Extra happy hangers and a fancy cloth

In dottie angels first book, I found the pattern for the 'Happy hanger'. Since I used padded hangers, I had to double the pattern, hence extra happy hangers.... The first one got a picot edging as well.

 The cloth was just something I felt like making, I made it quite a while ago and now I finished it by adding the patch and the heart. Now I have to think of a 'use' for it...

Hasta luego!

Dotty Merino Blanket in vintage colours

In this post, I had just started this blanket...and now, only three and a half months later I have already finished it!

I really loved working on this blanket. The Merino wool is so soft and warm for your hands to work with. Especially toward the end of making this blanket, it was a joy to work on, cuddled up underneath the part that I'd already finished....and now it is big enough to fit our double bed.

I was inspired to make this blanket by Monique, when I saw her blanket from the same pattern. I used the full pattern though and she only used a part of it.

The colours where inspired by Cecile Franconie who uses a lot of naturals combined with colours.

Hasta luego!

Spanish style crochet

We have just moved to another location with lots of new possibilities for our work. Apart from renting out a Landrover Defender with roofshelter, we also have a small campsite now. On it is a large caravan (sleeps 4) which I have pimped Spanish style. Of course I wanted to crochet something for it. I came up with a pillow, a tissuebox cover and a clothes hanger. I designed them all myself. 

The dots are very easy to make. All the stiches are double crochets, the dots are 4 double crochets made in one. Like this: yarn over hook, insert into stitch, yarn over hook, pull through stitch, yarn over hook, pull through 2 loops. Repeat until you have 5 loops on your hook (4 double crochets made halfway), yarn over hook and then pull through all 5 loops.

The lovely Spanish Dachshunds, Pablo & Juanita, are made by my dear friend Erica, a.k.a mrs. Felt...

Just to get an impression of the Spanish caravan, this is one of the beds:

Hasta luego!

Flowers

In between everything else....moving in, other crochet projects etc. etc. I got this crochet assignment: crocheting 20 roses for a name day, which is still celebrated by a lot of the Spanish people. You not only celebrate the day of your birth, but also the day which is associated with your given name (since Spain is a catolic country, people are mainly named after saints). A very loyal client of mine ordered the roses in his companies brand colour to give to his family and clients and here they are:

I tried various patterns for the roses/rosebuds and stems, but eventually came up with this pattern myself, because all the others weren't just quite right....

Hasta luego!

Nostalgia

I'm affraid I'm a very unconsistent blogger....and when I'm moving house it's of course worse...!

But I'm pretty much settled and even have been creative again, so it's about time to blog too!
This blanket and matching cushion, I made before the move. I call it my Holly Hobbie blanket, because the colours remind me of this Sarah Kay doll I had when I was a little girl. This is the first really big project I have ever made. I am working on two other blankets, but this is the first one finished. The Granny's with roses in the middle are from the Grandma's Garden Cushion pattern from Michelle, that I have used so often now.

The colours are pastels, but are looking a bit more pale in this picture than in real life because of the sun....can't have it all in life...now can you.....;)

Hasta luego!

Happy Valentines!

I wanted to work some more with Michelle's Grandma Rosie's Ring tutorial, the roses are so cute and romantic...! Perfect for some more Valentine crochet. I made three roses with the small leaves from the tutorial, but I was 'missing' something. So I made these really easy leaves et voilá:

I made a cover for a woodchip box and sewed the roses on top. Really easy peasy, but Oh! how I love the result.....happy valentines everyone!

Hasta luego!

Valentine bunting

I was totally inspired by Ivonne's post in which she showed the latest garlands she made to brighten up the grey Dutch winter days. She couldn't remember where she found the pattern, but to help me out anyway (isn't that sweet!) she sent me the link to these romantic ones by Hayley and o how I love these! On her Pinkfluffywarrior blog she has the pattern all written out. So when the romantic fool in me combined these triangles with Valentines....this is what I got:

Hasta luego!

Sweet Stuff

For a custom order I created these Valentine's cupcakes...and I loved them so much, I found it hard to ship them! So as soon as I returned from the postoffice, I made myself a new pair and a Valentine's donut as well:

 It's so addictive to crochet sweeties! So I also made a 'Tompoes" which is a typical Dutch treat. I got the pattern for the little one through the kindness of Margaret. Thanks again! It's a pattern from the "Hema" the famous Dutch store that sells loads of good stuff, including the real edible tompoes. But since I did not like the way the filling was made, I altered that. And designed the big one (which is an actual size tompoes) too.

And now I have this yummy collection of sweet stuff (to drool over without gaining weight!) standing on my diningroom table:

Hasta luego!

Home made presents and a 'heavenly' little corner...

I love making presents for someone, especially for people of whom I know they really appreciate it. Then I don't mind putting in some extra effort. So first I made this candle jar from the pretty trim tutorial by Lucy. If you use Lucy's tutorial, please be kind and make a donation....I did and it is so worth it! Then secondly I made a very colourful garland, using the same colours and the Granny figurines tutorials by Michelle:

Although I love colours, in my sunny (and tiny!) house, white, with of course a little red, work really well for some christmas spirit:

And what better place to get inspired for that then Elly's blog...
Hasta luego!

