Picture Perfect Sundays!!!

Happy Sunday everybody!!! Have a lovely sunny day! I'm just off to work for a double show day. My body is tired but the thought of Monday off keeps me buzzing!

I thought I would put a group of my projects together and get a nice little picture. Here are some of my bright blankets and cushions hanging out of my chest of drawers. I love the colours and how each of these creations manages to brighten up my apartment.

A close up shot of my Gay Pride flag.
Yesterday was Gay pride in Hamburg, I went with Dennis and my good friend Andrew to watch the parade. I had never been to a Gay Pride event before and was really overwhelmed with just how much pride I really did feel. I stood at the side of the road waving my pride flag and wearing a "Dildo King" baseball cap, both of which were given to me by an eight foot tall drag queen.
It did "rain on my Parade" but that did not dampen peoples spirits. Everybody stood and supported each other. People were cheering as the procession of amazing costumes and make up passed. There were people dancing through the street to the thump thump of Diana Ross singing "I'm coming out". It was such a joy to see and gave me so much energy as I headed of to work for the day.

A single rose that sits in an old mustard jar.
Dennis bought a bunch of roses from the local flower stall. I couldn't resist taking one away from the rest of the bunch and getting a close up shot. I love having fresh flowers around the apartment!

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Cushions and Jam Jars!

Hello Everybody!!!
Dennis is back!!! WOOOOPWOOOOOP!!!

It is so amazing to have him home! I had really been missing him lots this time around and am sooooooooooooo happy to have things back to normal. (Untill he goes away on his next three month cruise ship contract).
Do we need a "Previously on According to Matt"?
I think we do, here goes:

That was a quick recap for anybody that was a little lost! Thought I should officially introduce Dennis. I also wanted to try out my new ipad comic book application  :-) !!!!

I know I'm going on a little but I'm really so happy to have him home! He is also a "guy hooker" like me. It was Dennis that taught me to crochet.
It was really nice to hear all of his cruise ship adventure stories and also see what projects he has been working on. He always has something on the go. You can catch up on Dennis' projects and happenings by visiting his blog.

Its a beautiful day today here in Hamburg and I have no rehearsals, physio or singing lessons. Dennis had gone out for lunch with some work friends. This means I'm free all day, until the show in the evening! I love days like this! I can fill them with all of my favourite things, I sure have a lot of things on the go at the moment!!!

This week I have been working lots on my crochet projects and have managed to finish two cushions. I started the first of the two cushions last week and it was finished by the weekend. I posted a picture of it in my "Picture Perfect Sundays" post. Here are a couple more pictures of it:

To be completely honest I was not so happy with the finished product.
It was nothing to do with the amazing pattern, but more the fact that I feel like I had rushed making it. It is supposed to be a pattern for a circular cushion and after searching every shop in Hamburg for a circular and inexpensive pillow I ended up buying a small square cushion. This obviously made my circular cushion not so circular and more of a lumpy blob!

The second problem for me was the colour. I was using a multiple back of acrylic yarn.
For the top part of the cushion I put the colours together randomly as I went along. Usually this works well for me. This time the colours didn't really compliment each other,  instead every colour looked sludgy and dull. It doesn't look so bad in the above picture but on my sofa it had a brownish dirty look to it. Not quite the look I was going for!

So after making a few changes, my first attempt of this gorgeous pattern now looks like this:

I did however keep the bottom part of the cushion and will put it to good use at a later date.

My second attempt of this pattern was much more successful and I am pleased to say that "I LOVE IT". I went out and bought a circular cushion,  the only one I had seen in Hamburg. It was a  pretty large cushion and was much bigger than I had wanted. However, it was a much better option than using a square one again.

This time I arranged the colours so that they followed closely to the spectrum of a rainbow. Doing this made the colours pop out nice and bright. It was amazing to see the same wool and the same colours could look so different if arranged in a different way. No longer dull and dirty but bright and cheery!
I improvised the pattern a little to fit to the huge cushion I had bought. I'm really happy with how it has turned out.

I have also been working on my "Japanese Flower Blanket". Although it is slow work I am happy with the progress I'm making.

I think it will be a good few months before it is finished.
Whilst I make this blanket I am making sure that I sew in the ends as I go along. I'm not making the same mistake as with a previous blanket I have made for my mum.

She is patiently waiting for her finished blanket, but I'm still doing the boring job of sewing in the ends. Little by little its getting closer to being totally finished.
I now leave it at the theatre, so that during the show when im not on stage I can work a little on it. The other guys in my dressing room don't even bat an eye lid anymore that I crochet. I think some secretly think its cool but are too macho to try. I'll crack them some day!!

Finally, this week I have collected lots of little jars from work. They are little jars that were full of tomato Ketchup. Each time somebody finishes with their jar I ask to have it. I'm not so sure what I will do with them but I really think that they are cute.

I will probably turn them into some type of tea light. I'll keep you posted on this little project once I know what I am going to do with them.

I hope that everybody is having a lovely week? Thanks for paying me a visit!

This post has moved!
You can read an updated and revised version on our new blog.

Click here to read this post in full at it's new home!