Vintage Baby Blanket

So before getting too far into my Japanese Flower Scarf  I thought I would put a bit of time aside today to do the finishing touches to my last project!

This started as a simple destashing exercise. Ive got crates full of yarn that will need to be used one day, so in order to make a tiny dent in the collection I made this baby blanket. To be honest the colour combo is not my idea. I found inspiration over on ravelry, this beautiful baby babette blanket really had me drooling.(Sorry, I think maybe only fellow ravelers may be able to access this link.)
Sure, I know my interpretation of that colour palette kind of missed the mark, but there's something about that dusty pink, mixed with a dash of burgandy, mustard yellow and teal that really made my fingers itch!! And remember I was destashing, so had to make do with the colours I had!! I still am confident I achieved some level of 'vintageness' which was really what I was aiming for. The pattern that I used really lent to the look aswell, it can be purchased here. Yes, I know, I didnt want to spend money on the right colour yarn, but was happy to do so with the pattern. But Im planning to use this one again! I would just love a throw made in black and white... and so my to-do list grows!!

Miss H loved to watch this one grow, she would get excited about each new colour added, stating that infact this was the best stripe in the whole blanket! So much so that I had almost decided to give it to her as a dolls blanket. This was coupled with the realisation that the kind of colours that appeal to one person doesn't do anything for the next. I'd almost started to see it as a psychadelic zigzaggy disaster myself!! But two lovely people (you know who you are!) renewed my interest in it and I decided to put that last little bit of effort into it and finish it off.

And you know what? Im keeping it! That means Ive got a boy and girl baby blanket all ready and waiting, and Im only 14 weeks pregnant! I can already tell now this baby is going to be living in a wonderful world of wooly knots, regardless of its gender!

So, back to that flower scarf I go!

xx Em

A neat little discovery

Hello blog world, another check-in from me. I would like to share with you all this new pattern that Im working on. Im barely 10% of the way into this one but this pattern has really tickled my fancy so Im sharing it with you before completion. Go take the time to look at this lovely little find. What's so special about it you may ask? Well, the way its presented, a crumpled up piece of paper out of a mystery book, written in another language (Japanese) is just a start! Its almost feels like Ive stumbled across some long lost pattern that was dug out of some dark, dusty attic somewhere in Japan. As lovely as that sounds, it may be far from the truth. It could be just as probable that the page was ripped out of a popular library book, and shoved into someone's pocket.. but doesnt the first idea sound much more romantic? Although, be sure Im in no way suggesting that the supplier of this scanned copy is a library book ripper!! lol!

Second reason I love this is because Ive really taken to charted patterns lately, they really work for me! Sometimes the written ones can become confusing with the different ways individuals speak and interpret the many crocheting terms. But with the charted pattern Ive yet to come across a deviation, every one of them follow the same basic principles, it crosses language barriers! And there's no need to work out if they are talking in Aus/UK or US terms!

But there's still more! This pattern has opened up to me a whole new world of crocheting. I know I haven't been in the craft for long, but never before have I worked without starting with some form of foundation chain, (or loop) and never ever before have I attempted to crochet backwards! But this is what the pattern requires you to do. Its amazing how habitual it has become in just 2 years to turn my work after every row, I feel like Im fighting every instinct not to do so at the end of these rows. And then it feels so foreign to work the following row (in my case) from right to left..

The added challenge for me ofcourse is that I have to read this pattern back to front aswell. Yes, being a lefty adds to the complications! It means I make a mirror image to what these pictures show. This is most noticable in when making booties or the like, if there's a pattern for a right bootie, it'll end up being a left bootie for me! In this particular case the chart shows the work being made in a zigzag fashion starting from left to right then back to left. Im working right to left then back to right. It almost makes me dizzy!

So all in all, after much gushing I guess what Im trying to say is, its with work like this that I feel like Im making art, not just crafting! :) And as the author mentioned over on her blog 'I love the engineering on this pattern. What looks like a hundred little flower motifs is actually crocheted all in one piece. Fabulous!'

xx Emma

Oh and PS, Im making this scarf for my lovely neighbour as a belated birthday present. Hope she loves it just as much as I do!

Sharing a bit of blog love!

