TAH-DAH!!!! Blanket Love!!!!

A very big Hello to you all!!!

Admittedly, there hasn't been a lot of crafting on this blog but, I'm the kind of girl who likes to finish one project before starting another one!!!  Well, OK!!!  Mostly I do!!!  With this one that was most certainly the case!!!
Now, do you remember this beautiful Mother's Day gift basket??!!

I was so excited, I immediately made a granny square block!!!  I just knew this yarn would feel good on my hook!!!  And it called out to me to be turned into a blanket!!!  A warm and cosy blanket that would feel like a big hug when you cosy up under it!!!  I could see the end result in my minds eye!!!

And the little piles of color just kept on growing and growing.......

I added some more colors to the original basket of loveliness....

And started joining long strips of beautiful color together and watched with giddy excitement at how this little beauty grew!!!

18 blocks of 5 round granny squares grew into long strips of beautiful color!!!  20 Strips in total!!! Aah!!! The loveliness just carried on-and-on and-on, and it was just so easy to make!!! An absolute joy to work on!!!
But then.... Then I started on the border and just nothing worked out!!!!

I tried every pattern I knew!!! Granny stripes in singles, doubles and trebles!!!! Shells, baubles and so much  more!!! Even tassels!!! Just nothing looked right and suited this beautiful blanket of mine!!! I redid the border 7 times!!!  Yes 7 Times!!!  And the last round I redid....ONLY twice!!!!

Then I sat down one afternoon and had a look around the bloggy world to see what's out there!!!  I found this block stitch pattern on Sue Pinner's blog http://8thofthe8thofthe8th.blogspot.com/2012/08/block-stitch-and-interlocking-block.html
and I knew this would work for my blanket!!!  I separated the blanket and the border with a round of white, not a color I used in my blanket, and then followed her pattern for a couple of rounds!!! What a great feeling when it looked right!!!  It worked!!!

Then I ended the border with a double V edging found at Jacquie's blog,  Bunny Mummybunnymummy-jacquie.blogspot.com in the same color as the last round and then.....Tah-Dah!!!!!  It was                       PERFECT!!!! 

Early the very next morning I hung it out to take the final photos!!!! And here it is......

                           Tah - Dah!!!!!!

       It's BIG!!!! And I love it!!!!!

A big warm pile of colorful happiness!!!!

I love the way the early morning shade washed it with shadows and a very gentle breeze made my blanket dance with happiness!!! Happy to be finally done!!!

Notice on the close up photo's a little bit of fuzziness??  I hung my blanket out and got distracted for a while and when I finally returned, it was covered in a layer of dew!!!  It was so beautiful!!!  It took my breath away!!!!

The early morning sun casting shadows.....

and here you can see it covered with a soft fuzzy dew!!!

And the back is just as beautiful as the front!!!

Now.....

Some silly blankie facts:

Yarn: Charity DK from Pullskein

Hook size: 5

360 squares of  5 round granny squares

20  strips of 18 squares

27 balls of 100g Charity DK

Measures: 210cm x 200cm

Bed size: Queen

Weight: 2.5kg

Length of yarn: 6291 meters or 6912 yards when all joined (each ball = 233m or 256 yds)

Time to make: No idea at all but every minute was worth it!!! It really was such happy hooky time spent on this blanket!!!

Cost: Priceless!!! How do you measure love?

Colors: 22 All by Charity: Limedrop, Jeans blue, Tiger lime, Apricot, Mauve, Lemon, Pink, Banana, Tropical, Pepper, Cloud blue, Navy, Camel, Silver grey, Sky, Saxe, Wine, School grey, Maroon, Cream and White!!!

         Aaaahhhh!!!! Such loveliness!!!!!!

And so my friends, what do you think of my blanket??!!! Have you made a blanket like this??!!  I know there are so many of them out there but I do think it's one of those that really should be part of any collection!!!

Thank you for all the kind comments on my last post, I really do appreciate it!!!

Hope you're all keeping well and that the weather is kind to you wherever you are!!! Our days are still hot but the evenings and early mornings are deliciously crisp and cool!!! I love early mornings!!!  The short days have really caught me out a couple of times!!! 

Go well 'till next time!!!!

Love

AMarie

Four seasons and a progress report

Hello Again!

Such strange weather we're having!!! Beautiful sunsets, gusty winds, rolling thunder, heavy rain and a sudden hail storm!!!
All in one single day!!!!!

It started with a really crisp, clear Autumn morning with not a cloud in sight.....

... the birds stayed a little later and the game, well, they also came just a little later than usual for a drink...(usually they dead on time)

The rest of the day was warm, lazy and windless,  'till early afternoon when suddenly and without the usual built up to a storm warnings....

... this monster came rolling in!!!  Just look at the sky above this monster, no real storm clouds!!! But it got D-a-r-k really quickly and we could actually hear the hail coming.....

... The sound was deafening!!! You can actually see the size of the hailstones in these photo's!!!  Luckily we suffered just a little wind damage, but this same storm caused huge damage and flash flooding elsewhere in the country!!! ...

....And about 2 hours later we were blessed with this incredible sunset!!! Unreal!!!!...

...You can still see some rain in the background....

...I think the moisture in the air washed....

...all the sunset colors together....

...to make these beautiful soft and washed....

                     ....  sunset colors....!!!!!!!!

         ... as if there hadn't been a storm with rain,                                                winds, hail or thunder!!!!!

....and that night it got really cold, not wintery cold, just crispy cold!!! Cold enough to grab a blanket....
And this is the reason for my progress report...
This blanket is making me so happy at the moment!!!!! It's so nice to cosy up in front of the telly and just work it....

I love the way the colors fit together......

...Soft, easy and flow-y....I love crocheting the blocks together into long strips of color....

   ...and then crocheting the strips together......

...and with a warm fuzzy feeling, you watch and feel your blanket grow...

...Slowly but surely!!!! But it's still a way to go!!!  For now though, I'm just loving this blanket!!!   And I love to look at it and think "I made it !!!!!!!!"

Are you loving what you're making?

See you again soon, dear Bloggy friends!!!
Love
AMarie