FO: Blanket No 2

Well I managed to get the blanket finished the other day. We were having a party on Sunday evening and it was the push I needed to get on with sewing the ends in and doing the border so that it could go out of the way. In the end I decided to do a fairly plain border, mainly because the other blanket has no border and I didn't want one to look lots fancier than the other.

So here it is:

I used a crab stitch (also called reverse single crochet) for the edge

I also managed to make lots of cakes for the party. I did some Apricot & Banana Muffins and some Vanilla Cupcakes:

And we carved the pumpkins to sit on the table:

Halloween Fun

Last night we took the kids to a Halloween party. They had loads of fun, each getting a chocolate & sprinkle covered apple (there were toffee apples too but they both went for the sprinkle option) and playing games like musical bumps.

Orla had lots of fun danicng. She was really confident and wanted to be at the front of the dancefloor near the lights.

Today we headed off to Farmer Copleys for the Pumpkin Festival. It was pretty busy so we had a browse round the shop before getting a table to have some lunch. Erin was quite impressed that the chips came in a pail.

Yes, that is facepaint that wouldn't wash off

After lunch we headed out to the field to wait for the tractor to take us up to the pumpkin patch. The kids loved the bumpy trailer ride. Then they spent ages wandering round the field trying to pick their favourite pumpkin. Erin was looking for a big pumpkin that she could carry herself and it had to be clean; not easy for something that grows in a field. Orla just wanted a little pumpkin that she could carry but seemed to think it was a bit of a hot potato game. Every time she found another little pumpkin she would put the first one down and pick the 'new' one up.

There was the option of carving them while you were there but we didn't do that as I'm hoping that they'll last until our party next weekend. I said the kids can decorate theirs with some glue and glitter if I get chance to pick up some more glitter this week.

FO: Halloween Bunting

I was expecting this to be a WIP post but I managed to get it finished!

My 5 year old has had a little obsession with bunting since the Jubilee. She likes to point it out whenever she sees it, while the 3 year old points out the Union Jack. I've been planning to make some for ages but just never got round to it, probably because it's a fairly easy, quick make so I've not bothered doing it at sewing group and then I haven't had time at home. Anyway I was spurred on by the Halloween fabric remnants I have and the finished wallhanging. I'm planning to make some everyday bunting to hang in the same place so this was a good experiment with sizing too.

My 3 year old goes to nursery on a Wednesday afternoon and so I had chance to choose the fabrics, cut them out and sew them together. All that was left for this evening was ironing the binding and the last long line of stitching!

Here's the finished item

And some close up pictures:

Glow in the dark skulls on the left

WIP Weds: Yarn FAIL

When I first started making granny squares with my leftover Stylecraft Special I hadn't quite decided what I was going to do with them. Then I decided I'd edge them all with white and join them. The original plan was to make two blankets from the leftovers so I only bought one ball of white to see how it looked. Anyway, I changed my mind about doing two blankets from them as I found I didn't have enough bright, colourful leftovers to give a reasonable balance in both blankets. I decided on a granny stripe for the other as my Aunty's Xmas present had worked up pretty quickly and thought that by alternating every colour with white it would tie in a bit with the granny square blanket (the kids share a room). This meant I used up the white much quicker than expected, so I picked up another ball on Saturday. Well, I did in fact use that one up by Sunday evening. So I picked up another ball while at sewing class on Monday evening thinking it would be enough to finish the granny square blanket and then I could do a batch order for the granny stripe as I'm going to need some of the other colours too.

It wasn't enough. I've run out on the final horizontal join and still have the vertical joins to do. So here it is after I ran out a little after midnight - I was trying to get the squares joined so that I didn't end up joining them in the wrong place!

I might head over to Knit & Natter on Friday and pick up another ball of white while I'm there, though I should be revising really.

Until then I shall have to get on with sewing instead. I have plenty of sewing projects on the go and first up is a Halloween project I started last year. Not a lot left to do on it but it's the fiddly bits that are left.

I've gone round most of the edges and mainly have the features to add (eyes & hair). Hopefully I'll have it finished before this Halloween!!!

More WIP post at Tami's blog and at Frontier Dreams.

