I love my garden and really enjoy watching how it changes throughout the year depending on the season. I would really like to have a more homely and functional mix of flowers and herbs in our outdoor space, typical of cottage gardens, which became popular in the 1870s as a reaction to more formal gardens. One of the positives of a garden of this type is that they are more easily maintained as the compact planting leaves little space for weeds - something I really like the idea of! Crocheted flowers are pretty much my favourite thing to make and I adore adding beads into my work too, so this project was a real joy to design and make. I wanted to create a vintage feel and chose my yarn shades accordingly. I think the little lime green beads provide a lovely pop of colour on the leaves of the dainty crochet blooms. You could always use this pattern to make pretty brooches or to use as part of a larger, fascinator style piece. I adored the velvet smocked cushions that my Auntie Muriel had on her bed when I was a child in the 1970s. I used to love running my fingers over the velvet pile and found the smocked stitching fascinating. The cushions were just so enticing and luxurious that I remember thinking that I would definitely have some on my bed when I was old enough! I have previously recreated the style of these cushions in a knit design I called Madeleine, which was published in my book Homespun Vintage, but I have always wanted to create a crochet version too. When working on the Muriel cushion project I decided to add pretty bobbles instead of smocked style stitching to make a simple accompaniment to my Gertrude cushion, which features pretty flowers and beads. I have always struggled with the way crochet worked in the round can look like it has a 'scar' running through it, so my challenge for this project was to design something that would hide the way slip stitches appear without having to fasten off yarns at the end of every round. The pattern includes full written instructions, step-by-step images and charts, and is available in UK and US terms. Blocked Measurement: to fit 35cm (14in) square cushion pad.

Shawl knit in Fine Donegal.