{ friday focus - crazy for crochet }

I've had a fascination with crochet details for as long as I can remember.  Whenever I spy crochet of any kind, my heart fills with wonderful, warm and fuzzy memories of my grandmother. She was a talented seamstress, and the lady had the patience of a saint. And so when I was seven years old,  I asked if she would teach me to sew, and she very kindly agreed. I can remember spending hours practicing straight stitching in her little sewing corner, that was tucked away in her tiny kitchen.  On her wooden, ornate sewing machine table, there was a tremendous pile of mysterious and magical (at least, it seemed that way to me) sewing supplies. Scraps of pastel floral fabrics, spools of silky thread, but most intriguing to me was the gigantic stash of crochet trimmings, in every color of the rainbow. It was all so very beautiful! She also had a great number of intricately-made doilies, in every shape and size, that my sister and I enjoyed using at our many "tea parties".  She told me she would teach me to crochet once I mastered sewing, but I never got around to learning (although I hear that it's a snap to pick up).  I love crochet trimmings to this day, and I've been so excited to see so many crochet details popping up everywhere lately.  It's fun to see all the different ways creative people are using this charming, needlecraft art.

I want a linen closet bursting with a pile of these pillows!

*rosehip pillowcases

Completely smitten with these beautiful DIY pendant lamps.

*via pinterest

I just love how simply sewing a doily onto a solid pillow can result in this much cuteness.

*brandeye linen pillow

Or onto a clutch maybe?  Please and thank you :)

*toriska linen clutch

I've had a tearsheet of this DIY shower curtain (featured in Country Living) for years.  Isn't it gorgeous?

*country living

Oh, and I finally, FINALLY tracked down this little crochet-trimmed cardi that I've been stalking on ebay for almost a year.



*anthropologie boyer cardigan

 Do you crochet?  Does it give you fond memories of time spent learning with someone special like your mother or grandmother?