The Makings of a Quilt (Top)

1: Interview the fabrics.





2: Make a selection.







3: Cut into the finalists.


4: Decide who goes where.



5: Add a little bit of this and that.






6: Sit back and enjoy the view.

Now to decide - a quilt, or just a blanket...

Another Crazy Quilt

Well, it's finally done! The crazy colourful throw I started a little while ago after splurging on an insane amount of cotton lawn fabric. I did choose to back it with blanket fabric instead of a vintage sheet in the end - it hangs better, and what's a blanket for if not for warmth after all?

It currently resides in the sitting room for snuggles before bedtime, snuggles after bath-time and snuggles in the morning when reading a book. It's for snuggles, our new go-to blanket. My little nod to Cassandra Ellis and the magnificent quilts she creates.

Patience & Perseverance

It's amazing what can be achieved with just a little bit of everyday perseverance and a stubborn disposition.

Stitch, stitch, click, click, over and over, every day, just keep going. And ta da! A blanket is born!

The last block rolled off the needles on Solstice day morning, and the rest of the day was spent sewing the blocks together into rows, and then sewing the rows together before weaving in loose ends. Blocking took one day and then the babes had a new blanket to snuggle under. They declare that this is the warmest blanket ever, and is their number one go-to - quite an achievement given that I only made this to get rid of all my scrap balls of yarn!

Prettier than I imagined it would be, warmer than I had expected it would be, and used more than I thought it would ever be, this blanket is really something for nothing. A bonus all round.

Details to follow on Ravelry at some point insha'allah.

Not been idle

I've not been idle this Ramadan, or Eid. As well as the blanket I am attempting to make using up all the horrible acrylic yarn I have amassed, I have also uncovered every remnant ball of yarn from the nice stuff to finish off all those odds and ends in another project.

Yep. Another blanket. I know. I know. But what to do. Come winter time we need blankets, right? And this project is a nice one - copying the log cabin blanket I made a while (three years?!!) back, but with a twist... instead of one huge square it will be made of twenty-five smaller ones. Because I like that kind of pain.

So far I'm only a small way into this project. I hope to finish it before winter, but seeing as autumn seems to have suddenly dropped on us (when did that happen?) I can't guarantee it.

But some yarn, some tea, a book, some company... it's all good.

Ripple Redux

Making headway on the ripple blanket.

Sometimes it sits for days with no work being done on it at all. Then somedays, whenever I can grab five minutes I quickly work a few more stitches. Those stitches turn into rows. And row on row, slowly slowly, something quite wonderful happens. A blanket is born.

It's an easy project, with no pressure or deadline. Just the way I like my projects - relaxing, and easy-going.

Revisiting the Ripple

I'm not a fan of acrylic yarn. You could call that an understatement. It repels me. I hate the feel of it and I don't like it next to my skin. It baffles me, then, as to how I've managed to accrue so MUCH of it over the time I've been a yarn addict. It just doesn't end. It goes on and on.

To finally rid the house of all abominable acrylic I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone - work up yet another blanket to satiate my mad, blanket obsessed mama hen subconscious, and finally use up all leftover acrylic from every last vestige I could find.

And what better way to do so than with a bit of ripple.







I only hope I can make a blanket big enough without having to buy yet MORE horrid yarn to finish it off with, which would then thus leave me with yet more leftover icky yarn to get rid of. This could be a vicious circle...

Granny Granny

There seems to be an increase in granny related crochet around these parts. I'm finding the craft speedy and pretty as I search for warmth now that winter has decided it really will fall this year.

I admit it; these relatively warm weeks have lulled me into a laziness and a false belief that we have enough blankets, mittens, scarves, cosies etc etc BUT WE DO NOT - we never will. Never will the need to make blankets leave my mind until I have a house bundled to the rafters with them like those mad women who collect newspapers and when they die firefighters have to force their way into the building and hack a tunnel through the amassed paper to retrieve the body (imagination running away with me ... chocolate rush, I apologise) before they discover that she died from a column of newspaper falling on her crushing her to death. That will be my fate. Except with blankets - I will suffocate on quilts and blankets and my life will be held up as a moral - not as a shining example, but as a terrible warning.

Unless global warming lulls me into a false sense of security by making winter so warm that I am too busy making fly swats to make slippers. Like this year. Winter just crept up so sneakily, and now I am playing catch up - knitting much too slow - we are sewing and crocheting our way to cosiness.

I don't think crochet will ever replace my love for knitting, but it's coming pretty damn close...

Now must make blankets, and covers and mittens, oh my!



*** *** ***