WIP - Crochet Rainbow Blanket

I like to have a crochet project on the go, something simple that I can pick up and put down easily - normally done when I'm stuck in the car for a while with a sleeping child in the back seat.

This is my current project - more rainbows! 

It's basically a giant granny square, with each row a different colour.  It's not a true rainbow - the indigo and violet are more like purple and pink, but it's bright and colourful and that'll do.  There is going to be a lot of sewing in of ends of threads when I've finished (not my favourite part!), but it'll be worth it.

The wool was leftover from a rainbow blanket I recently made for a friend who had a new baby.  I had a lot of wool left, so decided to just work it up into a second blanket, ready for whenever it is needed.  There's not too much left to do now - I think a couple more rows and a border and then it'll be time to block it :)

Linking up to WIP Wednesdays at Freshly Pieced!

Soaping up - The Handmade Soap Book

A couple of years ago I bought this book on making handmade soap, as I really fancied having a go.  For one reason and another, I never got around to actually having a go until a couple of weeks ago, and there are now three batches of soap curing in the garage.

It was easier than I expected to make the soap, and compared to the quickness and hurry which sometimes accompanies my sewing, it was incredibly chilled out and relaxed.  Because you have to let your fats and sodium hydroxide cool to the right temperature, wait for the soap to thicken and let it cure for four weeks, it's not a craft which you can rush.

So far, I have made honey, cinnamon and almond soap, grapefruit soap and pink lavender and lime soap.  They all smell fantastic and I can't wait for them to be ready to use!

The book was really good.  I found the instructions clear and readable, and the recipes easy to follow.  The pictures are enticing, and there is a lot of great information about different ingredients in the front of the book for if you want to come up with your own recipes.  However, the recipes given are so delicious that I think they will keep me going for a little while until I'm really confident I know what I'm doing.

In a previous life I was a chemist but I now work at a desk job, so there was something a bit fun about turning the kitchen into a mini chemistry lab for the evening.  But that's just the geek in me coming out!  There is no need to have any sort of experience in to do this; it's just important to follow the instructions carefully, and make sure to clean up properly afterwards.

It's a bit (very!) addictive, and I'm already planning my next batch: maybe cucumber soap, vanilla soap, or goat's milk and ylang-ylang.... hmm....

Linking up to Anything Goes Monday over at Stitch by Stitch.

Rainbow Quilt DONE!

It's done it's done, my rainbow quilt is done!

I am so pleased with how this has turned out!  It's a bit wrinkly at the moment as I left it in the tumble dryer slightly long and the creases set, but they'll come out next time it gets washed (which, given it's my son's quilt I'm sure won't be long).

I quilted it in zig-zags, and have bound it in scraps of the green, blue, indigo and violet fabric.

This was going to be one of his Christmas presents, but I've already got him a few other presents and he's too little to really understand the idea of Christmas anyway, so I've decided to give it to him early.  I think a few games of hide and seek and a bit of tent building will be the order of the day!

Linking up to Crazymomquilts, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Freedom Fridays and TGIFF.