By Helen

crochet inspired by yo-yo patchwork…

I love that inspiration is all around us.  Usually when I am stuck for something to crochet, I look to nature and find myself crocheting flowers.  My inspiration doesn’t always come from nature.  Sometimes it hits when I’m wondering around York, looking at the amazing architecture (more about that in another post).  Sometimes I get inspiration from looking at the work of other very talented people out there.  Sometimes I get inspiration from visiting museums and galleries.  My latest crochet combines that last two: other people work and a visit to a museum.   I often visit the Quilt Museum, in York, I’ve mentioned it before.  On my last visit I came across the cutest little yo-yo patchwork (also known as Suffolk Puff patchwork).  I had to know more.  Thanks to the wonder of the internet I came across an amazing blog Sew Recyled.  I knew that I had to have ago: crochet style.  While I was flicking through one of my favourite crochet books Crochet Throws and Wraps by the talented Melody Griffiths: I came across instructions for crochet yo-yo patchwork / Suffolk Puffs.  Perfect…

I crocheted lots…

Using a wonderful yarn, by King Cole…

I decided to attach my crochet to a cushion cover…

I love how the colour change of the yarn gives so much variety from one ball…

I really think that the possibilities are endless, changing the yarn and hook size, you could have some real fun!  Crochet meets patchwork: a very happy combination. 

walking in the sunshine…

Here in England the weather-men tell us that it has been the coldest Spring in years: I am not surprised, I am still wearing winter clothes and my toes have forgotten what it feels like to be in sandals.  Yesterday, the last day of May, the sun shone: so I put on my sandals and went for a walk.  I didn’t go very far, just wandered along the river bank, close to where I live in York.  The river is so close that it is less than a minute from my front door.  I am very lucky: if you turn left at the end of my street you can be in the centre of York in ten minutes, if you turn right and walk for ten minutes you wouldn’t know that you were in the city.  The walk was soooooooo pretty; the river banks were full of wild flowers and the hedges quite literally sang, with all the birds hiding in them.  One of my favourite things was seeing the blossom still on the trees with the bright blue sky behind….

Just lovely, it made my heart sing.  The blossom and blue sky made me hopefully that we will have a Summer full of sunshine and warmth.  Today is the first day of June, and do you know what?  The sun is still shining, so maybe, just maybe...

Hope that the sunshines for you?  Have a good weekend...

xxx

second blogversary…

Wow!  I can't quite believe it, but it is almost two years since I started my little blog.  Two years!  I thought I was doing well to get to one year: but here I am two years on.   I have to say that I love, loVE, LOVE blogging to you all: and a MASSIVE thank you, to you, for calling by and reading what I have to say and looking at all the picis that I share with you (I know sometimes there is a lot), thank you!  I love this world of creating and sharing, that I am part of: and it is only possible because of people like you.  I thought that it would be a good time to look back over the last twelve months, and celebrate some of the highlights.  Here goes...

1. Discovering Mollie Makes I am now a complete and utter convert.  I love this magazine, if you haven't discovered it yet - you REALLY should!

2. Lots of brilliant things happened in May, especially seeing the blossom on the trees (I am witting that pattern up for you and will share it with you next month).  I think my very favourite thing was seeing my friend's little girl I in her crochet festival hat...

3. Crochet hair clips, you would not believe how much wear I have had out of these...

4. Lots of great things happened in July: if I had to choose just one thing then it would be my crochet Sunflowers ( if you want to have a go at crocheting them the pattern for the Sunflower is HERE)...

5.  Discovering the sudden revival of friendship bracelets which I hope will continue this summer: as I have something very exciting to share with you about friendship bracelets very, very soon!

6.  September saw the chaos of the start of remodeling our home, this meant spending lots of time out of the house, so that the builders could get-on-with-it, this meant spending lots of time in my favourite shop Ramshambles. Tis a hard life!

7. The building work chaos continued into October, but I did find a little bit of crochet time ready for Halloween...

8. November saw Christmas come early as I crocheted samples for a course I was running in York.  There will be more classes in , and near, York very soon.  Look out for them!

9. December meant Christmas; where I tried to wish you all the best in all the different languages of people who I know are reading my blog.  Sorry if I missed your language, let me know so I can include you ALL next time.

10. January was a brilliant start, to what is turning out to be a brilliant year!  I loved sharing my crochet Hellebore with you...

