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

Hexie love

Oh how wonderful summer holidays are for us teachers!

It is fantastic to have time to play

 to be me

 to indulge in yarny hooky pleasures!

I as you know am a Mathematician and get so much pleasure from crochet.

The shapes tessellate so perfectly and this gives me an immense sense of satisfaction!

Now the regular hexagon is a 6 sided polygon with equal sides and angles.

It is perfect for hooky creations yet is one I haven't used much at all.

So time to experiment ...

What better on a lazy sunny afternoon than sitting in the sun hooking daisies!

So my hexie making began.

 I didn't have a pattern so set about playing and came up with this!

As a small project a few of these hexies can be hooked up in no time

 and will make a lovely little table mat or runner.

I do love to fill my home with pretties!

I like to use Stylecraft Classique Cotton

 which has fabulous stitch definition

 and is

available in lovely bright summery colours.

 Its is a DK yarn but

 for mats I work with a 3mm hook to give a firmer texture

I must admit that I wasn't sure if I liked my table mat at this point

but it's amazing what a difference a good edging makes!

So yes the table mat stays

 and now has pride of place in Patchwork House!

As I know you will all be asking for the pattern

I have dug out a suitable suggestion from

Simply Crochet

magazine issue 5 on page 63

I am loving having time to peruse my stash of Simply Crochet magazines. Each time I look I find new patterns that tempt me. I would highly recommend it at £4.99 it is packed with patterns and lovely articles, features inspiration from our favourite hooky writers and bloggers and is always a total joy.

If you are not already hooked on the mag why not take advantage of this special offer which is open to my readers for the month of July, but

 HURRY HURRY HURRY

 it ends tomorrow!

You can take a trial offer of 3 issues for £5

WOW

isn't that fab!!!

Follow the link

HERE

and I'm sure you will not be disappointed!

In future I plan to write more patterns and tutorials and provide links for you all to find these easily on my blog. Thank you all so much for your encouraging comments and emails that help inspire me to continue with my work. The Patchwork Heart is moving forward in a new direction this new academic year. As I work full time it does not leave me as much time as I would like for making orders. I will be blogging more to share my work with the aim of encouraging and inspiring. Rather than taking orders I am now moving onto creating for my own pleasure, trying new ideas and patterns and writing and I will be reopening my Etsy shop in 2015.

Have a wonderful hooky summer

Heather

 XXX

The amazing V Stitch

This week I have made a new discovery

 and am delighted to share it with you!

V Stitch

surprisingly simple

extremely fast growing

addictive pleasure

over on Instagram there is a wave sweeping the nation

and one by one all my hooky friends have been making v stitch blankets

so eventually I caught the bug

and dived into my Stylecraft Special DK stash

coming out with this gorgeous range of autumn colours

It is an amazingly fast growing blanket

so simple to hook

and totally addictive

at the end

 I sew each end into its own coloured stripe using a darning needle

 thinking of it as embroidery

to obtain a neat professional finish

Simple Edging

in UK terms

To complete the blanket make a simple edging.

1 rounds of dc (UK)

followed by a 2nd round of

dc 3 chain dc in the same stitch miss a stitch repeat

these baby blankets are such quick fun 

 I have made 2 and started a 3rd in 1 week!

If you Google Vstitch you will find many free patterns

and there is plenty available on Pinterest Ravelry and You Tube

but basically you need a starting chain in muliples of 3 +2 +2

you start with a treble (UK) in the 5th chain stitch from the hook

and make 1 treble 1 chain 1 treble for the first v all in the same stitch

miss 2 chain and repeat

at the end miss 1 chain and end with 1 treble

the rest is easy

just make 1 v stitch in each previous v

and a single treble at the start and end of each row

go on you know you want to ...

join the v stitch party!

If you have enjoyed this post and my pattern advice

please consider supporting my crochet business

support my crochet business

have a wonderful relaxing Sunday my hooky friends

Happy Hookin!

Heather

xxx

Granny Emily

So excited!

At last I can tell you

 that I have been working with the lovely people from

Simply Crochet Magazine

as you all know

 I am a crochet addict!

I love nothing more than a weekend 

full of crochet therapy

 and

 it is always such a delight

 when the postman brings a new magazine!

I love trawling through my magazine stash

to find new patterns

 and

 inspiration

Simpy Crochet

have now also launched a new free app called

Granny Square a Week

where they are releasing a new

 free granny square pattern each week. 

This is available for Apple users

but

 others can also sign up to receive details by 

newsletter

the patterns are available in UK and USA crochet terms

You imagine my delight

 when I was given a preview of one of the granny squares

 to be released in their app

 and asked to trial it in my own colour combinations!

