Frida's flower blanket - Stylecraft CAL 2016 >>>

A while ago I started with a really nice project: the Stylecraft CAL 2016 inspired on Mexican folk art and the colorful dressed worn by my  favorite Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. It is a beautiful blanket filled flowers designed bij Jane Crowfoot. The designs have great names like Ring of Roses, White Cosmos, Dahlia Bud, Heart Rose and so on. And every design is accompanied with a little story about its source of inspiration and how it is linked to Frida.

Stylecraft doesn't think this project is fit for complete beginners, but is perfect for those looking to improve their skills. Well, I'm not a complete beginner, but also not a seasoned crochet star. But I made it until block 6 and I will succeed!

The blanket can be made in two color variation: above an example in
Stylecraft Classique Cotton, or in Stylecraft Special DK - the one I use

This blanket is a combination of 12 rich, intense
shades, perfect for Jane’s exquisite floral designs.

My favorite motif so far is the Heart Rose, block number 5 of the CAL. It is a rich three dimensional design. Jane Crowfoot writes the following about this rose: 'In 1939 Frida Kahlo painted a canvas that she named ‘The Two Fridas’. Frida painted it after her divorce from Diego and it shows one version of herself wearing an exposed heart, the other version of herself with a strong heart. The painting represents suffering versus strength and resilience.

When I first started working on the design for this blanket, and was therefore looking at traditional Mexican fabrics and iconography, I came across designs which featured the heart shape. The sacred heart motif is one of the most common motifs in religious Mexican folk art and, within the Catholic religion, it represents the physical heart of Jesus as a symbol of his divine love for humanity.
Trying to incorporate a heart shape into the design presented me with a problem in that the shape of it would mean the blanket design would have a de nite top and lower edge in order for the heart shape to sit in the right position. I played with heart shapes a lot, but in the end I decided it simply didn’t fit within the design. However, I realised that the shape would work perfectly as a ower petal and set about designing this piece ‘Heart Rose’. 

A variety of flowers

Every motif has such a nice explanation. It is food for thought during the work and makes working on the blocks more fun! I'll keep working on Frida's flower blanket during the next weeks and keep you posted about this great project!