Crochet, Colour and Flowers

This morning on the jaunt between school drop-off and my studio I bought two pots of Spring blooms. A little yellow pot of Tete-a-tete narcissi and a beautifully vibrant pink polyanthus.

Then on the jaunt between purchasing/drinking my first latté of the day at the café and getting down to some work I faffed with my blooms. Oh, such sweet, colourful faffing, I'm pretty sure I went a bit weak at the knees snipping and arranging these small stems.

I already had this little old china pot on my desk with some fading blue muscari and a few twigs of almost-open forsythia, so it was simply a case of snip-snip-snip and adding three more weeny stems. I spent a silly amount of time arranging it all just so, for the absolute simple enjoyment of doing it.

And then I added the Mini Chicklets - oh, aren't they just?!! These cuties hatched yesterday - the idea for them formed in my Creative Mind just like that with no warning yesterday afternoon and demanded to be brought ImMeDiAtElY into reality. I was honestly powerless to resist the cheep-cheep of these chicklets, and now they are here and I love them so much. Today at the studio (after faffing with the flowers and dancing around with my camera) I sat down and made a tutorial for making them - I'll write it all up and share it with you tomorrow (Thursday) all being well.

I am constantly finding inspiration in flowers, sometimes it's the real thing that sets me off on a creative spin and sometimes it's a mere thumbnail picture in a magazine or catalogue that does it for me. 

These little pictures are taken from a Sarah Raven catalogue which came free in one of the Spring magazines. Sarah's flower combinations are the floral colour-equivalent of my blankets, I just adore the way she mixes colours. Her catalogues are always inspiring and a feast for the eyes.

 

I stumbled across these today too - posters made from images of vintage seed catalogues from the 1800's. I'm not sure how these pictures arrived on my computer screen, I was searching on Amazon for something butterfly related and suddenly I was drowning in a whole page of these gorgeous floral images.

I especially love the one on the left  as I have a deep love of nasturtiums and grow them from seed in my back yard pots most years. But aside from the nostalgic flower-love aren't those colours just glorious! All these colourful floral images are dancing inside my head at the moment as I am in the throes of choosing a colour palette for my next blanket.

Actually, I'm working on several new projects all at once which is a lovely if complex way to go about things. This blanket-to-be has been on my mind for many months now, I sampled and finalised the pattern for the blocks about six weeks ago but have been stalling on the final choice of colours. I want something super-pretty and light, but not pale. I want soft but not wishy-washy. I've taken lots and lots of yarn-peg photos but nothing has felt quite right so far.

So during the past few weeks I've been crocheting up these squares in spare snippets of time, all the while pondering on the colours as they collect into their neat little piles with their tangled tail ends.

The blanket won't be made from these one-colour squares (although looking at the above picture, crikey, I am LOVING the simplicity of that - dare I make a thirty-two colour blanket>>?? No, probably not.) No, I just use these squares to play with, to test out combinations and stuff, it's the next step on from the pegs. Usually by this stage I've pretty much got it sorted with only one or two choices to deliberate over, but right now I'm needing to halve the above colours, and that decision making process is proving to be very tricky.

I've also been crocheting with two new palettes of Chunky yarn during recent weeks, finally getting to grips with a new bag design. I designed this bag way back in May last year, but for various reasons it's needed to sit quietly on the back burner until now. Coming back to it almost a year later has been great and I've now re-worked some of the bits that I wasn't completely happy with.

I've not quite finished working on the bags just yet (nearly, but not quite), and I can't wait to show them to you. The colours in my bag look like Autumn and Spring don't you think? Gosh, listen to me - colour, colour, colour, flowers, crochet, colour, colour....I feel a bit obsessed.........

......awwww you complete cutie-pie, just look how mini you are!!! Loving my brood of chicklets, more coming tomorrow.........back soon, toodle-oo!

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Comments

[Carol]

Lucy, you should go to this blog http://sewforsoul.blogspot.co.uk/ and see what Josie has done with eggs!! Love your colours.

[Pat]

Always amazing to read your posts Lucy!

[Rae R]

I love it all! Thanks for brightening my day, I needed a boost of color, positive thoughts, and cheerfulness. Thanks for posting all of it. :)

[Carolyn Jackson]

Another lovely post, wonderful colours, I want to make some of the squares, would love the pattern,not sure of the name. So many lovely ideas, always exciting when there is a new post to ejoy. Many thanks. Caro NZ.

[jane]

Lucy you never fail to inspire me.....I cant get enough of your blog...just so interesting. Your pictures make me happy and I thank you for that,.

