Patchwork cusion

I promised in an early blog post that I would start writing some tutorials, but I always seem to follow other peoples patterns so there is no need! However I've just finished making a patch work cuschion from my growing fabric stash which I wanted to share, I think it's just lovely!

Here it is, looking very comfy on my un-finished Granny Stripe. The process is a little time consuming at the beginning, setting everything up but I promise it is well worth it. I've used 5 different fabrics here:



Corners:

1. Take fabric's a and b and cut a strip of each measuring 7" x 3.5" / 16cm x 8cm

2. Cut the strips in half to make squares measuring 3.5" x 3.5" / 8cm x 8cm



Middles

3. Still using fabrics a and b, cut a smaller strip measuring 5" x 2.5" / 12cm x 6cm

4. Cut these strips in half to make small 2.5" x 2.5" / 6cm x 6cm squares



5. Take fabric e and cut a square measuring 5" x 5" / 12cm x 12cm.

6. Cut in four equal smaller squares measuring 2.5" x 2.5" / 6cm x 6cm



Sides:

7. Take fabric d and cut a strip measuring 14" x 7" / 32cm x 15cm

8. Cut into 4 equal pieces measuring 3.5" x 7" / 8cm x 15cm



Triangles:

9. Take fabric c and cut a strip measuring 14" x 7" / 32cm x 15cm

10. Cut into 8 equal squares measuring 3.5" x 3.5" / 8cm x 8cm



Seams:

11. Draw a border around each piece 0.25" (1/4") / 0.25cm from the edge.



Making up the triangles:

12. Take one piece of fabric c and lay it on top of a piece of fabric d. Draw a line diagonally from the top middle to the bottom corner





13. Sew diagonally down the line.



14. Fold the triangle back and press.



15. Repeat for the opposite side.



16. Do this for the remaining 3 sides.



17. Stop for some cake. This step is very important!



Making up the middle:

18. Take 3 small squares of a, b and e.



19. Turn over and sew down the seam lines.





20. Repeat with the remaining middles to make a pattern like this:

b e a
e d e
a e b



21. Sew all three strips together.



Making up the sides:

22. Take the triangle pieces and attach the larger squares of a and b to the ends, alternating with a at the top of one piece and the bottom of the other.



Those of you with a keen eye will notice I have sewn the ends on wrong here! I un-picked and re-sewed them but forgot to take a photo!

Final assembly:

23. Sew the remaining two triangle pieces to the middle square



24. Then sew the sides to the middle.



25. Almost time for a cup of tea! Now time for the back. I usually put zips on my cushions but you need an extra wide seam at the bottom which I forgot to do. I have opted for a flap instead and may put buttons on it at some point.



26. Lightly press. Now definitely time for a brew!



This is a modified version (only slightly) of this tutorial on About.com. I found the sizes they gave were a lot bigger as it was for a quilt and not a cushion, so I have reduced things down a little.

Granny Stripe Update: 2

It would be nice to have a finished "ta dah" post but we're not quite there yet with the Granny Stripes. I thought I'd give an update anyway as it's probably at least half way there now, 46.5 rows!

Do you like my slippers? I wish I could make things like this!

I started to do the first round of the border before finishing purely because I'm impatient and I wanted to see what it would look like! Using a different colour to the stripes and I think it works quite well.

Garden bunting

I haven't been able to blog about this yet as it was a present for my mum who is a reader (possibly my only reader!) but now I've given it to her I can share it with the wider world!



It's very easy to do. Zig-zag stitch the triangles and cut them out after, I find this makes it easier to machine sew because you have more material to hold. Do as many triangles as you like! The more the better I think.





Experiment with the order you like the best by laying them next to each other.



The finishing touch it to sew bias binding to the tops of the triangles, and sew the ends into loops for hanging. Voila, beautiful bunting, and at a fraction of the price in some stores, even though bunting is probably worth every penny.

My herb garden

For ages I've wanted a herb garden, I don't know why exactly as I don't often cook with herbs but I think I just liked the idea you know? So I had chives before, and creeping pennyroyal (smells like pepper mint) rosemary, thyme and a couple of others. Guess what! They're all dead. I don't know what I've been doing wrong so I hope this time I do a bit better.

My pots are stackable so I can move them around easily, they've got lots of crocking in the bottom and I drilled holes for drainage. The gravel apart from looking good should also help with drainage so fingers crossed to a better herb year.




Oregano


Sage


Chives


Creeping Pennyroyal


Thyme


Oregano

Granny Stripe Update

I admit it, I am a terrible blogger but now I finally have something to write about. I've been making good progress on my granny stripe blanket and I'm just about half way through. My starting chain was 130 and I've found it to be a little on the small side so with the help of some lovely peeps at Ravelry I've been given some ideas on how to make it a little wider. I am so so loving it thought, I can't wait to finally finish something - I'm still waiting on some blue wool to arrive to finish my granny square blanket.

Granny Stripes

I know I shouldn't be starting a new project, what with my granny squares blanket still not complete, but I just can't help it! I recently added to my wool stash recently with a lovely order or Drops Paris after another blogger Corn Poppy Girl put some pictures up of the lovely colours. I have to confess I bought the exact same colours but they are just so fab!

So a little bit about Drops Paris then. I'd heard about it being quite splitty, you know where it all starts to unravel and your hook ends up putting it apart? Well it's not as bad as the Kool Kotton I've used before and I think I've gotten used to it so I can't complain at all really. It's a very thick wool so would make for good winter blankets. But what to do with the new stash :o

I've been following the blogs of Lucy in the Attic of 24 (as I'm sure you already know) and tried my hand at her ripple blanket, which went very well in the test (pictures later) but I just wasn't sure I wanted my own ripple blanket. As it happens she has been working on a wonderful new (ish) idea; Granny Stripes!

I say new-ish, I was sure this must have been done before due to it being such a simple idea, however it's actually really difficult impossible to find other people doing it! So perhaps this is a brand new thing, who knows, what I do know is I love it!

What do you think? It's a little on the small side I admit, after the granny squares blanket I think I need to keep things simple. This should make a nice little sofa blanket however, or a throw or something like that, we'll have to see I guess!

P.S Thank god for autosave as I just closed this by mistake. Eeeek!

When the sun is shining

I do love it when the sun is shining, I can't believe there is anyone in the world who doesn't! It allows me to spend some time out on my balcony, water my plants and potter around. I love pottering! I tried to grow a variety of seeds this year but only the nasturtiums have grown and everything else either didn't grow or grew a little bit and died!

I got a lovely thyme plant from Ikea recently, it's looking nice here but it's a bit bedraggled at the moment (I think it needs a bit more watering!)



This was a great find from a car boot sale which had a little plant stand, I think it cost me 99p including a pot! It should grow nice tomatoe cherries but sadly they're not good for eating. I was happily surprised when it began to sprout tiny white flowers, how pretty.



These I think are snap dragons although they have died down now :( Hopefully being bulbs they will come back next year to provide more colour and fun.


Lastly is one of my favourite plants, Saxifrage. I had a "Four Winds" variety last year but I think I over watered it and it died off! Apparantly being an alpine they like good drained soil. A lesson learnt might just save this little one