Handmade gift giving.... Crochet Placemats

Who doesn't love a good sniff around the Purl Bee blog!?  It's always full of crafty tutorials and inspiration!

 

I've been attracted to the pattern they shared on crochet placemats and thought they would be perfect for my friends upcoming birthday.

 

To give you an idea of size I've included my lovely Rob Ryan plates in each image!

 

I've used a cotton blend for mine so they should be easy to wash and care for.  They were simple to whip up as well and when I shared them on instagram someone said that the pattern they created looked a little like a magic eye image!  I'll definitely make these again but in future I might stick with one colour for the border.  While the bright colours I've used here look great individually, I'm not sure they work well together, and I really like the subtle look of the yellows used in the original pattern. Hope my friend still likes them!!!

Slippers in Summer!

Last night I found the easiest, cutest granny square slipper pattern on youtube!  I have been searching for an easy pattern for these slipper socks for ages as they remind me of the knitted slippers my nanna used to makes us when we were kids - a fresh pair every season!

After a quick read through of the pattern, and a quick watch of the youtube tutorial, I had whipped a pair up last night in an hour and another came off the hook this morning!  I'm adding these to the presents pile... an easy, simple gift for my attempt at handmade this year!

The video tutorial is here and this particular lady has a whole channel on youtube of easy crochet projects.  I always find it funny to watch how someone else hooks!

The link to the written tutorial is here.

To fit my size 9 foot I ended up doing 11 rows after the toe of the slipper is done rather than the 9 suggested.  And dare I admit it, but I actually used a Spotlight acylic yarn for them.  I much prefer to crochet with wool or cotton but I figured these would get a quite a bit of wear and tear and to make them easier to throw them in the wash, acrylic it was... plus, I am trying to use some of my stash up!

An easy present for boys!

To make this envelope cushion cover to fit a 45cm square cushion you'll need:

A piece of yellow material for the Lego man and a Lego man template. You can make this any size you like. 

A piece of fusible interfacing so you can iron your Lego man onto your cushion fabric. 

Cushion fabric - three pieces measuring 18"x18" (the front of the cushion), 18"x14, and 18"x12" (the two back pieces which will overlap creating an envelope opening. No zips!!!)

Print out and trace your Lego man onto your fusible interfacing then iron that onto your yellow fabric. The interfacing I use is double sided so I ironed it onto the yellow fabric then cut out the yellow Lego man, peel off the backing and...

These pieces will still measure 18".  You are folding, ironing and sewing the 14" side and 12" side. 

I like to use my 14" back piece first, then the 12" inch piece.  This gives the rear of the cushion a nice long covering on its envelope back. 

I say this with my tongue firmly in my cheek! I am very much in the camp of 'close enough, good enough' with my sewing, cutting and measuring!

I've made two of those now for boy's birthday presents this weekend. I may add a mini figure with them for good measure in case the birthday boy's are not huge fans of soft furnishings! 

 

Told you it was easy!

The boy turned 9!

 

We went vintage Womens Weekly Birthday Cake this time round....

 

 

...The Football Cake!

 

Does everyone else do the present unwrapping on their parents bed?  We snuck the bike in behind him while he was unwrapping another exciting gift - socks and jocks!

The Dimples!

 

We went to Bounce in Glen Iris.   It's basically a massive warehouse full of trampolines! I quite possibly might have had a bounce or three myself.

We also dealt with a massive green eyed monster today.  Poor Isaac - every gift Oscar got was all of a sudden the only thing he ever wanted in his entire life!  It was all very melodramatic!

 

I learnt a big lesson myself today too.

Never kiss a 9 year old boy in front of his mates.  Not even if you are the closest girl when the knife hits the bottom of the cake!

 



 

Happy Birthday Oscar!  We love you very much!

Isaac is 6!

I spent the day baking today for this spunky lad.

 

All he wanted was a $100 note...

 

... The Skylanders Game...

 

 

... and a new remote controlled boat since Milo accidentally ate the last one!

