Attic 24 Harbour Blanket Crochet Along

The annual Attic24 Crochet Along is always such a lovely event to be part of. Thousands of people, all around the world join in.

There is something quite magical about being part of a group of people all making the same crocheted blanket at the same time.

I am making a lap blanket for the granddaughter of one of my closest friends. My friend and I used to collect our grandchildren from the local Primary School every Friday for about 4 years. If the weather was fine we would take them to the Park. The children played on the swings and climbing frames while we chatted and I crocheted.

A few of the children would come to watch the crochet and Miss P was always particularly drawn to the bright colours.

She was very interested in Little Miss M’s blanket, and watched it grow.

Lucy has taken her inspiration from the colours seen at a harbour in Summer. She has 9 different blues in her design. I will swap out a few blues for pinks and reds, keeping the summery feel but going with brightness for MissP, and most importantly, using yarn I already have instead of buying new..

My colour order for the first 15 rows:

Lobelia, Turquoise, Bright Pink, Spice, Aster,

Sunshine, Spearmint, Fondant, Matador, Empire,

Aqua, Clementine, Turquoise, Bright Pink, Lobelia

 

So Summery!

 

 

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Textile Tuesday Number One!

Helloo! Happy New Year – Happy New Decade – Happy New Photo Challenge!

I am really looking forward to sharing 12 glorious months of Textile Tuesdays.

Textiles of all sorts are my first love in the land of Creativity, so I’m starting off with a bumper crop of archive makes that I have just excavated from my many and various boxes in the loft – it is like a museum of my life up there.

The archaeology was prompted by a photo by Sheila on The Great House Exmoor on Instagram  of a doll’s house she had found.

Sheila and her family have bought a fabulous Georgian house on Exmoor which they will be renovating ready for Bed and Breakfast guests. My goodness what a task, but I am SO looking forward to watching the transformation of the rooms as I know they will be fabulous.

About 25 – 30 years ago I had a crush on needlepoint – I had seen someone making a cushion cover and had to have a go – so I bought a kit

This was my first

Then this one

As you can see I liked more subtle colours in those days – it was all terracotta and soft greens – very grown up!

After a trip to Turkey, I was interested in kilim designs

but I didn’t love this one and could not find the patterns I wanted to make so I started designing my own. Following a visit to a Doll’s House Fair I started designing and making doll’s house carpets – a perfect craft for travelling. They are all to the 1:12 scale. 1 inch = 1 foot.  They were wonderful little projects to pack in a backpack

I made this one on a canal boat in Shropshire

and this one has crossed the Equator twice –  travelling right round the world with me in 1994. I designed it as I was travelling, adding in motifs I came across.

The bright colours soon burst forth I became fascinated by how the same colours and the same design could create such different patterns.

A computer programme helped me design these ‘Andy Warhol’ daffodils. I made them as cushion covers but then wondered if they would be better frames as pictures and my indecision consigned them to a box in the loft.

Some need a bit of cleaning. But – what to do with them – having unearthed them from their box, I realise they should not stay there, something needs to be done with them.

These could be cushion covers

I think some could be framed, even in their unfinished state – but what do you think – are they art one would want hanging on the wall?

Food for thought.

~

That is a long post from me! Some months I will most probably post just one Textile Photo – do you have any textiles to share – one piece or many – current or archive. You are welcome to dig deep into your blog archive and revisit old posts – anything goes so long as the photos are your own.

I’m really excited to see your very own Textile Tuesday.

Just leave a link in the Comments.

 

 

Cosmic Bedspread Complete

Tah Dah!!!       Drum roll please!

At last it is finished

This has been a really fun project to make. The journey began back in April when Helen Shrimpton’s Crochet Along started and I finished the CAL back in June, but I wanted to do a few more rows to make it bigger and work out how to make a scalloped edge.

The bedspread, shown here on a 5′ wide double bed, had to wait patiently in the background whilst I made a couple of dreamcatchers for birthday presents, and then it was hard to pick it up again.

But I did it!!

I can highly recommend Helen’s patterns and this one is FREE and comes with a video tutorial.

To see other amazing Cosmics, join Helen’s Hookaholics on FB and go to the Photo Albums. If you ever need inspiration for colour combinations there is surely no better place to go.

I made this Bedspread with Scheepjes Whirl and Whirlettes and a 3mm hook:

2 x Rosewater Cocktail Whirl

1 x Jumping Jelly Whirl

1 x Citrus Whirlette

1x Blueberry Whirlette

I really enjoyed mixing up the Whirls and playing with the gradients in the colours to get the effect I wanted.

It measures 1m 41cm – 1m 35cm.           or             4’6.5″ x 4’5″

Blog posts showing progress:

Making a start. Parts 1 and 2

Parts 3 and 4

Parts 5 and 6

Parts 7 and 8

Part 9 and beyond

I am so happy with my zingy bedspread!

Mandala for Little Miss M

My celebratory TaDah! Moment

I started making this blanket back in July 2017 when I needed a break from working with the dark colours requested by Master R.

The pattern is Helen Shrimpton’s Mandala Madness with her Spiro Star at the centre.

It is for a single bed so I stopped at Round 88 in Part 14 .

I like the way the edge is shaped at this point, so I created the next few rows to keep that shape.

Edge

Little Miss M likes orange (Spice), so the edging had to be in orange.

I made small popcorns (3dcs instead of 5) at some of the points and the simple edging is 2scs, ch 2 repeat (US terms)

Blocking was done on an old blanket laid on the floor over a carpet.

