An Update

Just an update on what I have been working on all the long. Yes, you guessed it right - the Big Pink Blanket. It is almost half way through now. I desperately want to complete it this December. I am not posting any pics now. Saving it for the final 'Ta-daaah' moment.

While I was away for a month...

Whoa! It's real long since I blogged anything here. But I have been doing things all along. I didn't click any pics and kept postponing it. That is the sole reason why I have not been blogging anything till now. Even now I haven't clicked any pics. Thought I'll just update you guys on what all I have done till now.

I made a big crochet granny square. The colours are maroon and green. It looks like an accessory for Christmas. Well, I made it atleast a month back and it now is in place for where it was created - on my fridge. I'll click a pic and post it soooooon!

Next were my experiments with my lovely sewing machine. So pathetic of me that I have not clicked a pic of my sewing machine yet. Anyways, the first few days I used it to learn and refresh my sewing lessons. Straight lines, curves, zig zags, and on it went for a few days. Then I sewed up a hand clutch. Yes, I did it! Though not a perfect one, I just loved it.

Then I sewed and sewed and tried to learn stitching necks for dresses. It took me a while to learn it. And once I learnt it, I jumped on to a kurta project, for me. I cut an old big dupatta and within a few hours, my first kurta was ready :-) It is not fit to be worn out because it is a bit crumply at places owing to the nature of the cloth material. But yes, I am wearing it at home :-)

Later I had the courage to create a kurta from a lovely FabIndia cotton dupatta I had for some time now. It did not take me long to finish it and the end result was really pretty. And I wore it out as well. Few said it was nice, though nobody knew I had stitched it ;-) I was thrilled with the result.

After the success of the FabIndia dupatta-kurta, I have now another on In Progress. It is a lovely orange shaded fabric. Only the neck needs to be completed and a little bit of shaping up. Then the kurta will be done!

On the crochet space, I did have some green, yellow, and off-white yarn left from this project. I started making granny squares out of it to make a small throw for the winter coming up. But I am out of yarn now. So I have gone back to my old Big Pink Blanket again. I completed 3 more rows of shell stitched on it yesterday. It is almost over 2 years since I started on the project. I don't know how many more months or years I'll take to finish it. Being a long item, it is a bit difficult to sit on the chair and sew. Let's see how it goes.

Again Grannies

I had completed one more crochet project some time back. It is a crocheted table spread. In our house we have a small table in the living room. It is wooden. I always wanted to have a table spread on it. And now I have created one.

The color is a bit different in the photos but still nice.




I love the stitches at the edges and the sides of the spread.

Decorative Flower Hanging

It is a long time since I updated anything on my craft progress. Today I am sharing a crochet project I completed some time back (almost two months back). I was too lazy to upload the pictures.

Well, the project is a decorative flower hanging. This has been going on in my mind since a long time. Remember the flowers I was making some time back? Okay, when the number of flowers grew, I thought of using those for this project.

The project started with making the required number of flowers.

Then I sewed the edges together of two flowers with plastic twine leaving a little opening.

Stuffed in a little bit of cotton to give it dimensions.




Then sewed the remaining of the edges.







Then using June's icord tutorial, I created icords to join the flowers. Well, I must say that I loved the icord tutorial and its use. I found this tutorial right in time when I was thinking of ways to connect the flowers. The icord is sturdy, can be made as thick as you want, and holds the flowers in place without letting it twist and turn all the time. Go and check out her neat video of the tutorial.

After the icords were made, I joined the flowers and finally the flower hanging was completed.

The flowers, because of the weight, are not in the actual shape now. But still the colours are pretty. The best part is that it is hung right above our bed and I enjoy watching the colours every time I lie down.

To the end of the hanging I attached a small bell also. Simply. Me and hubby, there is not a day, when we are not ringing this bell. It is simply nice. :-)

Hope you enjoyed the project. I know that the pictures are not that great. But again, I AM LAZY :-)

Let me go and finish my biscuits.

Something New!

Well, I am too excited and eager to share this with you - I have a new Singer Sewing Machine now. Yay! It is white with 10 stitches, zig-zag, and many other accessories as well. I have been waiting to own a sewing machine since years. I always wanted to buy one but the last moment I'll cancel the plan. My mom has a Janome 24 stitch zig-zag machine. I used to try my luck at that. And the urge to buy one for myself here in Bangalore intensified every day. And finally last week, we bought one.

I have kept it on a small table in my bedroom. I haven't taken any pics of it yet :-) I started getting acquainted with this sweet heart by sewing small hair scrunchies and bands. The results are pretty nice. I have even altered a few dresses as well. The altered which I love the most is a top I made from my brother's shirt :-) Now I have a lot of ideas running in my head. My crochet hooks and stuff are badly being avoided after the white lady has come in. But I guess I need to concentrate more on sewing now because I am really bad at it. Nowadays I keep practicing and practicing. But space is an issue now. We do have a spare room. But I don't prefer to go and sit there and stitch all alone. I am still thinking on how to create a small and interesting sewing corner. Suggestions are welcome :-) I have been browsing the web also. I am seeing some really beautiful ideas as well. Well, will keep you posted.

Another Flower project

I completed another floral crochet project over the weekend. But haven't clicked any pictures yet. Remember the flowers I were making few weeks back? Finally those have now got a shape and place for itself.

The completed item is kept in our bedroom. I made use of the icord tutorial by PlanetJune for this project. Will write more about the how I loved the icord when I finally show the pictures here. I have added an accessory to it and now I just love it. I am planning to turn the flowers from my flower scarf also into something similar.

Hopefully I will take the pictures today and post it tomorrow.

