Ripple Blanket Progress

Posted on 10 August, 2014 by patchworkfairy

I’ve not made as much ripple blanket progress as I originally imagined and have decided that after 60 ripply rows that I have had enough! It is now going to be a lap blanket/shawl!

Although I am fed up of rippling I have decided to make a few double crochet edging rounds to finish it off nicely and then leave it at this smaller size. So far I am on my second dc round in lavender, the first being in raspberry.

edging the ripple blanket

I haven’t much crafty stuff to share this week as I have been away camping in Aberdaron and the packing up process has done me a mischief. I am in agony, unable to walk properly with acute lower back pain. I am managing a bit of crochet wherever I can get comfy (not easy) but anything else is out of the question.

After a week of pain and still no improvement it’s so frustrating not to be able to get in my craft room as I have two projects waiting to be finished which are for presents and are now not going to be made on time 🙁

Hopefully I will be able to link up with Handmade Monday and catch up on everyone’s lives as I’ve really missed my blog fix the last couple of weeks, being away without internet access.

Crochet en France

Posted on 20 July, 2014 by patchworkfairy

Well we’re back after a lovely week en vacances dans un gîte in the Normandy countryside in France. It was very quiet and peaceful, we could just about see one neighbour’s house over in another field. The weather was very hot though, too hot for us really as neither of us are sunbathers. We prefer sitting in the shade reading or doing crochet (me) or dozing (him) !

happily crocheting on first da

I bought a crocheted hat on the ferry over and so the first thing I did when we arrived was to crochet some flowers on the side to make it my own.

two little crochet flowers

It’s very cool and comfy to wear and only 12 euros from the Ferry boutique. The flowes are crocheted in lilac, cream and brown as the hat is a coffee and cream colour.

As well as drinking lots of café noir and eating yummy crêpes we visited the D Day landing sites and also the Bayeux Tapestry Museum which was very interesting to view. It’s almost two feet in height and 230 feet long and is displayed in a long glass cabinet at head height. You are given a hand held recorded commentary to listen to as you walk along past it and the scenes are numbered so you can look at what the numbered recording is referring to all the time.

I remarked to my husband that it looked more like embroidery than tapestry to me and so was interested to see a reference later to the fact that is actually embroidered linen not tapestry! It’s a really clever piece of work and depicts the lead up to, and the actual Battle of Hastings in 1066. Sadly we were not allowed to photograph it although I did buy a paper replica to bring home – just got to figure out how to display it now!

On our last day we went swimming on Omaha Beach on the northern coast. On the way to the beach café we passed these rather charming French beach huts – not at all like English ones. From out of one of them came the oldest couple I have ever seen in swimming gear! She hobbled down with a stick in one hand and a beach chair in the other then went back to help the old man down and into the sea. They didn’t swim but stood there waist height just taking in the scenery! – there’s dedication in ‘taking the waters’ eh? I love to swim in the sea but not sure I’ll still be making that kind of effort in my 90s!

French Beach Huts

Well I’m off to Handmade Monday now to catch up on the blogs I’ve missed whilst away. There was hardly any signal during our holiday which meant very limited internet time! Hope everyone is enjoying the summer wherever you are. x

Rag Quilt and Crochet Bag

Posted on 7 July, 2014 by patchworkfairy

Well after a lot of thinking I decided my crochet circle would be a bag! However it isn’t really looking like one and is more like a sombrero! I am following an Attic 24 pattern so it should turn out ok but I am wondering if floppy cotton was not the right yarn as the original pattern is in merino. Oh well – perhaps an interfaced fabric lining will be required to give it some form!

bag base and 12 rows on

The other thing I decided to make this week was a quilt for me to take on holiday in a couple of weeks – it’s using up lots of the stash I recently received and as it’s a rag quilt it was fairly easy to make compared with making a quilt top and then quilting it to a base.

I made some quilt ‘sandwiches’ first, then quilted each ‘sandwich’ with a cross of stitching. These were then sewed together in long lines and then the lines joined up – all had a half inch seam allowance for fraying later.

quilt sandwich showing the wadding / batting

diagonal stitching to quilt the ‘sandwiches’

using the walking foot to quilt the edges

After sewing all the quilted squares together I made some long sashing strips in bright purple and made long rectangular ‘sandwiches’ to sew right round each edge. I quilted these separately with long diagonal lines and then finally a line right round the egde of the quilt leaving a half an inch seam allowance for fraying.

