CROCHET QUILTS – no guilt

I used to be a quilter. Occasionally, I still get the ‘itch’ to pull out my fabric, scissors, and needle and whip one up. Last time I did that, I spent the entire day at it and ended up with a small wall hanging that found a home with a friend. I just went out to my front yard, gathered leaves from several different trees to use as templates for appliques, cut my fabric and hand stitched the whole works together. It was so satisfying.

Now that I’m a dedicated, dyed in the wool crocheter, I have discovered that I can combine my l0ve of quilting with my love of crochet. All it takes is your crochet skills and some knowledge of geometry – or at least the ability to crochet squares, triangles, etc and join them. There are a number of free patterns for this technique, but this is one you can certainly try on your own with no pattern. Great for using up scraps too.

Here are a few ideas.

Nine Patch is one of the most basic and commonly made quilts. Here’s how you can crochet one:

http://happyyellowhouse.com/htm/baby9patch.html

Another ever-popular design, especially this time of year, is the Wedding Ring. Here it is in crochet:

http://www.coatsandclark.com/NR/rdonlyres/A645C5B1-1501-46EE-9B8A-3C65C6650015/71959/WT1648.pdf

And, here’s another classic, especially designed for those among us who actually ENJOY joining motifs!!

http://www.happyyellowhouse.com/htm/swmed.html

These are just some ideas. Of course, there are other resources online and in books and magazines. But, try one on your own. Find a quilt pattern you like, grab your yarn scraps, and make one for yourself or another.

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One of the best things about the return of warmer weather is getting to plant new flowers and starting the vegetable garden if you have one. Off to the Nursery by Alice Oehr is subtitled “a celebration of gardening, plants and seasons,” and it’s also a celebration of diversity (because gardening is for everyone) and caring for the earth.

The book starts with the work of getting the garden ready for spring, pulling out the old plants and spreading compost made from kitchen scraps. They grab tomatoes and peppers, learn about zucchini and eggplant and explore the tasty world of herbs.

They also look through the seeds, succulents, berries and fruit trees, flowers and aquatic plants, talking about the benefits of different plants and how fun they are to grow. Maybe you can relate to the family buying what seems like way too many plants?

The book was originally published in Australia, so some of the flowers mentioned might not be familiar to your or your kids, but that’s kind of fun, too. You can also use this as an opportunity to talk about which plants in the book can grow where you live and that just like animals, plants have preferred habitats, too.

Illustrations are colorful and the book combines a standard font and a hand written font to make it feel more like a journal about the garden. The illustrations include fun facts and growing tips such as always planting mint in a pot or germinating seeds on a wet paper towel before planting.

If you want to introduce kids to gardening or just talk about what kind of plants can be grown at home where you live (yes to tomatoes, probably no to the kumquat tree), this cute book is a great addition to your spring reading list.

About the book: 30 pages, hardcover. Published 2025 by Scribble US. Suggested retail price $18.95.

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Have you read?