Crochet Baby Blankets

Hello!  Well, life is passing in a bit of a blur lately, and I'm not achieving much.  Everything feels very disorganised and chaotic - hopefully I'll get back on top of things soon!

But... I have managed to do the mindless (and very boring) task of sewing some ends in so that I can finally show you this blanket...

I first showed you the colourful granny squares here.  I finished this last September, apart from those pesky ends!  It's taken me all this time to get round to sewing them in, but at least I feel like I've got something done at last.

I gave all the squares a double border of white and joined as I went.  To do the final border around the lot, I used Bunny Mummy's tutorial to give a flat border for granny squares.  (Thanks Jacquie!)

And I finished off with another one of her tutorials for the double-v edging.  It was just what I wanted - simple but enough to finish it off nicely.

I always struggle to get a decent picture when I try to smooth a blanket out on the floor, but this shows it as a whole.  It's not a big blanket - good for a cot probably.  It hasn't got a use as yet, but maybe one day if I am lucky enough to spawn some young, then they can be snuggled in it!

This is the third baby/mini blanket I've made.  The first one was in my early crochet days.  I wanted to try a blanket, and a small one seemed more manageable!  (I actually didn't finish it until after my second blanket - but it was started first).  Post here.

The second blanket had a proper purpose - it was made for my gorgeous nephew, while my sister-in-law was pregnant with him.  That one had a lot of love go into it, and is my favourite!  It is the biggest - I made it a good size to last him a long time.

You can see the post here.  I used this pattern.

That's all from me today... I hope you're all having a lovely bank holiday weekend!  Over and out.

Blogtacular!

It's time to let you know about my Blogtacular weekend!  Alex of Hydrangea Girl contacted me back in March to tell me about the first Blogtacular event, due to be held in London on 9th and 10th May.  We had been following and commenting on each other's blogs for years, but had never actually met.  Well, in a crazed moment of what-the-hell,let's-do-it-ness, we booked our tickets and agreed to share a fancy London hotel room together!

My friends at work were somewhat shocked by this, and spent the days leading up to the event coming up with the various methods in which I was likely to be murdered over the course of the weekend.  "She's not a murderer, she's a blogger!" did not hold much sway!

We got on as well as I thought we would, and Alex managed to refrain from killing me - always a bonus!  (And luckily for her, I turned out not to be a murderer either, so we both lived to tell the tale!)  She is so lovely and such a good laugh - I'm really glad that we decided to have our Blogtacular adventure together, she helped to make it such a great weekend!

Here we are in a toilet-selfie which I have stolen from Alex!

And here is the lovely hotel room we shared...

We got a complementary upgrade, which is something that never happens to me!  It was all very fancypants!

Blogtacular had a photographer called Will Ireland from Mollie Makes taking pictures of the event... and here's one he took of us queuing up.  We were fourth and fifth in line!  I'm the blonde in the pink top and brown boots...

I look like I'm posing (well, we had spotted the camera man and I was trying not to be caught with a gormless look on my face...!)

When the suspense had mounted, and we were let in... we were greeted with goodie bags!!

(That's another picture by Will, thanks to Mollie Makes.)  I picked the tree print, in homage to my Lumberjack!

This is most of what was inside, a picture I took when back home:

There was ribbon, washi tape, planner pages, really funky looking handcream, and other bits and bobs.  It was an excellent goodie bag!!

But, back to Blogtacular itself!  There were two amazing key note speakers - Joy Cho to kick off the event and Natalie Lue to close it.  They were both very inspiring!  I especially took a lot from what Natalie said about not comparing yourself to others and doing what is right for you.  I had a bit of a habit during the event, whenever anyone asked what my blog was, of 1) being embarrassed to say its name (I've been thinking of changing it for a while) and 2) saying how crap it was, and hardly worth visiting!!  I guess it's easy to compare to other amazing blogs, but it's unfair to ourselves to do that.

We heard from Anne Ditmeyer who talked about valuing the work you do, and not doing creative work for free.

Isa Seminega spoke on blog design - guess what I took from that one?  Show your face!  Hence the photo of me which has appeared on my blog!

Alex and I attended Ellie Tennant's 'Hands On Styling' session and worked together to style a set-up from a huge array of props, that we photographed from above.  Here's my shot...

I also attended Keith Stephenson and Mark Hampshire's session on Branding, which was very interesting.

All the sessions were great... but one of the highlights of the weekend for me was meeting Tilly Walnes of Tilly and the Buttons!  I love The Great British Sewing Bee, and she was one of the contestants from the first year.  Her book 'Love at First Stitch' has just come out and she did a fantastic talk (along with Vicky Orchard from her publishing company) on going from blog to book, and was also a lovely person.  She was one of the first people Alex and I spoke to when we went into the Venue on the Friday evening, and I was a little nervous at that point (and star-struck!)  Hopefully I became a little more normal in time... apart from the moment when we bumped into Tilly in the toilet and I called enthusiastically after her that I was going to buy her book and could she sign it, as the poor woman was heading towards a cubicle, just wanting a moment of peace and privacy!

