Garden Granny Blanket. . .

Hello dears !

I can finally show off my new blanket, 

which I have called Garden Blanket, because of the flower motifs. 

I started this blanket ramdonly and not knowing 

what I wanted it to be. Well, that is not true. 

I knew exactly the idea I wanted for this blanket, 

I just could not picture it, but I knew what I wanted. 

One thing is sure, I kind of wanted to make a Cath Kidston inspired blanket. . . .and I'm not sure if I achieved my goal. . . and to be honest I could not care less now because I just love the result !! 

This blanket is a gift to a very special baby. . . .(but tell me, is there any baby in the world that is not special ??) 

I mean special because she is my cousin's daughter. 

This cousin has been very special to me throughout my childhood, but about 15 years ago we kind or grew apart. As it happens in many families, there were some family problems. . . at the same time I moved abroad and we lost contact. . . 

We have met again in February and it was an extraordinary day full of emotions and memories. 

I made this blanket mainly with my yarn stash. . . from the yarn I used to make this blanket I made for my daughter. It is a 50% acrylic 50% wool yarn. I buy it locally and a couple of skeins of some colours left. . . I started using green first. . . . instead of the baby blue...

Then the shade of green was just not right, I thought. 

I also bought red and turquoise to give it a boost of colour. . . 

For the border I did a single crochet round in white. Then I used the 2 first rounds of border #120 from the Crochet Borders by Edie Eckman book. 

And to finish off I continued with border #105 from the same book. 

The final round of the border was done in red as I think it kind of frames the blanket and finishes it off. 

Blankets have a lot of history in them. . . I made this one while dealing with a lot (more than I bargained for. . . ) family emotions, good and bad. . . I also made it while traveling to different places for work, pleasure.... and also and mainly watching a fabulous tv series called Gran Hotel (Spanish production) which I have loved !! 

I also made this blanket in a record time (for me). . . 

I started it in February and it was finished on April 5th 2015, 

so about 2 months. . . . wow !!! I'm amazed !! 

I never thought I could make a blanket in 2 months ?!?! 

Now I suppose you want the details ?? 

It is made with Solid Granny Squares (this is a very simple pattern, that can be easily found in Google or any pattern site like Rarely) 

The flower motifs are the Waterlily square from the 200 Crochet blocks by Jan Eaton. 

It has 29 solid squares and 11 waterlily squares. 

It measures: 29' x 45' aprox (74cm x 114cm)

It weights: 438 gr

This means over 6 skeins of 50gr balls (200 cm per skein) = 1,752 metres of yarn !!

And now I leave you with some more pictures to enjoy !! 
I hope to write again soon. . . and be more regular on this little blog of mine. 

Take Care for now, 

xEva 

Makes in crochet & Circular Knitting

Hello all ! 

My, my ! it has been a long time . . . 

Thank you all for waiting for me. 

It is about time I show you some of the things I have been up to these 2 months. 

First, I managed to finish my daughter's

Creative Blog Hop

I have been quite relax about my blog lately and one of the reasons is time lacking and another 

is also probably I am still with that urge to knit and crochet more than using my computer for anything apart from work. 

What has got me to my computer and blog today ?? 

A Blog Hop invitation by lovely Elizabeth from Elizyart Blog. 

I think Elizabeth and I both started our blog around the same time and we have been in regular contact since them. . .and we both live in Madrid (Spain) !! She has created some lovely things and made gorgeous crochet shawls !! If you have not visited her blog please do so now and enjoy some lovely crochet !!

Now, I have to answer 4 questions, here we go !!: 

Question #1: What are you working on at the moment?

I'm always working on several things: this pictures below are solid grannies. 

Crochet Rug with T-Shirt Yarn - Alfombra de Trapillo

Hello dear readers, 

I seem to be away from my blog a lot  now. It is all about priorities and time in life, isn't it ?

I have been crocheting a lot lately and I'm enjoying it so much, and I find it hard to find time to blog about it. . .

I have finally finished this crocheted t-shirt yarn rug I started a while ago for my daughter. I mentioned it here.

Queridas lectoras, 

Parece que este verano estoy un poco desconectada de mi blog. Todo es sobre prioridades y tiempo en la vida, verdad ?

He estado haciendo mucho ganchillo últimamente y disfrutando mucho de ello, sin embargo no encuentro el tiempo de ponerlo en el blog. . . 

Finalmente he terminado esta alfombra de trapillo que empece hace tiempo para mi hija. 

Os lo conte aqui

 

It has taken me sometime...

Crocheted Curtain Ties - Recoge Cortinas a Ganchillo

Hello dears !!

Hola a todas !!

I hope you have been well. . . I have been a little bit out of blogland and concentrating on other things. 

Espero que hayáis estado bien. . . yo he estado un poco apartada del mundo blog y concentrada en otras cosas. 

Instagram is handy, quick and there is where you can find me lately. 

Instagram es muy rapido y conveniente, en cualquier sitio o momento puedes poner algo o echar un vistazo a lo que otros pone y es donde me podéis encontrar últimamente. 

I have also been very sad. . .on 11th May I was having a look at the blogs I follow and I read this post from this blog ... and I cried. 

También he estado triste. . . el 11 de Mayo dando un repaso a los blogs que sigo 

lei esta entrada . . .y llore

I have felt a very deep empathy with both mothers but specially with Jacqui at BabyBoyBakery as she is also in Instagram. 

