Flower garden cardigan for Darcie

I wanted to make a cardigan for my niece. So I adapted a pattern called Relish by Kim Hargreaves (from Rowan knits). I had knitted the pattern before and it was a great fit so I used the shaping and added a different trim on the sleeves and around the bottom. The yarn I used was the double knit from King Cole in a lovely petrol blue colour (named topaz). I added some little hand embroidered flowers in red as I loved the combination of the red and blue. Here is how it looks...

I am now working on another shawl. It is knitting up really quickly so it should be done for Christmas. Ta ta for now.

His and hers hand knitted socks

I have got a bit of a thing about knitting socks. They are really handy little projects that you can carry around and they don't take too much room. I found a fantastic pattern in Socktopus by Alice Yu. I have had the book for sometime and could not decide which of the patterns to start with first. The patterns have really cool names as they are named after characters or concepts from programmes like true blood and supernatural, of which I am a great fan. The pattern I chose is called V junkie, inspired by the series true blood and the idea that the vampires in the series were addicted to this synthetic type of blood. Anyway I digress. The waffly pattern creates such a lovely squidgy texture and I used a really lovely yarn called Special merino lace in a gorgeous bright pink colour. I can't wait to try another of Alice's patterns. I knitted these socks for me, but I felt guilty as my fiance needed some new socks too so I knitted some plain socks from a really colourful yarn called Lanas stop iris sock yarn. I improvised the pattern, it included a slip stitch heal to make them a little more durable. I love the colours in this yarn, although they did seem to shed quite a lot of fluff on the first wear. Anyway enough chatting, here they are....

Texture adventures

I attended a really great class a few weeks ago by Mary Mcintosh. You can check out some of Mary's work on her website the copper queen. The class was organised by the Norfolk quilters and consisted of a whole day of playing with texture. It was very inspiring, I am looking forward to trying out more creative ideas in the future. This is my finished piece, an eight inch square. I am planning on framing it at some point, but I am looking for the right frame.

Bye for now! 

Confetti and organza needle case

A little while ago I went to a course lead by Margaret Currie about using fabric confetti and organza to make new fabric. I used this technique to make a little needle case. I wont go into too much detail as it would spoil your experience of going to one of Margaret's classes, she is a fabulous teacher! The needle pages are made from felt and simply sewn in along the spine and I added a satin ribbon as a closure. You can never have too many needle cases!

Waterfall ripple blanket

I was inspired by Tilly Trout from Ravelry to have a go at one of these blankets. I follow her video blog on you tube and she was really enjoying crocheting it. I am a big fan of blues and greens, as you may already have guessed! I picked up a few different shades in the stylecroft special double knit acrylic, great for blankets so it can be thrown in the washing machine! The pattern is called neat ripple by Lucy from Attic24, you can check out the pattern here. I used 6 balls of yarn and ended up with a good size lap blanket. I edged the blanket in a couple of rows of triple crochet to finish it off.  My fiance has already decided that it is his blanket as it is so warm! For more details see my ravelry page.

Bobbin Lace bookmark with a purple gimp

I am really getting into bobbin lace now. I fancied having a go at what they call a gimp. This is the thicker purple thread that is woven though the finer work (here in white). The pattern is from Torchon Lacemaking: A manual of techniques by Elizabeth Wade. It was a little tricky at the transition between the half stitch and the whole stitch shadow, but I think I got the hang of it in the end. I am still working on my bobbin lace lavender cushion. That should be my next bobbin lace project I post about. I am also starting to think about designing my own patterns, once I get the hang of it I will post some of my ideas.

Hearts and feathers table topper

I really fancied having a go at some free motion feathers. I found an interesting pattern on Leah Day's website called feathered hearts and decided to have a go. I had pieced together two log cabin blocks with a couple of plain green/blue blocks and needed to fill the plain areas with something interesting. Leah has some very good instructional video's for all her patterns and I found the video to this one particularly helpful, I drew two dividing lines with heat removable pen to split each of the plain blocks into 4 sections. In each section I repeated the feathered pattern. I quilted diagonal lines across the log cabin blocks and bound it with a blue/green fabric to complete the table topper. The free motion is not perfect, but I really enjoyed making it. I feel a little inspired to try out some more free motion patterns!

Cute little scissor keeper

I am a fan of Sue Hawkins patterns. I found this great little kit for a scissor keeper and thought it would be useful to mark my scissors at sewing classes. The kit is called a dressmakers scissor keeper and contained more than enough thread to complete the project. The instructions were very clear and are even suitable for a beginner. I quite fancy designing my own pattern next time, It is a very simple pattern but is so effective!

