Saturday 6 August 2011

Cushions and Jam Jars!

Hello Everybody!!!
Dennis is back!!! WOOOOPWOOOOOP!!!

It is so amazing to have him home! I had really been missing him lots this time around and am sooooooooooooo happy to have things back to normal. (Untill he goes away on his next three month cruise ship contract).
Do we need a "Previously on According to Matt"?
I think we do, here goes:


That was a quick recap for anybody that was a little lost! Thought I should officially introduce Dennis. I also wanted to try out my new ipad comic book application  :-) !!!!

I know I'm going on a little but I'm really so happy to have him home! He is also a "guy hooker" like me. It was Dennis that taught me to crochet.
It was really nice to hear all of his cruise ship adventure stories and also see what projects he has been working on. He always has something on the go. You can catch up on Dennis' projects and happenings by visiting his blog.

Its a beautiful day today here in Hamburg and I have no rehearsals, physio or singing lessons. Dennis had gone out for lunch with some work friends. This means I'm free all day, until the show in the evening! I love days like this! I can fill them with all of my favourite things, I sure have a lot of things on the go at the moment!!!

This week I have been working lots on my crochet projects and have managed to finish two cushions. I started the first of the two cushions last week and it was finished by the weekend. I posted a picture of it in my "Picture Perfect Sundays" post. Here are a couple more pictures of it:




To be completely honest I was not so happy with the finished product.
It was nothing to do with the amazing pattern, but more the fact that I feel like I had rushed making it. It is supposed to be a pattern for a circular cushion and after searching every shop in Hamburg for a circular and inexpensive pillow I ended up buying a small square cushion. This obviously made my circular cushion not so circular and more of a lumpy blob!

The second problem for me was the colour. I was using a multiple back of acrylic yarn.
For the top part of the cushion I put the colours together randomly as I went along. Usually this works well for me. This time the colours didn't really compliment each other,  instead every colour looked sludgy and dull. It doesn't look so bad in the above picture but on my sofa it had a brownish dirty look to it. Not quite the look I was going for!

So after making a few changes, my first attempt of this gorgeous pattern now looks like this:


I did however keep the bottom part of the cushion and will put it to good use at a later date.

My second attempt of this pattern was much more successful and I am pleased to say that "I LOVE IT". I went out and bought a circular cushion,  the only one I had seen in Hamburg. It was a  pretty large cushion and was much bigger than I had wanted. However, it was a much better option than using a square one again.

This time I arranged the colours so that they followed closely to the spectrum of a rainbow. Doing this made the colours pop out nice and bright. It was amazing to see the same wool and the same colours could look so different if arranged in a different way. No longer dull and dirty but bright and cheery!
I improvised the pattern a little to fit to the huge cushion I had bought. I'm really happy with how it has turned out.




I have also been working on my "Japanese Flower Blanket". Although it is slow work I am happy with the progress I'm making.



I think it will be a good few months before it is finished.
Whilst I make this blanket I am making sure that I sew in the ends as I go along. I'm not making the same mistake as with a previous blanket I have made for my mum.


She is patiently waiting for her finished blanket, but I'm still doing the boring job of sewing in the ends. Little by little its getting closer to being totally finished.
I now leave it at the theatre, so that during the show when im not on stage I can work a little on it. The other guys in my dressing room don't even bat an eye lid anymore that I crochet. I think some secretly think its cool but are too macho to try. I'll crack them some day!!

Finally, this week I have collected lots of little jars from work. They are little jars that were full of tomato Ketchup. Each time somebody finishes with their jar I ask to have it. I'm not so sure what I will do with them but I really think that they are cute.



I will probably turn them into some type of tea light. I'll keep you posted on this little project once I know what I am going to do with them.

I hope that everybody is having a lovely week? Thanks for paying me a visit!


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10 comments:

  1. I am totally and completely impressed with your flower blanket! I love how you use 4 colors, I just use 3, the first 2 rows with one color and a new color for row 3 and 4. Bravo!!
    ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  2. Hey Matt, must be so awesome to have him home again, I'm so happy for you guys :)
    As always, your crochet looks great, and is chock full of vibrant color. Keep it up!

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  3. Your little comic strip is fab! Love you guys :-)

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  4. What I do when I need a round cushion is unpick te stitching from any old square one, remove the filling, draw the size of the circle I need on the square and then cut it out, stitch it back up, leaving a little opening to refill it and hey presto, no more hunting around for a round cushion! Love your little comic strip and love that your amore is back at home.

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  5. It must be great to have Dennis back home.

    I love your Mum's blanket - get those ends sewn in!

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  6. woah, your cushions are FANTABULOUS!!!!!! Me thinks you are too critical Matt, i LOVE your colour combos, they work a treat. Please give my love to dennis, its lovely to catch up with you :o) ♥

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  7. beautiful! That's all there really is to say,about everything you do...hey I have soo many wood thingees(loved your hairpin project,btw) I used to run a summer art camp dept for 15 years,and I would love to send you some crafts supplies(i am just shy of admitting that i am a total hoarder of any and all of these things) Send me an email if you would like(and,you don't even have to make up a poem,song or dance!!!)Would you please tell me where you found the pattern for your Japanese Flwr,when you get a chance,oh,and one more thing,My big brother works on cruise ships too,he lectures on space(a former NASA scientist)
    Regards,Heidi

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  8. What *did* you do with the jam jars? I just clicked the link from the FAB crocheted clock post.

    PS: TY sooo much for adding my blog to your sidebar, I'm getting regular viewers from your blog to mine.

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  9. Happiness shared is happiness doubled! I'm glad your Dennis is back, enjoy the time together. And thanks for sharing your beautiful crochet, I wish my boys would try to learn this skill, actually I wish ALL men would learn to crochet, the world would be a happier place ;-)
    Regards, Karen xxx

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  10. Wow so great Dennis is back home, so good you two are back together xx and you crochet is awesome as always :) love the japanese flower blanket :)

    Xx Alette

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