BUT IS IT ART? MY BOHO PICNIC BLANKET
I love living in the moment. In the humdrum of being stuck in traffic, I am the one you will see singing at the top of her voice with her favourite music. In moments of sadness, I am the one crying deeply and sincerely. In short, I am a bit of a drama queen.
But then there are times that I need to become quiet and still. Those are the times that my husband and I just chill in our television room, bingeing on series. However, my hands can never be still. When I was younger, I did a lot of cross-stitch work in front of the television. My eyes paid the price, unfortunately. It is not that I am old, but I battle to do the fine work that I used to be able to do with such ease and vigour a few years back. Now...I CROCHET!
I have this grand project going: my intention is to crochet a blanket for each of my parents' grandchildren. Now there are eleven grandchildren altogether. Four of them have received their blankets already. I also made a blanket each for two of my sisters. Every now and again there is a baby shower (baby blanket to be crocheted!) or a special project that interferes with my allocated time for the grand project. At the moment, for instance, I am busy crocheting bunnies for a charity project. I also made a blanket for a special friend who has cancer a while ago.
In any event, what with me making blankets, I am never satisfied with the first square that I crochet for a new project. I experiment a lot before I figure out exactly what I want to do. The result is that I have a lot of random squares in storage, forgotten pieces of relative beauty.
So the other day, when I sorted out the cupboard and came across all the squares, I had a bright idea: why not make a truly bohemian blanket, just for my own enjoyment? All my "masterpieces" are given to other people, while I never keep something for myself.
And so it began...
Here I am with some of the squares that I had to start off with.
I started sewing them together randomly.
Because the squares are not all the same size, I had to keep count of the stitches on each side of a square.
Where I could not add a square to match, I filled it in with stitching extra rows.
Our girl, Giblet, enjoys snuggling under my creations.
Progress...
To see whether the blanket is big enough, I had hubby and the boys test it for me.
Ah, but it is not done. I had all sorts of applique flowers that I could add.
So I did...
And then some embroidery.
And of course, because I am @minnalouse after all, I added my favourite quote:
And there you have it!
All I need now, is the perfect setting for the perfect picnic. I am also contemplating making some colourful, overstuffed cushions to go with it. What do you think?
I hope you enjoyed my bohemian adventure with me!
NB: I got every single pattern off the internet. Unfortunately, because it was before I ever contemplated publishing some of my work, I did not keep the references. So if you recognise your pattern in my blanket, please feel free to credit yourself. I apologise profusely for not crediting you.
This is stunning! I'm truly jealous of your talent! Upped and resteemed, and congrats for being @teamsouthafrica daily nominated post!
Thank you so much, @sweetpea.
That is awesome! Love that big blanket :) Reminds me of my blankie growing up, lol. Not quite as colourful. It had black squares, with red and some colours inbetween. Great job. Keep at it :)
There is something very comforting in a handmade blanket. I remember my sisters blankie when she was a child. She would not get rid of it, would not sleep without it. It got washed so many times that it ended up the size of a dusting rag!
That turned out 'fantabulous' @minnaloushe I am not a person to stitch anything, ever.
Appreciate the beauty of these blankets, something you treasure forever, my husband has one his Gran made it must be all of 50 years old, it comes out every winter with very fond memories of his Ouma.
Thank you, @joanstewart. That is the idea behind making a blanket for each of my parents' grandchildren. I hope that it would evoke memories of my parents, and not necessarily memories of me...
One of these almost cost me my life! I had an old Triumph Bonnie and they are famous for leaking oil! At a friend's house in a notorious neighborhood, I parked the bike on their stoep and grabbed what looked like an old couch cover to place underneath the bike to catch the oil! It was his mother's favorite crocheted blanket! No further comments about this as I think it is what drove me to become a preacher man! Blessings and Upvoted!
Oh, @papilloncharity, how could you? Never mess with blankets, it doesn't matter how ugly it is in your eyes! Preacher man for which denomination?
Methodist! Don't get me wrong, I needed a cloth and I think like a man! Any cloth will do and to my thought the cover was only a cloth! Never since have I made that mistake again, although now and then I still wipe my hands on my shirt tails! Blessings!
Don't your 4 legged Kids get annoyed when you give their Blankets away? ( which do look Grand BTW)
Are your Kids Whippets?
Don't laugh now, but each of them have their own blankets as well. No, not Whippets, but Italian Greyhounds. We have three of them, as well as a German Shorthaired Pointer.
very creative work 👌
My mom made some of these blankets when we were younger. Sometimes she made some from excess material from her basket. Yours made me think of her, thank you for the memory. Good work, yours is very pretty. My mom is always going on about the amount of stitches, it seems to be a big issue in general - hehehe!
Yes, it is all about the counting! I am glad that I evoked a memory for you. There is just something so very, very satisfying and comforting about a crochet blanket.
I truly love this piece of art! It just looks so right. So comfy and welcoming! You are very talented at putting the pieces together.
Oh my word! Those are beautiful. It's quite fascinating to see how individual 'masterpieces' could colide and bind to form such a GRAND MASTERPIECE. You're creativity is truly amazing. Your friends and family are extremly lucky to be getting designer blankets! Wherever you'll have your picnic, you're going to brighten up the entire place.