A Little Crocheted Cushion

A while back I made several of these little squares, planning to make them into a cushion. Somehow I just didn't get round to it (most probably too many other projects to distract me...!) and had actually forgotten all about it (a regular occurrence with me, i have to admit!) until last week. So over the past couple of days, I have been crocheting the little squares together and have finally finished my little cushion...

For the back of the cushion, I made a plain granny square...

It matches my first granny blanket perfectly! The colours are the same as I just used scraps of yarn leftover from the blanket to finish off the cushion. For the squares I used the pattern for the little squares in the Springtime Throw from Cute & Easy Crochet by Nicki Trench and the pattern for the plain granny square at the back of the cushion is from 200 Crochet Blocks by Jan Eaton.

I am really happy with it, I really love the fresh spring colours. I have been crochet mad this week actually and have another couple of little projects on the go which I hope to finish off today and then I really must get back to the ice cream blanket!

I am working all weekend so no crochet, knitting or crafting for me but I hope everyone has a lovely weekend whatever you are up to.

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Breakfast Bars

This morning, after the school run, I decided to bake. I wanted to make something slightly healthier than usual and as I had all the ingredients in already I chose this recipe for "breakfast bars" by Nigella Lawson. I didn't have any dried cranberries so used raisins instead, and I can report that they are very tasty indeed. I imagine they will be great to have for a quick breakfast as Nigella suggests but one with a cup of tea at lunchtime when you can't be bothered to make anything else (like me today) is also good! G likes to take things like flapjacks etc with him when he goes mountain biking so I think I might make him a batch of these to share with his buddies for his next trip away in a couple of weeks time.

Thank you for all the lovely comments recently, they are very much appreciated. I have nearly finished another couple of little crochet makes which I will show you very soon...

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Flower Power

I have been enjoying making some pretty crochet flowers over the past couple of days...

Pretty pastels...

I made a few slightly smaller flowers as brooches for Miss M. The one above looks sweet pinned on her little cardigan...

A bright greeny blue. My mum had given me the yarn she had leftover from knitting my scarf so I used it to make this flower brooch for her...

The bright red flower brooch above is for a very good friend...

The pattern for these flowers can be found in Nicki Trench's book Cute & Easy Crochet. I think they look best when worked in a cotton yarn and with a little brooch pin attached they make nice little gifts. They are also very addictive to make and I so enjoyed making them all! I was very happy to read that Nicki Trench has a new book due to be published later in the year called Cute & Easy Crochet With Flowers. There are some details here. I have loved her other books so I'm very much anticipating this new one.

I did lots of knitting at the weekend for the ice cream blanket so I'm having a little break from it just now and have turned my attention to crochet at the moment. Back soon with another little crochet project...

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A Weekend at Home

Yesterday we had a very lazy day and spent lots of time in the garden making the most of the sunshine. Today G has gone off to do this and Miss M is with a little friend and her family for a picnic, but for me, this weekend has been spent at home doing some of my favourite things - baking, crochet, knitting and drinking tea! And after a very busy week, I have thoroughly enjoyed it...

Baking rhubarb and orange cake on Friday night. G and I both love rhubarb and he declared this cake to be "gorgeous"! High praise indeed...

Pretty flowers from G yesterday, maybe it was because of the rhubarb cake...

Knitting in the sun yesterday whilst sitting on the bench in the garden...

My little knitted squares for the ice cream blanket are steadily increasing in number...

Making daisy chain bracelets with Miss M yesterday...

Enjoying a glass of elderflower champagne (made by G last year) yesterday evening and a little crochet...

Pancakes and maple syrup for breakfast this morning...

I still have another hour before Miss M comes home so I am planning to work on a little neglected crochet project and enjoy another cup of tea. A weekend spent at home can be very pleasant indeed!

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Cars

My friend's wee boy turned two last week. Like many little boys his age, he absolutely loves cars. As part of his birthday a gift, I made him this cushion...

I think he quite liked it because when I gave it to him, he hugged it a lot and shouted "cars" several times! As usual, I just bought a plain cushion (navy this time from here) and used bondaweb to appliqué on the felt and fabric car shapes, then added some bright buttons for the wheels. It was quite nice to make something for a little boy for a change as I often make things for wee girls having a daughter myself as well as six nieces!

