Home Decoration in Crochet by Tanya Eberhardt

Hi there my crafty friends!  How's your October going?  It has been a busy month for me, but then again this whole year seems to have flown by, life away from the computer has been full on!

Anyway, I have still been finding time to crochet so it's all good. :) 

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to receive a copy of a gorgeous new crochet book called 'Home Decoration in Crochet' by Tanya Eberhardt, and was asked to take part in a blog hop to celebrate the release of the book.  I was happy to say yes! You might already know that Tanya has a fabulous crochet and knitting blog called Little Things Blogged, and now she has written this beautiful book full of lovely crochet designs to make for your home. I also think there are lots of projects in this book that would make great gifts!

I decided to try out this cute doily pattern, because I really love the colours in the photos of the 3 sizes of doily, and I like their updated retro feel.   The pattern was easy to follow and had both written and graphic instructions which I really liked, (often I like to refer to the graphic pattern to get an overview of the design).
I think it has turned out really well, I have decided I'm going to have an ongoing project, making pot holders and doilies when I find cute patterns, and make an installation on a wall in the shop, I think this might be my first one to pop on the wall!
There are several projects in this book that I'd like to make, and with designs for blankets, cushions, bags and lots of smaller projects like pin cushions and jar cosies, there is something for every skill level!  I also really liked the geometric popcorn cushion pattern, that might be the next one I try out!

There are lots of other bloggers taking part in the blog hop, sharing lots of different projects from the book, you can find the schedule on Tanya's post over here.

Talk soon peeps, I'm off to do some crochet! :)

Tunisian Crochet Workshop by Michelle Robinson

Hi there everyone! 

I hope your day is going well, it is beautiful here, Spring has finally arrived and it is so good!

Today I'm sharing something exciting that a friend of mine has done, 

Michelle Robinson of Poppy and Bliss fame has written a wonderful book all about Tunisian Crochet, it's called 'Tunisian Crochet Workshop' and I was lucky enough to be given a copy of the e-book to review and be part of a blog hop to celebrate the launch of the book 

As someone who hasn't dabbled in Tunisian crochet before, this book was excellent at explaining 

the techniques for a beginner, while also exploring lots of more advanced stitches for when you are ready for more.  Also, the projects are very cute!  Michelle has created a truly comprehensive guide to Tunisian Crochet, I'm sure it will become my go to book on this subject! 

I chose to play with the basic stitches in a swatch format just to start learning about Tunisian Crochet, I love how some of the stitches create a fabric very similar to knitting, there is such a lot of scope for creativity with this form of crochet! 

Here are my first attempts at Tunisian crochet, the bottom section is the basic stitch, the middle section is Tunisian knit stitch, and the top section is Tunisian Purl stitch.  I enjoy them all, and am thinking I'll make some washcloths to practice a bit more before I try one of the gorgeous projects in the book.  I am also planning to explore the colour work section of the book more fully, so many great colour play opportunities with Tunisian crochet. 

If you'd like to have a sneak peep at the book, go here to check it out.  

 The book is available from Sewandso, you can buy a copy here or in e-book format.

To see what the other lovely bloggers thought about this book the blog hop details are here, 

I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning Tunisian Crochet, Michelle has done a wonderful job with this book! xxxxxxxxxxx

"Let's Go Camping " by Kate Bruning, and a giveaway!

Hello! 

I have something lovely to share with you all today,  something I have been anticipating with delight ever since I first heard about this fabulous project.   

I'm sure you all know the amazing crochet whizz Kate Bruning from the blog Greedy for Colour, her wonderful crochet creations have been putting a smile on my face for ages.  

I always love to see what Kate is working on, it is sure to be something original, whimsical and inspiring.  

Well, Kate has just released her latest book "Let's Go Camping" full of truly fabulous patterns for mini world adventures.  

The publishers sent me a copy to look at and share with you, and I have to say it is my favourite crochet book already! 

There are patterns for mini teepees, ice cream trucks, lake houses, boats, long boats, mountains, trees, and of course Kate's famous retro caravan complete with all the gorgeous accessories that you would imagine would go with each set.  And that is just the tip of the iceberg.  There are so many cute things to make in this book , that I really don't know where I will start! 

I'm thinking I will make a lake mat and slowly fill it with little boats and flowery islands surrounded by a lush forest of trees and a camping ground around the edge with a caravan and colourful teepees.  

