The Patchwork Heart Colour Packs at Knitting Network

Hello my hooky friends,

 I have some very exciting news to share with you!

I have teamed up with the lovely people at 

Knitting Network

 and am delighted to announce that they will be stocking my 

Colour Packs

from now on!

I have received fantastic service

 when buying yarn from Knitting Network

 and want to offer you this fabulous service too.

You can look forward to

A Price Match Promise - best price or they refund the difference

Same Day Dispatch - they aim to dispatch orders received before 4pm

Excellent Customer Service - a readily available contact number should you need it

Free Royal Mail Delivery - when you spend over £20

Worldwide delivery in eco friendly packaging

A fabulous selection of patterns as seen in Woman's Weekly.

As well as making my colour packs available to purchase,

 I will also be working with patterns from Knitting Network

 and sharing ideas with you each month on

 Instagram 

and 

Facebook 

Baby blanket 64cm square

 To open up my Colour Pack Shop

I have begun with 2 rainbow packs
which are always great favourites

Child's blanket 88cm square

I have put together 2 packs for you to choose from

Each pack contains 

7 colours with 2 balls of cream

in my favourite

Stylecraft Special DK

This pack is enough to make

 a baby blanket 64cm square

or

a child's blanket 88cm square     

with plenty of colours left to add to your stash for future projects.

How to make a granny square blanket

If you are new to crocheting

 you will find the following tutorials helpful

(click on the links to take you to the tutorials)

Granny Square Tutorial

Sewing In Ends

Simple Edging

So now all that you need is your yarn,

you can buy the packs here

PINK RAINBOW

RED RAINBOW

These colour packs are exclusive to Knitting Network.

I do not sell colour packs anywhere else.

Don't forget to post your work on Instagram and use the tag

#inspiredbythepatchworkheart

so I can see what you are making.

Watch this space,

you can look forward to more packs being added,

including some popular favourite blanket packs from the past.

Take a look at some new additions to my blog page here

for all your favourite 

blankets 

tutorials

and 

colour packs

For future reference you can access these pages at the top right of my blog.

Wishing you all a happy hooky day,

remember crochet is therapy and makes for a happy day!

Heather

x x x

Rainbow baby blankets

 This winter I've been making rainbows!

I love the simplicity of these baby blankets

 that are very quickly finished. I have chosen 7 shades

 to make a rainbow, with a contrasting background colour

 and made 7 different versions so far! They have been

 so popular on

 Facebook

 and

 Instagram

 that I thought I'd make a permanent record

 of the colour recipes here for you!

 Of course in true Patchwork Heart fashion

 there's been a lot of mug matching going on as you can see here! 

I've been playing with colour recipes for girls,

 colour recipes for boys, neutrals that should suit all tastes,

 pastels, brights and more muted tones,

 so I'm hoping there will be something here to please all!

If you are new to crochet 

then a granny square baby blanket is a perfect beginners project.

You can follow my 

granny square tutorial

and learn how I make my blankets so perfectly square!

When you've completed the square to the size that you want add a 

simple edging

 and bingo your blanket complete!

All the blankets are made in

 Stylecraft Special DK

 and I have used a 3.5mm hook

 (but you need to use whatever suits your tension.

 The recommended size on the ball band is 4mm).

You need 2 balls of the background colour

 and small amounts of the 7 colours.

 My blankets are approximately 60cm square.

You can now find these rainbow baby blankets for sale in my Etsy shop!

 Here are the colour recipes underneath each photo:

1. Lipstick, spice, saffron, pistachio, aster, plum and magenta

 on a parchment background.

2. Fondant, shrimp, citron, pistachio, aspen, bluebell and wisteria

 on a soft peach background.

3. Candyfloss, apricot, lemon, spring green, sherbet, wisteria and clematis

on a white background.

4. Pomegranate,blush, saffron, pistachio, aspen, wisteria and magenta 

on a cream background.

5. Lipstick, spice, saffron, kelly green, aster, plum and magenta

on a grey background.

6. Claret, tomato, mustard, kelly green, turquoise, plum and magenta

on a petrol (blue) background

Here is a collage

 to help you compare and choose which to make.

I definitely have a passion for crocheting rainbows,

 now my hook has turned to spotty blankets!

 Keep watching this spring for more spotty creations

 and more colour recipes to entice you!

