It's been a while...!

I hadn't realised it had been so long since I last updated my blog! Lots has happened over the last year, but most of my time has been taken up with our now 18 month old!!

Something that is new is my new Weebly website ~

http://heloisev.weebly.com/

I've also got some MOO cards, so my orders look much prettier when I send them out!

I've been pretty busy over the last 6 weeks with Valentine orders for my heart garlands, but I'll try not to leave it so long until the next time!!

Isn't it just the best feeling...

when someone contacts you to ask if they can feature your work in their blog :)

I had an email from Amanda Lincoln (a Graphic Designer & Surface Pattern Designer) through Folksy on Friday asking just that... and of course I said yes!

You should take a look at her blog... she has some beautiful pictures (I love all the cool craft rooms!).

These are the items she chose to include...

Thank you Amanda!

Folksy Friday - a bit of a mix of #marchhares

I've been spending so long looking through everyone's amazing listings everyday so I'd thought I'd select a few of my favourites from today to feature in a Folksy Friday mix!  Click the caption under each picture to take a closer look at that item and the shop.

Dottie Designs



kokokelli



ialbert



oblue



craft little wotnots



lilipopo

 

Apple Cosy / Cozy - Free Pattern

So, I'd never even heard of one of these apple cosy things until recently!  When I spotted someone with one, I my first thought was 'what a fab idea' and secondly 'I bet I could make one better than that'!!

So off I went trawling the internet for a pattern.  I tried a few (one started with a chain 30 - must have been a footbal sized apple!!), one started off ok, but didn't really work with my yarn (all single crochets so not enough give), so in the end I did what I usually do and made it up as I went along!

I wanted it to have a bit of stretch and give - not all apples are the same size - so went for a half-double (hdc) stitch (it's also one of my favs!).  I've never done a half-double decrease (hdc2tog) before so made it up!!  I've since checked though and it seems I did it right!

Here goes...

stitches are US
hdc2tog - yo, through st, (3 loops on hook), yo, through next st, yo through all 5 loops on hook
start working in rounds until the split, then in rows
I use DK handknit cotton and a size 4.0mm hook with a 3.00mm for the loop and the slip stitch around the top

start with a magic circle
1 6hdc in circle (6)
2 2hdc in each hdc, repeat (12)
3 1hdc in next st, 2hdc in next, repeat (18)
4 1hdc in next 2 st, 2hdc in next, repeat (24)
5 1hdc in next 3 st, 2hdc in next, repeat (30)
6 1hdc in next 4 st, 2hdc in next, repeat (36)
7 1hdc in each st around (36)
8 ch1, turn (working in rows now) 36hdc
9 ch1, turn 36hdc
10 ch1, turn 36hdc
11 ch1, turn 36hdc
12 ch1, turn, *1hdc in next 3 st, hdc2tog*, repeat**
13 ch1, turn, *1hdc in next st, hdc2tog*, repeat**
14 make a chain for the button (I use a 3.0mm hook and about ch16)
l5 make the chain into a loop and slipstitch around the top of the cosy (I carry on with the smaller hook).
FO and add a button to fasten


Add your apple and fasten!

Click here if you'd rather buy than make!

Lighthouse Family Treasury on Etsy

We've been talking about lighthouses in our house today!  I'm not sure how the conversation started, but it's ended with me making this treasury!  I wasn't sure what I'd find when I typed 'lighthouse' into the Etsy search, but I definitely wasn't disappointed!

If you click on the picture it'll take you to the treasury so you can see the items properly.

Amgurumi Update... it's an elephant!

It's been a busy old week this week what with the Folksy Valentinos listing club starting and Thomas getting a cold and his first tooth (yikes, at 6 months, the other two were 9 and 14 months!!). Anyhow, I forgot I was going to post an update to the amigurumi elephant I started the week before last (was it really that long ago, how time flies!).

So, it went from this....





to this.....




How cute is he!!

The Valentinos - Folksy February Listing Club

So it's 1st February already and once again I've decided to join the listing club, called the Valentinos! I can't believe it was way back in June when I did the last one (and started the July Jesters before Little T made his appearance!).



Here is my first listing... hopefully by the end of the month there'll be 28 new items in my Folksy shop (and hopefully some sales!).

Roses are Red...

I thought it was about time I did another Folksy Friday, and as it's not far off Valentine's Day and my 9th (eek!) wedding anniversary, I've been looking for some hints for Dh :) :)





Click on the pictures to visit the lovely Folksy shops of Lilly Beau Crafts, Whimsical Wren Jewellery, Lynwoodcrafts, BeeBeeCrafts, NofkantsCurios and Linokincards.

Can you guess what it is yet....??!

Here's my work in progress...

I've been trying my hand at amigurumi! I'm not sure whether the first one is a cat or a bunny yet! I think I'll leave it to H to decide as the pink one will be hers! The blue one will hopefully be a baby elephant for baby T. I'll take some more pictures when they're finished!

Free Crochet Heart Pattern

**Check here for my new and improved heart patterns!**
http://heloisev.weebly.com/free-crochet-patterns.html

Follow the links on the pictures if you'd rather buy than make!

All stiches are US.

Smallest Heart (one round)
Make a magic circle (all stiches into the circle)
ch3
3tr
3dc
ch1
1tr
ch1
3dc
3tr
ch2
ss into circle and fasten off.

