From Madeit with Love - Love Grows Garland

I just listed this "Love Grows" mini-garland in my madeit store for a charity fundraiser. I had originally planned to have it in my shop in time for Valentine's, but the fundraiser was all the prompting I needed to get it finished.

fresh from my crafting basket is this "Love Grows" mini-garland which I made for a charity fundraiser

I started by making the hearts using my favourite heart pattern from Suzie's Stuff. Next I did the leaves from Easy Makes Me Happy. The most tedious task was sewing in all the ends of 9 leaves and 8 hearts. Then I finally joined them together with green chain to make a vine of growing love!

you can drape garlands on your favourite things for decoration, like on this piano

There are 15 chains between each motif, and the loops at each end are 20 chains. I went back along the chain with sl st to reinforce it. The loops at each end allow the mini-garland to be tied up to display.

1.45m long garland with loops at each end so it can be hung up to display

The fundraiser is for a charity raising money to help a family who recently lost their mum in a tragic car accident. Tammy Boorer lived in Toowoomba which isn't far from me, and she was a fellow crafter on madeit, so this story made it especially sad for me so I decided to participate in the fundraiser.

Lots of Heart

The very first post I made on this blog nearly 3 years ago was about a tiny heart I made while first starting to learn how to read crochet patterns. The post was called a little heart, and the heart is now a magnet on our fridge.

five small hearts for sale in my madeit.com online shop

 Last week I got an order from a past customer who likes to buy small crochet embellishments to go on her craft projects. This time she wanted 20 little hearts, so I made her 22 as well as a free sample to go in her package. I use a different crochet pattern nowadays. My favourite is Suzi's little heart pattern, it's so easy and makes up quick so I can afford to charge a reasonable price.

an order of little hearts completed for a repeat customer

A little heart has become lots of heart! I think this is an indication of how far my crochet skills, and my blog have come in just a few short years.

a free sample sent to a repeat customer

Cotton Anniversary Gift, Man-sized Dishcloth

Today is our 2nd wedding anniversary, and the traditional gift to give is "cotton". My husband has already given me the best present ever, a packet of cotton seeds! My eldest plant is nearly 7 weeks old now. But what can I give him? Well, how about a man sized dish cloth for the kitchen, in a romantic lovey dovey design?

love hearts detail, perfect for a 2nd anniversary gift

I used a pattern from a photo I saw on pinterest, which sent me to the free pattern called "I love scraps" by Mary Ann Frits. But I had to work out how many starting chains for a small dishcloth. The number you start with must be a multiple of 7, plus 1. There will be one less heart cluster than the number of 7s you have, as half a heart is on each edge. For this dish cloth, I started with a 6 x 7 +1 (43 chains), which gives you 5 heart clusters across. Then I went up for 7 rows of hearts, which gives you a cloth that measures about 22cm x 25cm, if you use a 4mm hook with 8 ply cotton, like I did here.

man-sized dish cloth in pink and green

This man-sized dishcloth is perfect for when my husband is working in the kitchen! I have other gifts to give him of course, including a new cookie tray for baking, but none of them are cotton. So I thought I could pop this into the wrap! Happy Anniversary, darling!

Love Heart Spagetti Garland

I was at a loss as to what I could make to go inside the tiny red sauce pot I was going to give my husband for Valentine's Day (he loves to cook, and if you do too, make sure you check out his cooking blog Dave's Home Cooking). After making tiny heart garlands over the last few days, I finally came up with the idea of making one that resembled spagetti to put in his little pot!

love heart spagetti garland in a pot

I can't believe I got almost everything done that I wanted to get done by Valentine's Day! The only thing I would have liked to have made that I didn't get to do, is to make my own homemade gift paper, but I ended up grabbing some from the store. Not as nice I know but, oh well, something had to give!

