Crochet Colour

Today it is grey and rainy here so i decided it was the perfect day to show some colourful crochet projects....the bliss of crochet for me is the way you can use LoTs of colour in one project, often the more the better in fact....i showed you the project below a while ago when i'd just begun....i was learning to crochet the granny squares together instead of sewing them together, which i now much prefer......i loved the cornish blue wool and thought it worked well with the squares which had a red or pink flower in the centre and a row of white surrounding it....

 ....i finished it, apart from an edging,  a while ago and then had to work out how to do a picot edge as that's what i really wanted it to have so that held it up for a bit longer, and then i made some cushions as presents which held it up even longer....but finally it was all finished and here it is......

 .......if my first blanket was a BiG one then my second is a small one, but still very cosy and nice to snuggle under.....and i do like this edge too and will use it again on another one i think......

 .....and then the next plan was to make a granny stripe after all those granny squares.....i had seen so many beautiful ones made by so many of you that i was really looking forward to beginning this.....except i didn't actually know how to begin.....but i found an excellent tutorial by Lucy at Attic 24 and soon i could crochet a granny stripe too :-).......

                                                     ......the colours make me think of spring......

                                                      .......lots of fresh floral shades........

 ....i used some of the yarn i already had and ordered a few more shades that took my fancy.......the colours remind me of spring bulbs and pots of primroses, a real colour fix on a grey day like today.......

 ....i shall be doing a bit of my granny stripe this evening and maybe making a block for my quilt too....

......but now it's back to working on sewing top secret projects....with a nice cup of tea i think too....
Thank you for popping in here, it's always lovely to see you ......wishing you a wonderful, happy, colourful and cosy weekend....back soon xxxxxxx

Green and Pink

 As late summer settles down on the garden the potting shed is almost smothered in green and pink as the mallow and cranesbill grow taller and taller. The day lilies and cosmos are flowering happily too, I must take some pictures of them before it's too late and the show is over....

 ....pink flowers are blooming indoors too....I spent a little time when we were away learning how to make simple crochet flowers and then I decided to use just the vivid pink ones for a cushion....

 ...this was also a learning experience...finding out how to crochet the granny squares together...there are so many brilliant video tutorials on the internet for these techniques that I managed to pick it up and I love how neat the look is....

 ...here it is, the green and pink flower cushion...now I've found out about crochet flowers I am thinking of lots of other projects to use them for....it's wonderful to find a new inspiring craft to explore isn't it?

 ...this is my project for this month's Crafts Beautiful magazine...I made the breakfast set as a commission, but now I have it back I think I'll use it...we love leisurely weekend breakfasts with fresh coffee and toast and eggs (and a chipped CK mug too!)....

...and what or who is this?...it's Dolly, my new tailor's dummy who I'm rather pleased with...I'm thinking she will help me display some of my knitting projects soon.... 

...lovely cream twisty wire, lots of places to hang up decorative things on and just the right size to model my cardi's...Dolly is definately here to stay and soon there will be knitting to show....

Thank you for your lovely comments on Daisy's quilt in my last post, I did so appreciate them. And thank you for popping in today to see me...wishing you all a wonderful late summer weekend (we are going to a neighbourhood party in a garden along the road...am hoping the rain keeps away)...hope it's sunny where you are...back soon xxxxxx

Crafty Summer

It's a very crafty summer here at my house, with an extra injection of bright colour from all the new crochet that has been going on.....and almost to my surprise, the very first blanket I began is finished!!!!! I realised last week that I had now accumulated rather a lot of grannie squares, making them whenever I had a spare moment,  when we were away, in a traffic jam on the motorway, watching movies and old (not yet watched by us) seasons of Mad Men, chatting to friends and family....and when I put them all together I had enough for my blanket....

 ...so I sewed them together, and then began to crochet a border using a few colours from the collection...round and round, I really loved that bit....wasn't quite sure when to stop.....

 ...some crafty colours with the grandbabies...they love my art and craft materials and I have to race around moving dangerous things like paint, scissors, pins, needles and so on when they come over to my house...Daisy really loves the wool, like a little kitten she gets all tangled up in it... and they both loved the tactile feel of the grannie squares both before and after they were sewn together....

 ...a close up of some of the squares, randomly made and randomly sewn together - apart from not actually placing two the same colour together that's about as intentional as this creation was...

 ....the partly completed border....I added some stronger green and blue to finish off the edge after this round of rose pink....

 .....everyone loves the blankie! Everyone wants one too....and some want to learn to crochet one themselves......and I want to keep crocheting now I've discovered it so another project is about to begin....

 I am making this post a bit longer than usual to make up for the fact that I'll be away again next week...Each year Mr P sails in the Menai Straits Regatta and we go to stay in the pretty seaside town of Beaumaris on the Isle of Anglesey. We meet up with friends there, some who sail, some who don't, and all have a good time...I'm happy being at the seaside and pottering about while Mr P is sailing...I'm also taking some of my design work to do and this year I will be taking some crochet too...Above is a detail of my Regatta Quilt, made a few years ago and inspired by watching the fleet of boats against the blue sea, sailing round Puffin Island....

 ...I made two little collages of  some of this season's crafty makes, just a random selection...the pinwheel patchwork cushion, Daisy's sampler, a bit of Daisy's quilt, the flower pot embroidery....

...the sailor bunny, the home sweet home heart, the with love heart (I gave this one to my lovely mum for mother's day), and the finished little doll quilt with matching pillow...I do love this crafty life very much as you can see...

 And a big thank you to all of you who crochet and show pictures of your beautiful makes on your blogs to inspire crochet beginners to give it a go...I'm so glad I did!!