He sentido una profunda empatía por ambas madres pero especialmente por Jacqui de BabyBoyBakery

Why ? - I have a boy 4 months younger than her Ryan and so he is of a very similar age, we seem to do very similar things with our kids. . . and the very scary fact that sometimes no matter what you do you just have no control over what can happen to them...

Porque ? - Tengo un hijo 4 meses menor que su Ryan, hacemos cosas muy parecidas juntos.. . 

y lo que mas miedo da es a veces no importa el cuidado que tengas de ellos que simplemente no tienes control sobre lo que les pueda pasar. . . 

Why do I follow her even if eve

ry time I read something I cry and feel incredibly frustrated,angry and sad at the same time about something bad ever happening to a child ?? 

Porque la sigo si cada vez que leo algo de ella me siento increíblemente triste, enfadada y frustrada al mismo tiempo ? todo esto por el hecho de que algo malo le pase a un niño ?

She asked from day one through her best friend for support , help , prayers for her and her family to deal with the loss and she asked for her son to never been forgotten. . . when a mother is so humble to ask for all of this I could not do other than offer what I could. 

Desde el primer dia podio a través de su mejor amiga apoyo, ayuda y oraciones para ella y su familia. Para poder sobrellevar la perdida y podio que su hijo nunca fuera olvidado. . . cuando una madre te pide algo tan humilde yo no podia hacer otra cosa que ofrecer lo que pude. 

All I can give her is Kindness and sweet words. I only leave her messages on IG or her blog. . . it is all I can do to help them and I know at this moment she needs to feel the love of people around the world and that Ryan will not be forgotten. 

Lo unico que puedo ofrecer es Amabilidad y dulces palabras. La dejo mensajes de apoyo en Instagram o en su blog. .  .es todo lo que puedo hacer para ayudarles y se que en estos momentos necesita sentir el calor de la gente de todo el mundo y que Ryan no caiga en el olvido. 

As for the sharing part they have also asked for, this is my contribution and I share it with my dear followers: YOU 

Así que esta es mi contribución, compartir la historia con vosotros y la vida de Ryan

It is hard to change subject but in the midst of all this I have also finished my curtain ties. 

Uff !! Es difícil cambiar ahora el tema, pero en el medio de esto también he terminado el recoge cortinas que empece en Abril. . . 

The inspiration came from lovely Sandra at Cherry Heart's Garden Curtain Tie backs. By the way, have you seen her Crochet Corner ??

La inspiración viene de Sandra y su Recoge Cortinas. 

Por cierto habéis visto su Crochet Corner ??

To be honest I started this without knowing where I was going. I also really, really , really wanted to make the crochet puff flowers. . . and use them somewhere...somehow. 

Para seros sincera empece este proyecto sin saber muy bien donde iba. 

También tenia unas ganas tremendas de hacer las florecitas de punto puff

y queria usarlas en algún proyecto . . . de alguna manera. 

For the crochet puff stitch flowers there are lots of videos in YouTube and I have now forgotten which one I have used. . .

Para las flores use un video de You Tube pero ahora no me acuerdo de cual . . .

Then I kept seeing crocheted hearts and I really wanted to make one. . . after several tries I found this one and I loved it. 

You can find the pattern here

Después vi muchos corazones a ganchillo y quería hacer uno . . . después de probar varios encontré 

este y me encanta.

Podeis ver el patron aqui. 

I have used Natura Just Cotton Yarn, 100 % cotton yarn. 

You can buy the yarn at my Esty Shop

He usado hilo de Natura Just Cotton, 100% algodón. 

Podeis comprar Natura en mi tienda Etsy. 

I then added some wooden beads from my daughter's necklace making set. . .for some weight 

Después añadí algunas cuentas de madera del juego de hacer collares y pulseras de mi hija. . . para que tuviera un poco de caída y peso. 

And this is how they look on the curtains. . . 

I could not get any decent picture. If I opened the window there was too much light and if I closed the shutters it was too dark . . . 

They do brighten my window in my home office and I love having some crochet beside me. . . 

Y así es como han quedado. . . 

No he podido sacar una foto en condiciones. Si abría la ventana había demasiada luz

pero si cerraba las persianas era muy oscuro. . . 

Pero si que alegran esa esquinita de mi oficina en casa y me encanta tener algo hecho de ganchillo mientras trabajo. . . 

Now I will have a wonder around your beautiful blogs. . . 

Durante estos dias ire visitando vuestros preciosos blogs . . .

Thanks for visiting once again. . . 

Muchas gracias por visitarme de nuevo. . . 

x Eva 

Maginspiration #2

Hello all !!

I come back again with more inspiration found in old magazines. 

We are still renovating the basement and so we are still spending time looking for ideas, inspiration, buying materials, etc. 

I am making progress in my little boy blanket but as I had nearly finished last night I was not completely happy with the way I was joining the squares and so I pulled the thread and I'm starting to join them again with a different method. 

It is not something I'm enjoying as there has been a lot of testing, making and unmaking on this blanket but it is part of the learning curve and this way I will know which is the method of joining solid grannies I like the most. 

I will share the result and method used with you once is finished and ready to show. 

Now back to inspiration . . .found in Country Homes & Interiors - November 2008

A quilt above and there is also what looks as a lovely crochet throw (first picture above)

And another quilt in lovely blues and greys. . . so romantic . . . 

And some more found at Ideal Home - December 2010

Lovely grannys blanket . . .

And knitted cushions . . .lovely !

Hope you find these inspiring too . . .

Have a lovely week !

xEva