Two Patchwork Stones

Hi there, how are you all doing on this rainy day in july?

Tomorrow, John and I will be going to Austria for a few days and I thought I'd leave you with some impressions of my latest covered stones. If you enter "crochet stones" or "covered stones" in google, you'll get lots of fabulous pictures. Lately, there are also more and more stones covered with little fabric patches - and again, Margie Oomen's stones are simply outstanding (here's an example in her etsy shop).

Of course I wanted to try this version as well and combine it with my own ideas by adding crocheted flowers and the obligatory buttons. This was my first try:

I picked a really huge stone for this, because I thought I needed a bigger surface for this project.

On the picture above you see the little details, like the flower, the fabric butterfly and the buttons.

I'm really quite happy with my first try, although there are some details I'd like to improve for the next stones.

For my second stone I wanted to use fabric patches in different shades of green:

I think the patches look nice in combination with the green crocheted flower.

I'm really looking forward to making the next one! Sometimes my brain is overfloating with ideas, if only there was more time...

Have a nice week-end everyone, I'll be back in a few days!

Special Feature # 4: More of my Aunt's Crochet

Hi, I'm back today with the last Special Feature of my Aunt Traudi's crochet.

Let's start with the amazing stool cover I've already mentioned in my last post:

She's got this stool in front of her bedroom's dresser, isn't it just lovely?

Most of her windows are decorated with crocheted items, too. Here's one of her covered bowls:

My Mom's also got a few of them hanging around in the house, and I've got one in our living-room (a blue one, my favorite color). Here are two more from my aunt's house:

And here are two examples of her window-pictures:

Finally I wanted to show you at least one example of my aunt's other crafts, and I've picked those flowers:

They're made with wire and very thin nylon fabric, the next picture is my favorite one - it's a plastic ring decorated with those flowers and a ribbon to hang it on the wall:

I really admire my aunt, she's got so many talents, and everything she makes is just so beautiful!

So this was the last part of the Special Features. Again, I'd like to thank you all for your wonderful comments so far! My aunt's gonna visit us in two weeks for my nieces birthday and I'm looking forward to showing her my posts and your comments - she doesn't have a computer, so she hasn't seen the pictures yet. I bet she likes it :)

 

Special Feature # 3: My Aunt's Crochet

I've already shown you pictures of my Grandma Maria's crochet here and there. Today I'd like to introduce you to my Aunt Traudi and her crochet. She worked as a seamstress before she retired and she's interested in all kinds of crafts, not only sewing and crochet, but also macrame and other stuff I don't even know the name of :)

My aunt is more into making doilies and other lacy things with thinner yarn, so these two cushions are rather an exception:

I think the patterns are rather interesting, and luckily my aunt has kept the descriptions and gave it to me!

Do you remember my Grandma's dolls with the crocheted dresses? My aunt also made one years ago:

This doll's got a porcelain body which is from another aunt of mine who worked in a porcelain factory (but I don't know if she made it herself) - quite a creative family, you could say :)

Now to the lacy stuff, here's some Easter decoration:

These are transparent plastic eggs, covered with lacy patterns and embellished with ribbons and pearls. Here are two more:

 

I can't remember how many doilies she showed me, and I really took lots of pictures - here are just two of them:

She's also got dozens of magazines with doily patterns and gave them to me - I'm not much of a doily fan, but some of the patterns would be great for my stones, I think.

That's it for today. I've still got some pictures of my aunt's covered bowls, window pictures and a great stool cover - I'm looking forward to your next visit in k-town! :)

Magic Blanket Ride: Chapter 2

Today's the first day of our two weeks summer vacations, yippie! Actually it will rather be a working vacation, because we want to renovate the balcony and the bathroom and buy new furniture. So today we started our "vacations" with a trip to the DIY store and this afternoon John has already painted the wood panelling on the balcony. There's still a lot to do though, but maybe we can still go on a few days vacation to Austria - depending on how much time and money is left after the renovating :)

But now back to the Magic Blanket Ride - it's getting more and more colorful, look:

To tell you the truth, in the beginning I was a little worried, that the blanket might not turn out the way I had it in mind, but now I like it better every day!

It looks so happy with all those different colors, and there are still seven colors left that I haven't used yet!

Here are both sides in a direct comparison, I also love the way the dark side turns out:

Intermediate Statistics:

Width: 1,50m (~59 in) (still the same)

Length: 42cm (~16.5 in)

Colored Stripes: 9

Days actually worked on the blanket: 13 (today was my first day off)

And now I've got to leave you for today - Thursday night is poker night :)

Special Feature # 2: More of Grandma's Crochet

I had so much fun writing yesterday's post and reading all your wonderful comments, so I couldn't wait to show you more of my Grandma's crochet. So, let's go back to my Aunt's house and see what we'll find today...

Here's a round cushion. My parents have still got the same one at home and I've known this cushion for as long as I can remember. Maybe one day I'll sit down and try to figure out how grandma made it:

This is the back:

The next cushion was completely new to me, I'm sure I've never seen it before:

 

aaaahh... no words necessary...

I really thought that forty years ago people mainly made the traditional granny square, so you can imagine my surprise, when I saw this little blankie:

It's the 1970s calling (or rather screaming) again :) But have a closer look at the pattern, isn't that just awesome??

In my mind I see this blanket with light pink circles and light green "leaves" on a white ground...

Here's another, bigger blanket:

I think my grandma made it with lots of front and back post dc's, similar to the basketweave pattern but with a different placement of the stitches:

Today's last blanket is a treasure we've still got at home:

This is a woven crochet baby blankie my grandma made for my brother (he was born in 1971). I remember using this blanket for my dolls, and my niece Hanna's still got it in her doll's pram - and that's where I found it today :) Such a gorgeous pattern...

And finally... do you remember when I told you that I had a crochet dress but couldn't find a picture of it? My Mom found one :) It's not a very good picture, though - but anyway: here's a picture of my Mom and me and my little crochet dress:

I hope you've enjoyed this little trip to the 1970s as much as I did! Next time it's my Aunt's turn - different style but beauuuuuutiful! :)