November colors

Shades of frosted light blue and light green, shades of brown verging on purple. And, of course, a little splash of fuchsia/red!! My husband and my daughther on a frosty morning, taking a walk in a parc in Brussels.

Pinterest board: Craft inspiration November

This is a sneek peek of the craft inspiration I collected in November. You can find my Pinterest board here. Click on the image to go to the original source of each image. Most images link back to tutorials :-)

A snowflake garland

There are lots of examples of crocheted garlands in the blogosphere, and I wanted to make one for my own home too :-) This garland is for my Christmas tree, but as a Dutch girl, I will wait till after Sinterklaas to buy one .

I was inspired by Emma Lamb's beautiful garlands, such as this one. I also liked the examples of paper snowflakes in Gifted Magazine, an e-craftmagazine which you will really enjoy! (I would love to contribute to such a magazine, or write one myself :-)

I took the patterns from my collection of seventies craftbooks. You can find similar patterns here. This book is in Japanese (?), but the crochet templates are universal. And, each pattern is crocheted in beautiful winter white yarn!

Felt hearts, part 2

Here are some more felt hearts I made as Christmas decorations. I decided not to buy new supplies, but to use materials from my (ever growing) stash instead. As a result, I'm out of mother-of-pearl buttons now... Luckily, I found an old blouse with cute white buttons in the back of my wardrobe :-)

ps: I'm playing around with the color tone settings on my camera. In real life, these hearts are bright red, but somehow I like the fuchsia tones in this image too :-)

An on-line needlework book from 1899

For obvious reasons (perfect shade of blue, flowing art nouveau lines!), I love this cover. It belongs to a book by a silk manufacturer and it offers embroidery, knitting and crochet projects:

Ford, Anna Grayson, ed., et al., Treatise on Embroidery, Crochet and Knitting with Illustrations, adapted to the use of M. Heminway & Sons’ Wash Silks (Oriental Dyes). New York, M. Heminway & Sons Silk Co., 1899.

You can browse and/or download it for free here. Here are some of my personal favorites:

Embroidered strawberries

Crochet designs for trims and edgings (yes, I'm still into crochet trims!)

Crocheted wristlets.

I'm seeing a lot of wristlets in the blogosphere these days, such as these. (or try searching for wrist warmers on Etsy). Yesterday I even tried some on in Accesorize. I think I definitely want to make some... (and it's a great reason to try a new lace knitting pattern!)

all images are taken from Treatise on Embroidery, Crochet and Knitting with Illustrations

Crocheted throw, work in progress

This is my granny square throw so far. It may look like it's finished, but it's not:-) I made two rows of three “giant” blocks each, and I think I need four or five rows to cover the whole bed... This is the result of half a year of crocheting, so, maybe, Christmas 2011...

If I ever make another throw, I'll probably use a different hook size. This one is made with a 2,5 mm crochet hook. And I know now that it takes ages with such a small hook :-) I really love this example of giant granny squares in really thick yarn, it looks so cozy! (scroll down for a better image).

Felt hearts

I'm making "toddler friendly" Christmas decorations this year. My 1,5 year old daughter is very curious and playful, so glass bulbs are not a good choice right now... :-) I'm having a lot of fun making these. Usually, when I start a new craft project, I want to learn something new/complicated or make something "big". I forgot how much fun it is to make something that is ready in one hour!

ps: If you want more inspiration for homemade "toddler friendly" Christmas decorations, take a look at my pinterest board here.

Crochet trims on pillowcases, 1915 and now

Sometimes, something grabs my attention, and then I can't help seeing it everywhere. These past few weeks, I couldn't stop noticing crochet trims on pillowcases :-) (yes, I'd really like to make a set of this type of pillowcases, and no, I really don't have the time for it..)

Here are some cute examples from 1915. The one with the little violets is probably my favorite. They're taken from the book "Valeire, Anna. Crochet & Tatting Craft Book No. 1, Edgings Medallions & Insertions, with full instructions on over sixty pieces for use in lingerie & the home. St. Louis, Missouri, E.C.Spueler, c. 1915" , which you can download and/or browse for free here.



Here are some modern examples (warning: they will make you want to start crocheting right away :-):
FRYD+DESIGN
Rose hip's flickr folder