11. By February our back room was finally finished after finding the most perfect table. Now I have somewhere to blog from, somewhere for my sewing machine, somewhere to craft, oh, and somewhere to eat! 

12. March another brillaint month: despite of, or because of, the cold.  I loved the way my fabric flower sampler tured out...

13. This brings us full-circle, back to today.  My favourite thing in April?  Well that has to be my wreath made up of crochet Daffodils which reminds us that Spring is REALLY here...

So, there it is, another year on.  Once again a massive thank you to all of you for calling by, please do keep checking-in as I have lots of exciting thing happening this year and I can't wait to share them with you!

Love Helen

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wonderful, wintery, Winchester…

Sorry that there hasn’t been a post this week: Si and I have been away.  We’ve had a wonderful week in Winchester.  Winchester is the most loveliest of cities: and could even give York a running for my top city award.  Everything about our holiday was fab-u-lous : the hotel, the food, even the weather.  The weather was perfect mooching weather: cold, crisp and clear.  This meant lots of wondering around looking at the beautiful city; punctuated with visits to coffee-shops for winter warm-ups!  I took lots and lots and lots of picis, so I thought I’d share with you just a few of the highlights…

Wonderful Winchester by night…

Healthy holiday breakfasts, thanks to the amazing Café Monde…

Like everywhere, Winchester had soooo much rain that the Cathedral Crypt was flooded, making the sculpture by Antony Gormley looked even more impressive…

Beautiful stained glass by William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones…

A quick visit to the amazing artist studios and craft shop, at the Colour Factory…

A day trip to Salisbury Cathedral…

Everything about Winchester was perfect, even their street bollards…

If you are ever near Winchester I would recommend that you visit, after you have visited York, of course!

fabric flower sampler…

Over the past few weeks I have been busy making bouquets of fabric flowers.  Most have ended up with brooch backs on them.  Then inspiration hit: inspired by samplers of the past, where women would show off their stitching skills.  Why not make a sampler, with a contemporary twist: and show off some of my fabric flowers.  I am quite pleased with how it turned out: are you ready for a bit of a ta-dah moment?  Well here we go…

I really like the simplicity of my sampler:  and the naivety of it.  Here’s some of the detail…

I especially like the butterfly…

The butterfly was made in the same way as the flowers: with the petals becoming wings, beads making the body and wire making the spiky bits (sorry I don’t know what that part of a butterfly is called – the part which has the feelers? ears? eyes?) coming out of its head.   

I am so pleased with my sampler: that it is hung on the back of my door…

 

Ps – I’ve decided March is here like a lion.  Roll on Spring…

Yarn Bomb: York...

Yesterday was an amazing day: there was a Yarn Bomb in York!  It was in celebration of our amazing Art Gallery, which is now closed for a two year renovation and redevelopment project.  I know two years sounds like a very long time, but by the time it is finished they will have increased their display space by a massive sixty (yes sixty) per-cent.  How good it that going to be?  To celebrate all that is to come, yesterday was a community day: where people could drop in a take part in all manner of art related activities.  One of those activities was the Yarn Bomb.  I have to confess that I didn’t take along any of my own work.  I have been sooooo busy of late (with lots of exciting things which I’ll share with you all very soon) and sometimes it is just lovely to look in awe at all the brilliant stuff made by very talented people.  In case you weren’t able to go, I took lots and lots of picis for you…

Isn’t it brilliant?  Brilliant what you can crochet and knit your yarn in to.  Brilliant that there are so many talented people.  Brilliant that we get to share it all with each other. 

 

simply crochet…

I have a confession; I have a bad magazine problem: I love magazines.  Hello, my name is Helen I am addicted to magazine.  I have to limit myself two a month: Mollie Makes  and Country Living – otherwise things could get out of hand.  Country Living is on subscription – so technically I am only actually buying one per month.  You can imagine my excitement when I saw an advertisement for a new magazine (brought to us by the lovely people who bring us Mollie Makes) one devoted entirely to crochet...

