Craft room

One of the best things about my new house is that I get to have a craft room! It started off as a bit of a dumping ground…

…but the cat loved exploring the boxes and found some great hiding places.

I’ve had some time to do a bit of sorting and tidying, and even though it isn’t completely how I want it, it’s definitely useable! I have quite a lot of storage space on my two shelf units, and I love having all my pretty, colourful things on display and easily accessible.

I’ve added two of my drawer units to a shelf. They fit perfectly and don’t take up any desk space – bonus!

I have Granny’s old sewing machine…

…and pretty plates holding Useful Things.

This is the ‘I’ll-get-round-to-sorting-it-out-one-day’ area! Not great to look at, but stuff is out of the way but easy to get to when I need it.

I even have somewhere for the cat to sleep in the sun…

…although she sometimes prefers to just sit next to her cushion and look out of the window.

And my favourite part of the room – my colourful wall! I love all the different bits and pieces on this wall, some useful, some holding great memories, some just decorative. This wall is a work in progress – I plan to add more things to the spaces around the edges, and will probably take down/put up different things at various points.

This bright, colourful space really makes me happy!

Starting again

I was merrily hooking away at my blanket. I was pleased that the squares were joining together quite quickly. And I loved how it looked when it was spread out across the floor.

The problem came when I properly looked at it when it wasn’t stretched out. The squares looked bumpy and misshapen and just not right.

I’m not entirely sure why either. They looked fine when I practised on a few squares. The problem may have been that I changed hooks. The one I started with (a boring grey looking 4mm one) disappeared, so I picked up my shiny pink 4mm hook instead. But the pink hook isn’t quite as rounded on the end, so I had to hold it slightly differently to get it smoothly through my loops. I’m wondering if this made me change the tension in some way?

Anyway, I decided to have a proper look for the boring grey hook. I’d had a bit of a rummage around in my bag without finding it, so this time I just tipped out the whole lot on the floor. As I was sorting through, checking each ball of yarn (I often tuck my hook inside a ball so it doesn’t get lost!) I found another colour I wanted to include in my blanket, a warm yellow called Saffron. Eventually, in the last ball I checked, I found my grey hook – hurrah!

But what to do now? Should I pick up where I left off? Or start again?

I decided to start again. I pulled apart all the squares I’d joined (but kept the white wool already attached to each one).

I also whipped up 8 Saffron yellow squares and worked them into my pattern (with one or two other slight changes).

 

I’ve now got the first row joined. I’ve done it differently and it’s working much better. Hurrah!

Let’s hope I don’t spot any more problems…

Blanket progress

With the arrival of my new yarn I was able to make up my last 4 (for now) squares. Look at all the lovely colours together!

Then came the fun part – working out how to put them together. I tried a few different combinations. This…

and this…

…until finally I settled on this.

I had half thought of this kind of arrangement anyway, but wanted to try out a couple of alternatives just to make sure.

After I’d decided on the order I put them all back on my stitch holders in the right order. (The post it notes are to indicate the ends of the lines so I don’t forget!)

I spent some time joining the first few together last night, whilst playing a great game of Articulate (made all the better becuase I won twice!) I don’t have photos yet, but will hopefully post some tomorrow when I’ve made a little more progress.

In the meantime, have a lovely day!

New yarn

I spent a lot of time hiding from the rain yesterday and working on my Top Secret Project. It’s coming along nicely now – in fact, I think the bad weather even helps, as there is no temptation to be outside doing other things!

Halfway through the afternoon, just as the rain was at it’s heaviest, there was a ring at the doorbell. On the doorstep I found a very wet postman holding a very drippy parcel. It was my new yarn arriving!

I did feel sorry for the poor postman, but was very excited to recieve some lovely new yarn. This means that I can get on with my blanket again. I’d completely run out of the Aspen (on the right) and still have 4 more squares to make with this.

I think I’ll edge each square with white, then see how big it is. I’ll probably end up making more squares, but I want to get started on joining them together now!

On another note – ONLY 1 DAY OF SCHOOL LEFT!! How exciting – I’ll soon be able to sit and make things all day long! I probably won’t, but it’s nice to have the option.

Crochet chain

I have to say, I’m loving these crochet chains!

These ones are skinny (half the width of the first ones I made) and are therefore even quicker to make 🙂

I still need to finish the end ones (sew in the ends and add a button) but I’m really pleased with how it’s turned out so far.

And now I’m off to spend the afternoon with a lovely Little Girl and her Big Brothers – I love days like this!

