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Monday, February 4, 2013

Beautiful Blogger Blanket 2013: My Squares

Hey there!

Do you remember? In December I had already shown you a little teaser of the squares I've made for The Beautiful Blogger Blanket 2013, a great project organized by Jill over at Stocki.


I didn't want to spoil the surprise for Jill, so I had only shown you a little glimpse of my squares so far...:

... although I have to admit that I was impatient enough to use a full shot of one of the squares as profile pic for my new Facebook page. Have you noticed? :)

Today, Jill has published the pictures of my squares in her post "Greetings from K-town" - I'm really flattered by her kind words about my blog - thank you so much, Jill!

So, here are the pictures of my squares before I had sent them to the UK:

The only requirement for the squares (other than their shape of course) was that they have to be made with 100% cotton dk yarn, and so I've used Rico Essentials Cotton DK to make mine. I've got this suggestion from Barbina, the happy winner of last year's stunning blanket, so maybe it's a lucky yarn, and I might win this year ;)

The pattern might look familiar to many of you, because I've used the popular African Flower Hexagon as inspiration for my squares. I've only found out recently that the credit for this Hexagon goes to Lounette Fourie and Anita Rossouw who have published this pattern in the South African Sarie Magazine. There's a great tutorial for making these hexagons on Heidi Bear's blog, and that's where I had first seen them a long time ago.

The only problem I always had with the African Flower Hexagons is their shape: when you join them to a blanket, you always have an uneven border. And nevermind how clever the solutions are, that people come up with to solve this problem (like half-hexagons), they're still just solutions to a problem that wouldn't exist in the first place, if the motif was... well, a square! :)

There are already some versions of African Flower Squares out there in the www (just ask google), but somehow I wanted to try to "square the hex" myself, and this is what I came up with:

I hope you all like my version of the African Flower Square, because I have already taken step-by-step pictures for a tutorial I want to share with you, soon (if you're interested). I just need to write down the instructions to the pictures, and I hope I'll manage it til the week-end!

Have a great week everyone and thanks for stopping by in k-town tonight!







24 comments:

  1. Hi Barbara,
    Oh waw, beautiful work.

    I've admired the African Flower hexagon on Heidi Bears Blog and I used her tutorial for joining as you go.

    I like a lot your African Flower granny square, it is a great solution for not very handy crocheter as I am. :) Of course, I am interested in instructions of granny square.
    Renata

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  2. Lovely, Lovely, Lovely. So pretty and seeing them in the square is so much more practical. I have a rather large pile of UFO african flowers because the hex seems a little impractical. Solution found!

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  3. Gorgeous squares ! Love the colors!

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  4. Olá Bárbara! Parabéns pelos lindos trabalhos, seus quadrados African Flor ficaram maravilhosos, lindos, lindos!!!!! Beijos e um carinhoso abraço.

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  5. Your square is beautiful.....so pretty 😍. I will definately check back for your tutorial.

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  6. I would love a tutorial for this square :) it would be perfect for a baby blanket!

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  7. These are beautiful, Barbara! very nice colors and so neatly done!
    The Blogger Blanket is an awesome project, but I'm not participating, as of now.
    Have a nice day!
    Anna

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  8. Yes Barbara, please do share the tutorial.The squares are looking neat and lovely.

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  9. Beautiful, charming and elegant. Gorgeous pictures also. Great taste.

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  10. Yeay Barbara! I love these blocks you've made! Can't wait for the tutorial, sorry for my bad english, i'm dutch ;)

    Love the yarn and colors!

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  11. You have combined beautiful pastel shades!

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  12. what a gorgeous block! I would love it if you shared the block!

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  13. You've solved a problem for many there I think Barbara, including me! Your squares are so perfectly crocheted, I can't wait to try them for myself. Look forward to the tutorial. Excited already :)

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  14. Superschön, Barbara, auch eine ganz tolle Farbkombi!

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  15. Oh, this squares are so beautiful! Will wait for the tutorial as I definetly want to make some!

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  16. Such lovely squares! I haven't made mine yet - I can't tell you how much I would love to win one year.
    Loving your blog too - glad Stocki pointed me over here.
    I have a serious crochet addiction at the moment - and I mean serious (see my current blog post!) Pleased to 'meet you', fee
    x

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  17. grrr - you are a no-reply blogger on my comments so here's my response to your email!!
    Oh MY...I haven't looked at my first post since i wrote it...how nuts? and how clunky! What a good idea of yours.

    Now, I learnt my block trade by trial and error. Unfortunately cheaper paper can work better, mod podge (the paper option) is a must (I've tried the cheaper versions) lots of sanding and then inking with Tim Holtz distress inks. That's pretty much it in a nutshell. I'm finding crochet much cleaner...but hoping the mojo for wood will come back soon, I miss it!

    Lovely to hear from you
    fee x

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  18. Deine Squares sind super geworden!! Ich stelle mir grade eine Decke aus deinen Squares vor, soo toll! Ich hoffe die Wolle bringt dir ganz viel Glück! Ich drück dir die Daumen!
    Alles Liebe für dich! xxBarbina

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  19. So pretty! You always make such lovely things. Looking forward to the pattern; thanks in advance :-)

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  20. These squares are so beautiful. I love the pale pastel shades you used, they remind me of Easter.

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  21. I would love the tutorial on the African violet square. Beautiful!

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