Cute little pin board

Right around the time I blogged about my goal to finish all my wip’s before starting something new (more here), I made this little pin board from a simple Ikea coaster/trivet and thought I’d quickly show you how I made it.
I cut a piece of fabric, big enough to go around the cork coaster, stretched it nicely around it and simply glued it to the back of the coaster.
Then the fun part of crocheting a trim to go around the coaster/pin board began (for inspiration you could go here).
What I did was crochet a chain that was long enough to go around the coaster (plus some extra for the little loop to hang it). You then chain 1, turn, and single crochet (US terms – link to US/UK-term sheet here) all the way back with green.
Next you’ll attach (right side facing) the yarn for your row of bobbles/flowers (bright pink in my case) *sc, slip stitch into the next sc, crochet a bobble in that very same stitch that you slip stitched in (yarn over, pull up a loop – three loops on your hook now, repeat 3 times, 9 loops on your hook now, pull yarn through 9 loops, close bobble with a slip stitch), slip stitch in the next sc and repeat from * until you’ve reached the end of your sc-base.
I then glued the flowery trim all around the edge of the cork coaster.To make the back look nice as well, I cut out a circle from some cute matching paper and glued it onto the back of the coaster/pin board: tadah! All set to pin some happy memorabilia!
Going through last week’s photos I noticed it had been a week of circles, crochet wise that is. I made two mandalas, one in honor of Marinke/Wink and sent it off to wonderful Kathryn, who’s organizing a remembrance project for Marinke (read how you can participate here). Crocheting the “I love Holland”-mandala designed by Wink herself seemed appropriate (link to paid pattern here).

The second mandala I crocheted last week was “Mandy’s Mandala” and so enjoyed making this one as well! It’s a free pattern and you’ll find the excellent tutorial on Mandy’s beautiful blog (link here).

And then last but not least my sweet friend Heike received the little photo frame I made for her as a memento of the happy days spent during her recent visit to Amsterdam.
The – also free – pattern for this frame can be found on Martine’s inspiring blog (link here).
Happy making!

Love,
Marianne xx