Monday inspiration: blankets and waving in those pesky Ends

After posting countless updates on my two cotton crochet blankets, I thought I should really show you the end result. They are still in progress as the Ends need to be waved in. This is truly the hardest part for me as I get inpatient when I see the "sea" of ends still left to be tidied up! I know it's better to tidy up every square one by one as I crochet the blanket. Even so, I get too excited about finishing the blanket so I left them. Anyways, they turned out beautifully with the new lacy boarder I crocheted for the first time. 

While doing some fabric shopping the other day I discovered the plastic needles that actually made my life so much easier! I used to wave in the ends with the hook and it took me so much longer then with the needle so I hope to get these lovely blankets in the shop this week.

To cheer myself up in between the ends waving, I started the woolen blanket. I am trying a new colour pattern with just one pink row in some of the squares. What do you think? 

Happy Monday!

Saturday at the studio....

It's raining here. again. The gloomy and sleepy mood is back but I am fighting it off with some toy making. I was hoping to take pictures for the monster pattern today but not sure how it will work out with the lighting... 

Anyway, there are plenty of things to do around here. I finished a fox with fabric called "Cherry Woods" by Saffron Craig that I paired with rose pink felt. She turned out to be very cherry sweet, didn't she? 

Mid morning I caught a glimpse of light and took pictures of doilies for the Plushka's Makery store.... These are just a few of them, there are also crochet hearts in store that I just love!

More of my new "Blossoming love" lavender hearts are in the making right now, in lighter shades of pink. 

.....and that's how I spend my morning. 

Hope you are having a delightful weekend! 

Crochet granny squares, Woollies for Tassie

One of my resolutions this year is to make more things for my home, as well as gifts, donate and participate in group projects as much as possible. Although, I am trying not to overcommit this year too so I am hoping to find a nice balance in between. 

Anyhow, while I have time in the beginning of the year, I joined a few craft alongs including the Woollies for Tassie. 

I loved the idea of showing our support and sending love to the victims of the recent bush fires in Tasmania with yarn. 

Thus, I made 2 woolen squares (8 inches each), one in girly colours and another one in darker shades to suit different blankets. 

They will be in the post today to The Craft Hive where they will be crocheted together into blankets. 

 If you would like to join, visit Woollies for Tassie Facebook group. 

Hope you are having a lovely day! 

My creative space....

In my creative space this week, besides stitching items for the new Valentine's day collection, there are a few toys on the production line as well as another blanket. 

I took me a few days to pick the fabric for this fox. Raspberry felt proved to be a little tricky to match fabric with, even with my gigantic stash! However, after consulting with Mr. Plushkin last night, we came to the conclusion that these hearts will look nice. Due to multi-coloured design, there are a few matching shades of pink in there and white background goes beautifully with white features on her face. 

Would you agree? 

This blanket is ready to be put together and, in a few days, I will share pictures of both finished blankets. I did try a new boarder on the pink one and will experiment with another pattern on this one as well. 

It's completely new to me using black as a background but I really like it now. Black really highlights the other colours, doesn't it? 

Finally, two baby owls are waiting for their feet and wings and they will be ready to fly off. I've been waiting to try this shade of pink for some time as I had this fabric just asking to be used. For the aqua one, I went with a safe option by choosing the most popular fabric from last year. 

Hope you are having a creative and fun Thursday, whatever you are up to!

We are having a slightly cooler day before another heat wave here and it's nice to be out and about after being pretty much locked up with the air on all day on Tuesday! 

xxx

Monday inspiration: one crochet blanket is almost done!

On Saturday I took a "crochet" day off. I have 3 crochet blankets in progress since July and, as I've picked a pink one to take with me on our trip to Hobart in August, it had all the squares half done so didn't need as much time as the others. Thus, in between cleaning my creative space and getting it ready for the new year, I've done some crochet. The next step is to connect all the squares together and it will be done! 

I also want to try a new border and maybe learn a few new styles from the book I've got so that's what inspired me this weekend - one blanket is almost done and two to go. 

