Finish for the Weekend

Hello dear friends and readers!

Welcome to Finish for the Weekend, where we share finished projects this week in an effort to clear up those UFO's! Please see below for instructions on how to join in.

I hope you've had a good week. I haven't. I've had a bad tooth abscess which has knocked me for six all week. I've been to the emergency dentist twice, been on two loads of antibiotics, and even ended up at A&E for an IV dose of antibiotics. As I type its still extremely painful, and still got a bit of a lump on my cheek, it was about golf-ball sized, though I think its finally starting to go down a bit. So I've not done much except pop pills and sleep (or try to) all week.

But I was determined to have a finish to show you today. Its not a very exciting one I'm afraid. I made a cover for our remote-control box. How exciting.
We bought new sofas a couple of years ago, they are electronic recliners, and as such each side moves independently of the other. This means if anything (e.g. a remote control) falls down the gap between the sofa cushions, then it's lost under a heap of metalwork and is bloomin' awkward to get back. We needed a box hat was large and shallow because one of our remotes is super-sensitive and if you so much as breath on it, it starts up the playstation which then hums annoyingly. So we can't just chuck them all in a box because inevitably something sets it off. I found a shoebox lid to be just the right size.

And I decided to crochet a cover for it, as you do. So I started off in a nice soft grey to match the sofa. Well that was two years ago. Seriously, I have no staying power at all, its not a very big project and yet I still got distracted enough to put it to one side and work on something else. So we've had this slightly tatty shoe box lid lying around the front room for all that time holding the remotes.

Today I took one look at the shoebox lid and decided to finish off the cover for it. I wanted a nice inner to the box, so I cut a piece of cardboard (just from a cereal box), glued a piece of felt to one side of it to give it a bit of softness, then covered in this grey and turquoise fabric. I was going to get the sewing machine out but actually I decided that simply turning the edges under and hot-gluing them in place would be easier and probably neater.

The crochet starts off with a solid granny rectangle. I worked out the starting chain length by using the difference between the length and the width of the shoebox lid. I think. Well, it was 2 years ago. I can't remember what yarn the grey was, Stylecraft Special DK, in silver possibly. Anyway, I increased on every round until the rectangle was big enough to fit the base (ish), then stopped increasing to make the sides grow straight up instead of out flat.



After a bit I changed to a sort of duck-egg-green-blue, and as I started that bit just last week I can tell you that it is Paintbox DK in Washed Teal. I love these Paintbox yarns, so soft to work with.

And then it was a question of keeping going until it was big enough. I made the sides high enough so they could come up over the top and tuck down inside, to hide all the cardboard.



I used hot glue to attach the cover to the box, and put a really good blob of it into each corner to make sure it stayed neat.

And that's it. A really simple little make that should not have taken 2 years!

I'm super happy with how it turned out, far better than I hoped :)

And it would even make a rather nice little crochet-work-basket-cum-tray :) I see more of these in my future :)




Til next time,
Jillxxx

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Welcome to Finish for the Weekend, a weekly chance to link up and share with the blogging community some of the projects you have completed this week. The only rule is that your post must be about an item you have finished this week, hopefully to help reduce some of those piles of UFO's!

Here's how to join in:

1. Write a blog post about your finished project.

2. Link back to Finish for the Weekend by adding this text as a link on your post:

http://emeraldcottage.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Finish%20for%20the%20Weekend

3. Publish your post

4. Link back from here to your post by clicking "Add Link" and adding your post's URL

5. Spread the bloggy love by visiting and commenting on the other Finish for the Weekend posts.

The Finish for the Weekend post will open for new links on a Friday at 12noon London time, and it will stay open until Monday at 12noon to allow for overseas bloggers to join in. These times may vary but I will do my best to keep it roughly the same. Looking forward to seeing all your posts !

Craft Room Makeover Part 1

I've been waiting waiting waiting to publish a new post, ideally with great ta-das and exciting reveals of amazingly impressive projects. Or project singular even. Sadly though, this was not to be. I've been really restless this last week or two. Starting things. Not finishing things. Sometimes not even starting things at all. I decided that the root of this, or part of it, at least, is my increasingly disorganized craft room. I'm really really lucky to have a whole room to dedicate to my crafting, it's not a very big room - after all I live in deepest suburbia in the increasingly densely populated south of England - but it's a room nonetheless. The furniture is a mish-mash of bits we've stopped using in other rooms - an old dining table, an unused desk, a bookshelf that someone gave us, a toy storage unit that was replaced by something more grown up. Hubby keeps telling me just to buy new furniture, but I quite like the old bits and pieces. Plus I really can't be bothered trying to decide what else to get, and it just seems so wasteful when there's nothing wrong with any of them.

