A Burst of Summer Creativity

Bella, Angus and I still write a list of things we want to do over the summer holidays. Mine will often include jobs around the house and craft projects I want to complete. Angus's is often a wish including visits to all local fast food outlets, a day trip to London, picnic on the beach...eating features heavily. This summer, Bella's included tie dyeing some clothes. She has been watching lots of TikTok videos of rainbow tie dye but I didn't realise it had to be rainbow so just bought a sachet of Dylon hand dye in Vintage Blue.

We had a lot of fun wrapping and rolling our clothes into different patterns. We did a couple of spirals and a couple with evenly spaced elastic bands to create wobbly stripes.

Bella was over the moon with her hoodie (a hand me down from me, I bought it about ten years ago and never wear it) and t-shirt. We also dyed Angus's NASA t-shirt and he really likes how it came out. We are going to do some rainbow tie dye later in the holidays with the cousins - we can spread the cost of the rainbow dye set between us all - I might have to find a couple more plain white t-shirts though. 

I took part in a little tie dyeing too, using an old white t-shirt of John's which had shrunk. I cut off the arms and collar and sewed blanket stitch around the raw edges. I am planning on adding some crochet edging to the blanket stitch. I have no idea what I'm doing here but I haven't lost anything if it all goes wrong.

I had a sudden burst of enthusiasm and organisation recently and got my crochet projects sorted. I printed out the patterns I'd bought and downloaded, searched my stash for or ordered the right yarn, and then put it all in little project bags so they're ready to go for when I have a moment. My first one is a small commission, a baby blanket like this one I made. 

I ordered more cotton yarn to make another t-shirt, although this time I will alter the sizing slightly to take into account my height.

I had this rust sock-weight yarn leftover from jumper so I bought a couple more balls in off white to make these socks.

And finally, I bought some tubular yarn to crochet this bag.

These projects will probably take me right up to Christmas and beyond, which is fine (finally I am learning that there is no rush!) but there is something pleasing about seeing them all ready to go.

I also bought a little more wool DK yarn and a round cushion pad and have vague ideas about crocheting a cushion cover because I've been re-arranging furniture and have decided that a new cushion is essential. 

In our hallway, the bench always used to sit by the front door, and the console table has always been closer to the stairs, under the mirror, as below.

I swapped them over, so the bench now lives under the mirror, and love it so much more. I'm sure you'll agree that the bench is just crying out for a small, round, colourful, crocheted cushion...

The hall table is now where the bench was, and I treated myself to a new poster to hang above the table. (The Statue of Liberty tea towel from New York which used to hang there is now hung in the bathroom where it looks fab - I am not ready for it to be used for actual drying up.)

This is the poster. They make the most beautiful individual pressed seaweed prints, too, but I couldn't decide on one and preferred to overall look of the poster. The wooden poster hanger is from Amazon - it's this one.

I am still steadily working on my patchwork quilt. I have now sewn 140 hexagons together (I'm using 3 inch ones) and am starting to get a feel for how it will look. I am loving this project so much, sewing those little fabric shapes together is very soothing and I love the way the pattern slowly builds. 

I feel like the seasons are turning right now. I can see such a shift from high to late summer, in the garden, the hedgerows, the fields. The colour is beginning to fade in the leaves and there are blackberries everywhere.

It's beautiful though. This is one of my favourite times of year, the slow movement of late summer into early autumn. I am determined to make the most of these next weeks before school starts back in September.