To find more of Sues patterns you can check out her website, click here.

A little bit of free style hand embroidery

I picked up a little embroidery kit from Rowandean. I fell in love with the ones that had been made up and I just had to have one. Their style is to use a free style of embroidery on top of organza to create a lovely colourful background. I adapted the embroidery slightly from the original pattern, it was great fun. I am planning on designing one of these myself, maybe with some poppies next time. It only took a few hours to complete as well. I framed it in a plain white frame so as not to detract from the lovely colours...

Here is how the original patterned looked...

If you would like to pick up a kit for yourself you can order one through the Rowandean website. The pattern I had was called blue Delphiniums. 

Owl quilt for the Linus charity

I just could not resist doing a bit more vermicelli for my latest Linus charity quilt. It is a simple 6 x 6 square patchwork quilt made from the owl themed fabric from my stash. The squares are 6 inches finished so the finished size of the quilt was 36 inches square. As you can see I used a random placement of blocks as I had more of some fabrics than others.

Here is the back... 

I used thick polyester wadding so it really puffs out with the vermicelli quilting. It is so much easier to vermicelli on a smaller size quilt. I must try out some other free motion patterns soon. 

Vintage style bobbin lace doilies

I found this fabulous pattern in a book called Torchon lacemaking, a manuel of techniques by Elizabeth Wade. There are a number of other gorgeous patterns in this book so I highly recommend it, at least to a relative novice to bobbin lace like myself. The thread I used was DMC 100 and I interpreted the fans in three different ways; half stitch, whole stitch and whole stitch with an extra stitch between each row. My favourite is the half stitch doily. Here's how it looked before I mounted it onto fabric.

To mount them onto fabric I cut circles that were about a quarter of an inch bigger than I wanted. I then used a single needle overlock stitch on my overlocker to ensure that the edges would not fray. I then sewed the bobbin lace to the circles, turning the overlocked edges to the underside so that they were hidden. I did not use the tradition end pin stitch to attach them, I used a regular running stitch as I did not want to create more bulk.  Here are the finished items.

In the lower image the half stitch Doily is on the left, the whole stitch doily at the bottom and the whole stitch doily with the extra twist between the rows is on the right. I am now working on a lavender bag, how very vintage!

Kitten cuddles

I love cats, but I don't have any real ones, so I thought I would make some out of fabric! The pattern is from a vintage book I found. I changed the facial features, the original pattern was not to my taste so I tried to make them look cuter. They are going to live in my new craft room (we are moving soon to a house with more space for all my crafty goodies). I just love the fabric, they are all from Tilda. My favourite is the one with the pink flowers.

Strawberry ice cream quilt

I bought a small jelly roll from doughty's and just had to sew it straight away. The colour way is quirky florals by fabric freedom. I used almost every scrap of the jelly roll which I was very pleased about. I used plain white fabric to complement the bright tones. I sewed 3 strips together lengthwise and cut them into 6 1/2 inch blocks. The top strip was the 4 inches I had left over from each of these. I had two jelly roll strips left so I used these to finish the bottom. I used a poly cotton wadding and finished it off with a vermicelli free motion pattern. Lots of fun! I definitely fancy purchasing another jelly roll soon!

Water inspired wall hanging

This is my entry for the Worstead festival competition. The Worstead guild of weavers, spinners and dyers display their work at Worstead church during the festival. This years festival competition theme is Water. I decided to weave a tapestry from a mixture of cream handspun yarn and commercial blue cotton yarn. I surrounded this with a wool felt frame that is embellished with textured hand spun merino wool and silk. I also added lots of beads to represent bubbles. It it finished off with a hand beaded fish. The idea is that the fish is hiding in a cavern (represented by the frame area), looking out into the wild ocean.  This was my first go at tapestry weaving. I think I could have done a better jobs if I did it again, but I still enjoyed it. 

Orange Tree embroidery wall hanging

I found this pattern at last years festival of quilts at the NEC, it is by Lynette Anderson. I fell in love with it straight away. I used some of Lynette's range of fabric to frame the design. I changed a couple of the colours but it is pretty close to the original design. It was originally meant to be a cushion cover. The pattern was well written and easy to follow. I would like to try some more embroidery in this style, it was great fun.

I have also been working on a few bobbin lace pieces, which I shall post soon.watch this space.

