The Turquoise Blanket

A few months ago I picked out my favourite colours

 to make a blanket for me! 

Yes for me ... most of my makes are given away

 so its time to update my blanket stash here at Patchwork House

 with some of my favourite colours!

This Colour Recipe is proving to be so very popular.

If you would like to make it you will need

Stylecraft Special DK

1 each of lipstick, spring green, fondant, 

sherbet, pomegranate, aspen, raspberry and lime.

and 4 turquoise for joining.

My making began originally with granny squares

joined with a turquoise background 

using the continuous join as you go method

This was delightful but time consuming with all the ends!

I have written 4 tutorials for your use 

and kept these squares as my teaching samples

Granny Squares

Joining from the front

Joining from the back

Continuous join as you go

You will find these all on the tutorials page.

So it was time to start again

 as I am determined to have a turquoise blanket in my life!

This time I am making a hexie blanket

using a pattern from the book Granny Squares by Sue Pinner.

I make all the middles first

then add the 2nd rounds

next I lay them out in a suitable arrangement

and join with the continuous join as you go method.

This pattern is so quick as the flowers only have 2 rounds

and the joining is so easy!

My blanket will be hexagonal with a wavy edge.

It will be a snuggle blanket for relaxing on the sofa

As you can see its already in use

 as I hook this cold June morning!

If you have been inspired by my colour recipes

 and have made blankets using them

 you may be interested in a new

 Facebook group

 I have started. 

This is a place for my followers to show off their blankets.

 I am so excited with its popularity

 and we are seeing wonderful crochet from all around the world.

 It's quite amazing how the same colours look in different patterns

 and really inspiring to see people interpretations.

 So don't forget to join and share 

I'm so interested to see what you make with my Colour Recipes!

Wishing you all a happy hooky Sunday

Heather

X X X

Colour Packs

Colour makes my heart sing!

I describe myself as a crochet artist

but if you look at my crochet its all very simple . . . 

its the colour combinations that excite me!

This colour palette for my turquoise granny square blanket

 is so beautiful. I designed it with myself in mind planning a 

granny square blanket with a turquoise background for my own home.

The granny squares I made earlier

(you can read about them here)

were made up into samples for my workshops

 and I've decided to keep these for future inspiration.

You can read the tutorials by following the links here

1. How to make a granny square

2. Crocheting squares together from the front

3. Crocheting squares together from the back

4. Continuous join as you go method

So I've stared again!

I've had a longing for a blanket with a turquoise background for a while now!

This time its going to be made with my new love

 hexies!

If you missed my post a few weeks ago

 you can read about my first 2 hexie blankets 

here.

I am using a pattern from the lovely book

Granny Squares by one of my favourite crochet designers

 Sue Pinner

This week I've been making batches of the 2 round flowers

 which will form the middles of the hexagons

I am always being asked about how I find

 all the colour combinations for the flowers! 

This is the part I love, I guess have a Mathematical brain helps! 

I will write a blog post about this soon to help you all out!

I'm varying my work

 with some flowers 

then some joining

and I've adapted the 

Continuous join as you go

 to work for my hexagons

Its really coming on fast as this join is so easy

and I am so delighted with the turquoise background.

It is everything I wanted and really makes the flowers pop!

I am delighted to tell you all

 that I am now working with the lovely people at Deramores

 and they have begun selling my colour packs!

So if you fancy a gorgeous turquoise blanket 

you can buy this colour recipe

HERE

I'd love to see your makes in these colours! 

Do post pictures on your Instagram and Facebook feeds 

and tag me in them to see!

 Its really wonderful that we are part of a global crochet community!

Wishing you all a happy hooky weekend

Heather

X X X

Hexie Happiness

Hello and happy half term!

How wonderful to be full time Patchwork Heart for a week!

 I am totally in my happy zone!

A few weeks ago

 feeling that my creativity was being stifled I began playing.

I was inspired by the wonderful colourful images in my feed 

on both Facebook and Instagram from the talented

  Sue Pinner

So I dug out her book

Granny Squares

and started playing with hexies

Join as you go is my favourite joining method

I love the texture it creates and making the blanket as I go.

These tesselating shapes are just perfection to me!

I loved the simplicity here

 of working with just 3 colours

I used 

Stylecraft Special DK

in

fondant pomegranate and raspberry

it was so easy to work out 

which colour order came next

 as at each corner 3 hexies meet 

meaning that you just need 1 of each

I worked from the centre outwards in rounds

and love the hexagon shaped blanket with its uneven edges

It wasnt long before a simple picot edging

completed the blanket

and it was sold!

So what next I thought . . .

colours

BRIGHT COLOURS

and a bigger hexie blanket! 

The idea of this blanket was to try out some

Hayfield Bonus DK

that I had been given

This time I worked in rows

 using 11 shades

oh what fun planning each row

I love the multi coloured hexagons

and my next hexie blanket will use even more shades

Comparison wise

Stylecraft Special DK wins every time for me

 for blanket making.

I have to say again and again

 it is so soft, beautiful to work with and has great washability.

The Hayfield Bonus I found to have a very cheap feel 

and the different colours have different thicknesses so its not for me.

I'm pleased to have had the opportunity to try it

as I know many people like its large colour range.

I am sure the blanket will look great when complete though

 and have confidence that a wash with plenty of fabric softener

 will help it along nicely!

Thank you for the many lovely comments you all send, 

I am sorry that I do not have time to reply individually. 

I love to share my work to encourage and inspire you!

If you have enjoyed my posts

 please consider a small donation

  to support my crochet journey

by using the Paypal donate logo on my sidebar

Have a wonderful hooky Bank Holiday my friends

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