Friday 26 October 2012

and a bit of knitting

Hasn't the weather been dreary this week, so dull and murky, I am not motivated to do anything when it's like that, I have to force myself into doing stuff. But this morning when I got up, after Andy, bless him, brought my tea up (mornings are not me, it takes me ages to get up and then ages to get it together and I always look as though I have been dragged through a hedge backwards...doesn't everybody?) I was definitely in a better frame of mind. So much so I became the veritable earth mother and made blackcurrant jam with blackcurrants grown on my allotment and frozen at the time of picking...


 some absolutely gorgeous flapjacks from a River Cottage recipe...


and in between a bit of knitting......


and finally a gingerbread cake that has been maturing for a week....

ready for slicing and freezing


Saturday 20 October 2012

my vintage style make

I have been very industrious and made my first Christmas gift! I just love the gorgeous fabrics used to make this patchwork cushion, they are all vintage style prints and florals in cotton. I love the way the colours and prints work so well together. I have lined the front with fusible wadding to give it more stability and the backing is made with lovely vintage damask linen in an off white colour that in it's heyday was a large serviette! One of my finds from years ago in my fabric stash.




I made a similar one a little while ago and loved it and  I knew someone else who would love it too!

One I made earlier!
                                           
Onto my next project, another Christmas gift, this time a throw for my mum. I wanted fabrics that were not pastel but still had a vintage feel and I found these lovely prints in a shop in Brighton.


The fabrics are from different collections, Rounneries deux by french General for Moda, Athill range by Cabbage and Roses for Moda, a fabric called Spring patchwork, in the far left of the picture, but I don't know the collection. I added two other fabrics to brighten things up a bit, Tilda dots on red and Doily and Rose Cotton a pretty floral fabric from Sew La La an online shop with loads of gorgeous fabrics.

setting the squares out on the bed!

I really wanted to have a pattern in this patchwork but I just couldn't decide on what to do with the fabrics I had bought with mum in mind, so in the end I decided on piecing the fabrics in diagonal stripes. This has worked well as the colours and patterns blend well together but also there is a nice contrast with the tilda and pink floral fabric against the dusty pinks and browns. (Unfortunately the photo makes the colours look a bit dull). I intend to line it with a nice fluffy fleece which I am going to get today and I expect that won't be the only thing I come out of the shop with!





Wednesday 10 October 2012

my quilt of many colours!



At last I have finished my latest quilt...


it is made up of strips of my favourite fabrics, stitched together to form a very long strip, then cut into strips the same length and pieced together to form a block. Altogether there are nine blocks pieced together with white sashing and lilac corner blocks.




My quilts take ages because I quilt them by hand with embroidery thread, I find it very therapeutic (although time consuming) to sit on the sofa stitching the lines of quilting. As my rows are very close together there is an awful lot of stitching, but in future I think I will make them wider and save some time!



The backing is made from a duvet cover that I picked up from a charity shop, it's lovely and soft and the wadding is a medium weight polyester. To finish it off I made a border out of some pretty pink dotty fabric. The overall size is 120cm x 120cm.

It's a lovely quilt, I haven't quite made up my mind what to do with it, whether to keep it or to sell it, it would look lovely on the top of a single bed or as a throw. At the moment it looks pretty gorgeous on the back of one of my armchairs, I've gotta make my mind up soon!

Friday 5 October 2012

rocking chair chic

remember the second hand rocking chair I bought recently, today I decided that instead of spending all day in the garden, weeding and digging like I did yesterday (and a damn good job I did too!) I am going to do some sewing and what I am going to make is a country style cushion to sit on the rocking chair. I had already decided on the fabric but I couldn't decide on the trimmings, whether to do some piping or frills. Frills won out in the end.


The frills were easy to make although time consuming and fiddly but well worth the effort me thinks!


Rocking chair chic I would say!



Thursday 4 October 2012

Way back in May I promised Joni and Poppy that I would knit them a doll each. I had just made one for Rosie based on this angel doll I made for Christmas.

It was really cute, knitted in DK from a King Cole pattern for an advent calender, this angel sat at the bottom of the calender. It is easy to knit and doesn't take too long, but  having said that it took ages to finish these as I constantly got distracted by lovely new fabrics to try out or something else to knit. I  finished knitting them ages ago but couldn't get motivated to sewing them up, the bit I like least of all! The hair is really fiddly to do, cutting loads of strands about 8ins long and although each one is measured against the next one, they were still uneven when it was ready to be attached to the head. Obviously I am not a precision cutter! And as for the faces, say no more!


 I vary  the colours to make them different. I also match the hair to  who I am giving it to. Rosie has lovely brunette hair and Joni and Poppy have gorgeous strawberry blonde colour hair.


I may not be an artist but at least they are smiling!