Jewel Blanket and Never Ending Blanket

All the ends have been sewn in and a border of three rows of plain treble clusters has been completed. I thought the colours could do all the talking so the border is nothing fancy. Perfect for little people to fling over themselves and poke their toes through the holes (why do they all do that?!) without me getting annoyed. This blanket was finished back in December and has seen quite a bit of use since then. Still love the jewel like colours against the black outline.

As soon as I'd finished I decided I would do a bit of stash busting. I have an increasing supply of left over yarn from previous projects, and also odd balls of pure wool/part wool yarn from charity shops or donated to me by my Mum. I have been wanting to make a giant granny square blanket for a while and rather than buy yet more wool to make one, the oddments piling up in my wardrobe were going to get used.

This is the very beginning of the blanket. I love looking back at photos like this - the very start of something that I have made, before I even knew what it was going to look like. This was definitely not a project that had been planned in any great detail. I had wool and lots of it and I was going to turn it into a blanket in any which way I could. I started off with the smallest oddments, those teeny tiny lengths of wool that most other people would chuck out but I squirrel them away, knowing they will get used eventually.

Some of the wools I have used are the leftovers from my very first crochet blanket. It was such a lovely blanket to make, reminiscing about previous things I have made. The blanket grew and grew until I ran out of wool (apart from some more of that mid blue wool but I want to add a few more stripes of different colours before I do another few rows of blue.) and this is where the Never Ending name comes from. I am going to keep adding to this blanket every time I find some more wool or have leftovers from another project. The blanket will keep on growing until it is enormous.

I suppose it's about 1m square at the moment and it's getting some use already. All ends have been sewn in, pretty much as I went along - very unlike me! I'm loving this blanket already, even if it is a bit scratchy. Probably needs a wash to soften it up. Can you see what my favourite colours are? Blues, greys, greens, with the odd splash of mustard or coral. It fits into our lounge perfectly.

And the best thing of all? Both of these blankets were made out of my wool stash (just had to buy a couple of balls of black for the jewel blanket) so I have been very thrifty over the past few months.

Do you think I will ever stop making blankets? I think not. Although I have made a few things recently that are not blanket related. Will blog about them soon. x

All white in the kitchen

More makes for the kitchen, only these were made back in December. Once we had painted the walls, we put up some plain white roller blinds. Yes you can see two blinds for one window, there is a very good reason. Because it is a 1960s house the windows are all very wide, meaning that the cost of having blinds especially made is quite high. Seeing as the kitchen was just getting a mini makeover whilst we decide what we are doing with it, we just went ahead and bought two inexpensive blinds which do the job perfectly.

Anyway, we had to cut the blinds to fit therefore leaving me with two long strips of blind fabric that I couldn't possibly throw out.

I made a cardboard template and started cutting out circles of fabric. Then E came over to see what I was doing so I got her to work on the sewing machine.

She had loads of fun stitching these circles together right down the middle, just using plain white cotton thread. It didn't take very long to do although I'm sure she would have sat there for an hour stitching away.

I draped the finished garland over the kitchen window and it has been there ever since. BTW, this is not one of my original ideas, there are loads of these garlands dotted around the internet at the moment. But I'd definitely recommend giving it a go, such fun as Miranda's Mum would say!

Another mini make for the kitchen came about once I saw this after spending a considerable amount of time painting everything in sight brilliant white. It was starting to bug me but I had a little plan which took about 20 minutes to create.

Very ugly non white radiator cap. Not a good look.

Good old crochet. My husband shook his head in disgust and reminded me that you can actually buy replacement radiator caps, but there's no fun in that is there? Yes I think I am going mad but you really can crochet anything, pretty much!

The kitchen is still not yet quite finished but we are on the home straight. More photos to follow.

New year, new project

In fact, lots of new projects appearing in the PB house over the past couple of months. Not sure why, just got many ideas floating around in my head which need to be made into things. I thought about this one a couple of days ago and just had to make it. The kids went back to school today so this afternoon was the prime opportunity to have another go at quilting - well, my version of quilting anyway.

I cut out 6 strips of fabric (vintage duvet covers) and stitched them together, cut a piece of backing fabric the same size and also cut an old fleece blanket for the wadding. This was most definitely a "use what I could find around the house" type of project. It was also a project where I probably broke about a thousand quilting rules. I made it up as I went along, no instructions, just see what happens and deal with any mistakes that may arise.

Once I had sewn them all together I searched around again, looking for something to finish my mini quilt off as it was looking very plain.

After unsuccessfully attempting to blanket stitch around the outside using embroidery thread (it would appear I only possess blunt embroidery needles and my thumb is still smarting as proof) I took the easy option and did a simple slip stitch all the way around.

I then found a very small amount of leftover Rico cotton yarn (from the summer chevron blanket) and half trebled (htr, ch 1) all the way around. Nothing too fancy.