It's beginning to look, a bit, like christmas...

In the area I live in, I haven't really found a good thrift store. However...there is another, much more exiting way to find treasures: here, people just put everything they don't want anymore in or next to the large garbage bins you find on the side of the roads. On our way to town we pass at least 5 of these places and we always keep our eyes wide open! This is our latest treasury and I think one of the best we ever found, a wooden cabinet with drawers and doors. It now serves as a 'welcome to our house' on our patio. With some subtle decorations in a christmassy style:

Do you see the cute granny stocking? I made it from a pattern by the wonderful and talented Michelle. I bought it in her Etsy store. Michelle's had pompoms on the back, but my pompommaker hadn't arrived at that time, so instead I made the snowflake from 'Eline's Winterhuis' book:
Because it is such an easy to make pattern, I also made this one, which I adorned with a colourful trim I found at Lucy's blog:
And as a gift to my pregnant friend Debby, I made a cute babypink one as well:
Hasta luego!

Cushion and owl

I made this cushion as a special custom order. Normally I make a crochet back as well, but this cushion didn't need that because it goes on a chair. I was struggling with attaching the fabric to the crochet side with a needle...and then came up with this idea, I punched wholes in the fabric, made a crochet edging and then crocheted both parts together. And now I'm very happy with the result. I loved the colourscheme for this cushion and before I knew it....an owl in the same colours came flying by:

Hasta luego!

Footstools

Making footstool covers has been on my wishlist for a while now. But first I had no footstools, then I found one to my liking on the Ikea site, but it wasn't in stock. And of course I have like a million other crochet projects already on my hook or on one of my looooong lists..... But then one day, the Ikea site showed that they were back in stock and I couldn't help myself. So I rushed to the store, painted the footstools with whitewash and while they were drying in the sun, I crocheted like a maniac, so now I have two:

Arent't these the best projects, the ones that really give you a big, happy, satisfied smile on your face? Sorry about my lack of modesty, but I love my new footstoolcovers!

I even used them in a 'photoshoot' I did of one of the Veladores in our garden. We rent them out en styled them with Maroccian details. My footstools fit in quite nicely, don't they?
Hasta luego!

Inspiration from Holland

My trip to Holland has inspired my crafts hugely! First there was this beautiful towel from Pip Studio that I couldn't resist treating myself to. The colourscheme is so fresh and lovely that it inspired me to make another cushion from Michelle's Grandma's Garden pattern:

Even before I left for Holland, I already had one thing on my wish list: Eline's House book by Eline Pellinkhof. It is even more inspirational than I expected. Eline talks about her granny's buttons, so when I visited my sweet granny I asked her if I could browse through her buttons and she gave me a jar full of old pearly buttons. When at home, I crocheted a cream flower to decorate the jar. I also decorated wooden clothespins from an example in the book. And look at the lovely vintage ribbon my granny gave me...

I also made two more 'modern' looking clothespins and 2 more cards with the scraps from the cardkit I used for the cards in my last post.
Hasta luego!

'Photoshoot'

Lately I've been sooo inspired by the way some people photograph their projects! I've been wanting to change my way in that for a long time. So yesterday, when the sun came out, I took all sorts of things outside. Here's what I came up with:

Unfortunately by the time I had everything where I wanted it so be, the sun hid behind thick clouds...

But it came back again when I had made a compilation of some of my more romantic projects:

Hasta luego!

French 'vintage' and an award

In a former life (living in Holland in a freshly build house) I had a country style interior. All naturals and white. Solid furniture with a romantic touch. Oooh how I loved that house and that style.......

Now we actually live in the country (mountainviews, olive trees, goats and sheep passing by) in an old country house and our style is like an outburst of colours! Not strange at all come to think about it, Andalucia has major Moorisch/Maroccian influences. And I love this house and style too!

But when I found a French cross stitch magazine in the store, full of lovely French vintage country style projects....(picture red hearts on natural coloured linen...) I couldn't help myself, but buy it. I haven't done a single cross stitch for quite some years now, but I think I will pick up a needle very soon. In the meanwhile it did inspire me to crochet some things in that style:

A soapbag (filled with Marseille soap, mmmm that smell!) and a washcloth , both my own dessigns. There is definately more to follow in this style...

And I was honered with an award by both Maartje and Marjo, THANK YOU big time ladies! Sorry I didn't post it sooner, but sometimes I'm just not connected to the rest of the world, because of a lack of internet connection (comes with actual country living in Spain....).

I'm supposted to give the award to new bloggers or bloggers that haven't got much followers yet so I would like to introduce Erica's and Astrid's blogs to you. Both really creative
(and sweet!) friends of mine, but not yet well known in blogland, which is really a shame because they both make such wonderful creations.

