Another crochet cushion

Following on from last weekends experiment with cushion covers, this weekend I made another cushion using a square of crochet I made in June.  I used the wool that came with Let's Get Crafting Knitting & Crochet Magazine issue 60 and used the pattern for the Shell Cushion cover from issue 56 from Let's Get Crafting Knitting & Crochet Magazine.

This is the cushion.  I made some changes from last weekend's attempts.  My fabric ruler and rotary cutter had arrived from Amazon.  I cut a square 40cm x 40cm and it was very square this time (unlike last weeks)  I cut two pieces for the back 40cm x 30cm.  The crochet square was backed by the square piece of fabric and the back pieces overlapped like last week.  The slightly bigger pieces made for a much better overlap than on the last two cushions.  I don't have a walking foot for the sewing machine yet, and I had the same problem as last week with the top layer of fabric moving as I sewed all the layers together.

On finishing the cushion I then made two button holes and attached two buttons to match the colours in the cushion cover.  I like the effect of the crochet, it has a look of an argyle jumper, even though it is the crochet shell pattern. I would like to sell crochet cushions like this on the Internet for £15 per cushion. I feel this is a realistic price and it does offer some profit on the cost of making the cushion.  What do you think of the cushion?  Would you buy one?  Would you pay £15 for it?  Let me know what you think.

Crochet cushions

For a long time I've been thinking about making cushions out of my new craft skill of crochet.  I made a giant granny square with the wool I had used to make my first ever crochet blanket.  Then I wasn't sure what to do with my square.  I then made an identical square and and double crocheted them together around a cushion inner.  Whilst this created a cushion, it didn't quite make a cushion as I had wanted.  I am very good at spilling stuff on my cushions and they way I had constructed the cushions meant I couldn't remove the cover and wash it if it got dirty.

I've had a plan in my mind about how to create the cushion covers as I've wanted to sew the crochet into a fabric cover.  After many months of thinking about this I finally bought some fabric and last weekend I started to make my first sewn crochet covers.

These are my new cushions.  I bought the 35cm cushion pads from John Lewis, they cost £4 each. The fabric is a cream remnant which I bought from Ashford Fabric Warehouse for £4.  This piece of fabric made the two cushions above and there's enough to make at least two more.  The crochet granny squares were made from the left over wool from the crochet blanket I made.  The cushions are designed to go on my sofa and to co-ordinate with the blanket.  The photos above show the cushions on my sofa with the afghan on the back.

To make the cushion covers I cut out a square of cream fabric 40cm x 40cm and then two pieces 40cm x 35cm to make the back of the cushion.  I measured the square using a tape measure and cut out with my fabric scissors.  The square wasn't very even or square but when I stitched it all together on the sewing machine it came out square and the right size for the cushion pad.  The front of the cushion is made from the crochet square and the fabric square with the two back pieces on the back.  This allows the crochet to be lined and to be removed and washed if anything is spilled on it. It also prevents the cushion pad from showing through the crochet square.

The pillow case fold on the first cushion was too deep as I had always wanted to hold the cover together with buttons.  The second one I made I reduced the size of the pieces on the back of the cushion 40cm x 25cm  The overlap was a much better size for using buttons.  I then sorted through the assorted buttons I had ordered from Amazon and found 4 big red ones to match the crochet.  I then practiced making button holes and created button holes and stitched the buttons on to create an interest on the back.

The pictures above show the completed cushions. I can see my idea will work but it needs a few more tweaks.  I've ordered a fabric ruler and rotary cutter to make a more equal and square shaped pieces of fabric.  I also need to order a walking foot for the sewing machine.  The crochet square is sandwiched between the fabric and works in a similar way to wadding when making a quilt.  This means the top layer of fabric moves when it is being sewn together.  I know that a walking foot prevents this from happening in quilting and I hope it will have the same effect on my crochet covers.

All in all I am very proud of my first attempt at making crochet cushions.  What do you think of them?

