Grey like the sky these days, but with a spot of sunshine.

A very nice customer contacted me last month, and asked if I could create a new daisy blanket for her friend who is heading off to college next year. One of the reasons I like working with customers is because they sometimes push me in a different direction I might not go on my own. I love color, but I do enjoy the subdued shades as well. I think it turned out quite pretty.

I used Caron One Pound Soft Grey (2 skeins), White (1 skein) and Yellow (1 skein).

Click here for my daisy pattern.

It was fun to work with her and meet someone new. I have been blessed to meet so many genuine and nice people over the years since I opened this little shop. I really enjoy that part.

Hope every one is staying warm on this December day.

Way overdue...

...on showing this blog a little attention. I can't believe how fast time flies. When I wander around the internet, I wonder how some people can post daily to the various social media platforms and still have time to come up with all of the beautiful and unique creations out there. I barely have time to brush my teeth and get the kids off of the bus.

I have been so busy with family, work and...blankets. First, the family. My son: Harry, had a diorama due this week for Science. He picked the North American Grasslands. I think he did a really nice job (OK, I helped a little, but that's the benefit of having a work-from-home, graphic designer mom.) I printed the photos he picked and handled the glue gun, and he typed the labels and did the cutting. Hope he gets a good grade. I'm posting this because I was helped and inspired by other Moms' photos!

Secondly, the blankets: A very nice woman named Kathleen has contacted me to help with some overflow blankets. I'm happy to work with her because she is so darn sweet. Just a really pleasant human being (we need more of her). Anyhoo, we did some pretty daisy throws, and then I worked on this one for her. I switched up the daisy by only doing a double crochet in the petals instead of the usual treble crochet. I like this petite daisy variation. The colors she chose were also some of my favorites, and together, I think it turned out to be a very pretty blanket -- if I do say so.

Hope this post finds you happy and healthy! 

New custom order

I have been busy with work and a new custom order for a mom-to-be. She asked me to work up a granny square blanket using her bedding as inspiration. The bedding is a pretty pattern from Pottery Barn. I found a new pink yarn that I love and works really well. It's called Blush Pink from Big Twist Yarns. It is one of the prettiest pastel pinks out there.

The blanket is coming along. I still have to work on the edging.

Back again after a long break.

So many things have happened in the last year. My mother found out she had breast cancer, went through chemo, radiation, a lumpectomy, and beat it. Thank you Lord and my Mom for being such a trooper. One of the new items on my "to do" list is to make some hats for other women going through chemo. I'll try to post some photos when I can come up with some nice hats.

I have also been busy making some baby quilts and of course crocheting blankets like crazy. I did a lot of crocheting in waiting rooms during my Mom's appointments, and of course while sitting next to her in the chemo chair. For some reason, we were always the last ones to leave. I am grateful that she is now cancer free, and we hope to keep her that way!

Tomorrow I hope to send off the latest set to a lovely return customer who has requested a baby blanket in blues and grays with booties and a hat to match. I decided to knit the hat, because sometimes I just prefer a knitted hat. I like the tight stitches and "stretchy-ness" of a stockinette stitch.

Meeting new friends through a headache.

The pattern for sale has been removed. Cheers to all of the supporters I have met over on Instagram! One in particular is Faye at Little Dove Designs. She has some amazing cross stitch patterns in her shop, and is a very talented crochet artist as well. Below is a photo from her blog of a beautiful daisy blanket she created using the daisy pattern as her base. Really lovely.

Photo Courtesy of Little Dove Designs.

Simple Blue Boy Set

I'm back and trying to get into the swing of blogland again. I just finished up a blanket, hat, booty set for a lovely customer in New York. She asked me to put together a simple blue and white set for a friend who just had a baby boy. It's nice to do simple and sweet sometimes. I used Caron One Pound white and light blue -- a simple 4 round granny square in light blue with a join-as-you-go edge in white. The booties are done using my favorite booty pattern over at Lion Brand. Click here for the pattern.

I also included a plain blue fleece blankie that I added a reverse single crochet (or crab stitch) edge. I think it's a nice little extra to have handy. You can never have too many little blankets with a new baby!

Coming along

Here's a photo update of the pretty aqua blanket. It's oh so sunny!

As I mentioned in my first post, This one is going to be a coverlet for a double sized bed, so I have a little ways to go, but I just love these colors together. Again, I am using: Lion Brand Gold Fish and Sweet Pea, Red Heart's Cornmeal and a discontinued Robin's Egg, as well as Bernat Aqua. I'm using the join-as-you-go method to put them all together.

Custom daisy blanket complete

I finally finished up the pretty custom order, so I thought I'd share a little happiness with you:

It really is a sunny square. It somehow makes my day brighter. I hope it makes yours brighter too.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Loads of color surround the daisy

I'm back after a long break. The spring and summer have been busy months with travel, work and family. I've also been working on a steady flow of custom blankets, so unfortunately this blog has been a casualty.

One of the newest orders is for a baby afghan to match a shower invite. My customer liked the daisy pattern, but was looking for colors similar to the image below:

So I came up with this square:

I still need to ask if she would like it bordered in white or just purple. Maybe even a darker purple? What do you think? 

I'm really looking forward to seeing all of the squares together. I'll be sure to post a photo when I'm finished. I hope you've been having a wonderful summer!