 I don’t normally buy crochet magazines, as I find them quite stifling: I gave-up on Inside Crochet not long after my May posting last year.  I prefer to look through crochet stitch books and take inspiration from them and then apply the stitches to crochet different projects from instinct and imagination.  But I thought (strictly in the interests of research) I would give Simply Crochet  a try.   I am glad that I did, the magazine is full of really great projects to crochet…

It is full of interviews, ideas reviews and inspiration.   There was something for everyone one, really great clear instructions for those just getting started with crochet and more challenging patterns for those with a little more experience.  The biggest problem is knowing where to start, I want to crochet the hearts and flowers, and would definitely love to give the snuggle-up blanket a try, then there is the gorgeous oh-so simple, but oh-so effective, magical circle scarf.  I think that I might just start with the Lovables…

Soooo cute!  Will Simply Crochet become magazine number three?  Well I will have to get a few issues, just to make my mind up!   Don’t tell Si…

a celebration of 2012….

As 2012 comes to an end, I thought that I would share with you, and celebrate,  some of my highlights form 2012, what a busy year it has been…

In January I started my New Year’s resolution, to crochet a different flower each month – something I hope to continue in 2013.  

In February the weather turned cold: and it snowed and snowed and snowed.  I love snow; nothing else can change the appearance, sound, smell and feel of your surroundings quite so well as snow.

With March came the promise of Spring, with golden Daffodils cheering-up much of York.  I just had to crochet a Daffodil…

In April I celebrated my first Blogversary.  A whole year of sharing all of my crocheting and crafting with you.  Thank-you for sticking with me!

May was a busy crochet month.  Crocheting May blossom and festival hats for my little friend I.

June saw crochet to the rescue with a quick fix for my hair…

I was sooooo very proud of July’s crochet flower of the month; I had to share it with you again.  It still makes me smile of dull rainy days!  The crochet pattern for it is here!

In August I was in for a real treat, making beautiful faabric flowers.  I hope to make bunches of these next year…

September saw Si and I start to get the house ready for re-modelling.  It also saw me fall in love with the most perfect yarn for crocheting flower brooches.  And I introduced you all to my favourite yarn shop. 

Crochet in October was given over to going out, to let the builders get on with finishing our home.  I did manage to sneak in a bit of Halloween hooky time…

Christmas started really early, in November, as I crocheted lots and lots of samples for my Crochet for Christmas course.

In December I found the cutest Christmas trees to crochet, and hung them proudly in by nearly finished home…

Yep, it has been quite a year, all good!  See you in the New Year for lots more crocheting and crafting! 

fabulous fabric fun…

I’ve take a little break from crochet.  Don’t worry it is not a long break: it’s just my little finger really hurts from crocheting too much over the last few weeks.  This break has given me the perfect excuse for indulging in fabric crafting.  I thought that I would make the holly wreath, which I bought at Harrogate, to get ready for Christmas.  After reading, re-reading and re-reading, the instructions I finally got started.  Please bear-in-mind that this is the first time I have ever crafted anything like this.  I managed to workout, with a little practice and advice from I, how to machine-stitch curves.  This really wasn’t as difficult as I imagined.  I was ready to go.  This is where I ‘ve got to…

I need to spend a happy few (lots) of hours hand stitching the detail onto the leaves, then join them together to make a wreath/garland.  I really think that they might be ready for Christmas.

While I had the fabric and sewing stuff out, I thought that I’d make the cute festive robin badge, which featured in Mollie Makes, issue twenty-one…

The fabulously talented Debbie Greenway, gave really great instructions and templates to make your life easier when making these.  I am quite chuffed with how mine turned out…

Though I do think I need to practice covering buttons, so that I get a smoother finish.  Tis a hard life!

Happy crafting! x

it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

I’m beginning to feel all Christmassy!  I have to admit it has taken a while this year: normally I am super excited in early November and by this point I am desperate to put the decorations up.  This hasn’t happened this year: I think that it is because I feel like I’ve lost a month to building work, so still have some catching-up to do.   Today, I am beginning to feel Christmas brewing-up inside me.  Christmas cards are made and posted.  Christmas presents have been bought: and will be wrapped at the weekend.  Christmas cakes were made in October (thanks to a strange family superstition which means Christmas cakes must be made before Halloween).  I am going to hear one of my favourite singers, Kate Rusby, singing Christmas songs.   And I have put up my first Christmas decorations.  Yes, it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas….

Last year I crocheted a Christmas tree, by stacking up Starflakes.  This year I found a really cute crochet pattern, on Ravelry, by the super talented Carol Bancroft…

The pattern is very easy to follow.  You can crochet a Christmas tree in less than twenty-minutes and in an afternoon you have tree bunting.  What’s not to love?