They had the book for sale there, and I did indeed buy it, and Tilly did kindly sign it... here we are, me clutching the book!

I look somewhat demonic in this shot - I'd blame the light, but Tilly looks normal - no wonder she called for security.  (She didn't really! ...

.....that I know of.)

I just can't wait to get started on making something from the book.  Some of you may remember in my goals for this year that I want to make an item of clothing that I'll actually wear in public.  After my previous dalliances with sewing clothes, this will hopefully be just the thing to get me back on the path towards achieving my goal!  You know that I will keep you updated!

Then on the Sunday morning, Alex had arranged for us to meet up with Laura from Bugs and Fishes.  We went for an explore around Covent Garden and had a good old chat about crafting and the blogging world!  Then we headed home thoroughly exhausted!

And what did I find sneaked away in my bag when I got home...?

A sweet gift of a candle from Alex!  It had a note on it, stuck on with washi tape from our Blogtacular gift bags, no less!  I was so surprised and touched.  See, what did I say?  Such a nice girl!  (My photos of it are terrible - did I learn nothing this weekend???!!!  Give me a break, I've been ill since I got back!  I dragged myself to work on Monday but have been off since then, suffering and moaning.  I will try to do better with my pictures in future!)

I think that's it - I'm going to have to stop at some point.  Apologies if this has been the incoherent ramblings of a sick mind!

Next time I hope to have pictures of the craft room progress... oooohh!

PS - Check out Alex's post on Blogtacular here.  She's gives more detail on some of the talks.

A Giveaway Win!

Well, what a lot has been going on!  I've just had a long weekend up in London for a blogging event - very exciting stuff!  (Quite surreal that it happened actually!)

I'm now actually feeling pretty rough with a sore throat and emerging cough - it must have been all too much excitement for my poor body to cope with!  With that in mind, I will wait until I'm feeling a bit better and can process my thoughts to tell you all about it...

However, I wanted to make sure that I gave a proper thanks to Susan from Mary Jane's Tearoom.  She is such a lovely lady, with a beautiful blog (check it out!) and I was lucky enough to be one of the winners of her giveaway.

Look at the lovely wrapping with tissue paper and ribbon!  I'm afraid the light wasn't the best when I took these photos, sorry... (I recommend you check out this post to see these beauties in their full glory - my photos really do not do them justice)

There was some Cath Kidston wrapping paper and tags, fabric covered buttons, notebook, and little card.  And some Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino yarn.

I have already made use of the notebook, as I took it to the blogging event!

I can't wait to put those beautiful buttons to use!  And I'm trying to think of a project worthy of that lovely soft yarn!

Thanks again Susan for your generosity - I'm so grateful to have won!

As soon as I'm feeling more with it, I will be sure to tell you all about my adventure at the weekend... watch this space!

Washi Tape Bottle Vase

Thanks for all the great comments recently - I always enjoy reading them!

Here is a very quick and easy bit of crafting...

I wrapped stripes of washi tape around an empty (washed) Mrs Ball's chutney bottle.

To make a little vase...

Nothing more to say on it really... simple and speedy!

In other news, we have been decorating the craft room... so I hope to be able to show some photos of that soon!

Mandala Madness!

Finally... I have finished my mandala!

It took me a lot longer than it should have - it's a very quick easy project.  I just stopped and didn't get back into it for ages.


I'd seen mandalas all over the blogs for so long.  I'd thought they were pretty, but didn't know what I'd do with one.  Then I saw my friend Anna's beautiful large mandala/Christmas doily here.  I fell in love!  Check it out, it's amazing!

I decided it was time to attempt a mandala, but I needed a helping hand, so I started with this pattern: the Little Spring Mandala from 'Made in K-Town'.  It's a great pattern, easy to follow.

I followed the pattern up to and including round 7 (but for round 6, I just did 6a not 6b).  At this point in the Little Spring Mandala pattern, you would do the final two rounds (8 and 9) which make the border/edging.  I added four more rounds before going onto those two edging rounds - just to make it a bit larger.

I'm still not quite sure what to do with it!  But I do like it...

I expect I will keep moving it around...

Setting up random arrangements to photograph...

"I sense a blog post coming on" said the Lumberjack as I fannied about doing that!

One more for luck...

I used a random collection of leftover yarn:

• Bamboo Ewe - 5410 Mercury (leftover from my Sidewalk Shawl)
• Stylecraft Special DK - Aspen
• Random white DK (that I've had since I decided I was going to knit a jumper when I was 13 and didn't finish it, despite assuring my mum that I definitely would if she bought the yarn - bad daughter!)
• Stylecraft Special DK - Pomegranate

I will link up to Chrissie Craft's Mand-a-Long - if I'm not too late.  Better go and find the post and check that out...

Pretty Things

Thanks for the comments on my clothes sewing - you are all so kind!  I'm still researching and thinking about what to make.  I do a lot of thinking and not a lot of doing!!  I should just get on with it - if it looks rubbish and I don't wear it, it's not the end of the world - at least it'll be some sewing experience.

