Hudson's Hooded Jacket

My nephew was born on the 

13th of April and knowing there

was a little boy on the way,

I wanted to make him some cute things!

Here is the hooded jacket I crocheted for him

I just love the buttons and the way grey looks with the blue, tan and white striped sleeves and hood.

Pattern is from Newborn Knots

but I have altered the pattern quite a bit.

My Ravelry project page details my alterations

My First Quilt (And What I've Learnt)

Here is my first ever quilt.

I decided to make this for my nephew

when I found out my sister was pregnant towards the end of 2014.

I already had the grey and yellow jelly rolls from Craftsy, I got the fleece backing from Ikea and

the polyester batting and cotton binding from Spotlight.

This quilt took me a long time because I would get discouraged

by curvy lines and minor mistakes, as well as not knowing

whether I wanted to use batting or fleece or cotton.

What I've Learnt:

1) Plan Ahead! I started not really knowing what I wanted the finished quilt to look like. While I might have still changed my mind, a plan would have been very helpful!

2) Quilt's don't need to be this thick! I had to make my binding 5" wide so I could wrap it around but this may have been difficult because I'm a newbie.

3) Go SLOW! Don't rush. Just. Don't. Rush! Simple.

4) As above, going slowly = straighter lines!

5) Fleece would make a suitable batting and backing fabric!

6) And lastly - Practice makes perfect!

Pop Culture Cross Stitch

One of my very good friends and I are

constantly quoting movie lines to each other,

and one of her favourite movies to quote is Mean Girls.

So when I saw something similar on Pinterest,

I knew I had to make this for her birthday present

and send it over to Essex, England for her.

I drafted the pattern for this myself on 14 count Aida.

There are a few mistakes here and there, but

overall I'm very happy with it, and so is the Birthday Girl!

Futurama Cross Stitch - Progress

Here is another progress post

as I've finished Amy and Leela and started Zoidberg

I'm almost half way!

I had put this down for quite some time but 

have picked it up again and do some

more in front of the TV when I'm

in the mood.

After Zoidberg, it's Bender, The Professor and Hermes

on the other side of Fry.

Another Futurama Cross Stitch WIP

So I'm still making my Futurama Cross Stitch,

the one with all the characters

but I've had a request for just Zoidberg

on a larger scale so I made up a pattern

and started this Work In Progress

This is where I am after 2 days of very little stitching

The pattern calls for over 4000 stitches

and will be roughly 11" x 12.5"

as a finished piece.

I really enjoyed the process of making the pattern

and have a strong desire to create more patterns

and even sell them to other cross stitchers

once I've tested them.

Futurama Cross Stitch

Anyone who knows me

knows that I love the TV show

Futurama

And I've always had an interest in Cross Stitching

I just never really got into it

until I stumbled upon This Etsy Store

I followed along to their blog Wee Little Stitches

and fell in love with their patterns.

And it was just my luck that they had a Futurama pattern

and even better luck that it was FREE!

I started with Fry as he was in the centre

and he is also my fave character

I'm also using a beige/cream Aida in 11 count 

and Semco thread. I chose to use 11 count Aida

as I wanted it to be a bit bigger

and easier on my wrists

A Secret Project

I'm super excited about this project for several reasons:

** It's not crochet **

** It's yellow and gray **

** It's got polka dots, checks and chevron **

It's a Quilt for another nibling!

(Nibling: collective term for nieces and nephews)

My sister is having her third baby and we don't know what it is

but she has chosen yellow and gray as the nursery colours.

I knew she loved these two colours together 

(because I do as well and we have some Very similar tastes)

so I had already bought some yellow and grey jelly rolls from Craftsy

I have started sewing a quilt with alternating yellow and grey strips

making sure the patterns don't clash too much.

Here's a preview of the first 9 rows I've sewn together

Now the reason this is a Secret Project is that my sister does Not know I am making this.

It is my very first quilt and I wan't it to be a complete surprise!

WIP Wednesday

I'm back!

Been crazy busy since I returned from my 

Melbourne to Perth to Kuala Lumpur to Perth to Melbourne trip.

That's 4 flights in as many weeks.

I've learnt the Basket Weave stitch for this project.

It's something I have been wanting to learn for quite some time

but I never had a project that I could use it for.

Archer - The Mystery CAL

I participated in a Mystery Crochet-a-long (CAL)

Hosted by Stacey over at Fresh Stitches.

None of us had any idea what we were crocheting

until the last clue was released.

So this is Archer, the Dog.

A Bat for Christmas

Another Crochet Christmas Present.

This is Igor the Tiny Bat.

The pattern is by Stacey Trock at Fresh Stitches.

She makes the cutest Amigurumi patterns, I am such a fan of hers.

Aubergine Cowl

Here is my aubergine cowl.

23 rows of back loop only single crochet's.

It's too warm to wear it now, but it will so cosy next winter.

Here is my Ravelry Project Page.

and the pattern page is Cuddle Cowl by Rachel Oglesby.

Aubergine Stitches

Here is a gorgeous close up of my aubergine yarn stitches.

You may notice that these are BLO or back loops only.

I love the look of BLO stitches.

This book came in the post a couple of days after buying the aubergine wool 

and I found the perfect project for it inside.

I purchased my copy of "Crochet Boutique" from the Book Depository

How To: My Version of the Popcorn Stitch

This is how I do the popcorn stitch. 

It is worth noting that I use only 4 double crochet stitches to make my popcorn stitch, 

when the usual is 5 double crochet's.

Step 1: in my project, I needed 1dc, 2dc, 1dc, popcorn stitch.

The arrow in the picture below shows where my popcorn stitch is going to go.

Step 2: make 4dc all in the next stitch, as shown below

Step 3: turn your project over to the wrong side (WS). You can see the WS view in the picture below. To complete my popcorn stitch, I sc in the top of the first stitch (from the WS)

sc in the top of the first dc as mentioned above.

Step 4: turn your project back around to the right side (RS). The photo below is how my popcorn stitch looks. The next stitch to dc into can be a little hidden, so I've put an arrow showing where my next dc will go. 

Below is my finished round with 8 popcorn stitches.

(The one under the hook is a little hard to see on that angle)

It is also worth mentioning that a popcorn stitch is counted as one stitch. 

When you are crocheting the next row, make your stitch in the sc at the top of the popcorn stitch.

Hope this has been helpful.