Emily Mega Doily Rug is Here... and Gone Again

Here's some photos of my latest custom rug creation. This 60" 150cm Emily rug will find it's home at a young couple's new house. I'm really wishing they will love it. It was a little tricky to get this rug sized up from it's original size, but I got it done on Monday and yesterday it started it's journey to it's new address. I must say it looks even better than the smaller standard size. I'm wishing I would have time to make one for my own home too.

Now it's again time to get back to crocheting. I've got some custom placemats in works and a tangerine colored basket waiting to be started.

Thanks for visiting :)

Nest of Nesting Baskets

POST UPDATE: 
The pattern for these nesting baskets is now available for purchase. You can find it in all my pattern shops (click on the Etsy, Craftsy or Ravelry tabs on top) or on my blog by clicking the Buy Patterns Here tab on top.

Happy creating!

Love,
Henna

ORIGINAL POST:

Recently I made some nesting scallop edge baskets for a customer of mine. They look so deliciously colorful together. The baskets are 11" x 6" (country red and hot pink), 9" x 5.5" (country pink and robin egg), 7.5" x 5" (pale yellow and grass green) and the smallest 5" x 4.5" (tangerine and teal blue). These were such a nice project and I had fun photographing them as well :)

Henna's Boutique at The Shoppes at Homespun in Knoxville, TN

On September 1st I got my own booth at a crafts and antique mall called The Shoppes at Homespun in Knoxville Tennessee. I'm so very excited to get there to set up the booth the way I had planned and my plans will have to wait. I head to my booth at the mall and find that the previous booth owner hadn't cleared out her wall shelving unit. Luckily I had my friend helping me and we got the wall unscrewed and down and could start covering the ugly light blue pegboard walls with yards and yards of burlap. Our weapons of choice were a staple gun, a hammer and a glue gun. All didn't go smoothly, apparently staples do not want to go into the hard pegboard but we got the walls done with some aggression powered hammering. I covered the less than pretty staples with a burlap ribbon and some upholstering tacks.

Next we fixed the white curtain rod to the back wall of the booth and hung my white curtains to create an illusion of an actual room. I brought in a stand for my rug that I had made previously but for this purpose and hung some wooden crates to the wall. I had chosen to cover the walls with burlap so that I could still have the use of the pegboard holes to hang hooks to without it being obvious.

I brought in some bookshelves from home and started placing my items out. I still need to distribute the lights that I have at the back of the booth so that all the crates in the wall are illuminated. I'll have to tackle that next weekend.

Below are a couple of photos from the booth as it is now.

I made this sign for my booth from a picture frame. I iron transferred the logo to an off white cotton fabric and attached it to the burlap board with a couple of stitches. A little of burlap ribbon and some tacks and a felt flower finished the piece.

At home I had tried different layouts for the booth and I used the opportunity to take some photos of the items at the same time.

I made quite a few different sizes and colors of baskets and a couple sets of placemats.

I crocheted these lovely candle holders from leftover yarns. Inside is a recycled glass jar. A tea lights fits into the jar perfectly and the glass keeps the crochet cover from heating up. They looks really lovely with the light coming through the holes. 

Here's a stack of some of the coasters now at my booth. 

I also crocheted some flowers and attached a pin to the back. These are great when attached to a basket or to a jacket. 

I offer two new designs of placemats, Camille (off white) and Ivy (white). I will make these designs available in my etsy shop soon also.

This colorful crate is full of hanging plush hearts. 

Below are photos of some of the doily rugs available at my booth.

This is 33" Alicia rug in plum.

25" Camille rug in off white

34" Ivy rug in country pink

35" Sara rug in pale yellow

Now I have to get back to making some more stock for my booth and etsy shop. :)

Henna's Boutique Book of Products

Click here to view this photo book larger

Photo Book Tip: Create an adventurous travel photo album at Shutterfly.com.

I just ordered this little book with photos of my crochet items. I plan to display it in my little space at a local craft mall. I'm so excited to start selling there on September 1st. I will post photos of the booth once I have it set up and fully stocked. I can't wait to get started. I have been making a lot of items and have actually built up a nicely sized stock. There's still 10 days to go and that stock will grow some more. Now back to work!

Vacation Production Part 1: Huge Hot Pink Doily Rug

I'm currently on a little working vacation in the extreme heat of Florida. And of course I am working as hard as ever to complete some of my custom rugs, there's no vacation from crafting. In between caring for the baby and taking dips in the swimming pool to cool off I have managed to finish and sent out a beautiful hot pink Alicia rug to a customer in Australia. I love how everyone of my custom rugs looks unique since I adjust the pattern to the size of the project. This rug came out really pretty and I hope it will be loved in a little girl's room :)

Here are some photos of the 150cm / 60" rug. Please bare in mind that I took this photos with my phone, I didn't want to carry all the camera stuff with me in the plane.

Now I'm continuing with a custom Sara rug in robin egg. It will be 50" / 127cm when finished. It is already looking stunning. More on that rug later.

Huge Pink Nursery Basket

Take a look at my newest creation: huge pink basket. A customer of mine wanted a basket for her daughter's nursery that could hold blankets and such. This enormous crochet basket is 17" / 43cm in diameter and 12" / 30cm in height and will hopefully hold all the items it was intended to.

I used the same pattern in the body of the basket as in my smaller baskets in my shop. The basket is 100% cotton and can be washed in a washing machine.

In the photo below, you can see my great grandmother's chair from Finland. I painted it white while I was living in Germany and redid the upholstery. This chair had no cushion on the back, so I made one that wraps around it and ties at the bottom. The off white oval rug is also one of my creations. You can find it and other rugs in my shop.

I put three big crochet blankets inside the basket and it still had room for a stuffed sheep I made from a white towel and fabric scraps.

Here's a closeup of the scallop edge on the basket. I just love that it makes the basket seem a little bit delicate despite it's great size.

Next time I will be posting some photos of a hot pink rug I'm working on now. It will be such a beauty...

Rugs, Rugs All Around

I have been wanting to have a great and space saving way to display and store some of my crochet rugs. And since I have been thinking about maybe selling my items locally in a small craft store, together with my parents we designed and made this awesome ladder to display my rugs and hanging hearts. A shorter version would also be nice for hanging a duvet or blankets.

Here is one of my newest hearts. This beautiful pink heart has wings. I'll need to make this and more similar hearts available in my shop soon. 

The rectangular rug in the following photos is a project I did for a dear friend of mine. She gave it to her mom yesterday for her birthday and I'm glad to inform you, she loved it. We made a trade transaction, I will make her 2 rugs and she will complete a landscaping design for my front and back yard. How awesome is that?! I can't wait to get started with the garden.

The rug pattern is not my own, but I added my own twist to it by adding a thicker boarder with a delicate edging to soften the design a bit. I made it from a recycled cotton material I purchased from Finland. I will have to make some rugs and baskets from this great material soon and have them available in my shop. If only there was unlimited time :)

These colorful baskets are part of a bigger custom order, 8 baskets in total. I will take some more photos of them as I finish all of them and make a posting of them later. Aren't the colors so pretty though...

I just had to take a photo of this white metal heart I have hanging in my little boys nursery. I added a green ribbon to it do it will coordinate with the rest of the room. I'm sure I will post some photos from his room soon too, maybe when he will move there to sleep.