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!

Neglect, neglect, neglect

I realize I have been neglecting this little blog, and I promise to try to get some new patterns together to share. I am a freelance graphic designer, and I have been busy with work coming in (I can't complain) and a few new custom orders at the shop. When it rains, it pours. I wish I could knit and crochet all day, but unfortunately beyond work, I am a wife and mother which means, maid, chauffeur, cook and teacher as well!

I did just finish up a new daisy blanket for a very nice customer over in Illinois. She requested a white border, and I think it turned out quite nice. This is the same pattern I wrote about here.

Next up, an all white rose blanket...

Gifts for the twins

I've been racking my brains trying to come up with something special for my cousin's new twin girls. I came across a lovely sunburst pattern (seems very "floral-ly" too) over at Purple Chair Crochet. I think I've seen similar patterns out there, but she has some nice photo instruction as well.

I chose Lion Brand Baby's First cotton/acrylic blend in Twinkle Toes, Fairy Tale, Cotton Ball and Bean Stalk. I'm going to add more squares and perhaps do some granny border in predominantly light pink for one and the darker pink for the other to keep them similar, but not the same. Just like the twins (whose names are Sofia and Lauren - I always want to say "Sophia Loren" :)

I'll post some final photos when I get these done, so you can see how they turn out. Hope you're having a lovely President's Day!

(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 Valentine's Day gift idea

With Valentine's Day coming up fast, I thought I would share a unique idea I had for a gift to my husband several years ago.

I'm a folk art lover, and I have long admired Catherine Holman's beautiful work, so I contacted her to do a custom painting of the building we were married in. My husband and I were married in December 2005 in a rustic building called the "Chestnut Shelter". We had a massive snow storm roll through on December 2 which made for long travels, but a beautiful setting for our big day - everything was covered in a blanket of white, and there were giant icicles hanging from the awnings of the shelter.

I was thrilled with her rendition and couldn't wait to share it with my husband. Catherine is an amazing artist, and I can't thank her enough for sharing her talents. It is a gift I will treasure forever.

Dreaming of spring

It was in the 60s here earlier in the week, but now we are back down to 17F with bands of lake effect snow. The cold temps and snow are typical for this time of year, but the warm weather had me dreaming of spring. Maybe that was the inspiration for my purchase on Etsy. That and my love affair with the "tempestuous tulip" (if you are a Room with a View fan, like myself, you will appreciate that last bit). Whatever the case, I spied this beautiful watercolor and had to have it.

The painting is by Nancy Dopler of Midwest Gypsy. She has other beautiful art there, so check her out.

Now I just have to find the right frame...