Above is a little cross stitch picture I am working on for another friend who is due to have a baby boy next month. It is another Stitching Shed kit and has been so nice to work on, such lovely bright colours and a sweet design.

I am also busily working away on the little knitted blanket for my friends wee girl, as well as an appliqué picture, crochet brooches, and hopefully Miss M's little summer dress! Lots and lots to keep me occupied! What are you knitting, stitching or crafting at the moment?

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Trying New Things

Over the weekend, I tried out a couple of new recipes and also learned some new crafty skills...

Miss M and I made this on Saturday for G to share with his work mates on Sunday. It's called Party Time Refrigerator Cake and is a Lorraine Pascale recipe from this book. It's packed with chocolate, maltesers and digestive biscuits and is quite delicious. The recipe made loads so there was plenty to share with my mum and dad and also to keep a little in the biscuit tin for us...

Red Lentil, Chickpea and Chilli Soup. I also made this on Saturday and it was really good, really thick and warming. Perfect as the weather was wet, cold and generally awful here on Saturday. Recipe can be found here...

I have been practising my crochet techniques recently, starting with this simple plain granny square. I like how this little square has turned out and am thinking that lots of these little squares in pretty colours would make a lovely blanket. Pattern is from Jan Eaton's 200 Crochet Blocks..

I have also been practising some embroidery stitches as well as learning some new ones. Clockwise from top - cross stitch, whipped running stitch, blanket stitch and back stitch...

Learning lazy daisy stitch. I found this very tricky and as you can see a lot more practise is needed...

Above is the book Stitch with Love by Mandy Shaw, such a nice book. I borrowed this from the library and have found it fantastic for learning new stitches and techniques...

Another new recipe, this time made by G - these are Sesame Peanut Noodles. He made a huge bowl of these which we are going to take to work during the week...

So, it has been a weekend for trying new things. I love to do this every so often, especially at the weekend when there tends to be a bit more time.

Thank you for the lovely comments on my "Prettifying" post - you are all very kind. Back soon with another little project...

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Prettifying

Have you ever bought anything which you like so much and find so pretty that it makes you want to prettify and tidy other things you have? Well, this happened to me last weekend...

I found this little trinket box in our local Shelter shop last Saturday and completely fell in love with it. I thought it would be perfect for storing small pieces of jewellery like rings etc. So for the price of £1.75, it came home with me...

The wooden box above I have had for at least ten years, probably longer, and use it to keep jewellery and trinkets in. (It was bought in Ikea and they still sell something similar). It is functional, but not very pretty. I couldn't have my new sweet little trinket box sitting beside it in it's present state! So, I (and my little helper, Miss M) set about giving the little wooden chest a makeover...

First it was painted pink using the rest of the little tester pot of paint we used to paint Miss M's embroidery hoop recently. Miss M did the painting for me, she just loves to paint...

Then I used the decopatch paper I had left from my little chair makeover to completely cover the box and the drawers. I am really happy with how it has turned out...

Here it is in the little alcove in our bedroom where I keep all my nice things - jewellery and perfume and things. I really should have taken a photograph of the alcove before the prettifying as it was really quite a mess and not very pretty at all! Anyway, I am very happy with how it looks now and am very glad that I found the little trinket box and that it inspired me to make my little space nice.

Hope everyone has a really great weekend, whatever you are up to :)

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In The Red

My photos from this past week definitely seem to have a red theme going on...

My bright red felt apple brooch brightening up my jacket this week. Pattern and instructions for this sweet and simple little brooch can be found here...

Juicy red strawberries...

Getting lots of inspiration from this gorgeous book...

Some lovely red and white gingham fabric. I am planning to make a summer dress for Miss M with this...

New yarn. The plan is to crochet a few more brooches with this gorgeous bright red cotton...

I really, really love red. It's most definately my favourite colour!

Thank you so much for the lovely comments on Miss M's little appliqué picture - she was smiling from ear to ear when I told her about them! Also hello to my new readers (and all my readers in fact!) and thank you so much for visiting my little blog.

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