I spent the whole Friday’s and yesterday’s evening and this morning sewing two new cushion covers for our huge 60×60cm cushions. On Friday my new rotary cutter finally arrived which I of course had to try out and so decided to go with a simple patchwork.

Every time I’m taking pictures from this perspective I realize how much I need a new print for the IKEA frame. Unfortunately I still haven’t found one that I really liked and that had the right size (the frames for 30×40cm pictures).

And here’s a close up. I’ll have to figure out, how to sew the fabrics and make a proper and matching edging, but apart from that I’m quite happy with the outcome.

My Nicey Jane order arrived a few days ago and I just placed another order, since the fabrics are just as gorgeous as on the pictures. Here’s what I’ve done so far with the fabrics:

The cushion in the front has a crocheted trim, inspired by rose hip’s great work!

I’ve been recently asket alot how I crocheted the blanket that you could see on the chair in front of my desk. I don’t really remember where I’ve seen this kind of blanket for the first time, but I think it was at Sandra Juto. Flickr is full of pictures showing this kind of granny square blankets and so I decided a few weeks ago to crochet one by myself.

There are already a few instructions by Yvonne of Yvestown, and that’s why I’ll just sum up the first three rounds and try to explaine the fourth round a bit more detailed.

1st round: chain 4, join them as a ring. Add another 3 chains, then crochet 11 more double crochets into the ring. Join the circle.

2nd round: chain 3, add one double crochet in the same space. Add two double crochets in all next spaces between the stitches of the first round. Join the circle.

3rd round: chain 3, add two more double crochets in the same space. Add three double crochets in all next spaces. Join the circle.

Now comes the fourth round, which is a bit more difficult. It also depends on to how many squares you try to join your square. I took the picture, when I joined it to two other squares, I’m quite sure you’ll be able to figure it out how to do it, if you only have one square to join!

4th round: chain 3, add two more double crochets in the same space. chain 1. Crochet three double crochets in the next space and chain 1. Crochet 3 triple crochets, chain 2, 3 tripple crochets, all in one space. Chain 1 and add 3 double crochets and one chain in the next two spaces. Add three triple crochets, chain 1 and now you start to join your two squares. Instead of adding another chain for your corner, slip stich into the corner of your other square (see picture above).

Add three more triple crochets and again slip stitch in the next space of your other square. So whenever you would have normally crocheted a single chain, you now join your squares with a slip stich. Add 3 more double crochets, slip stich, 3 double crochets, slip stich, 3 tripple crochets, the next slip stitch goes into the corner of the now joined granny square. If you have to join another square just as I, the next slip stich goes into the corner of the next granny square.

Now you just keep on crocheting like you did before: 3 more triple crochets, 1 slip stitch, 3 double crochets, 1 slip stitch, 3 double crochets, 1 slip stitch, 3 tripple crochets, 1 slip stitch into the corner of your square. Now you’ll add another chain, add 3 more tripple crochets to complete your corner, chain 1 and join the round. Done!

Not that we haven’t done anything in Octobre, we re-organized and decorated two rooms, bought new furniture and removed old furniture instead and had like a hundred things to do until we were really “done” (or at least it felt like it were a hundred todos). But there wasn’t really anything that I could actually take pictures of or show you so it was quite still on this blog the past month.

Two weeks ago I found a sideboard on a nearby bulky refuse and couldn’t resist to take it with us allthough I didn’t like its shape at all. But the good thing was that I felt that I had nothing to lose and therefore chose a colour I would have never chosen for a piece of furniture I actually already liked befor painting it.

Yes, it’s yellow. And I actually really like it. It’s now in our sleeping room and waits for some new knobs.

I’ve already made some changes in our sleeping room and I’m quite sure that I’ll show you more pictures of this room in the next few weeks and months, as it is going to get a huge makeover.

I also did some crocheting in Octobre, but didn’t finish anything.

I started these two cushion covers, but still need to crochet their backs.

I hope I can now start blogging regularly again and keep you posted on the projects and renovations we’re up to. In the course of that I also wanted to say a big thank you to every one who regularly reads my blog and espeacially to those who leave comments. I don’t answer every single one, but I’m always so happy when someone leaves a comment. So thank you everyone!

I finished the cover for the rattan stool.

Approved by the Hezlein herself.

On the table is my new project. I’m going to reveal what it is and what I’m crocheting it for next week!

The granny square blanket has now reached a third of the size I want it to be when it’s finished. And in this size, it just perfectly fits on our smaller sofa and brings some colour into the living room. So I decided to insert a smaller crochet project. One thing I brought with me from Braunschweig is this little IKEA rattan stool I had in my room when I was a teenager. My mother finally wanted to get rid of it and so I took it with me. Unfortunately the colour of it doesn’t fit in our livingroom at all and so I decided to crochet a cover for it.

This is just the top, I’ll add the sides in the next few days. For the first five rounds I used a pattern by Sarah London and then I’ll just improvised.

I’ve already added another five rounds. Maybe I’ll get it done by the end of next week.

We’re going to spend the next few days in Braunschweig, in Northern Germany, and stay with my family. In order to post at least a few new facts about our living room, here is another sneak peek.

I bought the chest of drawers at eBay two weeks ago for 40 Euros. The seller was a turkish woman who told me that her husband had driven the piece three years ago all the way from Turkey to Germany. And now they’re moving back to Turkey and he refuses to drive all the way back by car just for this chest of drawers.

Although I’ve got quite a weakness for painted furniture, I like this chest of drawers just the way it is and therefore won’t change it. In the course of this week I’ll try buying some fabric for our curtains and hopefully will be able to start with the corridor without having a bad conscience.

See you next week!

It took me the whole day yesterday but finally the patchwork of my first quilt is done.

As I didn’t have any instructions I just had to give things a try and kept on sewing and ripping until I finally got the hang of it. Allthough not all the corners are matching a 100% I think the overall look is pretty good.

And here’s another picture that gives an impression on how the quilt will cover our bed:

I’ll need to add a binding and a backing, for which I’ll probably just use some plain and simple cloth. And then I’ll have to think about how I want the quilt to be quilted, but I think I’ll keep it simple and will just hand quilt the edges. And when I’m done, the sleeping room might already be renovated and re-decorated! In one and a half weeks I’ll finally have my free days from work and from then on, nothing in our apartment will be safe!

I’m currently working on the last bits of my Bachelor Thesis. Or actually, this is what I should be doing, as time is getting short. I always tend to procrastinate and therefor I haven’t really written more than just a few pages. And although I have already signed the new contract of employment and it doesn’t even depend on a mark or the quality of the Thesis, I am stressed and need something to do at home to relax and keep my thoughts busy with other things than work. The last few days I kept on crocheting granny squares and now got 30 squares, from which I have already sewn together 25 squares.

By the way, I did not use slip stitches to sew them but just sewed them like you would sew fabric. I tried the slip-stitch-method, but the seams weren’t flat at all and I just didn’t like the look of it.

Furthermore, all the fabrics arrived today, with which I’ll try to sew my first quilt.

I really hope I’ll figure it out how to quilt and sew patchwork. If successful, it’s going to be a lovely cover for our bed in the new sleeping room!

Oh, the fabrics are by Tanya Whelan for Freespirit and are from the “Darla” collection.

New project: granny square blanket.

Coats Lyrics 8/8 cotton yarn, made for crochet hooks size 4.

And the first finished squares. I’m so curious how the whole blanket will look like. And the best thing is that I don’t have to decide how big it is going to be but can just keep on crocheting until I think I’m done.