In the meantime, I've been attempting to snap some pretty pictures...

The table laid (well, partly - where is the cutlery?!) on Sunday for some tea and homemade scones with clotted cream and rhubarb and ginger jam.

Delicious!

Flowers in the garden...

I love tulips!

Aren't bulbs amazing?  They just spring up, year after year, without any effort or care.  (My kind of plant!)  These were all sewn by the old couple who used to own our house.  There are so many grape hyacinths - huge patches of purple all over the garden!  Beautiful.

These tulips are shown off nicely by the backdrop of a lovely new fence the Lumberjack put up with our neighbour on Saturday morning.

There used to be a lot of tall bushes between our gardens at this side (the house end) of the garden.  They were on our neighbour's side, and they got rid of them all to create more space their side - which left things completely open.  Before you knew it the men had got together, bought some timber and put the fence up!  Above are pictures of just the frame, then the finished fence - I was very impressed.  (I didn't get a photo before the frame went up, but I don't think it takes much of a stretch of imagination to picture it!)

And as if fence building wasn't enough (and as if my scones weren't enough!) the Lumberjack decided to make a bread and butter pudding on Sunday evening...

Hard to get a decent picture, as it was dark by then - but I thought his pudding deserved some glory!

I am planning to get my backside in gear and continue with this...

It hasn't progressed much since the sneak peak I gave you here.  I've got no excuse - it's not exactly a big slow make!

But I am currently using it in it's unfinished state, for a little posy of spring flowers I picked from the garden...

I still can't get over the fact I've got a garden and I can just stroll out and pick some flowers from it.  Seems to good to be true!

Here ends this post of randomness... until next time...!

Sewing Clothes

Thanks for the lovely comments on my last post!

One of my goals for this year was to make an item of clothing, and watching The Great British Sewing Bee has definitely inspired me further.  I'm sure a lot of you agree!

When I think about it, I have actually made the odd couple of items of clothing in the past...

I made the asymmetric top above about 9 years ago, when I was 25.  I did wear it out two or three times, but I haven't worn it in many years - not so sure about having a sheer fabric over my belly these days!  I didn't have a pattern, I just made up the design (which is probably why it's a bit of a strange one!) - I can't even really remember how I did it now!

There's even a fairly neat zip and hook-and-eye fastening on the back:

In fact, the more I look at it the more I think that it wasn't that bad really, especially as I made up how to do it as I went along!  I'm sure that lots of things weren't done in the way they are supposed to be done, but it looks alright.  Not that I'd wear it now.

Then a few years back, I attempted to replicate a simple top I had and loved wearing.

This picture was taken in 2010 when I made this top.  (I think I'd recently been on holiday as I'm sporting a lovely tan.  Tan?!  Yep, that's me tanned - I'm a pale creature!)  It's a long top to be worn with leggings, in a stretchy knit material with a wide band along the bottom.  (I clearly hadn't heard of pattern matching when I made the band - it didn't even occur to me!  Although, I actually like it like this - it shows that it's a separate band, and I like the [unplanned] flower placement.)  This top got more wear than the other one I think, but again not something I wear these days.

I now want to try making something "proper" - something using a pattern!  Something that I want to wear now, and will get a lot of use out of.  This is where I'm struggling.  I've seen Bunny Mummy's lovely skirt here and thought that it seemed a simple pattern to start off with, which I like the sound of.  BUT, I'm trying to get a balance between making something simple and making something I'll actually wear.  The problem I have with skirts is finding a top to go with them.  Even though I really like the skirt and want to make it in some lovely colourful fabric, I know I won't wear it.

I'm currently going through my decluttering process, and my wardrobe needs a lot of attention and clearing out.  The last thing I need is to start filling it with homemade items I'm not going to wear.

So my current quest is to find a pattern for an item of clothing that isn't too tricky to make, but will look great on me and will be regularly used!  I wouldn't hold your breath...

As I typed the above, I couldn't resist trying that first top on again - looks like I just about squeezed into it!  I got the Lumberjack to take some pictures... don't judge too harshly - remember this was made for 25 year old me to wear, not 34 year old me!!

I'm on tiptoes (for some reason) so was using the door to keep my balance!

I ummed and ahhed over putting these photos on, but thought "what the hell!".  I know when I see other people's handmade garments, I always like to see them on the person - gives a much better idea.

Now to find a pattern for something more appropriate!

Things

Time is passing in a blur, and I'm not really getting that much done.  Certainly no crafty makes to show off!

We've put up a print in the tea-station in the new kitchen.

Since taking this photo I have been fiddling about with the teapot position and adding things to the top shelf - still trying to get it just right!

Just over a week ago I had a massive surge of decluttering and got well ahead of myself in my "Less 365" Calendar.  Although, I've nearly caught myself up again now - d'oh!

And slowly but surely a few stitches here and there have been added to my stripy blanket:

Although I've got a sudden desire to make something with these pretty colours:

We shall see...