Nearing An End

Last weekend was Paddy's weekend here in Ireland but unfortunately I was not out celebrating like a wild thing.  Instead I headed down to my Mum's house with a roaring temperature and a very bad kidney infection for a little bit of mothering.  After all that's been happening here over the last few weeks with my son being in and out of hospital, I craved the comfort of being with my mother.  I needed somebody to wrap me up in a duvet and make me water bottle while I drank hot cups of tea.  I was a sad sight, cocooned in a duvet on her couch while sweat dripped from my forehead.
But my Mum being my Mum made me feel better in no time at all.  And I soon had the energy to sit on the floor and do the lay out for my toddlers blanket.  All the squares are now finished and it will easily cover a single bed.  So it should do the little man in question a while yet.

There are 35 squares in total with varying shades of green, blue and pink.  With the base colours of white and grey.  I hope that they work out as well as I hope.  We were both happy with the lay out when we tried.

I used only three types of blocks. One square spinner, a plain granny and a mixed colour granny.

Now is the hard part.  I think that I'm going to crochet the blocks together instead of sewing, to make it more robust for a toddler.  And then on to weaving in all of those millions of ends!!!  I think that a sit down with an audio book for a few evening will do the trick.  I'm in a hurry for this blanket to be finished now because my friend B is coming home from Oz next week with her Hubby and little man.  I can't wait to see her as it's been at least seven years since we've last met.  I'm getting excited just thinking about it.

Wish me luck with the finishing off and I'll chat you all soon.

Rosie xx

PS Thanks for your comments on my last cry for help about bloglovin on my phone.  I've still not had any joy with that but I've sent and email to the help board and am awaiting an answer.

Baby Mobile

Last week a good friend of mine had a little baby boy.  Ahhhh I hear you say.
And so I set about trying to decide what on earth I could give her as a present considering that she is a master crafter herself and has been knitting cardis and blankets for months and also my kids wanted to help me make something.  So I decided that a baby mobile would be a nice idea.
(Apologies in advance for the pictures but the finished mobile was so long that the only place I could hang it to photograph it was in the kitchen).

Firstly I got a bag handle and covered it on ribbon and hid the seam with a green spotted bow.
Then the kids picked out buttons and helped me to sew them on little felt flowers and stars.  Great practice for them.

We cut out shapes in fabric that the kids thought they would like on a mobile for their room. A moon, , butterfly, fish and two different hearts.  We sat on a rainy afternoon and quite happily stitched to our hearts content.  They may not have been pure perfection but there was a lot of effort put into it.
I then laid out the pieces in rows as they would appear on the mobile and with a darning needle and a long piece of embroidery floss, I began to sew them together starting with the fabric shapes and knotting the thread under each new felt shape added.

I had some thick felt rope hanging around for ages and I knew that I would eventually find a use for it and this was just ideal.
I cut up five pieces, one for the loop and four to tie to the hoop of the mobile.
I must admit I got my hubbie to do one of his fancy fisherman knots to tie it all together and then I secured it by stitching on this fabric and felt butterfly.
I hung the embroidery floss and shapes to the hoop by stitching the end of the floss to where the felt rope is attached to the hoop, securing it very tightly.

 Oh geees, I hope that this has not been too confusing!