7. Claret. tomato, mustard cypress, storm blue and grape

 on a teal background

Stylecraft Special DK

 is such a wonderful tool for us crochet addicts

 with a colour palette of over 80 shades to choose from!

I am delighted to announce

 that soon some of these colour recipes will be available in my

 Colour Pack Shop!

Do remember to share your makes in the 

Facebook Group

I love to see what my makes have inspired you to do!

I wish you all lots of colourful hours crocheting rainbows

Heather

x x x

Rainbow Baby Blanket

For a long time now I have been chasing rainbows!

Always in search of that perfect blend of colours

and the perfect number of rows

 to fit my hot water bottle and baby blankets.

This week I think I have found that pot of gold!

I have been oh so happy

 with my 14 shades for a hot water bottle cover

and 15 shades for my baby blanket.

At last I have perfected (to my eye)

 that gentle flow of colours blending from

 red - orange - yellow - green - blue - indigo - violet.

Stylecraft Special DK

is available in over 80 shades.

It is a wonderful palette for us crochet artists and colour addicts

 and the recent new additions

 of tomato, sage, storm blue and mustard,

have made my rainbow making perfect!

To make a 60cm square baby blanket I have used 15 shades

claret

lipstick

tomato

spice

gold

mustard

lime

meadow

sage

storm blue

aster

bluebell

violet

grape 

and

raspberry

with parchment as the neutral in between.

This of course is personal choice

 and it would work equally well

 with silver, white or cream as the background colour.

I use a 3.5mm hook as this suits my tension, use whatever is best for you!

To make a perfect granny square,

 which is square and does not twist, follow the instructions in my

 granny square tutorial.

I chose to make 60cm square,

 as this is a good size baby blanket for use in a car seat or pram.

 However if you wish to make a larger blanket

 just keep repeating the colours, the recipe is designed to keep on flowing.

 So start with claret and work through to raspberry,

 than repeat from claret again till you reach your desired blanket size.

Every blanket needs an edging, just as a picture needs a frame.

This time I used a simple edging, you can read about how to do this

 HERE

For my 2L hot water bottle cover I needed 1 stripe less,

 so I made the same rainbow without the sage.

I'm sorry I do not have a pattern for the hot water bottle cover,

I make it up as I go!

 You will find a great tutorial for the granny stripe pattern on

 Attic 24 blog

To buy all 16 shades at once would be rather expensive,

 so if you are a beginner

 I would suggest a simple rainbow of 7 shades,

 to make a more affordable option.

For a vintage look try

claret tomato mustard meadow aster violet and raspberry on parchment.

For a brighter look try

lipstick spice saffron kelly green aster magenta and fondant on cream.

This morning as I write

 there is a distinct smell of autumn in the air which fills me with delight.

There is nothing better than to layer up with cosy scarves,

 socks and boots and snuggle by the fire

 with blankets and hot water bottles!

If you have been inspired by my colour recipes please feel free to use them.

Post photos of your work on Facebook or on Instagram and tag your work with #inspiredbythepatchworkheart

for a chance to be featured on my page in my Sunday spot.

So its back to my hook now for me.

 Watch out next week for my Batik Blanket and a

 competition

with chance to win some amazing

 Stylecraft goodies!

Happy Hookin friends

Heather

X X X

Making Rainbows

Today I am really excited

 to be able to tell you about a competition

 to win £500 worth of yarn!!!

I have joined together with 5 other bloggers

 to help launch the

 Deramores Blog Competition 2015

Here's how you can take part!

Everyone loves a rainbow

red  orange  yellow  green  blue  indigo  violet.

Lately I've been playing with colours

 a lot

as a Mathematician

 order is very important to me

and

as an artist 

colour fills me with passion

so

 to create a rainbow

 is perfection

 in my little world!

A few months ago

 I made myself a set of shade squares

 for all my favourite Stylecraft Special DK shades.

I used a small 3 round solid granny square

you can find a pattern 

HERE

Hours of fun and playing

 ended up with this combination

 for my bright traditional rainbow

I tried it out on a star shaped baby blanket

using a free pattern by 

Celeste Young on Ravelry

and the result was amazing!

but the artist in me wants to play

and my brain is continually making new rainbows

a pastel rainbow was next on my hook

oh so pretty

then again more playing with my squares

resulted in 

bright versus vintage

rainbows

using my creative license

I next hooked a

vintage look rainbow baby blanket

and I really love these soft muted tones

So where did this rainbow trend begin?