Well I was greeted with some nice news this morning, my Giant Doily Rug has been featured over on this lovely blog. What a treat! Im glad there are so many people that love my rug, I do too!

Baby Waves update

Hello all, just a quick post to share with you all my little 'ta-daa' moment. The blanket is finished! Ended up with an odd number of 81 rows. Popped 4 rounds of sc around and finished it off with a picot edging. A blocking in the gorgeous sun today and its all ready to pack away for a special little boy in the not too distant future.. maybe its our turn to have one?!? Other details are on this post.
Have a good one!!

xx Em

Giant Doily Rug

Two posts in one day!! I thought I would share with you another finished job, its taken a long time (like 6 months!!) from start to finish. Anyone who has been over to our place within that time frame would have seen this project in various stages of construction.

And here it is finally completed. Our giant doily floor rug.

A 15mm hook was needed for this project and the inspiration came from here. The woman made her rug without a hook!!! The cord I used was actually 10mm cotton piping from the upholstery place where I used to work. I started with a reel that was given to me when I bought my industrial sewing machine from them, but that didnt quite make it large enough for my liking, so another reel was purchased to complete this. I would say approx 900m was used for this rug. Here are a few more shots while it was a work in progress:

 

Here it is completed and having a soak in napisan for a couple of days.

I needed to get the wheelbarrow in to get it out, once it was soaking,

it was impossible to carry on my own!

It then spent a day out on the trampoline to dry,

only then did it make its way back inside.

And a couple more shots of the FO!

That's all for today!!!

xx Emma

Baby Waves

Hello all our lovely blog viewers! Im back again to share another project with you all! I must admit that it is not exactly completed but you can almost not tell by the photo. Its a baby blanket that Ive decided to make out of the left over yarn from the Wedding Blanket that was made for SIL and her hubby. Omitting the red and black. The pattern is from this beautiful blog called Attic 24, I love Lucy's use of colour! And here is my version of it.

Its got about 15 more rows to go and I strategically hid all the 50 odd ends that still need to be darned in, just to take this picture!
As you can maybe tell, there is no particular order to these stripes, as I used this random stripe generator that I found online to determine the sequence of colours. It actually makes the whole process a lot of fun! You just need to pick your colours, punch in details such as how many stripes you want and stripe widths and it comes up with a pattern for you. If you dont like the pattern it makes, you simply refresh the page till one comes up that takes your fancy! Its been really nice to watch the colours grow on the blanket with every new row... I think I'll be using that application again!

Well till next time, happy crafting!
xx Em

Summer Dress

Yay, Im busy working on some new projects, for a minute there I was stumped with what to start on next! Here is a dress that I have finished for my eldest. She ADORES her new outfit as it apparently twirls really well.
Here's a bit of a description of how I put it together. First, I started with some beautiful soft acrylic yarn- it was vitally important NOT to be itchy, seeing as it would be right on her skin. This 100% acrylic Little Grins from Spotlight fit the requirements perfectly, and the colour was a bonus! Then I found some printed cotton to match. This stuff that I picked up was acutally in the quilting section, a little heavier than your average cotton, but I couldnt go past the pattern and colours!

The crochet stitch that I decided to use for the bodice was found in a book on my shelf called 'The needlework Book' and it was called the 'close shell stitch', which describes it nicely! I basically just designed the shape as I went, no idea of stitch count or rows or anything, so please dont ask! ;) A tip though, I had a singlet of hers handy to keep a guage on how the shape and size should go, and having her close by for the occasional fitting helped too!

(Edited to add a closeup shot of the bodice here for Denise dV)

The next thing I did was to calculate roughly how long I wanted her skirt to be, and then added about 20cm onto that (I repeat, roughly!) With this measurement I cut the skirt pieces to size. Which is simply 2 squares that measure (in this case) 65cm from centre out diagonally to the corners. Then I measured her waist, and cut out a hole of that dimension in the centre of each square. I then offset the 2 squares diagonally to eachother and stitched the two holes together, then they were stitched to the top. And that's it! I made a waist band to go round the middle, hemmed the skirt, added a little ribbon, and ties on the shoulders... voila!

