember this design? Its the same as the design I used for my starburst cushion covers back in the summer.

Flowers in the snow blanket

This is also the same pattern - I'm intending this to be a throw, but its only cushion cover size at the moment. To be honest it may in fact end up as another cushion cover - somehow the colour scheme is not motivating me enough to make it grow any larger!

Well, thats all for now. I really will try and post more regularly - hopefully the next post might actually contain a finished project!