Mandala Love - in the pink!

Woohoo, I have created a mandala entirely of my own design.  I have been toying with the idea of making a mandala wall-hanging and thought that a sculptural effect would be great.

So I leaved through a book on classical motifs and thought I would try one, I made a mess of it as I didn't really understand the instructions. 

However I thought I would go with it and decided to make the petals stand out.

I used the idea of the African flower and made a short chain between the spokes I had to do the chain in front of the petal and then push it through so that the chain was at the back.

That worked so then I used the chain to do 2 rounds of trebles.

At this stage I toyed with turning it into a square but in the end decided to carry on.  So I did a row of double V's and a cluster in the V.  Then I did a scalloped round and gave it the treatment used for the African flower.

However it was getting very full and I needed to undo and do less stitches, but being lazy I learnt the lesson of the central flower and decided to try and tighten the last few rounds by using a chain to pull it all together.

Yay It worked.

I think I might do a few more rounds and turn it in to a cushion cover as I have some lovely textured linen.  I don’t really want a lot of pink in my wall-hanging.  I have a few areas where it needs refining which I will do for one in the wall hanging.  Maybe I will post my first tutorial!!!

This week I have been playing a lot with circles and have made heaps of coasters in different cottons.

This one is my favourite so far.

The weather this week has been dry but windy and grey, but we had a bit of sun and Ambrose took advantage to watch me mow the lawns.

It has been very mild this winter and usually all lawn mowing has stopped some of the trees still have their leaves, such as this tree I saw on a walk earlier in the week.

Beautiful!

Well that’s it for now have a wonderful week every body and thank you for visiting.

Linking to Annemaries Link Your Stuff

Mandalas and Shortbread

I haven’t had much time to crochet this week, but all my plans for what time I had went out the window when I saw Zooty Owls new mandala- starflower.  Oh my word it is glorious, of course I had to get going…..straight away!  She is so generous with her designs.

Perhaps it is fortunate that I didn’t have enough colours in cotton to do the pattern as I was forced to use what I had.  In doing so I have a wonderful new use for a Mandala – yep the mandala shawl!

left to right
firebird, rhapsody,  and magic

I went to my trusty variegated 4 ply wool (Patons Fantasias range) and used 3 colour ways – magic, firebird and rhapsody).

To create this beautiful mandala!  (I did have to break off the wool in places to avoid some colours I didn't want creeping in.)  I haven’t done the last few rows as I am not yet sure I want them in the shawl.

While I was crocheting away I kept thinking this would make a wonderful centre point for a shawl, thus the idea was born.

So out came the colour pencils and I have sketched out I want it to look.  2 – 4 more mandalas, two probably up to row 6 or 7 and 2 up to row 4.  With the surrounds a lacy stitch in the ‘magic’ colour way.  I don't know how to do the joining and lacy bits, but I am sure I will figure it out!

I am linking this post to Cosmos and Cottons Monthly Mand-a-Long  I will probably link the finished shawl to next month’s Mand- a- Long.

I have just realized that I have been blogging for 3 months and crocheting for 6 months, doesn’t time fly.   I had started this blog to talk about my crochet and crafts along with my other passions cooking and gardening.  Um… crochet seems to be taking the upper hand, and the cooking and gardening have been neglected.

So without further ado here is a recipe for yummy lemon shortbread.

Lemon Shortbread

Ingredients

200 gm (7oz) butter,

½ cup (4oz) castor sugar,

grated rind of 1 lemon (NB lime is nice too, or a mix.)

2 cups (8oz) plain flour sifted,

½ cup desiccated coconut.

Method

Beat butter and castor sugar and rind till light, Work in flour and coconut, but not over work!  Roll out to 1cm (¼ inch) thick and cut into shapes of your fancy.  Bake 20 minutes at 160 degrees Celsius , cool on tray. (the coconut gives it a lovely taste and is not quite the same without it)

I love Shortbread, in all its forms.  I started to bake it when  I was about 13 for my father as he loved it so much, then it was plain shortbread, now I have a tendency to add other flavours, such as this lemon  one or sometimes in summer I like to add English lavender flower seeds, or sometimes I like to add ground coffee.

The gardening bit, Lemons are one of my favourite flavours and would choose it over chocolate any day!  So of course I have to have lemon trees, I have two a Meyer and a Lemonade which you can eat as is!  They are starting to ripen up nicely and this year I planted a lime and I noticed that it has a dozen limes, Yay!

To finish this rather long post (I must try and blog twice a week so posts are not so long!)I have a photo of a flower that is by my front door, it has been blooming all summer and autumn, I have no idea of its name but I just love the green and wine colour of the flowers.

Thanks for visiting and I wish you all a wonderful week!

My Crochet Week

I have wanted to redecorate my house, especially my bedroom for a while, it is decidedly getting shabby, I can’t even say it is shabby chic!  Over the last few weeks I have been delighting in Pinterest, oh my gosh isn't it addictive!  I have gone from bohemian to gypsy chic to shabby chic to romantic, there is just so much wonderful stuff out there.  I had come to no decision until I was in the local fabric shop and spotted the fabric I want for the curtains.  I just fell in love with it.  So now I had the colours.  Of course my head immediately went to what hooky stuff I could have in there.

For years I have wanted a cotton lacy crochet bedspread in white.  So I picked up some white cotton and of course I had to pick out a green and the rusty red colour.

Getting home I thought I could get started on a small cushion to see how the colours work.  I am very fascinated with the popcorn stitch at the moment so I went scouring the net for ideas.  First idea was from  AnaZard Atelier.

I was not convinced and when I saw this square I knew I had found the answer. It is Primavera Grannie Square from Dada's Place.