I have to give thanks

 to my hooky friends over on

 Instagram

This winter there has been a craze inspired by

 a beautiful Cath Kidston blanket.

So many of my clever hooky friends

 have been making their own versions, 

beautiful granny striped blankets

 with a parchment background.

totally inspired by the lovely makes of

 @wooly_creations

@pandagourgh

@yarnandwhatnot

@thelittlegreencupboard

and many others

I finally gave in and tried it myself

adding the neutral background

 to my vintage rainbow

 resulted in this amazing 

Cath Kidston inspired

 granny square baby blanket

Rainbows have spread into my cotton creations too

I always begin with a traditional colour order

Mandala making

 is such a perfect way

 of trying out colour combinations

but I soon find myself thinking

 that rainbows don't have to include all 7 shades!

Before I know it I'm shading pinks and purples

and blending blues and greens

Working with colour is therapy to me

it excites me

and makes me come alive!

So what better rainbow celebration

than my latest creation of a dream catcher!

This pattern by ATERGcrochet is available to buy on Etsy

HERE

So are you inspired?

 Do you want to play with colour too?

Oh I do hope I've got you rushing for your hooks

 and diving into your stash!

Ladies I'm really excited to tell you

 about the fabulous new

 competition 

I'm helping launch

would you like to win

 £500 worth of yarn

? ? ?

All you have to do

 is play with colour and crochet something wonderful!

Blog about your makes and enter the competition.

You will find all you need to know here

HOW TO ENTER THE COMPETITION

Go on you know you are itching to create

and who doesn't need more yarn!

You can enter many times

 and there are 5 other trends you can follow too!

This week I will be playing with a bright rainbow

 and a cream background! 

Come back next week to see what I made!

Do leave a comment to let me know what you are making

 and entering into the competition, 

I'd love to pop over and visit your blogs

 to see what you are making

Happy hookin

Heather

X X X

Rainbow Squares

 So now its time for me to grovel and apologise

 and say please forgive me

 for my long absence of 2 months . . .

 school took over my life!

One day soon I hope to be full time at The Patchwork Heart

but until then I have a day job which is very demanding and has to come first!

So the first half term is nearly over

 and I am into the swing of things!

I hope you are all enjoying the lovely sunny days and cooler evenings

 . . . time for candles fairy lights and blankets!

 I've even had my hot water bottle out this week 

which has been the height of indulgence!

So what have I been hookin?

Well if you follow me on IG and FB

 you will have enjoyed this rainbow baby blanket

 but there's nothing like the big pictures on a blog

 so here they are for you to enjoy!

Stylecraft Special DK

 in

lipstick

spice

saffron

meadow

aster

violet

 and 

magenta

oh what a pleasure

hours of fun

playing with colours

I just love the simplicity of these plain sqaures

surrounded with parchment

joined from the back with dc through both loops

the stitch definition is to die for

many happy hours were spent under this little beauty

and I even managed to find a matching mug

 to satisfy my OCD!

this blanket gives me so much pleasure

I will definitely be making more!

For those of you who have asked for a pattern

watch this space!

Lovely to be back blogging

I have set myself the new task of blogging each Saturday now

Happy weekend to you all

enjoy your hooky!

Heather

X X X

The Photographer's Blanket

Good morning and a happy half term to you all!

Oh how wonderful it is to be sat in my sewing room

knowing that for the whole day I can work at The Patchwork Heart!

Sorry for my absence the last 2 weeks

 but once again school took over my life!

2 weeks ago I began the most exciting project . . . 

a blanket in subtle rainbow shades

 for a photographer to use as in childrens photographs!          

She chose the most beautiful shades of Stylecraft Special DK

copper

gold

camel

meadow

teal

denim

violet

grape

and

pale rose

and I chose 5 interesting blocks from

Jan Eatons 200 Crochet Blocks

they work out at 15cm square and take approx 30 mins each to make

Oh what fun I had playing with these colours

arranging the blanket made me so happy

working out all the possible arrangements of colours and patterns

I'm sure you will agree

 that the addition of 5 different blocks

 adds much to the plain patchwork blanket

using mocha for the join

I began with simple dc using wrong sides together

this creates a strong join which makes a nice ridge

and I like its simplicity allowing the blocks to take the glory!

I first work all the rows in 1 direction

then change and join in the other direction

so now it is time for the border

a deep lace border in mocha

I will be back in a few days to share the completed blanket!

Happy hookin

Heather

X X X