The hardest part if snipping all the seams for the fraying but it’s worth is when you take the quilt out of the tumble drier and it’s all soft and lovely! It’ll certainly keep me cosy of the cross channel ferry!

pastel shades of floral fabric rag quilt

finished quilt

I’m rather late for Handmade Monday as I was at a Boyzone concert in beautiful Delamere forest yesterday but that’s another story!

Boyzone in Delamere Forest

Ocean and Coral Crochet in the Garden

Posted on 29 June, 2014 by patchworkfairy

What a lovely day today after torrential rain yesterday! I am sitting in the garden with my new crochet project, writing my blog post and drinking a cup of tea on the swingy seat! I am using cool oceanic and coral crochet colours which is quite restful on the eyes in the glare of the sun! I think I may have mentioned before how much I love sitting in my little hideaway at the bottom of the garden 🙂 There are birds on the grass right by me, eating the cherries from our tree!!! Every year they eat them before we do and I swear they reccy the tree for weeks leading up to them ripening and then sit on the fence squawking out the information to their cronies! On the day most cherries turn purple and yummy, if we are not at home, we will come back to a bare tree!

this is a small selection of the tree!

This is my crochet – I am using a lovely soft cotton and acrylic mix by Cygnet. It is going to be a holiday bag but it’s so soft and comfy while I am making it I feel I should turn it into a summer blanket! We are going on the ferry to France and an oceanic and coral coloured bag seemed just the thing, but then so would a cosy blanket for snoozing under on the journey!

this is the bag base with all the colours to use

Oh well decisions! I will have a think whilst watching Dolly Parton at Glastonbury! Later I’ll be popping over to Handmade Monday for a catch up with the other blogs. Hope everyone is having a lovely Glasto-watching weekend too!

Granny Squares and Granny Naps!

Posted on 20 April, 2014 by patchworkfairy

Ooh I am feeling rather full and sleepy after a big family dinner at my sisters this weekend! I think I may need a nap! My DS’ are home too so it’s a busier household here from normal when it’s just me and my DH rattling round here! Not much time for making granny squares!

This week has been very exciting though, as my new sewing machine arrived! I am in the process of writing about it and will have pics and a review next week! I am already loving the extras on it and spending time getting to know all the new features is very enjoyable.

I’ve done quite a bit of crochet squares towards a new blanket!

getting the squares ready!

and I bought two new books! Both of these seem to be very, very good at first glance!

my new books

I can’t wait to start adding some granny square variations to the blanket and start making some more bags! Of all the sewing I do, I think I love making bags the most!

Well that’s it for now – I am full of pie and cupcakes and I need a granny nap, never mind a granny square!

best wishes to all the handmade mondayers celebrating Easter!

See you next week.

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Craft Fair Anticipation!

Posted on 16 March, 2014 by patchworkfairy

This week I have been making lots of little things for when I attend another craft fair in the summer! Yes I am once again going to risk it in the hope that it may be successful! I love the anticipation of craft fairs; the excitement of setting up, the hopeful feeling when the first customers come through the door, the lovely glow from receiving admiring comments about the items, the satisfying exchange of money and item, the travelling home with an empty car and a big bag of money…….. oh wait, actually I dreamed that last one! 🙂 It all goes according to the above but it tends to peter out after a few spasmodic sales and turns into the sinking feeling of ‘how long have I spent here all day and have I even covered my table fee and petrol costs!’

And yet here I am again thinking of repeating the experience as I really do enjoy meeting other crafters and chatting to them as well as the customers. Well, we’ll see how it goes – I am sure it will form the subject matter for a future post!

I did do some crocheting with the grundl flower yarn again this week. This time I made a headband – good for keeping the ears warm when you don’t want to wear a whole hat! It is now for sale in my Patchwork Fairy in the Enchanted Wood Folksy shop

Flower Yarn Headband

The other thing I have completed this week is the tutorial about crocheting with the Kidsilk Creation Stripe Yarn. It’s easy to do once you understand what you’re doing so hopefully this might help a bit if anyone is stuck.

So here we are again – Sunday night Linkyness at Handmade Harbour! Now Dancing on Ice and Call the Midwife have both finished I might get round to commenting on the blogs a little earlier in the evening than recently!!

I always love to read comments. Please don’t be put off by the comment boxes for the name and site appearing to not let you type – it is actually recording your text and will show up once you publish your comment!

Wool, Coffee and Cake, a dream day out!

