Floral Pillows for Christmas

I spent the past few days making pretty flower sofa cushions for my mother and mother in law...

I used Painted Roses by Cherry Heart Designs, and made a nine patch that fits a 14" firm pillow form.  I added borders to each from Edie Eckman's  Around the Corner Crochet Borders book.  The pillow on the left uses border 69, while the pillow on the right uses border 33.

Both pillows are made with Stylecraft Special DK yarn.  On the left I used Parchment as the main/background color.  On the right I used Stone.

Between the two pillows I used scaps of White, Turquoise, Denim, Shrimp, Pomegranate, Lipstick, Saffron, Cloud Blue, Bluebell, Gold, Fuschia Purple, Apricot, Pale Rose, Raspberry, Spice, Claret, Burgundy, Silver, Clematis, Magenta, Sherbet, Boysenberry, Lobelia, Wisteria, Violet, Lavender, Duck Egg, Storm Blue, Petrol and Parma Violet.

For the Parchment pillow, I used Pistachio and Cypress for the leaves,  while I used Pistachio and Meadow for the leaves on the Stone pillow.  I used Mocha for the square joining for both pillows.

The back of each pillow is a colorful granny incorporating colors used in the flower motifs.  I added one round of half double crochet granny stitch on each side before joining the back to front.  This helped me easily reach the required 14" and not distort my work.  As a happy coincidence, I think it looks very delicate too.

Now to make one for myself after all holiday crafting is finished ;-)

Welcome Amelia Bedelia!!

Welcome Miss Amelia!! We had an early arrival on December 1st. My beautiful niece and her sweetie are the proud parents of little Amelia. I could not be prouder! Amelia is the recipient of the baby blanket in my last post.

Ho Ho Ho!!

I recently stitched this ornament for a friend who loves samplers, especially reproduction samplers.  I thought the deer on this one suited the theme, so it was an easy choice.  The chart is in a relatively recent issue of Cross Stitch &  Needlework, which I tucked away when my work was complete.  Now I have no idea where I put it.  No idea who the designer is.

This cutie is for a dear friend. I know she likes The Little Stitcher. Choosing Blue Snowman in the 2016 JCS Christmas Ornament Issue was easy.

It was very fun to stitch Lizzie Kate's Dash Away for another friend... complete with table centerpiece from my office waiting room as the photo backdrop ;-)

This little holiday robin is a freebie I found on Pinterest. I think the designer's name may be Alioka?? She is in Itay, I may recall. Her blog is having issues and finding the chart link has been difficult to date....

And lastly, a good friend just celebrated a birthday... for her I crocheted Corner Hearts Cushion in Crochet Now, Issue 9. The reverse of the pillow is all in cream. I chose to use leftover yarns from my Vibrant Vintage Blanket, along with one other color in my stash. The cream hearts are James C. Brett Top Value DK (almost a full ball, not a leftover yarn), while the colors are Stylecraft Special DK in Raspberry, Turquoise, Cypress (not used in the VV blanket), Denim, Wisteria, Aster, Fondant, Aspen, Clematis, Bluebell, Teal, Spring Green, Plum, Pomegranate and Magenta. Hope she enjoys using it in her stitching chair ;-)

Baby Blanket for Caitlin

Cape Cod Baby Blanket in Crochet by DK Deramores Studio DK Seascape Colour Pack Pearl, Oatmeal, Mist, Jade, Malachite, Fir, Peridot, Amethyst, Blue Velvet, Sky, Topaz and Smoke
My doll of a niece, Caitlin, is expecting her first child quite soon.  She and her boyfriend have opted not to know their child's gender, which initially created a color challenge.  Luckily, I found this pretty color pack in my stash.  Caitlin has spent a good part of each summer of her life on Cape Cod.  Her maternal grandparents have had a home there for many years.  This color pack reflects the colors of the sea... seems a perfect fit to me.

I was finally able to give this to her yesterday at her baby shower.  It is quite thick and soft/silky, hope it keeps Amelia or Declan warm on those cold New England nights.

Love you Caitlin!

Mystery Meadow Blanket

Yes, here I am again, two days in a row.  I have another new finish to share. This is my DROPS Mystery Meadow Blanket (CAL), and if you are not familiar with it, you can still take your own stab at it here. It was a fun crochet a long, however it is from a Dutch yarn company and the English directions were a bit wonky. Glad they had diagrams to go by, and sadly, they wanted us to start in middle of rounds and I am start at the corners crocheter, so I had to study and prepare each week to find my starting point in the directions.

The blanket is a bit smaller than I had hoped it would be.  I used Stylecraft Special DK and Stylecraft Life DK for mine, and upped my hook to 3.50.  That was a good move, but do designers forget some of us are tall?  LOL.  I chose my colors from a link I had found on Pinterest...

...lovely Stylecraft Special DK in Parchment, Mocha, Sage, Pale Rose, Parma Violet, Grape, Cream, Soft Peach and Storm Blue, plus Stylecraft Life DK in Ice Blue and Mint. I think it is a pretty Victorian, feminine combo.