Framing

This is the first time I attempted a framing project. Almost all walls in the house we stay at are empty. We haven't hung up anything or put any pictures. All are dull yellow painted walls. So we decided to print out some pictures of ours and hang them up. So the prints were ready. Now the question was how to frame and put them up on the wall. Putting the frames on the wall meant drilling, nails, hammering, chipping paint, and such stuff. So we came up with this DIY idea - to make frames out of used cardboard boxes.

I pulled out the boxes we used while shifting, started the measuring and cutting. Meanwhile hubby bought the papers for the framing. It took me around 5 days (only my spare time in the evenings) to measure, cut, stick, and let dry those 11 pictures. Sunday evening, we spread out the pictures on the floor and tried the layout. After few crazy layouts, we decided on the final design. And by late in the evening, the photos were finally up on the wall! Phew! That was a lot of work.

Now time for some photos... Kindly excuse the poor quality of the photos. I couldn't wait until enough light was there to take the pictures. Was way too excited.

That's how the wall looks now.

See how pretty my butterfly mobile looks.

I loved the texture of this brown paper.

Only when you look from so close do you realize that these are simple cardboard cut-outs.

Things I learnt from this project:

• One needs lot of patience to complete such a project.


• Always attempt this craft only in a spare room; never in your living room or bedroom. It leaves behind a lot of mess, which you wouldn't be interested in cleaning up ;-)


• Your hands will be all guey and sticky.


• You need some ones help to arrange and stick up everything on the wall in straight line without putting any marks on the wall.

Altogether I loved and enjoyed this project a lot.

Busy...

I have been busy crafting and crocheting over the past few weeks. But I still have no end results to post here yet.

I have been trying to progress earnestly on my Big Pink Blanket. It was actually progressing well when I ran out of the pink yarn. So had to keep it aside till I went and bought new yarn.

In the meantime, I started with a small project - crocheted table cloth for our small centre table in the living room. As usual, I am creating Granny Squares for this as it the easiest and quickest type to complete a project soon. I am progressing on this project.

Apart from these, I have another new project. Something of the kind I have never done before. We had printed out some of our photographs and want to put them up on the walls. We didn't want to go with the store made photoframes. Instead, wanted to add a personal touch to it. So hubby has bought me the required materials and even given suggestions as well. I am also reusing some of the stuff available at home for the purpose. I am making photoframes for the photographs now. It is a bit of a tedious job actually - measuring, cutting, pasting, pressing, allowing to dry, and afterall the bits and pieces of mess on the floor. But it is really INTERESTING. So far, I have completed to frames.

Hopefully within few days I will be able to post a picture with the wall full of our photos here :-)

Notice board

I always wanted to create a small notice board for self. I often write down tasks for my day, reminders, list of things to buy, and even the menu for the day.
For a long time I kept writing down the tasks on post-its and kept pasting and kept pasting it on the walls and cupboards. Last week, I finally made a small board for myself.

I used a cardboard piece, covered it with a silver sheet. Then I hung it on the wall.


Now I can write on the sheet using a marker and wipe it off using a cotton cloth or tissue. And stick post-its on it as well.

I have kept the markers and pens in a glass just below the board.

I used this to hang the board. Cute right? :-)

Making a customized board for self is very easy and consumes less than half an hour. You can add your personal touch to it by covering the board with gift wrapper, fabric, or even newspaper.

New Tote

I finally completed something which was on my list for a very looooong while. I had started this project way back in July last year. I had blogged about it here. It is a tote and was almost done, but not complete until two days back.

For the body of the tote I used thick maroon yarn. I did the modified shell stitch (as in my Big Pink Blanket). This stitch gives the bag a chunky look.

For the mouth of the tote, I used thin black yarn and single crochet stitches to make it firm and strong.

For the handle of the tote, I used it from an old handbag and did spaced single crochet stitches way around the belt.

I took the tote out with me over the weekend and am extremely pleased with the result. I may add a zipper or button to the tote mouth some time later.

Bits and Pieces Project

After clearing off all those bits and pieces of papers and twines from my butterfly mobile project, I have come back to my very own Crochet. This time I have started on something with all the left over yarn I have from the previous projects. I was way too confused what to make out of these small balls of yarn. They would not be enough to complete a project. So I thought and thought and thought and finally it dawned on me.


Yes, I have been crocheting flowers. Remember my flower project? That was made into a small neck scarf.

So now what do I plan to make of these? I am still thinking. I have a couple of small ideas. Let me see what works out. Meantime, if you have any ideas, let me know :-)

Butterflies all around

I have been away for a long while from Blogland. I was a bit busy (my usual excuse!). I had my family visiting, travelling down to Kerala, and some very tiring days. Finally I am back on track now. Meanwhile, in the few moments I could make fruitful, I made some things.

A butterfly mobile had been on mind since years. But I never actually made one until two weeks back. Take a look at it.

It may not be a very beautiful work of art, I agree. But I am very pleased with my effort. I used all scrap and coloured packaging papers I could find and made it. The effort to cut out each butterfly with the details was painful, but fruitful in the end :-) Then I wished, if I had a cricut cutter.

It didn't take me very long to finish this mobile. It was pretty quick and easy, apart from the cutting part :-D

Now it is hung up right in our living room and is beautiful when it turns and twists around!

Rippling Away

My first attempt at a ripple project.

Does it look nice?

Its a baby wrap or shawl.

I loved the way it turned out.

Chose the colours and started on it right away.

I am really thrilled by the end result. Now, I have to weave in the loose yarn at the ends.

More stuff!

Want to see what I have been upto all these days?

Well, lets start :-)

A set of two coasters for coffee time. Bright yellow varigated yarn.

Again another set of four coasters. Tea-time coasters! Love the thickness and sturdiness of the yarn.

Now how do you like this one. It is a complete coffee time coaster and placemat set. Love the colour.

A long, white, lovely scarf.

And there is one more type of item I did. Three crochet head bands.