Happy Monday!   

Sponsored Giveaway: hand-dyed cotton yarn by Fairythread

It is not a secret that I love crochet and would probably knit too if there were 48 hours in a day! There is something so special about this "meditation" craft as I call it. Once you've mastered the pattern, you can free your mind and enjoy the soft sound of the bamboo needles and yarn...purl purl.

Lovely Belinda from Fairythread has generously offered to giveaway 2 of these gorgeous 8ply 50 gr skeins of pure cotton from Peru that was hand-dyed by Belinda herself here in Australia.

"'Amethyst' is the first colourway in my Crystal Collection and has hues of magenta, violet and indigo. The Crystal Collection is all self-striping (gradient dyed)."

Would you like to make something from this lovely organic and fairtrade gorgouseness? 

Then leave a comment telling us what would you turn these into and I will draw a winner next Saturday (24th of November).

In the meantime check Fairythread's:

Shop

Facebook

Blog

Happy Saturday! 

Edited: The Giveaway is now closed, thank you!

Monday inspiration: flowery goodness, Plushka's Makery update

 

I love crochet flowers! I use them when styling my product pictures (like this one), making hair ties for the shop, taking pictures of them in different combinations, when I need a little break from creating, and plan on using more of them in my future collections. They are one of Pluska's Makery biggest sellers and I am proud to say that they are all handmade by my dear mum who loves crochet as much as I do. 

 They inspire me everyday, they bring me joy and make me smile when I come across the box where I keep them while looking for something in my creative space.

Do you like making or creating with crochet flowers?  
Where would you use them?

My creative space....

In my creative space at the moment everything is on hold until I get over a flu. After not being able to create for only a day due to the headache and sore throat, I started feeling restless so I got my crochet out. I have a few blankets in the making since July and it felt good to make some progress. They kept me busy for a while until I broke the hook! 

I guess I should listen to my body, give in and rest....

More creative spaces HERE.

Have a delightful creative Thursday!

My creative space...

If I would have to choose a creative highlight of this week, I would definitely pick the iPad sleeve order! The linen and flowery fabric combo was inspired by my heat pack with fox embroidery. I had this fabric in two colours so my lovely customer suggested the apple embroidery for the second sleeve. I was going to have linen as a "main" fabric but I am so glad that Michelle requested the linen fabric to be only a "frame" for the embroidery. It looks so much better! What do you think?

I enjoyed so much making these ipad sleeves that I made one for myself in red.

Today, I am finishing doilies and toy orders. These doily-coasters are my evening craft so the progress is slow. 
It is always fun matching fabrics to the yarn and this light blue one is my favourite so far...

More creative spaces HERE.

Have a wonderful creative Thursday! 

My Friday crafternoon...

After another little clean up in the studio, I cut out all the toy orders and felt a bit overwhelmed... Stitching a toy is a long 3-5 hour process and if I haven't finished something during the day, I don't have a sense of accomplishment. 

 In this situation a short walk to clear my head and finishing a few little creations really helps! It tricks me into feeling that I can show something for my day which is very important to me. Thus, I made a few apple hair clips for the shop...

Later on, I will crochet a few squares for one of the blankets and that's how I break up my toy stitching routine...

Do you like to accomplish a few small tasks to break up a long project or do you prefer just get one with it and get it done?

My creative space...

In my creative space this week, besides stating a Christmas collection production, I am playing with yarn. Matching colours and crocheting samples is a very exciting first stage of making a spring-summer blankets! 

So far I came up with 5 different colour combos. I am not sure which one I like the most yet. 

Which one would you pick?  

More creative spaces HERE. 

Have a creative Thursday! 

Monday inspiration: learn how to crochet

In the last few weeks, I've been learning a few more crochet "magic" and stumbled on some wonderful blogs and tutorials so I thought it will be fun to share them with you!

Curtain ties and Gypsy style bag patterns.

Cute crochet envelope for your notebook and pencil.

