To brighten the day

I spent Sunday afternoon crocheting and admiring my flowers. I love going to the market on Fridays and picking out a bunch of flowers to enjoy over the weekend and coming week. The flowers in winter always seem so fresh and seem to last for quite a while. I am terrible at remembering flower names but the orange ones were part of a larger bunch from over a week ago. The small white flowers were last week's choice and have a delightful fragrance which fills our tiny apartment.There are a few different flowers this time of year that have a similar fragrance. And the pink camelia is from one of the trees at the entrance to our apartment building.

Sunday stash #5

Instead of fabric this week I am sharing my stash of cotton tatting thread. I bought these threads on ebay a couple of weeks ago and have yet to use them. I saw Spotlight is having a 20% off sale on Monday and Tuesday so I may go buy a tiny crochet hook so I can get started. The plan is to use this thread to make crocheted flowers and mini doilies. So far the little balls of colour have made it into one of our fruit bowls and are still sitting on the kitchen table... I have a very tolerant boyfriend who seems to completely understand why we have thread instead of fruit in the bowl (or perhaps he has yet to notice?).

Japanese crochet inspiration

Update January 2013:  This book is now available in English!!!

Buying Japanese craft books can be a bit of a gamble. I don't know of a Japanese bookstore in Melbourne so I usually order online or wait until I go to Sydney (where there is a Kinokuniya) or Japan to buy books. The first time I went to Japan I had just started to sew and embroider so besides for the book selection being completely overwhelming I didn't really know what I was most interested in so bought books I thought I may like. The second time I was in Tokyo I had a better idea of what sewing and embroidery books I would like but had just signed up for a crochet class so I was hesitant to buy too many crochet books. So most of my crochet book choices have been ordered online after many hours of searching and indecision. One of my absolutely favourite crochet books is Zakka in Pretty Colours. From what I can tell this book is part of a series that also features a book on sewing .

The book mainly features crochet projects but also a couple of knitting projects. The pattern for my hexagon blanket is from this book. Isn't the tablecloth in the above photo lovely and the fruit? It is so beautifully photographed that I want to make almost every project and want to live in house that looks like the one in the book. I was so inspired by this book that I took a knitting class so I could eventually make the cushions:)

As someone who has only been crocheting for about a year I find Japanese crochet books far easier to use than crochet books written in English. The patterns are all written using symbols and there is usually a page of stitch diagrams which explains all of the symbols. I find this style far less daunting than long lines of abbreviations. Do you have a favourite Japanese crochet book?

Finally finished !!!!!!!!

I have finally finished my hexagon blanket and love it. I ran out of wool when I was completing the edging. It was an old dye lot that the place I had purchased the yarn from no longer had. I managed to find it at my local yarn store, on a Saturday which turned out to be a very lucky Saturday (we also bought a house at auction!)...

But back to the hexagons... It is just the perfect hexagon size for one person. It is colourful... together with the white edging the blanket sort of reminds me of the inside of a bee hive. The hexagons are also very warm ... and it makes me happy.

I will be back in a couple of days to share the Japanese book where the hexagon pattern is from.

Sunday stash #4

The fabric I am sharing this week was a gift from my sister. It is a Japanese fabric by Trefle. Isn't it cute?

Too many choices...

I ran out of yarn to finish the edging of my hexagon blanket earlier in the week and have started to look out what will be my next crochet projects (it is too hard to stick to just one at a time). Having been inspired by the beautiful work shared on the French blog Toutes a nos crochets I have started a scarf that is featured quite a lot on the blog. If you are not familiar with this blog, I recommend having a look, even if your French is as limited as mine. If you keep scrolling through the archives you will eventually come to a pattern for the scarf I have started. I have also seen free patterns for something very similar on ravelry.



1. Some of my Japanese crochet books, 2. Untitled, 3. Millie Cardigan by Alicia Paulson, 4. Lace basket

I really like the floral scarf from Crochet Motif volume 4 that features a lot on Toutes a nos crochets, perhaps I should start one? Or what about the Millie cardigan in Vintage Crochet or a posy of flowers from "100 flowers to knit and crochet"? Or the lace basket from Lacy Crochet for my very sterile desk at work.