And that's just for starters!  :) 

The styling and photographs and are truly beautiful and showcase the magic and detail of the worlds Kate has created.  

............the lake house set, so cute!......

.......love the mini bunting and stripy teepee! .....

......This river scene is just so darn cute!! And the roof comes off and there is a little bed and furniture inside, so clever!   I love all the little elements that Kate has included in each different set, so  detailed! 

Aren't the hydrangea pots fabulous! I am definitely making some of these, I think they would look gorgeous hanging from my Christmas tree too! 

I feel so glad that Kate has made this book and written all these wonderful patterns down in one place, her imagination is so fertile and I just love the scenes she creates.  I can't recommend this book highly enough, it is completely inspiring and appeals to me on so many levels, it is playful, whimsical, original, colourful and super cute!   Thank you so much for all your amazing hard work Kate, it has truly paid off with this adorable collection! 

So, after all that gushing, I am happy to say I am having a giveaway! 

One lucky person can win this copy of Kate's book all for themselves! Yay! 

Just leave a comment on this post and I will pick a winner next Tuesday. :) 

 (It is so lovely that I am going to stock it in my shop, so I will be sure to grab a copy for my own library!)

You can read more about the making of this book on Kate's blog here. :) 

Do you like making cute crochet things too?  

Do you make them for children of for yourself like me? :) 

Ok that's all for tonight, I think I'm going to dream of magical little lake houses with islands of flowers and crocheted mountains and wooly Playmobil friends :)   

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

weekly stills....

Weekly stills:

1. Picking colour combinations for a new set of heart washers, this part takes me ages, I need to stop procrastinating! 

2.  Lovely snail mail! I received this gorgeous package today from my creative pen pal Mel, aren't I lucky!   (It is so nice to receive mail that is not a bill or a credit card application!)

Thank you Mel, I love it all!  

Just about to sit down with a diet coke and have a read. ;) xx

3 + 4. I have been into Melbourne a couple of times in the last few weeks and have done a little shopping!  New washi tape and a rather big pile of new crafty books to keep me busy over the Summer.  Can't wait to have a good read!

5. Had a little bake off this morning, feeling quite festive after making 5 batches of our family recipe shortbread.  I only make it at Xmas time because it is so moreish that I could eat a whole batch by myself!  These bags are destined for other people so I can't gorge on them myself, although I might have tested out a piece or 3! :) 

(Recipe is over here if you are tempted to make some yourself, although I decided to whizz it all up in the food processor rather than melt the butter this time.)

6. My cute card display. There are so many gorgeous cards out there by very talented illustrators, I have decided to create a little inspiration wall with cards that are too nice to throw out.  I really like looking at these! 

How has your week been? 

Did you have a busy weekend, or have you got a busy week ahead? 

It is getting to that time of year when there seems a million things on at once!  

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

More than a Granny, review and giveaway!

Hello! 

Today I have something lovely to share with you all, my crafty friends.  

A hooky friend of mine, Shelley Husband, has just written a fabulous 

ebook called 'More than a Granny' and it is full of good stuff for us crochet fans.

(Shelley has a great blog called Spincushions and is big on Instagram too!)  

Lucky me, Shelley forwarded a copy to me for a sneaky preview, 

so I have been giving it a good read!

I am in awe of her ability to produce such a resource for crocheters, her designs are really great, with 20 motifs including a nice mix of flowery motifs, more lacy type square and also some excellent geometric designs too.  There is something for everyone in this selection of patterns, and another interesting thing that Shelley has done is make them all the same size so you could make a beautiful mixed motif blanket using lots of different squares!  How gorgeous would that be, I think that's going on my to do list! 

The patterns are very well explained with clear instructions and a good stitch dictionary for those slightly trickier stitches.   There are some simpler patterns that would be good for new crocheters, and there are also some challenging ones for the more experienced hooker to get their teeth into! 

There is a US and UK version so you won't get confused with stitch terms. 

I thought I would give this lovely square called 'Crop Circles' a try, I love all the circles, and it would also look great in bold mixed colours, I think it has a bit of a modern retro feel to it, it would make a great blanket!

This is Shelley's example from the ebook, noice! :)

 And here is my first two squares, I love them, even if they need a bit of a blocking!  

