When I dove all the way to the bottom of that unfinished pile of works I caught glimpses of other projects that were well on their way to get lost into oblivion. 

With my crochet hook still firmly attached to my hand from the previous unfinished yet now finished project, I picked up another blanket. This particular one had only been in there for a little over a year... yikes... and was in a further stage of completion even though the blanket was quite a bit larger than the previous one. Four squares and some edging were missing...

Miss Declutter put her focus on sharp and voilà... another finished blanket!

As you can see this one also is already in use. That's what happens when winter keeps throwing tantrums and keeps spring at bay with freezing cold temperatures and snow! Yes, snow! A lot of it. So late in March... and then to think that usually snow in winter is an oddity of itself around here.... Tantrums I tell you. 

Anyhow. The blanket is a large version of this one. I was left with bits of wool and decided to use them all in a full blown blanket... sized to cover a single bed. 

The dense effect that this blanket has by doing all the rows in double crochets, makes it wonderful to combat cold. This one really keeps you warm above all else. Due to the fact that I've used wool and a 4 mm crochet hook, the blanket still remains surprisingly light.

I finished the thing off with a simple picot border just like the small version I made so long ago.

And yes, as a lovely reader already remarked, finishing off those lingering things is just the greatest feeling. I could swear I'm the best housewife of all times right now. Until I realize I'm late making dinner... then that award passes quickly on to someone else all together. 

But for now.... ahhhhhhhhhh.... that feels good. 

Sometimes I get to work on more than one project at the time. Well, in fact that happens rather often instead of sometimes.

But sometimes I get so bored with one of those many projects on the go that it ends up on the graveyard pile. In fact it's a basket where I put all those things that need to be finished but that I just can't seem to finish for some reason or other.

At the start of the new year and in the spirit of rigorous cleaning that I was in back then, I took a dive into this basket and behold, I surfaced with a blanket that was half way done and had been sitting dormant in this unloved pile for ... hold on to your seats... almost two years. Yep, It really was at the bottom of the pile. 

I gave myself a kick under the *** and finished it off in a couple of days. Cause two years... really.... shameful...

Alright, so the pattern is made up of double crochets and chain stitches... filet work really. I made it following the design of a blanket that the granny of my husband made ages ago. She was a heavy duty crochet lover and if she was still around she would have loved the way crochet made it's come back. Anyhow, so the pattern shows off these diamond shapes while maintaining quite a solid look.

The blanket was done using a 3 mm crochet hook, some kind of wool which had been taking up space for at least those two years as well... argh... and ended up being around 95 by 125 cm. Ideal as a sofa blanket to keep one's feet warm while watching a movie or two. 

The borders are worked as part of the pattern so it really is quite straight forward and mindless crocheting. I think I remember why it ended up in the graveyard basket now...

But now that it's all done I really love it. It looks subtle and gentle. It's so soft and drapes so well. And most of all it keeps you warm beyond words. 

Voilà. The thing is, there is more where this blanket came from. Only I dread to take a look... Perhaps when a new wave of decluttering hits me? 

In between the normal ongoings of the day where I try to keep things a bit tidy, clean a window or two, cook some dinners and go for some grocery shopping (my oh my isn't my life one big great adventurous path!) I am taking some time to do these little guys ... 

Simple circles in a solid color which then will be turned into a square by adding a border of cream. In the end my grand plan is to turn them into a summery cheerful blanket. To huddle up underneath when those crisp summer evenings turn a bit chilly. Quite the plan isn't it? I like the crisp summer evening bit... I can't wait for those evenings to come...

So in between everything, I figured I need about 160 circles to end up with a comfortable size blankie. So far I've gotten to about 60... and that by merely  using the leftovers of my ripple blanket. That particular blanket left me with odd bits and ends of cotton yarn, Fleur de Cotton by la Droguerie to be precise. I've been looking into a way to use these for a while but recently the idea of a dotted circle blanket captured my imagination. So voilà. One is in the making.

Right now though I am running low on cotton so I've put in a complementary order so that I will be able to finish it all off... well before summer really strikes... I hope.

So now in between all the regular ongoings of my adventurous days I sit in waiting for a parcel of cotton to be dropped on my doorstep. 

I'm in early winter blog hibernation. I think we can make that official now. 

But we can also conclude that taking time off from all things computer has been quite a productive move. I've been busy crocheting a new blanket, knitting not one, not two, not three but six scarfs, a hat and a sweater, I've been sewing up new pillowcases, new doll quilts, making stationary and who knows what else. I've lost track and most of it hasn't made it onto my camera before either going into use or going in the hush-hush-these-are-presents-to-be-box. And somehow my pile of wips has only grown in size. It has a life of it's own.

But I did manage to sneak in some pictures of my finished stash of hand towels. In an effort not to bore you guys mindless I only snapped some shots of one half of the pile as I made every towel design twice. You know, an effective tactic to avoid squabbling siblings...