Linus charity quilt for a teenage boy

At Drayton patchwork and quilters we have been making quilts in aid of the charity Linus. There has been a shortage of quilts made for teenage boys so I thought I would contribute. I have gone a bit mad with the skull theme! Hopefully they like it. Jean from the group had the squares that form the centre panel. We both thought that these would make a great teenage boy quilt. I made it a single bed size and added some free motion cobwebs. They were great fun!

Here is a close up of the free motion along the black side panels. I did this in black so as not to distract from the patterned fabric. The rest of the quilt is quilted stitch in the ditch.

I have got a few other projects to show you soon including a crochet ripple blanket inspired by Tilly trout (see her you tube videos on knitting and crochet, she makes some lovely things), some bobbin lace doilies and some gorgeous hot pink socks. Back soon.

Double zigzag bobbin lace panel

I have finally finished a bobbin lace panel I started working on about a month ago. The pattern was from a website called Jo Edkins bobbin lace school. It has lots of lovely free bobbin lace patterns and easy to understand cartoons of the stitches. The pattern is named 'another double zigzag' and consists of torchon ground, rose ground, triangle ground, whole stitch, half stitch and spiders. It gave me a chance to have a go at a few patterns I had not tried before. I especially enjoyed the rose ground. I  am planning to use this piece to add interest to a bag, but I am still not sure yet. I am now working on a crinoline lady and plan to make a swan. 

Here is how it looked when I was making it. 30 pairs of bobbins was a bit of a handful! 

Easter Chicken

We did a chicken making class with Nina at Drayton patchwork and quilters for easter. Nina's chicken was amazing, so I wanted to have a go. My chicken was not quite as good as Nina's but I had loads of fun in the class making it. I made it for my friend Sarah as she absolutely loves chickens! I love the shape of the body, so cute! The main body is foundations pieced and quilted using fancy stitches on my machine. Great fun.

Here she is, Happy Easter!

Cardigan for Darcie part 2

This is the second little cardigan I have knitted for my cousins daughter Darcie. The pattern is called relish by Kim Hargreaves from a book called Rowan Babies. I used Patons FAB varigated yarn, I adore the colours. The pattern was easy to follow although the sticky out bits on the cuffs and bottom of the cardigan were time consuming. This is knitted in size 2-3 years, ready for Darcie when she gets a bit bigger. For more details see my ravelry page.

Cardigan for Darcie part 1

I wanted to knit a couple of cardigans for my cousins, daughter Darcie. The first pattern I wanted to try out is Maytime by Kim Hargreaves from a book called Rowan babies. It is knitted in James Brett supreme gentle 4ply. I am not a fan of acrylic but this one knits up well, it's really soft. It's a lovely combination of crochet and knit. I loved using crochet edging instead of picking up lots of knit stitches. For more details of the pattern and yarn see my Ravelry page. 

I love the crocheted picket edging around the neck and sleeves...

It was great fun making the little granny squares!

I love knitting small people's clothes, they are so cute!

I will follow this up with the second cardigan from the same pattern book, watch this space...

Needle case with pockets

I was fed up of keeping my packets of needles seperate from the loose ones I keep in.my needle case so I decided to make a new needle case with pockets so I could keep them altogether. I like keeping new ones in the boxes as it has all the info on sizes etc on the little box.

I layered up organza, did some decorative stitching with silver thread and used a soldering iron to make holes in the fabris so you could see the black organza. The pages are made of felt and the labels are sewn on the machine. I bound the edges using standard quilt technique and added a zip to make sure the needle boxes did not fall out. Finally I added some beads to the front. They were sewn by hand using invisible thread. I neatened end the edges of a little piece of ribbon with a soldering iron, a great tip if you need to stop ribbon from fraying. The ribbon was used as a zip tag to make it easier to hold the zip. I am really pleased with it!

                                     

                         

                         

                         

                         

                         

                         

                         

Rainshine at the Moulin Rouge

I bought this pattern as a ebook of 5 patterns called the close to you collection from Boo Knits on Ravelry. I absolutely love all the patterns in this ebook! This pattern is called Rainshine. I have made it in a deep red hence the name Moulin Rouge. The Yarn is from Solstice yarns, it is called Rivendell lace, consisting of 55% Blue faced leicester and 45% Silk. The colourway is called Dark secret, a gorgeous tone of very deep red with a hint of shading which gives it depth. This was a gift from my friend Tillytrout, Thanks Tilly! The pattern was so easy to follow. I would definitely knit it again! I used 70 grams of the 100 gram skein, so I still have some of this scrummy yarn left. Here it is...