Happy pastel stripes

Hello everyone, I've been away for a while, and it's been nagging at my conscience.

So, here I am, back with a quick post.

To be honest, I haven't managed to actually finish many craft projects. I don't know what I've been doing really. I think it just took me a while to get over my post-holiday blues!

One thing which I have finished, and which I LOVE is this stripey cushion. The cushion is for my bedroom, and was inspired by the colours of the Amy Butler fabric shown in the picture.

I love this colour combination of duck egg, pink, fuschia, red and burgundy, and I've decided to try and make this a theme in my bedroom.

 I choose a random stripey pattern because I loved the stripey cushion that I made earlier. This cushion has the same double crochet design at that.

Hope you're all ok. I'm going to be taking a little bit of a break until September. I have more crafting, flat painting, work and studying to do, and I just need a bit of time out from blogging for a couple of weeks.

See you all in Autumn!

Stripey love...

I think I mentioned before that I was making a stripey cushion as part of my ongoing economy drive/stash busting exercise...

...I've finished it and I love it! It's a long time since I've crocheted anything entirely made up of rows of double crochet. I really enjoyed the simplicity of making it. The cushion is really in the selection of colours for stripes - they make it.

I want to make another cover the same, but it's not allowed at the moment as it will require the purchase of more white coloured yarn! Maybe next month.

Camera practice continues - I'm enjoying practicing my new found hobby by taking snaps of flowers.

...and other pretty things when I find them:

Hope you all had a great weekend.

Granny square patch cushion

Hello everyone!

I am very happy to be able to say that I have finished something! It feels like a long time since I have finished a project of any kind. You can see my work in progress basket above. I should point out, this is only one of my storage places for works in progress - there are more elsewhere! I keep starting things, putting them down and then going on to something new. I've decided to try and bring a little discipline into my crafting. I never find discipline a very 'fun' word, but sometimes it's necessary!

So, I have decided as part of the discipline that it is time for a yarny clear out. As well as the work in progress basket raging out of control, my yarn store is also raging out of control! I have decided I am not going to buy anymore yarn for a little while (not sure how long, it has yet to be decided - probably just until I crack!). I am also going to try and do projects that use up my existing stash - you know all those little odds and ends, and little balls of yarn that you have left over from blankets, but can't part with because you know they can be used for something?! Well, that is what I am going to try and start with - clearing out the scraps! Then I'll move on to the bigger stash piles! Yes, thrifty is the watch word for this plan!

So, my first stash busting, thrifty project is this granny square patch cushion:

Keeping with the thrifty theme, I decided to join the squares as I went along by crocheting them together rather than stitching them together - it uses less yarn! Hmm, come to think about it, that's a bit counter-intuitive seeing as I am trying to use up my stash!

It's nice to have this almost finished - I just need to stitch on buttons for the fastening. In the meantime it's on the sofa, just waiting to be snuggled into!

Bright cushion

Hello everyone!

My bright ripple cushion was finished over the weekend.

I think it looks very nice on my little armchair!

I gave it the usual button fastening using some mismatched bright buttons that I bought in a jar from John Lewis last summer, and have been dying to use ever since.

Apart from that my new turquoise vase is still making me happy - now with roses in it!

Apart from the joy of the ripple, yesterday was a slightly miserable day as I spent most of it sniffling and blowing my nose with what I think must be some form of hayfever. Does anyone else get hayfever this time of year? What do you do to remedy it?

Happy Monday everyone!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Mammoth crafty update part II

Hello again everyone! As promised, here is part II of the mammoth crafty update, a little later than planned. I've been delayed by a chest infection, among other things. I wouldn't be here, blogging, on New Year's Eve (not that there's anything wrong with that), but having asthma and then getting a chest infection is pretty bad news, so I've had to cancel my plans for the evening.

Never mind, at least it gives me time to catch up on my blogging!

One other project I've finished in December was my purple vintage flower cushion.

Here you can see it getting cost with the original cream cushion I made using this pattern.

If you look closely, you'll see a slight difference between the purple and the cream cushions. The purple cushion has several rows of treble crochet bordering each side. This was because I used a 4 ply weight yarn instead of the dk weight used for the cream cushion. I couldn't quite get the shade of pastel lilac I wanted in Rowan Cotton Glace, so I decided to use Rowan Siena instead, and simply modified the pattern slightly. I'm still happy with the result!

