Double Chrysanthemum blooms...

Spring has arrived, and we have not one but two blooms that have opened out and blossomed

I've completed both the singular and double colour, retro, Chrysanthemum cushions

The monochromatic cushion was completed first, enabling me to have a play around with the pattern

The back I decided to keep simple with a giant granny square, as the focus point is the bloom on the front

Once a basic pattern had been formed, I wanted to see what it looked like by adding a second  accentuating colour. These really aren't my taste in colours, but surprisingly I absolutely love how they work together, giving an authentic retro feel to the design

I continued to mix the two colours across the back too

I found some great packs of buttons at my local charity shop, and this set were perfect (they look more yellow in real live!)

It felt great to get these both finished, as the end process always drags for me, partly as I can't wait to see how all the components come together, but also i've got another 50 ideas and projects that i'm eager to try out!

These cushions have great texture. This image is actually the back of the flower, I like how that looks too!!

I just need to capture some more images in good light, and get them listed in my Folksy shop!

As you saw last week, I have already made a start on the next product. The flowers are finished, and now I'm making another c2c square, but it's still not a cushion, I'm trying something new, any ideas??

Flowers & PJ's

So in my head I was thinking I could get both of my Chrysanthemum cushions completed for this week, but this is the problem, what my head thinks and what is reality are two different things!

I have pretty much completed one though, apart from the last couple of buttons to be sewed on.

I will get cracking with the second and hopefully fingers crossed they can have their special ta dah moment together pretty soon!

Until then I'll just leave you with a sneaky peak!

I did get a little side tracked at one point. I had been tidying the bedroom, which led to me sorting out my wardrobe, when I found a pair of P.J bottoms that had got a hole in. Now I'm sure the average person would just chuck them, but for me I saw potential! I sat down immediately and starting cutting them up in to strips, and before I'd got too far, I grabbed my largest crochet hook and started a circle.

I absolutely love how this looks. It has an amazingly thick feel to it, perfect to turn it into a basket. A fab quick, fun project I thought, BUT, it totally kills the wrist, and gave me a shooting pain up my arm. Gutted! I will persevere, but I will be sensible and do just a little at a time. I had set aside some jumpers to use too, and was looking forward to having a play. I don't know if it would help if I used a larger size hook, as I just went with what I had, which was only 6mm, so it does turn out quite dense! I will have a go, but all in good time....

I did do a cheeky little yarn order. Sensibly it was because I needed a joining colour, so I could actually finish an old wip,

 but as there was a drops sale, it would have been rude not to throw another pretty in the basket too!!

As I'm finishing projects. this meant I had nothing portable to do in lunch breaks. I decided to make some more flowers.

 If you remember these were from my monochrome cushion, but I have something different planned for these, but you'll have to stay tuned to find out what!

I'm still continuing with my floral mood blanket.

 It's growing well now, and I appreciated that it actually covers my legs now when I sew in the ends, as it was beneficial when we had a couple of chilly evenings!

That's all for this week, I hope to have more visuals for you next week...

Chrysanthemum colourways...

So it was back home and back to work this week, and it doesn't take long to feel like you've not been away! Not got much to show you this week. I've been continuing with my Chrysanthemum pattern, working it in the other colours. Starting with the orange flower

and squaring it off with the green

these colours are a bit out of my comfort zone, but i'm liking the retro feel of them

this cushion will need some serious blocking, but i'm liking how it's turned out so far

the weather has been a bit all over the place this week, makes us feel very lucky we'd had such lovely warmth and sun whilst we were away

Another month has slipped by ever so quickly. Time just flies so quick these days it leaves my head in a spin! This is a little round-up of April, sadly lacking in crafts, so I really need to make a bigger effort in May and see if I can keep with time just a little bit!

So i'm off to get my head down and my hook out, lets get cracking...

Until next week...

Sunny South Coast...

This week we spent a lovely few days down on the South Coast, and the weather was glorious. We stayed with family in Lancing, and on arrival, after refreshments, we set off down to the town and headed straight towards the beach. After a little tour, the left us to wander, and we headed towards Brooklands park for some lunch.

We couldn't help ourselves, we had to indulge in a bit of geocaching whilst there, and found two by the seafront.

The sun was gleaming, and the waves were lapping, an instantly relaxing sound to me. 

The tide was going out, revealing squidgy sand, leaving its ripple marks, and little pools.

My face was positively glowing on return.

The following day we took a trip to Worthing. The sun was still beating down, and after our morning coffee we took a stroll around town, which had a great mix of high street and independent stores. I found a lovely little craft makers store, the Craft Tea gift shop, where I spotted Made with my very own hands, whom i follow on Facebook, its a small world. 

We ventured down to the seafront, and walked along the pier, where we always like to have a little play on the 2p machines! At the end of the pier, was a cafe decorated in 1930's style, which had been recommended to us, so we stopped for afternoon tea. I can assure you it is well worth a visit, I can imagine it must be a great atmosphere when a pianist is performing.

We thoroughly enjoyed our day and felt very at home there. Again we relaxed watching the tide go out.

For our last full day we planned a trip to Brighton. Firstly, we stopped at Shoreham-by-sea, as we'd been told about some house boats that were well worth a nosy at! They were much larger than I was expecting, and a variety of styles from quirky to modern.

We took the bus to Brighton, and after a panic that hubby may of lost his phone and the time consuming issue of getting family phone numbers to find out, and me getting hassle from work, we were eventually able to kick back and enjoy our day. We strolled around North Laine, taking in the atmosphere and stopped for some lunch.

We again ventured towards the sea and had our fun on the pier, the wind picked up by late afternoon so we took the train back and enjoyed another lovely evening meal.

We had a leisurely morning, after packing up our belongings, we took a stroll around the garden.

And went for a drive along Worthing coastline and stopped at the infamous Sea lane cafe, where we were treated to lunch.

It may have only been a few days, but being away from home and everyday routine did us the world of good, and the bonus of warm sunshine and sea air.

Back home, and the following day we were adjusting to being back so decided to go for a walk and do a spot of geocaching. We found a couple, but our intention of staying local ended up being a 5 mile hike across the other side of town, and having to give up on 2 others.

But there was plenty of pretty Spring blooms and blossoms to see along the way, and an area of large houses ( the size of 3), always good to see how the other half live!

Crafting wise I caught up with my mood flowers

and I've started another Chrysanthemum cushion front in a different colourway, and this time I will write the pattern down as I go!

It's going to be a shock to the system to go back to work, and i'm sure we will be counting the time down till we can go away again!

Chrysanthemum cushion..

So i've put my last cushion on the back burner for now, until I feel ready to show it some love again.

I spotted a pretty yarn in Tiger last week, so wanted to get stuck in and give it a try

I've seen a pattern made by many in various colours on pinterest. I've admired these images for awhile but been unable to find any instructions. 

I felt this yarn and this image was the perfect combination, so I dived in and gave it a go just from viewing the images. 

I'm really pleased with how this turned out.

But I wanted to take this one step further and try to adapt it into a square shape. I had no idea how exactly to do this but I just started working round and amazingly its been taking shape nicely.

Along with the lovely spring sunshine my floral mood blanket has blooming

I've finished work for the week, and now have the pleasure of a weeks holiday, starting with a little trip to the south coast