Patchwork October

It's patchwork time again....

October was a mixed month here at the Summerhouse my health has taken a quite a nosedive so I've been struggling lots over the last few weeks, we also lost out lovely Dylan, who used to make life so much better, with his funny antics and cuddles.  Not a awful lot of crafting really but I did finished off my ice cream cushion, plus make some cards, as well as some top secret Christmas crafting. 

There has been lots of thinking and planning to do though, about a exciting project.  As some of you know I'm a folk singer/song writer and the plan was that this November I was going into the studio to record a EP.  Very exciting, so over the past few weeks I've been trying to select which songs to record, which is quite a tricky business, decisions decisions.  Sadly with my health in a full on flare, the recording date has had to be postponed at the moment as I'm struggling to even lift the guitar, but at least that gives me more time to decide on the songs.   So I'll keep you posted just need to get my joint pain under control and find some energy.

Out in the Summerhouse garden there is still lots of colour to be seen, as the Autumn so far has been so mild, yippee!!

Over on Instagram the month of October looked something like this, you can find my instagram page 'here'

So a sad farewell to our lovely crafting assistant, I'm really missing Dylan, it's so strange to have a house without any fur people in, since I was eight year old there has always been a cat or two around so losing both Merlin and Dylan in the last six months has been very hard.  They both lived good lives to grand old ages but are surely missed around the Summerhouse.

Now as for the Blog award and paying it forward, I've not forgotten, but I've just not been well enough to do it, I think this time reluctantly  I have decided not to forward on the award.  I'm just feeling too ill to cope with anything much at the moment.  So a big thank you to Sharon for nominating me and a bigger sorry for not being able to pay it forward.

Pesky Chronic illness, I'm hoping things will start to improve again soon for me as the dosage of my Lyme disease medication has been put back up. It was reduced on a consultants say so a couple of months ago, as the NHS would have you believe that there is no such things as Chronic Lyme disease and that it certainly doesn't need treatment. However my health falling to pieces seems to suggest it does exist (or least that I'm fighting some sort of infection that is effecting every part of my body and that this is not purely ME/CFS)   the treatment I was receiving before was at least holding it at bay.

Happy Crafting

Clare xx

Ice Cream Cushion Ta-Dah

 

Hello....... Today this project has finally made it to a Ta-Dah moment.

These lovely little squares have traveled around with me this summer, which you can read more about 'here'  This was one of those makes that started out as something entirely different...

At the end of last year I ordered the yarn to make a baby blanket, the only problem was I just didn't like how it was turning out, that'll teach me for following a pattern and not choosing my own colours, the brights were so much brighter than in the magazine.

So in the end I opted to make a much more summerhouse toned sparkly seascape (mini) cosy blanket for the little one which left  me with some squares that I wasn't all that keen on and some lovely balls of soft Italian Merino and right there the idea for my ice cream cushion was born.

That was back in May, with my limited energy and paced crafting time of 10 minutes a session, it's taken me a while. So even though it quite a little cushion measuring just 12x 12inch, this is quite a big Ta-Dah for me.

At first I hoped I might be able to reused the squares I had already made after removing the outer round but, it was not to be, so I had to make 50 squares from scratch in the scrummy pastel colours.

The yarn is Lana Gatto Super Soft Merino in:

Cream 

Mint

Marshmallow

Lilac

Sky

I used a 3.5mm hook as I wanted my granny squares to be quite compact, despite the yarn recommending  a 5mm hook, but I think they turned out ok

Once they were all made I was pondering about how I could join them together without a visable seam, when I remembered that the lovely Lucy over at Attic24 had shared a tutorial for just that, earlier in the Summer you can find it here Although I didn't used Lucy pattern to make my squares, the joining method worked perfectly for my ice cream grannies.

So the epic stitching of squares and ends began

I can tell you there was quite some celebrating when I finally stitched the last one at the beginning of October.

How I love these colours

So 50 squares made and stitched together, time for a border and a cuppa.........

I edged each square with a cream round of trebles

but then I was a bit uncertain of what to do, as true to form I ran out of cream yarn, I thought maybe I could edge each side in different colour trebles, but after two side were in I wasn't keen I wanted my cushion to have a fresher more contemporary feel. What I needed was some more cream yarn.......

In the end I compromised as the colour match was so very close and used some stylecraft special dk that I had here, that way no waiting around for yarn to arrive.  I simply double crocheted the cushion pieces together, which I crocheted on the reverse side as I didn't want a raise seam visiable.

Then it was onto the fun bit, picking some buttons, nothing like a rummage in the button tin to lift the spirits on a rainy day,  I opted for these pretty little shell ones in the end.

Which I attached to the inside of the cushion no need for a dreaded knitted button hole (how I love crochet) I simply buttoned up the cushion through one of the treble spaces.

Such a simple method that I thinks suits my little cushion well.

I just had to wait for the posties to deliver my cushion pad for my May-October (summer ish) project to be done.  I love how sweet and dreamy the squares look

in comparison to how they were when they had a brighter outer round.

Ta-Dah

 My completed cushion

anyone for ice cream ?

It's a little late in the season for my ice cream cushion to be out in the garden as originally planned. but I couldn't resist taking it outside for a photo shoot

After all our lovely garden chairs were a big part of the original inspiration for this make and I think they go well together.

Happy Crafting

Clare xx

I'm sorry I've not been about much lately, on here or visiting your lovely blogs, I've had a flare up with my chronic illness and have been feeling pretty poorly, fingers crossed things ease a bit soon, I don't think the extra strain of the broken ankle helps.

Ice Cream Cushion

 Hello.........  Today's post is going to be all about these scrummy ice cream squares

Everywhere I travelled this summer my little star work bag came along with me, the pretty granny squares, simple crochet to relax with when you are on the road.

 From coast to coast,  the beaches of Wales

To the sands of  Sunny Suffolk 

From Cottage garden

On Sunny Summer days

To Raining afternoons snuggled up on the Sofa

You could almost say these squares have the essence of Summer 2015 hooked into them and with less then 10 more to make you could say I'm getting a little bit excited.

So much so I couldn't resist playing around with the colours and layout the other afternoon, how I'm loving the gentle summer colours of my ice cream squares.  I'm dreading dealing with the ends, but I can't wait to start putting the cushion together just a few more squares to go, for this Summer project.

The book I carried with me this summer, The Group by Mary McCarthy
Linking up with yarn along

Happy Crafting

Clare xx