Coaster Rica

A post about my travel to foreign lands?! Sadly, no..... as I have never set foot out of the motherland, ...boo hoo. (Ahem... I hope Somebody is reading this!!)

Then is that a typo in the post title ? No!!

This is the project I promised to share with you. I am sorry I am a day late. My son is going on a class trip and I was busy helping him pack his bags.

But before that let me welcome Elena from Sew in love with Craft. Thank you for joining us.

I am on one of my "Utility" kicks again, which means whatever I make has to be pretty as well as useable. This time I am on a Coaster run and this is the first set I made.

Isn't that a cute pattern? I just love the strawberry and cream combination. I have used acrylic yarn with a 2.5 mm crochet hook.

If you like this pattern you can find it here at Favecrafts.

Some more delicious photos:

I just love "instant gratification" projects like these. Of course it is a different feeling, from the sense of achievement when you complete a large project.

I tried the same pattern in a different colour combination.

Which one do you like?

I had mail ordered some yarn which I received yesterday. A lot of yarn, well okay a ton of it actually! I will share my stash with you in a couple of days after I am done sorting them.

This morning I saw a squirrel on the tree outside my bedroom window. Can you spot it in the pic below?

No? Okay, take a closer look. 

See you later, crocheters
Bye, Love xxx

My first sewing project

Hi friends, how are you? This post is coming after a long gap as I was busy breaking my head over a new project.
Yes, my first sewing project!

But, first of all, a warm hello to our new friends Debi from Dly's Hooks and Yarns , Priya from Now Serving ... and Maria Filomena from Filomena Crochet e Outros Lavores . Thank you for joining me.

My husband gifted me this wonderful sewing machine  around 10 years back. I use the machine for mending and hemming towels etc. Sadly, the machine does not have a user manual and as I was working full time, I never had time to take a proper sewing class. But I am going to remedy that and sign up for one soon.

Anyway, since non-stop crochet was causing a pain in my wrist I decided to put down my hook and try my hand at sewing. I wanted a small project so I decided to make a case for the crochet hooks I had recently purchased. 

Yeah... even a sewing project had to be related to crochet...!!

So let's go over the materials:

My hooks which needed a case

My wonderful brother sewing machine 

The fabrics and binding

 

My colourful sewing supplies box

The trays can be clipped on to the sides. Isn't that a cute looking box.... I think it was the lovely colours that prompted me to buy this box.

There are dozens of tutorials on the internet on how to make a crochet hook roll. Usually a case was made by stitching parallel lines on the flap to make pockets for the hooks. But that was not how I wanted to make it, why keep it simple.....yeah, a real glutton for punishment, that's me! With my limited knowledge of sewing, I took inspiration from this Pencil Roll Tutorial at You Go Girl .

I wanted pop up pockets  as the hooks had thick handles. To make matters worse, each handle was a different thickness!

There was trouble from the word Go! The bias binding was just not turning and it was too narrow and fiddly for me. So, I cheated a bit there, but I am not telling anything. Then I made the pockets by keeping each hook to measure.

Finally got my pockets in order!

I managed to get the case done after spending the whole Sunday on it.
And ta-da here it is:

I wanted the outside of the case to be plain and not show the ridges. I think I achieved it.

Now what remained was to crochet a length of chains to make a cord, to tie up after the case was loaded with hooks and rolled. But then, you see I had taken a vow to make this as difficult as possible! I decided to try the Romanian crochet cord, a new technique. If you would like to know more about this technique visit Wendy at  Sunshine's Creations. Vintage Threads. She makes beautiful lace using this cord.

This was the first time I was trying this and after crocheting one inch I was ready to give up! But when I read that Wendy's teenage daughters were making yards of this cord I decided not to quit. Well, it was definitely worth it as you can see.

I curled the ends in to make small discs.

 Here is my crochet hook case duly completed, loaded, rolled and tied.


Phew!... no more sewing projects for me. Well, at least not in the near future. Maybe after I take a few lessons.

A cute scene from my balcony, birds of different feather..... chatting together!

The rain gods have sent the clouds, but have forgotten to send the rains! Hot sticky, clammy weather.... well, there is just no pleasing us, is there? We always find something to crib about!!!

 

In this concrete jungle the greenery is a soothing sight...isn't it?

I am going back to my hooks and happy hooking to you too. I have a new project to show you, so see you tomorrow.

Bye,
Love xxx

P.S. The binding is stitched on the top side but on the inside, I got fed up and just stuck it with fabric glue.... so much for my sewing skills, ha ha.