Hollyhocks

Nearly all the flowers in my garden this year are shorter than normal. I've had dwarf foxgloves, mini love-in-the-mist and pint sized lupins. Because of this, I was dubious that the little hollyhock plants I planted in the Spring would come to much. I needn't have worried.

The flowers are coming out in ones and twos rather than in a mass but still ... I'm pleased with them. I've got five all together, these two near the house and three more up the garden. They're all doubles and four of the five are pale pink with just one deep pink.

I'm hoping they'll self seed and be back next year.; I have no idea which type these are so we shall have to wait and see. I've always loved hollyhocks but this is the first year I've really managed to grow them. I'd like some single ones too and ore colours but you have to take what they have from the plant stall in the market which is the only place I can get to for plants. It's and excellent stall though and it's quite fun just seeing what's there.

My Mum always had a lovely display of hollyhocks; this photo is from about sixteen years ago.

You can just see her runner beans up at the back. There may only have been two of them in the house but she still had a full row of plants. She loved her fresh runner beans. I find that three or four plants on a wigwam of sticks gives me more than I need.

Inspired by the flowers in my garden I thought I'd have a look round the house for other hollyhock prettiness and found all sorts of treasures. This is one of my favourite cup and saucer sets. Isn't it lovely?

And I love this teapot, complete with cup, saucer and tea plate. I used this set for my tea the other day.

I have a whole cupboard full of pretty china and, every so often, I swap it round and choose a few sets to go on my kitchen dresser for everyday use.

Cottages with pretty gardens which nearly always featured hollyhocks were very popular themes in china and embroidery from the 1930s and are back in fashion again now. Or maybe they're not and I just think that because I like them so much. 

Over the years I've found various embroidered pictures in antique shops. This one hangs in my front room ...

... and I've written about this little one before. You can read about it here. It just took me ages to find the blog post I wanted to link to. This is what comes of being lazy labelling the posts when I write them. You should be able to click on any work in the word map at the side to find posts on that subject but I'd forgotten to list that particular post under 'embroidery'. Oh dear.

Anyway, if you read that old post, you'll learn that this particular embroidery came from a 'Good Needlework' magazine from November 1937.

I have lots and lots of old needlework magazines like this. Often, hollyhocks were combined with the ubiquitous crinoline lady as in this design from the 'Good Needlework Gift Book' of 1936.

This is an early catalogue of Weldon's embroidery transfers. Note the hollyhock tea cosy in pride of place on the cover.

I've shown you this lovely embroidered firescreen before too and, four years on, I still haven't managed to re-lace it and mount it properly.

I found a couple of other crinoline ladies to show you in my trawl round the house. This is actually a handkerchief sachet but I've put a piece of plastic canvas inside it and it's been propped up in  my kitchen for years (it could probably do with a wash).

Then there's this bag which I made from one of my many charity shop finds.  This is hung up in my craft room and holds my embroidery hoops.

Lorna Bateman is partial to embroidered flowers and crinoline ladies too. Her work is absolutely beautiful and I would recommend her book Embroidered Country Gardens.

As well as lots of detailed projects, she has instructions for embroidering all sorts of garden flowers and features so that you can design your own garden picture.

I have to admit that I haven't made anything from this wonderful book yet but I will - one day. That reminded me of these two tablecloth kits that I bought about thirty years ago when I found them very cheap.

I think they're both beautiful but - you've guessed - I haven't actually made either of them yet. I did make a start on one years ago ...

Mmm, quite a bit more to go I think.

The nearest I've come to knitting hollyhocks are these on the side wall of my Summer Cottage.

I have just published a pattern for some crochet flowers though. 

Crochet Bouquet

Having crocheted lots and lots of these flowers I thought I'd just try making mini versions and these turned out to be favourites.

I had fun choosing colours to match the threads on my old cotton reels. These are now sitting on my desk and they make me smile every time I see them.

Before I go, I just wanted to show you the woven blanket I finished the other week. This is the pin loom one I was working on with the help of my improvised Lego loom holder. I crocheted the squares together with a lacy join, added a simple crochet border and it's all done. It took less than a month to make from start to finish. That's a lot quicker than knitting or crocheting a blanket. 

