Sunday, 30 April 2017

Supersize Crochet

Hello!  I'm safely back from a lovely 12 day holiday in Orlando, Florida!  It was great fun - it was a big family holiday to celebrate my parents' 40th wedding anniversary.  Everyone had a lovely time and it was so hot and sunny!  We all got back home yesterday, so I'm glad we've got this bank holiday weekend to recover and relax before going back to work.  (Eurgh, I don't even want to think about that yet!)

I'm just popping in quickly now to tell you about a blog hop I'm taking part in, which starts tomorrow...

(picture stolen from Sarah's blog!)

It is to celebrate the release of Sarah Shrimpton's new book - Supersize Crochet.  I've been reading Sarah's blog Annaboo's House for years and am so pleased to celebrate her success and take part.  Read more about the blog hop in her post here.

My post will be published on Wednesday 3rd May, so be sure to come back then to see the gorgeous item I crocheted using a pattern from the book.  You will also have the chance to win a PDF copy of Supersize Crochet!

In the meantime, if you need a crochet fix, you can check out my crochet tab to see other items I've made...



See you on Wednesday!


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Sunday, 23 April 2017

Crochet Colour Blocks

This is a scheduled post.  By the time you read this, I should be on holiday!  (Unless anything has gone horribly wrong, that is.  I do have a fear when I schedule posts, that I might die before it goes live and it'll be horribly tragic when this post pops up merrily on the internet as though everything is fine and dandy!  Well, let's hope I'm not speaking to you from beyond the grave... and let's not go into what these thoughts say about my twisted mind...)

Moving swiftly on!  I thought I would share with you the first two blocks of the colour-block crochet blanket I'm working on (first mentioned here).

Bright colourful crochet colour-block squares.

It's going to be a very bold and bright blanket!  The two squares look quite unrelated to each other really, apart from the purple.  However, I'm hoping that as I make more blocks, using more of the colours in different combinations, they will start to work together better.

Bright colourful crochet colour-block squares.

Also, you can see that the squares are doing the typical granny-square-twist!  This is a standard occurrence with granny squares unfortunately.  I might try blocking them.  Or maybe when they're all sewn/crocheted together they might pull into a straighter shape??  I'll decide what to do later!

Bright colourful crochet colour-block squares.

However, I am pleased so far.  And looking forward to seeing the blocks in more colour combinations - it's quite motivating!

Which one do you like best?  I prefer the pink one.


Check out my completed crochet items here.


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Friday, 14 April 2017

Felt Easter Eggs

Happy Easter Weekend!  Here is a little bit of Easter crafty inspiration for you...

Full disclosure... these eggs have appeared on my blog before, right in the very first months of starting it - six years ago!  You can find the post about the six matching eggs here and the other two eggs here and here.

But my photos left a lot to be desired back then!  To be honest, they're not amazing now - but they're bigger on the page at least!


Looking for cute and easy Easter craft inspiration?  Try making these bright and colourful felt Easter eggs - quick and easy!  Click to find out more...

These are made by cutting out two egg shapes from coloured felt and embellishing them by sewing on ribbons and buttons, before sewing the two halves together, stuffing as you go.  Sew a ribbon into the top as you sew together, so that they can be hung from branches to decorate a pretty Easter tree.


Looking for cute and easy Easter craft inspiration?  Try making these bright and colourful felt Easter eggs - quick and easy!  Click to find out more...

I made a couple of extra variations using bondaweb to add a bit of fabric to the felt, which added a nice touch (the lilac and paler blue eggs above).

I'm getting quite a collection of decorative eggs... these felt eggs, my multi-coloured crochet eggs, my daisy crochet eggs, and my cute and easy crochet eggs.  Slightly excessive one might say?!  Nah!


Looking for cute and easy Easter craft inspiration?  Try making these bright and colourful felt Easter eggs - quick and easy!  Click to find out more...


Check out my other sewing projects here.


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Sunday, 9 April 2017

New Blanket Plans - Bright and Bold

Work has been crazily busy and very stressful lately.  But this weekend I've managed to relax a bit and make a start on a new blanket.  A funny thing to start when we've had the most beautiful warm sunny weather this weekend!

I know I should be carrying on with my blue stripy blanket but I wanted to try this out!  I was given the yarn for my birthday and Christmas in December and I have plans for a bright and bold colour-block blanket.

Looking for bright bold colour-block crochet blanket ideas?  Read more to see the start of one!

I've been trying out a couple of things to work out the sizing, and I'll be starting again with the red and blue to make the middle square bigger, but I've got a good feeling about it so far!