This garland is a lot bigger than the other heart garlands I've made which are 'tiny'. In this one there are 12 red hearts all up and it's over 2 metres long, it's red and white colours make it a good Christmas decoration. For the hearts I used my 3.5mm hook for the thick red cotton hearts, and my 3mm hook for the white 4 ply cotton spagetti. I didn't realise until after I started that I didn't have enough of the thick white cotton to do the spagetti and decided the 4 ply would be ok. There are 30 ch between each heart and 5 ch from heart cheek to cheek. Loops at each end make this garland easy to hang up as a decoration.

love heart spagetti garland design by Teena Sutton Murphy

I also had a chance to make up a rustic Valentine's card for my hubby while he was watching a movie and the baby was napping. You have to make hay while the sun shines! I quickly made up a cute little card in a rustic style, by first tracing 2 hearts onto card using a cookie cutter. Then I cut them out and sewed them together with blanket stitch and red thread. Finally I used baby's crayons to make a rustic heart on the front and a special message inside.

making a love heart card using a cookie cutter

Its not as nice as the handmade greeting cards my mum makes, but I like to make one myself for my husband on Valentine's Day. Its just a little special thing that's nice to do. Even if my card ended up very  "rustic"!

a rustic handmade Valentine's card

Fluffy-edged Love Heart Pillow

Fluffy-edged Love Heart Pillow

Here is a new Valentine's Day project, a small fluffy edged heart pillow, how sweet! You could fill it with lavender for a scented gift. For this I used my thick cotton blend and a 4mm hook. This is too hard for me to write a proper pattern, so I'll just describe what I did.

To make one heart side, I started by chaining 10, then did 10 rows of 10 sc (counting the 1st ch as a sc).  This 10 x 10 stitch square forms the bottom part of the heart. For a heart cheek, I sl st 2 along a side, and then 6 dc into the middle of the side of the square, sk 2 sl st, sl st 2 along the side until I got to the corner of the square, turn. Then 2 dc into every dc for a total of 12 stitches, sl st into the other corner of the square. I then did another cheek an the adjacent side of the square. I finished the heart in the middle of the 2 cheeks.

I then did the heart for the other side without fastening off,  I just started a square right from the middle of the 2 cheeks. When I completed the square, I joined the 2 squares along one side only with sc to get me to a side that would have a cheek. I started a cheek opposite a cheek on the first heart. When I completed a cheek, I joined 2 cheeks of 2 different hearts with sc to get to the point where I needed to put the last heart cheek. After that cheek, I joined those with sc. By that point there was just one opening left between the 2 hearts where I could put some stuffing. I used old wool that was too weak to use for anything else as the stuffing for this pillow. After I had filled the pillow, I joined the last sides of squares with sc and fastened off.

stitching 2 hearts together

For an optional embellishment, I put an edge of sc along the joins of the 2 hearts using fluffy red fun yarn. This is a sweet little pillow for Valentine's Day. I think I'll give it to my baby son as a cot toy!

My Favourite Valentine's Projects

As Valentine's Day is fast approaching, I thought I'd highlight some of my older posts for a reminder of things to make for this special occasion!

<3

<3

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Love Charm Pincushion
Lovey Dovey Boxer Shorts
Lovey Dovey Greeting Card
Wrapping Paper and Gift Card
Tiny Red Love Heart Garland

Four Little Lost Angels

As I was taking them home from the market, I knew I would have so much fun cleaning up these second-hand dolls and dressing them in new crochet outfits, perhaps even with angel wings! In the end I settled on summer dresses complete with pretty bonnets and mary jane slippers. These tiny Kelly dolls are just 4.5 inches tall.

pretty outfits for four Kelly dolls

I first found the little blonde in a washing basket full of toys. The stall holder was busy selling a set of Dora dolls, so when I said I would like the tiny doll, she dismissed me saying I could have it for free. Well, I wouldn't take something so special for free, it just wasn't right! Her hair is in excellent condition, and she even has two near new shoes. I was thinking to give a dollar, but when we looked in David's wallet a 50 cent coin was sitting on top so I grabbed that and pressed it into hand of the man that was helping her with the stall. I think it must have been Karma, because later on at another stall, I saw the three other dolls, all with different coloured hair and all just 50 cents each! It was so uncanny it must have been fate that these four tiny Kelly dolls should meet in this way!

how I found these 4 dolls at the market for 50 cents each

Crochetting some clothes for these dolls turned out to be a lot more challenging than I first anticipated. I made several attempts before I ended up with a dress I was happy with. At first, I did a smaller version of the Barbie doll dress I usually do, using baby yarn, but I decided the result looked too bulky. Later, I made matching knickers for that dress using a free pants pattern I found on an old blog, again using the baby yarn. I made a top using baby yarn and a free ruffle top pattern, but I did not use the right size hook and yarn, and it didn't fit. The problem was, I was using baby yarn when I should have been using fine cotton thread.

