A week at The Patchwork Heart

Oh what an amazing week in the life of 

The Patchwork Heart!

As you know I am a teacher 

so

 half term is the best ...

 a chance to live my dream

 to be

 full time at The Patchwork Heart

 and this one was amazing!

I began with packing

not the usual kind

but packing blankets

blankets

 made from Stylecraft Special DK

where was I going I hear you say

well my first visit was to

Black Sheep Wools

in Warrington

They had been so very kind to make me their

 Blogger of the month

 and had featured a lovely interview with me on their blog

you can read it 

HERE

Black Sheep Wools

  is a craft barn in the countryside near Warrington

 close to the M62 and M6.

They have an enormous stock of yarn, cross stitch and fabric along

 with a lovely tea room!

They have recently become stockists of

 Stylecraft

so I took along some of my recent creations made in

 Stylecraft Special DK

 to share with them

the red edged flower blanket ~ Stylecraft pattern 9090

the rainbow ripple star ~ by Celeste Young

and the Circle of friends ~ Priscilla Hewitt

I am very pleased to say

 that they were delighted to see how well it makes up. 

They are now selling Special DK

 and I know being able to view and buy this yarn locally

 will now delight many!

As their Blogger of the Month

I was excited to choose this Sirdar Cotton Dk as my gift

and can already tell you

 that it is a dream to crochet with as it does not split!

I am making flowers for brooches, corsages and bookmarks

 for a little Mother's Day sale in my

 Etsy Shop

Unfortunately the shop is empty at present

 as everything sells so fast when I refill it!

 But do keep watching it will be restocked again soon!

so that was day 1 ... now for day 2!

A day in Yorkshire

 at the beautiful old Slaithwaite Mill

 Head Office to Stylecraft

 was something I could not have even dreamed of!

what a pleasure it was

 to spend a day with lovely people

 talking about colour and yarn and discussing blanket making!

such a treat to spend a day in a world of yarn

this is definitely what I should be doing full time!

As if my visit wasn't perfect enough already

 it was completed with a 

wonderful gift!

OOOOOhhhh

just look at this yummy new yarn!

Yarn Stories

is a new yarn available online only at present.

This is fine merino DK and is available in

 20 delicious shades

so now I have the lovely task

 of finding a special new blanket pattern to make this into!

Then there was day 3

a holiday is not complete without a treat in a tearoom

and a visit to

The Sugar Plum Tearoom 

at Homewood Bound in Ruthin is my favourite

I am very excited to be planning some

 crochet workshops 

here at The Sugar Plum Tearoom.

These will be taking place at Easter and May half term.

For details and how to book visit their

 Facebook Page

or view their contact details 

HERE

So I am now exhausted ... so much for a restful holiday!

 Definitely an inspiring holiday

and something I would like to become accustomed to!

I hope you have all had a great half term too,

 now we will count down to Easter! 

Enjoy the lighter days my friends and keep hookin!

Heather

X X X

Community Crochet

Over on Instagram

 there is something very exciting happening!

The lovely ladies in my crochet circle

 have been busy making beautiful flower squares

 for a special community crochet project

The Spring Flower Blanket.

I love the crochet community on Instagram

 where I have made good friends with other like minded ladies

 who work at home enjoying colour and yarny goodness.

To bring us all together

 I decided to organise a community blanket make.

A few months ago

 I set about writing the instructions and launched the sign up.

 I was swamped with interest!

 WOW

 how wonderful to have so many enthusiastic hooky friends!

Each lady was to make the same size square in

Stylecraft Special DK

using any pattern with a flower.

I encouraged them to be adventurous and try something new!

The agreed colour palette was

sherbet, cloud blue, lavender, wisteria, clematis, apricot,

soft peach, lemon, saffron, fondant, candy floss,

 pale rose, meadow and spring green.

I chose this yarn

 as it is so affordable, easily washable

 and I know many of the ladies already have it in their stash!

It wasn't long

 before they started arriving at Patchwork House.

Imagine my delight coming home to happy mail like this!

It was such a joy

 to arrive home from school each day

 knowing there would be beautiful flower squares waiting for me

each square has been made with love

 and oh so much talent!

You can follow the progress of this community project at

#thepatchworkheartcommunityblanketmake

on Instagram

Many of the ladies

 trialled several squares  before making their final piece

I feel so privileged

 to be the custodian of these beauties

and have spent many happy moments

 ooohhhing and ahhhing

making arrangements of the squares for the blanket!

At last the closing date has come

 and I now have over 120 squares made all over UK.

I'm sure you will agree that these are stunning!

So now my half term pleasure

 is to make the blanket

powered by chocolate

 and 

many mugs of tea

joining has now begun.

Working with white as a background to set off all the pretty colours,

 I am using a flat braid join.

 Each square is being edged with 1 round of dc first

 then join as you go.

 I chose this joining method as it is very forgiving

 and will accommodate squares made with differing numbers of stitches.

In a few weeks

 the completed blanket will be won by 1 of the makers. 

This lucky lady has the choice of

 keeping it, gifting it or using it to raise money for charity.

So I'd best get back to my hookin now

 to join a few more squares!

This week is a very special time in the life of

 The Patchwork Heart

as I have been invited to visit the lovely people at

Stylecraft Yarns

eeeeeeeekkkkkk

I am so unbelievably excited

can this really be happening to me?!

I will be back with photos at the weekend

keep watching!

happy half term

Heather

X X X

Spring Lampshade Makeover

This week has been very exciting!

A while ago

 I was asked to write about my work

 by the lovely people at 

Simply Crochet Magazine

I am so proud to have been featured

 along with many of my crochet friends

in issue 28

The red edging has been completed

 on the Stylecraft 9090 flower blanket and

 I am loving the way it sets it off!

So today I've been playing with something

 for me here at Patchwork House.

This plain old lamp shade

 has been need of a revamp for a while

to compliment the other pretties on my dresser

I followed the advice of the lovely Lucy at

 Attic 24

 and was soon hooking away with great speed

I have used

  Stylecraft Classique Cotton

which is beautiful and firm and does not split!

 I love the stitch definition from this yarn

 and cant wait to try out

 the new colours that have been added to the range

so today's fun is complete

 and Patchwork House is now ready for Spring!

I wish you all a peaceful and relaxing Sunday

as I now return to my school work ... 

1 more week to half term and I cant wait!

Heather

X X X