However I have a really bad habit of piling stuff up and never putting it away properly, not least because there wasn't enough storage space for it all. Plus, my wool storage just wasn't doing it for me. Stacked about 6 balls high it kept collapsing and was generally just a mess. This room was not the restful, peaceful and inspiring place I wanted it to be.

So, for the last week, my spare time (what there is of it) has been spent rearranging and reorganizing. I didn't want the chaos to affect any of the other rooms so it was a bit like one of those square tile puzzles where you can only move one thing at a time then move the next thing into the space just created by moving the first thing, and so on. It's still a bit of a giant WIP but it's getting there. Lots more to sort out - paperwork, fabric, ironing, but lots is looking rather lovely, and the most important bit - my Beloved Yarn Stash - is looking fab-u-lous .... Here's a wee peek (can't show you any more as the rest is still obscured by Messy Stuff) ....

I commandeered 2 CD racks from around the house. We only ever listen to electronic copies of the music now anyway, so the CDs were evicted and are now occupying a couple of shelves elsewhere. They are several disks deep as we don't need to get them much. The CD racks are pretty sturdy and quite tall, so I've laid them on their sides, one on top of the other, along the back of my desk :) Each little CD cubby-hole holds 4-6 balls of yarn. What a happy sight to work/play next to :) I could spend hours just gazing at it. I might even sleep next to it.

I'm also fortunate to have a brilliant embroidery floss collection. My friend's Mum, who was a passionate cross-stitcher, passed away quite suddenly a few years ago. I knew her myself, she was a lovely lady. My friend and her sisters had to sell a lot of their Mum's belongings and add the monies to her estate. My friend sold me the job-lot of all of her Mum's stitching stuff - books, magazines, and threads - and look - one of those gorgeous vintage concertina sewing boxes ......

I thought about painting the box off-white, and doing the whole distressed thing (the box would be distressed, I might too) but actually I'd rather keep it the way its original owner had it. The floss collection was (is) amazing, look at the range of greens alone ....

Everything was numbered and labelled, Shelagh was super-organized. When I came into ownership of the collection, the sewing box was empty and all the cards of floss were in those whitefish plastic flat boxes with dividers ..... which are now in use by the Little People for their equally impressive loom band collection. And the floss cards fit perfectly into the sewing box, as you would hope. Shelagh kept all her spare cards and number stickers in this little original Oxo tin. I think she must have won it in a raffle, you can still the raffle ticket stuck on the bottom....

During my sort-out I found this old cross-stitch that I completed years ago but never got round to framing. I loved making this picture, it the kit was a gift from my Mum, and although it's a bit olde-fashioned for my usual tastes, I do rather like it, so I must get round to finding a frame for it.

As lots of shelves and boxes were cleared up, various random crochet motifs and swatches were unearthed. Maybe they will become a freestyle something-or-other. I had a great idea for them earlier but I seem to have forgotten what it was. Don't you hate that ? I'll just have to wait for inspiration to strike again. It looks like a dreadful jumble doesn't it ...

There, that's a bit better ..... 

My Playroom Thingy squares are multiplying, I'm nearly ready to assemble .....

And I've got a few new little bits on the go .....

Last, but most definitely nowhere near least, look look look look loooooook ...........

Fancy winning those little treats ? Next week I hope to reach my 100th post (I know!!!! 100!!!!), and I'm planning my Very First Giveaway!!! Whoop!!!! That little lot (deliberately half hidden, by the way, in order to keep it a surprise), with the addition of a few bits more, will be winging its way to one of you, my lovely readers, and I'll give you more details in a few posts' time :) Y'all come back now, y'hear ?

xxxxxx

Ordinary Day

♥ The view from my kitchen window ♥

♥ My pyracantha which was planted years ago FINALLY has some berries ♥

♥ Little daisies pushing up despite the autumn chill ♥

♥ A geranium in the garden defying the seasons ♥

♥ Fresh flowers from the supermarket ♥

♥ Gloriously shiny conkers ♥

♥ New crochet magazines <swoon> ♥

♥ Perfect little posy from the garden ♥

♥ Calming crochet to end the day ♥

♥ And a cappuccino in my new mug ♥

I love days like yesterday. Nothing special planned, just the school-run, some errands, bit of housework, the usual. No expectations, no goals, no over-ambitious to-do list. 

Just safe, soothing and comforting :) ♥♥♥

Have lovely weekends y'all :) 

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Blue Birthday Bunting

Little Man said to me last week "Mummy. I thought you were going to do bunting for every season .... but that's been up since Spring, and it's Summer, so we need a new one". Yes, gorgeous boy, you were absolutely right. As it was also his birthday, I decided to whip up some blue bunting, in honour of the Big Occasion.