Simple

Sometimes simple can be elegant. My latest blanket is for a lovely lady in New York who will be giving this as a gift to her friend (what a nice friend!) She asked for an all white blanket with flowers. I used the rose pattern, but added one more round of petals and sewed them onto an 8" simple granny square.

These squares will be for the middle of the blanket. Then I'll have a border of several rounds (haven't figured how many yet) of 3dc shell pattern and another border of roses. I'm excited to see how it looks when it all comes together. I love the all white though.

This is the schematic I drew up as a guide:

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!

(Un)Perfect pink patchwork

Happy belated Valentine's Day. I sound like a broken record, but I've been busy working on a couple of custom requests. One of which I finished up yesterday...

It's a throw sized afghan. I used Hobby Lobby pink and hot rose as well as Red Heart's perfect pink. Usually, I work each square, lay them all out, and use the join as you go method with a border color, but with this one, I made up and attached each square as I went. It's a bit more difficult, because I like to be able to move things around, but I'm quite happy with how it turned out. I hope my customer is too. I'm in love with random patchwork -- afghans, quilts. I think it's a little like life: it's never perfect, and you make it up as you go along!

Have a wonderful rest of your weekend.

A very pink valentine's day

Amy and Alesia over at AndersonArtworks on Etsy featured my heart hat in their treasury today:

What a fun and pretty group of items.

It's been a hoot.

I finished the parts to my last two hats. My customer requested purple and turquoise-y-blue, so here is the (almost) finished owl.

The elephant is also coming together. Once again, I still need to sew up all of these parts, but I'm pleased with how my ears turned out as well as the little trunk. My customer, Michelle, and I don't care for a droopy trunk hanging from a hat, so I lightly stuffed, then sewed a connection to turn it upward. I think it will look much better when I can attach it to the hat. (Note: I've read an elephant with an upward turned trunk is good luck anyway :)

I think they've all turned out (so far) much like the schematic I drew up. I hope Michelle likes them too!

Hope you have a lovely evening.

Kitty cat hat

I've been working away on a custom order - large throw version of my daisy blanket - as well as these little critter hats.

My little orange tabby cat is in pieces just like Miss Pig, but I'll eventually get these all sewn up. I'm saving that for last. I also only added one whisker to see how the charcoal color looked. I thought black contrasted too much, and I think I'll stick with this softer look.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. We are having unseasonably warm weather, but I'm not complaining!

This little piggy...

I started working on the pig first.

Here she is deconstructed:

I still need to finish her snout and work a sc or hdc band for the bow.

And of course weave in all of those ends... I leave long tails, so that I can sew every together with them. My customer also requested earflaps, so I ditched the scalloped edge in my rendering. I'll add some ties to the flaps after I finish sewing her all together.

(I used Caron One Pound Pink and Black and a mill end light pink I had for the inner ear - name unknown - I used Red Heart Shocking Pink for the bow and edging).

Happy Sunday!

EtsyMom Color Palette Challenge

I am on a team called EtsyMoms over at Etsy. They are having a challenge for anyone on the team to come up with a creation using one of the three color combinations below.

You must enter your product on October 8. I like all of these color palettes, however, I've decided to go with the first one - I really like the blue, chocolate and lime - and I think it would make a lovely granny blanket? I'll be sure to post my entry when I come up with something. What a fun idea!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Wednesday!

Nice change

I'm very happy to work up all of these daisy afghans (although I'm looking forward to getting back to some smaller, kiddie-sized blankets), but it's a nice change to come up with a simple granny pattern for an Etsy customer.

Her daughter requested green and purple, so I worked up alternating rows with multi squares in between. Here's how it came out.

(I used Caron One Pound pale green, lilac and white.)

She asked for a scalloped edge, which I think added a very pretty touch. I hope she likes it.

Have a wonderful weekend!

A great book

Many people have asked about the pattern for the blanket below, and I just finished up a new one, so I thought I would dedicate a post to it. The pattern can be found in the book  "Beyond the Square: Crochet Motifs". 

It's a great book full of fun and unique squares and motifs. They also use amazing colors in the photos. The background of my square is slightly different as I used a simple granny square (3dc ch2 3 dc (corner) then 3dc in each space around). That's the only difference. I highly recommend the book. 

I took a few photos of the my latest, finished blanket. I also took a photo of the back in case anyone was interested in seeing what that looks like.

Have a relaxing Labor Day!

Pink (shasta) daisy blanket is finished!

I completed Lynette's afghan this morning. She let me decide how to edge it, so I chose a hdc of white and a sc of the pink. Subtle. I like subtle, even though the blanket screams pink sunshine!

It's a true pleasure to create these blankets for such nice people. I can't say enough about all of the very nice customers I've been fortunate enough to meet.

On a side note, I've obviously been a little tied up with work, family and tillie tulip, but I will get part II of my join-as-you-go tutorial up as soon as I can! 

New pink daisy blanket almost complete...

I'm almost finished with Lynette's pink daisy afghan. I really like how it's turning out. Hopefully, she will too!

I did get some images taken of the join-as-you-go method I use. I'll post those up later today or tomorrow for anyone interested (SnuggleBunny!). Hope everyone has a sunny day.