I am thinking I will make 42 and do a little blanket, I have gone to my favourite colours, but I have a few others to add in the next square.

This pattern was a nice challenge for me, I wasn't sure if I could do all the different circles and get them looking good, but I followed Shelley's pattern and it has turned out great!  I like Shelley's tips for getting a professional finish to your crochet, it really is the little things that make a difference.

I have to confess I had never read an ebook before, ( I am a bit of a traditionalist and like a real book to look at) but I found it really easy and convenient and think I am a convert, I will probably look into more books in this format!   

And you don't need an e-reader to use it, it can be downloaded as a PDF from Smashwords, easy peasy!  It is available from lots of places on the internet, have a look at Shelley's post here for more info on techy stuff, and where you can pick up a copy. :)

And guess what!

Shelley has generously offered a free copy to a reader of Little Woollie! :)  

So if you would  like to win a copy of this lovely crochet ebook, leave a comment and tell me what is your favourite thing to make from motifs.  Blankets? Bags? Cushions? I will pick a winner on Saturday, good luck! 

Ok I think that is all I have for you today, I am going to go and make another crop circles square! :)

Have a lovely hooky day! :)

Another good read and a Stanley winner!

Hello! How is your week going so far? It is a normal old week around here, and as the weather has turned nasty again, I think I might actually get a fair bit of creative time over the next few days. Yay!

So, I thought I'd show you a good read.  I was in the city last week and bought a copy of Alphabet.  I had seen this on a few other blogs and it looked very interesting! Alplabet is a new journal ( it is kind of too nice to just call it a magazine!) and is full of interesting people and reads revolving around the theme of family.  Really lovely photos, and lots of great stories.  I think I will keep an eye out for the next issue!  :)

Also, it is time to pick a winner of my 'Stanley and the Hot Air Balloon' giveaway!  Thank you to everyone who entered and shared some of their favourite reads, a lot of titles I recognised from my own childhood and there were also some new ones to me to check out.  It was actually really nice to reflect back on my childhood favs, I think I might have to put together a little list and share it over here one day.  

So anyway, with at great amount of fan fare, the winner is Jodiebodie!  Congratulations!   

If you see this, could you email me your postal address and I'll get it sent to you ASAP.

That's about it for today, what have you got planned for the rest of the week? 

Stanley and the Hot Air Balloon, a review and a giveaway!

Hello everyone! 

Today I am excited to show you something lovely a very creative lady has been cooking up. 

Fabulous Kate Bruning, the mastermind behind Greedy For Colour blog, (one of my favs I have to say) has written a beautiful children's book, called 'Stanley and the Hot Air Balloon', 

and self published it, the clever thing! 

Kate makes amazing things out of yarn and a hook, I am sure many of you have been watching all the interesting and beautiful creatures and props Kate has been making over the last year or so on her blog, I have been very keen to see the finished product, and it is just as cute and wooly and magical as I expected!

Not only has she written a lovely story about Stanley rabbit, she has created a whole crocheted world in which he inhabits. I just love Kate's crocheted mini world, it is so full of details and little bits of fantastic crocheted ephemera, so beautiful!

I love how the fonts are different and colourful,  and the dreamlike quality to Stanley's world really makes me want to create a crochet mini world as well!

There is also a section at the back full of crafty patterns to make a Stanley rabbit of your own and a hot air balloon and other cute things from the story.  This is perfect, as the story really made me want to make my own Stanley and balloon.   Definitely on the to do list.  They would make lovely presents for little people (or big people too!).

I can imagine a whole flock(?) of balloons dangling around my house, I think it would be quite a lovely sight.

Here are a few of the pretty pages to show you what I mean! Gorgeous!

.....love those magical  mushrooms and mini mice :) .... 

.....a glittery, magical land, I want to go there!.....

....cute family snaps on the inner cover, love all those little baby cots.....

So, Kate has very generously sent me a copy of her book and also one to giveaway to one of you. 

How good is that! :)

Kate is selling her gorgeous book through her Etsy shop over here if you'd like to have a look.  I think  it would be a great present for crafty kids or crafty anyone really!  

(And supporting a lovely creative talent so a win/win really!)

So if you would like to enter the giveaway, just leave comment telling me what your favourite children's or crafty book is, I'd love to get some new recommendations, and I will pick a winner next Tuesday!

