Howling at the Moon

Wow, I’ve been featured again!! This time at Make it Monday by  Brassy Apple. My African Flower Tutorial was the most viewed project this week! Thanks, Megan! ~*~ I live in the Netherlands and there people celebrate the birthday of the queen. And the queen’s birthday is today. Well, actually it’s not her birthday, but the birthday of her mother and predecessor, who’s passed away a couple of years ago. Because the present queen is born in January (she celebrated her 74 th birthday this year; oldest head of state ever in this country) and people here like to party outside, they still celebrate Q-day on the 30 th of April. Chance of good weather will be more likely, that’s why. I made these Q-day rosette decorations for my little daughters. The whole country will be turned in the red, white and blue of the national flag. The orange stands for 'Van Oranje', the family name of the royal family (which means, good guess, orange). That’s why I chose this colors, but of cou...

Sierra Green by Betty Page Clothting WANTED I really like green!

The play mat that should match the liquorice allsorts baby blanket is finished and I’m quite happy with the result. I wasn’t sure about the colors, but in combination with the black it turned out really good, I think.  Here together with the baby blanket. For a TUTORIAL look here . For other examples of this play mat look here and here . ~*~ In the meantime I worked on some grannies for what should become a really large blanket (yes, I give it a try again, as you may have read before). I ordered a book with lots and lots of different grannies ('200 Crochet Blocks' by Jan Eaton), hoping not to get bored after doing five grannies. I already have four ( see previous post ) and this is what I made today:

I’m working on a couple of projects simultaneously at the moment: African Flower Pillow  (for previous post look here ) Only have to join the flowers on the outer row and crochet an edge around it and then it’s finished. Play Mat  (for previous post look here ) The panels are connected and form the front side of the mat. Have to cut edges and a back side now. For the finished project look here . For the tutorial look here . New Grannies Although I love to crochet grannies, I can’t bring forth a complete blanket. Too boring, doing the same granny over and over again. So now I’m trying this: crochet one different granny each day, until I have enough to form a complete blanket. Maybe that works for me. Who knows, I can show you a REALLY LARGE blanket in time.  Little Stool Well, actually this stool is a project I did finish this weekend, but I want to make another one. I must say ‘we’, because my husband made the ...

Hibiscus Hair Flowers by Miss Candyfloss WANTED I really NEED this flowers! They bring back sweet memories of my trip to Hawaii and match perfectly with  my clothes!

Last week I showed you some crochet  flowers (called African flowers, I know now). I want to make another pillow cover and I'm making good progress. This is what I have now:  I wrote a  tutorial on how to crochet the flowers.  You can find it  here . Linked up to: Ambassador Crochet (WIP Wednesday) Visions of Sugarplums (Fibers on Friday) ~*~ In anticipation of our trip to Menorca , I painted this: Fences like this can be found anywhere on the island. They're made of split branches of pine-trees.

I did it! Finally I finished a blanket!!! It’s a little one, that’s true, but large enough. For now I’m done with projects like this. Takes forever. After making this poncho I only felt resistance and swore to myself never to begin another project involving more than twelve grannies, but when a good friend asked me to make her soon to be born son a little blanket, I couldn’t say no, of course. But I’m sooo glad it’s finished now. Awaiting some black fabric for the backside, I already cut the front side panels for a matching play mat (like this one , but with the colors of English liquorice allsorts ). At the request of one of my readers I will write a tutorial for the play mat after it’s finished, so if you’re interested than visit my blog now and then (or become a follower J ). ~*~ Yesterday I went to the market and found flowers in my favorite flower color again: orange!

Gingham Collar Dress by Tara Starlet WANTED I love the gingham details on this dress!

May I proudly present: My Happy Flower is featured!!!  First time I’ve been featured! Thank you!

A couple of weeks ago I showed you a sort of grannies I was working on. At first I wanted to make a little blanket, but after making nine or ten grannies I already knew it: this would never be a blanket. So I went for a pillow cover. When I had enough grannies for the cover I had to join them and remove the loose ends, something I’m never looking forward to, so I postponed it for a couple of weeks. But…, I picked it up this weekend and finished the cover, so here’s the result: And because I perceive a sort of happiness during the project of crocheting grannies by changing colors now and then (recognizable for anyone?), I’m making another pillow cover. Different colors, different pattern, though.  You can find a tutorial for the flowers here . Linked up to (apart from the parties I usually link up to): Inside BruCrew Life (Trick or Treat Tuesday) Vintage Wanna Bee (Talent Tuesday) Funky Polkadot Giraffe (Too Cute Tuesday) Reasons to Skip the Housework (Tues...

While working on the granny blanket I started to get bored to do the same granny over and over again, so to do something different for a couple of days I made these decorations for my daughters. This flower I found at a blog called Attic 24 . It’s called a Happy Flower and comes with a tutorial ! This cuckoo clock I found at a blog called LutjeHaakt . This one is without a tutorial.  Both such nice ideas, don’t you think?  Linked up to (apart from the usually parties I link up to): Petite Hermine (Sunday Linky Party) Sisters of the Wild West (Sister Sunday Link Party) Flamingo Toes (Think Pink Sunday) It's Overflowing (Overflowing with Creativity) Ask Anna (Weekend Warriors) So Creative (Party Time) delicateCONSTRUCTION (Delicately Constructed Friday) ~*~ Yesterday I watched the most fascinating movie: The Hunter -  it’s not so much the story that’s fascinating, but the subject the movie is about. Ever heard of t...

Peter Pan Blouse by Tara Starlet WANTED Adorable blouse, don’t you think?

Another Black Cat  Project: I made this little heart, for which I found inspiration at the blog of Dutch Sisters again (by the way: they're having a GIVE AWAY at the moment).  At first I embroidered the cat on red cheesecloth. The pattern of the cat I found here . Actually it's a pattern for filet crochet, but you can easily convert it into a pattern for embroidering .  From fabric that was left over from one of my playmats , I made the heart and decorated it with a crochet scalloped edge. Linked to: Blue Cricket Design (Show and Tell Linking Fun) The Sasse Life (Crafty Sasse Wednesday Link Party) Tales of a Trophy Wife (Will Craft For...)

This weekend I made a start with the grannies for a little blanket. It's for a friend of mine who’s expecting a baby boy. The inspiration for the colours I use for the blanket I found in a bag of English liquorice allsorts. Look here for the finished project... ~*~ And I saw another movie this weekend that I have to recommend, though it’s a real old one (that I have seen about a dozen times and maybe you have too, but it has to be mentioned): Psycho – still so very scary, even though this movie is more than fifty years old! Maybe it’s because the movie is inspired by a true story (the gruesome story of Ed Gein) what makes it so frightening. And I LOVE the dresses that Janet Leigh is wearing in the movie!