I’ve been going round in circles again – in a good way. After progressing a giant granny mandala in vintage spring colours I wanted to try to perfect the pattern so that the circle was smooth and wrinkle-free.

Jump straight to the free tutorial for the Easter granny mandala or download the free pattern that you can print off.

I achieved this eventually with my giant granny mandala but it took quite an effort with steam blocking and then piling loads of cookery books onto it overnight. I still have to finish this one – I may add a few more rounds and do a more intricate border as it is going to be a tablecloth for a circular table…

Easter and spring produce some gorgeous colour combinations and my favourites come from the spring flowers that are out at the moment.

I love the bright purples, red and oranges of tulips but for the mandala I concentrated on the daffodil yellows and creams, the purples and blues of grape hyacinths and purple hyacinths and the soft pinks of the last of the pink hyacinths.

I loved putting these colours together and also working out the pattern using a combination of maths and trial and error. Yes, I could have just looked a pattern up, but where is the fun in that? In doing these projects I want to challenge myself and maybe do something original. That’s difficult because so many people do granny projects and mandalas, but at least this is original to me.

The early part of the mandala is always easy as the rounds are short and the increases are fairly standard. When using a granny pattern, you don’t want to stray too far from the triplet of trebles that gives the granny character, so it can be tricky to get the increases right. It took a lot of note taking and a lot of scribbled calculations…

But the mandala started to grow and progressed better because I learned from the mistakes of my first one…

And on Easter Sunday morning, I finally finished and here it is, the Ta-Dah! moment for the Easter granny mandala:

I’ve made it to be the centrepiece to my Easter Sunday afternoon High Tea, and it worked very well.

I am very, very pleased with it, even though its only a simple circle granny. I’ve also been busy writing up a tutorial and how-to guide with the full colour list of what I used. I am thrilled when people message me on Facebook or send photos to show they have made something using one of my tutorials – it really spurs me on to do more. But you can do anything you like with this pattern in terms of colour. A Christmas granny mandala, one to match your decor colour scheme, a mono colour one. The possibilities really are endless.

Check out my free tutorial and pattern fro the Easter granny mandala! Enjoy!!!

If you like this tutorial, please enter the Spring Flower Blanket Charity Draw!

Please think about making a donation to the Spring Flower Blanket Charity Draw. All money raised goes to Marie Curie Cancer Care and if you donate before midnight on April 23 2015, you get an entry into the draw to win this blanket for every £2 you donate. Open worldwide, blanket posted to winner free.

Win the fabulous Spring Flower Blanket. Each £2 donation gives you an entry into the draw!

Thank you xxx