Hello and welcome to Patchwork House . . . . .
my little corner of the world in England, where you will find me addicted to colour and playing with yarn!


30 May 2017

The Daisy Blanket

 Happiness has been flowing from my hook
 and filled the house with colour!
Judging by the love on FB and IG
 this blanket has made you all happy too!

I have used
Stylecraft Special DK
1 each of pomegranate, cloud blue, spring green, wisteria,
 turquoise, fondant, sherbet, saffron, magenta, apricot, aspen and shrimp
 and 2 cream for making the daisies and the border.

You can buy the yarn
HERE


Here are a few details of how I made my blanket
 to help you along.
I have used the daisy pattern by Tillie Tulip.
There is a tutorial HERE


I like to work in a production line system 
and so first make a pile of centres for the daisies.
 I used the bright yellow called citron for these.
Next I make them into flowers using cream to add the petals.
My blanket was approximately 110cm square
 and for this I made 100 daisies so 10 rows of 10.
 There is plenty of colour in the pack and you could easily make it bigger.I


Next the fun begins with the colours!
I line up 10 colours in the order I wish to use them
 and place a daisy on top of each.
 I can't help being organised it makes my heart sing!
I made the daisies into squares again using the Tillie Tulip pattern
and then used the join as you go method of attaching the squares.
 This is really fun and quick, you see the blanket appearing before your eyes!


There is a good tutorial here on
if you have not learnt this method before.


I love the texture that this joining method creates,
it brings an extra dimension to the blanket and makes it very tactile!


Colour makes me happy
and every time I worked on this or even saw it in my room, it made me smile!
Planning the next row of colours was always my favourite part.
I line them up on the table,
 trying to have just 1 of any colour in each row
 ( I call it crochet sudoku!)


When the squares are all joined and the blanket is in 1 piece,
 it is ready for a border. To prepare for this,
I first make 1 round of cream using UK dc as a foundation row.


Where 2 squares meet the corners are rounded
 and so the edge is not straight.
 To level it out I make half a treble in the first corner
 and the same in the next corner,
 then finish them both off together creating just 1 stitch.
 You can see the stitch is longer than the dc on the sides of the square
 and so this makes the edge flat. I choose to crochet them together
 as this makes less stitches on the border so it will lie flat.
In the corners I made 3 dc.


You are now ready to choose your border.
I wanted a border that looked like the daisy and so used
border 140 from the book
This is written in US terms
 but is really easy to use as there are clear charts and instructions.


So there you go!
 Have fun making your daisy blanket.
Don't forget to share pictures of your makes inspired by The Patchwork Heart
in the

Thank you as always for your companionship on FB and IG.
I really love sharing my days with you all as I crochet along

Heather

x x x













26 May 2017

Flower Garden CAL part 3


Hello and welcome to part 3 of

If you have only just found this CAL you can read back
and
to find everything you need to know to join in.

This week you are going to make 20 sunburst granny squares,
 5 of each colour pair.

You will find the 3rd installment of the pattern

The colour pairings are the same as last week

fondant with pomegranate
spice with lipstick
lemon with meadow
and
magenta with plum


Sew the ends in from rounds 2 and 3


I chose to leave the ends from round 4
till after the cream had been added


Now you have the full set of squares!
Eek its getting very exciting isn't it!


So now you have 4 flower squares
12 circle squares and
20 sunburst granny squares


Again I leave the last cream end to sew in later,
 after joining, as I find this easier,
 but its your choice you can do them now if you wish!


It works like a formal garden
flowers in the middle
then a round of circles
then a round of sunburst grannies.
You will be told in detail how to lay them out in part 4.

Have lots of fun my friends and do share you photos on
It is so good to see you all chatting and helping each other there!

Have a great week hookin
 and come back next Friday for the final part 4,
 when we will be joining and making the border!

Heather
xxx









19 May 2017

Flower garden CAL part 2



 Welcome to part 2 of The Knitting Network CAL.
Last week you made the 4 centre squares of flowers.
This week you will make 12 squares with circles
 to surround the 4 flower squares.

If you missed week 1 you can find it
It contains all you need to get started.

The colour pairings I have used are the same as last week
lemon with meadow
magenta with plum
spice with lipstick
and fondant with pomegranate

You will find the 2nd installment of the pattern


You are going to make 3 squares in each colourway.
As always I prefer to work in batches,
 as your fingers and brain remember the pattern
 and this makes it quicker, easier and neater.
So begin with the circle
 and make 3 each of lemon, spice, magenta and fondant.


Sew the ends in when the circles are made.



You are now ready to use the 2nd colour and make them into squares.
lemon with meadow
spice with lipstick
magenta with plum
and fondant with pomegranate.
Sew the ends in to complete the squares.


When all 12 squares are made
 they are ready to be edged in cream.


Sew the ends in and
 there you have 12 circle squares
 ready to surround your 4 flowers.


It is going to look like this in the centre of the blanket.


I love the layout of this blanket.
 It reminds me of a formal garden,
 the type you see in a National Trust House,
 where there are beds of roses and box hedges.

So there you have completed week 2.
You have 4 flower squares
 and 12 circle squares all edged in cream.
Come back next Friday for week 3
 when we will make another batch of squares.

