Colorburst Collar

My dear friends!

Thank you so much for your words, they did make me feel better and breathe deeply and relax a bit more...Infact i felt that every mother will go through this and I should grin n smile and bear it and now things are becoming a bit better. I feel the more I compartmentalize and prioritize, the easier the going gets :)

While working on my Little Miss's Pink n Purple blanket, I was distracted by the colorful thoughts of making a collar. It refused to go away and I had to hook this for a simple t-shirt of hers.

 

 The pattern is from the head of yours truly. But its really very simple. I am sure all your smart ladies out there can figure it out!

Intended to make this as the sleeve of her sleeve-less shirt. But in the last couple of days my girl has just had a growth spurt and none of her clothes, i literally mean none, be it her jeans or right down to her bare essentials, all are TIGHT! So now i need another shirt for this collar. What color do you guys suggest?

The latest addition to the blanket are these squares. This is the very lovely pattern known as Circle of Friends pattern by Priscilla Hewitt. You can find the free pattern HERE.

It really is a very easy pattern and not at all as complicated as it looks. The color combination options are endless and each will produce awesome effects! Highly recommended pattern :)

 

So off my friends I go, to attend my motherly duties now. The feeding and the cleaning and the sleeping and the story telling! Get crafty and save your sanity, it is working wonders for me :) and blog about it also, it helps a lot to just vent out somewhere..

Love and more...

xxx

 

Sweet Flower Collar

Hello my lovely dear friends!

Monday morning and already into the 2nd week of July ... Oh where oh where is the time flying i am wondering...I am in my city, My Bangalore. But i do not recognize it at all.. India is fast developing nation and the billions that live here are welcoming the new trends and life style changes a bit too readily! It has been over a year since i came to my city and all seemed to have changed. Especially the prices. With living costs spiraling exponentially, i am left wondering as to what is the real value of happiness these days?

Anyways, this space is not about price rise right, so let me show you something new i did over the last few days...Sorry for the crumpled look as the top was well worn before this photo shoot and i did not find the iron :(

A closer look at the collar.
I used a 2.0mm hook and mondial cotton thread for making the collar. The pattern is my own tho i drew inspiration from HERE. I changed the flower pattern and did a 2 color effect for it.

 Collar all around and not just at the front...

 My pretty model, who loved the outfit as it is in her favourite colors - PINK n PURPLE :)

 

A more serious expression before she hopped skipped and jumped away to have fun!

I am not having much time for crafting these days.. What with going shopping, visiting relatives, catching up with friends and eating at my favourite hang-outs.. all managing with 2 small ones in tow.. not an easy task i must tell you..The little man is not playing still in the parks here, a bit of mud and he comes running ..Mamma...che che...ha ha

The lady is having a swinging time tho :)

He finally consents to play a little bit of his slide.. But can you spot the sorry expression? he he

A few clicks from my next project, i am having lots of fun making these Nana squares. Hopefully i ll show it to you guys in a couple of days! 

Till then, have fun..
Keep crafting, keep smiling and do read the below LINK. It has some crochet rules and i agree with all of them TOTALLY!!

Do write in and let me know whats going on in your sunny space :)

Love,
xxx...

Crochet Rainbow Clip Organizer

Can a girl have enough clips?

Can she...no never...Being in one of the fashion capitals i feel there is just too much accessories in HK, heck people even accessorize their accessories here!! Do you know what i mean? Like they buy a smart phone case. And then they decorate it with bling, then they add more cartoons and such stuff to the case. Add some sparkles. They they put the mobile in a pouch, then they add some stuff to the pouch..and then the pouch goes into a LV/Prada/Gucci/Coach bag..!!

But having girls as your kids is so much fun, there is a street in HK known as Fa Yuen Street where you have more than 100 shops just selling clips and hair bands and what nots for girls.. I scumb to temptation and go there once in 2 months ...cos i know i ll just go crazy there and buy too many things..This weekend i had been there and ended up with dozens of hair bands and even more clips..All of them by the end of the day were lying scattered all through the house and my daughter even managed to put allll the clips on her head once!!

I decided to CLEAN and get organized and that's when it struck me! Why does she throw all her clips? She is a girl, she needs to see the entire store before she picks an item :) So i thought, why not make a clip organizer for her clips?

