Stripey, spotty blanket

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To look at this post at jodegenhart.com just click this link- Stripey Spotty Blanket

Now, I know I said that the blue blanket would be finished a few weeks ago but I have never been good at timings especially when it comes to crochet! So here is it...

                                   

Having been inspired by Little Woolie's mixed stitched blanket to make a much simpler version of her blanket, I decided to use her idea of binding in the loose ends by creating a number of rows of crochet then folding the rows in half and sewing it to enclose the ends.

After the blanket was the size I wanted it to be, I did a round of double crochet and then did a two rows of treble crochet all around as you would a  normal border. I added two rows of trebles on each side, decreasing on each end to create a kind of beveled edge. Next I folded each side over, sewing them over all four sides and sewing the corners together.

This is how the corners looked when I was finished. I was very pleased as I hate darning in the ends and I would definitely use Little Woolie's technique again.

So this blanket is now on its way to its new owner, who must be about a month old now!

Crocheting in the Car

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To look at this post at jodegenhart.com just click this link- Crocheting in the Car

I started another cot blanket for a new baby boy during the Easter holidays. Having whizzed through it while we had our tour of the country to see family, progress has slowed now that we are back into the routines of school and all the running around that involves.

Here are some pictures of me crocheting while driving in various positions in the car. I had not realised what a great place it is to crochet until I started doing it when I was making the Rainbow Striped Blanket. All that time where I would be sat doing not very much used in a productive way. Very satisfying.

This blanket started as a heart blanket like Mary Ann Frits I Love Scraps Afghan which is such a lovely pattern but it seemed not quite boyish or robust enough some how. Inspired by Little Woolies beautiful mixed stripe blanket, I decided to make a blanket with the bobble stripes and then rows of treble and double crochet so that it was a bit speedier to make.

I am hoping to be finished by the end of this week (as long as I have time to sew in all those dreaded ends!) so watch this space...

New Baby Designs

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To look at this post at jodegenhart.com just click this link- New Baby Designs

I have been working on some new designs for new babies and have been using a butterfly lino cut that I have recently carved. 

These designs are flat cards that can be personalised with the new baby's name and birth date

Whereas these cards are similar to the Mother's day and Easter cards I have done but this time they can be personalised.

I have found pricing so hard. Both cards take more time because they are personalised. One has an ornament where as the other does not which must make the price higher, but not so high that by the time postage is added people are put off by the price. Looking elsewhere to see what other people are charging does not always help, and I am constantly worrying that I am under or over pricing. Are people really willing to pay much more for a hand printed and crafted card?

Rainbow Granny Stripe Blanket

I now have a new blog address.

To look at this post at jodegenhart.com just click this link- Rainbow Granny Stripe

I learned how to crochet over a year ago using a book and YouTube and have had lots of fun learning and making things. I have made two blankets for friends or family's babies, but they have all been small crib blankets as I have not felt very confident at starting a larger project and finishing it before the baby is one. Recently we have had a new baby in the family so I thought that I would be a bit more adventurous and try a cot blanket. Who knows, I might even work my way up to a bed size blanket soon!!

Having searched and searched, I decided on Attic24's Granny Stripe Blanket. I loved this pattern and enjoyed wizzing up and down the rows. I crocheted it at home, in the car and on a train up to Glasgow to visit a friend, so this blanket was well traveled by the time it found its way down south to be given to its new owner. It had a bit of a rest when the blue yarn I had used ran out and I found out it had been discontinued. After a lot of desperate searching, I was very relieved to find one ball on ebay so I was able to finish it just in time.

This is me sewing in the last few ends before adding the border. Apologies for the poor lighting but it was quite late by the time I finished.

It was squared (or rectangled?) but I was in a rush to take the pictures before we left to deliver it and did not  notice I had not pulled it straight until after I had wrapped it.

I was really proud of my first cot blanket so I thought I would share it with you. I am now working on another cot blanket for a little boy so I will show you that when I have finished.

After Easter

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To look at this post at jodegenhart.com just click this link- After Easter

The kids are back at school now so I have had a little more time to spend on the Etsy shop. I had updated some of the personalised new baby cards to make them a bit more professional looking and am pleased with the results.

After a very frustrating day trying unsuccessfully to upload the new pictures onto the Etsy website, I have finally managed it this morning. Next is to look at a new design for the wedding cards and some personalised cards with no wooden ornament.

Easter Cards

I now have a new blog address.

To look at this post at jodegenhart.com just click this link- Easter Cards

After my adventure with the Mother's day card and the positive feedback, I decided to try to design some Easter cards along the same lines. The design for the heart on the Mother's day cards was the same as I had used at christmas but this time I had to design and carve a new stamp to fit the birchwood egg shapes I had bought. I also bough some bright pink and green ink pads to keep them looking bright and springy.

After spending some time sketching, I finally decided on a design and began to carve the lino block. When I did my first print I got that buzy, excited, creative feeling you get when something you have created has gone to plan!

So here we have the decorations; the pink egg and the green egg.

Then, all I had to do was attach them to a card, stamp 'Happy Easter' on them and I had two lovely new Easter cards to sell in the Etsy shop.



This is when the pink Easter card was featured on a design website called DesignSponge.com which is a great blog to look at other creative people's creations. Which was very exciting!

As I am still producing relatively low numbers of each design, I sold out before I had even noticed I had been featured. I found this slightly frustrating as the time it takes from ordering the eggs to having cards to sell ment it has taken until today to get more on my Etsy shop, but I suppose it is all a learning curve and next year I will make more.

I am finding that I get more views on Etsy with the celebration cards ie. Mother's day or Easter than I have so far with the new baby and wedding cards. I have not been doing much publicity in other mediums so maybe that is the problem.

I do find it hard to 'self premote' though. I feel like I am pushing people I know into uncomfortable situations where they will feel they cannot say no, or that I am pestering people. I realise I must get better at it, investigate more of Etsy and the forums and treasuries, use facebook more, and generally get more confidence in what I am producing, because I am very proud of myself and what I have done so far.

 I just need to get better at telling people about it.

Catch up

I now have a new blog address.

To look at this post at jodegenhart.com just click this link- Catch Up

Sorry for the long break but now for the catch up!

I decided to make some mother's day cards using the new and improved stamped hearts. Still the same birch heart but now painted white then embossed which gives it a much nicer feel than the printing ink did. It also means that I do not end up with lots of wooden hearts in the way of family life as the printing ink takes days to dry. All good news as I am working on the same table we eat our dinner from and now I can get it all done while the kids are at school then pack it away.

I found some nice recycled cards in a craft shop on sale and they were the inspiration for the new cards.

I sold quite a few through my Etsy shop and got some great feedback which was lovely and gave me a bit of a buzz so I decided to do something similar for Easter.

So if you pop back tomorrow I will tell you all about the Easter cards and my first experience of being featured on a design blog!