WIPS (Work in Progress)

I haven't been posting on this blog as much as I should do.  I've been meaning to set up my Etsy shop but I need time to photograph all of what I want to sell and I want to finish what will be a new line of products to sell.

Over the years I have been a cross stitcher, a knitter, a sewer, a card maker, a scrapbooker and more recently a hooker (a person who crochets).  I am somebody who gets bored easily which is why I like small projects and so I don't usually make big items.  In my last post I talked about the progress of my African Flower Afghan but I am getting bored of making it as I've been making this since April.  So I've been experimenting with cushion covers made from crochet.

I've been buying magazines as I've like the free gifts of wool, crochet hooks and knitting needles.  I've been turning the free wool into cushion covers.  I've crocheted the squares but need to actually purchase the fabric to turn them into nice cushion covers which can be sold.

This cushion cover is just a simple granny square.  I need to sort out the wool ends and then turn it into a cushion.  My aim is that one side of the cushion will be crocheted and the back will be fabric and you will close them with buttons that will be funky and match the colours in the crochet.  I really liked the combination of colours in this pack.  I liked how the colours clashed and hope this will appeal to customers who will buy the cushion.

This is a shell crochet cushion cover made from a pattern in the first crochet magazine I bought.  I didn't use the wool from the magazine to make this cushion, this is made from the wool that came a few magazines later.  I like how with these colours work this pattern.  Again there are messy ends but once sewn together into the cushion cover it will look so much neater.  

This is the final cushion cover I've made.  I made this over the weekend,  The centre are 4 granny squares with 3 dimensional flowers.  I joined the squares together and then crocheted around the edges to make a square big enough to make a cushion cover from.  There wasn't enough pink wool to go completely around the edge and so the last round is two tone.  It would have looked much better if it was completely pink, but made the best with the amount of wool I had left.

If these were turned into cushions would you buy them?  Do you like to colour combinations?  Are the designs good but should the colour combinations be different?  Post your comments and let me know what you think.

African Flower Afghan

I've been working on a new afghan for my bedroom since April.  I've not managed to do as much crochet as I would hope and so progress on my afghan has been slow.  I have though managed to complete 40 hexagons which I sewed together over the weekend.  This is my progress so far.

I didn't work on Friday and I spent most of Friday and Saturday morning stitching the hexagons together.  I've got 4 rows of 10 hexagons which just about spread across the bed.  All of the hexagons are different but I think I've exhausted the different colour pattern combinations with the wool that I have. My initial thoughts were that I would need to crochet enough hexagons to create an afghan that is 10 across and 12 long, so that makes 120 hexagons, plus some half flowers to fill the spaces at the end of the rows.  This means that I am a third of the way through this afghan and its taken me 5 months to get this far.

Looking at what I've hooked and joined together it looks much smaller that the third of the afghan I thought it would be, but the thought of stitching more than 120 hexagons is too daunting.  I've found I've got bored stitching the flower pattern.  Whilst I change the colour combinations around it does change what I stitch and I get bored quite easily.  But I am determined to finish this before Christmas.

What are you working on right now?  Do you have a project that is taking longer than you think?  Have you made an African Flower Afghan?  What was your experience like?

Time out to chill and think

I've been really bad at publishing blog posts recently.  Life got a bit crazy and hectic and I found it hard to find time to blog or do much outside of work.  I also didn't have anything inspiring to blog about.  This blog is meant to be about my life and my thoughts and it should be a chance for me to write about what is going on in my head, but sometimes me head becomes too full with thoughts that its hard to get them together making any sense.  I am sure if I blogged more it would help all those thoughts come together.  This is a post that puts together a large number of thoughts that have gone through my head in a hope to commit them to paper and to put a plan together.