And as luck would have it, the latest Simply Crochet magazine had a pattern, and lovely pictures (above), of beautiful blue bunting, designed and blogged by Lucy of Attic24 (thankyou again Lucy for a fab pattern :)
After a quick rummage through my stash I found some gorgeous blue yarns - turquoise, pale blue, smokey blue, and bright blue.

The sun was out, and so was I ... I sat in the garden ...crochet therapy outside. Does it get any better ???

The triangles worked up sooooo quickly.....

All the completed triangles were joined together with a few rows of dc and htr, then it was time to choose some embellishments. Out came the button tin and sewing kit ....

.... and Little Miss' bead tub (thankyou lovely girl :) ....

.... why are buttons so addictive ??

Lots of sorting, threading and sewing later ... and ta-dah! Blue Birthday Bunting :)

Quite striking in all its entirety ....

... and in pride of place on the mantlepiece....

.... the colours would not be classed as traditionally summery, however I've decided this will be our Summer Bunting from now on, to be hung each year in honour of Little Man's birthday.

Final note - the eagle eyed among you will notice that the front of the fireplace has 10 triangles, but the finished bunting was 12. Yes, well, someone forgot to measure first, didn't they. Tut. And hanging it all on the front made it bunch up and not hang properly so it had to kind of go round the sides. I meant that to happen. Honest.

This bunting has truly been a JOY to work on. Fast, easy, colourful, beads and buttons. Perfect. I've promised to make a few items over the weekend for a friend's charity raffle. Red, white and blue bunting here we come .... and some pink bunting for Little Miss' bedroom ... and army colours for Little Tomboy's bedroom ...... and maybe some for my bike ...... endless possibilities!

Happy Happy Mother's Day

Here in the UK we celebrated Mother's Day yesterday. I was woken early (and really even earlier because our clock went back the night before) by 3 very excited children, eager to give me cards, presents, breakfast and of course heaps of kisses and cuddles.

Little Miss hand carved a piece of toast into a hear shape <3

Each of them had made me a card at school .....

..... and they gave me some lovely presents which, you may remember, I had "expressed an interest in", whilst shopping after our Roald Dahl Museum trip yesterday ....

...... a little chalkboard (for a future project!), a funky new glasses case, choccies, flowers ... and ...gasp... the book I had really wanted - Home Sweet Sewn by Alice Butcher. Oh my goodness this book is Divine. Full of gorgeous photos, drawing you in to Alice's world of homespun loveliness.

Like this family organiser - probably fairly impractical but who cares ? Its sooo lovely ....

..... and this glorious picnic blanket .... mmmm strawberries ....... feeling all summery .........

........ and.... a funky apple cushion, loving that zingy lime green .........

...... and another delicious cushion cover to make .......

....... it's so hard not to just show you every single page, they're all just heavenly, but that wouldn't be fair on the author really :) As you'll have gathered, I highly recommend it :)

Moving on from the book (as hard as it is to move on from it.....) just look at the cracking chocolate basket that these little chocolate eggs came in .......

...... nearly broke a tooth or my jaw or something biting into that one!


My presents all came from a lovely shop in Great Missenden, Buckingham, called Alphabet Soup ...
..... don't you just want to go in for a nosy ?


 
....... gorgeous flowers from the children  .....

..... and a lovely extra - a little miniature rose plant from my lovely mother-in-law :)

I really am a very lucky Mum :)

Little Miss had choir rehearsal (more on that later) in the afternoon which involved much running around (thankyou Hubby) which made the day feel a bit topsy-turvy, but - Very Excitingly - I started work on my Craft Room in the afternoon. I've been meaning to find some space for my craft stuff for quite some time and felt very motivated today to just Get On With It. Here is a picture of the room before ......

.... I know its not a total disaster but its very messy ...  :-/
I'm not going to reveal the after, mainly because its not even remotely finished yet. I have moved the bed out and replaced it with a table - which now houses my sewing machine - hurrah! But I would like it to be a lot more lovely before the grand reveal :)

I mentioned the choir thing that Little Miss was doing. In the evening she and her school choir performed with 10 or so other school choirs at the theatre in our town. I have to say, it was a jolly nice end to an all-round Lovely Day :)

Now, tomorrow I am hoping to share with you some pictures of the making of My Mum's Cushion. I can't leave you with that messy photo above so here's a sneak peek of the cushion .....

 

 

..... that's all you're getting for now, hope you all had great weekends. Please do comment, it is lovely to hear from you and I will try to reply :)