Posted on 9 March, 2014 by patchworkfairy

Ooh I had a lovely outing this last week! Mum and I went for a drive in the countryside (well down the M53 amd M6, then the countryside!). We went to Black Sheep Wools Craft Barn in Culcheth! My dream day out! – it included wool, coffee and cake!! (and my mum 😉 )

Entrance to Black Sheep Craft Barn

The craft barn is set back off the road in a lovely countryside setting, but it’s even more lovely inside! As you step through the door you can see shelves of pretty, delicate spring coloured wools and cottons on one side, shelves of beautiful variegated purply pink yarns on the other and a central stand with crafty items and gifts!

craft items and gifts

coloured yarns

Noro Yarns. I love the variegated colours of these Japanese yarns!

view down shop

I was hard pressed to actually move through the shop as I kept getting distracted by yet another shelf of lovely yarns! They sell a wide variety: wool, mohair, cotton, silk, viscose, acrylic, bamboo and various mixes of these in plain and varigated colours. There is also a large section of Cross Stitch kits and threads, a wide selection of craft books and patterns and various notions to purchase.

Mum and I always suss out a coffee stop wherever we go and so thoroughly enjoyed the onsite cosy café serving light lunches and cakes. We had a very nice panini and a slice of Victoria Sandwich cake with fabulously strong coffee, just how I prefer it! I’m quite happy to travel to visit new craft places but I do like it when there is a café so I can stop and reflect on all the things I’ve been browsing through before I make my purchases, especially when I’ve driven a while to get there! It’s the sort of place you could enjoy visiting with friends or a knitting/crochet group.

I was very taken with a crochet designs book by Nikki Trench called, ‘Hooked on Noro’, Now although I like the look of Noro yarns some can feel a bit harsh and are quite pricey so this time I bought the book but chose an alternative yarn – Fusion Cotton – a soft, cotton and viscose mix yarn by Patons, very reasonably priced for the quality, with which to make the fingerless gloves from the book. Mum wanted to know why I would want to have fingerless gloves?! When I said they would be handy for texting, she just raised her eyes to the ceiling and said, “you could just pull off a normal glove!” – Eh? I don’t think so! I love the pair I’ve just made and actually so did Mum once she saw them finished!

Fingerless Gloves!

They are very comfy and soft to wear and the pattern in the book is easy to follow.

The final thing I bought was one skein of Rowan’s Kidsilk Creation Stripe. Now this is pricey, but absolutely gorgeous! It looks and feels like a high quality product. It’s actually mohair and silk mix and it already partly knitted into a long mesh, which can be stretched out widthways if desired. I noticed there was a pattern on the label to crochet a scarf with it but I couldn’t understand how you would do it! Luckily there are plenty of nice friendly staff to ask for help and one of the ladies explained I needed to crochet it up the long edge. However, I was completely flummoxed at first when I got home, but once I understood what to do it was very easy to make up in about three quarters of an hour! It ends up as a twirly, twisty floaty pretty scarf! I’ve taken some pics and will post a tutorial about how to work with this yarn as it’s certainly worth it! I chose a pinky purply mix and the finished item has now been posted to my very stylish Aunty for her 70th birthday!

the kidsilk creation stripe yarn before crocheting

Purple and pink mohair and silk crochetd scarf.

Scarf in Kidsilk Creation Stripe

So all in all we were there just over two hours – it was long enough for Mum who by now was trying to nudge me to the exit! It’s the sort of place where you could keep going round and round oohing and aaahing and patting large balls of pink and purple wool!

Well I’m off for another visit now – over to Handmade Monday to visit some lovely blogs! If anyone lives near Black Sheep Wools Craft Barn and fancies meeting for a coffee n’ cake I’m always up for another trip!! 🙂

Spring Feelings, Tea and Well-Being!

Posted on 2 March, 2014 by patchworkfairy

Ok well it’s now March and we can definitely say we’re entering Spring season! (not today though as it’s very cold and rainy and very disappointing!). This last week however, has been noticeably warmer, and I was able to have the first mid morning cuppa in the garden! Woo hoo! Ok, I did have my warm jacket and boots on, but it was very pleasant when the sun was shining! I love this time of year when I can get outside for a quiet cup of tea or coffee as it evokes the wonderful happy feeling I had when I first went part time at work at the beginning of April a few years back. I remember sitting outside on a Wednesday morning and feeling so weird to be there on a work day, but with this creeping sense of peace and well-being. Even though I am now full time at home and no longer going out to work I haven’t lost the excitement of the first few warm weekdays at this time of year.

