handmade in Lancashire
I have finally finished the Alabama Chanin School of Making (ACSoM) cardigan.
It’s been a total labour of love. I started it in July 2019 and finished it in March of this year. I’ve been waiting to photograph it because, after all that work, it was a wardrobe orphan. But I’ve now got a Cashmerette Springfield top that works perfectly*, so here we go.
READ MOREWhat seems like a million Christmas’s ago, both Ma and my in-laws bought me an Ehrman tapestry kit. The first cushion is Three Tulips Blue. The second is Beautiful Sheep.
This is the story of two rabbits…Miss Luna Lapin will probably be familiar to you. Her Cotton Tailed friend less so. It’s also a tale of friendship past and hopefully friendship for the future.
A couple of weeks ago I scored a complimentary ticket from the kindly folks at Linton Tweeds (swoon) to attend the Knitting and Stitching Show at Harrogate. I cannot tell you how much I was looking forward to a day off of mummy duties; petting yarn and getting elbow deep in the fabrics at Linton and Rosenbergs.READ MORE
After spending so much time last year building a beautiful sewing room, clearing down my stash and cataloguing the remaining fabric, this year is all about Getting Things Done!
I have a pile of beautiful fabric, a smaller collection of beautiful yarn, and a surprising number of more crafty projects, all waiting to be turned into finished items.
This year I’d like to get at least 50% of stuff in my stash turned into garments, gifts or beautiful things for the home.
To do that I need to be a bit more organised, or it’s all going to be far too overwhelming. And I do love a good plan!
The first thing I did was download the lovely, and free, Sewing Calendar from Sew DIY.
I’m sure you’ve already come across these planning pages, but if you haven’t, they’re just the prettiest, and simplest way, to get some order for your sewing plans for the coming year.
These have been cut out and pasted into my sewing notebook…a cheap, spiral bound artists sketchbook. The thicker paper means you reduce the risk of bleed through if using coloured pens, and you can sketch, make notes and add swatches to your hearts content, without the restrictions of someone else’s ideas of what you need to note.
Next I made a list of outstanding knitting/crochet/craft plans.
It’s longer than I’d expected.
I’ve already added the current UFO, plus the dance wear that’s needed by the 18th March to the planner.
Next up….sheep.
I’ve had a tapestry cushion on the frame for forever now. I’ve had the kit for at least a year….possibly even 2? That’s not good. Last year I only completed two squares.
Sheep are herd animals.
These lovely ladies don’t even stand next to each other. I’m sure they’re lonely. I need to crack on.
So every month this year I shall complete 1 square of the sheep tapestry, so that by the end of the year this one will be ready to turn into a cushion for my snuggler! Already this month I’m half way through the third sheepy square!
So…it’s a start.
It would be way too ambitious to think I’ll get the whole of the stash cleared this year, but it would be really nice to halve it.
This month is time pressured as I’d like knitted mice and a crocheted pug for Easter gifts. I also need to sew a new dance shirt for the wee boy and a dance outfit for me, as I’ve been roped into a dance competition!!!
Wish me luck!?
Whilst it took me a couple of months to embroider the Kitties, Ma was much more efficient and had the Puss in a Corner patchwork blocks whipped up in no time.
How amazing is that?
I LOVE this quilt.
And it’s not even finished yet!
There’s a pink border to add around the edge of the quilt and it will be bound in a floral print.
Thankfully there is no rush as we’ve three other rooms to redecorate before we get to Button’s.
I mentioned in January that I want to return our home from its current shabby state back to a cosy, hopefully stylish, family home. This means new windows, some plastering, new flooring throughout and lots of decorating. All of which is quite an expense…and therefore is going to take some time! 😉
This is a good thing. It works nicely with my new ethos of slow, but also allows me to really ponder the style choices I’m going to make in each room. Work has already commenced with two ceilings being plastered last week. Some essential bathroom repairs are coming soon, and a new bathroom floor.
So far, so dreary! Basic stuff…not remotely exciting.
But! Once the bathroom is done, the next room on the list is The Boy’s, and then Button’s. And whilst we are gathering the resources to buy all the materials and furnishings we need, it seems sensible to make a start on the quilts.
This is much more fun.
First up…The Boy! He’s Union Flag mad! Every time we see one in a shop he dashes straight to it! So, the Union Flag is to be the leitmotif for his new Brit Boy room. And what better quilt to make for him than Busy Bee Quilt Design’s ‘Victory Garden’.
Obviously the colourway shown on the original isn’t going to work for my little chap, he’s camp, but not girly. However, Makower’s ‘London’ is just the ticket.
This is a project that Ma is going to make. I’m not that fond of machine piecing and quilting, but she loves it. Who am I to spoil her fun? 😉
For Button, who is a huge Hello Kitty fan (I haven’t met a 5-year-old girl who isn’t), we are taking our inspiration from this spectacular quilt I spied on Pinterest.
image from http://qisforquilter.com/2009/02/hello-kitty-redwork-quilt-top/
Isn’t this just so stunning?????? It’s an original design by Q is for Quilter and I just couldn’t resist it. Button has to have this quilt.
There is no pattern, so I’m shamelessly plagiarizing reverse engineering and putting my own spin on it. To start, I’ve sourced a pile of Hello Kitty images from Google and printed them out. There are tons of them out there…just Google “Hello Kitty Colouring Pages”. I’ve then reduced them by 50% to get them to a good size to make a quilt block. Each block will be 6″ square when completed.
These are then going to be traced onto fabric and embroidered. The images have been delivered to Ma this morning…she’s been champing at the bit to start the tracing. I’ll be doing the embroidery. This is going to be a wonderful joint project with Ma, she’ll be doing the pieced squares, which are going to be cream/pink/duck-egg blue…which is pretty much the colour scheme for the room.
These quilts are going to be the centrepieces of some pretty cute new bedrooms for the kids. When I’ve told them about what we’ve got in store for them, there has been a huge amount of excitement, which makes these projects even more enjoyable for me (if that’s possible!). And at the end of it, they’ll have rooms that reflect their individual personalities and are a joy for them to spend time in.
Whether they’ll keep them tidy is another matter! 😉