Enjoy your day....I know I will....the sun is out (it's almost too warm to actually sit in the sun) and the birds are making so much 'noise' in the garden, shouting out that spring is here!

Hasta luego!

Happy Valentinesday!

Well....I wasn't quite done making hearts and other romantic stuff....I just can't help myself...

So I made a card for the most wonderful husband in the world:

First time even I used glimmer mist, though it probably doesn't show in the picture...

I'm not really in a scrappin' vibe lately, but I was very inspired by the romantic hearts I saw on Dora's and Elly's blog. Mine turned out like this:
Of course I couldn't leave my crochet hook unattended for too long, so I made this little lady frog:
Got the pattern here. It is so easy to follow. I made several now, a plain green one, a hairy one, a christmas frog....looks like there's more of these to follow!

And last but not least, my valentine's jewelry collection...gotta be in style for every occasion...
The brooch was inspired by my sweet friend Paula, who unfortunately doesn't have a blog to show all of her wonderful creations to all of you.
I hope you all have a great day filled with love! Thanks for stopping by and leaving sweet comments, it's very much appreciated...

Hasta luego!

Love is in the air...

If I see all the Valentine's 'rubbish' in the stores I hastily walk by....but I love making my own Valentine's decoration though! And there is so much inspiration going around in blogland.

The inspriration for this heart shaped wreath I found on Bunny Mummy's blog:

It is so easy and fun to make, I used her tutorial but shaped my base into a heart.

The two crocheted bags, I designed myself, the bunny is from a pattern by Irene Strange (under the free patterns section). She didn't come out as perfect as the original, but I think that makes her even cuter...:
I didn't want everything to be pink, so I made some decorations in jeanscolours, the tutorial for the little heart I found on Tara's blog:
But I'm gonna leave you with an explosion of sweet colours again.....the hearts garland I made before using the granny hearts tutorial by Michelle, cookies pattern I found here (altered them a bit though) and the jar cosies I designed myself although the hearts are from the same tutorial I used for the garland (just used a smaller hook):
I'm afraid I'm not done with valentine's decorations yet, I just can't help myself. Next up is some scrapping...please come back soon!

Hasta luego!

p.s Because I seem to be honered more and more by visits from international blog readers, I changed the language of my blog posts to english...since I find the translations by google more of a laugh than they make a blog more sense to me...hope I'm not dissapointing my dutch readers now... X

Inspiratie

Hoe kom je aan inspiratie? Bij mij kan dat van alles zijn, een blog waarop ik iets leuks zie, materiaal dat 'toevallig' bij elkaar ligt, een mandjes sinaasappels uit eigen tuin, een mooie kleurencombinatie op een reclameposter......of kadootjes die ik van m'n dochters gekregen heb en die zo vrolijk van kleur zijn dat ik het niet kan laten....

Het patroon voor de tissuedoosovertrek kwam ik hier tegen, maar het daar getoonde eindproduct vond ik in eerste instantie te truttig voor woorden... Zo zie je maar wat de juiste kleurencombinatie kan doen!

Hasta luego!

Romantisch wit

Nu ik weer wat meer door blogland dwaal, raakte ik geinspireerd door het vele romantische en winterse wit dat ik tegen kwam. Dus na een weekendje had ik ineens dit tafereeltje klaar:
En 's avonds ziet het er zo uit:

Ik heb 'jasjes' gehaakt voor glazen potjes, pure recycling dus en niet duur. De tutorial voor het helemaal witte 'jasje' links vind je hier. De andere twee jasjes heb ik zelf bedacht. Het patroontje voor het uiltje kocht ik via Echt Studio (het is een patroon van Matawi's crea's en de opbrengst ervan gaat naar Compasion, een organisatie voor kansarme kinderen).

Hasta luego!

Rood Wit Blauw

M'n eerste creatieve uitspattingen van 2011 zijn een feit en ze zijn allemaal rood/wit/blauw!
Het begon met deze vogeltjesslinger:
Een Crochet meets Felt coproductie, de vilten vogeltjes had ik al liggen, die had Erica al op mijn verzoek gemaakt met de bedoeling een kleine slinger te maken (eerder maakte ik al deze kleurige variant die iets langer is).

Zoals zo vaak als ik met een haakproject bezig ben en de kleurtjes katoen liggen samen in een mandje, ontsproot er ook deze keer gelijk een idee voor m'n volgende haaksel, dit speldekussen:

Ik zag 'm voor het eerst op het blog van Marianne en die was zo lief me de link met het patroon te sturen.

Maar de manie was nog niet over.....op een geweldig Engels haakblog zag ik een slinger met hartjes aan de schoorsteenmantel hangen. Ik heb andere hartjes gehaakt, van een tutorial op een geweldig Australisch haakblog....je reist wat af in Blogland!

Dit is mijn hartjesslinger geworden:

Wat zal volgen? Wil ook heel graag weer eens scrappen, maar het is zulk heerlijk weer hier en haken buiten is veel gemakkelijker...

Hasta luego!