Colour Lovers 3KCBWDAY1

It's Day 1 of Knitting & Crochet Blog Week and the theme today is "Colour Lovers". If you want to see what other bloggers have done for this theme then you can do a Google search for that code following my title! Being an Indie Dyer, I'm really excited by this topic and the possibilities for talking about it are endless. Perhaps that's why this is also one of the harder topics for me to blog about...because I can't just ramble on and on and on and...

So, I should probably start by explaining I am addicted to yarn and fabric. I often buy bits just because I like them. Other times I buy bits because they're on offer. Every now and again I buy for a specific project. Now I realise this is a bit of an odd way to shop because it means I have yarn in my basket that I might never actually use. There's also the leftover scraps that "might come in useful one day".

But there's one thing I have realised from looking at the yarn in my basket. I am drawn to blues and purples. It's true, those are my favourite yarn colours. There's also a distinct lack of yellow, my least favourite colour EVER.

Then I look at what I buy for specific projects and I see the lovely bright mixtures from the Stylecraft range, that I use because I was inspired to by Attic24's Lucy. The granny stripe blanket I made makes me smile every time I go to bed.

I also have no real preference between pale pastels, brights and deep, dark colours. I can appreciate them all. I can see how they bring a different look to a finished item and that they all have their merits.

Take my sofa as an example:

There's such a mixture of colours, from the dark green and red in the hexagon blanket to the muted pastels in the granny square cushion to the bright spots of the cushions. Yet they work well together.

I'm often amazed at how much you can mix colours together and get something that works. When I look at old quilts in exhibitions made from vast quantities of scrap fabrics that look so beautiful and yet so often I will buy a range of co-ordinating fabrics to make my quilts with.

Bargello Quilt Top made from Sophie by Chez Moi for Moda Jelly Roll

I think some of the most beautiful items I've seen are made with a single dull colour of yarn, like a grey or a brown. I often wonder why I rarely buy these colours; they are the ones I buy when I want to make something specific.

Then I wonder if plain yarns are like backing fabric for quilts? One of those things I can't get excited about until I see the finished top. Maybe I just can't get excited about a plain grey yarn until I see an amazing pattern.

I think that's why I love the Halloween quilt I made. I loved choosing a backing fabric because I didn't want a plain back. I wanted to indulge the Halloween theme. I wanted witches, ghosts and spookiness.

So, when I'm dyeing I don't want to churn old those plain old colours that are so widely commercially available. I don't want to put one colour in the dyepot. I want to be excited about what I might pull out. I want to pour random colours into a slow cooker and be amazed when I lift the lid. I want to put colours together that you just don't see in your local wool shop.

But I also bear in mind what the yarn might be used for. I do pull myself back from colour combinations at times. I think about who might buy the yarn, what they might make with it. Laceweight is a good example of this. Many people use it for shawls with gorgeous stitch patterns and having a yarn with subtle colour changes in it can have stunning results.

But I keep wondering why I don't apply the same thought when shopping for yarn. Why don't I consider what I'm using it for & how much I'll need? Because that's how I've ended up with a basket of yarn and no plans to use it!

 

FO: Halloween Quilt

It's done! I finally finished sewing the binding on yesterday just before my husband got home from work. I really love this quilt, though I'm yet to experience the glow in the dark thread actually glowing :-s

I absolutely adore the backing fabric for this quilt. It was a bargain from Ebay and I ended up buying far too much. When I planned the quilt I was expecting it to be wider so I calculated my backing fabric based on having to join it to cover the back. Then as I was making the blocks I decided to just make it lap quilt size and it meant the 54" wide fabric was wide enough, so I now have a nice little stash of it for more Halloween projects.

Now, do you want to see the front????

Some of the fabric is from the Eerie Alley range, others are from various sources that I've picked up at quilt shows, fabric sales and a few bits bought especially for this project. The fabric in the corners and the thread used for quilting is Glow In The Dark (or at least supposed to be...). It's been quilted with a spider's web. The quilting is far from perfect on this. I found that sewing at my usual quilting speed was causing the glow in the dark thread to get caught on a part of my machine so I had to sew slower and keep my eye out for it catching. The binding I did in random lengths of fabric leftover from the blocks, just checking to make sure there would be no joins in the corners.

