Crocheted Patchwork Afghan - Square 1

I saw this 365 square a day granny square afghan and fell in love.



 

 

I've seen some before but got discouraged and never made one,

but I'm going to give it a try this time...

except it's mid March and I won't have 365 squares done in time for Christmas,

 

so this one will be a "However Many Squares This Granny Can Get Done Afghan".

 

So I started off with a traditional granny square.

 

Always a great way to start and one of the first things my grandma

taught me how to make.

 

My squares are 6 inches and I use an H hook.

I'm also using Red Heart Super Saver yarn.

 

All of my squares have 31 SC on each side with 2 ch in each corner.

 

Watch for my progress.

I can't wait to see the finished product!

Patchwork....Well it Just Makes Me Smile!

I have always LOVED patchwork!

 

I've probably posted this before, but my love of patchwork started as a little girl and there are 4 specific reasons I know of that made me fall in love with patchwork.

 

My granny always gave us kids a $5.00 bill for Christmas. 

 

1.  One year when I was pretty little I asked her why that's what she gave us.

  So...... the next year I didn't get $5.00.

 

I got a beautiful white and pink patchwork quilt instead!

 

2.  The next reason I love patchwork is that in elementary school we had to wear skirts or dresses and on of the girls had this skirt that was made out of tiny patches of fabric that her grandmother had made for her.  I loved the fact that the fabrics in the skirt were all scraps from fabrics that her grandma had used to make her things over the years.

 

3.  The third reason I love patchwork is from a story we read in probably 2nd grade and I think the title was "Patches".  It was about a little girl who's family didn't have a lot of money and the although the girls clothes were always clean she usually had little patches holding them together.  She was embarrassed in front of the other kids and so one day her mom put little appliques of animals on her dress instead of just plain patches.  Everyone loved her dress and the little girl felt so special.

 

4.  The fourth reason that I love patchwork is that when I was in high school our family t.v. broke and my parents decided not to replace it.  My mom had taught me to embroidery and sew before the t.v. broke, but once we didn't have t.v. we started quilting.  I can remember spending hours looking through quilting books at all the different patterns. 

 

 Patchwork was always my favorite though and it still is!

 

 

 

So here are some prim bookmarks I made last night.

 

and some patchwork drawstring bags

 



and these aren't patchwork, but I wanted to show them off.

I quilted these cute bookmarks for back to school things for kids.

So that is my story on my love for patchwork. 

 

I also learned a few other things from my love of patchwork.

Never question a person about the gift they are giving you.  As a Nana of 14 I totally understand why Granny only gave us $5.00 each and now I really appreciate her thoughtfulness!

 

I learned that something as simple of scraps of fabric can hold some wonderful memories and that it's a wonderful thing that something as small as a patch and some understanding can make us feel more loved and beautiful than any knew dress.

 

I learned that t.v.'s can really take away from family time and the joy of doing things together.  I learned that I enjoyed those years without a t.v. and the time that my mom took with me and my sewing.  We had fun with quilts, Stretch-n-Sew and picking out fabrics for clothes.  Thanks Mom!! 

Selvages and Patchwork

I'm making a quilt, hopefully, for myself using selvages and scraps of fabric.

It's been fun putting these squares together.

I can be kind of creative and remember the things I made for people out of the scraps.

 

 

 

These squares are approx. 28 inches square

 

 so......

 

 I have lots more scrapping and sewing to do. 

 

This project is a work in progress,

a fun, stress free project

that I hope will turn into a beautiful quilt!

May Day Swap

I participated in Valrie's May Day Swap and Valrie was my partner. She went all out and spoiled me rotten! See the lovely bouquet? Valrie made that and she upcycled the pot that it is in.

Look at all the goodies she sent me.

Thanks Valrie!

You really went all out and made my day!

Here's what I sent to Valrie. My Tussie Mussie is inspired by my friend Melinda. It isn't even close to the kind of work that Melinda does, but I really liked how it turned out.

and then I also sent her some other goodies.

I had fun sewing all the flowery patchwork things.

Thanks Valrie for a fun swap!

Patches

This is what I've been working on the past couple of days. Patchwork, patchwork and more patchwork. I love digging into my fabric scraps and seeing the combinations I can come up with.

I remember reading a story in our Reader in elementary school about a little girl and I think they called her Patches. They were poor and they couldn't afford new clothes so her mom would put patches on the worn out areas of the little girls dresses. The kids at school made fun of her and called her Patches. Her mom surprised her one day by putting little animal shaped patches on her clothes instead of regular patches and the little girl felt so special and the kids loved these patches. Anyway, I think of that story when I go through my fabric scraps and cut out patches.

Last night I cut out a lot of patches in reds, yellows, greens, blues, aquas. I can't wait to get started sewing today!!