Hexagons

It all started with an urge to do some paper piecing. Every so often I feel the need to sew little hexagons together and make something pretty like these cases that I use to hold mini cross stitch projects.

I particularly like working with these mini hexagons where each side measures about 2 cm. It's fairly mindless hand sewing and that appeals to me; I like the slow rhythm of it all. So, I cut out lots of paper hexagons (quickly, using my Sizzix machine) and lots of fabric hexagons to cover them (slowly, by hand). I don't have a die of the right size to cut the fabric hexagons on the machine but I quite enjoyed choosing the fabrics and drawing round a template.

I used a selection of thirties fabrics, all of which I pulled out of my scrap baskets. I wasn't counting but I ended up with well over a hundred hexagons. Here they are once I'd tacked them over their papers.

It will take me a while to sew them all together but I've made a start.

I'm thinking of perhaps making a drawstring bag with them, possibly with a plain band where the drawstring goes but I shall have to see how big a piece of fabric I end up with. At the moment I'm just enjoying seeing them come together.

This project reminded me of something else I started years ago, this time involving tiny woven hexagons.

When I first got my Penny Loom I made a bit of a start on a Grandmother's Flower Garden but didn't get very far. I decided it was time to bring it out again and look how it's grown in the last week or so.

These hexagons are even smaller than the fabric ones; each side is only about 1.5 cm. The fun thing about this project (or frustrating, depending on your mindset) is that I've decided to weave the whole thing with one shade of King Cole Bramble DK, namely Loganberry. This means I weave the colours as they come and can only put together the flowers when I have six hexagons in one colour. At one point I did nothing but weave shades of green and I still haven't got enough yet to surround each new flower.

Now I'm back to building flowers. I shall need twice as many for the next round, not to mention more greens.

That little bundle at the top left of the photo is the hexagons that are either mixed colours or a colour I don't want to use (basically, the light brown). Maybe when I'm finished I'll have enough of these to turn into a pincushion or something. I'm hoping my flower garden will eventually be big enough to cover a small round table I have.

Of course these hexagon looms come in different sizes so I was tempted to get out my bigger one too. Hexagons woven on this one come out at about 5.5 cm per side.

Having wanted single colour shapes with my flower garden I thought I'd see how the yarn wove up on the bigger loom. Before I knew where I was, I had a whole new project started.

This one is all about random colours. The plan is to weave twenty hexagons out of each of the twenty shades of Bramble - I'm nothing if not ambitious - and then sew them all together into a patchwork blanket. I've started with the shade called Cloudberry and this is what the first fifteen look like.

Aren't they gorgeous? I love the process of weaving and seeing how the colours develop. This is my favourite yarn for weaving - actually, it's one of my favourite yarns full stop. I've knitted and crocheted with it quite a bit but the colours do different things when you weave them, Will I actually weave 400 of these? I don't know but I shall enjoy trying.

I haven't forgotten my woven squares I showed you last time either. I'm crocheting them together at the rate of one row per day, using a lacy join. I've just got the last row to add today and then I shall work out a border for it. The shade I used for this one is Thistle. 

Is any one else as big a fan of this yarn as I am? And no, they haven't paid me to promote it, it's an honest opinion. I'm very pleased when they bring out new shades (as they have just done) as it shows it must be popular and isn't in danger of being discontinued. 

Before I go, I thought you might like to see one more new project. This one is also lots of little shapes but this time the shapes in question are circles.

Can you see what they are? A knitted version of the popular fabric Yo-Yos. These are fun to sew; you can buy special Yo-Yo Makers but they're really just circles of fabric gathered round the edges. There are some lovely designs out there for crochet yo-yos, either single, flat ones or doubled puffs that are a closer match to the originals.

I also found a pattern for Loom Knit Yo-Yos which looked just what I wanted but there was a problem. They start with a drawstring cast on which is easy on a loom but with needles? I think you might be able to do it with some variation of the provisional cast on but, as I've never mastered that, I can't say. Instead I decided to re-invent the wheel so to speak and worked out my own drawstring cast on. Needless to say, it took hours and I kept having to stop to make copious notes on what I was doing before I forgot it. The result though is perfect knitted yo-yos.

As you can see, I've only knitted half a dozen so far but I have lots of plans for using these. Please tell me I'm not the only one who thinks being able to knit yo-yos is exciting!

