Operation Crochet.

Watch my blanket grow!

 

 

 

 

 

 

My blanket has grown by the day and is now even bigger - it almost covers a double bed. I will upload more pictures soon. I have had requests for a tutorial video demonstrating how to crochet a granny square. If you would like to see this video (and encourage me to create it more quickly) then please leave a comment below. :)

Operation Update

Hello everyone :) Do you remember my post where I renovated an old Notice Board? It looked great when I'd finished it but it wasn't actually in use - I made it to bring back to university with me. I thought I'd show you all how it's holding up with all my things pinned to it.

(Apologies for the terrible picture but it's a case of make do and mend at the moment. I've left my camera at home because there wasn't room to bring it, I only have my BlackBerry to take pictures with and I only have Paint to label with!)

It's such a great little board and I'm really pleased with how it turned out. It has a wire across the back to hang it up with should I want to but there are no hooks in the room where I'm currently living so it's quite happily sat on the radiator. I love the dual board - the pin board is great for just attaching my appointment cards to and the chalk board's brilliant for quick notes when I'm on the phone (hence the scribble). Everything is stored in one handy place and it can all be moved by just picking up the board and putting it somewhere else. This is the best project I've ever done... well, short of the Chicken Casserole of course... :)

Operation Notice Board

After emailing my landlord, I discovered that I won't have a notice board in my room for the next academic year. I thought about buying one and looked on eBay but they all seemed so boring and quite expensive for what they were. I looked the shed and found a grotty old notice board from our old house. It was covered in grass clippings and looked a bit sorry for itself, as you can see:

The board before cleaning and re-covering.

It was good enough considering it was free so I wiped it down with some kitchen cleaner. It was then that I realised I had some fat quarters of material in my bedroom that I'd never gotten round to finishing sewing so I decided to re-cover the notice board in a far friendlier material.

Close up of the original board and the material fat quarter.

The pattern of the material.

Using some super glue and a Pritt Stick (probably would have been better using a glue gun but you know me... never do things the easy way) I started to stick the material down to the original background and tuck the edges of the material underneath the frame all the way around.

Tucking the edges of the material underneath the board's frame.

The material didn't quite reach the end of the board.

It ended up that the material didn't fully cover the board and I really didn't want to piece it together and have a big join running down the middle of the board so I decided to create a chalkboard on half of the notice board. I went to the local independently-owned DIY shop and found a thin piece of board and some chalkboard paint. When I went to pay, the owner didn't charge me for the board because it was just a scrap off-cut from something he was making. Bargain. So I got home, cut the board down to size and gave it a couple of thin coats of the paint. Whilst waiting for that to dry, I figured that I'd need something to keep the chalk in so I covered an old jelly pot with some left over material from the board.

Jelly cup covered in left over material.

When the board was completely dry, I used a hot glue gun (yes, I actually found one!) to glue the chalkboard to the edge of the noticeboard that the material didn't reach. I then glued the back of the jelly cup and stuck it to the bottom of the chalkboard. I decided not to repaint the frame because I love the original colour and it goes with the material really well. It looks amazing and cost no more than the cost of a tin of chalkboard paint - £4 and I used barely any so the tin will last for years. Absolute bargain. :)

The finished product. :)

PS. If I've linked to your party, your button will be on the Link Party page to the right. Thank you for having me. :)

Operation Suitcase.

I found this suitcase back in March in a charity shop at university. Lampeter is a sleepy town where things aren't vintage - they're still in fashion. They never aged because the town's yet to catch up and realise it's 2011. This little suitcase was sat outside on the pavement. It was disgusting - dusty stained and a little ripped on the outside with somewhat dodgy stains, dust and damp on the inside. It was pretty dire but me, being me, can see potential in rubbish. Either that or I'm a hoarder. Or Stig of the Dump in a former life. Anyway, I asked how much it was and the lady said she'd let me have it for £1. I tell you, people in Lampeter and, dare I say it, people who volunteer in charity shops don't know the value of what they have. I gave her £2, what with it being for animals, and proceeded to scrub, wipe, spray, wax and elbow-grease for the rest of the afternoon with the few cleaning and polishing resources your average university student has in their room. Exactly. Therefore, instead of revision, I've restored a 60s/70s suitcase that's now worth £40 on Etsy. I won't sell it, of course, but it's a tiny bit beautiful and I'm a little bit proud.