Finished in approx. 2 hours. Not bad going for me, considering I had to choose the fabrics in that time too. I am terrible at choosing fabrics, too much indecision and changing my mind at the last minute.

And here it is in action - a little mug mat for the new-to-us kitchen table. My kitchen is currently being Dottie Angeled! And we found a table on ebay - grey and white formica topped 1950s style. Just got to find some stools/chairs to go with it. We also have new floor, bright white painted tiles (see above, it worked out really well - clean, sand, prime and 2 coats of emulsion), and bright white walls and ceiling. It's looking so much better in there and it's somewhere we actually want to spend time. It even turns into a mini tapas bar early Saturday evening. A glass of red wine and some olives, feta and a few crisps and dips, radio on and you really could be in a tapas bar if you stretched your imagination quite a long way!

I am now looking forward to having another go at quilting, maybe another mug mat but with binding around the edge. I chickened out on the binding this time and I'm glad I did as I really like the crochet border. I'll post soon with more photos of the kitchen, it's nearly finished. Honest, we're getting there.

PS. There's no tea in that mug but you knew that anyway didn't you? x

Happy New Year

Celebrating the New Year with a little bit of crochet! Hope you all have a wonderful time bringing in the new year. We have already opened some bubbly and are relaxing at home this evening. The last few weeks of 2012 have not been good to us in the PB household so we are all hoping that 2013 will bring a happier, stress free time. Wishing you all a fantastic, happy and healthy new year. xxx

PS. Just been looking through some recent photos and I am wayyyy behind on my blogging. Must catch up - now there's a new year's resolution for me to try to keep!

Merry Christmas

Hope you all have a peaceful and relaxing few days. xxx

Charity shops rule!

More charity shop finds. I bought this lovely little Kokeshi doll from the local charity shop a couple of months ago. She is very heavy and was only £1.50. I love her because the paint colours are so delicate - I don't know whether she was supposed to look so faded or whether that's just what has happened over time. E thinks she is freaky and keeps trying to hide her (!) but not long after I got her, I decided she needed a little mat to sit on.

So I crocheted this little doily. It's a made up pattern which I was going to do a tutorial for, but who am I trying to kid?! In the run up to Christmas I have far too much else to keep me far too busy. There are a gazillion other free crochet coaster patterns out there for you all to choose from anyway. :)

This is how she looks. So cute.

I got this stainless steel necklace a couple of months ago too and have been wearing it most days ever since. It was a pound. I seem to remember my Mum had a necklace similar to this back in the 70s.

We hung the 1960s painting a couple of weeks ago. I love it, it just fits in nicely on this wall. Such a good find.

Here is a dreadful photo of the Franco Albini table I got for £7 in the summer. Unfortunately it is being moved into the garage over the festive season.

F loves all things dragon and dinosaur related. I spotted this teak dinosaur whilst looking for 1950s teak animals on ebay. He was a bargain and F was delighted when he turned up in the post - I hadn't told her that I'd won him, in fact I hadn't even told her I had bid for him. Here he is sat on her new Ikea picture ledge in her bedroom with a lovely dragon print that I bought from etsy.

Recent charity shop trips have been dedicated to buying vintage Christmas decorations. I have managed to buy quite a few this year so my dream of having a 100% vintage Christmas tree are becoming more of a reality. I think by next year I will hopefully have achieved it. Will post some photos once the tree is up and decorated. x

Absent again

No excuses, just been too lazy to blog! Hope you are all well and enjoying the wonderfully cold, crisp and sunny weather we are having - or maybe you are in the Southern Hemisphere and experiencing a different kind of weather altogether. The only downside of the sunshine is that it shows how dirty the windows are - must get cleaning tomorrow!

I had a few scraps Stylecraft which I thought would come into use for another diagonal crochet project - just a mini project mind you.

I made this a few weekends ago, sat with a cup of tea, the tv probably on whilst the kids were playing and doing their own thing. It was a lovely relaxing project, very satisfying making something from beginning to end in one sitting. Now that doesn't often happen, especially when I mainly make blankets.

Anyway, here is the end result - a little crochet mat for the kitchen windowsill, for Gerard to sit on obviously.

He loves his little mat and the colours tie in nicely with the colours currently in the kitchen. I hope you have noticed that there are nice bright white new tiles on our kitchen windowsill. Yes, we finally got round to getting the tiles done. The kitchen renovations have been going on for an eternity. It's been at least 18 months since I started painting the cabinets. M has a week booked off soon so we can crack on and prep surfaces, paint the walls and ceiling, re-wax the cabinets and lay new flooring.

Here's a sneak peek at the tiling just after it was done. The kitchen is so much brighter with all white tiles. We have also moved the dresser out of the kitchen so we now have space for a tiny table and chairs. So nice being able to sit in the sunshine with some breakfast and a cup of tea. When I say table and chairs I mean our camping table and some cheap folding chairs from the garage. Still searching for the perfect mini table on ebay - could take some time.

I've got loads of photos of recent charity shop finds. Can't wait to show you. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. x