If I am going to buy new yarn I am also tempted to make the crocheted stash basket featured on the Purl Bee last week. Then there is the super cute picnic purse designed by Linda Permann that would be really useful during short break in warm weather in a few weeks. I really can't decide ....

Words and Pictures - Rose

Rose cushion
Originally uploaded by fraises rouge

This week's theme is rose. With the rosey cushion I crocheted right next to me, I didn't have to think much about this week's theme :).
Thanks for hosting Pip.

I am still grannying along...

Although I haven't shared any of my granny squares for a while I have still been making granny squares. I was actually home during daylight hours today and managed to take a few photos of my latest squares. I have been making a couple of centres in the same colour. Then each time I return to crochet, I choose a few different colours to use for the other rounds. As you can see, I have tried the pink and burnt orange colour and then chocolate based colour choices.



I really like the chocolate and pink combination, so pretty and soft together. Now I probably need to hide some of these ends before I make some more

Sunday stash #3

I purchased this fabric at the Melbourne stitches and craft fair back in March. The fabric is by Kristen Doran Design. I haven't exactly decided how I will use it, I was thinking it might be nice stretched over a canvas and made into a clock. Any suggestions?

The start

Since February I have been crocheting a hexagon blanket. On one of the hottest summer days I picked out my wool...

and started on my hexagons.....by mid May I had piles of hexagons

I have finished joining the hexagons together and am really enjoying seeing it come together. I am almost there, I have hundreds and hundreds of ends to hide and then a border.

Playing with paper

I am not very good at remembering to make gift cards or tags ahead of time. I have good intentions but always seem to be empty handed when I need one. The other day I was looking around CraftStylish and came across this super quick tutorial by Kayte Terry for making gift cards and tags with stripes and dots. I found my stash of pretty papers and made a few gift tags.



I don't usually do many paper crafts, but this was instant crafting fun. I noticed a couple of other card tutorials by Kayte that I am looking forward to trying soon.

This weekend ...

Yesterday we went to Daylesford for the day. We had a lovely day, there was a farmers' market and the makers market on yesterday. We enjoyed a lovely lunch by the fire as it rained down and then spend the afternoon looking at antique/vintage store. I bought some beautiful yarn from the makers market and found a lovely new trio at one of the antique centres.



This trio is made by Foley and I was told it is from 1952, it is a different brand to the other china I have and much newer than my other pieces. I love the pattern on it, the flowers are so pretty. I don't really believe in keeping my china out on display and never using it - a cup of tea is so much nicer in a pretty teacup.

The best find of the day was a basket of buttons. I saw it, walked around and when I came back it was still there. I couldn't believe it, there were over 60 tubes of buttons, some of the tubes were still completely full. I think I have a button stash now!

Sunday stash #2

I have finally started to use some of my beautiful yellow fabrics that I bought at Okadaya in Tokyo, in June last year. It was my last day in Tokyo and absolutely pouring with rain. It had been raining for the past week in a way it never does in Melbourne and I was feeling quite unwell, so I thought I would go somewhere where I didn't have to go outside very much. I got up early, caught the train to Shinjuku for a last minute bit of shopping. I must have got to Okadaya soon after it opened because it was very quiet. I started off in the fabric building. The ground floor has mainly quilting fabric. I spent probably an hour in here going back and forth between the walls of fabrics and the counter getting 30cm or 50cm pieces cut of a lot of different fabrics. I ended up with a huge pile of fabrics. These are some of the yellows that I bought. I suppose that because I only bought small pieces and knew that we are not going to Japan this year so have been saving these pieces for some time. It was only this week that I cut into some of these. Does anyone else find they keep fabrics for a long time, before they use them?

Marie Claire Idees Summer 2009

One of my favourite magazines is Marie Claire Idees. I look forward to its arrival in my mailbox every few months. The idea are always very clever whilst being simple. The latest issue definitely did not disappoint, with plenty of beautiful photos and inspiration.








I really like the cherry embroidery and mosaics, I think that the design really effectively uses different textures for the cherries. I absolutely love the orange below - what a great centrepiece!