YARN, FLOWERS, CAKE AND CROCHET

 

I was so happy when the yarn arrived from the UK a few days ago so I can get back to crocheting my grandson's green blanket. 

I do love the organza bags they come in and use the larger ones to store my finished crocheted blankets. I also ordered 3 extra balls for the blanket I have been working on as I underestimated the amount in my stash . It seems to be a common problem for me. Here is my progress before I put it away to continue my grandson's blanket.

It was my birthday on the weekend which sneaked up on me. I thought it was next weekend until my dear mum reminded me lol. She insisted on organising afternoon tea at my home , bringing everything ( except the champers) and organising my eldest daughter to bring a cake. So, I was blessed to have my gorgeous parents, eldest daughter , son in law and my 2 grandsons celebrate with me. 

 

Hubby brought home some beautiful roses on Friday. They are a deeper red than shown in the pic, absolutely beautiful.

My parents gave me this lovely cyclamen. I don't have a good history with cyclamens so I hope I can nurture this one better.

Sadly, my youngest daughter and her partner had other things to cope with. The vet was coming to their home to say farewell to their much loved cat who had ongoing health issues for the past couple of years which they had tried to overcome but eventually lost the battle. They gave him some very comfortable and pampered extra years. One of my own cats passed away several years ago on my birthday too. So, it was a bitter sweet birthday but one I hold dear because both my parents were able to celebrate with me as well as my other daughter and her family. 

Pets are always in our hearts just like our family.

CROCHET PROGRESS

I have 3 UFOs in progress at the moment. Little Lucy still needs her borders sewn on and my pandemic quilt (  Wish You Well..Gail Pan) just needs borders cut and sewn on. I also have the Woodland Secrets awaiting sashings. Have I spent time in my sewing room? Nope. I walk in there, take a look, ponder which to tackle first and then walk out again. I guess my sewing mojo has taken a holiday. Thus my crochet progress. 

I am having difficulty trying to work out colour combos and where to place them but I just work it out as I go. I am eager to get back to my grandson's blanket but this one is keeping me busy until the yarn arrives. 

Happy crafting. 

OOPS

Oops...I miscalculated the amount of left over yarns in my stash for my grandson's green blanket. Now I have come to a stand still until more yarn arrives that I ordered yesterday. I still have a few ends to sew in so some progress shall be made. Here is the blanket so far. 

 

I crocheted the 1st large block of my other crochet in progress . Instructions for this block required turning it to the wrong side to crochet some rounds but I cannot work out why. Any experienced crocheters out there know why? 

All 9 blocks of my quilt have been finished. 7 appliqued and 2 plain patchwork.

When I was sorting out the fabrics for the sashings I realised that they are all very busy patterns and I think the over all quilt really needs some plainer fabrics to make the blocks stand out. I have already decided to do plain borders instead of the busy patchwork borders but it looks like I need to find somewhere to shop for some fabrics, something I haven't done since the pandemic. A lot of quilt shops have closed down here so I shall need to shop online or go to Spotlight.  Wish me luck! 

GREEN IT IS.

 

My 3 year old grandson's favourite colour is green so I gathered a variety of green yarn to crochet a blanket for him like I did for his big brother in blues using a different pattern. It wasn't easy to decide how to arrange the different greens so after putting a couple aside I eventually  just started crocheting hoping it would come together. My daughter saw what I had done and was of the opinion that the colours would look okay once the blanket grew. I agreed and kept going. 

Like quilts, it is amazing how different the same designs look using different colours. This is the same pattern as my Springfrost bkanket.

The past couple of weeks I have read these 2 books. " An Unorthodox Life" is a 2 season doco series on Netflix and " Brazen" is Julia's bio. 

Time for me to get back to my UFOs as I tend to put crochet first. I am seriously addicted. 

FINISHED

 

Ta da! My Springfrost blanket is finished. There are 7 border rows and I love the final white one.

The top photo depicts the true colours. I couldn't straighten the blanket out for the floor pic but you get the idea.

My 3 year old grandson wants a green crocheted blanket. I made a blue one for his older brother when he was about 2 and a half years old. The extra green yarns I ordered from the UK arrived a couple of days ago but I forgot to order an off white one to add amongst the greens.

One is more blue than I thought so I shall put it in my stash. Now I have the tiresome task of working out what sequence the greens should be in. I have a whitish ball of yarn to add but it may be a bit stark.

Maybe I will put the yarn aside for a while and finish the last needle turn block for my UFO quilt.

I couldn't do much yesterday due to a migraine and it has been a bad week with my FMS, sleeplessness and industrial type noise all around us with constant building still going on. Today is a bit quieter apart from some hammering  so I am resting up while I can. 

I hope you are enjoying your weekend.

MORE CROCHET

 

While I was waiting for the Springfrost blanket border instructions I started another crochet project from Lucy's blog ( Attic 24) using my own colours. I am still unsure how it will look but have kept on crocheting hoping I can figure out the colourways as I go. 

After waiting 2 weeks for the border instructions to be released I got started last night and the 3rd row is in progress with 4 more to go. I have used a different colour than specified for the 1st row . 

I have not done any stitching this week but I have found some fabric for a UFO's border so hopefully I will have some to show next blog post if life doesn't get in the way.

Happy stitching.

UFO SAGA

 

Some more needleturning on my UFO has been happening and I have completed 2 more blocks.

Here is where the problems begin. 2 of the hearts have been trimmed too far down the middle of the heart at the top. The heart pictured on the right is one of them. I have over sewn the slit but it is very noticable and shall  probably fray. Hmmm, maybe a button to cover? Shall worry about that later. 

Next...

I was happily needleturning this afternoon when I realised  the block had gathered and been caught underneath resulting in being sewn as well. I should be grateful I didn't stitch it to my pants! 

I thought I would start cutting the fabric for the 2 plain blocks in the quilt. However, whoever cut the fabrics for the kit managed to cut a couple an eigth of an inch short which means I can't cut 2" squares from it.  Fortunately, I have some fabric from this line in my stash which will match okay...I think. 

With another week left to wait for the crocheted blanket border instructions and more yarn on order from the UK for my grandson's blanket, I have started another crochet project from Attic 24. I won't say what it is yet incase my version of colour combinations doesn't work. I am using my yarn stash.

Well, having put the last needleturning block aside, I am now sipping a glass of champers watching the 20th anniversary eps of Kath and Kim while hubby is in bed on meds again. Gotta get a laugh from somewhere!