***********************************

Well, 2013 is drawing to a close. I have to say it has been a heck of a year for me. Good things and bad, stresses and strains and moments of joy and celebration too. I guess that's like any year, but somehow things have seemed magnified this year. I've finally been able to sort out some long carried personal baggage, with some help from some very supportive people. I have to say that has made a huge difference to me, and I feel I am ending the year as a much stronger person than the person that started the year! Here's just a few of the positives that I've been lucky enough to experience in my personal life in 2013:

1. Finding out that I had passed the Postgraduate Diploma I took in 2011-12, with merit!
2. Getting a place on, and starting a PhD course (so far, so good)
3. Getting my flat! My own space at last - it feels so extravagant to have all this space to myself, and it's only a 1 bedroom flat!
4. My wonderful, wonderful boyfriend S, who has given me another year full of happy memories and laughter.
5. My fantastic family (and S again) who have all pitched in and helped me with moving, hefting boxes, doing DIY jobs, providing advice, stopping my tearing my hair out with stress over it all and generally standing on my own 2 feet!
6. Of course all you fellow bloggers and crafters out there who take the time to read and visit this blog, and leave such kind and supportive comments. Every comment is valued and it's so great to feel part of a community here.

Well, that's all for now folks, the sun has set on 2013, and now we await 2014. I hope to see you all here and on your own blogs in the coming year. Very best wishes and a Happy New Year to you all!

p.s. I have received several requests for patterns recently - I'm not able to respond to them at the moment, but please believe I will do my best to share my makes with you as soon as I can.

Pastel inspired cushion cover

After my last post about pastel inspiration and thinking about decorating and furnishing my new home, I thought I'd share one of the things I making for my place.

Above are some of the squares for a lilac cushion cover I am making. You might be able to see, it is the same pattern as the cream one I made at the end of the summer.

I have some matching little shell buttons ready for the fastening.

I'm also enjoying having fresh flowers in the room at the moment. I think fresh flowers will be a feature of my new home whenever I can afford them!

Here's one last snippet of pastel loveliness from the weekend - can you make out the pastel colours on the bridge?

Stay warm everyone - it's cold here now!

Vintage flower cushion

A while ago I decided to make a cushion using my vintage flower square pattern, and only 1 colour yarn.

I finally got around to finishing it this week. I've decided I really like the effect of making something using only 1 colour of yarn. It gives it a much more vintage, delicate feel in my eyes. 

I've realised after thinking that I have way too many cushions that actually I won't have enough for both the sofa and bedroom in my new flat after I've moved. So I think I'm going to make a few more of these lovelies!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sunshine cushion

I can't believe it has been over a week since my last post. This week has gone so fast, and to be honest I have just been plain lazy about posting! In my last post I said that I might have a completed cushion cover to share with you - well, I do!

Here is the cushion made with my latest motif design. I'm calling this motif the sunshine motif. I'm quite pleased with the way this cushion turned out, and I loved working with all these colours!

I think this cushion has a South American feel to it. Something about all the colours together and the sunburst element of the motif. Can anyone else see that?

I also made a button closure for this cushion - I do love that on a crochet cushion, I think it gives such a nice finishing touch! 

I would love to share this pattern with you - I'm actually mulling over the purchase of crochet chart software. I think this would be much better than writing out patterns long-hand, which, let's face it, is a bit of a chore!

Well, I think you have probably had enough of the cushion for now! As Autumn is approaching here with the start of September I've been turning my thoughts to knitwear. More soon!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Pastel granny squares

 

 

Several months ago I started a pastel coloured granny square project - I remember being very excited about getting a big batch of pastel coloured yarn through the post, and blogging about it here and here. I patiently worked away, making a whole heap of pastel granny squares.

 

 

 

Then, as often happens, other things came along and distracted me - knitting, and brightly coloured yarn in hexagon motifs!

 

The pastel grannies were stashed away in a cupboard awaiting their moment in the sun.

 

This week I pulled out that bag of grannies again and had a think.

 

Originally I was going to use these squares to make a throw, in the same way as I made my Cathedral blanket earlier in the year. However, on looking at the heap of grannies afresh over the weekend, I began to feel that a pastel throw made entirely of little grannies with white seaming might be a little too much somehow. It just didn't 'feel' right.

 

So I decided to work the squares into a much smaller project - a granny square pillow cover for a rectangular cushion.

 

And...................

.............here it is!

 

 

I have to admit, finishing off a project that has been lurking in the back of your cupboard and the back of your mind for a while is a very good feeling! You get some instant gratification because a lot of the work has already been done, and a nice feeling of satisfaction from knowing that the pesky lurking project can be ticked off your mental list!

 

You can see above the new granny cushion getting cosy with the pastel ripple cushions I made earlier in the year. 

 

I do love this cushion - having the pale yellow shade included has really made it very "dolly-mixture", and I like that!

 

 

It was also fun to give the cushion button fastening with lots of little shell buttons. I do love a button fastening for a crochet cushion, I think they are perfect partners.

 

 

The rose pictures are for no particular reason - just because I love roses!

 

Have a happy, creative day wherever you are!

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx