Crochet Bits and Bobs

It seems to have been a busy week this week, but I can't keep away from that cotton yarn;)
The sunflower pattern is from an old Kindred Spirits book. Remember how they used to include patterns for small crochet items in their books? I've been digging them all out.


This is from another Kindred Spirits pattern. It's basically two straightforward rectangles crocheted together. I can think of several colour schemes that would be nice for this pattern. It measures about 3 1/2 x 6 inches including the button fringe, but I think it could also work well on a larger scale.
Of course one of the best things about making this was choosing the buttons:)

Now, can you believe this? Recently on television I saw a scene with a couple sitting together on a sofa. The woman was working on a partly-made crocheted blanket - with KNITTING NEEDLES! What a glaring mistake!

Crocheted and Patched

I haven't posted about crochet for a while, but I'm still doing it.
I've never really seen myself as a doily person though. In fact, doilies always seemed a bit "little old lady" to me, but since I took up crocheting I've realised there are lots of patterns out there that have potential. And well, they are something to crochet!


This one is done in 4-ply cotton, which I think is similar in thickness to size 10 crochet thread, but feels nice and soft. It's thick enough to work with comfortably - not too fine.
The pattern is from a book I found on ebay. I think ebay can be a really useful resource for out-of-print patterns of all kinds. There's a lot of rubbish out there, but there is some good stuff as well.

Since I made those dolls a couple of weeks ago I've been on planet red and blue. I've just finished this doll-sized quilt top which measures about 20 x 25 inches.

It's a Little Quilts pattern from Bunnies by the Bay Meets Little Quilts, not a new book but a nice one. There are several patterns for small quilts in the book, plus other small projects. (The Garden Fence quilt with yo-yos I made last May was from the same book.)

This was fun to put together, because I pulled out lots of old prints from my stash, some of them going back years, together with some much newer ones. I like mixing a wide variety of fabrics. I'm looking forward to machine quilting it now!

25 Years

It was our 25th wedding anniversary last week.
Where did the time go? It's hard to realise that a quarter of a century has gone by since that day in 1982.
The photo is the small quilt I made to mark the occasion.

We had a very nice few days away visiting Bath, Salisbury and Bristol. We were very lucky with the weather, and did lots of walking and took plenty of photos.
There's a lot of wrought and cast iron in Bath.

I hope whoever lives here didn't mind me taking a picture.

A Victorian post box. Can you see "VR" on the front?

The famous Royal Crescent in Bath.

Mr. Knot Garden is interested in the work of Brunel, so when we were in Bristol we walked out to the Clifton Suspension Bridge, to walk across it and take some photos.

It was nice to get away and have a change of scene.

The icing on the cake was calling at the Autumn Quilt Festival at Malvern on the way home, where I took the opportunity to add to my stash.


Now I'm catching up on reading all the blog posts I missed while I was away!

"What's the earth with all its art, verse, music, worth - compared with love, found, gained, and kept?"

- Robert Browning