One very pleased little girl! :)

xxEm

Update from Henrietta

 Hello its me Henrietta again! Thought I better post a few before I forgot all about them! I made this for my Oma for her birthday! They are moving house and so thought I would make her something special for their new house. Its turned out really nice and wanted to keep it but I thought stop thinking selfish and when I gave it to her she love it! Just seeing how much they love these things that is more than enough to see why we make things like these! I even used some of my Bali material and that worked really well.

 another shot!

A bag a made for a girl up in perth! I made one for my sister and she really wanted one and so she emailed me and I went out straight away to look for material! I was quite excited to make one again seeing as I have not made one for a while! but it turned out quite nice and I was happy with the colors! Can't wait until she gets it!!!!

My beautiful flowergirl

Wow, what a weekend! The wedding was beautiful SIL looked stunning and Halle did a great job as flowergirl. The dresses looked the part and just survived the day. Both girls managed to rip out most of the flounces that we had made, by accidentally stepping on the skirts, but nothing that could not be fixed by a quick slip of a safety pin. So here are some pictures to share of my girl.. isnt she just the cutest!?!?

 I didnt get a good shot of Halle walking in, but heres a quick snap as they left.

Halle on the left.

 Flounces all still in tact at this point in time!

Rear shot, see that little boy in the background admiring her.. lol

 Any real princess dress needs to stand up to the pirouette test

(which I fear it didn't, I think at this point she stepped on the back of the skirt and ripped out a flounce!)

Here are the girls with their beautiful Aunty



Wedding present

Hooray another finished project to share. With just 2 weeks till my SIL gets married, Im glad to have this blanket done on time! Started way back in March, admittedly it hasnt taken me all that time, as we all know how quickly I get distracted by other projects. But its still taken a whole lot of work. 8 different colours, over 160 squares in 6 different sizes with over 400 colour changes, so that means I must have darned in more than 800 ends.. my fingers ache just thinking about it!!

Ive kept notes of my work over on Ravelry.
So here are some pictures of the finished result.

Measuring in at 1.45 x 1.25m it should make a nice throw for the couch and a blanket to snuggle under while reading a good book! I really hope they like it!

I will share with you all soon the flowergirl dresses that Ive been working on with my other SIL, they are so close to being done too!

xx Em

Mini Projects

Hi there! It's been aaaages since I last posted here - between a baby and moving house I have barely had enough to fill up my own blog! But things have started to settle down a bit now and I am managing a little more crafting - although now that baby is well and truly on the move so keeping me busy!

Last week over on Sewing Belle I posted about a beautiful Doll's House my Opa made for me when I was (a lot) younger. I shared some little projects I made for the house and have since found a few more so I thought I would share them here.

Firstly some tiny crocheted granny squares - crocheted with a 0.6mm hook which is so tiny mine in fact snapped inside my storage pouch of hooks, darning needles etc! These squares were destined to be chair pads - that means only 6 to go?!

Secondly a little knitted cardigan complete with bead 'buttons'. I have no idea what sort of thread/yarn I used to knit this and I remember at the time having trouble tracking down the 1mm needles - I think they are actually meant for beading.

Hopefully it won't be so long between posts from now on!!

Bec

Granny Square Vest

I am very busy finishing off a couple of big items before my SIL's wedding in October. So hopefully I get them finished in time and can share with you!
But in the mean time I got distracted by this little project.. and Im actually quite impressed with how it turned out. All the while when working on this vest I was wavering between loving the idea and thinking it would look ridiculous. But once I tried it on miss E, I decided it could definitely be worn out in public! The pattern is called 'Granny Square to wear' and that is precisely what it is!! Two squares in fact, arms added and then stitched together, viola!
Admittedly I didnt quite read the pattern, but took the general idea from it, so all credit still goes to the designer! :)

 The most challenging part of this project was getting little Miss E to sit still for more than 1 second to get a good photo!! Such a ratbag!

And here's a close-up of the flower I put on to just fancy-it-up a little.

Thats all for now

Some completed projects...

Hi Everyone,
Finally an update from me (Sharelle)! Its been awhile but I do have some finished off projects to show off :) Will get straight into the photos and explain from there...

This is a small wall hanger called 'Tiptoe through the Tulips' I made this for my Oma's Birthday, she loves Tulips and loved the wall hanger which is great :) The pattern was from a past issue of Handmade Magazine.