Wonderful Weekend

Well despite both me and my husband being ill on Friday (and a little ill on Saturday) we managed to have a lovely weekend. We took it easy on Saturday, playing with the kids at home watching the snow falling outside. Feeling much better after lunch on Saturday, I spent the early evening crafting. I'm taking part in a Heart Swap on the CNA forum so I can't show the finished item. There was lots of scope for doing your own thing on this swap; it wasn't a sewing swap or a knitting swap, it was purely a "heart" swap open to your own interpretation. All I will say is I've been fancying making this item for a while now and I'm really pleased with the finished item. There will be a reveal on here when swap partners have been revealed on the forum.

I spent Saturday evening finishing off the Paloma Infinity Scarf. I've been a bit naughty with this...see, the husband bought the yarn for me to knit him a cowl and I apparently became knitting impaired LOL. I managed to start knitting with the tail end twice, then I had interchangeable needle failure (yes, I failed to tighten the points onto the cables well enough and it fell off) so the project got shoved in a bag for a while. Anyway, when I saw the Paloma pattern I decided I'd make a crocheted one instead. I was quite surprised that my husband didn't mind me making the hugely long version and here it is (ignore his somewhat grumpy look...he was trying to be "cool"  hahaha)

Sunday morning was spent making binding for THAT Halloween quilt I abandoned in the run up to Christmas. It's now sewn to the front of the quilt and I just have to hand sew it to the back. Expect a finished pic soon!

In the afternoon I took Erin to see Dick Whittington at the local town hall. I *think* she enjoyed it though she did admit part way through that she was scared because "they're using fireworks inside and you're not allowed fireworks inside". She certainly did a bit of dancing and clapping.

That evening we watched a film and I tasked my lovely husband with rethreading my overlocker (I hate that job). Then I cut up a jumper to finish my ripple cushion in a similar way to the Attic24 method here. Ok, so it's a little lie as it's not totally finished yet, I've to tidy up the ends but I couldn't wait to reveal the pics so I flipped it right way out. I need to get a cushion pad for it as the ones I had were too big.

and I did a row of US single crochet (UK double crochet) to finish off the back nicely. I didn't add buttons mainly because it's not a particularly big cushion.

Hopefully it won't be long until the granny square cushion is finished too. There's just loads of ends to weave in.

So, a very productive weekend and lots of family fun.Wonderful!

Oh and I have to share this. Ages ago I bought a wire with gold polystyrene hearts and some matching pegs to hang our Christmas cards from. Over Christmas Erin made a picture which I pegged up on it on top of the cards and it gave me a great idea. I would leave it up all year round and display pictures by both the kids.

Fat Quarter Quickie

You remember my Halloween quilt top shown below, well, after sewing it together it was time to decide whether to put a border on and if so, what to choose. My original plan was to use the spare backing fabric for the border but then I realised it wasn't going to look right, the pattern was too much and too big. This is actually great news for me because it means I got to go fabric shopping.

I nipped over to The Skep. I really like this shop, it has a nice balance of fabric and yarn along with a few bits like magazines and buttons. So I had a plan to go and buy a meter of black fabric (wanted extra for my other Halloween project). I was going to be good. Only a meter of fabric....

Well, I came out with the black fabric I wanted, plus a long 1/4 of glow in the dark fabric to use on the corners of the border and a pack of 10 FQ's just because I liked them. Luckily my husband was sitting in the car with the children by this point so couldn't do the "more fabric" eye rolling. 

So, here's the finished Halloween quilt top

I'm really pleased with it. It's now awaiting quilting as I've been waiting for glow in the dark thread :-) which arrived this morning. Unfortunately my husband is working late so I doubt I'll have chance to play around with it until the weekend.

Close up of the glow in the dark skull fabric

The extra black fabric was used to do a wallhanging (which I think is from a Nancy Halvorsen pattern iirc), apologies for the terrible pictures

There's still a fair way to go on this so I doubt I'll have both the quilt and wallhanging done by Halloween.