In February I started a new job, one which I knew would be a challenge, one which would be in an ever changing organisation and one which I knew was going to change.  I don't think I expected it to change as much as it has and as much as it will.  The changes have been so much and I've not quite managed to deal with it all.  I know I've not managed to deal with it all as I've been the cow from hell to work with, I've not been nice, or fun and people have started to tread carefully around me in case I'm going to bite their head of.  I am aware I've been the grumpy cow from hell and knew this meant I needed to take time off so I managed to book last week off work and a few days this week, sadly too much to be done at the end of the week for me to have a whole two weeks off.  Its been a difficult 3 weeks waiting for my time off, which was timed nicely to coincide with Wimbledon.

So what was my plan for the time I was off from work?  Mainly to chill, to read books downloaded onto my kindle (I got it as a Christmas present and I've not read it much) to sit in the sunshine and to watch Wimbledon. So last week I went and bought new glasses (much needed as my prescription changed when I had my eye test in February but couldn't afford new glasses), got my hair cut (also much needed as it was last cut at the end of March), dyed my hair (again much needed as last done when hair was last cut and my roots showed just how grey may hair really is), went to the shops but didn't buy much, read, watched TV, watched Wimbledon and sat out in the sun.  I also have a faint tan (this is due to having a slight watch mark).  The other thing I have done is think and hopefully put a plan together.

The reason I am so grumpy at work is that I don't enjoy my job, the role is being moved into directions that none of us ever thought it would go, to the point that it is challenging why I do what I do.  For those who don't know I am a youth worker and I manage a youth centre.  I love working with young people, but I am unable to do what I want to do with young people, I am unable to develop and create the work that the young people in the area I work want.  Instead I have to target young people who meet certain criteria, meaning that the early intervention work we do is missed as we are delivering case work rather than group work.  I took the job on knowing it would be difficult, knowing that it was changing.  So much has happened in the 5 months since I started this job.  My Grandad died, the centre was refurbished, we've had a whole host of people move into the building and using the offices, I've had to change sessions we are delivering, put together new work delivering what I didn't want to be delivering.  Enough to make me very grumpy.  I went for the job as it pays well and I didn't expect the job to last long.  I always thought if I got 2 years out of it that would be good.  The main plan was to clear my debts a so I needed to earn less per month than when I last lost my job.  Well I have paid off 2 debts but then bought a new car.  The new was much needed as my old car was dying on me and wasn't coping with the amount of mileage I was doing.  But I've still managed to reduce my monthly outgoings, I just need to reduce them by more so it is only household expenditure that needs to be paid.

Anyhow I can't afford to give my job up, even though I'm not enjoying it, but I need to get the job set up to the point that it is bearable and come up with strategies that stop me from being the grumpy cow from hell at work.  But I have a plan.  I've been fascinated about the development of online business, social media and the growth in this.  I have set up my own website and e-shop which cost me a couple of grand but made me only £100 in the two years I ran it, a bit of a disaster.  I know I got my strategy all wrong and I just assumed that people would find my website and buy from it.  People did, but not enough.  Below was my logo for the website sarahdipity.co.uk.  I had a professional company design it and I thought it looked good, but somehow it didn't really engage with people.  I do though still own the domain name sarahdipity.co.uk.  When I decide what to do with it I will get it redesigned and up and running.

Since then I've been learning. I still have lots of cards and crafts that I have made which are taking up storage space.  I've tried selling them at craft fairs, but I've not been too successful but I need to link into craft fairs which are better advertised and attract more people to them.  I also want to set up an Etsy shop.

I've downloaded some books onto my Kindle to read up about running a craft business and hot set up a successful Etsy shop.  I've got an Etsy account which I've never used, but as I also have a blog called Sarahdipity Craft I want to set up a shop called Sarahdipity Craft.

This is really scary as I've tried it once before and it failed, I don't really have any money to put into this and it could all just fail again.  I don't have a good camera for taking photos and I know that photos sell, my laptop is not good, it takes a good 30 minutes or more to load up and is so slow and crashes on a regular basis.  I also spend much time at work, when am I going to have time to run shop.  lots of ideas to freak me out.  But I am going to do this.