Of course I wish my health was better and I hadn’t had to give up in the way I did, or have the three lots of surgery, and still be in pain almost every day. But – there is no point in dwelling on ‘what ifs’ – the only way forward is ‘what may be’ – to relish the good things about being at home and to recognise that in the eyes of other people, especially creative crafters, it must seem to be a dream come true to have weekdays in which to sew, knit, crochet, etc and never have that sinking feeling on a Sunday evening knowing it’s going to days before you can get back to your hobby. Obviously it would be even better to make a living out of crafting, but that’s not so easy and so not going out to work also means not bringing in the associated salary!!

However I am ever hopeful that one day I will make something so fabulous that everyone will just have to have one – likely? who knows, but it’s so much fun trying! And with that I will show you my latest creations, because as well as doing a bit more on the twine bag I have been making spring themed crochet items for a garland!

Flower Baskets and Snails!

Twine basket with two rows of Star stitch completed

It’s really hard to make Star stitch in twine so it’s taking a long time to make!

Over to Handmade Monday now for a catch up on the crafty adventures of others! Hope you are all enjoying some pleasant weather wherever you live.

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Flowery hat making!

Posted on 23 February, 2014 by patchworkfairy

It’s been half term this week so my OH has been home. I don’t seem to get as much crafting done when we’re both here as we have been out doing things. One day we had a lovely trip to Llyn Brenig. It’s a reservoir with a very peaceful stillness about it and a beautiful place for a walk across the reservoir or in the surrounding forests. Until this occasion it was also the place where I had my second best ever piece of Victoria Sandwich cake, however they have redone the café and I think they might be trying to recoup the expense through the catering. Suffice to say this is no longer somewhere I have fond memories of afternoon tea, although the atmosphere for walking is still wonderful!

I have managed this week to do just a little bit of the ripple blanket and more of the same mitred squares – neither is worth posting a picture about – but I have managed to complete a new flowery hat! I bought some amazing new wool online last month and it arrived this week – it’s called’ Flower Colour Wool’ by Grundl and is very pretty. Here is what it looks like crocheted into the base circle for a hat.

right side of crocheted hat base

and here is the reverse side which is also very pretty as you can see the colours more:

reverse side of treble crochet

It’s a mixture of treble crochet and back post stitch and easy to do once you get the hang of working round the little curly bits which form the ‘flowers’.

Here is the finished hat – I love it but it’s quite an eccentric hat my daughter said so I haven’t been out in public in it yet!

Flower Wool Crochet Hat

And here is the reverse side:

back of hat showing the flower effect

So what do you think?

Linking up with Handmade Monday again! And with Lily’s Quilts Thank you for all the comments – please do leave them – the name and site box do record your text even though it doesn’t appear. Also if you uncheck a box called ‘authenticate’ on some browsers it makes it work. Thank you – I hate missing out on all the conversation.

Warm Walks – it’s nearly Spring!

Posted on 16 February, 2014 by patchworkfairy

Burton Mere 1st pic

I love this time of year when a hint of Spring is in the air! After the torrential rain of the last few days it was so uplifting to see sunshine this morning. We are lucky though, that we don’t live in a flooded area and I feel very sorry for all the families who do, it must be very miserable.

As it was so bright we went for a walk today to enjoy the air. The two photos here were taken about 40 minutes apart and show how quickly the light deteriorates in February, and with it the warmth as it went from comfy to chilly as well! It was beautiful at Burton Mere though, it has a very quiet and peaceful atmosphere.

Burton Mere 2nd pic

I haven’t done as much of my ripple blanket (Attic 24) as I hoped as I have also started another blanket which is a pattern of mitred squares based on the pattern (here) – which I will then make up into my own pattern for the blanket.

Mitred Squares

I can’t seem to stop the beginning corners curling up so I will have to steam block them before I join them all up I think. I must make the foundation chains too tight, but I can’t seem to not do it!

Lastly here is the Ripple! I bought some more wool as I felt I needed more pinky, raspberry shades!

ripple blanket in multi coloured acrylic yarn

ripple-blanket-week-7

I do like colourful blanket-making when it’s cold and rainy but don’t think it will be as much fun when it’s warm when you are a menopausal hot flush machine!! – so I need to get cracking while it’s still only Spring!!

As usual I am linking up with Handmade Monday!

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