[morag]

I'm so glad you are obsessed with colour because we all benefit from that obsession. can't wait to see your new blanket design 😄😄😄

[Louise The Red Haired Amazona]

Your latest post is just what I need today! I've just finished making a crocheted case for my little camera and have a kajillion balls of yarn still staring at me waiting, no begging! to be used. Now my brain is buzzing with ideas of spring coloured granny squares, or mini granny square placemats! It's always a pleasure to read your latest posts. So inspiring!!

[Selina Baihn]

adore your excitement over colour, your blog is so much of a feast! cute chicklets.
loved the left vintage poster too, even pinned it. you could do a blanket like that, instead of stripes, do more splashes of colours like the flowers in the poster? would certainly keep it interesting. look forward to seeing what your new projects bring.
thanx for sharing

[Teresa Kasner]

Your chicks are wonderful and so unique! I look forward to seeing more of your new projects. I'm just done with a cotton "Neat Ripple" - I posted about it today.. and I've been giving you credit for the design in each post where I show it. I did the interlocking color design also - you continue to inspire me, Miss Lucy. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

[Lindsey]

I'd drop row 2 colors 1-5, 10 & 11 and row 3 colors 1-6 and 9-11. This is reading left to right. They are too dark for what you described, but who asked for my opinion? No one, but just saying.

[Jenny]

What a gorgeous surprise to find your blog post I have been busy all day and this evening decided to use my Geli plate to print up a calico bag ,pizza base bubble wrap onion bag paint all over dining room table, tomorrow will embellish bag and then learn to crochet a chick thank you Lucy love Jenny x

[Jean viserta]

Your chicks are just adorable, Lucy. When you post the pattern tomorrow I think I will try it out. What excites me most are your colors. They are just luscious. I so wish that I had the time to play with colors like you do. I'm lucky I have time to crochet. Keep up these glorious blogs. I really love them.

[Lonormi Manuel]

Lucy, when I want a palette that is light but not pale, I think of coastal colors -- sea, sky, beach glass, sand, shells, and those delicate coastal wildflowers in their hues of blues and purples. It feels like a very soothing palette to me (probably because I'm over 600 miles from the nearest seashore!).

[Clare]

Aww they are so cute, I've been making felt chicks today, tis the season :0) Yarn and flowers what more could you want. I love all the spring colours

[Ellice]

You never cease to amaze me. You have such energy. Your hands must be I constantly on the go. The colours,flowers and the Easter goodies are just fantastic. We all need colour in our life and you bring that to us on just about a daily basis Thankyou E

[Thistle]

I can't wait to see your new bag design. The one I made three years ago for my daughter, from your original bag pattern but modified to be smaller for a little girl, is starting to be a little worn and I'm sure she'd like a new one. We use it for ballet class and all the moms want to know where I got it. :)

[Winwick Mum]

The world would be a very drab place without colour, so never apologise for wanting to immerse yourself in it! Love your chicks, although I do keep expecting you to reveal the hidden Creme Egg! :-) xx

[Crystal]

I love the bag colors and stitch!!! Can't wait for the tutorial! I agree with everyone above, your blog and energy are so inspiring. You helped me learn to crochet and it has seen me through some tough times over the past years. Thank you for sharing!

[Farrah Lily]

The little chicks are adorable! We still have snow on the ground here, so it's nice to see so much color on your blog. :)

[Marie]

Aw, sweet little chickies! Another lovely colourful post, thank you!

[Mary Reed]

I can't tell you how much joy and inspiration your blogs and especially your gorgeous color photos of crochet, yarn, flowers and decor bring to my FB life! Thank you so much for sharing what you do! Your blog is right up there as one of my absolute faves that I share of all subjects. Adore. It.

[Rachel]

I adore your excitement and enthusiasm - and I can't wait for a new blanket!!

[Angela-Southern USA]

It's all wonderful, as usual! : )I'm in the final stages of blanket planning myself, in tapestry crochet. I love those seed pack images, whenever I see them I stop and soak in their beauty. I usually save all the pretty seed packs, sometimes I use them on a spring themed wreath or just display them in a shallow bowl to enjoy them further. Such cute chicklets! Funny, I just got mine out that I made last year, I added a cracked shell(crocheted) like they just "hatched". They're displayed with a table top egg tree. I've strung my mini daffodil bunting and filled a mini wheelbarrow with crochet eggs and Miss Rabbit. Enjoy your color play!

[Mary Pugh]

Hi Lucy. I just know that one day you'll be dreaming about anemones,one of my favourite flowers. So I'll just patiently wait for your tutorial. All those beautiful colours! How could you possibly resist? 😀😃😆

[Sheryl]

I absolutely LoVe the color combination of the flowers in their colorful glass jars!! Wondering how that palette would look done up? I may have to give it a go and see...... And those chicklets are so adorable!