Part of me wants to put off opening a shop until I can afford a better laptop, better photography equipment, etc.  I did purchase studio stuff 3 years ago so I could take better photos, it was lights, a tent thing, etc.  But my camera just isn't good enough to take good enough photos.  But I've not got enough money so will need to set this up with what equipment I've got.  I can make all the excuses in the world, but what I really need to do is go ahead and do it.

So I've decided that I will open an Etsy shop, a decision I made many years ago, but just haven't got around to doing.  I also have made some other decisions.  Many years ago I use to write.  I was part of a writers group in Manchester and I would share what I had written and they would give me feedback.  I was also part of a community of writers online who would share work.  I've not properly written in ages, but last year I started an outline of a story, I feel the urge to pick it back up and try to complete it.

I've researched self publishing and thought that it would be worth giving it a go.  The scary thing is that I am not convinced that I am a good writer, I have ideas for plot, characters, etc, but I'm not sure if I have the ability to write a good story and to write good prose.  All that can happen is to give it a go.  I've read one book this week based on someone's blog, it was poetic prose but it was readable.  Plus if enough people buy it I may get a small income from it.

I also plan to blog more.  I need to improve the flow of traffic onto my blog, make it it more exciting so people want to read it, blog and post more often and come up with a plan of what to blog rather than just what is in my head at the time I blog, then I should have a blog that people want to read and visit.

On top of trying to earn money from my online ventures of blogging, Etsy and writing a book, I want to try and work more with young people in a freelance way doing what I want to do with young people.  Rather than doing what I am told to do with young people.  I couldn't not work with young people but I need variety in my life the flexibility of doing what I want to do.  So hopefully over the next 18 months I  can put this plan into action and see a positive change in my life.

Well having not been on and blogging for ages I've now written loads.  If I write more often I won't hopefully write such long winded blog posts/

A Year in Crochet

I do many different crafts, but a year ago I learnt how to crochet with a little help from my Mum and YouTube.  Crochet has then become my main craft over the past year, overtaking card making and cross stitch.  But to be really honest, I do tend to swing between the different crafts, focusing on one more than the other.

I thought I would talk about my year in crochet as over the year I have mastered a number of different crochet stitches and techniques.  So I shall show you in pictures what I have made all year.

One of the first granny squares I made using variegated thread.  I really liked the variegated thread and thought it gave the square an interesting look.  After mastering the granny square, I then made loads of them and stitched them together to make a blanket.  Below are pictures of the finished blanket, one when I first finished it, I then made some changes and it is a blanket which the cats love.

After making my crochet blanket, I then wanted to master the ripple/wave effect.  I then made a cushion cover from wool which came free with Knitting & Crochet magazine.  The cushion can be seen on my bed, again with the cats lying by it.

I started another cushion cover which is a combination of different squares.  I finally finished this last weekend and when I went to take photos of the cushion, guess what?  Yes you got it a cat got in the way.  I think I might give this cushion to my friend as a belated birthday present.

I am now working on another blanket/afghan this time for my bed.  The last one was for the sofa for when I get cold during the winter and lie on the sofa with a blanket over me.  This one will go on my bed.  I want to redecorate my bedroom and the blanket is for this and is in the colours for my new bedroom.  This time I am mastering the African Flower Hexagon and will join them together to make a blanket.  I purchased wool from Aldi (only a short walk from work) which isn't the best quality, but will make a nice fluffy blanket.  The photo below is my first ever African Flower Hexagon.  I've now made 6 altogether, only another 114 to go.

Do you crochet?  If so what do you like to make?  Do you make blankets, cushions, clothes, scarves, shawls?  It would be great to hear from you all.

Blog Redesign

I know that I haven't posted for ages, the main reason is that my blog designs were no longer supported and I didn't have any new designs.  I have finally found somewhere that hosts free blog designs and have redesigned my blog.  Let me know what you think about the design and what you would like to see on my blog.