Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Sunset Mandala ~ Free Pattern

I’ve been having fun making mandalas.  First with WW crochet cotton, and most recently WW acrylics. Doing some stash busting, so I am!  LOL  I quite often “do my own thing”, and this particular time I decided to write it down to share.  I know a lot of people seem to be enjoying making mandalas.  They seem to be quite popular these days.  So, this is one that I came up with on my own.  Nothing fancy, mind you, but I do like how it turned out. I named it “Sunset Mandala” because of the colors I used in this first one. The colors remind me of a gorgeous sunset!
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Then I went on to make three more in different color schemes.  The possibilities are endless!
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So, without further ado, here is my pattern for the Sunset Mandala. (Note: I am not a professional pattern writer, nor do I pretend to be. I just wanted to share with anybody who would like to try the pattern. I have tried to make the directions clear, but if you have any questions, feel free to ask. Or, if you have a suggestion as to how to make any portion of the directions more clear, feel free to contact me as well.)
Sunset Mandala
by Rita Lippert ~ 2014
1: Ch 8, join to form circle.  Make 16 sc in circle.
2: Dc, ch 1 in each sc around.
3: 2dc cluster, ch 2 in each ch 1 sp around.
4: 2 sc in top of each cluster, and in each ch 2 sp around.
5: Sc in first st, ch 3, skip 3 sc, sc in next sc, ch 3 around.
6: 3 dc, ch 2 in each ch 3 space around.
7: Sc in each dc,  2 elongated sc in unworked sc of round 5, around.
8: Hdc in each sc around.
9: Hdc in between each hdc around.
10: Sc in first st, ch 3, sk 2 st, sc in next st, ch 3, around.
11: In each ch 3 space work sl st, ch 3, 3 dc, ch 3, sl st.

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Mandalas, Flowers, and Good Will Finds, Oh My!!

Hello friends, and I hope you are all having a lovely day! Rick is out mowing, and I was outside earlier and planted some daylilies.  It’s chilly and quite windy out there.  But I am not complaining.  I’ll take this over 90 degrees and humid any ol’ time! 

Thought I’d share a few things with you today.  First up are the crochet goodies I’ve been playing around with during the past week.  Flowers, mandalas and a hot pad.

First up are the mandalas. The pattern for the first one can be found here. Very easy and works up quickly!

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The pattern for this second mandala can be found at this site. It works up quickly as well, and is also easy.

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For this next mandala I just played around with my yarn, and didn’t follow a pattern.  All of the mandalas I made are using WW cotton yarn so that they may be used as hot pads, if desired.

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Next up, I made some flowers.  I was having fun playing with all my colorful WW cotton yarns!  For the first one, I followed this pattern. I decided it was working up bigger than I’d like, using the WW cotton yarn, so I made a similar flower on my own.  I didn’t put on as many petals or rows, and I used a smaller hook. This picture shows the first one on the left, and then my revamped one on the right.

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And here are all of the smaller ones posing together.

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Last, but not least, I would like to share my Good Will finds with you.  I absolutely love the pattern on this set of vintage sheets I found.  When I was a little girl (I’m thinking around 9 or so) I had just one pillowcase with this print on it.  I *loved* that pillowcase! Imagine how hurt I was one day when I came home from school to find that my mother had given it away!  Say it isn’t so!!!  But anyhoo, here I am all these years later and I have the whole set…not just the pillowcase.  Problem is I am sleeping on a twin size bed, and the sheets are double.  They’re not tucking under real well, so I think I’m going to have to figure out something to help them stay on the bed better.

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Also at Good Will, I found this unique vase and tin box.  I was a happy shopper.

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There now, I think I’m all caught up with showing you my goodies.  Enjoy the week ahead and blessings to all of you!

Monday, May 12, 2014

Colorful Things

Hello Friends!  Hope you had a nice weekend, and that all you mothers out there were treated like royalty on Mother’s Day!

Thought I’d share my two newest creations with you.  The first is a doily that started out as a small motif.  The colorful center part was it…but then I added more rounds to turn it into a doily. I wish I would have done the initial white rows a bit differently, but what is done is done, and I’m not doing it over.  LOL

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This second project is a mandala that I just kind of threw together yesterday. No pattern…just played around with some cotton yarn. I added a loop on it for hanging.

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Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you have a great week!

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Pinks, Browns and Greens

Pinks, browns and greens…those are the colors I have been working with during the past week.  First up, I made this starflower mandala.  The pattern can be found HERE. It worked up much larger than I expected, but it is still pretty. This was a stash-buster project. I have a lot of stash to bust!  LOL  I think it would make a beautiful doily done in thread.  Color possibilities are endless!

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Next, for me to make, were these two matching doilies.  I made them for my son’s living room.  You might recall I made this pair for him a while back. He got some newer furniture, and the doilies I made for him last yr. no longer match.  So I whipped up these two which will look great in his living room.  For these doilies, I used my own doily pattern, which can be found here.

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So, my friends, that is what I have been up to lately. Next on my agenda, for today, is to decide which project I would like to start next. Hope all are having a great week!  Thanks for stopping by!