Flower patch cushion finished

Remember the Flower patch cushion which I started last week? It was my take-along project for the weekend.

Well I finished it:

Hmm, now that it is complete, I'm not so sure about the colours together. It was quite fun to make though. Originally I intended to have a flower on each granny square, but once I'd sewn on the ones in place in the picture above, somehow that seemed like enough. More would have felt like too much.

So now I have a lot of spare flowers waiting for a use!

To make this cushion I made 25 granny squares (5 rows of 5). Rather than oversewing the edges together to join the squares I double-crocheted them together to get the ridged effect.

Crocheting the sqaures together was a little tricky, but I think it looks quite nice.

I also did a big granny square for the back.....

...and a scallop edging to finish it off....

So, the yarn I used from left to right (shown in the picture below):

Rowan wool cotton DK
Shade 955 Ship shape
Shade 943 Flower
Shade 951 Tender
Shade 969 Cypress

It was a good project to try out I think - I've never added flowers to granny squares in this way before, and its also been a long time since I have made a crochet cushion cover. If I made it again I think I would go for different (brighter?) colours though.

One last thing before I go - although I didn't follow a pattern for this cushion and made it up as I went along, I think its important to say that it was inspired by a couple of other patterns I have seen around, and owes a lot to them! So, my sources of inspiration (thanks all for your beautiful designs!):

Sarah London Ethel cushion - available from Ravelry
Camelia Blanket - by Nikki Trench

Bye until next time!

Striped bag

Something else I've been working on in the last week or so.....

Inspired by Attic 24 (again) I made my own version of a striped crochet bag. I have to admit I didn't follow the pattern, but just made it up as I went along.

I'm fairly pleased with the way it came out. I think I probably could have made the bag a bit bigger and the handles a bit shorter, but never mind!

What I do love are the little flowers hiding where the handles are sewn onto the body! I made up the pattern quickly myself:

Chain 4 and join into a ring with a slip stitch.
Round 1: chain 5, *work 1 treble into ring, chain 2. Repeat from * five times more. Finish by slip stitching into 3rd of 5 chain from start of round.
Round 2: work 1 dc, 1 half treble, 1 treble, 1 double treble, 1 treble, 1 half treble, 1 dc into each of the 6 chain spaces made in 1st round. Slip stitch into first dc from start of round to finish.

Then fasten off, and sew into place with a button in the centre! I think they look so cheerful and cute. They definately put the finishing touch to the bag.