Thinking.......

.......about a fair bit actually. So what's new?

I was thinking.....How did I manage to get frequent blog posts out up until last year? I still cannot work it out. I don't think i'm any busier than I was, and I certainly don't seem to be achieving as much (in the REAL world) as I thought I would, with my posting being more infrequent. 

Maybe I should be doing less of this! ha ha

I am somewhat baffled. 

I am still fighting time.....like I am sure we all are. 

I simply cannot fit it all in.

I have been busy. Busy with this, busy with that. Life it seems, wants to be jam packed.

I haven't even been able to be as creative as I have wanted to be. Only the odd bits have been done.

My blanket keeps stalling. This is what happens, when you start a blanket on a whim, with no pattern or yarn amount. If there is one thing I am totally pants with, it's judging my yarn amounts for a project fairly correctly. I simply do not have a clue! 

So, my blanket, has become so much bigger than I had originally had in my head. I was thinking 'lap blanket', but it seems that it is working up to be a king size 'bed blanket'. Grrrrrrrrrr. 

Remember this?

I showed this pic a few posts ago. It looks a bit bland doesn't it. Actually, it was quite colourful but the bland bit was the bit I was working on at the time.

This picture below shows the bigger picture of what it is to become.....

Can you see what it is?

When I was making the hot water bottles last year with the cross stitch flowers on them, I thought whether it was possible to make a blanket of small squares using a pixelated flower design, similar to the cross stitch. I'd not really seen anything similar in the crochet world, although I had seen something similar done in fabric patchwork. So I set about finding something that I thought would be good to translate. Cath Kidston was a pretty obvious choice. I had planned to make her pin cushion design from her 'Stitch' book, but thought it was a good one to do in crochet instead. It incorporated a border which pleased me! But let me tell you, it has not been plain sailing. At first the plan was to do it in a one round granny square, but it soon became apparant that that was not going to work well and that two rows needed to be done. That is what suddenly made my blanket big!

Choosing colours was tricky too. I wanted to stick to a Cath colour palette for it, but I didn't want white as I thought it was a tad too harsh. I settled for a cream. I decided to join the squares together as I went along. This was because they were small squares, and my total number was to be 1152. The thought of all those little squares loose gave me chills! The only trouble is, when you start this way, you cannot change your mind with colour. The pale pink would stand out more if it was next to white, so i'm not convinced cream was the way to go. Also, the deep red of the rose may be too deep. Again, it's difficult to judge when you are working with it so closely. It's only when you stand far back from it you can see the picture developing. I could go back and change in the red for a really deep pink. It wont be easy to weave the blocks in, but i'll make that call when it's finally finished. I am over half way now. I have had to keep stopping because I keep running out of yarn. I am trying to get little projects done in between whilst I wait.

This is a big blanket. Goodness knows when it will be finished. I think because I am not entirely convinced of my colour choices, I am happy to put it down for a week or two at a time. And, although it is a good bed size, i've decided it will be a blanket that will be kept in the car for journeys and outings etc. Just thinking that, makes me not feel too bad if my colour choices are not as good as they perhaps could have been!

So, projects in between.

Well, after the shawl-scarf, in my last post, I made a present for a blogging friend whose birthday it was.

It was a coat hanger cover. The pattern was taken from one of my favourite Japanese crochet books (the name of which I don't have to hand at this moment in time. Sorry. I have posted about it before). 

I also have made a start on a little granny squares blanket for a gift for a family member's new arrival.

I'm hoping that this project won't take so long. I am on a tight schedule!

My other little crafty project was making over a cabinet I bought a while ago. It was a simple little cabinet, perfect for my crafting bits, but it was stained deep brown and heavily varnished. It needed to become pink. Then, when it was pink, I thought it needed something of interest on the front as it looked a bit bare. I took a design from a cheap favourite tea towel and voila....

I'm happy with it. It's quite quirky. It just needs a bit of sanding down and bashing about to 'weather' it in a little and it will be tickety-boo.

We managed to get away for a few days in the half term holiday just gone. A few days of glorious weather was a miracle in amongst all the bad weather we had been having. Sun, sea, flowers budding. I was a happy little bunny that's for sure. It's amazing what a few days of being away from your usual surroundings can do for you!

The sun has 'mostly' continued to shine since we have been back. Sunny days are so great, so uplifting. I have been making use of my little teapot and cosy....and loving it.

Not sure if I ever posted about this little make. The trouble is, as I do stuff, I click and upload on instagram. I then cannot remember if I have posted about it on this old little blog.

This teapot was a Mother's day gift and it needed a bit of fluffery around it. A little impromptu tea cosy was made and some Apple Blossom was added. I'm really rather taken with it. It was an ad-hoc, make it up as you go along pattern, but i'm pleased with the results! Tea is a joy to have in it!

Okay, I think i'm now up to date since my last post. Eeeek, sorry about my ramblings, that's the problem with not posting so frequently. I have a lot to say!

Cheerio for now

Have a super day

Vanessa

xxx