Sewing WIP

It seems the glorious new bag has given me a kick up the proverbial and I am now sewing like a demon.  I finished one project in under an hour and I'll share that later in the week. It is lovely to be stitching again, as I wasn't up to it through most of January.

I am currently working on a baby blanket.  I bet that surprised you didn't it?  Yes I have two more baby presents to work on and this has been in my head for ages.  What might be a surprise is that I am sewing this blanket.

This is going to be a very simple blanket, with one side being fabulous kid friendly cotton fabric and the other being a lovely, cosy and soft pink fleece.  I bought the fabric around a month ago but it  has been waiting for me to get my head in the right place.

I adore this fabric.  It has lots of great illustrations of animals with fun and vibrant colours to boot.  I think this is the sort of fabric that will be fun for a baby, toddler or child.  I decided to make the blanket approximately 1 metre square so that it can be used as a play mat as well as a blanket.   I even suggested to the OH last night that it could be used to make a baby fajita, if you know what I mean.  Kind of swaddle the baby all the way round.

 

What I did yesterday, was to lay the two fabric pieces back to back with the wrong sides together.  Then I basted it.  That was NOT fun for me and I really paid for it last night.  However, I'm glad that I did it, as it made the next step a bit easier.

Doesn't that fleece look so soft and inviting?  I can assure you that it is.  Last night after basting, I sat beneath the blanket and started to hand quilt it.

I had forgotten how much I love hand quilting.  I've not done much, but what I have done, I have enjoyed.  It is so calming to thread the needle through the layers.  This quilting was even more fun than the last time, because all I had to do was follow the line.  I started and stopped on each circle, rather than trying to connect them up through the layers.  I love the POP sound as you pull the knot through the fabric to anchor it!  Is that silly of me?  I don't care, it made me smile.

I decided to only quilt the purple circles on this fabric and chose a quilting thread that matched.  This is not going be very heavily quilting, I just wanted to add a little bit of texture to the blanket, and ensure that the two layers don't separate excessively in use.

I only have 6 more circles to quilt and then I have to work out what fabric I am going to use to bind this blanket.  Part of me feels it ought to be a contrast fabric, but I can't decide.

I am also slowly knitting on with my socks and my Central Park Hoodie, but as they haven't moved on dramatically I haven't taken photos this week.  I am about half way up my second sleeve on the hoodie, so I think when that is done I just need to block, sew it all together and add the hood!  How exciting!  But at the moment it looks dull.  It is still tremendous fun to knit, but photographically there is no WOW factor going whatsoever.

I still haven't decided on a stitch pattern for the very brown socks, but I will keep you posted!

I hope that you click on the button below, as there are lots of lovely crafters who want to share their work and inspiration.

Birthday Present

I forgot to show you one of my birthday presents. I can't believe this slipped my mind, what can I say except the giddiness of holiday planning got to me.

You have heard before how much I adore my SIL, Emma. She is the best SIL a girl could hope to get and on top of that, she is a crafter. So for my birthday this year she made me a present.

I love that she made me a patchwork cushion, because it is entirely down to her that I discovered my love of fabric. She took me round all the fabric stalls at the Harrogate Show a couple of years ago as she was starting to develop an interest in patchwork and quilting. Her mother is a demon quilter and I am in awe of her gorgeous work. So it is completely Emma's fault that I have acquired a fabric habit, and I am very grateful that she tempted me into learning my new crafting skills.

This little cushion has pride of place on my sofa, where I can sit and admire the pretty fabric and the lovely composition.

Thank you Emma, you are a fabulous sister in law, and you make great gifts! Keep 'em coming sweetie ;-)

Pretty Presents

As promised, I have pretty things that I got for Christmas that I just HAVE to share.  If only to feel smug about what wonderful people I have in my life who choose great presents to give to me.

The first present was chosen by me, but I was given a choice of all the lovely bags at Mary Clare.  Rachael always tries to get me something pretty, that she knows I won't buy myself.  Clare got a lot of Lantern Moon bags in for the run up to Christmas and I have to say I was involved in the choices so it was actually quite hard to chose the bag I loved more than anything.  But as you may have noticed, one of my favorite colours is teal.  Hence my choice of bag.

Isn't it gorgeous?  It is a Fair Trade item which makes it even more special to me.  But even if it weren't, I would really really want it.  The bag is perfect for either a night out on the town, or for using as a luxurious project bag.

The bag has a magnetic snap to hold the top closed but when it is open the bag will hold a couple of balls of wool and a pattern, along with my lovely circular needles.  The bag also stays open as it rests on the floor because of the quilted bottom half of the bag.  The lining is the same fabric as the top half of the bag.  I think if I want to keep it off the floor while knitting, the handles would let me hang it from the back of a chair quite easily.  I LOVE this gift and will use it on Monday at my knitting group.

Speaking of which, if you are interested in joining a well established knitting group in Leicester, we can be found at 7-9pm on 4th January in the Sainbury's Cafe at Grove Farm Triangle, near Junction 21 of the M1, where it joins with the M69.  For satnavs the post code is LE19 1W.  There is plenty of parking and you will be more than welcomed.  This is our new home now that Borders is closed, but I'm sure we will be happy there, especially if the cake is good!


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Next on my list of lovely things I got for Christmas is a gorgeous pin cushion from my sister-in-law.  As a fellow crafter she understands the appeal of fabulous little things like this that are not only attractive but have purpose.

Not only is this a cute pincushion, but if you pull on the door, you get a tape measure too.  What more could a girl want?  Apparently some Elizabeth Arden skincare goodies.  I think my hands need a bit of tlc after all the crafting they have done.  The skincare stuff is from both my SIL and my brother, but the pincushion is pure Emma.

I love that my sister-in-law knows me so well and that we can share our passion for making things.  Everytime I see this little piece of felty goodness it makes me smile.

And last but no means least is the only hand made gift I got this year.  It was made for me by my friend Debbie, who I have known since I was 11.  This gift nearly made me cry it is so lovely.

So much care has gone into this lovely gift and Debbie made the whole box, not just the cross stitch bits.

Isn't she clever?

I'm pretty sure this is 18 count aida.

There is so much attention to detail in this little box and it will take pride of place on one of the new shelves we will be putting in the lounge.  It is too pretty to be lost to the depths of the chaos that is my bedroom!  Not only will it remind me of Debbie but the willow pattern plates we had on our french dresser as I was growing up.

So now you can see why I wanted to show you my lovely presents.  Aren't they great.  My friends are so generous and know me so well.

Now that I have finished telling you all about my Christmas presents, you never know, I might actually have some crafting news for you soon.

Hope you all have a lovely New Year, no matter how you celebrate.  I have a feeling it will be me, the cat and Jools Holland this year as my cold is still killing me slowly.  Never mind, I'm sure I'll get some sleep soon, I hope......