 

Tomorrow we are off to the indoor skate park for his party with a slight Mario theme to it so the grand cake baking had to happen today.

 

Pinterest on the iPad acting as my guide to various Mario cakes on the interwebs.

 

I covered him with buttercream icing, only dipping my finger in once or eleven times!  (Really, how can butter, sugar and vanilla essence taste so good??!!)

 

I colour and then cut out all the pieces I need like a jigsaw puzzle and lay them on top of the buttercream layer.  For Mario I only covered the top, not the sides cause I don't know how to do edges without messing up the icing!

 

So handsome!

 

 

Ta Da!!!!

 

Some of his proportions are a little off, like his mouth is a wee bit small, but the birthday boy loved him when he got home from school today and that's what really matters!

 

 

 

My creative space...

Isaac turns 6 tomorrow!

 

Clearly this... 

 

 

... is NOT going to be finished!

 



Those four missing squares at the bottom there... once I have done those, I'll be halfway...as long as I don't count the weaving in of those dastardly ends or coming up with a border of some description!

 

Want to create something similar in crochet? Three round grannies are your answer... even four would make this project a little less, um, lengthy! 

 

Five!  It's a wrist killer! 

 

 

A work in progress

I had a dream....

 

(don't mind my shoes!)

 

I think my dream got to big.

He is currently just shy of the width of our king size bed.

I still have 164 squares to do and join. 

The ends to sew in

An edge to do.

 

Each square is taking me about 16 minutes.

 

16 x 164 = 2624

 

2624 divided by 60 minutes = 44 hours (rounded up)

 

That's 44 hours of work peeps to just get the squares done.

Before the 26th of October.  Isaac's birthday.

 

I had a dream...

And am now having a nightmare!

 

(but, my word, how cute is Mario going to be!!!!)

Birthday bonus.... Tonsilitis!

Ahh, 37.  What a welcome you have given me.

It started on Sunday night when I went to bed with a funny tickle in my ears that seemed to reach it's fingers into my throat.  Monday I just felt weary.  It started to hurt when I swallowed.

Tuesday, my birthday.  I had grand plans of meeting some lovely friends for lovely coffee whilst being lavished with lovely gifts.  Instead I woke up at 3am vomiting with achey bones so bad I sobbed while my husband snored.

Is there anything more pity party inducing than spending your birthday lying on the couch moaning?

I did manage to bake my own birthday cake on Monday afternoon.  A very sad looking replica of the sewing machine from the Australian Women's Weekly Birthday Cake Book.  At least the kids liked it, and I have bags of left over lollies in the cupboard since I only used a couple for decoration anyway.

And I did end up with lovely gifts of course....

Birthday money was used to finally pick up the ipad I had on layby.  It only took me three hours last night to crack my wifi security so that the bloody thing could work!

And some very lovely friends of mine spoilt me with a lovely pile of goodies too!

I'm off to Hobart next weekend (all by myself!!!!) to catch up with some friends and family so I am planning on celebrating my birthday a little better then.  Salamanca Market, The Stash Cupboard, dinner out, staying in a hotel.  Yes please!

Have you ever been sick on your birthday???

Change your mind reversible skirts!

I have new favourite birthday skirts!  They are still simple and have taken less than an hour each!  I totes love them!  The dollies!  The ric rac!  The reversibility (we all know little ladies like to change their minds)!

The pattern is from 1, 2, 3 Sew and the author has a lovely blog called The Long Thread which I totally think you should go and visit since she is ever so generous and shares lots of crafty links and tutes and whatnot!

You can see Ellen's change your mind skirt from the book right here.  She has used beautiful Liberty fabric which my budget can't quite reach yet.  The fabric below was purchased from Spotlight yesterday (except for the black babushka dollies which was gifted to me).  The red and blue is from their Lisette range and the vintage dressing up ladies was just a lucky find in their quilting cottons.  Cute yes?!

These two are heading to Hobart to my lovely neices who have birthdays days apart from each other.  I am going to team them with a couple of plain tops each from Target and maybe some nice tights - outfit complete!  Present complete!