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??

May's colourful projects...

Despite being on holiday last week, I did actually take my trusty hook with me. I've not taken my craft on holiday before, so whether this means i've become more of an addict, or because I knew with the unreliable weather, and hubby's dodgy knee, there may be more opportunity. So I wound some tiny balls of different colours, with the intention of doing some extra mood squares and trying a new pattern.

I did my first mood square in a mix of blues / greens to celebrate being by the sea.

I decided to try to do some extra squares for my mood blanket, to extend it from 52 up to 60.

As we'd had a warm sunny day, and I was feeling relaxed I chose warm pastel colours, with a basic circle in a square pattern.

My next square is bright and happy, warm and relaxed

My last square was also a learning curve. I wanted to give a spiral a go, so I searched for a pattern. I found on Snovej's blog some lovely precise instructions, with easy to follow pictures... I had looked at the spiral in the past and thought it looked quite tricky, but with focus and a great step-by-step guide I managed it.

Something else that I wanted to try was a Mandala cushion that I had seen on Instagram. The pattern is by poppyandbliss, an Australian who produces beautiful, bright creations, which was made into a crochet-a-long project on mypoppet.com. Remember these lovely heather tones, that I didn't have enough to make a big granny cushion, well this was my chance to use these pretty colours together...

On my first attempt i struggled, got frustrated, and gave up, a bit disappointed.

But, on the way home, with facing a 5 hour train journey, I took another look. With a determined mind, I focussed firstly on trying to get the magic circle correct. After that hurdle I needed to figure the invisible join. I'm sure these are basic moves for the average crocheter, but I am well aware that I hold my yarn and hook in a very cack-handed way which made these fiddly for me.

Once I'd conquered those, the rest of it followed nice and easily. I'm not used to following a pattern, as I tend to make things up as I go, but I enjoyed this, and was a great task to make the journey go quicker. I have now completed the front, and I love it!! I'm looking forward to the next set of instructions, for the back of the cushion...

Going back to my Granny cushion that I started before going away, which was based on the heather tones above, I can say that i've now completed the main bulk of the crochet. The next step is to block it before starting the joining process...

I cant believe that May has disappeared already, and we are heading into half a year! Where oh where does the time go!!!

This is a look back at my May projects...