Spring cleaning? No. Spring *crafting*!

March is a busy enough month in our household what with 3 family birthdays in close succession as well as Easter and Mothering Sunday, so why on earth I decided that what I really needed was a few more craft projects is utterly beyond me.  However, that’s exactly what happened so I have been busily crafting away and saving ourselves a bit of money at the same time.

I shortened the curtains from our old house so they would fit our new one better, then made some cushion covers from the leftovers – with a little ‘help’ from the Cub…

The pattern I used was a simple Oxford edged envelope design as explained here: http://www.housetohome.co.uk/articles/how-to-update-an-old-cushion_2_368794.html

I then embellished them with a simple broken line stitch around the edge and an embroidery design in the centre.  To cheer the monotony of beige I used 3 bright colours that will feature elsewhere in our sitting room when I’m done: hot pink, turquoise and orange. Psychedelic  it may sound, but the effect was discreet and pretty.

Oh, and I’m working on some tie-backs for the curtains.  So far I’ve crocheted some turquoise ones and was planning to decorate them with crocheted flowers in different colours, but I’m starting to waver (now I’ve actually made the wretched things) and may go with fabric tie-backs made from leftovers and use the flowers on those.  I may have to fake up one of each and decide which I like best when I’m done.

 Here's a little picture of my shortened curtains and make-do tie-backs. Please ignore the baby jail and laundry drying over it. It rather spoils the bucolic prettiness of a rocking chair by a window :)

Spring is here?

I wish I could have phrased the title as more of a statement than a query. Whilst the weather is, undoubtedly, milder than it has been (not hard) and whilst I have spotted snowdrops (in abundance) crocii and daffodils all over the place, it still isn't feeling very springy. I'm not sure what I'm waiting for, to be honest - baby lambies? Primroses? Days warm enough to leave my coat at home? Easter? Who knows. I've seen catkins and pussy willows and, like I said, more snowdrops than I have ever seen in my life (photos to follow when we get a nice enough day to go and photograph them) but it still feels very much like winter here.

OK - I closed my eyes and really thought about it and realised what it was - all the trees and hedges are naked! We need some leaves. I love that first, luminous verdance where the trees look as if they've been dusted with the brightest, freshest green powder and not really like leaves at all. At the moment they're all bare and barren, their angular branches twisting and pointing rather than the fluffy sway the whole tree seems to undergo when the wind blows through leaves and sends them shimmering.

Then, once the leaves are through, you have the unbridled joy of blossom. It's one of the things I remember about my childhood in the London suburbs. By the time my birthday came round in late March every road would be a blossom-lined avenue - from the pink-tinged almond blossom to the fluffy candy pink of double cherry blossom and the white or shocking pink of the Horse chestnut candles, which had a particular charm all their own... At the moment the only nature-sprung colour I can see is the cheery red and yellow parrot striped tulips my beloved bought me for Valentine's Day - outside all is greys, browns and the winter-dulled dark green of water-logged grass and ivy.

Bring on the Spring! I'm ready and waiting :-D

Patchwork Dilemma

I was rootling through a basket my mum dug out for me of fabric scraps, sewing equipment and suchlike and in it was a project I started in about October 2003, I guess this is the time of year when my mind turns to patchwork...

Anyway, this project consists of 20 large patches made from 6 hexagons of a flowery fabric with a centre hexagon of yellow cotton - each one resembling a large flower. Some of these 'flowers' have white hexagon patches surrounding them, indicating how I was intending to join the 20 into a whole. Anyway, I laid them out on the floor in front of me and had a good look.


Firstly, I don't think I have enough patches for the pattern to look balanced. At the moment it runs 2 patches, 3 patches, 2 patches, 3 patches (going from right to left in the piccie above), so I'm either going to need another 2 or another 3 'flowers' depending whether I add them to the 'top' or the 'bottom'. Secondly I'm not sure if the length and width are large enough for this to work on a double bed, which is what I had originally intended it for I believe. Finally, and most damning of all, sweet and cottagey as the delicate floral prints are, they don't really tone in with the way I've decorated the house, which is plain, minimal, with blocks of solid colour... more trendy, basically, than this sweet, old-fashioned design of mine from 6 years ago. So here's the question - what do I do with it now?

- Finish it as a double and be damned, perhaps my tastes will change, or we'll move house and it'll fit in better
- Finish it as a single and keep it for if I have a little girl in the future
- Turn it into a number of cushions, aprons, whatevers and gift them to people, hoping I can find people with similar tastes. If I do this I'll need more suggestions for the 'whatevers'.
- Finish it and gift it to someone as a wedding present... I've actually just thought of a friend who might like it... although I'm not certain whether they would and they're not actually engaged, so...

Answers on a postcard please...