It's been so good to see you all having fun.
 Do keep sharing your photos in the 
 It has really warmed my heart to see you all helping each other
 and the community developing.
keep up the good work ladies
 and have lots of colourful fun!

Heather
xxx





16 May 2017

The Beginners Blanket


If you would like to make your first blanket,
 then carry on reading, 
I will take you through the process of all you need to know!

To begin with most people learn how to make a granny square.
I have a tutorial to teach you with step by step photos to help.
When you have a pile of squares come back for the joining
 and then for the border.


For this beautiful vintage style granny blanket 
I have used 8 shades of Stylecraft Special DK.
You can buy this yarn
You can of course use your own colours too. 


8 colours is enough to make
 49 granny squares of 7 rounds,
 so you can choose
 a square blanket 7 by 7 or a rectangular blanket 8 by 6.

I used
duck egg, buttermilk, sage, vintage peach, parma violet, grape,
 storm blue, pale rose and duck egg joined with mushroom

I made a rectangular blanket so needed 48 squares. 
This works out nicely at 6 centres of each of the 8 colours.


You can learn how to make a granny square


Organisation is very important to me.


It makes the process quicker and ensures an even balance of colour.


You can read about how I plan colours 




I would encourage you to start good habits now
and sew the ends in as you go!



Once the granny squares have 7 rounds,
 they are ready to edge in mushroom for joining.


I use the bed for this next step, to save bending down on the floor!
Lay the squares out in your desired arrangement,
 trying to ensure an even distribution of colour.


I then number each row using a scrap of paper
 and store the piles in a basket ready for joining.


There are many joining methods available.
My favourite is to crochet the squares together to give a strong join.
For beginners I recommend
crocheting together from the back, using UK dc, through both loops.
You can read how to do this


The join is made in rows of 1 direction first,
 then repeated in the opposite direction.
This makes a strong flat join with a ridge on the back.


Every blanket needs a border,
 just like a picture needs a frame!


I recommend the book
"Around The Corner" by Edie Eckman.
You can buy this on Amazon
(Please note this book is written in US terms.)
I have used border 27 for this blanket.


The final things I do for every blanket is to wash it.
This has the effect of blocking and helps to settle the joins.
Follow the instructions on the ball band.
For Stylecraft Special DK I wash in the machine
 at 30 degrees using my regular soap powder and softener.
 I then tumble dry on LOW HEAT.

So now the fun begins!
 Go and choose your yarn.

If you have any questions not explained in my tutorials,
 please email me at
 thepatchworkheartuk@gmail.com
 and I will try to help.

Have fun blanket making

I wish you many happy hours of hooking!

Heather
xxx











12 May 2017

Flower Garden CAL Part 1


Welcome to The Knitting Network CAL
 to make this stunning flower garden blanket.
The pattern, written by Lynne Rowe,
 is being released in 4 weekly installments on
You will find part 1

It contains the first installment of the pattern and a helpful how to video.
 The remainder of the pattern will be released weekly on the next 3 Fridays.


I'm so thrilled to have you join me
 along with hundreds of others all around the world!
Make sure you join the Facebook group
 and share pictures of your makes as you go!
 If you have any questions
 please ask them in the Facebook group
 where there will be lots of help available!

You will need


in spice lipstick magenta plum lemon meadow fondant and pomegranate
and 4 balls of cream and a 5mm hook.
(This is the recommended size on the ball band.
 However this can be adjusted to suit your tension.
 If you have tight stitches you may wish to try 5.5mm or 6mm
 or of you have loose stitches you can try 4.5 or 4mm)

The yarn pack can be purchased
here for UK residents
and
here for overseas residents

or if you are making this from your stash
 and just need a few colours to top up you can buy the Stylecraft Aran
 HERE

Don't worry if you haven't got your yarn yet, you will soon catch up.
 The first week has only a small amount of crochet to do!
So go ahead and order now!

These gorgeous colours were inspired by
 a hot summers day, in a beautiful garden.


The first week of the CAL is making the 4 Daisy Squares.

I like to work in a production line system.
 This makes it quicker as your brain and fingers remember the pattern.
 So I began by making the 4 flowers,
 using lemon fondant spice and magenta
 for the first round of the pattern.

When each flower is completed
 sew in the ends on the back of your work
 using  a darning needle.


The 4 flowers are then going to be
 surrounded by the next colour using rounds 2 & 3 as follows

spice - lipstick
lemon - meadow
magenta - plum
fondant - pomegranate 


These daisies are really quite easy to make and have a stunning 3D effect.
 The addition of rounds 2 & 3 makes them really stand out.


On completion of each square
sew in the ends on the back of your work using a darning needle.
(Train yourself into good habits! Its always best to do the ends
 as you go, to avoid a marathon task at the end!) 


Then your finished squares are ready for the cream border. 


Follow round 4 using cream on each square


then sew in these ends.


You have now completed week 1 of the CAL
 and have 4 daisy squares edged in cream.
 These will be the centre of the blanket.


Come back next week for part 2 of the pattern
 which will be released on Friday 19th May.

I look forward to seeing you again

Heather

xxx


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