Little Ripple Blanket

In between lots of other things, over the past few days, I have managed to squeeze in some time here and there to complete the Ripple Blanket. 

Look!...

The colours haven't come out particularly well in these pictures...its the old 'no natural light' issue.  The blanket's only little, about a metre square, but the perfect size to leave draped over the back of the sofa to snuggle up under as needed. It's made from cheap acrylic wool so I'm very impressed with how snuggly it is really. I have tons of the wool left over too.

It was one of my first crochet attempts so I could list all the things that are wrong with it but I won't. Its not technically perfect but it's perfect for Vivod.

See you at the weekend.

My First Quilt

I am so impatient sometimes. I tried to wait until I got back to work to complete the quilt but I just couldn't. It was also nice to prove that my cheap, but very hard working, sewing machine can cope very well when it needs to. So Thursday morning was spent quilting and now my first ever quilt lies on the back of the big sofa....

Being my first ever quilt I didn't attempt anything fancy (and even I have to admit to the limitations of said sewing machine). I just sewed a wiggly line alone the vertical strips, length ways.

I did, however, take the time to add some little golden yellow quilting cotton stitching along the edge of the border, in zig zag...

It might not be my favourite creation but I do have to admit that it now looks pretty good for a first attempt. Being my first ever quilt I guess it will also always have a little sentimental value too. Of course, I am now hunting for inspiration for my next quilt.

To be honest, this half term has been pretty dull - partly due to the weather, but the nest's individual commitments, my very modest bank balance and forthcoming expenses, and the desire to restore much needed order and cleanliness at Vivod also played a part.

I did dedicate some time to helping child #2 sort her room out. She requested hanging rails in her room like I had supplied for Child #1. This meant that, by utilising the shelves I put up, she could eliminate the need for her tired old wardrobes and chest of drawers. Her room isn't yet finished (if it was me I wouldn't be able to rest until it was...she is so unlike me sometimes that if it wasn't for the fact that she was born at home, I would investigate the possibility that she was switched at birth!). On Thursday afternoon we dismantled them and took them to skips (which, as a I drive a Ford Fiesta, involved a significant amount of sawing doors etc in half - I paid the price for that the following day!). I did get a bit nostalgic during the dismantling phase. I remember buying the wardrobe and chest of drawers from IKEA several years ago when the girls were about 6 and 8 and shared a room which had just been redecorated in girly pink and purple. I had to save hard to buy them, and yet there I was sawing bits of them in half to take to the skips, glad to see the back of them! In all fairness, child #2's room is quite small and they did take up a lot of space.

On Friday, as the nest were at their dad's this weekend I did lots and lots of cleaning. I really didn't think this through properly when we moved. The old house would take me 2-3 hours to clean from top to bottom, this one takes at least twice that! It did mean that I could have a very chilled out weekend though. 

So what did I do? I crocheted of course! I picked up the ripple blanket and decided that I could get it finished within a week or two if I set my mind to it. It seems I am on a roll with reviving dormant projects at present. I will keep you posted with my progress!

Bye for now.

Creativity

Had a bit of a creative time recently.

It started with these little footstools. I bought the new 'Home Maker' magazine and instructions for making footstools was in the first issue. So after a trip to Aberkhan and B&Q, and an hour spent playing with power tools and a staple gun, these were the result...

The problem with Aberkhan is that whenever I go there I always come home with the things  I need, along with lots of other things that I find there that I feel compelled to bring home too.

In our old house (it didn't have a name engraved above the door like this one does), I had these pictures hanging on the living room wall (you can just about make them out on the left)....

I didn't put them back up at Vivod so they have spent 2 years underneath the loft stairs gathering dust. I then rearranged my living room a couple of weeks ago and the huge expanse of bare wall has been annoying me ever since. So another hour with the staple gun and this fabric, that I thought was too sweet to leave at Aberkhan, produced these....

Then, yesterday, I got the sewing machine out with the intention of doing Child #1's costume. She slept all morning so I made these instead...

Who else has matching pictures and cushions?!

After this I did something quite spontaneous! I went upstairs to fetch something - fabric I think and spotted the big plastic tub with the patchwork quilt I started years ago (for the old house pictured above - hence the colours). I figured that it was never going to progress unless I brought it back downstairs. It's listed in the Unfinished Business post - Number 11.

I took the quilt out to see how much needed to be done. I had to attach one side of the border, add the backing fabric and wadding, attach the trim and then do the fancy quilting thing over the top. And so it began! Today, all I have left to do is the fancy quilting bit which I was going to do at work but I want to see it finished so I might do this one at home instead.

To be honest, I don't really love the quilt that much at all. It's the first quilt I've ever made so it was just thrown together with any cheap fabric I could find. Of course, now, I am planning the next quilt. The next one will be something I love, and hopefully won't take me 4 years to complete. 

See you soon. 

Neglect!

Ok, I feel like I've been neglecting my blog lately. Its partly because, in all honesty, I really haven't done that much to write about! Its also because I have been busy with work, day to day life, and plodding on with existing projects.

One of the reasons I haven't been up to much is severe lack of funds - it a common January problem for me. Christmas is one cause, followed straight away by both child #1 and child #2's birthday but this year I have also paid for work that was done on the house too which has contributed to the problem quite a bit. Anyway, having been really good with the pennies, things are now back on track in time for half term next week.

I've not been as good with the finishing projects issue though, but I know the overall number has still reduced...I think. Well let's see actually. From the last post (Unfinished Business) I still haven't completed numbers 2,4,5,6,10,11,12,14,18,19,20,21 (I did actually throw number 7 in the bin!), the rest are all complete. So that's 12 projects.

In addition I have these new ones:

1. The Ripple Cushion

2. The Hug Cushion

3. The Granny Square Blanket

4. A new Felicity Stitches kit

(No pictures of this one yet - its all top secret until it's finished!)

So that's 16 in total - not bad - it's less than 21 anyway! I will try and stay on track again now. 

I am looking forward to half term. I have some work I need to do but I will get some time off too and hopefully it won't snow any more either - I hate winter so much now. I might actually do a little bit of work on the house too - maybe. It would be nice if the sun comes out and then I can assess the actual state of my garden and maybe start growing some more things.

I have a costume for my eldest to do some work on. She's a fab little actress and is in the school production in couple of weeks. She was handed a costume by her drama teacher along with the words 'can you sew?' - she replied 'No, but my mum can!'. I am quite excited about it though - there will be pictures. It will be creative too!

Anyway, I will come back soon with something more exciting.