After my first few crochet Dachshund makes I still had a few more I wanted to do and first out is this Corner to Corner Dachshund Cushion. The pattern is available over on my Etsy shop:
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/HookStitchSew
I have been meaning to make some more crochet storage baskets but too many other projects have been sneaking in the way first! Now hat most of those are finished I have managed to squeeze in a new set or storage baskets, this time it’s a set of frogs!
Pattern is available on my Etsy shop:
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/HookStitchSew
Continuing on from my Christmas Tree makes are these mini stockings, these are great for putting little presents into and they can easily by personalised by sewing a name onto them.
I made these using Christmas Birdhouse fabric by The Craft Cotton Company.
To make a stocking:
Cut out a paper template the size you want your stocking to be, then cut out 4 pieces of fabric in two different colours to give you a front and back in one colour and a front and back lining piece in another colour. Cut out two pieces of batting the same size.
Cut out 2 pieces of fabric 4 x 28cm to make the loop. Place these two pieces right sides together sew around leaving the top edge unsewn. turn out the right way.
Place a piece of batting down then the back piece right side up on top, fold the loop in half and place with its raw edges against the raw edges of the side of the stocking, followed by the right side down front piece and a final piece of batting. Sew around leaving the top unsewn. Turn out the right way.
Take the lining pieces and place right side together and sew around leaving the top edge unsewn.
Place the lining inside the stocking and fold the top edge of the stocking inwards by 1 cm and the lining outwards by 1cm, slip stitch around to secure.
After Steve I decided to make a Mooshroom cow storage case as well – they make up so quickly and are so handy its hard to stop making more!
This one is a bit bigger than the Steve at 23x13cm.
Once you have completed the pattern fold the case in half with wrong sides together and slip stitch down either side to secure.
Take the zip and sew onto the top edge of the case.
Next take a piece of fabric 23x27cm and fold in half with wrong sides together and sew down either side to secure. Fold the top edge over by 1cm and press. Place the lining inside the case and slip stitch around to secure.
Since making my tumbling blocks pineapple blanket and cushion I have had a few more tumbling projects in the works and the first out is this heart cushion. I added some textures to the heart blocks with some bobbles to make them really stand out from the background and give a textured feel and opted to use two different pinks one on the front heart and one on the back, though you could do them both the same if you preferred.
The pattern is available on my Etsy shop:
http://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/hookstitchsew
I’ve had the idea for a flamingo cushion for a while now and when I received some Essential Trends fat quarters in pink by The Craft Cotton Company I knew they would be perfect for making one with.
It was great fun putting this cushion together and I have kept him sat on my craft desk as it makes me smile whenever I look at it – I will have to make some to go in some other rooms!
The tutorial to make your own is available over on The Craft Cotton Company blog :
https://www.craftcottonblog.co.uk/single-post/2018/05/31/Mini-Flamingo-Cushion
Following my first successful attempt at corner to corner crochet with my corner to corner hearts blanket I decided to venture back and try something else. I have had an idea for some crochet storage cases for a while now and combined with my like for making things Minecraft related I decided to combine to two and make some Minecraft themed storage cases.
After digging out my graph paper again I got started on the patterns for a Creeper and a Ghast (I was thinking of starting with a mooshroom cow but didn’t have any red!). once I had got the pattern sorted I could get started on the crochet part.
These cases measure up at approximately 20 x 11 cm, when using DK wool and a 4 mm crochet hook. The Ghast uses 3 colours (grey, black, white) and the Creeper uses 4 (black, dark green, medium green, light/sage green).
After I had completed the crochet part and sewn in all the loose ends it was time to put the cases together. Taking one of the cases I folded it in half with the right sides together and slip stitched down the two sides.
After turning it back out it was time to sew on the zip. I used a 20 cm zip but make sure you measure along the top edge of your finished case to ensure your zip size due to variations in wool and tension. Before sewing in the zip I completed a few stitches at the bottom of the zip to hold the loose ends together which makes it much easier for sewing in.
I first sewed the zip along one of the top edges, then opened the zip and sewed it to the other side.
I decided to add some lining to my case just to ensure no bits could fall out. I opted for lining which had a white wrong side and pattern on the right side for my Ghast so that you wouldn’t see any pattern through the case but would on the inside, however, you could choose any pattern or colour you would like. To do this I cut a piece of fabric (for each case) 21 x 22 cm and folded this in half (placing right sides together) so I had a piece 21 x 11 cm and sewed down the sides.
I then folded the top edge over by 0.5 cm and pressed it so it would hold, then I was able to sew the lining into the case by placing the lining inside the case, pinning it in place with the top edge of the lining 0.5 cm from the zip and securing using a slip stitch.
I have been wanting to give corner to corner crochet a try for a while now but I’ve had too many other projects on the go to really give it a try, so a few weeks ago I found some wool that I really wanted to use for a corner to corner make so I got the wool and decided that the other projects could take a back seat for a while so that I could give it a try!
I dug out some graph paper – it’s amazing what you can find at the back of a craft cupboard and gathered some colouring pencils and set about drawing a pattern out. I didn’t want to do anything too crazy so decided to go with a repeating heart pattern mini blanket – can never have too many hearts about.
After the pattern was completed it was time to get going and surprisingly it went really well – I did manage to mess up a couple of times and got a bit carried away and forgot to change colour but luckily realised before I had got too far. Once I had finished the pattern I did a round of single crochet and a round of half treble (UK)/half double (US) around the edges in pink.
Can’t wait to start the next one of these – I’ve got a few half coloured designs already!
If you would like to make one here is the pattern I drew up:
Final size is 88 x 72 cm, you could duplicate the pattern to make it larger.
I’ve been looking at folded star/pine burr quilt designs for a little while now and have been wanting to see if I could make one. I received some gorgeous floral fabric from The Craft Cotton Company and decided it was now or never and would give it a try by making a cushion cover.
I seriously underestimated just how many triangles would go into making the cushion cover, but after a few extra cutting out and ironing sessions I had enough to put it all together. I was surprised how easy it was to make the folded triangles and put the star pattern together – the effect looks much more complicated when you see it all finished, the main thing was trying to keep all the gaps between the triangles the same distance, if the gap started to change it effected the overall pattern.
I really enjoyed making this and will be making another one soon – possibly a square cushion or maybe a quilt, although the amount of triangles needed to make a quilt would take me a age to get all cut out and ironed, then there’s still all the sewing together….
The tutorial to make one of these is available over on The Craft Cotton Company blog:
https://www.craftcottonblog.co.uk