Middle Heart (two rounds)

1st round - As for smallest heart, but don't fasten off

2nd round - ch3

in 1st tr from prev round 1sc & 1hdc

in next st 3hdc

next st 2hdc

1sc in each st down to the bottom - 4

ch1

1dc in the tr from prev round

ch1

sc in next 4 stitches

next st 2hdc

next st 3 hdc

next st 1hdc and 1 sc

ch3

ss to join and fasten off

Biggest Hearts (3 rounds)

1st and 2nd rounds are the same as for the Smallest and Middle Hearts above, but don't fasten off.

ch3

sc in the ch3 from prev round

in next st 2sc

in next st 1sc

in next st 2sc

1sc in each st down to the bottom (#?)

ch1

1sc in each st same as first side (#?)

2sc in next st

1sc in next st

2sc in next st

ch3

ss and fasten off

It's nearly Valentine's Day...

and I've gone heart mad!!




These are just a few of the hearts I've been making recently...

I've promised that I will put together a pattern for my hearts on here, so that will be my next job and hopefully ready tomorrow.


And take a look here for lots of UK Valentine gift ideas...!

Oh my... it's 2011...!!

How did that happen??? I guess having a 6 month old baby has made the time fly by so quickly! Yes, he celebrates his half year birthday tomorrow already! We've had lots of ups and downs with him and I now know the local hospital pretty well, but he's doing great and is just so scrummy!! Here he is yesterday wearing his red and white cardi knitted by Jewellery Angel on Folksy's mum He's such a bruiser that it only just fits him now (he mostly wears 12-18 month, eek!).

2 Days Past My Due Date....

And here I am STILL waiting for baby to make an appearance!

So, to keep me sane while waiting I've joined the Folksy July Jesters! Hopefully it will as big a success as the June Loons were!

I've only managed to list on 4 days so far... but have made 2 sales today wooohooo! Once again to the amazing Mish72. She bought two of my new favourites, so I'll definitely be listing them again soon...

The top ones are handknit cotton in new vintage style shades which I love! The bottom ones are cotton twist and are so soft.

And finally... I'm going to attempt to add a slideshow of Jester's listing to my blog... here goes!

Last Day for the Folksy June Loons

I can't believe it's the last day of June already! Once again I have been lucky enough to feature in some fellow June Loon Blogs...

http://spottynstripy.blogspot.com/2010/06/weve-made-it-to-30th-ive-made-27-sales.html

http://nofkantscurios.blogspot.com/2010/06/loons-golden-blog-gold-medal-position.html

http://milliebead.blogspot.com/2010/06/last-day-of-june-loons.html

http://damselflygemma.blogspot.com/2010/06/june-loon-finale.html

There are some amazing items there and it's been a fabulous month! Here's to the July Jesters....!

June Loons Penultimate Day Treasury

Right, typical me to leave it to the penultimate day, but here's my first attempt at doing a treasury!

First off, here's my listing for Tuesday 29th June....





Here should be some of my favourites from today....

Some more blue from Mildunkley:




Lemonade and Lamingtons:




NOfkantsCurios:



I think that will have to do me for today, but I'll definitely be adding some more tomorrow now I seem to know what I'm doing!

Lots of Blogs...!

I've been very lucky to have been included in some amazing blogs over the last month.... I'm going to list them all here then hopefully I'll manage a June Loon Treasury all of my own! Here goes...


http://nofkantscurios.blogspot.com/2010/06/penultimate-june-loon-blog-silver-medal.html
http://damselflygemma.blogspot.com/2010/06/june-loons-days-twenty-one-to-twenty.html
http://thelittlebeadbox.blogspot.com/2010/06/june-loons-day-23.html
http://nofkantscurios.blogspot.com/2010/06/june-loons-day-19-and-20.html
http://nofkantscurios.blogspot.com/2010/06/blooming-marvelous-weather-was-awful.html
http://mary-elliott-jewellery.blogspot.com/

There are some amazing items there and I'm very privileged to have been included!

Folksy June Loons and my First Sale!

It seems I joined Folksy at just the right time... I spotted a post on the forum about a listing club for June which meant listing one new item every day for the whole of June... just what I needed as a new shop and so I joined up!

The motivation and support has been amazing, especially thanks to Natalie, and within a few days I had made my first sale! Since then I've had 5 more :) I'm going to try joining the July Jesters for the beginning of July to carry on the motivation, but it kind of depends on when you know who decides to arrive!

A Whole Month of Catchup!

Oh dear, I really have left it a whole month! I am appalled that the last addition to my blog was way back in May (and I can't believe I was all ready for Baby to make his or her appearance then and we're STILL waiting!)!

OK, in short, at the beginning of June I decided to open a shop on Folksy as well as my Etsy shop, so there's my excuse! I have added a link to the left which should go straight to my new shop which is..... http://www.folksy.com/shops/HeloiseV Yes, I thought I'd stick with the same name seeing as I'm used to typing in HeloiseV now! So there we go, Heloisev is now in £ as well as $!

So what else has been going on in June........

Circles!

So, all the baby preparation is done, so today I've been experimenting with circles!

I made some big ones (to match the flowers I made earlier this week)...

And some smaller ones (some more tags maybe)...

And I've made a few to test as face scrubbies. I'm not 100% sure about the cotton to use for these, so I've done a couple in soft DK handknit cotton and some in normal cotton. Both are 100% cotton so should wash and dry well. I'll test them over the weekend and report back next week!

New Yarn Colour - Lilac!

I was very excited to get a lovely new yarn colour earlier this week - lilac (actually, that's not its official name, i need to check what that is!). What do you think? I think it's lovely!
I just need to try it out with some other colour combinations next....