Crochet baby blanket finished

In an attempt to keep scraps down to a minimum by using them up I decided to make a striped crochet baby blanket.  I had almost a whole ball of grey left over from the striped baby cardigan I knitted recently and a friend gave me leftover balls of navy, red and white yarn. As I was about to pop them in the cupboard I had a change of plan:  why not crochet a baby blanket?

All made up as I went along.  I think I made a 100 chain before starting the double row of dc, using the four colours in turn and repeating the pattern of navy, grey, red, white.
The white ran out first but I managed to find an excellent match in my bag of yarn leftovers so then continued until the red came to an end. By this time the blanket was almost a square of a useful size and I had enough navy to crochet a border all the way round the blanket.

It finished at 29.5" x 31.5".  Not a perfect square but near enough to 'look' square until I measured it.

Another part of my gift for Amy's baby who was born a little early on Thursday. A baby girl, called India Reyna, such a pretty name. Can't wait to hand over all my gifts whenever that might be.

A close up:

 

The colours aren't completely true to their real colour.  The navy isn't as black as in the photo and the red is proper pillar box red not the rather orange shade of red it appears here.

 

I'm pleased with the blanket, soft and colourful, and drapes beautifully.  Just right to tuck around a baby in the pushchair or car seat. Hope Amy agrees.

Hurrah! I finished my WIP!

Earlier in the year I decided to use up some of the MANY 4" square Crumb Blocks that had been accumulating in my tin.  There were so many I couldn't fit any more in.
So I created a quilt top by sewing four Crumb Blocks together and decided to use sashing and corner stones to complete the top. All the fabrics came from stash: a lilac Kona Cotton for the sashing and two fabrics for alternating corner stones.

Recently I decided it was time to turn this WIP into a quilt, thinking it needed a couple of borders to finish it.  Then I decided to just go with one lilac Kona border and get it finished.

I machine quilted in the ditch and then hand stitched in a variegated pink Perle cotton to add more interest and stability. I also did a few stitches in the centre of the Crumb Blocks to make sure the quilt top was well anchored.  This is a baby quilt which will get lots of washing so it needs to be firmly quilted.  It's a good size for a baby quilt, measuring 40" x 48" so it's big enough for the cot when she is older and can even be used as a top on a single bed.

And, here it is!

Jazzy Squares: showing the backing

 

Jazzy Squares, resting on the sheep we have in our garden!

 

This quilt is going to live in Leeds, as a gift for Rebecca, born in March. Her older brothers Robert and James already have quilts from me so Rebecca had to have one too.

 

I am really pleased with this quilt.  It is bright and pretty and girly.  Lots of interesting snippets for Rebecca to find as she gets older: there's a tiny rabbit, a cat's face, a rhinoceros, an elephant, flowers, stars, hearts etc for her to find.

 

I made Jazzy Squares completely from stash - including the backing and binding which had been given to me by Sue, one of my patchwork group friends.

 

When we went to New Zealand I took some white acrylic yarn (which had been hanging around for too long) and a pretty woven basket style baby blanket pattern I had found on the internet.  I almost finished it before we came home but I ran out of yarn.  I knew I had more at home so when we came back I finished the blanket and put it away.  I now have a recipient, our step Granddaughter is expecting a baby and has a Baby Shower in August so I will gift the knitted blanket then.

 

Knitted blanket:

 

 

 

 

Baby gifts ready to go

Well, baby Etta has arrived!  Born on 10th January, another granddaughter for my husband's cousin and his wife.

I was sure Mum Helen was having a boy and had a quilt set aside that I made quite recently.  However, I knew I had a couple of baby girl quilts in my cupboard so I didn't make another.

Surprise, surprise, along came baby Etta and out of my cupboard came this quilt:

When it was made, way back in March 2012 (I checked my Flickr quilts photos to check the date!)
I called it Emerging Butterflies.  However, I decided to re-name it now it has an owner, and it's now called "Patches in Pink". 

I made a really scrappy backing for this quilt which I was very pleased with at the time and I still love it now:

 

I am adding a crocheted stripey blanket that I recently made so that's going in the parcel with the quilt.

 

Helen is a great crafter herself so she will enjoy this gift, I am sure, and will appreciate the love and care that went into the making.

Can't wait to see them all and perhaps have a cuddle with a new baby!

 

Another Crochet baby blanket finished

I have now finished a second crocheted baby blanket, this time using stronger "boy" colours.

I'm pleased with it. This one is a little larger than the first one I made as I think I had more links in the chain - 81 this time. I couldn't remember how many I had in the first one.  It's s nice size, measuring 25" x 31", and I like the colours I used.  A few of them are the same as I had in the first blanket but I didn't use the mauve and the pinks, adding a burgundy, a cream and a bright lime green to make it more suitable for a boy.

Here it is:

 

 

And a Close up of the stitches and stripe colours:

 

 

 

This blanket is waiting with the girly version to see which will be needed for the new baby expected any day now.