The Granny of a cushion!

Attic 24 inspiration

What a lovely cushion!  A while ago I came across more Attic 24 inspiration and decided that it was time to add a bit more colour to my house.  After making cushions for my classroom and past class, I decided that I wanted a super colourful splash on my own sofa, darn it.  Isn't Lucy's cushion so full of spring sunshine?

So, last summer I bought loads of lovely Rowan Cotton DK in my favourite colours.  I used some to create a class bunting (which looks beautiful up by the way) and started creating simple granny squares of my own.

After making a variety of colour combinations, I started to stitch the squares together but it just didn't look right.  So, I had a go adding a pale green border like Lucy used, but my more primary colour choices didn't play well together.
I have always loved the old-fashioned black borders in the shawl worn in "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" and also in the blanket in Amy's apartment in "Big Bang Theory" (yes, I too look out for crochet items on tv shows) and tried this.  LOVED IT!

       

 And then came the long wait.....
After a term of non-stop work, I finally took time this Easter to finish the cushion.  Some adding of borders and Lucy's clever joining technique for granny squares meant that my lovely cushy cushion is all done!
Ta! Da! Thanks Lucy for the inspiration...

Granny Bunting at Attic24!

I LOVE attic24 blog page!  I have few blogs that I discovered without pilfering from my sister's finds and this one is completely up my street!  This lovely lady has my taste in colour and design and she is a generous sharer of designs and ideas which she in turn has borrowed from others!  I wanted to share her page with my sisters as a find of my own- this didn't work, of course sister J has her already!!  Sister L will love her too as she the Granny Square queen, I'll explain....
Lucy from Attic24 has designed a fab Granny- Triangle to use for bunting.  Aren't they beautiful? 

She has posted a free pattern and photo tutorial and has asked if anyone wants to make triangles for Yarndale which is a craft festival being held on the Yorkshire Dales on the 28th-29th September (I wish it were nearer).  She is making these into a huge bunting with a deadline of end of July (ish).  I am definately going to make some as a thankyou for some of the inspiration she has given me already- Who fancies chipping in? 
http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/2013/05/granny-bunting-love.html
 By the way here are some of her ideas that got me crocheting again after a mini draught!

Her beautiful Granny's flower cushion was just what I was looking for as a cushion project!  I've worked up all the squares now- and used a cushion to check  rough sizing.  She has a stunning tutorial for a flower petal cushion too that I want to make.

Her cute little dk cotton circles were perfect for the hair clips I was making for my school fete!

  These are going to be in "The Lucky Clip Dip". Children can plunge a hand in to pull out two random clips!

Batch One is in dk cotton and batch Two is currently being made from my wool scrap bag.  I hate to use a cliche- but it's a serious great stash busting scrap buster!  Hannah, of course, chose pink girly ones...

Thank you Lucy- You are a rainbow of colour on this dreary day!

Belated Birthday Bear.

Ladies and Gentlemen....Presenting Penny Bear in all her Royal Glory!  I've been meaning to post this for a while as it was a lovely gift from one of my sisters for Katie's 6th birthday.  Isn't it ace?  The present arrived just as Hubby and I were rushing around to get ready for a surprise birthday meal.  It got packed in the changing bag and brought along when we picked  up the girls.  The evening was a riot of little girls having a whole restaurant wrapped around their dainty fingers and the crown- well- crowned it off!  Seriously, the waiters were enchanted by my little madam in a crown, placing her own orders and skipping around to introduce Penny to the chefs.  She basically had the whole restaurant wish her a happy birthday as we left (By name, I might add).  Baby Hannah wasn't going to be out done either as she sang "Twinkle Twinkle", danced to "Jingle Jangle  scarecrow" and flutter her little lashes to the waiters.  What finally sent me off into hopeless laughter was our charming waiter go down on his knee, hold out his arms and have both my little heart-breakers run into his arms to hug him goodbye.  I'm in for a rough ride with these two, I think!

Joining the SIBOL

SIBOL is a group of wonderful women who crochet and knit an amazing variety of granny squares which are crocheted together to make heirloom blankets for the elderly. This project was created just last year by Sue (Mrs Twins) and has reached people all over the world. Her " Sunshine International Blankets of Love" have notched up an impressive 52 blankets to date in various themes and have featured in quite a few magazines!

Mrs Twins saw a note on my sisters blog about me and hopped over for a friendly hello and I loved looking through her blog and ravelry page.
http://www.ravelry.com/groups/-sibol-
http://sunshineinternationalblanketsoflove.blogspot.com/2011/02/sibol-giveaway.html
http://sunshineinternationalblanketsoflove.blogspot.com/2011/02/sibol-giveaway.html
I wanted to waited until I had made up a colourful batch before I made my first contribution but saw a great freebie giveaway and needed to send my little one off right away!
I unwound a previous mistake - it was supposed to be a baby hat that I started 3 years ago and got so completely confused by- and reused the wool to make this one. I hope you like it Sue! More will make their way to you over the year x

First time Crochet.

My newly crocheting sister is eager to learn how to make Granny squares but worries that they will be beyond her skills. Well, look what I've dug up. It's my first attempt at a Granny Square! I came across this the other day in my wool stash and had to post it! I remember reading through the crochet codes as if I was in the Matrix. It was such a headache to stumble through sc, dc, ch 1 and so on. I always find it helps to read through a whole row of instructions first and try to visualise what is happening to the piece.

Also, check out Snipsnaphappy's Blog where she has made "The Happy Hooker's Backwards Project" which is a blanket made from lots of little squares of only 3 rounds each- very quick and simple to make in spare minutes.

I think we will be doing some phone-crochet lessons soon!