Crochet Flowers

Hello friends its been a while!

Sorry for my absence in blogging,

 but my health has had other ideas and kept me away sadly.

I've not been idle though, far from it,

 you can always find me on

 Instagram

and

  Facebook

 most days, to see whats on my hook!

I thought you'd like to see the gorgeous flowers I've been making recently,

 as this is something quite different and great fun!

I'm using a pattern from

 Knitting Network

 which in all honestly is the easiest flower pattern I've ever used.

 It's made in a flat strip which you wind it up to make the flower.

 Variations can be made with tighter winding for a bud,

 or looser winding for an open flower.

You can buy this pattern

HERE

I have used vintage knitting needles for the stems, which

 I have collected from charity shops.

 If you fancy trying this, do ask in the shops, as they keep them out of sight!

Simply wind up the flower tightly, stitch it in place

 and then push the knitting needle through the middle.

The flowers are best made in cotton yarn.

I have used

Sirdar Cotton DK

and 

Sirdar Snuggly Cotton DK

These flowers are now for sale in my

ETSY SHOP

Other news

 is that I've been doing a lot of work here behind the scenes,

 making some updates to my blog. To tidy it up

 and make it easier for you to find things,

 I have 2 new pages for 

Tutorials

and

  Blankets

 You can find the pages list on the top right of the blog.

I do hope this makes life easier for you and gives you much pleasure.

Next I will be working on a page for Colour Recipes

so watch this space!

Wishing you all a happy hooky day

Heather

x x x

Pretties for Spring

Spring is on the way!

As I write  I'm enjoying open windows in the house

 the smell of fresh air and the sound of the birds singing.

This morning I've been cleaning and tidying

 Patchwork House

 and having much fun rearranging 

I love to see piles of prettiness

 and 

colour around my home

It was time to put away the valentines hearts

 and add some

 spring coloured flowers and baubles to my twigs

The last few weeks I've been busy stocking my

 Etsy shop

with pretty spring goodies

Ive really enjoyed these quick little makes

and the massive dose of colour therapy!

Rico Essentials Cotton DK

Rico essentials Cotton DK

 has a wonderful range of colours and a gorgeous rich sheen

pattern from Simply Crochet magazine issue 14

Mandalas are such fun to make

pattern from Simply Crochet Magazine issue 7

and are a glorious addition to any home

pattern from Made in K Town blog

being pretty and practical

pattern from Simply Crochet magazine issue 12

you will find them in plenty at Patchwork House!

DMC Natura Just Cotton

DMC Natura Just Cotton

 has a lovely natural texture and deep warm shades

pattern from Made in K Town blog

Sirdar Cotton DK

 has a luxurious feel

 and a very good twist which prevents splitting

Sirdar Cotton DK

I use a 3mm hook

 when making mandalas to achieve a firmer finish

pattern from Simply Crochet magazine issue 14

and for flowers too

pattern for rose from Attic 24

pattern from Katicrafts blog

Stylecraft Classique Cotton

 has 5 new shades and I'm loving this leaf green and fondant

pattern for rose from Attic 24

Patchwork House is ready for Spring

As a newbie to Etsy

 I'm amazed at how fast these pretties have sold!

I'm restocking every few days so do keep visiting!

Etsy Shop

Now my chores are done

 you will find me here for the rest of my weekend

 doing what I love!

Happy hookin friends

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

Colour and flowers

Colour and flowers are 2 of my favourite things,

 so imagine my delight

 when I was asked to make a blanket of bright and colourful flowers!

 Immediately I knew which pattern I was going to use

 and set about choosing my colours.

I love to dive into my stash of

 Stylecraft Special DK 

and chose

 lipstick shrimp saffron meadow

 spring green sherbet bluebell

 wisteria magenta fondant and pomegranate.

I make a batch of centres first 

and then the flower making fun begins

The pattern I am using is

 Stylecraft 9090

I chose my own colours and my favourite yarn

 Stylecraft Special DK

I am not using the cream stripes

 as the pattern suggests

 but am making a square of coloured flowers

I'm afraid I don't do random!

I have to plan each row

 to make sure there is an equal spread of colours

 and this makes me happy!

The beauty of this pattern

 is that each flower is made

 and then joined onto the blanket.

 Then its tail is sewn in.

 So the blanket will be finished

 when I get to the last flower,

 no ends to sew in!

My crochet is always accompanied by a cuppa 

and as you know

 I have to match my mug to my work!

Its the little things that make me happy!

My blanket is now 2/3 complete.

When it is a square

 I will finish it off with an outside round

 of red flowers with coloured centres.

Do come back next in a few weeks to see the finished blanket.

Edit : here is the final blanket complete with a lovely red edge

Keep warm

 my hooky friends

and

 have a happy hooky day!

Heather

X X X

Starburst flower baby blanket

Last week

 I showed you the making of a gorgeous set of starburst flowers.

If you missed the rainbow colours do have a read 

HERE

as promised here is the finished baby blanket

which is now waiting in its new home for the birth

of a lucky little girl!

I am often asked about the pattern for this blanket

do please read the previous post for pattern details!

Heather

x x x

Emily's Garden ~ a blanket of flowers

 This blanket has caused quite a stir

 amongst my followers on Instagram and Facebook, 

so here as promised are some details of how I made 

Emily's Garden.

The blanket is a gift for my mother's 80th birthday.

She loves flowers and is also a crocheter

 so I wanted to create something really special for her.

I used my favourite Stylecraft Special DK

this is so beautiful for blankets.

 It is soft warm and snugly,

 can be machine washed and tumble dried

 and is excellent value

It comes in a wonderful choice of over 80 shades

and you can buy it

HERE

I used

 soft peach, candy floss and pale rose

 lavender, wisteria and clematis

aspen, sherbet and spring green

cloud blue and parchment.

To create a garden

 I decided to use many different types of flowers

the first type was my frequent favourite

the starburst or sunburst flower

I use the starburst pattern by Jane Brocket

 which was in Mollie Makes issue 2

but there are many patterns for the sunburst available on the Internet 

try this one here

  

next I wanted to add depth to give the blanket a 3D texture

so  I chose these popcorn flowers

you can find the pattern 

HERE

there had to be roses in the garden

and these were such fun to make

this pattern is by Nicki Trench in the book

cute & easy crochet

for more texture I wanted petals

and these little pretties came from

a pattern by Nicki Trench in

Simply Crochet magazine issue 5

so with 80 flowers made for 10 rows of 8

 I was all set to join them into a rectangular throw

and I decided on a random arrangement 

as would be found in a cottage garden.

My favourite method for joining is using the

join as you go technique.

I originally learnt this using the fantastic tutorial from

  Attic 24

and developed my own method

 for continuous join as you go

joining the whole blanket without cutting the yarn.

You will notice

 that some are of my flowers are circles and others are squares,

 so to cope with this just make double trebles instead of trebles

 in the corners when joining the circles.

The continuous join method is so fast and easy 

and has the fantastic bonus of no ends to sew in!

I am really pleased with the 3D flowers

and the continuous join as you go

adds another lovely texture to the squares.

Finally a deep border to set off the flowers

 made using block stitch to incorporate some seeds of colour

you can find some instructions

HERE

Tadaa!

Emily's Garden is complete

 and I cannot wait to gift it to my mother Emily

on her 80th birthday

I'm sorry this is not a complete pattern

 but I am not yet a pattern writer and do not pretend to be!

 However I am happy to share

 my inspiration and the links to the patterns I chose

 so that you too

 may have a go at creating a garden of love.

Happy hookin!

Heather

 X X X