At first, I really didn't think I would need to follow a pattern for this project, but I did. I had a little success with a free dress pattern @ Crochet Crafts by Helga, using fine cotton and 1.5mm hook as recommended. But I didn't like the skirt, I thought it was too short so added more rows, which then made the result bulky. Finally, I made a dress I liked using the bodice from Helga's free pattern, but adding my own skirt. Using the same cotton, I made some panties using Helga's free pants pattern,shortening the legs by making just one row of sc. I stitched up the gap at the back of the pants as I don't think it needs a button, pull on pants are fine for this small doll. I then made matching pull on panties for the other dresses I made, one each of pink, green, apricot and yellow. Each dress has one button on the back of the bodice.

matching beach outfits for four Kelly dolls

Because you can't see the panties underneath the dresses, I decided the dolls needed some little tops to show them off! Maybe these outfits can be PJs or summer beach outfits? The tops are just the bodice part of the dress, with every stitch in the bottom frill incr. The tops looked a little plain, so I crochet a tiny heart, clover, flower and sun to attach in contrasting colours to the front, to make them look more fun (hopefully!). The flower is just clusters to form 5 petals, and the sun is a round of 15 trbls, with a 2nd round of a picot in every 3rd trbl. I used the heart and clover patterns explained in previous posts.

Then I made them all matching Mary Jane slippers with my own made up pattern.

Mary Janes for Kelly Dolls by Teena Sutton

using 1.25mm hook, fine cotton

1. ch 7, trb (US db) in 3rd ch from hook, 2 trb, 2 db (US sc), turn

2. ch 2, trb in next 5 trb, 3 trebles in the stitch space at the toe, go round to the other side of the shoe and do trb in ea 5 trb, 1 trb at the heel, sl st in 1st trb of this round

3. ch 2, db in next 2 trb, sk 2 trb, trb in next 3 treble to form top of toe, sk 2 trb, db in next 3 trb, sl st in 1st db  of this round

4. ch 8 to form ankle strap and sl st in 1st ch

after some hair care the bonnets fit perfectly

Finally, I finished the outfits with bonnets, again with a pattern I made up myself. When I found these dolls, their hair was mostly 'fly-away' and a real mess. After shampooing, conditioning, air drying and finally smoothing with baby oil, their hair came up very nicely indeed. The pretty bonnets help keep the hair in place.

Pretty Bonnets for Kelly Dolls by Teena Sutton

using 1.25mm hook, fine cotton

1. chain 10, trbl (US dc) in 3rd ch from hook, trb in ea next 6 ch, 5 trbl in last ch which is the bottom of the last trbl, trb in the bottom of the other 7 trbl, turn

2. ch 2, trb in ea trbl, extra 3 trbl in last trb, trbl in bottom of each trb, turn

3. ch 2, sk trb, (3 trb in next trbl, sk trb, trb in next, sk trb) twice, 3 trbl ea in next 3 trbl (9 trbl), sk trb, trbl in next trbl (sk trbl, 3 trb in next trbl, sk trb, trb in next) twice, turn

4. ch 2, (sk trbl, 3 trb in next trbl, sk trbl, trbl in next) thrice, 3 trbl in next, trbl in next, (sk trbl, 3 trb in next trbl, sk trbl, trbl in next) thrice, turn

5. ch 2, repeat (sk trbl, 3 trbl in next, sk strbl, trbl in next) seven times, each cluster of 3 is in centre of cluster below, turn

6. repeat row 5 except don't turn, ch about 12 or enough to be long enough to form the chin strap, measure, slip stitch into the other side of the bonnet to form chin strap, don't turn

7 (bonnet frill), ch 2, repeat the pattern from previous row, except each cluster has 5 trebles instead of 3, turn

8. ch 2, repeat the previous pattern, except each cluster has 7 trebles instead of 5, fasten off.

Making outfits for these four Kelly dolls was heaps of fun and very satisfying. I learnt more about adjusting patterns for size, and also how to make pants. These are such a joy - but I think they will be going in a box soon. One day I'll bring them out again as a special treasure.

