Winter's Coming ....

Brrrrr!!!!!!  I don't need to tell any of you Game of Thrones fans that 'Winter's Coming',

and whilst the rain and winds been pelting us here in Ireland; I've been busy (drooling over that handsome divil Ned Stark and) working away on a warm & wonderful hooky project !
I'm a huge fan of the lovely Lucy over at Attic 24 (DELIGHTED to see her as a regular feature in my monthly Simply Crochet magazine ) Inspired by Lucy's beautiful Blooming Flower Cushion .

I'm making my own winter warmer version with lots of warm reds, oranges, maroons & brown yarns from the bottom of my yarn bag :)

Nearly there and I'm thrilled with its blooming loveliness !

Its going to be a lovely textured cushion cover and I cannot WAIT to get it stuffed
so I can snuggle up to it !

The back will be a simple circle (super quick to crochet & who dosent love a project that eats into your stash ?)

Im thinking about adding a nice button into the centre of the finished cushion - what do you think ?

I'll be sure & share the finished cushion with you when its done.

Thanks for visiting and hope to see you back here again soon :)

Love Siubhán x x x

First adventures in Pin-Tucking !

Hello there!

I've become a bit obsessed by pin-tucking over the past few weeks.

Years ago we had two lovely red velevet circular pin-tucked cushions that my mother made in a nightclass.
they looked a bit like this fab cushion from Four Square Walls  ...

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I'd forgotten all about these lovely cushions until recently, when I bought this lovely heavy teal velvet remnant in the local Drapery Shop

I went on a Pinterest hunt for some tutorials (pop over & visit my Perfect Pillows & Cool Cushions board )
I love the look of the circular cushions but thought it might be a bit difficult for a first pintuck project (I also DREAD the thought of trying to cover a button !)

All of my sewing machines are on the blink and I'm feeling a bit 'Meh!' about my current crochet project so this is the perfect time to attemp a hand sewing adventure. After only 2 rows I was hooked !

Here's where I am so far ...

Its not perfect but its not bad ! & I've really enjoyed sewing away in front of the TV all this week.

The velvet is such a lovely colour. Would you like to see the back too ?

Not unlike crochet its a nice rythmic task (and easy to see when you've made a mistake !
Now all I need to do is get my sewing machine fixed and I can turn this into a fab cushion for my sitting room. I intend to back the cushion in another fabric - I don't have enough of this velvet and I want to make a matching pair. When I make the next cushion I'll create a tutorial too !

Here's another two of my other favourite pin tucking tutorials for the 'to do' list !

Loving these colours from sew-whats-new.com ...

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 ans this hot pink cushion from sewmamasew.com has to be tackled very soon ....

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Thanks for visiting & do come back soon !

Love Siubhán x x x

Blue Thursday

Hello there,
I stood in line today for four whole hours today hoping to buy tickets for Garth Brookes planned concerts in Dubliin this coming Summer only to be bitterly dissapponted (sold out!)
and  b..b..b..blue with the cold !!

Never mind ! I made some new friends in the queue (if only for a few hours !)
&  its not just every day you get to start off a (stone-cold-sober) singsong
with a bunch of total strangers on the streets of Cork!!

Lucky I had these little cuties to keep my hands (if not my fingers) toasty warm !

My first time crocheting with bamboo (Sidars Snuggly Baby Bamboo) and it was a really lovely yarn !
I started making up a beautiful wrap (with a pattern I purchased 3 years ago and have yet to use ). As the wrap progresssed I realised that it was going to cost me a small fortune to complete in this particular yarn so I frogged it and came up with a new plan.

I found this pattern online
and modified it somewhat to create my solid blue wrist warmers. I had to modify quite a bit as following the pattern mine were coming out really huge ! I deleted one shell in the round and added a longer wrist section.

I love them , nice and quick to hook up they match my new blue scarf :)
plus theres the added bonus that  I have enough yarn left from two balls to make a spare  :)

Hope your having a good week & do come back soon !

Love
Siubhan x x x

Blanket Blitz

Hello there,
I know I've been very quiet lately as I feel like I have been doing very little craft.

My sewing machine is on the blink (grrr!)  and there just never seems to be enough hours in the day...

Yet (almost) every evening I'm hooking away at some little project or another and when you gather them all together they make quite a nice little collection.

Meet some of the crochet blankets that have been hanging around our house ...

Lornas Wavy Crochet Blanket , currently adorning her VERY messy room

I loved making this blanket and Lorna does love it - its quite big - covering her bed in squidgy snuggly waves. If youve oodles of time on your hands and you'd like to make a similar blanket you'll find the instructions HERE by the wonderful Lucy at Attic 24. Hers is made in beautiful (but expensive) Cashmerino , mine is made from 'cheap as chips' acrylic yarns.

As the daughter has a blanket, so must the son ...
Here's Gavins Blanket.

Gavins Crochet Blanket - lives in his 'not so messy' room !

Not quite so girly I started this blanket as a way of using up two ENORMOUS balls of grey yarn I bought in Aldi ! Another one of Lucy's patterns you'll find it HERE.

At the moment i seem to be addicted to making baby blankets, Heres a nice wiggly one I made 2 summers ago , it currently resides on my office chair for chilly moments ...

My Office Crochet Blanket - brings in a bit of sunshine on grey days

The next one is a cotton blanket I made for 2 friends who are expecting a new arrival in May,
(we don't know if its a boy or a girl yet!) Much like the blanket I made in this post - I followed the Niki Trench pattern and really enjoyed working in cotton.

When I was in the yarn shop I spotted some lovely pink cottons too and just couldn't resist ! I found this wonderfull snuggly stitch created by Tamara at Moogly. Go visit her page !

Leaping Stripes & Blocks - LOVE this stitch !!!

Baby Blankets - Yup ! I AM tempted to make a blue one !

And finally a sneek peek the blanket I'm working on at present ...
It's very incomplete and taking simply AGES but I'll be sure and come back to share it with you when its done !

Ahhhhh !
Looking at all that colourful crochet goodness has cheered me up on this grey winters day  !
Thanks for visiting & come back soon !

Love
Siubhan x x x