Handmade Cushions for Mothers Day

Well, I can blog about this now she's opened them! Happy Mother's Day, Mum!!

So, last week I sent my Mum a huge box of goodies for Mother's Day - moisturisers, black tea light candles, Yankee votive and holder, fabric, coffee, and these homemade cushions!

She's just had her house renovated, and decorated throughout, and gone for a cream & black colour scheme downstairs - hence cushions for the lounge. The granny square one is the one I made first - a crocheted cover, front and back, over a fabric covered inner cushion. I chose a brown moleskin type fabric for the inner, as the colour shows through the crochet nicely and blends with the hints of taupe in her decor.

I also made the simple, envelope style opening pillow from some striped fabric I had, and this amazing one from a beautiful lambswool jumper.

Sadly, my gorgeous other half machine-washed the delicate little beauty and shrunk it beyond all use :( Whoopsie. It felted up the wool so nicely though - it was like heavenly woollen fabric to use and sew up. Made such a snuggly cushion! I used the buttons from the neck to detail the front, and small buttons to do up the back. The closing on the back is slightly off-centre, as I had to work with what I had from the jumper, and as I'd centred the textured panel on the front, it threw the back out slightly, but not to worry.

She was super pleased, and is going to make some more coordinating ones herself. It's been nice to do some crafting again! Great to get the overlocker out, my needles and crochet hook.

Next - back to what Little Felt House is all about - sewing with felt!

Watch this space x

Time for a long overdue Granny Blanket update.

Well, it's still not finished, but I am only one step away now. Just the mammoth task of sewing my squares together!

After finishing my 180 squares (180 different squares, all made with just 6 colours), I did one final round in cream on them all. This took... longer than anticipated. Part of it was that I just haven't had time - see previous posts on the 2 month long Hallowe'en costume, or making things for my Christmas craft fayre etc. plus hosting birthday parties, the general day to day, and sleeping now and again! Part of it was also motivation. After looking at these little squares for so long now, I'm becoming a little disallusioned with them now. I'm not so sure I love the colour combination anymore, but I'm hoping that will change because a whole lot of man hours have gone into this thing so far.

So, here are my squares!

Each little pile here contains 12 squares, and each square has the 4 inner colours in a different combination. Each of the 15 piles has a different combination of 4 out of 6 colours, so in total, that's 180 completely different squares. No two are alike! I'm amazed this can be done with just 6 colours!

I wanted to have a rough idea of size, and how it might look once finished, so I laid them out on the bed for a rough idea - this also took longer than expected!

Part of me is looking forward to it being finished - of course, I love to see my projects finalise into a finished product, but at the same time, I still have that lingering feeling of not loving it, and knowing I just don't have the time or will power to make another 180 squares in other colours!!

I guess we'll have to wait and see! Christmas is going to busy, so more than likely, I'll post pics of the finished blanket some time in the New Year. I think I'll be doing plenty of other things before then though!

My Christmas Craft Fayre!

Today was a fun day. The pub where my boyfriend works (Salt @ The George, Mumbles) had it's first craft fayre today and I was really happy to have a stand there.

It was such a lovely atmosphere, the huuuge Christmas tree looks amazing, and the mulled wine was scrummy! Very festive, and I got to meet some lovely new people which is always a pleasure. I didn't take many photos, and actually spent much of the afternoon crocheting more cushion panels. I did take a couple of my stall though, and I'll try and do better next time!

I had a few sales too, so all in all, can't complain. I really should think of planning some more!

That's all for now! I'm finally in the festive mood - even my early Christmas shopping hadn't gotten me there, but that fruity and spicy mulled wine has finally done the trick! Will blog again soon though, I know it's definitely time for a granny square blanket update!

Granny Square Cushion - Finished Project

 Here it is then! My first granny square cushion is all finished up.

It's for a 14" x 14" cushion (which is what it's filled with in the photo) I decided to sew the squares, and the front to the back, by hand. I prefer the finished look of sewing the pieces together than crocheting them together.

It fastens with three small, white, inconspicuous buttons. Again, these are just sewn on to the longer 'flap' that tucks into the cushion like an envelope, and the natural holes in the crochet on the front of the cushion make the button holes.

As I showed in the last post, the back is just plain, but I like the contrast it offers to the jazzy front. Very pleased with the finished piece, and not a bad first attempt, even if I do say so myself! I can definitely see me making more of these in the future!

Granny Square Cushion - WIP

I've been meaning to get the granny squares for my blanket made up asap, but I needed more yarn and wasn't able to get into town for a few days. Itching to make granny squares, I took some bright colours from my little yarn stash and decided to do a few for a cushion cover.

By the evening of the second day, I'd made 16 different squares, and sewn them together. (Note; I've still got to sew all the extra ends, in, but it's never been my favourite job!)

I'm pretty pleased with how it came out - I love the bright colours contrasted with the white. Because of this, I've chosen to crochet a plain white background:

I've just got six rows left to do, then a whole lot of sewing up! I've made the front square (obviously, four rows by four rows of squares) but the back is more rectangular to allow a little flap that will tuck in, and where I'll sew my buttons on. Hopefully it won't be too long before it's all finished, and I'll post a picture of the complete project once it is.

And then I'll get back to my blanket!

Granny Square Blanket - My First Crochet Project

There's two firsts here. My first blog post, and the topic - my first crochet project.

My Mum taught me how to knit when I was around 7, and I've knitted on and off most of my teenage & adult life, but I'd never taken the time to learn to crochet. Three weeks ago I decided I wanted to learn, bought a 4mm hook and followed some You Tube tutorials on granny squares. Soon, I was buying yarn with the intentions of making a whole blanket's worth of squares.

They might not be perfect, but either way, I'm pretty pleased. I'm planning on making 180 squares, and have done 104 in around two weeks.

 

My biggest mistake has been not sewing the ends in as I go along. I've seen the method of crocheting in ends as you go, but I prefer to sew ends in. I really should make the effort to get sewing now before I'm faced with doing all 180 at once! I have started with a few...

...but there's still a lot to go!


Once I've finished them all I plan to do one round in cream on each square, then sew them together. Again, I've watched various tutorials on You Tube showing methods of crocheting the squares together, but sewing gives the finish I prefer.

Hopefully it won't be too many more weeks until I finish this project, but I'm still taking time to do other things I love, like a cross stitch piece that is so close to being finished, and yet more (endless!) cushion covers I want to make. I'll get there in the end!