Wanna see it...

Rainbow clip organizer.. Ta-daaah!!!!!!!!!!!

Let me tell you girls...I had so so so much FUN doing this..

It is pretty easy..will let you know how to whip up one in a few hours!!
Get your hook and make your girl this organizer. She will love it :)

My girl says, "Mamma, this is for my clips?"
I say, "Yes, sweety!".
She says, "Wow, its so beautiful, now i can select my clips on my own!"

Ha ha ha..Hurray for small independence :)

My accessories for decorating this piece of joy..

Want to know how to make it??


Yarn :: Rico Creative Design in rainbow shades and cream. But you can use any cotton yarn. I feel cotton is better as it is a decor item.
Hook size :: Matching to your yarn, gauge is really not important here, its more of a fun thing right?
Lots of buttons and beads and cute animals
Some ribbons/ Ric-racs
Sewing needle and thread.

Warning :: A bit of simple sewing is needed. Just to attach the ribbons to make the racks for pinning the clips.

How to make this color blast clip case:

1. Start with a simple chain of 48 stitches. You can do any other width to suit your needs.
2. SC in second chain from hook and SC throughout.
3. Turn, chain 2. SC in next chain and throughout.
4. Repeat step 3 till the piece measures about 1.5 inches.
5. Turn, chain 4. TRC (triple crochet) in the next stitch and through out.
6. Turn, chain 2 and SC throughout.
7. Repeat step 6 till piece measures 1.5 inches.
8. Repeat step 5 again.

Continue this till you get to the length you desire. Its all very simple and flexible. Treat this as a guidline and do your own fun thing basically. I used a row of TRC's in between to loop my ric-racs. Can you see it below? This way, i stitch the ends of the ric racs or ribbons if you wish and i get a row of band to clip the clips! Hope i am talking sense..Else let the picture guide you guys :)

I even made to pockets and added them for storing rubber bands.
Clipped on my clips at the end..Cheeky mommy - thats me for sure!

Hooked bands of SC's and added a button hole on the last row.
Stitched some buttons on and used a hanger to hang it all up!!

Decorate it as you please.
Use other color combinations and stitches, maybe granny squares too..So many options..Sigh!!

On another totally unrelated front, the summer holidays are here and i am SO HAPPY to be going to India!!! Yahoooooooooo... India calling!!

No more cooking...

No more getting up in the mornings..

No more attending to what is missing in the house...

No more wifey duties...

No more running to school to drop/pick up

More of eating my mom's yummy food..

More of sleeping late and just playing with kids..

More of friends and family...

More of shopping..

I am travelling to Bangalore tomorrow and i am yet to start packing... Let alone the cleaning i need to do...So i better rush!

Stay creative, stay happy, feed your family!

Have a great weekend...

Love,
xxx.

Flower Motif Bolero

My dear lovely people!

How are you?
I have been a very lazy person of late.Tututut!
Actually somehow my days and nights just seem to merge and i am not able to account for any spare time. The kids are fine, the weather is good, i am being crafty and homely..Somehow i seem to be procrastinating a lot..LOT!

Just enjoying my crafty ventures without wondering if i am actually wasting my time :)

Just enjoying the fact that i am not working and DO NOT have any hard deadlines.

Just enjoying the slow motion of everyday-ness - if there is such a word! and not having to worry about what will go wrong as everything seems to move with its correct time and pace.

Just enjoying my daily chores of dropping my princess to pre-school, playing with my son, picking her up from school along with my son and chasing the birds later...

 

I tell you its so much fun sometimes not knowing where you are heading. I know in general what i am doing, but right now, its priority kids, home, family, cooking, crafting and since these happen everyday and do not have deadlines or an end date - i am safe!

So i was browsing thru Pinterest - my actual time-eater and came upon this link HERE.

The wonderful lady has written a great tut for making this bolero...I wanted a gift for my 9 year old neice and was looking at a flower bolero/shrug and finally decided on this. I had to modify it highly, right from decreasing 1 round of the motif, to adding an extra row of motifs and many other things..But hey! You got to do what to got to do if you like a pattern right?

I am really happy with the final look...

 

The sleeve with the details...

