Irish Crochet Applique

Crochet Roses and Leaves

I made a set of filet crochet curtain ties for my son's room. You'll find the instructions for making this curtain tie here.

Thought they were rather plain and I'd embellish them with some Irish roses. Here's the result.

 The rose has come out okay.  But it  looks too girlish an embellishment for a guy's room. Besides, it does not go well with the curtains or the curtain ties.  Another thing is, the petals are excellent dust collectors. I can't imagine what colour, the rose will become in a week's time. So, for now I am shelving this. Maybe I'll use it on a scarf or a muffler or a handbag.

Kurta Sleeve Turned Pouch

It's been a while since my last post.  I've been busy going through my hoardings, ruthlessly throwing away, what I don't need.  You won't believe the things I hoard !  - the scraps I've used for this hanky pouch to mention a few. 

I now have my very own laptop - a hand me down as my husband fell in love with a tablet PC. I also now have my very own external hard disk (500 GB). No more quarreling with the kids for storage space.

I realised that my almost 6' tall, 14 year old was no longer a little one when he tried to con me out of my new external hard disk. All the things he can think up to show me how he needs it more than me!!!

Now, I am busy scanning all sorts of interesting info I have managed to collect over the past 20 years and enjoying every minute of it. No point in having these if I don't even know that I have them right?  So I have my work cut out for me.

March and April this year were unusually hot. I ended up cropping off half the sleeves off some of my cotton kurtas. Most of them ended up as patchwork doormats. Two of them however got converted into a hanky pouch for my mom. Recycling being the name of the game for me since January. I thought I might as well go  all the way and use up scraps of crochet and tatting from my mistakes box.

The crochet lace is from DMC Irish crochet. The medallion below the tatting is from http://crochet-loving.blogspot.in/search/label/Irish%20Crochet">here. You'll find the download links there as well.

I rounded off the embellishing with "wheatear arcs" done with multi-shade thread.

This is the other side of the pouch. I am not so good at taking pictures – I invariably end up shaking the camera while clicking the button. 

 I have used the herring bone stitch (bottom left) from SHARON’S TAST and sequins, stones and jingles provide the rest of the embellishing. Does it not look like a tiny fish? Unfortunately, I can't recall where exactly in her pin tangle, I found this stitch or even what she called it.

I closed the opening with Velcro. Needless to say my mom loved it. She is one of those people who loves anything I do mistakes and all!

Grapes and Leaves in Irish Crochet

This is my version of the vintage grapes and leaves free pattern I found in a Crochet site. I stuffed a little batting instead of thread for the grapes. A pity I could not get the exact shades of thread for the grapes and leaves. Anyway I think this would make a wonderful applique.

Irish Crochet

This is an Irish Crochet piece I am trying from the DMC Irish Crochet book.  The book has been split into 4 pdf files and uploaded by The Antique Pattern Library. You can download them from the links below.

DMC Irish crochet I
DMC Irish Crochet II
DMC Irish Crochet III
DMC Irish Crochet IV

Will this look ok once I block it? Somehow I am not satisfied with it. Is my tension not right? I'll try redoing it.