I do love how this came out!

BoHo Chic

I haven't been on here in forever. Truth be told, I am all messed up with taking photos from my phone and trying to blog. It is hard for me...lol. So I uploaded the photo and am using the desktop computer in my office. It is OK, the boss does not mind. I am my boss ;-) So... I have tons to share, but for today I have this cute BoHo pillow I started over the weekend and finished last night while watching the MLB Home Run Derby. I love, love, love this pillow.

Back view...

Front view...

 I got the idea from this site. I didn't have any variegated DK yarn in my stash, but I have tons of scrap DK from my many projects. So I ordered up six of the seven available colors of Hayfield Bonus Buzz DK from Deramores... I passed on the one that looked like camouflage on the site.... the yarn arrived on Saturday and I decided to try a pillow. The squares were so fun to make. Many of them are so very bright! The Hayfield Buzz I used are Mingle, Jig, Scoot, Sizzle, Cherry Pop and Tie Dye. Meanwhile, the Stylecraft Special DK yarn was numerous: Claret, Burgundy, Fondant, Bright Pink, Pale Rose, Shrimp, Apricot, Copper, Spice, Citron, Gold, Meadow, Grass Green, Pistachio, Lime, Cypress, Bottle, Lobelia, Storm Blue, Lavender, Boysenberry, Fuschia Purple, Parma Violet, Silver, Mocha, Stone, Cream, Dark Brown, Duck Egg, Grape, Aspen, Pomegranate... it is a burst of color!

In loving memory...

We lost our Lily very suddenly on 3/16/16. I have been grieving and struggling with whether I let her go too soon. I decided to crochet a memorial blanket, hoping it would soothe me. I am really loving the project and hope to reveal it fairly soon. I am still cross stitching too, just working on BAPs, so not sharing much. Hope all are well!

Circle of Friends... ta da!

Circle of Friends with Celtic Lace Join Priscilla Hewitt & Baby Love Designs Border #27 in Around the Corner Crochet Borders by Edie Eckman James C. Brett Top Value DK Pattern and inspiration for the squares and the Celtic Lace Join are found HERE James C. Brett Top Value DK Color Pack plus 3.5 balls of Grey (29) in the same range

A new blanket under construction

A new colorful blanket is underway.  This one is Textured Circles by Baby Love Designs.  This is based on Circle of Friends by Priscilla Hewitt.  I have not figured out how the two are different, yet Baby Love describes it as an adaptation.  I plan to use the Celtic Lace join.  The yarn is James C. Brett Top Value DK, colour pack purchased from Deramores.   I ordered JCB Grey for the border/join.  May be a while before that arrives from the UK.  Here I have 21 of 48 blocks completed.


Well, Deramores must have pit the yarn on a fast jet, it arrived already today!!

Spice of Life Blanket

Finished this morning. My Spice of Life Blanket still needs to be blocked, but the ends are all woven in... victory!

Spice of Life Blanket Cherry Heart Designs with Edie Eckman Around the Corner Crochet Borders #27 Deramores Studio DK Seascape Colour Pack - Amethyst, Fir, Pearl, Oatmeal, Jade, Mist, Malachite, Blue Velvet, Peridot, Topaz, Sky and Smoke (two balls of Smoke) 4 mm hook, US size G

 ***Edited to add that I really am still stitching, see??  LOL.

Drifter C2C Blanket

 I made an easy, relaxing C2C blanket while on staycation for two weeks, and chose to use it in one of my offices, this time for my Londonderry, NH office.  And it was a cold day today, so I did snuggle with it for a bit.

The simplicity of this blanket gave me ideas, and I opted to use some super soft self striping yarn in 4 colors. As one ball ended, I attached a new color... well, I like it. Looks kind of southwestern in person. King Cole Drifter DK in Boston, Hawaii, California and Texas

Spice of Life progress

Approximately three quarters done....

Painted Roses Blanket Reveal

Finished in the very wee hours of 2016.... Painted Roses Blanket ... a labor of love

I did decide to change out the border on my blanket.  I used border #93 in Around the Corner Crochet Borders by Edie Eckman (a must have book for crocheters available on Amazon).. I wanted a lacier finish than that offered by Sandra Paul (designer)... see the Painted Roses baby blanket I completed just a few posts below this for the original border (November 27, 2015).

I chose to make my blanket 8 x 10 squares, and made 20 each of four different leaf colors, much like a real garden.  No two roses are the same.  DH helped me figure out the layout, and he did a great job.

Blanket is made primarily with Stylecraft Special DK in lime, sage, bottle, meadow, pale rose, cream, aspen, lobelia, mocha, stone, storm blue, wisteria, lavender, clematis, apricot, silver, duck egg, candyfloss, fondant and parma violet in parchment.  I also used Hayfield Baby DK in plum.

Super happy with the final outcome, will be making more Cherry Heart items for sure.... have my second Spice of Life blanket by her on my hook now :-)