I smooth the blanket out – take an overhead photo which shows up any lack of symmetry;

adjust;

pin with steel blocking pins right through the carpet;

spray mist the whole thing with water, then using a damp tea towel and the iron on its highest setting I VERY lightly press round the edges only of the blanket, reheating the iron when necessary (it has to be unplugged to reach);

I then lightly pressed the yellow and turquoise pointy bits so that they would lie flatter;

left it in situ over night to thoroughly dry.

Stylecraft SpecialDK and a 4.5mm hook – the blanket mearures 4’8″ across

List of colours (mostly chosen by Little Miss M):

Spiro Star Centre

Fondant, Saffron, Fondant, Cloud Blue, Bluebell, Bright Pink, Spice

Mandala Madness Part 2

Meadow, Turquoise, Fondant,

Part 3

Wisteria, Saffron, Wisteria, Sunshine,

Part 4

Spice

Part 5

Aspen, Pistachio, Cloud Blue, Bluebell

Part 6

Soft Peach, Duck Egg, Fondant

Part 7

Lobelia, Petrol, Bright Pink, Spice, Turquoise,

Part 8 

(My favourite part!)

Bright Pink, Cloud Blue, Saffron, Bright Pink,

Part 9

Meadow, Pistachio, Aspen, Sunshine

Part 10

Bluebell, Soft Peach, Meadow, Fondant, Bluebell, Cloud Blue

Part 11

Bright Pink, Spice, Turquoise, Fondant, Candy Floss, Bluebell

Part 12

Bright Pink, Spice, Saffron, Meadow

Part 13

Turquoise, Spice, Fondant

Part 14 

and Edge

Bluebell, Bright Pink, Petrol, Sunshine, Spice

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I could never have made this without the fabulous video tutorials by Esther at Its All in a Nutshell.

Huge thanks to Esther and Helen.

~~~~~~~~

Joining in with Ginny’s Yarn Along. She asks us to add a book that we are reading, but I rarely read books nowadays. I do however watch DVDs whilst crocheting or knitting and one I have thoroughly enjoyed recently is this documentary about Gauguin, which gives a fascinating account of his difficult and colourful life

 

Fun with Felt

Yumsk! Those colours just make my heart sing!

After a taxing week I was SO looking forward to Saturday’s Felt Making Workshop led by, local artist, Di Pattinson.

There is something soothing and wonderful about a group of women crafting together, and every so often I just have to book a day for myself to have a go at a new textile related skill.

I first came across Di’s work some years ago during Dorset Arts Weeks, an almost overwhelming richness of Dorset Art on show for 2 weeks every 2 years. (It is about to happen again soon, in May, click on link above to go to the website)

The pictures above are of Di’s work – lots of variety to inspire.

The workshop was held in The Old School, Upwey, home to the Upwey Potters and next to Upwey Wishing Well Cafe and Water gardens (which by the way is for sale if any readers are looking for a quaint old English Tea Rooms steeped in history, magic and mystery) from which we could order delicious lunches, which were brought across to us.

Di has a very upbeat and encouraging, relaxed style of demonstrating and supporting her students, so that one does not feel pressured to achieve, anything goes and she has a mass of materials to choose from

ooooo, don’t you just want to go elbow-deep into all that wonderful merino colourful softness

I was going for …bright.

I can’t seem to get enough of the hot pink, turquoise, orange, acid green, yellow combo – this obsession has been going on since the 1960s

Here I am aged 15 (ha!) the colours of the photo have faded a bit – but that dress was BRIGHT!!

note the Dr Scholl sandals – remember those?

I had a brief foray into terracotta and subtle greens in the 80s, but it did not last long.

Back to the felt – We started with a flat piece and I just threw it all together very quickly as I did not really want to think too much or have any finished object in mind – the day, for me, was about pure relaxation. Very much a Process Art approach, be drawn by a colour and go with where it takes you, and this meant I could dash off another piece before we stopped for lunch.

If ‘dash off’ can really describe the 400 rolls, back and forth, you need to do to get the wool fibres to felt together.

Others went for more subtle colouring (mine on the left) and produced some beautiful and fun pieces, which were left to dry on the radiator – some were destined for needle felting and/or  other embellishments later.

I was bowled over by this piece inspired by a greetings card

After lunch Di told us how to make vessels, whether for vases, bags or bowls

Here are couple she has decorated with pebblesWe were all amazed at the variety of colours and shapes we produced

I was still going for ..

adding tassels of knitting yarn to decorate

to create a little shoulder bag

I really found it hard to believe that I was able to create 3 pieces in 6 hours with a stop for lunch, as well as being shown several other techniques

Here is my Ta Dah! moment.

I’m not sure what I will do with the flat pieces but no doubt embroidery and beads will be used. The first piece with circles I think I will cut into strips and machine embroider into a collage.

And the second – well I really like this one as it is – I might add a few beads and some simple embroidery but I’m pretty sure this one will go on the wall

Now, I wonder whether it would it sit comfortably next to Summer Flight

 

 

Bright colours to greet the Sun!!!

The sun is out and I’m wanting to wear bright colours and have them all around me!

it was iHanna who inspired me to wear turquoise nail varnish, and then I found all these other gorgeous colours too – yummy! Loving the combination of turquoise, orange and acid green.

The clothes above are floral print trousers from Landsend (last year), a Boden orange cardigan (a few years ago) and a T-shirt from, I can’t remember where. With bright pink shoes they all put a Spriiiiiiinnnnnnnggg in my step 🙂

And these needlepoint daffodil squares are just the colours I want around me at the moment:

I created the pattern and these 16′ squares about 10 years ago, and they have been sitting in a roll waiting for me to do something with them. Crazy! Should they be framed as pictures or used as cushion covers – I know I am bad at making decisions but this is ridiculous!

AND I would like to be able to sell the charts for them – now where have I stored those things …

A Spring clean is needed – and SOON!