This is my post for this week's Transformation Thursday hosted @ The Shabby Chic Cottage. Be sure to check out fun crafty stuff at this blog party!

Three Small Things - fingerpuppet, granny square, doily

Here are three small things I've made in the last few days, a Teddy Bear fingerpuppet, a cross-my-heart granny square and a lemon doily.

<<< There is no pattern for this finger puppet, it is merely one of my early attempts at making a crochet toy. I decided to pop a little dress on her, along with a matching flower headband. It was after I embroidered her face that I realised she was back the front. Oh well, her backwards legs are hidden beneath the skirt so it doesn't really matter. She is just for practice after all, and was fun to make. You can see her before she was decorated in my Five Tiny Teddies post as one of my early attempts at making a crochet toy. I think she makes a great companion for my Octopus Boy!

>>> When I asked David what he thought I should make next, his idea was for me to make a lovey-dovey blanket for the lounge, one with a heart motif. I've seen lots of square heart motifs so went back to the net for some ideas. One I saw was a cross my heart granny square. I didn't use that pattern, just looked at it for the idea. I think I might have a go at making a granny square all in one colour then out-lining just one of the four hearts in a contrasting colour using chain stitch.

<<< I was feeling brave so was ready to give making a doily another go. I found a simple doily diagram at a page of beginner crochet doilies. I hit a snag at the 10th round so took it to the Women's Creative Centre to see if I could get some advice on it. Apparently my tension was too tight and I need to use a bigger hook, so after we unravelled the mistake we fastened this one off to make a small doily. It's just the right size to put under the phone that is sitting on my piano.

Love Heart Rag Rug

This is my first completed rag rug and it was hard work so I don't think I'll be making these very often!

love heart rag rug made by crochet strips of material

Using crochet to make a rag rug like this uses a lot of material, so I want this to be the only one that uses material that's not recycled. Really, rag rugs should be made from strips of material salvaged from discarded clothes and sheets. But I had a small collection of cotton material squares that I'd been carrying around for ages, so I decided to put it to good use. It's all the same type of matterial and I think the colours kind of go together. Luckily I have a heap of that blue otherwise this would have turned out a lot smaller.

the material was cut into thin strips with pinking shears

I needed some new mats for the kitchen and knew I could make some from strips of material. After hunting around on the net for ways to turn recycled material into rugs, I found the best one at The Sunroom. My first attempt didn't work out because the biggest hook I had was a size 6, so I went and got myself a size 10, the biggest one they had at the shops, and started again.

rag rug in progress

Using my new pinking shears, I cut strips of ribbon from the material to reduce any fraying. I cut up one square of material at a time to give my hands a break, but my wrists hurt a little from all the hard work! lol. I spent at least two whole days on this, plus several hours here and there spread out over two weeks. I think this is a great way to reuse material that can be cut into long strips, but only if you're time-rich like me. If you don't have the time, I think paying $10-20 for a small rug from the shops might be worth it! 

the love heart rag rug in its place by the back door

But this is a good way for me to make things for my home without spending any money (other than getting a new hook which I'll reuse) and using up things that I might otherwise throw away. From what I've read, this rag rug will flatten out and I can wash it in the machine. This one is about 60cm wide and it's my Valentine's gift this year for the home I share with my true love.

/awww

Love Charm Pincushion

I started the week off yesterday morning with a quick tidy up and stocktake of my current projects. I had some scraps lying around that needed a home and last week's scraptrap was currently deployed! So I quickly whipped this one up, and already its full of scraps and finished to become a lucky love charm or pincushion... or both!

I was upstairs in my sewing room and couldn't be bothered coming downstairs to the computer to check the love heart patterns, so did the only one I could remember from the top of my head. The new scraptrap just had to be a love heart, right? The square based love heart was the only one I could remember, probably because I actually didn't follow a pattern for that one, its just a square with trebles to form the cheeks. I made one, then did a row of trebles along the side which would become a side panel of the 3d heart. Then I made a second heart, putting the treble cheeks where they would match the first heart. It was all matching up nicely, I just had to sew around the two sets of heart cheeks using slip stitch, then a few more trebles down the other side. I left an opening for the scraps to go in during the day, and also some from today went in. I just closed up the opening when it was full. I added a chain at the top, so if I want to hang it up, like in a window or something, I can.