Learning Stuff

I really like learning new things. Whether it's from something I've read or a podcast I've listened to, it makes life interesting. Now that my life is so constricted, mastering new crafts or projects in particular gives me a real sense of progress on what are mostly very difficult days.

Recently I've been working on a mixture of crafts, not to turn them into patterns (although I always make notes in case I want to try them again) but just because I feel like it. I've been trying various little ideas using some of my vast collection of scrap fabrics. First I made these.

A dozen new hankies. Why has it taken me so long to realise that I could make my own hankies? My existing stock were wearing thin and it's not easy to find anywhere to buy hankies now, especially when you can't go out. These are 12" squares, double hemmed on the machine. They're a bit thicker than bought ones but they're already softening up after a few washes. I have plans to make some Christmas ones too and then bigger ones from plain fabrics for when I have a cold.

The internet is a great source of inspiration for small sewing projects. I found this little collapsible thread catcher on a blog and then worked out my own version. I used a ring of plastic canvas in place of the cardboard tube and changed the measurements a bit. This means that there's a little hole n the middle when the pot is twisted closed but I liked the fact that it was shorter. I gave this one to my daughter.

It's a clever idea but does involve a fair bit of hand sewing so it's not particularly quick to make.

Next I started looking for origami ideas that could be made from fabric scraps and found several ideas that I liked. I made a little butterfly which is rather nice. Those antennae are cut from a black paper clip, not at all safe but it didn't look very much like a butterfly without them.

It took me a while to get the hang of these folded fabric flowers. I used my Sizzix machine to cut out circles and then folded and gathered them into flower shapes. The centres are another fabric circle gathered round a button. These hide all the raw edges. Again, these were hand sewn but they don't take long.

I blu-tacked them to the side of the shelf for this picture but they soon fell off so now they've got wooden stalks and are standing in one of my pencil pots.

My favourite make though was this little folded fabric ornament. Again, it's just two circles of fabric cut with the Sizzix and sewn together. A bit of folding and pressing and a few hand stitches and you're done. The clever thing is that you can tuck a square of card in the back which gives it a bit of stability. I used this tutorial but started off with smaller circles to make a little ornament. 

Regular readers will know that I am working on improving my tatting skills this year and I'm glad to say that it's paying off. I'm now able to tackle some of the lovely patterns in this book.

There are actually 49 snowflakes as a sample pattern is included at the beginning. I'm working through the easiest ones first and, so far, I've mastered five of them.

I love the fact that the designer includes diagrams and written instructions, together with clear photos of the finished snowflakes so I can work out where I'm going. I tend to get confused in the diagrams when the work is reversed so the written instructions really help. I am working each snowflake three times in size 20, 40 and 60 thread. Repeating the patterns with thinner thread is a challenge but gives me lots of practice so that I can fix the techniques in my head. Here's the first snowflake (the sample pattern) in all three sizes.

I stiffen them with diluted superstarch and then store them on card as you can see. Then each set goes in a little square envelope that I make with the envelope punch board I found in Orinoco. This is a very handy little tool. I've been using six inch squares of Christmas paper to make the envelopes.

In between tatting snowflakes, I've also been making a few of Diane's different Ice Drops. I'd only ever attempted her basic design before but I felt ready to try a few of the others now.

The two little snowflakes with metal flowers in the middle are Diane's pattern too, the first of her Doodad Snowflakes. I don't know if my glass gems are smaller than hers or if I just tat more loosely but I was having trouble getting the tatting to fit. Even after soaking in hot water, the gems would sometimes fall out. so, I plucked up my courage and tried paying with the stitch count to get a version that worked for me and I'm very proud of the result.

I've also been doing a lot of weaving lately. My absolute favourite yarn for weaving is King Cole Bramble DK. It's a variegated yarn with a heathery look to it that really works well when woven and it comes in lots of lovely colourways. At the moment I'm using the shade Thistle to weave lots and lots of four inch squares.

I'm trying to finish five squares a day so that I can get on with the joining as I want to try out a lace join that I haven't used before. I need 81 squares all together and I've got eleven to go so I'm nearly there.

I was weaving with the loom on my lap when it occurred to me that I could use my small book chair to hold it upright. This worked but the loom kept moving around and then inspiration struck - Lego! I had fun playing around with my small collection of Lego bricks and finally came up with a loom holder that holds the loom firmly in place while I weave.