The back of the bolero. i used my girl's dress to model it so it might look a bit big, but i am hoping it would fit my niece !!

The bolero comes together by a string on both sides. Girlie and fun!

Have a great weekend and thanks so much for such lovely comments on my first tutorial! It made the effort worth it and made me smile when ever you guys wrote to me! :)))

Love ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Beaded Collar Dress Up!

Hello my lovely people!

A warm welcome to all those who are new here, hope you enjoy your "stay" and i manage to inspire and get inspired by all you talented and awesome crafters :)

How was your weekend? We had a plain one, nothing special as it was really hot here. Hot is fine, but hot + humid + 2 toddlers = 2 tired parents :)) Its funny tho how we complain when it is cold that we need the sun, but when the sun is smiling we are still complaining..tututut!!

Today, i am showing you guys something which is making me reallly real happy! I crocheted something for myself, a little something, i had been eying this for such a long time. But i really did not find a pretty black top as the base for my collar.

Please don't mind the BAD self portrait and just admire the crochet hand work!
The dress off me.. I really am pleased with the beads in it. The small flowers was NOT easy on the hands, but looked great when done.

 A simple chain edging for the sleeve with 3 beaded picot after every 8 chains..

The back of the dress...

 

 This edging was inspired by this lovely book, Edging with beads and various Threads by Crochet Vol2. This is a Japanese book, but that is the best part of crochet right? You just need a chart and some patience and you can create magic :)

You guys want a sneak peak into this lovely book.....
Go on..read on...

You can get some more info HERE.

And a look at what is on my hook now.. Can you guess what it will become??
Something very easy, something very versatile and i am planning on a tutorial for this :)

Till then guys, see you, have a great Monday and love to all my friends and fellow crafters and bloggers who leave me such sweet kind words. It really makes handmade more lovely ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Love,

xxx

Crochet Pencil Cases

Hello my dear lovely crafty people!

Hope you guys had a great weekend...else i hope you will be having a great Monday :)
Thank you guys for such sweet words on my Blue Ripple post. Really made the effort extra special....Again, i am so grateful to this blogging space as it really lets me be creative and showcase it at the same time. Sure way to beat the stress and much cheaper than many other options !!

You remember THIS post where i chatted about my new love for Rico Creative Cotton? I could not wait to get my hands on it and started this crochet project...Oh the joy of instant gratification..projects hooked in a couple of hours...B-L-I-S-S-SSSSS!!!

 

 Little Miss had been asking for Rainbow cupcakes since ages..but i am not for food coloring and tried to coax her with this Rainbow Pencil Case..Seemed to work ..Tho i am sure just for now...She is not going to forget the Rainbow cupcakes any time soon :)

The stitch i have used is the extremely simple, but delightful "Woven Stitch/Moss Stitch" - with just SC and chains you can whip up this wonder...

 

Added her name for bonus points and as usual i HAVE to line my crochet purses/cases.

The second case id made for my delightful niece who is very talented and crafty girl  herself. I also assembled the Pretty Doll accessory by using bits and bobs from my craft stash and gluing it on the wooden heart with heat gun.

Ok! This is the FIRST time i worked with zippers and was terrified of how the result would be. In-fact i spent lots of time searching for the perfect method to hand sew a zipper. I hit jackpot at THIS video.
Basically it works best when you crochet the front and back separately and then attach the zipper on the wrong sides...If you don't have a machine to sew and have never tried hand sewing a zipper...PLEASE i recommend this video. This the edges came out pretty new and i am very proud of myself :) he he he

 

The third case is for my space ship adventurer Nephew! Hope he likes the Buzz-light Year themed case and i still need to find some aliens to fit on the case..

Can you see the zipper beginning here? Any loose ends..Thanks to the video :)

Leaving you with a close up of the Woven stitch. Can't get enough of it. The colors just blend into each other and i am one HAPPY colorful person today :)

How was your weekend ? Did anything crafty? Do write it, love to read all your adventures and looking forward to your crafty ventures too :)


Edited to add : You can now find a link to a tute to make these cuties HERE. Go ahead and get yourself some color play and do let me know if you guys need any more info as i am sure i have goofed up the tute..he he!!
Love,
xxx