Poppy

Last month I posted about the book Crochet Bouquet - this is the poppy I made from the book.
I thought this pattern looked really tricky because it involves pulling up threads to make the flower bowl-shaped. Also, there are a lot of stitches to squeeze into a small space at the start of the petals to make them full enough, but I wanted to try it just to see if I could do it, LOL!
I used Patons 4 ply cotton. My poppy is red just because that's the classic poppy colour, but it could be made in any colour. A pink or mauve poppy would be nice. I found the perfect button for the centre, and the grey radiating lines are long stitches, sewn after the crochet is finished.

I've been piecing quilt blocks, 9 in all, and here are 3 of them:

It's busy, but I'm hoping that the stripe borders will bring an element of order.

I do like those sparkling nine patch centres. That was really what drew me to the pattern. The simplicity and symmetry of the nine patch.

Some Sewing

For some reason it's been difficult trying to get back into sewing. I spent a day looking through books and spreading out fabrics, but nothing seemed to be working.
It was time to make a decision so I chose one pattern and started pulling out possible fabrics. I went through 3 different colour schemes before I finally decided on these fabrics, and I got the centres of 9 blocks made.

There will be more light fabric around the edges of the blocks.
The pattern is called Blueberry Pie and is from a book I've had for a long time, Buttermilk Farm by Black Mountain Quilts.
I used to buy all the books by Black Mountain and Cabbage Rose as soon as they were published, and although they're a few years old there are some very nice patterns in them.
This pattern is a little gem of a small pieced quilt.

Enjoy your weekend :)

Buttons, Beads and Fabric

I was looking for a small sewing project to ease myself back into sewing, and I decided to make the 2 sizes of cosmetic bag from Sew Pretty Christmas Homestyle. This is a nice book with some very do-able projects.
The pattern is for a plain purse in all one fabric, but I can't help messing with a perfectly good pattern. I decided to try the larger size with a foundation-pieced flap, and it turned out not bad.
When I first read through the pattern it wasn't clear whether the outline was the cutting line or the sewing line, but once I had worked out it was the sewing line they were really easy and quick to make, even for someone like me with not much experience of bag-making.

I used Velcro for the fastenings. Those sticky Velcro dots are difficult to push a needle through! The buttons are just for decoration. The beads weren't actually my first choice of colour, but they were all I could get locally.

I think this is a great plain pattern which is suitable for individualising (is that a word?) in all sorts of different ways. I had loads of fun playing with different trimmings and buttons.

It's nice to have some handwork on the go as well, and I've got into the habit of crocheting squares in the evenings. Squares are addictive! The pile is slowly growing.

Crochet Indulgence

The quilt I finished a couple of weeks ago was so labour-intensive it seems to have caused temporary quilting burn-out, and I haven't even started another quilt yet.
At the moment I seem to be leaning more towards yarn than fabric. I don't know now how I ever managed without having some crochet or knitting on the go.


I've posted about potholders before, for instance here and here, and now I've made myself another one. They are fun to make, but no, I've never actually USED them.
I liked this one because of its unusual shape and the big shaded flowers. (The pattern is from a book called Baker's Dozen Potholders, published by Annie's Attic, 2oo2.)
I think if I call my potholders a "collection", that will mean I can make as many as I like, and it won't matter if I use them or not, LOL!


Don't they make a lovely scrunchy-textured pile of colour?