Up and Down

Hello Ladies, 

The last two weeks have been so full on that I've not had a lot of hooky time. 

It's been a very up and down time. When I first started my blog, I thought it would be all about crochet and fun times. But I can see from other posts that sometimes it's good to have a little rant or moan and share the not so good with the great. 

There might be someone who can relate to what your saying and understand how you may feel. My down time was last week when I had to take my mum to the hospital and be told she has Alzheimer. I knew she was suffering and I knew that this was possibly the reason for her forgetfulness and sometimes her change in moods. So I went with what I thought would be the worst case scenario and that was be told she had Alzheimers, but that's ok because there is medication that although wont cure, but will slow the process. So my mum will still be with me for a long while yet.

Unfortunately this was not the case. Yes it was confirmed she has Alzheimer's, but NO to the medication. Because she is already on certain tablets for a heart condition, they will not agree with the tablets for Alzheimers. So we came away very down, Mum not fully understanding the seriousness of it all. 

When I got home I sat in the garden with a very large coffee and Talulah came and sat with me.

And with fusses and cuddles, things didn't seem to bad. She gives amazing therapy and always makes me feel better.

Then I finished my cushion that I had been making and as that was another WIP finished, I got a good satisfied feeling.

I can see many faults with my cushion, but its my first and as I'm a complete novice I learnt a lot from it. And for me, my cats and crochet were my up for a down day.

Sally :) x

2 Down 1 to go

Hello Ladies,

I've had a lovely slow week. No rushing off to appointments or trying to sort out stuff that gets put off, because it gets put to one side and you promise yourself it will be sorted later. As I said it's been lovely, just what was needed I think.

I finished my Flower Blanket and was in two minds what to do. I had 3  Patchwork Quilts that were waiting to be finished. I completed one a few weeks ago and it was lovely to see it finally finished, so I thought perhaps before I start another crochet project I would dig them out and see how much was left on them to do.

This one was made using the English Paper Piecing method.

 

 

It was all folded and wrapped up in tissue paper, I cant even remember why I stopped making it. I only had just under half of it left to hand quilt and then to finish the edging.

 

 

I enjoyed making this, English Paper Piecing is my favourite method for Patchwork.

I have since found that with all the different crochet techniques that are available, you could also reproduce something like this with yarn and a hook.

This I might have a go at.

 

So now I have one more left to finish. I have a bit more to do on the last one I haven't even got it sandwiched yet.

 

But enough of quilting for the time being and back to playing with my hook.

And I have even had my next project decided for me :)

 

My niece is going to be Chief Bridesmaid for her friends wedding in Santorini.

She asked me a few weeks ago if I would make her a wrap to take with her.

She came yesterday with her yarn and a big smile.

 

 

This is what she chose. I really think I'm rubbish at taking photos and these pictures do not do the yarn any justice at all.

Its called Galaxy by King Cole , and it's such a pretty a pretty yarn

 

 

So soft and light, it even has twinkly sequins in it. I cant wait to start making her wrap and see how it makes up.

 

Hope you all have a lovely weekend. I think my son has planned a BBQ for tomorrow at our house, which is good as he'll do the cooking :)

 

Sally x

 

 

Relaxing Weekend

Hello Ladies,
It's been a beautiful sunny weekend. I've enjoyed hooky in the garden and even had our evening meals outside. Saturday seemed to stay warm to quite late into the evening and I was still in the garden with hook and yarn till gone 9.30pm.
Hopefully there will be a few more of those evenings.

So with my blanket finished I seemed to be stumped for what to do. I have so many projects that I want to have a go at, it was difficult to know where to start.

Sue from Suz Place did a post about Moss stitch and you can make so many different pattern variations I thought I would give that ago to make some new cushion covers for my sofa.
I did a few samples to see how it would come out.

This one was done using 2 strands of DK yarn and a 5.00mm hook. I have never used 2 strands together and I quite liked the thickness of it. It grew quite quickly and had a sturdy feel to it. One that would take the wear and tear of a busy house.

 

This one was a single strand of DK using a 3.50mm hook and although it didn't grow as quick, it still had a similar feel to the other one.

Not being able to decide what to use for my covers I think I'll make one of each and see how they turn out.

 

 

 

I also think maybe I need to invest in a notebook. So when experimenting with different yarns and hooks I can make note of how they turn out.

 

Hope you all had a lovely weekend :)

 

Sally x

 

 

Sunny Friday

Hello Ladies,

Today has been a beautiful sunny day here in Kent. Not only has it been lovely and sunny with bright blue skies, the wind has dropped so it has been sooooo warm.

I've also had a very productive day, lots of jobs got finished that needed to be done and also some sun sitting.

First off my plasterer man came to start my kitchen :)

 

 

The mess is horrendous! And don't you find it only needs 1 room to be decorated and the the whole has is affected?

BUT..... I don't care because my new kitchen is moving another step forward.

 

And because there wasn't anything I could really do indoors while Mr. Plasterer man was here, I had to resort to sitting outside playing hooky.

 

 

Which meant that while sitting out in the sun catching some rays, I also was able to finish my Flower blanket. This is the first blanket I've crocheted (apart from a granny square baby blanket I made for my eagerly awaited grandson).

 

I'm quite pleased with this project as it's totally different to any blanket I've ever made before. 

Patchwork, eat your heart out, Crochet is in!

 

 

I've also never used so many different colours in a blanket before and at one point when I had finished all the squares and started sewing them together decided I didnt like it. 

 

 

 

 

So it sat to one side for a few days. 

Then I felt that being my first project, the least I could do was finish it.

 

The more I put together, the more I started to like it. I liked all the different  colours, I liked the brightness of it all.

In fact when I finished it I decided it deserved some kind of border, just to finish it off. 

 

 

I picked this border from a book by Edie Eckman called Around the Corner, Crochet Borders

 

 

It's a lovely book, full of beautiful different edgeings. I chose this one as it seemed to have petals in it that matched the flowers in the blanket.

 

 

 

So thats my first project completed and I am now able to get my list out and see what I want to make next.

 

All in all a brilliant day :)