I think this very simple pattern will make a lovely luck charm to hang in our home somewhere, or I'll probably use it as a pincushion so I can retire the silly old spider thing I made! If anyone would like the pattern for this 3D heart charm, just let me know. I'm pretty sure I could write it out if anyone wanted me to.

If you'd like to use this idea on your own website, please link to my blog :)

Three Pink Hearts

I did up some more hearts for practice, with varying degrees of difficulty but equal in cuteness!

The smallest heart is another go at a very easy heart pattern from Suzie's Stuff. The first one I did was blue and wonky, so I had another go and this one is much better and very cute. I'm thinking of slipping it in somewhere for good luck, like in David's wallet or sock drawer!

I thought I could try the square lattice heart by just looking at the picture, without reading the pattern. The change from square to round was trickier than the other heart I did from Drops Design, so I did peek at the pattern. I think my reading is getting a bit better, because I could find my place. I found a small bit of yarn left over from my childhood and used that, still not sure what will become of this heart yet.

The large heart of fans is impressive, still at first I thought I could try it without reading the pattern, but ended up following it which is from Donna's Crochet Designs. This one was a little more tricky than the others, but very nice. This one might end up in the trials and samples rug, or perhaps I'll save it for something special like a bag.

Hardest Heart Yet

This is the most challenging heart I've crocheted yet as I found following the pattern very difficult!

Using the pattern at Inspired Crochet Design, I sometimes had to guess what was meant by the pattern. I don't know if the pattern is flawed, or if it is my lack of skill in reading patterns that made it difficult, but I think the latter is more likely! I unravelled the 3rd row a couple of times before I had to guess what the pattern meant. I didn't know what hdc was and this was the first time I remember seeing it. I learnt how to do this "half double crochet" stitch from watching this youtube video.

Somehow, it works out in the end looking somewhat like it was meant to! Yay for me!! ... lolzz

Wonky and Blue

<<< While I was surfing the net for inspiration I stumbled upon this seemingly simple small heart pattern. I had success with the pattern from Crochetspot, so thought I should give this one a go, too! It's a little wonky I know, but I think my next one will be less so.  I don't know what I'll do with it, but who knows, it might end up as a bag handle end or something, lol.

>>> I used the same wool as I did yesterday when I whipped up a quick project at the end of the day. I got the idea to make a scraptrap from Granny Judith's website. But I figured I could use it as a pin cushion when it was done, instead of a child's toy. I didn't use any pattern, I just made it up as I went along, so like my blue heart, its a little wonky! But for a pin cushion, I have a feeling that's going be quite ok (take That, perfectionist tendancy!) And at the end of the day, I had a heap of cotton and scraps to go in it already. It was an excellent way to finish up the day, with a quick tidy up!

<<< While I'm waiting to go to the doctor, I'm keeping myself busy so I whipped up this one in a few minutes. I really liked this photo of a ten petal flower doily. I just looked at the picture and tried to copy it. My flower only has seven petals because I didn't count the dc in the 1st round. I just ... gave it a whirl!!

A Little Heart

A little heart, but do try not to have too much. Or at least don't leave it lying around where careless people can hurt it, that's my advice! Take care of your little heart, its a precious and fragile thing, no matter how strong it feels.

free pattern at http://www.crochetspot.com/free-crochet-pattern-heart-fridgie

I thought I'd give this crochet pattern a go, its free at http://www.crochetspot.com/free-crochet-pattern-heart-fridgie. I must admit I was surprised it actually worked and ended up resembling a heart at my first attempt, so I'm particularly proud of it. Rachel Choi has an excellent site for those who crochet and according to the articles there, crochet is good for your health. That's no surprise to me as all kinds of sewing, knitting and craftywork fit into the catergory of distraction and diversional therapy. So that's good news for those of us who make managing good health a lifestyle, while enjoying a good yarn!

Being part of a significant, meaningful, loving relationship is another big part of my new lifestyle. There's plenty of research out there about how positive relationships are good for your health. That's why I chose the love heart motif.... coz it's alll Lovey Dovey!!!

enjoy
xoxox