Good luck!

Have a fantastic day people, hope the sun is shining wherever you are!

  xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

This post contains affiliate links

weekly stills....

1. My new harlequin blanket is starting to grow.....

2. My community garden group spent a lovely morning visiting the Mornington Community Garden, I'm all inspired to get stuck back into my food garden, something I have let slide recently.

3.  I couldn't resist buying these mini daffys, so cheerful.

4. A bowl full of flavour.  Garlic to stick in the veggie garden.

5. This is a lovely little read.

Joining in over at The Beetle Shack with the others for the Weekly Stills linky.

From my bookshelf....

Hi there!

How are things around your place?  We are currently breathing a big sigh of relief as a cool change has finally hit and we are getting some lovely cool wind through our house after a stifling night of tossing and turning. ( No air con in our place).  I have opened all the windows and doors very wide and am hoping to flush all the super hot air out and replace it with fairly warmish air instead!   

Much more liveable! 

Meanwhile, I am sharing another of my recent booky acquisitions 

with you, Made By Hand by Lena Corwin.  Have you seen this around the book shops, it's been out for a while I think? 

This is a beautiful, stylish book, it has a lovely calm, clean feel, that makes me want to go and declutter my work space right away!

Oh, and the projects are gorgeous too!  There are great clear instructions with plenty of photos showing you tricky bits, so things seem very doable to me.  I like that there are many different crafty contributors to this book, lots of different crafts are covered and they are all very beautiful.

It looks good doesn't it?

I am going to have a go at these coiled bowls, I have a big box of yarn scraps that I think would make lovely bowls, so this is on my crafty agenda for the coming year.

There are also lots of sewing, printing and dyeing projects in here, something for every crafty taste me thinks!  

Loads of inspiration, I have picked quite a few other projects I'd like to have a crack at.

So, have you come across any inspiring books recently?

----------------------------------------------------

Well, I am off to go and do a bit of crochet myself, it's still too hot to do much, and too windy for the beach, so inside relaxing is the call of the day.  The housework will have to wait, I can hear a long cool drink calling my name! 

Thank you for all the lovely comments you left on my last post about the harlequin blanket, you are all very kind!  The crafty community is such a supportive community, I love being a tiny part of it! Talk soon xxxxxxxxxxx

PS. This is not a sponsored post in any way, I bought this book from a bookshop because I liked it, and am sharing it here because I thought you might too!

from my bookshelf....

Hello!

Well I hope everyone in South Eastern Australia is staying cool and coping with the heat wave ok!

Looks like we have 2 more days of over 40 degrees ahead and then cooler temperatures will move in.

Our house has been very warm, but it is a good excuse to have lots of cold drinks and icy poles and laze around watching the tennis for good chunks of the day, the other chunks have been spent finding relief at the beach.  I actually love the Summer holidays, no routines and lots of relaxing mooching around, I'll be quite sad when the boys go back to school and life becomes serious again.

Today I thought I might start a little weekly post and share some of my crafty books with you all.

I have quite a large collection of crafty/ inspiring books, which I added too quite substantially on our recent holiday. We visited many bookshops and I like to support the smaller book retailers so found myself with many new titles when we got home!

So anyhoo, have you heard of Print and Pattern by Bowie Style?  I love these books, there are now 3 books in this series and I think there is a geometric pattern one coming out at some stage.

These books are a feast for the eyes, full of graphic designers, illustrators, surface designers and other creative types that don't quite fit one description.  Each designer has a couple of pages showing examples of their work, so many gorgeous patterns and designs!  I love looking at all the fabulous work that people do, I find it totally inspiring!

There are well known names and ones that were new to me, so many talented creative types!

And quite a few Australians too!

Would you like to have a little peek at a few pages inside the Print and Pattern Kids?  Yes?

As you can see these books are full of colour and pattern, two of my favourite things! :)

There is just something about books full of beautiful patterns and illustrations that I really love, there is always something new to discover in them.

Print And Pattern is also a great blog by Marie Perkins aka Bowie Style,where she shares lot of great surface pattern designers work, I love popping over there and seeing what's new.

So that is the first lot of books from my bookshelf that I thought you might enjoy, I'll show you another one of my new books next week.

Have great day, hope you get a few creative moments out of it! :) 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx