Mondrian's Lone Star

UPDATE: This pattern is now available in my pattern store on Etsy!



May I present my latest quilt: Mondrian's Lone Star!



I made this modern baby quilt back in February, but have waited to show it here, because it is one of the projects in issue 19 of the digital magazine Make Modern, which is available now!



I have always been a fan of the Dutch painter Piet Mondrian, and last year I made a small Mondrian's Lone Star quilt (16'' x 16'') for the 10th Annual Quilt Alliance Contest (you can read more about it here).



At the time I mentioned that I would like to make a larger version, and so I did - this one is 39.5" or 1 metre square. It is strip-pieced and quilted in straight lines with white Aurifil 40wt thread, to emphasize the graphic effect.



For the binding I used a fun Mondrian-themed fabric that had been in my stash for ages, waiting for the right project:



I had to provide photos for the magazine, so took the quilt for a photo shoot to Edgecliffe Boulevard here in Collaroy Plateau, where you have a lovely view over Narrabeen Lagoon and the Pacific Ocean:



But indoors it looks good too!



Here is a close-up:



Mondrian's Lone Star is now hanging on the wall in my sewing room:



Piet Mondrian was one of the most famous members of the Dutch art movement De Stijl (The Style) and this year it's exactly 100 years ago that De Stijl was founded. In my home country the Netherlands lots of events and exhibitions are held this year to celebrate this (you can read more about it here). When we were in the Netherlands in July, we saw the red, yellow and blue everywhere - like this flag on a church tower in The Hague:



So it's very appropriate that I made this quilt this year!

A new project and a new project bag

This week the Mayan CAL (Crochet-A-Long) hosted by Shelley Husband started on the Spincushions blog. I decided to join this CAL and very much enjoyed doing the first eight rounds. They included some stitches that were new to me, like puff stitches and front post stitches, but Shelley explained them all very clearly so I had no problems completing part 1. Can't wait for part 2 to be released next week!

When I had finished I realised I didn't have a bag to put this project in. I bought a project bag that I love at Morris & Sons in Melbourne earlier this year:



... but there's another project in it at the moment. So I had a good look at it and whipped up this bag, with some fabric that was left over from the Lone Star table topper I made for my father-in-law and his wife last year:



I'm pretty happy with this bag, but there are a few small things that could be improved, so I am going to make another one. I will take some photos and make notes, and add a tutorial here when it's finished. Stay tuned!

Here be dragons

Yesterday I took a short break from crocheting to make this pencil case for my middle son Ernst. It was his 13th birthday on Tuesday and he got (as requested) a set of 24 coloured pencils (and some other things as well, obviously). He asked if I could make a case for them. Of course!



He loves dragons, so chose this fabric from my stash. I think I bought it in 2016 for his Big Dragon Cushion, but didn't use it in the end because it didn't go very well with the other fabrics.



Ernst loves the case. Here is the first drawing he made with his new pencils:




Speaking of dragons, today this crocheted dragon popped up on my Facebook feed. It's a pattern by Crafty Intentions, available on Ravelry. I showed it to Ernst who begged me to make one for him! So I've ordered the pattern although I'm not sure if my crochet skills are up to this level yet...



And speaking about making things for my sons - we've had a few moving companies come in this week to check out our stuff and give a quote for moving us from Sydney to the Gold Coast in January. A lady from one of those companies saw my sewing machine and the quilts hanging on the walls, and exclaimed that it was a shame I did not have any daughters to make things for...!

Rag rug crocheted with t-shirt yarn

A few years ago I started making a braided rug with t-shirt yarn. At some point the rug began to curl - I couldn't get it to lay flat and discarded it. However, I held on to the balls of t-shirt yarn I made at the time, and with my new-found crochet skills they suddenly proved to be very useful!



I used up all the balls I had to make this rug. I had mainly dark colours, so asked hubby if he had an old white shirt I could cut up - and he did! (check out my tutorial on how to make continuous t-shirt yarn here)



With a 10mm hook the rug grew quickly, but it was pretty hard on my hands. However, I'm very happy with the result. I hope there will be a good spot for it in our next house, because we don't really have one at the moment!

Crochet-covered stone

A few years ago I wanted to learn to crochet so I could make a crochet-covered stone. A colleague at the time taught me the basics, but I didn't really get it, and in the end I bought a lovely stone from Monicaj on Etsy. I still have it, it's gorgeous. But now of course I finally have the skills to make a crochet-covered stone myself!