Here is

Granny Emily

oooohhhh

 don't you just love that deep swirling centre!

I was given the privilege of naming this square

and have named it after my lovely Mum

 who taught me to crochet as a child . . .

she is nearly 80 and still crocheting daily!

Oh what excitement

 to be able to give this square The Patchwork Heart treatment!

 I dived into my stash and decided to use

Stylecraft Classique Cotton

which comes in 18 lovely bright shades

it seemed only right

 to make these squares into a gift for my mother

 so I have chosen

 to use her favourite colours of pink and green

I'm often asked by readers what I do with the tails

and as you can see

 colour changing always makes for a lot of them!

I prefer to sew them

 in using a big darning needle at the end . . . 

think of it as embroidery

 and enjoy running them into the same colour stitches

 on the back of the square . . .

they will soon disappear

 and you will have a much more professional finish

 than if you crochet over them!

I decided to make Granny Emily

 in 4 different combinations of the 5 shades

I love to play with colour

and find it amazing how the squares look so different

when the colours are used in different orders!

I chose 2 brighter shades and 2 paler shades with the white

and notice

 that I kept round 3 white

 on all 4 squares to make them match!

the squares were then joined

 using the

 join as you go method

and finished with a little picot edging

Simpy Crochet

 have kindly given me permission

 to share the pattern for Granny Emily with my readers

Granny Emily in UK terms

2-ttr cluster (Yrh 3 times, insert hook in sp, yrh and pull up loop, [yrh and draw through 2 loops] 3 times) twice, inserting hook in same sp each time, yrh and draw through all loops on hook.

With Yarn A, ch8, join with a ss into a ring.

Round 1 Ch5 (counts as ttr), ttr into ring, ch1, (2-ttr cluster into ring, ch1) 15 times, ss to top of beg ch-5. Fasten off.

Round 2 Join Yarn B in any ch-1 sp with a ss. Ch1 (does not count as stitch), dc into same ch-1 sp, *ch3, dc in next ch-1 sp, ch3, (2tr, ch3, 2tr) in next ch-1 sp, ch3, dc in next ch-1 sp, ch3, dc in next ch-1 sp; rep from * twice, ch3, dc in next ch-1 sp, ch3, (2tr, ch3, 2tr) in next ch-1 sp, ch3, dc in next ch-1 sp, ch3, ss to first dc, fasten off.

Round 3 Join Yarn C in next ch-3 sp with a ss. Ch3 (counts as tr), 2tr in same ch-3 sp, *ch2, skip next ch-3 sp, (3tr, ch2, 3tr) in next ch-3 sp, ch2, skip next ch-3 sp, 3tr in next ch-3 sp, ch2, 3tr in next ch-3 sp; rep from * twice, ch2, skip next ch-3 sp, (3tr, ch2, 3tr) in next ch-3 sp, ch2, skip next ch-3 sp, 3tr in next ch-3 sp, ch2, ss to top of beg ch-3, fasten off.

Round 4 Join Yarn D in next ch-2 sp. Ch3 (counts as tr), 2tr in same ch-2 sp, *ch2, (3tr, ch2, 3tr) into corner ch-2 sp, (ch2, 3tr in next ch-2 sp) 3 times; rep from * twice, ch2, (3tr, ch2, 3tr) into corner ch-2 sp, (ch2, 3tr in next ch-2 sp) 2 times, ch2, ss to top of beg ch-3, fasten off.

Round 5 Join Yarn E in next ch-2 sp. Ch3 (counts as tr), 2tr in same ch-2 sp, *(3tr, ch2, 3tr) in corner ch-2 sp, (3tr in next ch-2 sp) 4 times; rep from * twice, (3tr, ch2, 3tr) in corner ch-2 sp, (3tr in next ch-2 sp) 3 times, ss to top of beg ch-3, fasten off.

Weave in all ends.

Granny Emily in USA crochet terms

2-dtr cluster (Yrh 3 times, insert hook in sp, yrh and pull up loop, [yrh and draw through 2 loops] 3 times) twice, inserting hook in same sp each time, yrh and draw through all loops on hook.

With Yarn A, ch8, join with a ss into a ring.

Round 1 Ch5 (counts as dtr), dtr into ring, ch1, (2-dtr cluster into ring, ch1) 15 times, ss to top of beg ch-5. Fasten off.

