Rona tah dah moment

TAH DAH!!!!! Rona was finally finished today .

I replaced the collar and finished the ends, sewed on the buttons and VOILA. Just within 7 months this was actually finally finished. I made it a bit longer and a bit looser /wider fitting than the pattern. Comfy like. For fell-walking and rambling in the countryside.

It's also used up quite a bit of stash from the 1980's: some Rowan scottish tweed ( the pine green) , some designer DK wool from Rowan bought in Liberty in 1986( burgundy and purple) and I added to these with 2 tones of felted tweed: shade 133 and 167. The paler brighter pink- which also looks tweedy- is made from recycled textiles.

I designed my own version of the raised flower square as I didn't like the central hole that the pattern had.

The sleeves are just the perfect length for me- I added a few rows of granny striping and a cuff border of dc rows to match the button bands and collar.

It can be worn loose- with layers of t-shirts under for walking/ice skating or nipped in with buttons at the waist for a little shaping. Hourglass- wise you know?

I had fun striping the yoke and inserts and am rather pleased with the final choice of collar stripiness- do you like it? I DO!

With Miss E at school I was trying to get some nice daylight photos......

Hey this is fun!

Bye then see you again soon? OMG does my bum look big in this? Spot the waist button instead:

nice little detail- I'm oh sooo happy with it.
C U L8ER.

African flower cushion: finished!

Ta dah! It's finally finished from it's conceptual idea on the 24 July 2010... It seems like 2 months , albeit just about 6 weeks or so start to finish. Do you like it? We do.

It's been made everywhere, at home, on car journeys- JJ driving of course- , in the Eurotunnel, on a beach, on the Brittany apartment balcony, the sofa at home, on a train to London and on a narrowboat travelling the Oxfordshire canal.

It has a fabulously brightly striped back with BIG red buttons, which are rather fun I think. The back is in 1 dc 1 chain which is one of my all time fave fabrics at the mo.

Ta dah! Again, I couldn;t resist. We just love it, Miss Y especially and we'll be sorry when it's posted to my sister this week as it is a present for her and her partner.

Here come the flowers: all 16 of them, they are all totally different. But from a base of about 12 core colours.

It's a great pattern to play with colours as you get a chance to use 5 colours in each hexagon:

centre, petal base V's, petals, spikes and petal edge,outside edge.

I've gone right outside my comfort zone colours here and really had a ball playing with some unusual combinations, trying to get colours to clash and zing and make a big impact together.

They were all crocheted together as I went along, no sewing or joining later when I had a pile and no grand plan at all. Just happy chaos. And a desire to have minimum repeats close to each other, outside edges always had to have a contrast and no same petals or centres in a row....

At first only red, green and beige were allowed as outside edges, but I did relax that rule a bit later. Two backs were made with buttonholes in one so they overlap and the stripe sequence continues uninterrupted.

Back with buttons on. And then it all got assembled this morning. Finished with a red crab stitch border.

It all fits nice and snug. Perfect for a weary head to fall asleep on. After of course choosing the favourite flower or stripe sequence.

It's meant for my sister's campervan so I wanted it to be comfortable, bright, cheerful and practical as well as entertaining in the way that there's plenty to look at. The campervan is red.

Leave a comment if you'd like the pattern or any'' how to'' details, happy hooking!

Ripple blanket : progress

Tan tan taraaaaaa! No it's not finished yet but I'm oh soooo happy with it and it's longer than I am tall now so I can wrap myself in it and be a stripey mummy.....Truly mummified....
Just thought I'd share with you all the colour permutations i have been playing with as it's a kind-of-a-sampler ripple stitch blanket- with just 19 rows left to go.
Above is the full view as is at over 1.55cm long.
Then follows 3 sections that make up the above and then I give close ups of some of my favourite colur groups: let's go see!!!

This was the end a few days ago but I've gone all oranges and reds since that purple now...

I really liked this turquoise between these 2 blues for a change. The dark blue is next to a pale aqua but it looks bleached white in the photo.

Here's the blues more conventionally in a tonal variation.

There's almost always a different colour next to the purple every time.

More coming soon! It's meant to be 2m long and I may add a little finishing edge to the sides....

It's been enormous fun to do and although no longer an easily portable project, still such glorious warm cuddley fun to do while watching films or tv on the sofa: stitching away at one end while wrapped in the rest!!!

Our FILM FEST this week ( due to all that rain!) has included- and I have enjoyed them all!!!

Young Victoria

The secret of Moonacre( got the book but not read it yet)

Shaggy Dog

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Confessions of a Shopaholic( not nearly as good as the book!!!!!!!)

Marley and Me: ditto the book was sooooo much better!!!!!!

And of course there was a NEW Midsomer Murders last night when it was filmed in our very OWN THAME MUSEUM!!!!

Hence together with some handsewing chores and sewing in of ends there's been 4 rows added since the purple....And a lot of child and dog and puppy cuddling too.....

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!!!!!