Sneaky peek

Do you want a little sneaky peek at a couple of my recent makes? I’m sure it’s safe as my nan doesn’t do the Internet and to be honest, I don’t really have much else I can blog about at the moment!

So as I said, these things are for my lovely nan. I haven’t seen her since the summer when we went down south to visit. She’s always been a keen gardener and especially loves flowers so I thought I’d make her a comfy cushion for her armchair.  

I used Stylecraft Special DK in Sherbet for the front but didn’t have enough to do the back so used Parchment instead which I think goes quite well. I did it in a UK htr (half treble stitch) and after the first row, went into the back loops only to create the ridged effect.

To make the cushion pretty I’d decided to make some flowers to attach to the front. As luck would have it, the same day, Lucy from Attic 24 shared a pattern for her Floras Flowers which were absolutely spot on for what I wanted.

I used up scraps of bright colours for these, they worked up very quick.

I’m just a little bit in love with them! I pinned them in place on the front of the cushion and began to attach them. That was such a therapeutic task.

And here it is in all its colourful flower power…

To go with this I wanted to make her a couple of granny squares to go over the ends of the arms on her armchair. Did your grandparents ever have those? You know the linen ones with a touch of embroidery? I thought a simple granny square would do the same job. I used the parchment as the main colour and then the rest of the sherbet and a dusky pink. If I’d had more time I could have perhaps done some more flowers. Anyhow, this is what I ended up with…

And here’s the lot all together looking rather cosy on my armchair.

I’m happy with those, and I hope my lovely nan likes them too on Christmas Day. It’s a shame I can’t give them to her in person but a little piece of me will always be with her.

Camping crochet cushion

Do you remember my little camping crochet project? The last time you saw it, it was looking like this…

Once we’d got home, unpacked and I’d started the mission of post camping washing, I was itching to continue this project. I started by framing each circle with white to make it into a square. It was actually a lot quicker than I thought.

I really love the effect of the different shades of the same colour. I can see me doing something like this in the future. Hmmm, lots of ideas flying around. Once they were all done, I needed to block them as they’d gone a bit curly.

I was thoroughly enjoying this. Now to join.

This is the difference between blocked and unblocked. What a difference a bit of steam makes. I measured each side up against my cushion pad but it was not quite big enough yet. I decided to add some rows of trebles.

I joined the two sides around the pad and debated whether or not to put a fancy border on it. I decided not, thought it best to keep it simple. So here it is…

And on its final resting place 

I think the colours are a perfect match.

There was no set pattern I followed for this cushion.  I combined two patterns to get the circle how I wanted it, then part of another pattern to do the framing. The rest I just made up as I went. I’m pretty pleased with it.

I think along with the blooming flower I’m already making, I may just have to do one more cushion for here. After all, you can never have too many cushions can you?

Another blooming cushion

I thought it was about time I made something for me, but not too big a project. I love Attic 24’s blooming flower cushion, and having made 3 already, they’re quite easy to do. I wanted one to go on my bed. This is my gorgeous bedspread bought last year from BHS.

And this is the wallpaper that I chose ages ago for my bedroom, it’s currently still rolled up under my bed but one day in the not too distant future it will adorn my walls!

I love everything about this wallpaper, it’s so pretty.

I got my stash of Stylecraft Special DK out and played about with the colours, I love this bit.

After much deliberation I decided on these ones.

And in they popped to my basket, all ready to start hooking when I got time. There’s nothing nicer than a basket brimming with yarn, the possibilities are endless.

About a week later, it began.

Every time I joined a new colour I’d ooh and ah about how nice they looked together. I had no plan for colour order, I was just taking one row at a time.

I was loving watching this grow quickly, blooming into a beautiful flower. I even got a bit of early morning hooky in when Jude decided to wake early one day.

I always think crochet is more productive when accompanied by a few little treats don’t you?

So this is it with all the colours used. I’m just going to carry on randomly and see where it takes me.

I’ll be back with progress soon, in the meantime I’ve been very naughty and started another project too. Photos soon xxx