I thought I'd start with a large one and some 8ply cotton (left over from the Sea Colours blanket). I asked my youngest son to find me one on the local beach, and he brought this flat, almost hand-sized stone back. Here is a photo with an apple for size:



I used this free Ravelry pattern (in Dutch, but it's also available in English) and made the eye cover. I love the result! I'll ask my son to find some smaller stones and try to make covers with a thinner thread.

I think I'll use this stone as a paperweight. It will be a lovely memory of Collaroy Beach when we are back in Queensland next year.

Yes, you read that correctly - we are moving back to Queensland! Not to Brisbane, but to the Gold Coast, where my husband has accepted a job at Griffith University. We will move in the first week of January 2018. I am very happy - Sydney is a beautiful city, but I do not find it very livable. One of our sons shares my feelings and is also very happy to go back to Queensland; the other two have mixed feelings - they will miss their friends here, but are glad they'll be much closer to their friends in Brisbane (the Gold Coast is about an hour's drive from Brisbane).

I am not looking forward to moving house again (the 4th time in less than 2.5 years...), but it looks like this time all the packing and unpacking will be done for us, which definitely makes it easier! And on the Gold Coast we'll have a lot more house for our money - that's also something to look forward to!

Sea Colours blanket

It's finished! So happy with my very first crocheted blanket!



Yesterday I added the border, then rushed out to get some foam mats from the local hardware store before they closed. I blocked the blanket last night:



And this morning had a photo shoot in the garden!



Since these are the first granny squares I've made since I learned to crochet in July, there is room for improvement. Some squares were larger than others (so some serious stretching was done), some squares have gaping holes where I started a new row, some have colour changes that could have been done more subtly... But I've learned a lot while making this project, and I just adore the fresh colours, so warts and all, I love this blanket!



The details:
Sea Colours blanket
Pattern: Baby blanket by Jeanet Jaffari
Yarn: 4 Seasons Flinders Cotton 8 ply
Hook: 4.0 mm

Crocheting and knitting...

Last week I bought this nifty blocking board on Etsy and blocked all remaining squares for my Sea Colours blanket at once! Now I'm sewing them together, which isn't as much fun as making them was..



I've also made some progress on the 2017 Sydney Temperature Scarf. The first 8 months of the year are done, and the scarf now measures 119 cm:



I'm still a bit obsessed with crochet, and looking for crochet bloggers to follow. I would like to do a CAL (crochet along) - if you know of any that are about to start please leave a comment!

Road trip to Brisbane

Last week, when the boys had school holidays, we drove down to Brisbane. We met up with old friends and visited our favourite places, such as New Farm Park (photo above), where the jacarandas were blooming. It was so good to be back!



In New Farm I took a few pics of some gorgeous art deco buildings (more pics on my photo blog):



We also spent some time in South Bank. I love the bougainvillea there:



A typical Queensland thunderstorm rolled in while we walked past the Streets Beach. I'm very pleased with this photo!



I did a lot of crocheting both in the car and in our B&B at night...



... and came home with this pile of granny squares. Only a few more to go and then I can start to assemble the Sea Colours blanket!

Look, it's a walking granny square!

My granny square shirt is finished!



The pattern I used is in issue 90 of Inside Crochet - the Gradient Granny Tee by Sarah Shrimpton. It looks a bit different if you have curves, but I'm pretty happy with it!

First finished crochet project!

I just finished my first crochet project! A simple mesh bag, for shopping, or storing balls of yarn. The free pattern can be found here.



It was fun to do and a quick make - I started it on Thursday and finished it today.



Now I'll get back to the giant granny square shirt and the sea blanket. They're both about halfway done. Stay tuned!

More crochet

When my mother-in-law taught me to crochet in July, when we were in the Netherlands, she didn't mention how addictive it was! My pile of granny squares is growing steadily - I just can't wait to pick up my hook and make another one.



I also have this continuous urge to look up crochet patterns on Ravelry and check out crochet magazines at the newsagent's. The other day I picked up this British mag:



I really liked the Gradient Granny Tee on the cover - so when I got an email from Spotlight about their yarn sale I couldn't resist buying more yarn... (hey, it was on sale!)



I've started on the shirt (hope it will look as good on me as on that flat-chested model...) - it took a bit of getting used to the English (UK) terms (after learning in Dutch) but I adjusted to that pretty quickly. Now all I have to manage are the US terms! Why are they different??



I thought about making a case for my growing collection of hooks, but of course one of my pencil rolls is perfect for the job!