Sunday afternoon treat

Hello my hooky friends

 happy Sunday to you all!

Oh there is so much excitement 

here at Patchwork House this week

 as the gorgeous colourful squares of my new blanket

 have been surrounded with cream.

The lovely people at 

 Deramores 

gave me this pretty

 Sirdar Snuggly Baby Crofter DK

 to work with.

 If you missed the previous post you can read it

  HERE.

To be honest at first

 I wasn't liking the random effect

 as much as I thought I would.

 I adore the yarn

 as it is so soft and finer than I am used to.

 It produces beautiful even stitch definition

 and the colours are just fab!

I am using

 Elsie

 Kaitlyn

 Maypole

 and 

Mimi.

However when I made the border of each square

 in cream Sirdar Snuggly DK

it just made the colours

 POP

 and I totally fell in love!

It is a frequent sight

 here at Patchwork House

 to find piles of squares

 as ornaments on tables and window sills

 in baskets and on trays

but oh what a pleasure

what a wonderful sight 

when the ends have been sewn in!

So today I have rushed home from church

 and am going to delight in

 an afternoon of joining!

Imagine 

my delight

 to be

 home in daylight hours

 in a quiet house

alone with this pile of yarny goodness!

Do come back next week

 for an update on the joining progress and border!

Till then have a happy hooky week my friends

Heather

X X X

Half term hooky

 Half term for me

 has been a wonderful time of relaxation

 in my favourite part of the world

  

The Yorkshre Dales

 we spent time enjoying

 sheep pheasants sunshine autumn leaves and lovely walks

quality time

 in a lovely cottage in a quiet village 

was just what the doctor ordered

breath taking scenery

special time together

 away from busy jobs and lives

 brings us home

 feeling blessed and recharged for the next 2 months!

Of course there was hooky

lots

and lots

of wonderful yarny therapy!

Sirdar Snuggly Baby Crofter

 is a variegated yarn with amazing colours.

 It is very soft and fun to work.

Random or self striping yarn

 is the ideal portable yarn for taking on holiday,

 one ball, hook and scissors fitting very neatly in my bag everywhere I go!

I was inspired by the

 Crofter Blanket

made by the very talented blogger

 Anita Mundt

if you dont know her blog

 A Creative Dimension

 you are in for a treat ... pop on over!

As a change I chose to make a baby blanket

 so I am working with the softer brighter colour palette of 

Sirdar Snuggly Baby Crofter DK

I am now very brave and hook in public most places I go

on trains

in the car

on picnics

and in cafes and pubs

 it is wonderful when people stop to talk

 and ask about what I am making

Well as you know I have many OCD tendancies

 and love nothing more than planning my crochet.

 Matching hooks and mugs

lining up colours

counting equal amounts of each round

all make it perfect and appeal to my Mathematical brain!

So when I first started with this random yarn

 I must admit that I wasn't too keen!

But as the week progressed it has grown on me!

 I am now loving the arty look of these variegated squares

 and they come with the added bonus of no ends from changing colours!

I have used

 2 x 50g balls of each of the following 4 colours

 and made 80 squares.

These are now being edged with cream Sirdar Snuggly

 and I am liking them even more as the cream makes the colours pop!

Do come back next week

 for a progress update of my variegated blanket!

When complete I will be writing up the pattern for you

 and joining and edging instructions

 to be published with the final tadaa photo in a few weeks!

My final treat of the holiday

 was a morning spent with a wonderful hooky gang at the 

Skipton Knit and Natter group.

I was so delighted to be invited and had a wonderful time

 with lovely ladies who speak the same yarny language!

 Thank you all for making me so welcome.

So now after a heavenly week of hooky and countryside

 it is time to get ready for back to school.

Here at Patchwork House

 I am enjoying a new thrifted jug for my flowers. 

Wishing you all a happy Sunday!

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

Back to school

I'm home and normal service will now resume!

Wow what a fantastic holiday we had in Kefalonia

but it was 

HOT HOT HOT !!!

yes the sea really was turquoise no edit here!

the people were so friendly and we saw many beautiful things

but just to show you I wasn't idle

I hooked up 2 new scarves for myself

 using the pattern in this months Simply Crochet issue 22

this lovely pink scarf is made in Drops Fabel with a 4mm hook

using 3 x 50g balls and making it larger than the pattern for a bigger wrap

so now its back to school next week . . .

have you smelt it on the air?

there's definitely a nip and the nights are drawing in

I love the changing seasons

and it fills me with excitement

fairy lights candles socks and blankets

yes blankets

my favourite hooky pleasure is blanket making

and so my hooky thoughts are turning to snuggling under blankets

 and making more cosy comforts for my home

I will be back with new blanket makes soon

Heather

XXX

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

Afternoon tea

This week has been a week of celebration

 as we marked my step fathers 85th and mothers 80th birthdays

the week begin with a family meal at a local restaurant

where they both enjoyed all the families coming together

then on my Mum's birthday I treated her to a vintage afternoon tea

here at Patchwork House

using my newly collected mismatched vintage china

Oh what a delight it was setting the table

 with such beautiful cups and saucers

and using the hand embroidered table cloths

 that my Mum had made in her youth

at last it was time to give her the blanket I had specially made

Emily's Garden

 has been featured in a previous blog post and you can read about it

 HERE

Mum is still crocheting every day at the age of 80!

She is a gardener too and so I had created this blanket especially for her

 in her favourite colours.

She was very pleased with the gift

and I was very happy to give it to such a good home

 where I know it will be appreciated!

Heather

X X X

Hello August

Goodbye July and Hello August!

Pheww its been hot ... too hot for me,

 but at least we feel that we've had some summer now!

August has arrived with excitement

 as we celebrate the 80th and 85th birthdays of my parents.

This weekend they hosted a birthday meal to celebrate

 and 26 of us joined together in a very special afternoon.

 Mum and I decorated the restaurant with flowers from her garden

 which we love far more than any shop flowers.

I will be giving Mum the special blanket I have made

 on her actual birthday this week

 so do watch next weekend for the big reveal!

Socialising is not really my cup of tea

 and after 2 social events in 2 days today I was exhausted!

 So I took great delight in a much needed

 afternoon of total indulgence and relaxation

 here at Patchwork House.

 I know I'm tired when even crochet is beyond me!

This week I've been busy

 and as well as working on an Elmer blanket and a V stitch blanket

 I've whipped up another set of starburst flowers for a baby blanket.

 This is going to be a beauty joined in cream.

Feast your eyes on these beauties made in my favourite 

Stylecraft Special DK

in fondant pomegranate shrimp bright pink plum magenta

 lavender turquoise aspen spring green and citron.

This pattern is called starburst or sunburst

there are plenty available on the Internet and there is one

 HERE

 by Priscilla Hewitt that you can use

This week I will be surrounding these beauties with cream

 and will of course show you the finishes baby blanket next weekend!

I will leave you know with a view of my July

I hope that August brings holidays and relaxation

Happy Hookin!

Heather

X X X