Another Birthday Present here, my Mum and I worked on this one together as a 30th Birthday gift for fellow Handmade Rainbow blogger Hen, the pattern is called 'Washday' and is from a very old issue of Australian Patchwork and Quilting magazine.

A close up of some of the details of the quilt...

Another gift again! Iv made a few of these 'Rag Quilts' now but I still dont tire of them! This one was made for a very special little girl born to an old school friend of mine, this little cherub has just fought thru 2 operations in the first 2 weeks of life, so she definetly deserved somthing special as a gift! (Sorry for the poor photo quality, I rushed to take a photo before I dropped it off to be delivered and didnt realise how bad the lighting was until I loaded the photo to my computor!)

And just a close up of the flannel fabric used, just love this owl print! The photos dont do it justice!

Update from Hen

Hello Hello everyone I know a post from if wonders never cease!! I thought it high time to put a few pics on to show you that I have not given up sewing.. far from it but I never think to take pics and post them so this time I did a few!! think I like it! I have a few other projects as well so ppost soon they are done and are in my cupboard and I better take some pics soon!! They will be making there way to canada as baby presents so better take some soon and send those off. For the rest busy with a quilt I am making for my oldest daughter Angelina and then one the same with a few different colors for my daughter Tess. so can't wait to finish those!! then what next,, I have been wanting to start my cross stitching soon and also to crochet a blanket for bubs number 3!! Yes we are have another baby in the beginning of Feb. so was thinking of maybe crocheting a baptism blanket. so we will see how that starts off. So a few projects on the way and hope I remember to take some pics of the some before I give them away! so hope to talk to you all soon again!



 A hat I crocheted for my sisters little boy Isaiah!! still have to send it off but thought I better get a few things for the other boys,, so just finished that and will be sending it off shortly! this is the hat that I crocheted with my friend Emma

 Heres the top of the hat!! was actually proud of myself,, well I had a wonderful teacher! my daughter was not to happy to be wearing thes so did not get any cute head shots

 A blanket I made for my sister Francine for her little girl Lianne May! She was born 10 weeks early and is doing incredibly well. that was a while ago and so finally finished and off that is going to canada!!! can't wait until she gets it!! Turned out quite nice and I made this with a friend that I sew with quite often as well! she made one as well!!

 and another pics!

Just a bit of a closer pic so you can see abit more! next week off it goes in the mail!

So until next time Henrietta

Cardi for newborn

Hello, here's a little project I whipped up yesterday after hearing of a new little bubba being born. The little girl was born a healthy 7lb 6oz, very close to the size of my girls. So that got me thinking, how about I make her a little piece of clothing that will fit her straight away. I remember what it was like to have so many clothes, but none that fitted my petite little newborns. So here is the result a teeny tiny cardi. The pattern is called Bombay Love and it has a bit of an oriental look to it. Its designed to go over the top of a long sleeve, I think it would look cute over a grow-suit!

And a close-up of the button detail.. arent they cute?

Now I must get it to little Miss bub as soon as I can.

Reggie

I'd like you all to meet a little guy who emerged from my yarn stash today.

 

Introducing Reggie the Rectangle.

He's one cool little cushie who just happens to be rather cuddly too.

So you think you can sew?

Not in comparison to the other girls on this blog, but I gave it my best shot today! Miss E has been sleeping under a coverless quilt for 5 months now, so today I decided the situation had to be corrected. And here is the result.

Although this is not a clear pic it gives you an idea of what it looks like (and maybe hides a bit of the 'roughness'.) But Im happy with the results. I tried a bit of gathering on one section, and a ruffle here and some ripple ribbon there. Viola! Still need to add some press studs to the opening, but its already got a sleeping girl under it, so that will have to wait till tomorrow..

The fabric is so cute, just love the little birdies, here's a close-up of them!

x Em

Photos to share

Oh its so nice to hear from our readers out there! I recieved a lovely email from an old school friend who tried out my newsboy cap pattern and has got some wonderful results. She's talented, both in crocheting and photography!! And not only that, her girls are so cute! So with her permission Im letting all you out there see the pictures she shared with me. Thanks Leanne! :)

Im sure Im not the only one here at The Handmade Rainbow  that loves to hear that this blog is being followed and its so exciting to see patterns being tried. So feel free when you drop by to leave us a comment, it makes our day!

xx