Sunday, July 7, 2019

Mosaic Tiles Place Mat

Just wanted to share the second pattern I have in the August 2019 issue of Crochet World. It is a place mat called Mosiac Tiles. Love the Copper Mist color they chose it to be worked in!! It originally started out as a valance and they liked the pattern for a place mat instead. I agree I like it that way, too!! It could be made with more repeats and be a table runner as well!! The finished size is 19" x 13" and it's worked in Aunt Lydia's size 10 crochet thread with a size 7/1.65mm steel crochet hook. I hope you will give it a try!! I included one of my pictures I took of it and also the valance that the pattern originated from.....I hope you will give it a try!!  It's a fun pattern to work and a set of 2 or 4 would look very pretty on your table!!  

Photo courtesy of Crochet World




Sunday, June 30, 2019

Infinity Edge Runner

The August issue of Crochet World is out on the news stands and in it is my Infinity Edge Runner. 
 
 
It is  a filet crochet piece and the edges seem to float off the sides, that's where the name comes from!!
 
 
 
Crochet World took the beautiful picture of it they do such a great job of making the patterns look so good!!
 
Below are a few of the pictures I took of it to show a little more of the edging detail.
 
I hope you will give it a try.  If you can't find an issue locally you can get it online as a digital download at:
 
 



 



Friday, June 21, 2019

Christmas in .....June?



I have just released this pattern pack of 3 ornaments on Ravelry and Etsy.  They are easy to make and area are basically the same pattern!!  They are 1" balls crocheted in halves then stiffened around a styrofoam ball.  Then glued together with fabric glue and hot glued into shape.  They are worked in Size 10 crochet thread with a size 7/1.65mm steel crochet hook.  They are pretty quick and easy to make the hard part is waiting on the stiffener to dry!!  They will be great for the fall craft shows coming up so it's not too early to get started!!



The Candy Cane is 5 1/4" x 2 3/4"....


The tree is 5" tall x 3 3/8" wide..


and the wreath is 3 1/2" with an easy to make single crochet bow.  I hope you will give them a try!!  You will be addicted to making these ornaments for sure!!

Pattern is available at the following links.....







Doily restoration...




Whew this was quite an experience!!! A friend brought me this super large Doily....34” to be exact... she had gotten at an auction in a box lot and asked if I’d try to repair it. I’ve repaired tiny holes in thread work before that were passable but nothing like this..... so I told her I’d give it a try. I think the stitches where the threads had broken were Solomon’s Knott and I’d never worked that stitch before. I had a recent issue of Crochet World that had an article about the stitch but I wasn’t easy to try to do that on a damaged piece and it didn’t help that the the vintage Doily thread was so old it just kept falling apart more. First I soaked the Doily for 4 days in OxyClean to get it as white as possible. Thank goodness for Aunt Lydia’s Antique White thread that ended up matching perfectly!!! As for the stitches they really looked like long loops so I ended up joining the thread in the knots that were left and looping them to the next knot. They sort of match the others. I stretched it out carefully and starched it and from a distance it doesn’t look too bad!!! I hope she will be happy with it it’s far from perfect and one thing I learned is I sure don’t want to ever get into the job of repairing vintage crochet!!!! It’s a gorgeous pattern tho!!!






Friday, March 1, 2019

Jumping thru hoops

 Recently I acquired a large box of assorted embroidery hoops.  I've had a lot of projects come to mind of things to do with them.  I finally had some time to do a few of them and thought I'd share them with you along with a free pattern!!!  The pattern will be at the end of this post....

I had this idea to crochet a bunny scene and put it in a hoop.  So I graphed out this simple bunny with the empty baskets for the background of my project.  I didn't write up a pattern for this idea so you are on your own there!! :)  


Then I hot glued a piece of felt to the back of the hoop to hide all the carried along ends.  This hoop is 10" 


After gluing I went around the outside with pinking shears to trim it all up. 


Then I centered a 12" box wreath form over the hoop that I had previously spray painted white.  I haven't been able to find them that aren't green.....




I just put a large dot of glue where the wire touched the hoop/crochet work.


I had previously made the crochet eggs and had them all prepared.  I put a piece of ribbon around the  middle of each one to hide where the halves of the eggs are joined together.  I then laid them on the wreath to see how I liked the color order then I hot glued each one of them onto the wreath.  After the glue cooled a bit I turned it over and put a little more hot glue on the back side of the eggs to secure them a bit more.



A couple of other ideas for the hoops are picture holders..... very easy no sew project!!  Any color combination will look great.  I just laid the fabric over the inside hoop and the shorter piece I folded the edge down an inch and ironed it and laid it where I wanted it on the background fabric to make a pocket then placed the outer hoop over and tightened it up and stretched the fabric out.  You can add any touches you want to your project I had this little doily in my stash I liked.  I put a couple of scrapbooking glue dots on the back of the pictures to hold them from sliding down in the pocket.  