The picture gives a good idea of how it will look, the general feel of it, I think - I'm already excited to see it progress.

The yarn is King Cole Bamboo Cotton which I absolutely love working with.  It gives a lovely smooth finish, so I use it a lot for amigurumi.  It's also what I made my Japanese Flower Coasters out of - and I'm using those colours again here, with a few additions.

I hope to show you more soon(ish)!


Check out my completed crochet items here.


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Sunday, 2 April 2017

Defining My Style

I don't know about you, but sometimes I find myself so overwhelmed with all the inspiration out there that I find it hard to work out what my own style is.  I know that sounds strange - surely I'd know what I like?!

These days we are constantly being bombarded with beautiful images and inspiration - on Instagram, Pinterest, blogs, and all manner of other social media platforms that I can't keep up with!  There is so much that I really like - I have an appreciation for most styles if they are executed well.  But, I still found myself wondering what MY style actually is.  I may admire a lot, but what makes me most happy?  What do I want to surround myself with?  What are the elements that I am going to keep loving, not just current trends that I'm swayed by as they are all around me online and in the shops.

Well, these images below definitely make me happy!


Would you like to define your personal style, identify what you like and help shape your future purchases?  Read this post to find out how!

Sources clockwise from top left 1 / 2 / 3 /4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8

But I'm jumping ahead!  (I just wanted to show you the pretty pictures!)  Let me back up a bit and explain how I arrived at this and how it helps...

My friend Kimberly from Swoon Worthy published an amazingly useful post on How to Use Pinterest to Define Your Personal Style, which helps you identify three buzz words that encapsulate your own personal style.  I recommend you read it and give it a go if you are feeling the same way I have been.  I couldn't wait to find my three words!

Create a Special Pinterest Board

Kimberly recommends creating a Pinterest board to which you only save pictures you really truly love - those that really speak to you.  You can make it secret if you prefer, but I didn't - you can find mine here.  Kimberly's post also gives some great tips on how to find those images when you don't really know what you're looking for.

The collection of pictures above narrows down a few of my pins from that board of favourites.  I just love how they look, especially all together like this!  Looking at that made me realise I've got it right - it really does make me feel happy.

Identify Your Three Key Words

Once you have enough pins on your board, you are ready for the exciting bit - identifying the patterns in your pins and finally arriving at your three buzz words!  So what are mine...?!  With a little help from Kimberly, we arrived on:


* BRIGHT * MODERN * PLAYFUL *


What do you think?  Would you agree?  I think it works for me!

But How do Your Three Words Help?

The main purpose of identifying your three key words is that it is something to keep in mind and allow to shape your purchases and focus your thoughts.  How often have you bought something on a whim because it catches your eye in a shop, but when you get it home you realise that it doesn't really go with anything.  Once you're out of that shopping-spree haze, you find yourself soon going off it.  If you take a moment to consider whether the item fits with any or all of your three words, this will help you identify whether it will fit in with your style and be something that you will continue to enjoy.

It's Not Just Interiors!

Now, I started this with interiors in mind, but I have realised that it applies to other areas too.  Take the crafting I do - I think it fits into these words as well...

Would you like to define your personal style, identify what you like and help shape your future purchases?  Read this post to find out how!

Above is a selection of my creations and I would say they are bright, modern and playful, wouldn't you?!  It really does sum up my style.  I've realised (with hindsight!) that when I make anything which doesn't fit into these words, I don't tend to like it that much.  Now that I've identified my style, I hopefully won't waste time making things that don't fit with it, that I'll ultimately be disappointed in.

This can be applied to clothes too.  I have always favoured colour in my clothes, but the other day I caught a glimpse of my reflection and realised how drab I looked!  Somehow, I'd lost my colourful tendencies and had been settling for duller clothes.  It doesn't help that over winter it's hard to find any clothes which aren't dark and dreary!  They look great on some people, but don't suit my colouring at all.  (Or my style, as we have just discovered!)

It's strange, as soon as we arrived on those three words, I knew we'd cracked it - they were right!  They define ME!  In fact, they seem so obvious, I don't know how I didn't already know this!  I now feel so much more focused when it comes to buying things for the home, clothes to wear, the craft things I will make.  Life is too short to surround ourselves with things which don't bring us joy, right?

These days we are constantly being advertised to, influenced, overwhelmed with possibilities... it's just nice to know that if it's not bright, modern or playful, I'll probably go off it in a week!


Would you like to define your personal style, identify what you like and help shape your future purchases? Read this post to find out how!


If you want to do the exercise yourself, check out Kimberly's post and let me know what your three words are, I'm interested to hear!




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