I decided to even abandon the completely white bedspread in favour of a mix of the three above.  I am not sure at this stage whether I will add a blue or pale yellow. 

Of course, being addicted to mandalas at the moment I had to try one in these colours.

Think it will OK, nice on the bedside table, the pattern was from  Lizzie Bella.

While I was at it I had to try the pattern adapted slightly with some cotton I had found in the local hospice op shop..  12 balls of Twilleys no 3 in pampas, goodness how old it was as it had the price labels from James Smith a big department store in Wellington that closed about 15 or more years ago!  I only paid $4!  I picked up some other crochet bargains, but will blog about it later.

I think I would call this a doily rather than a mandala.  You can see it in the photo but it has a nice sheen to it.

This week I have also been working on my shawl, scarves for family and granny squares for a baby blanket.

Are you like me and have numerous projects on the go? However, sometimes I wish I could just work on one project at a time and get it finished faster!

Linking to Annmarie's Link your Stuff

First of all I want to welcome my new followers, Anna, Gaby, Amy, Daisy Jones and Lindevrouw.

Here, the trees are starting to turn into glorious colours, as the days get colder.  I took this photo on my walk this morning – wonderful!  I can’t wait for the reds to appear. 

With such colour around me I can not but help create crochet and art in these tones.

I have been making a cushion cover out of the variegated wool that I used for the Mandalas last week.  I was thinking of having a pretty flowery cotton backing with a frill.

While I was doing the edging last night,  I realised I had a wonderful use for a mandala.  Do you remember the circular cushions that used to have tapestry or embroidered centres.  The material was gathered at the edge of the embroidery.   I have no idea how to make one, is the material cut into a large circle and gathered?  Will have to research it.

Anyways, this morning – murky damp day – I got stuck in and crocheted this simple mandala in grannie stitch, I think it will look nice with some flowery cotton.  Actually I might undo the shell edging and crochet a few more rounds,  but will wait till I find the right material. 

Oh I nearly forgot, early in the week I did this pink mandala for a friend’s daughter who is crazy about pink and purple, what little girl isn't!  This is for you Samantha.

Autumn inspiration!

I love lace and I love playing around with photos in Photoshop. So this afternoon I have been playing with the autumn photos and two vintage Victorian ladies I have downloaded from http://thegraphicsfairy.com/

Original photos

Have a great weekend and week.

Linking my crochet to Chrissies Mand-a-Long

Mand-A-Long

Hello, I am linking this post to Chrissie's Mand-a-Long.  It seems that there is a bit of an obsession with Mandalas in crochet blogland!  I know I am obsessed.  I posted last week about the mandalas I did them, mainly with 4 ply wool, using variations on Winks pattern from Simply Crochet.  I have carried on the good work with the one below, an antique feel this time, more subdued.

It matches a find from one of the local op sops this week – Japanese lustre cup.  I haven’t shown it here but the outside of it is very beautiful too – a teal green with gold trim.

Yesterday, I decided to go a bit brighter and the result was these two.

Very Summery!  The top one was a variation of a Mandala pattern by Wink on Tuts.  The pink wool one is more or less following the pattern I found on Made in K Town’s Blog.  I see great possibilities for these and I am in the process of trying out my own design – getting the increases right for each round is the difficult trick.  But I will beat it.  I will post it when I have.

The other thing I have been doing this week is trying out motifs for a light shawl that’s the other obsession I have at the moment – er …. Along with bags, both crocheted and embroidered ones.  Below is the motif for the shawl that I have settled on.  The colours will be just right for the cooler nights we are getting with Autumn.

That has been my crochet week, why not go over and check other Mandalas at Chrissies Crafts.

P.S   Oh, this Mandala obsession actually has been around a longish time for me! I posted about these pot holders when I first started this blog last month.

Also linking with Cosmos and Cottons Monthly Mandalong

Mandala? Doily?

Ah, the best laid plans of men and mice!  I was going to complete my ‘Olympia’ bunny for my grandniece Kendal this week.  But this happened!

I managed to do the body of the bunny (by the way my first toy ever!) And while I was doing the pink and white dress realized that it and the ecru colour of the rabbit didn't match.

The pattern was in white, I had no white so off to the wool shop (any excuse!).  So I got started on a new bunny.  You can’t see in the photo that the pink and white dress has glitter, just right for a princess. 

I decided that the ecru rabbit would be great for Kendal’s brother, dress him in a baggy top and shorts.  So while in the shop I kept an eye out for suitable wool.  In the discount basket they had just the job – variegated 4 ply.

Ah, it tantalized me all day, and next for some reason I was crocheting mandalas.  Where did that come from!  Could it be from the Simply Crochet Magazine I had just brought with a Mandala tantalizing me (we get the magazine about 2 months behind here in NZ). Or was it the lovely mandala Chrissie had last week, or the tutorial by Lizzie here…. Whatever the reason the bunny has been abandoned and I am playing with the variegated wool.

 I have been so inspired by this wool that I went to the wool shop today and brought all she had of it - 14 balls.  I am thinking a shawl? Perhaps a baby’s blanket – there is a new arrival soon in my extended family.

I think I was inspired by my garden.  This miniature rose has had a new least of life this autumn.

One question, to me these are doilies, so what makes a mandala –is it when you add the different colours yourselves and not the lazy way I did relying on luck making the changes for you?  Whatever, I do know that I will be doing more of these!  I am trying to stop my hands going to my stash and picking out colours, well at least till I finished the kids bunnies!  So hopefully I will show the bunnies next week.

Today I am linking to Yarn Along link up.  Why not head over there and see what other lovely yarny stuff is being created.