And the winner is...

Congratulations to Jelby, who guessed the correct answer - crochet owls! They will be in the shop shortly. Jelby please contact me to organise delivery of your chosen item from the shop.

Thank you to everyone else who took part in the giveaway - and hope you enjoyed our little guessing game. It gave me some great product ideas!

More owls coming in the next post - they are busy breeding at the moment ;-)

Giveaway time!

*** GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. THANKS FOR YOUR INTEREST! ***

I started this blog in December 2012, not knowing if anyone would ever read it or if it would ever 'take off'. Then I started a Facebook page and opened an Etsy shop at the end of January 2013 to expand the 'enterprise'. During this time, the progress of Down Grapevine Lane has surpassed even my wildest expectations. Only 3 months in the Facebook page has over 250 'Likes' and the blog has had over 22,000 pageviews. I also have quite a few loyal followers on Bloglovin' and Feedly (and the soon to be retired Google Reader). I even have a magazine deal in progress! To say I am delighted is an understatement!

So as a big 'thank you' to all my readers and customers for all  your amazing support and encouraging words, here is a little contest.

The Prize
The first person to guess the correct answer will win an item of their choice from the Etsy shop (bundle deals, gift sets and amigurumi excluded).

How to enter
- You must be a 'liker' of the Down Grapevine Lane Facebook page and share the giveaway image from that page
- To enter, just leave a comment under this post guessing the answer to the following question: 

"WHAT NEW ITEM WILL I BE ADDING TO THE SHOP NEXT?"

CLUE 1: the item is decorative, and not a toy or apparel.

CLUE 2:
Knock, Knock!
Who's there?
Who.


Rules
- One entry per person only. If you have put down more than one guess I will take your first guess as your entry
-The contest will run until midnight 12 April, even if the item has already been guessed correctly. I will reveal the winner here and on the Facebook page on 13 April. If there are no correct guesses I will select the 'closest' guess as the winner. I may also give more clues, depending on how the contest is going ;-)
- If you are leaving a comment using the 'Anonymous' option please make sure you state your name so I can contact you via Facebook if you win. Please do not include your email address for privacy reasons.
- Please try to be precise in your guesses for a better chance to win. For instance, putting 'wall art' or 'soft furnishing' as a guess is too broad.
- I have to moderate comments due to a large number of spam the blog gets, so your entry will not appear straightaway.
- IF YOU HAVE ALREADY ENTERED A GUESS BEFORE CLUE 2 WAS REVEALED YOU ARE ALLOWED A SECOND GUESS :)

GOOD LUCK!

Homespun feature

Just a super quick post this evening to share some very exciting news with you. Down Grapevine Lane has been commissioned by Homespun magazine to do a special project for them for their September issue. In every issue Homespun magazine publishes '10 original and exciting projects from leading Australian and international designers' and I am truly honored that they picked little old me to be one of those designers. In fact I had to pinch myself when I got that email from the managing editor!


We have just completed the 'design' stage and I have started working on the project itself. I cannot share what it is yet, but suffice it to say, I love it already and I am really enjoying making it! I am taking photographs of the production process and will be writing step-by-step instructions, and there will be a little feature piece on me and Down Grapevine Lane as well.

So very exciting!

Solo crochet adventures

Having completed the online crochet course, I was ready for my first project, flying solo. So I went to my crochet Pinterest board and selected a tutorial that looked clear and doable for a beginner - African Flower squares by Made in K-town. I chose this tutorial not just because of the lovely pattern and clear steps. It was preparation for my next project - an African Flower pincushion by Cherry Heart. This pincushion was one of the first things I had pinned on my Pinterest crochet board (in other words, one of the first things that made me wish I could crochet!)

And here they are, the flowers and the pincushion. Both were quite easy, thanks to the clear tutorials. I only made the flower part of the squares, I am thinking of making a few more flowers and putting them on a chain to make a little hanging for Alice's room.





With my confidence boosted, I decided to have a go at the amigurumi bunny pattern I had purchased when I first discovered the world of amigurumi. You may remember when I posted about that - it was what started me on the crochet journey in the first place.

And here it is - an amigurumi Spring Bunny. The pattern is by A Morning Cup of Jo Creations.  There were some tricky bits, but thankfully the instructions were very helpful. I picked up a few advanced techniques too. It took a week to make, but definitely worth the effort, I am so pleased with it!



Alexander loves his new 'babbit' (well he is mostly trying to strangle it or drag it on the floor, but that's toddler version of 'love' for you). I think it may be the beginning of our amigurumi zoo...

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone. Hope you have a great time enjoying the company of your loved ones. We are having a quiet family Easter this year, and as you can see the Easter bunny arrived early in our house on this Good Friday. And what a cute bunny she is!



I decided to make my own Easter card for the blog this year. I have a Nikon DSLR, and I am still learning how to use it properly and trying to improve my photography technique. The card below was the result of over an hour's effort! Positioning the props, making sure the light is right, taking almost a hundred photos in various settings, sifting through them all to find the best one, editing the photo and adding the text. Hope you like it!