 

A splash of colour

Good evening all! How are you? I’ve had a great day – we had sports day at school and all the kids were great. Even better, my team won! I can’t really take any credit for that, but I did feel really proud of the kids in my group who tried so hard in their races and were brilliant at cheering their team members on.

Anyway, I’ve had a few free minutes to make more chains.

Don’t they look lovely and colourful?

I think I’ll make just a couple more before linking them all together. And I had a great suggestion from Mo (aka TwinkleToes) – they’d be great Christmas decorations in festive colours! I’d better get started now before I lose interest 🙂

One hundred

Good afternoon and welcome to my 100th post! Thanks for sticking around for so long and reading my crafty ramblings 🙂

In celebration of my 100th post I have finished my order for 100 buttons. I have to say, I hadn’t really planned this, but it’s a happy coincidence.

When I started this morning I had 42 more buttons to cover. I had 12 circles ready cut with tiny buttons sewn on and ready to go. I cut 20 circles from my new tablecloth, then made up the numbers with circles from other fabrics. Here they are in my ‘finished’ tin…

…and tipped out in a mini button mountain!

Let’s have a closer look, but be warned – there are a lot of photos!

I’ve mostly had fun making them (apart from pushing the backs on which made my hands sore) but I’m glad they’re finished at last!

A buttony giveaway

After a few days of dithering, and some great suggestions from you lovely readers, I have decided to celebrate my 50 followers with a giveaway of…

…buttons!

Did that come as a surprise?! I’m guessing not 🙂 I think most people mentioned buttons in response to this post, so I thought ‘Why not?’ I love buttons, and it seems that most of you do too, so it seems like the perfect giveaway 🙂

I was going to go with 50 buttons (1 for each follower – clever huh?!) but by the time I decided I now have 52 followers. And I also couldn’t decide on just 50 buttons, so I’ve ended up with 60. Let’s have a closer look at the buttony goodness.

There are 5 fabric covered buttons on buttons (the very first ones I made)…

Some tiny and super teeny tiny buttons…

Some vintage buttons (I think these used to belong to my Grandma)…

And some shape buttons…

I think the orange crayon is probably one of my most favourite ever – it’s so tiny but incredibly detailed, and reminds me of being at school, peeling the paper off the outside of the crayons.

There are of course a few others thrown in to make up numbers, some useful neutrals (that will go with just about anything), some zingy brights and pretty pastels.

If you would like the chance to win this bundle of buttony goodness all you have to do is leave a comment at the bottom – simple as that! You can be from any country in the world and have until Saturday 16th June to enter. I look forward to hearing from you!

Fabulous fabrics

Here are my fabric purchases from this week:

These were my first buys. I’ve had an idea in my head for a couple of weeks and finally got round to getting the fabric for it. I’m hoping to make a start on it tomorrow, so will reveal all then! I wanted a boy fabric and a girl fabric and especially love the pretty girl fabric. Cute little cats, butterflies, bees, flowers and fruit – all in one place!

These were my Dunelm bargains.

Don’t you just love the dottiness of the red and green? Beautiful.

These came from another shop, and I wasn’t actually intending to buy either! Don’t these just look good enough to eat?!

And this recipe fabric is just fab. No idea what I’m going to do with it, but sure I’ll find something 🙂

I have also been buying little people clothes. These will be made into something practical (and will hopefully show you that tomorrow too). I especially love the white flowery dress.

Hope you all enjoy your evening 🙂

Granny square baby blanket

At long last it is finished. Although I only actually started this a month ago it feels like it’s been hanging over my head for a while waiting for me to just Get On With It. The baby blanket that started life as a little bunch of colourful squares has now been completely, properly, absolutely finished. Hurrah!

The blocking process actually took longer than I planned – because I forgot it was there! Pinned to the spare room floor it was out of sight and out of mind. So it stayed there for 3 days instead of just 24 hours. And here it is…

Let’s have a proper look, shall we?

No unsightly ends poking out any more, just a wonderful, colourful, snuggly blanket. And I’m really quite pleased with it. Not bad for a first attempt I think. At some point I’ll give you all the details of size, weight, time it took, etc. But I’m off out in a minute so trying to rapidly get down all that I want to show you!

In my spare moments this week I also whipped up a little crochet cardigan for Bun Bun. I took a photo of her looking all snug and cosy, then realised that one of the presents I made yesterday was right behind her! So I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until tomorrow before you see it. Sorry! Enjoy the rest of your day, and hopefully my next post will be a little less rushed and have a bit more to it 🙂