Et voilà:

Et voilà some more:

Half the stash now looks like this:

They are in full use by now, brightening up my kitchen drawer, the dinner table and the laundry basket!

Quite literally.

With yarn, a 2.5mm crochet hook and some bits of felt and floss.

And you know what? These are the best kind of friends to make. No questions asked, no complaining, no issues, no sound at all in fact. Just a lot of stitches coming together.

Meet Puti de Pomme... the funky little dog from the well known fabrics.

He came as a kit as part of a swap I did wit Niamh. Thanks so much for him Niamh, he's the best little doggie friend!

For the time being he's moved into the wooden cabinet from where he can keep up with daily summer holiday life.

And since I was doing towels, I had one more brilliant towel idea. Anyone with young children will get this...

There comes a time when bibs are outgrown for all sorts of reasons but a towel in reach for cleaning up messy faces, dripping cups and greasy hands still is a good idea. Leaving a full blown kitchen towel by every child's plate is a bit much and the ties of those old bibs, folded to look like a small towel, keep getting tangled up with the cups and cutlery producing even more mess to clean up. So I had a better idea.

Have a look at this:

A small sized towel - they call it guest towels over here- with a twist. A hand sewn hexagon flower, a small label, a little bit of embroidered ribbon and, hey where did I see that before, a crocheted edging. This time only at the bottom of the towel as the top sports a fancy piece of ribbon for hanging the thing up on a hook. 

Folded in four, this layout makes for a pretty and comfortable sized towel that will replace all bibs around here. 

Oh I'm a fan. I made four so far... in pairs of two identical ones... in an effort to reduce discussions at the table to a minimum. They are such a pretty and fun means of getting out those small pieces of ribbon that linger in your sewing basket. Those little fabric scraps, the remaining labels. A cool purpose to indulge in hexagon sewing. And before you know it you're saying, in a slightly shrieky and panicking voice,  things like "don't use it for your chocolate fingers... it might get stained!" 

Useful. Did I mention they are really useful?

Were was I?

Well, mainly here. In my garden. In between the copious rain. Enjoying such beauties as these camelias. 

But I did promise a further look at what I had been up to. So here it is. A pretty pile of towels. 

The bathroom was in need of some new additions. Now I'm no great fan of prints on towels. Nor of bold colors. They are too much of a sore sight to my weary eyes in the morning. So I went for crisp white ones. Big and fluffy. And with the help of some cotton and a crochet hook, now with a softly colored frill at both ends. 

And as a way to use up some leftover fabric scraps and label scraps, I made small labels to go with the color of the crochet edgings.

This is one of those projects that will be repeated in the future as more towels need replacing. Elegant, soft and luxurious looking towels. Man, it just about turns my humble bathroom in a true spa!

Just a little peek into something I've been working on but isn't finished yet. White and fluffy just like that fluffy bunny. Soon I'll have more to show...

So then I made another one. As planned. A circus act. For my personal 4 year old circus act. A perfect choice as she exclaimed instantly "oh this is my favorite pillow case ever...he does tricks!" An instant connection they shared, the smiling bunny and my smiling daughter. Entire conversations she holds with him at night when she's supposed to go to sleep. Getting the bunny of her bed and destined for the washing machine is something else all together but let me just say that as soon as he's back on there, the order in her universe seems to be restored.

He's made following the trusty recipe. One takes a vintage transfer embroidery and one embroiders that with red floss onto a piece of white cotton. Then one adds bits of colorful fabric above, under and to the side of the embroidery as if to make a frame. Then one adds a fanciful piece of ribbon -a bunting in this case- to the lot and one incorporates this patch onto a pillow case. As a finishing touch one crochets a neat border and stitches onto the open side of the pillow case. One cannot fail. Yay!

Surprise! Another pillow case. Yes! Surely there's a little theme going on here.

Well, this one I made as a request. So it's not intended to stay over at my parts of the woods. But it would fit our little pile of pillow cases quite well. 

The kitten turned out super cute... and ever so slightly naughty looking. I can just see what will happen to that ball of yarn in a matter of seconds. And it won't be fun to clean the tangled mess up either....

Miss Kitty is surrounded by pink patchwork and some merry Bonbon clippings. To soften up the edge between the embroidered part and the rest of the pillow I used a wide flowery eyelet lace. And on the opposite side a fine crochet edging. Red and pink, it really does go well together...

I think there will be more of these to follow. They are so much more fun to put on the little beds than the simple store bought ones. And frankly, runny noses, sick children, ear infections and so on result in pillow cases changed quite often (compared to blankets etcetera).... so having a pile of these around wouldn't only strongly diminish my stash but would boost my house-keeping-goddess status a bit further I believe. I hope. I tell myself. Hah!