Round 2 Join Yarn B in any ch-1 sp with a ss. Ch1 (does not count as stitch), sc into same ch-1 sp, *ch3, sc in next ch-1 sp, ch3, (2dc, ch3, 2dc) in next ch-1 sp, ch3, sc in next ch-1 sp, ch3, sc in next ch-1 sp; rep from * twice, ch3, sc in next ch-1 sp, ch3, (2dc, ch3, 2dc) in next ch-1 sp, ch3, sc in next ch-1 sp, ch3, ss to first sc, fasten off.

Round 3 Join Yarn C in next ch-3 sp with a ss. Ch3 (counts as dc), 2dc in same ch-3 sp, *ch2, skip next ch-3 sp, (3dc, ch2, 3dc) in next ch-3 sp, ch2, skip next ch-3 sp, 3dc in next ch-3 sp, ch2, 3dc in next ch-3 sp; rep from * twice, ch2, skip next ch-3 sp, (3dc, ch2, 3dc) in next ch-3 sp, ch2, skip next ch-3 sp, 3dc in next ch-3 sp, ch2, ss to top of beg ch-3, fasten off.

Round 4 Join Yarn D in next ch-2 sp. Ch3 (counts as dc), 2dc in same ch-2 sp, *ch2, (3dc, ch2, 3dc) into corner ch-2 sp, (ch2, 3dc in next ch-2 sp) 3 times; rep from * twice, ch2, (3dc, ch2, 3dc) into corner ch-2 sp, (ch2, 3dc in next ch-2 sp) 2 times, ch2, ss to top of beg ch-3, fasten off.

Round 5 Join Yarn E in next ch-2 sp. Ch3 (counts as dc), 2dc in same ch-2 sp, *(3dc, ch2, 3dc) in corner ch-2 sp, (3dc in next ch-2 sp) 4 times; rep from * twice, (3dc, ch2, 3dc) in corner ch-2 sp, (3dc in next ch-2 sp) 3 times, ss to top of beg ch-3, fasten off.

Weave in all ends.

The lovely people at Simply Crochet magazine

 have also set up

 a special trial offer to my readers

Try 3 issues for just £5 when you subscribe 

* Receive 13 issues a year - saving £9.97 on your first 3 issues

* Direct delivery at no extra cost

* Receive a FREE gift on every issue

Terms & Conditions: 

This offer is for new UK print subscribers paying by Direct Debit only. 

You will receive 13 issues in a year.

  Offer ends: 31st July 2014

and you can take up this offer by following the link 

HERE

and now I must get back to my hook

sending you all lots of hooky love

Heather

X X X

The Jammy Dodger

Oh its been such a busy week

school is very busy

we wind up and get busier and busier towards the end of term

sadly this means little time for hooky

but when time allows

I am working on an unusual colour combination

using Stylecraft Special DK in

lipstick grey and white

I love the willow block from Jan Eatons book 200 Crochet Blocks

and this gorgeous

 heart square

 from Simply Crochet magazine

oh what fun to sort through my magazine stash

 and find this gorgeous

 Little Love Hearts pattern in issue 14

it made me smile when I photographed this layout

as all I could see was jammy dodgers!

I have many more squares to make

 but eventually they will be joined and edged with black

Sunday is a day for relaxing at Patchwork House

after church we enjoy time at home together

time to relax and refresh

I hope you had a relaxing Sunday too

Happy hookin

Heather

xxx

Mandala magic

Last week was half term

heaven

a blissful week at home

 full time at The Patchwork Heart

the weather was poor

 and

 I found myself housebound without a car all week

so what a good excuse for

playing with colours!

I dug out my stash of

 Simply Crochet

 magazines and spend a lovely relaxing hour

 sifting through choosing patterns

I have always liked mandalas

for the sheer fun of choosing colours and trying new stitches

what are they for

???

well sheer pleasure I think!

having had a little go last year

at mandala making

 these fabulous patterns by Wink from

A Creative Being

had caught my eye and

were on my to do list

so I dug out my stash of cottons and started playing with colours!

the magazine patterns

 have very clear simple instructions

 with step by step photos

 which made them a joy to follow

and once I started I couldn't stop!

oh so pretty and a riot of colour

but far too nice to hide under a bowl!

Mandala is Hindu for circle

 and the shapes are often seen as a symbol of wholeness

I have used

Stylecraft Cotton Classique

which is DK weight

but with a 3mm hook to give added firmness to the mats

I highly recommend this cotton yarn

 as one that doesn't split and is a pleasure to hook

It is available in 18 gorgeous bright colours

 and you can buy it

 HERE

So with that I will wish you happy hookin

 and get back to my next pretty mandala!

Heather

X X X