They can also be used to place notes in or mail by the door.....


Very cute in a babies room, too!!!

Hoops are very versatile things to work with!!  I am going to try tying some doilies in them and also using them as backings for other wreaths as well.  When I was at the craft store I saw some beautiful Easter fabrics which would look great in the back of the egg wreath or just the wreath with the eggs itself would be very pretty.  

So as promised here is the pattern to make the eggs for the wreath or whatever you would like to do with your eggs......bowl fillers?.........the possibilities are endless!!!  I hope you enjoy the pattern!!  

Easter Egg Wreath
by Joyce Geisler

Skill level: Easy

Materials used: 1 ball each Aunt Lydia’s size 10 crochet thread in 5 different colors

Size 5/1.90 crochet hook

12” box wreath form spray painted white

10 - 2 5/16” x 3 1/16” Styrofoam egg forms to stretch the halves over

Thin ribbon to decorate eggs

Hot Glue

Permanent Fabric Glue

Heavy Fabric Stiffener

Plastic wrap

Stainless steel pins

Small wire brush

Special stitches: Beginning shell – (beg sh): [Ch 3, 2 dc in same sp, ch 2, 3 dc] in same sp

                        Shell – (sh): [3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc] in same space

                        2 treble join (2 tr join) – Yarn over twice on hook. Insert hook in chain space from previous round. Pull up a loop, [yarn over, pull thru two loops], twice (two loops remaining on hook) Yarn over twice on hook. Insert in next chain space from previous round. Pull up a loop, [yarn over, pull thru two loops], twice. (three loops remaining on hook). Yarn over; pull thru all loops on hook.

                       2 double crochet join - (2 dc join): Work like the 2 tr join only using double crochets. 

Pattern notes: Join end of each round with a sl st to top of beginning ch-3 unless otherwise

stated.

Eggs (make 10 eggs for wreath, 2 each color) Work two sides for each egg.

To begin:  Ch 6, join with a sl st to beg ch to form a ring.

Rnd 1: Ch 3, 2 dc in ring. [Ch 2, 3 dc in ring], 4 times. Ch 2, Join. (5 3 dc groups, 5 ch-2 sps)
Rnd 2: Sl st to ch 2 sp. Beg sh (see special stitches throughout) in ch 2 sp. (Sh (see special stitches throughout pattern) in next sp), 4 times. Join. (5 shells)
Rnd 3: Sl st to sh sp. Beg sh. [Ch 1, sh in next sh sp], 4 times. Ch 1, join. (5 sh, 5 ch-1 sps)
Rnd 4: Sl st to sh sp. Beg sh. [Ch 2, sc in next sp, ch 2, sh in next sh sp], 4 times. Ch 2, sc in next sp, ch 2, sl st to join. (5 sh, 10 ch-2’s, 5 sc)
Rnd 5 & 6: Sl st to sh sp, beg sh. [Ch 3, 2 tr join (see special stitches) over next 2 sps. Ch 3, sh in sh], 4 times. Ch 3, 2 tr join over next 2 sps, ch 3, join. (5 sh, 5 2 tr join, 6 ch-3 sps)
Rnd 7: Sl st to sh sp. Ch 1, sc in sh sp. [Ch 5, 2 dc join over next 2 sps. Ch 5, sc in next sh sp], 4 times. Fasten off. (5 sc, 5 2 dc join, 1- ch-5’s)

Cover each egg form in plastic wrap. Saturate each piece in stiffener and squeeze out some of the excess. Stretch each half over each end of the egg. Pin edges in place matching shell rows. When dry remove pieces from form and brush off any dried stiffener with small wire brush. Run a thin bead of fabric glue over each edge, press sections together matching up shells. Place around wreath form and hot glue in place.  Cut a piece of ribbon to go around the middle of the egg and glue in place with fabric glue.


Wednesday, December 5, 2018

Mosaic Snowflake Hood

It's a great honor to have a pattern in the latest issue of Interweave Crochet Winter 2019. The new issue is packed full of beautiful designs!! Yesterday they sent me the photos of my Mosiac Snowflake Hood taken by Harper Point Photography. They are so awesome!!! To get your issue go to Interweavecrochet.com or look on the magazine stands at your local craft store. For more info you can check out the pattern on Ravelry at the following link.... https://www.ravelry.com/patte…/library/mosaic-snowflake-hood I hope you will give this easy to make hat a try!! It really is a fun pattern that works up really quickly
#interweavecrochet @interweavecraft





Tuesday, December 4, 2018

Battery Box Covers


I always like to use battery light strings especially during the holidays but I can't always hide the battery pack..... So I got the idea to cut an old Christmas card to cover the box!!  


I just applied it with glue dots. 


I also have one laying on it's side with my Cat's Meow houses on a shelf so I cut another piece of a card to glue to the side edge of that box.  


Works great and I can still get to the switch on these since these don't have timers on them.  

Pretty way to put some old Christmas cards to good use!!