first shawl.....

I'm very pleased with my latest project

~ Morning Has Broken Prayer Shawl ~ This is the first time I have crocheted a shawl and now I understand the passion people have for making them....it really was a joy from start to finish!

I found this lovely pattern on Ravelry

by Kelly Surace

made using 4 x balls of Lincraft Surprise 'sunset'

and a 5mm hook.

I did alter the pattern a little,

I used a smaller hook so that the pattern was a little tighter.

and I put a different edging on all three sides.

my edging I crocheted a shell border consisting of 2sc,1dc,2sc in first space, 1sc in next space, continue until you reach the centre point

& For Centre Point - in point stitch work 2sc in first space of point stitch, 3dc in centre of point stitch, 2sc in 3rd space of point stitch. (US terms)

You can find the pattern on Ravelry

Here

Thank you so much Kelly for sharing this lovely pattern :)

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Have a wonderful day

~ Gillian ♥

Block no.15

Block no.15 in my

Block of the Week Project

I made block #64 Sunshine Lace

from the book 200 Crochet Blocks by Jan Eaton

This was a lovely simple block, the only change I made to it was on the final round I worked 2tr,2ch,2tr into the corners as I wanted my corners to be a little more 'square' than they were in the book.

I'm thrilled to have finished my very first crocheted shawl yesterday, and am hoping the sun will come out a little more today or tomorrow so I can photograph it and show you :)

Have a lovely week ~ Gillian ♥

block no.14

I'm playing a little bit of catch up on some of my block of the week squares

and this time for something different I am using a block I found on Ravelry

Block no.14 in my
Block of the Week Project
I made block
Nuthatch
by Kim at eggbird designs

This is a very cute block! Kim has provided very clear and easy to follow instructions on her blog with lots of photos, so it is easy enough even for a beginner to follow along.
I added two extra rounds of tr (uk terms) with 2tr, 2ch, 2tr in the corners. This made it the same size as my other blocks in the project.
Pattern can be found on
Ravelry & on eggbird designs

Thank you so much Kim for providing such a sweet block and great instructions :)
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I hope everyone is having a great day
~ Gillian ♥

Block no.13......

Block no.13 in my

Block of the Week Project

I made block

#19 Lacy Cross
from the book

200 Crochet Blocks by Jan Eaton

This is such an easy block

and works up very quickly.

I found a gorgeous cushion on Ravelry made using this block by

Ravelry member 'rose-dew-drops'

if you are a member you can see it here

It is such a beautiful use of this pattern.

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Apologies for being a little slack with my Block of the week project this month...

but life sometimes gets a little busy ;)

I hope you are all having a wonderfully creative week

~ Gillian ♥

party fun.....

It's not every day your little girl turns 10....

So I made some sweet little brooches for the girls attending the party that looked super cute on the party boxes....
and the little girls who attended all enjoyed wearing them at the party.
Georgia and I also made these lovely tissue paper flowers together
for the centre of the table.
They were very simple to make & looked so pretty :)

all the girls got to take one home with them when they left the party.

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the crochet flower brooches are very simple too.

I used 5ply cotton/acrylic blend.

the pattern is from this Beret pattern

(the instructions are at the very bottom of the pattern)

on the lincraft website

for the paper flowers

I found this youtube video with easy instructions

click here

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back hopefully tomorrow with my block of the week ;)

have a wonderful weekend

~ Gillian ♥

Who said Granny's don't look good in Denim?

5 pairs of denim jeans

+ 1 size 15mm crochet hook

+ one tired arm

= a new bath mat for my boys :) Well it is finished.....

I've wanted to make something with the old pairs of jeans in my wardrobe for a little while now....so thinking that I'll probably use about 3 pairs for this bath mat I started cutting them up.

Of course things like this always use more supplies

than you will think they will ;)

So I ended up cutting 5 pairs of old jeans.

Crocheting with cut up jeans, seams and all...

is a little tougher on the arms and wrists than normal crochet,

but you do cover a lot of ground quickly.
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If you are interested, here is what I did.

Starting with the jeans - Use scissors to cut the hem off the bottom of each leg, then cut up the leg in a spiral till you reached the crotch, cut off this piece from the jeans, Roll into ball.

You don't have to worry too much about how straight your cutting is, just do your best to keep it a similar width so that your granny square stays neat and square.

Cut the other leg the same way, sew onto the end of the previous ball with sewing machine (I stitched back and forwards across the join several times and trimmed excess seam) roll onto the ball you have already made, making sure when you join each length the right sides face each other and the seam is on the wrong side.

As you use up each length you can just cut more jeans, and roll them up into balls sew the balls onto the denim yarn end when you are near to crocheting it.

I found working in smaller balls (one or two legs at a time) stopped the yarn from twisting.

Now your denim yarn is ready you can crochet it how ever you like...

I chose a simple granny square as I wanted a square bath mat for the boys.

once it was the right size, mine is 55cm square.

I crocheted a round of dc (UK terms) or sc (US terms)

give it a bit of a tug to make it nice and square and you are finished!
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I hope you are having a creative week

~ Gillian ♥

my boy has a new scarf.....

Lachlan asked me to make him a for a scarf for winter

I searched for a pattern that I thought would suit him

and failed to find the right one.

Knowing he wanted a simple design,

that was NOT scratchy (lol!)

in his colour choice of grey this is what I came up with.

It is very easy and definitely a beginner crochet design
simple and easy to make with any yarn or hook size,
with appropriate adjustments made to suit your choice.
Measuring approx 170cm x 12cm
we think it suits a 12 year old boy perfectly.

I used DK weight acrylic yarn
and a size 4.5mm hook
180gms of yarn used
UK terms used

I chained 20 + 2
htr into 3rd chain from hook, htr to end, chain 2, turn
*htr to end, chain 2 and turn repeat from *
till desired length....
when finished dc around edge

for corners work 1dc, chain 2, 1dc.

The edging of dc keeps the scarf simple and masculine.
htr (UK terms) = hdc (US terms)
dc (UK terms) = sc (US terms)
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I mentioned in my previous post I'm working on an upcycled project
it's almost finished :)
here is a photo of it in the early stages.....
I ♥ wooden hooks :)

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Our hearts go out to all in Japan,
know that you are in our prayers.

Block no.12......

Block no.12 in my
Block of the Week Project
I made block #86 Sunray

from the book
200 Crochet Blocks by Jan Eaton

I really enjoyed this block,
made using dtr, tr, dc, htr (english terms)
it was fun and kept me counting but wasn't hard.
I love the way the centre starts off as a circle
and then turns into a square due to the way the different stitches are used.
I'd like to make this one again soon, but with some extra colour rounds
to make the circles in the pattern stand out a little better.
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I missed my block last week, as we had a very busy week
and had our church camp on the weekend, which was wonderful :)
so apologies if you were waiting for last weeks block to be blogged about,
but from time to time this will probably happen ;)
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I'm working on a little 'upcycled' crochet project at the moment also which I am looking forward to sharing with you all over the next couple of days :)
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I hope you are having a creative week
~ Gillian ♥

I ♥ making cards......

We have a church family camp this month and the card above is for the lovely couple who run the children's activities and the card below is for our guest speaker.
It feels like it has been ages since I have sat at my card making desk
and created anything with paper......
I must say it did feel good!
but I had forgotten how messy I can make a my desk!

So happy my favourite season Autumn has arrived :)
have a lovely day
~ Gillian ♥