Sweet easy crochet ornaments found on wonderful Goodknits blog.

Why not start learning crochet this winter?! 

Monday inspiration: Perfect weather for crochet!

It's been a perfect crochet weather lately! So I gathered together some inspiration for the next crochet blanket that I am going to make this winter. Here is the one I finished recently for a lovely customer:

It's the first step in my creative process - get colour and pattern ideas. I love the bright colours and hexagon pattern of this one by Coco Rose Dairies, the idea I will take from this one is a dark boarder finish.

This one , made by Coco Rose as well, was included in this post for it's wide ruffly boarder. I would be so pretty for a girly blanket.

 Dottie Angel never fails to inspire me and this blanket encourages to look on the pastel side of the spectrum! I adore the light feeling that these colours give.

I love how FUN this Lego blanket is! Found at All Things Bright and Beautiful, it's perfect for a boy's room, don't you think?

So many great ideas! Now, I need to get them all together and come up with something summery and fun as by the time this blanket will be finished, it will be warm and sunny again...

It's a rainy and grey day today and I might take my yarn out and start matching colours together!

What would be your rainy day plan? 

My creative space....

In my creative space this week, I finally found time for those squares I cut for my bed runner. Well, as you can see on the picture, it tuned out to be something completely different - Ikea table cover! I've never made anything like this so you can see it's far from perfect but, although it still needs bias, I like the new look of our table! As we have 2 of them in our living room, I have another one to make and take all the mistakes into account. I will certainly make it a little bit bigger so it fits slightly better on the corners...

The other project, crochet blanket order, is taking me some time to finish but is very close to the finishing stage now. You can see the start of this blanket here and here. 

Visit more creative spaces here

Have a creative Thursday!

Yarn, one of my weaknesses....

                                                                                Source: flickr.com via Katia on Pinterest

A small disadvantage of being into many different crafts, is that there are so many supplies to store! 
I've been stocking up on some yarn recently and and this picture is so inspiring when it comes to choosing colours! I only wish I had a cupboard like this to keep my yarn in.....

Have a great weekend! 

During the week in the studio....

Happy Sunday! 

Crochet blanket order, progress

When I get an order for a crochet blanket, our green couch becomes a crochet station:) That is the only time I stop complaining that it is too big for our living room and actually enjoy the space! It easy to spread my squares on it and move them around so I can get the colours right. 

I can see the progress and it makes me so eager to finish the whole blanket over the weekend! If only I could do that... There are many more squares to go but the colour pattern is there and it's the main thing! 

Happy Saturday!

Wordless Wednesday: crochet love

Join here.

My creative space...

In my creative space, one wholesale order is finished! It's a great achievement for me as preparation process  takes ages and just when you think that you will never finish those 10 robins, they appear on the table. Feels nice:) Don't mind the elephant, he really wanted to get in the picture before he goes to his new home. 

Honestly, I am not surprised it took him only a few hours in the shop to find a new home as he is indeed one of my favourite elephants so far... I am very pleased I found this fabric with cute red apples. The minute I saw it, I could see the elephant with apples and had to make it! 

There is also crochet blanket order that I am slowly finishing with wide boarder of red and pink. It have been a bit harder to crochet woolen blanket lately with hot summer days already here but I cannot wait to finish it as it will be the largest blanket (1m x 1m) I've ever made. It's very exciting to see how the colours in the boarder will work. I am going with wide stripes with brown in between....

Visit more creative spaces here. 

Have a creative Thursday!

Inspiration Monday

It might sound strange but every now and then I get all my stock out to re-photograph some items and see whether I need to make a few more toys/baskets/key rings to complete the collection. Sometime, it do it to repack the container with stock in order to fit more goodies in:) It's a fun task that inspire me to create new items or improve the existing product... Yep, I get inspired by my own creations, weird but true!

I really enjoy styling pictures if only I had a bit more time for it....

Sometimes I find things that I forgot about like these hair clips that are now back in my shop.

Happy Monday!