Crafty Corner

Oh we have been busy in the Jumbles and Pompoms household today. Firstly, Junior J and P has made this scarf:



Yes, really! Take a closer look:



She made it out of an old t-shirt dress. Do you want to know how? Well here's Little Miss J and P to tell you:

What you need:

. An old t-shirt or t-shirt dress
. A pair of fabric/sharp scissors


Step 1 Cut along an old t-shirt/dress side seam and cut off the sleeves so you can lay it out flat.

Step 2 Cut your t-shirt/dress into a triangle.

Step 3 Cut tassles into your fabric triangle along two sides.

Step 4 Tie the tassles together in pairs.

Step 5 ….And you’re done!

While Junior was busy tieing her tassles together I finished off my crocheted cushion with flower embellishment and here it is:



And here:



And here is a close-up of one square with its flower:



If you remember I based the cushion on Do you Mind if I Knit's beautiful sisterhood crochet blanket pattern here. Do check out her lovely blog and her very easy to follow tutorials perfect for dumbos like me. I did enjoy the crocheting experience but I have to say the sewing of the squares was a major chore for someone who is pretty hopeless at sewing. Next time I join squares together I think I'll try crocheting them together rather than sewing.

Right, my dears, that's enough creative activity for one day methinks. TTFN.

P.S. I'm going to attempt to post our creations on www.kootoyoo.com . Why don't you pop along and see what other crafty bloggers have been up to this week.

P.P.S. Also, take a look at the "At my House" post on Buttons by Lou Lou and have a nose at what other bloggers have been doing round the house this week.

Crocheted small grany square cushion in all its glory

Yes. I've done it! At last. Here it is - a proper cushion and all:



Here it is again:



And here it is again - just for luck!



Really enjoyed the crocheting experience and loved playing with the squares and deciding which colour should go where! Did not enjoy sewing the squares together. I'm not the world's most patient person and my sewing skills are pretty rubbish. But I managed it in the end (just don't look too carefully). Backed it with a shrunken woollen blankie from the charity shop and Bob's yer uncle.

If you remember, I was inspired to do this by Do you Mind if I Knit's lovely scarf here. Well, recently I noticed that she has a tutorial for her beautiful sisterhood crochet blanket square here. I really like her step by step tutorials. They're perfect for dimwits like myself: excellent photos, easy to follow instructons and lots of encouragement. Well, inspired by this wonderful tutorial, I thought I'd experiment a little and lookee here:



Yes, five granny squares already. How did that happen? Methinks another cushion cover is on its merry way (to go with the other ones I'm planning with some vintage fabric I've got plus I was planning to try my hand at making some patchwork ones). Oh well you can't have enough cushion covers don't you think?

Jumble Sale Heaven

A thoroughly bargain full weekend which started off on Friday when I bought this magazine rack from a charity shop (£1.99).



It did look fine as it was but rather too much in the way of brass for my taste. So forked out some more money for some white paint and Bob's your uncle, here it is in its full shabby chic glory:



I bought said mag rack to replace our old one which had been lying in a collapsed heap (yes, literally) in the corner of our living room for some months. However, a bit of hammering later and it was as good as nearly new:



So this one will stay in the living room and the new one will live by my bed and the one that was there already (blimey, this is complicated) is now in Junior J and P's room.

Saturday's jumble was really jumble sale heaven. Take a look at this lovely lot:

A plethora of pillow slips (well, 3 anyway):







A pale pink candlewick bed spread:



A beautiful tea cosy complete with pompom:



A seventies bed spread (I'm very partial to a bit of seventies tat):





A satchel (virtually brand new) for Mr J and P:



Sandals for J and P Junior:



A ladybird book to add to the collection:



The collection:


A fabulous folksy apron affair.



Glorious isn't it? Every home should have one.

Top buy this week has to be this little beauty which was sitting forlornly amongst the dregs on the bric-a-brac stall which I chanced upon just as we were leaving.



"What on earth is it?" I hear you cry. All shall be revealed.....





A little mirror! A design classic methinks and only 20p.

Sunday started started off very creatively on Little J and P's part with this lovely water colour of a lioness.



Then for a walk in Hertfordshire - around the pretty village of Much Hadham. We saw lots of horses including this one that Junior took a piccy of with its rather snazzy plaited mane.



Hope you had a good weekend and that your week is going well so far. That's about it for this post, although I just wanted to say: ONLY 11 GRANNY SQUARES TO GO AND I'VE FINISHED MY CUSHION COVER!!! I'm sooooooooooo excited. Today, I found in a charity shop a rather shrunken woollen blanket which I'm hoping to make into the cushion backing. Will reveal all shortly......

My attempts at crocheting

I'm learning to crochet and have decided to start on granny squares but not the full-blown granny square creation with lots of different colours and rounds. Oh no, that would be too scarey for a beginner like me. I've been crocheting the first round of a granny square rather like these little mini lovelies which Do You Mind if I Knit has put together so beautifully in this lovely scarf of hers here. Except... mine don't look very square...

Yes, almost perfectly round....And then there's this one...

And as for this...(brace yourselves):

After much trial and error, joy of joys, look at this! A vertible plethora of granny squares and, dare I say, they're square, more or less.

I'm going to try and make them into a cushion cover and will post the result when I'm done (which might be some time, so don't hold your breath). Wish me luck.