Into Winter

Where has the year gone? It's nearly Christmas already.

Life in my little patch has been very hectic of late and I've not had much time for blogging. In September I started a new job, returning to full time teaching in a new school. This has meant that I've had less time and energy for sewing, although I still find time to crochet as I relax at the end of a busy day.

In September I decided to make myself a new scarf to go with my favourite red coat. It was a great charity shop find at £13 for a Windsmoor classic in scarlet cashmere, I changed the plastic buttons for some gun metal ones and it was good to go.

Anyway, back to the scarf! I started with the same red and chose these cheerful colours, including a zingy lime to brighten up those cold winter mornings. I decided on the classic Granny Square for the design as I realised I've never actually done one. I used my good friend, Heather aka The Patchwork Heart's method of turning over the square after each row. That way the scarf is completely reversible.

After a few positive comments from friends and complete strangers, I decided to start a new range of scarves for my Etsy shop. For the first, I wanted to make a scarf that would go with a classic black coat. I chose cream, meadow green, petrol blue and storm blue edged with graphite (Stylecraft Special DK from Country Crafts) for a sophisticated look.

I'm really pleased with the result. It was an interesting experience choosing colours I wouldn't normally go for.

It soon dawned on me that I could use all my favourite Granny Square designs plus try some new ones in a scarf and that would be much quicker to do than a full blanket. More practical and less likely to get boring! I'm always keen to start the next project before I finish the current one.

For this one, I chose the Starburst flower (sometimes called Sunburst). This was the design I used for my very first crochet blanket.

It wasn't very good, there were a few mistakes in it but it is still well used by my family on cold winter evenings.

I did manage to find some time for my main passion, sewing, in between making costumes for the school production that is!

I made these two little covered notebooks using scraps of glitzy stuff from the afore mentioned school show which was 'We Will Rock You'. The shiny fabrics were horrible to work with when making twenty jackets for the cast, but worked a treat for some free motion machine embroidery.

I've made lots of these book covers in the past but never any thing quite so 'modern girlish'. These particular A5 books are for my two lovely work colleagues for Christmas.

This brings me right up to Christmas. Its always lovely to be asked to make personalised stockings. I get great pleasure from imagining these being part of somebody's childhood as they are brought out year after year. Shamefully, I haven't yet made stockings for my own two little grandsons. I'm not sure I can face making a Star Wars stocking, for that is what it will have to be or our Seb (aged nearly 4)!

I would like to wish you a very happy and restful Christmas. My resolution for the new year is to be more regular with my blog posts and to try harder to find space for creativity in my life.

Christmas blessings

Judith xxx

June Pastimes

After sewing and crochet, my third favourite pastime is getting out in the countryside with our little jack russell Lulu. Every time we venture out I am reminded how lucky I am to live in this beautiful part of the country.

I live on the Wirral peninsular which is on the north west coast of England sandwiched between Wales and Liverpool. If we look east we can see the amazing Liverpool skyline

This picture was taken the weekend the three 'Queens' came to Liverpool. This huge cruise liner makes the Liver building look tiny!

If we look west across the Dee Estuary we can see North Wales and on a clear day Snowdon.

Having a dog makes you go out whatever the weather and we love to look for little hidden gems in our local countryside.

We have picturesque sandstone villages,

shady woodland pathways,

peaceful patchworks of farm land

and of course beautiful sea views.

My creative projects are often inspired by my surroundings. For my latest crochet piece I have decided to use these soft heathery shades and work them into a hexagon design blanket

When planning colour schemes for my crochet projects I play around with my colour swatch squares. I made these after being given the idea from my friend Heather from The Patchwork Heart. I have hours of fun just choosing and rearranging different colour combinations.

Every time I buy yarn (I always use Stylecraft Special DK) I make a colour swatch square before I do anything else and tie its name tag to the corner so I know what shade it is. I've accumulated quite a few squares so far!

Anyway, back to my colour choice. It didn't take me long at all...I'm usually such a ditherer, but this time they seemed to be all my very favourite colours. My cosy living room is painted pale meadow green and the room has ascents of dark red (which is my all time favourite colour) on my patchwork cushions. I also love the blend of the misty, soft pinky purples in contrast to the zingy lime.

When I went to photograph the swatches on my favourite old quilt that I keep folded over the arm of my sofa, I realised that many of the tones in the quilt are the same as my swatches. This was when I knew I had made the right choice!

I've made several blankets based on squares and circles but I've never tried hexagons before. After seeing what some of my online 'crafty friends' have done and doing some research I decided to go with this simple little hexie I found on Revelry

First I made a batch of circles in all the different colours for the first round. They look proper messy but hang on they will soon start to take shape in the next round!

For round two I made sets of each colour with different centres to try to mix up the colours evenly. I keep my colour swatches handy to remind me to use all the colours equally. I have used this basket to store them in, this way they are quite portable for crocheting in the garden on a nice day or on a long car journey (as a passenger I fall asleep unless I have something to do!).

This is the stage I am at now. I'm making the little two ring circles into hexagons joining as I go. This is the best bit as the colours really start to jumble along together!

I never tire of looking at different areas where different colours meet.

I'm not sure how big this blanket will end up being, I'm just going to keep going until I feel like stopping! This is such a therapeutic pastime... I can just go with the flow!!!!!!

I'll let you know when its finished but this beauty is definitely for me!

Judith xxx