These light and bright spring evenings have been an absolute boon for my productivity. I’ve been going crazy making loads of Spring Circle Squares. Although after laying them out on my bed – their eventual destination – I can see that I have quite a few more to go yet.

To be precise – I have another 49 squares to go. Oh goodness… I find it’s often better not to contemplate too deeply the bigger picture when tackling a large project. 49 squares sounds really daunting but I’m just hooking my way through a few every night so it’s not going to be as scary as it seems. Anyway, there’s really no hurry. I suppose not having to work to any sort of deadline is one of the great pleasures about home made self gifted gifts!

I have been working very diligently on the blanket and it might well have been nearing completion by now but for the fact that I kept stealing some of the circle motifs to make some matching cushion covers.

A bed is not completely dressed unless you have lots of extra cushions to annoy the hell out of the more practical minded (my hubby). I’m more in the camp that puts aesthetics over function. Yes the cushions always get kicked to the kerb (or the end of the mattress) come bedtime but they do look jolly pretty during the day!

Project ‘Spice up the Bedroom’ is still in its infancy with quite a few more miles of yarn to transform yet, but you can see where I’m heading with it all now.

I was thrilled to find these gorgeously globular fairy lights last time I visited Tiger. I snapped up a couple of strings as the colours couldn’t have been more perfect to match the spring circles motifs.

I’m obviously very on trend at the moment, though that’s more of a happy accident than by any scheming or conscious decision making on my part! I think I’m going to incorporate pompoms into my new bedroom look too. After all, I have all plenty left over from my epic pompom making frenzy over Christmas last year. Many of them are a pretty good colour match and this whole circles and spheres thing is really floating my boat at the moment. I love it when a plan comes together…

The pompoms could make a pretty edging for the cushions or a delicate garland string – I’m yet to decide, but they’re going into the grand plan somehow.

I was a really good girl and finished off all the cushion covers properly. They have crocheted backs made of rows of half double crochets (UK half trebles)…

And I even hand sewed in some zips to give them a neat finish. A very pleasant little task in the dappled shade of the backyard.

A bit of pinning…

…and a bit of sewing…

…and they’re finished.

Maybe on closer inspection my zip insertions are not the very neatest but for someone who would gladly swap a crochet hook for a sewing needle any day of the week I think they’re not too bad – but I won’t be entering the great British Sewing Bee anytime soon!

The zips are a real boon for cushion covers in this house. It makes them fully removable for washing at the drop of a hat – a desirable trait due to the perennial problem of cat hair build up – especially important when things are as soft and inviting as these pillows. I’m going to try buttons with simple overlapping crocheted back panels on the next ones to see how that works out. When it comes to homemade crochet furnishings Minnie doesn’t think it’s good to share – unless it’s the lion’s share you’re talking about.

“Mine, all mine!” says Minnie.

The cushions look really lovely outside too, on our metal daybed, along with a couple of my other crochet blankets from the last few years.

I have really been enjoying lounging about in the garden whenever the sun has graced us with its cheering presence. Mojo’s pretty keen on the summer set up too and loves to keep a (very) close eye on my basket of circles.

“Mine, all mine” says Mojo.

The stash of circles continues to increase in size even more quickly since I finished pinching them to make cushions. It’s back to growing the blanket again this week and getting that bed set finished once and for all, although other distractions can’t be completely ruled out of course!