African Flowers Blanket

In my last blog post I shared a couple of photos of my finished african flowers blanket and I thought that this special blanket deserved a blog post of its own. 

 close up of finished blanket, showing the border

I had always been captivated by crocheted african flower motifs I had seen on Instagram and decided to look up the pattern and give it a go. Many instagrammers were following Heidi Bears pattern, so this seemed like a good place to start! The following link takes you to Heidi's tutorial (please note it uses US crochet terms)  http://heidibearscreative.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/african-flower-hexagon-crochet-tutorial.html

 making a start

I joined the hexagons together with slip stitch on the reverse (placing right sides together). This is the first blanket I have made using the join as you go method. Usually I make all the necessary squares and then lay them out the way I want them before labelling and joining together. This new method gave instant satisfaction because I could see the blanket grow!

I was instantly addicted to making these hexagons!

I loved looking into my stash of odds and ends and choosing colours for these hexagons.  As long as the 4 colours in each hexagon went together I was happy. When choosing where to place each hexagon I sometimes put complimentary colours together, sometimes clashing colours to give it a random look.

 my blanket grew very quickly!

 summery colours

Most of the wool came from charity shops or kind donations from friends. I also loved picking up a ball of wool or two if I was passing by a wool shop! 

 there was only just enough of this colour to go around

 another close up

the finished blanket

I am really happy with the finished blanket and it is definitely one that is staying in our house! I hope you have enjoyed reading more about my blanket's progress and looking at my photos. Have you made an african flowers blanket? Please share if you have!

I'm back! (and sorry I've been away so long)

I seem to have taken a rather a long break over the summer - ooops! The school holidays were full of long sunny days, trips to the beach, picnics and of course lots of crafty days with the boys!

Rather than typing thousands of words about what I have been up to over the last few months I will use photographs to tell my story. If you would like to know more about anything you see please leave a comment and I will get back to you.

 the youngest and I learning how to use double pointed needles

 a giraffe I crocheted for the middle boy and an elephant for a friend's baby

 a new style of brooch which I have designed and started selling in my folksy shop

 the youngest drew this monster and I recreated it in crochet!

 middle boy wanted the same, of course!

 youngest showing off his finished hat in Fluph wool shop, Dundee

 anniversary day out with the hubby! He takes his loom knitting everywhere!!

 a friend commissioned me to make this sweet little mouse

middle boy designed and made a den for his crocodile and a water bowl

 eldest sprayed and painted his Nerf gun

 my latest yarn bomb in Dundee, Blackness Road area

 I finished the african flowers blanket which I had been working on for a long time

 detail of finished blanket

I have taken up quilting using the english paper piecing technique

Well, that's a snapshot of my summer! School has been back for a month now and I will get back into blogging and restocking my folksy shop https://folksy.com/shops/martasecocrafts

My latest project

I have been very busy over the last few days because I have started a new project. It's another big one which will keep me busy over the next few months. I have always admired the crocheted african flower motif  with it's striking flower centre, surrounded by rounds of trebles finishing in a pentagonal or hexagonal shape. A few months ago I made a one off coaster in the design and knew that it was a motif I would want to go back to.

On Saturday morning I made my first hexagonal african flower motif and so began the start of my latest project! By the end of the weekend I had crocheted 7 motifs and using the join-as-you-go method joined them together to form a larger hexagon.

the first 7 motifs

I have continued making more motifs over the last few days and I am pleased with how it is coming together. Because each hexagon is joined onto the rest immediately after completion and the ends are being woven in at the time I have begun to use the blanket over my knees already. This way I can look at the colours and make decisions about which colours to use next as I am going along.

the first 13 motifs

I am not buying any new yarn for this project, instead I am using up my stash of pure wool. I keep it in a roomy canvas bag so I can see them tumble together, forming exciting new colour possibilities.

the first 17 motifs

I will write another blog post on this before the project is completed and in the meantime I will continue to post photos on my Instagram page - come and find me @mrsdaftspaniel