As for those 10 FQ's I couldn't help but do something with them right away. I had a browse online for a pattern but struggled to find anything suitable. Everytime I found a pattern I loved it needed lots more FQ's so I decided to make my own. I cut my FQ's into 10 pieces, then swapped fabrics around so that there was 1 section in each colour and sewed them back together! Admittedly some of the combinations aren't what I'd have done if I'd had a bit more time but I'm pleased with the result. First attempt at laying it out I just put the blocks down as I'd made them in a 3x3 setting then moved them around to balance the colours out a bit. This was the result

but I wasn't convinced about it. I then decided maybe it would look better if I rotated some of the blocks and much preferred that look. I decided to stitch he blocks in each row together and then, since there were only two more lines of stitching to join the rows together, finished the quilt top the day after starting it. Here it is

But 3x3 is only 9 I hear you say! Yes there is a spare block, which I am planning to use on the back of the quilt. I'm thinking of using white fabric for the rest of the back and putting the spare block in to tie it in with the front.

I'm hoping to write up the pattern/tutorial for the quilt top soon so check back if you're interested!

Blog Inspiration

So I've been busily crafting away in any spare moment. 

First up is the progress I've made on my Halloween quilt. Originally I had planned to make it 4 blocks wide using the same idea as on the Quilt Dad blog but then I realised that (a) it was going to have to be 8 blocks long and (b) I didn't have enough fabric for 32 blocks. So in a change of plan I decided to make it 3 by 5 blocks and have each block in the same orientation. Of course I decided on this plan after ordering the backing fabric for the bigger size but it's worked out for the best...the sewing group I go to are doing a Halloween quilted bag quilt along so I at least have fabric for the lining and the background.

With limited time this month I am really pleased to have got the blocks sewn together. Just need to decide on a plan for the border so I can get on with it. Here's a pic of the final layout (no pics of it sewn together cos I haven't had time to take any!)

I would have been much further on with it if it hadn't been for a weekend in Lincoln (congrats to Mark & Ming on their wedding) and a weekend in Scarborough, where we had a great time at Flamingo Land and a relaxing day on the beach.

The kids loved Daddy getting buried in the sand

and digging in the sand

and paddling in the sea (even if it was freezing!)

We were really lucky with the weather and definitely chose the right time to go to the beach. By the time we were having a Fish & Chip lunch it had started to darken over and get a bit chilly.

Though obviously you have me to thank for the current heatwave. The hot hot sun had to come out once I was working on a huge blanket didn't it?! The Attic 24 Granny Stripe Blanket is lovely to do and I am up to 23 stripes but making slow progress because of the heat. Here's a picture of the blanket at 22 stripes

I've made it wide enough for a double bed and am hoping to add enough stripes that it works as a blanket but also looks good on the bed. The Attic 24 used 60 stripes so I'm hoping to do around 60-80 and will probably judge it a bit by eye as to whether it's long enough.

As the new school year begins...

Guess what I totally forgot to do over the summer holidays? Sew name labels onto my 4 year old's uniform. So last night I got the machine out (well I didn't have time to sew them by hand!) and whizzed them on in a rather haphazard manner. I realised we probably have too much uniform but better too much than not enough.

This week and next week will be a little odd. Erin has been to the nursery attached to the school for the past year so is only doing half days at he moment to allow the 'new' people to settle in a bit and make some friends without being overwhelmed. Next Wednesday she stays for lunch for the first time, after that it's full days. She's desperate for next week because she's so excited about staying at school for lunch! Anyway, here she is ready for her first day of Reception.

That's the bear she got at Sundown Adventureland during the holidays. We took the kids camping for 2 nights, which they absolutely loved despite the rain. We'll definitely be camping again next year, hopefully in a bigger tent.

Of course Orla didn't want to miss out on having her photo taken so before getting the one above this is what I got:

See that cheeky face! 

Of course once the machine is out, it would be wrong not to start the Halloween quilt. I'm following the wonky log cabin tutorial over on the Quilt Dad blog. I bought some of the fabric from The Skep, a local quilting shop, last year and then spied some lovely fabric at the Great Northern Quilt Show. I didn't have enough though so I ordered a couple of bits from he Eerie Alley collection by Robert Kaufman from JB Quilting Fabrics. By the way, they have a super efficient service, my fabric arrived less than 24 hours after ordering. 

Here's the first block

Hoping to do one or two more this evening. I may add a bit more wonk to them but I'm loving the technique. I doubt I'll have it finished by Halloween because this month we're going to a wedding, a company weekend plus I have an assignment due and a face-to-face tutorial. I think it's more realistic to aim for having the top made by Halloween and be starting on the quilting. I will of course provide regular updates.