My Hand Embroidered Hearts

     

My Simple Designed Crochet Blankets

     After working on a crochet project where I have to concentrate on the pattern I like to take a mind break and make a blanket that has a simple design. I made this little throw using Caron Simply Soft yarn choosing the colors randomly, which is a great way to use up my yarn stash. Then I used three different stitches, single stitch, bobble stitch and the ridge stitch.

My Silk Ribbon Embroidery

     Silk ribbon embroidery is such a beautiful and elegant art, surprisingly it only takes a couple of stitches to make a flower. I have not made any projects in many years but I still have my silk ribbon collection and the book I bought back in 1997 "Learn To Do Ribbon Embroidery In Just One Day" by De Selby. 

My First Chevron Design Blanket

     I've never made a chevron designed blanket before because I thought it would be too difficult to do. Then I saw a friend's blanket she had just started, using a chunky yarn in a beautiful teal and brown color design. It inspired me to finally give it a try. I watched a lot of instructional videos on Youtube, even though they were good, the one that I understood the best was this one by B. Hooked Crochet. I wasn't very adventurous with my design, I chose just four colors with white in between each color. I loved working on my first Chevron blanket, it was so much easier than I had imagined. I have made two more since then and plan on making another one very soon.

My Pansy Felt Applique Flower

     One of my favorite flowers is the Pansy and for many years I have loved using them in my felt applique designs. 

My Favorite Crochet Stitches

     I have been crocheting for many years and I always have a project on the go whether for my Etsy shop, a gift for family and friends or more rarely, for myself. I mostly make blankets and scarfs, nothing too difficult or intricate but where I have branched out is in the design. And one stitch I love to use for that is the bobble stitch. I learned how to do them from a t.v show in the 1990's. It is a yarn eater and a time consuming stitch but so worth the effort and very rewarding.

     This nautical themed blanket of navy and white stripes was a gift.

This was my first blanket doing the bobble stitch with different colored stripes.

This was my first blanket where I made a design out of the bobbles instead of doing them in rows. This "Red Heart Soft" yarn in "Sea Foam" is one of my newest favorite colors.

I was inspired by a photo on Instagram of a blanket with this design so I made my own with different shades of blue.

I then graduated to a more complicated design with this blanket using "Red Heart Soft" yarn in "Mid Blue", it took a lot of concentration but I loved working on it.

This bobble striped blanket was also a favorite to work on, it was a random color design trying to use up my yarn stash. I finished with my favorite scalloped border in white.

My Love Hearts

     A very affordable sewing project is using craft felt. It's easy to use and so buttery to stitch on. For many years I have enjoyed hand embroidering on felt and love to make these little hanging hearts. I've found Walmart sells the most affordable craft felt but stores like Michaels and Joann's sell a wider color selection.

   

     This light purple heart holds very special meaning as it was the first item that was sold on my Etsy shop.

   

My First Love

     My first love is cross stitch. I fell in love in my teens when Woolworth's craft section had affordable little kits. From there my embroidery floss and aida cloth collection grew as well as my pattern sources. It is an affordable and very rewarding hobby. My favorite cross stitch magazine was "Cross Country Stitching", unfortunately it is no longer in circulation. I got a subscription near the end of it's 25 years of publication. I proudly own six magazines from 2012. I loved how you can pick and choose parts of the pattern to make your own design, which I did for many projects.

     I designed my own little cross stitch flower pansy for my Etsy shop.