Thank you for popping in to visit me here and for your sweet comments, always sooo appreciated and enjoyed. I hope the sun shines, the flowers bloom and you enjoy a crafty summer week while I'm away. Back soon xxxxx

In The Pink

Hello! I am feeling in the pink today - and I do hope that you are too. The post title is really a chance for me to indulge in some delicious shades of pink that I spied around the house and garden .... The pot of dianthus or carnations is one of several I bought to have around me.....I love the colour and especially the scent which reminds me of childhood and my grandmother and her garden, and the 'pinks' she used to have sometimes in a vase in the cool hallway of her victorian house....

The sugar pink rose is newly flowering this week, it's an old rose that was already here when we moved in, I don't know the name but it's very pretty and sweetly scented and doesn't last very long....

 ...some stitched pink hearts and flowers for a border on a white towel, a project for a book a while ago...

...this yummy pink and white dotted towel, strewn with pink roses and buds is from the delightfully decorative Pip Studio....

...and a little bit of pink sewing going on too, using up some of my long time favourite pink and white candy striped cotton fabric, so crisp and summery especially mixed with white...I've used this candy stripe in lots of projects and it always works so well....

...choosing pink shades of DMC thread for a new design commission...when I create a chart on the computer I check the shade with the DMC stranded cotton shade card, though I know most of them very well and it's like a paint box for me to work with....

 ..I have a lot of projects on the go at the moment, and have been held up by so many bank holidays - even though I don't have official holidays, being self employed, I do tend to join in with everyone else's! So now I have loads of work to catch up with this month, plus things I want to make for gifts and for fun....so better get busy then...!

I hope you are having a wonderful week enjoying May flowers blooming all around, and the sun still shining (but maybe a little shower during the night for the dry gardens or is that tempting fate too much?)  Thanks for dropping in to see me, I love to read your comments, they make me smile. Back soon xxxxxx

Sew Purple

 I'm so loving all the purple spring flowers around at the moment - in so many shades  from deepest blue purple to palest pinky purple or mauve. The local flower shop has buckets filled with bright jewel coloured anemones, and some hyacinths added in for scent as well as colour... I treated myself to a small bunch at the weekend...

 Some of the dotty lilac shades of fabric seemed perfect for this new project...a  little purple pincushion..

Big applique flowers with button centres, a four-patch patchwork square, and some little labels...

Lots of people kindly asked about the labels I used on another project I showed recently...I made them by printing words onto strips of cotton fabric using alphabet rubber stamps and an indelible ink pad. You can back the labels with bondaweb, or just fold and stitch them - they can also look nice with frayed edges in some projects...it's an easy way to add a greeting to a hand knitted or stitched gift too...

We saw these beautiful crocuses at the weekend - there was a vast area of them beneath some trees and on first sight they really were breath taking! So much colour about at last, and lots more to look forward to. Thank you for all your lovely comments about the bunnies in my last post, I enjoyed reading every one. Have a great weekend, wishing you sunshine, blue skies and masses of spring flowers. Back soon xxx

All White

Hello! Here I am at last - I had intended to write a post a bit sooner today, but this morning I stitched a project and this afternoon I spent idling around with an old college friend so ...here I finally am! I wanted to write about white because although I adore colour, and mixing colours, I also love the plain, cool, peacefulness of pure white.... and the pop of other colours against it. (The little white bear here is from my Cross Stitch Keepsakes book).

I love lots of plain white china to eat and drink from, to contrast with the bright floral and spotty mugs, jugs and teapots I also love. These big white cups and saucers are a bit like cafe ones....

    This is a teeny little vintage coffee cup from a set my mother in law gave me - and kept for special times.

 Everything looks nice in a white bowl - especially  these white mini eggs - one of them is cracked so I'll just have to eat it...

             I love this little white birdie on the alarm clock - so perfect and perky and  well, bird-like!

I absolutely love paintings in white frames and I absolutely love Janet Bell's colourful pictures - this one is Harbour By Day, the first one of Janet's I bought years ago, and it is hanging in my studio above the mantlepiece which has a changing collection of bright things I collect - against a white wall. You can find Janet Bell's Gallery here.

And finally I must have some white flowers, mustn't I? I often have a vase of lilies in the hall - they brighten up the corner and scent the air as you go in and out, as well as wafting scent up the stairs....
Thank you for visiting me here and for your sweet comments, I do so enjoy hearing from you. Have a lovely week, enjoy the lengthening days and the spring promise in the air...see you soon. x

Stitching Stars

One night last week we saw the clearest skies and the most stars we've seen for ages - so sharp, bright and twinkling. Soon I'll be putting Christmas lights in all the windows. (I've already got a string of fairy lights in the kitchen to brighten up my cooking.) One of my favourite things is seeing all kinds of little lights in different houses shining through the winter darkness in such a warm, welcoming way.

 This week I've been stitching some little stuffed stars to make a decoration. I haven't decided on the final colour way yet - I might keep it all cool blues and turquoises or add in some pink and red....

 Sometimes one colour works best and looks the most stylish - but I have such a love of colours and their effect on each other I find it hard to resist combining them. I think that's why pretty floral designs work so well for me - the mixture of colours is delicious to my eye!

 It's not just been stitching stars here, but baking them too. These are Vanilla Star Cookies - which are really just the basic cookie recipe with a couple of drops of vanilla essence added. I put some in the freezer to have later in the season. I might make some more as gifts too, as they look pretty in a cellophane bag tied with ribbon or raffia, with a homemade tag.

            We did keep one or two to try - just to make sure they really were good enough to eat!

I'm looking forward to this weekend, with winter walks, sewing, and cosy family time. I hope you all have a  lovely weekend with starry nights and sunny days. x