I'm very pleased with this and it does make the weaving quicker. Now I'm wondering what other craft tools I could make with Lego. There's quite a bit of K'Nex in the cellar too ...

After this blanket is finished I want to try joining woven pieces together on the loom, something I've seen before but not really understood. Finally, I found these instructions and light dawned. Not only does it give a perfect join on the right side but I quite look the look on the back of the pieces too.

I have lots of ideas for using this technique but first, I'm going to finish that blanket.

Daisy Time

 

It's that time of year when my garden is at its wildest and even I start to think it might be time to cut the grass. I have to wait for the Ox-Eye Daisies to flower first though and they're in their full glory right now.

This is the view of the garden from my bedroom. The bottom half is a bit tamer and you might just be able to make out the winding cat (and human) path that goes through the middle of it. All the visiting cats keep to it, including Violet who doesn't live here but thinks she does. I have to keep the back door shut if I'm upstairs or she wanders in and helps herself to Tolly's food.

As well as the daisies, my roses are all flowering now after a slow start because of the lack of rain this Spring. Here's Kew Gardens all mixed up with some Love-in-the-mist and a Geranium.

Next to it and hiding behind another rose is one of my short foxgloves. I know, they're meant to be taller than this but all mine only grow this high. Maybe they give up once their roots hit the heavy clay soil? 

The big leaves by the wall are some of the Hollyhocks that I planted this year. These look like they might be a more respectable height anyway. I bought them from the plant stall in our market which has really nice plants that you can get when they're small (and cheap). I'm very lucky to have that stall nearby now that I can't drive to garden centres as I used to. I do have to enlist help to carry my purchases though as I can't carry things and breathe at the same time.

This is Buff Beauty which lives on the other side of the garden and has lots of coffee coloured flowers. David Austin roses aren't cheap but they are really good quality and grow quickly even when planted as bare roots. 

Just up from this one is  my rose in a cage ...

I planted The Pilgrim inside this big obelisk about three or four years ago and it looked ridiculous sitting at the bottom. It's being making good progress ever since though and the frame is doing a good job of supporting it.

Yellow roses are my favourites but what I call marmalade coloured ones come a close second. This one is Lady of Shalott and is holding its own against the wild daisies now that it's got a bit bigger.

That's more hollyhocks next to it; these ones aren't as tall as the others yet although they all started off the same. Isn't this a gorgeous colour?

Tucked down by the side of the house where it gets virtually no sun is a rose that has been in this garden longer than I have. I'm not sure of its name - possibly Maiden's Blush although the pictures I've seen all look more pink than mine which is very pale. That could be down to it to being in a shady spot perhaps?

Last Spring my daughter helped me plant three new bare root roses in the front garden, two more yellow with a white one in between. They flowered last Summer which I hadn't been expecting but have really come into their own this year.

This is the wonderfully named Tottering-by-Gently and, next to the gate, is The Poet's Wife.

Apparently, this one has a nice scent. I try to buy scented roses even if my Long Covid means that I can't smell them. Passers-by can enjoy them. The white rose in between (White Flower Carpet) is a ground cover rather than a shrub rose so it only just reaches up to the railings at the moment. It's absolutely full of blooms though.

This year I planted two Lavender Hidcote plants in between these three roses. They're tiny at the moment but they will grow. I particularly wanted the Hidcote variety as they reminded me of a lovely day spent at Hidcote Gardens back in the days when I was well. It's a series of little gardens, almost like rooms, each with their own character and style and I spent a long time wandering through them.

In between admiring my daisies and roses, I've been crocheting flowers. Some big ...

... some small ...

... and some absolutely tiny.

These ones are crocheted with a 1 mm hook using size 20 Lizbeth tatting thread. The buttons are about half an inch across. I got the idea from Diane's blog - if you search 'button flowers' on there you can see hundreds of lovely examples. I enjoy reading a blog by someone else who does lots of different crafts like I do. Anyway, I just used part of the pattern for my bigger flowers to make my little buttons. I want to make more of these but I'm going to order a more comfortable hook first. I find thin metal hooks tricky to grip so I shall get one of my favourite Clover Amour hooks to play with.