Handmade Monday - Fabric box

Good morning! My contribution to Handmade Monday today is not going to win any prizes for the most ooooh, ahhhh fabric, although as you know I think hessian is pretty wonderful. Also, for this particular little project I wanted a neutral setting as I wanted my wool to do the singing - does that make sense?

After carting my teetering piles of Granny squares around on Friday in order to take a picture to show the progress of my blanket, dropping them twice, cursing countless times, (you must understand that they are all held in a certain colour sequence for ease of reference for me, I am quite fastidious about this!) I decided I must take matters into hand and make them a proper little home......

.......thus making it easier to transport them and provide a cosy home for squares and balls of wool (or yarn? When did we start calling wool yarn?), which can sit at my feet while I work.

I'm  afraid there's no tutorial today, as time has run away with me, but I can tell you, I measured carefully the size of the box I wanted, (length, width, height), prepared a paper pattern and cut out 4 pieces, one of each of.....

........hessian, lining, interfacing and interlining. Then I sewed them all up at the corners. But it was too floppy for my liking so I added French seams at each corner which seemed to do the trick and provided the soft rigidness that I was after.

Now I really must schedule in some Christmas time this week. I have been diligently trying to ignore it in favour of other sewing projects but it's no use, there are lists to be prepared, cards to make, outings to arrange and a Christmas Cake to bake.

OH came home with this last week, "I bought you this" he declared. So I'll be giving it a go, apologies to all you brilliant bakers out there who may view this as a little bit of a cop out, but I'll try anything once.

And I also read with interest  this post from Craft Blog UK referring to the 'About Me' section of your web page, and decided yes, mine was as dull as dish water, so I've had a bit of a revamp.

And now you know what I'm going to say don't you.......? Well it is the best way to start your week, by paying a visit to Wendy and the wonderful crafters that make up Handmade Monday. This week Wendy has solved a mystery!

Granny Square Gorgeousness

Morning all. A bit of an update post today. For those of you who were wondering, my love of crochet continues unabounded and I just wanted to share a work in progress picture of my Granny Square Blanket.

At the moment, squishy piles of colourful squares which I hope to transform into a warm winter snuggly. It's coming along and I would definitely say I've got the hang of crocheting a Granny Square. My biggest step of course will be joining them altogether, something I have never done before but am relishing the prospect at 'having a go'. I've already seen several other crochet projects that I'd like to get my teeth into but I'm being very good and staying focussed on my blanket for the time being.

What have you been up to?

Handmade Monday - Finally, a new skill mastered

Good morning! First of all a massive warm welcome to a few new names on my followers list, it's lovely to have you here and I look forward to keeping up to date with what you've been up to.
I might have rather over egged the title to this post a little, but I am honestly so thrilled to have actually crocheted something. Now I know this must sound a little odd to those of you that are crochet experts and know your 'dc' from your 'tr' but for me it was quite an achievement. I can knit well but crochet has always got the better of me - not this weekend. I was really in the mood to try something new, you know how that feels don't you? The house was quiet, everyone was occupied so I seized the moment amd after much trial and error I managed to produce something that vaguely resembles a Granny Square.

Now I know I have a long way to go before I get to the standard of this lady ........                          
.......but it's a start and is a real tonic for my fidgety fingers. Does anyone else get that? I've even decided it's coming on holiday with me this year. I'd love to make a blanket but actually I can see how crochet would make lovely embellishments for projects. I'll have to get my thinking cap on.

I must give credit to this lady here for her careful guidance. 

She has a few videos on You tube but it was lessons 1 -4 'How to make a granny square', that were the most beneficial to me.Once I understood that Americans use slightly different terminology I was fine. I'd recommend her to anyone like me who has wanted to do this for so long but without much success.
I also think there's nothing quite like seeing someone doing it rather than reading it in a book.
Now I,m going to visit Wendy at At home 1st unique gifts to see what those other busy crafters have been up to make sure you do too.