Thanks for the Blog Awards!

Well, well, well. There was me thinking I'd been a bit quiet on the blogging front but I've  not been forgotten. I'd like to belatedly thank Lisa-Marie from This Girl for giving me the 'Over The Top' blog award. 

The award is given to show appreciation of the blog, but comes with a questionnaire so that you can find out a little more about the person who has awarded it. Here is my bit:

1. Your hair: quite long, auburn, bit of a side fringe.

2. Where is your cell phone : my beloved iPhone is nice and comfy in my bag.

3. Your father: is downstairs actually!

4. Your mother: is also downstairs and most likely drinking a cup of tea.

5. Your favorite food: is most certainly a roast dinner.

6. Your dream from last night: I did dream but I can’t remember it.

7. Your favorite drink: tea! I love tea!

8. Your dream/goal: eventually the husband and I will move to a needy part of the world and set up a clinic. This has been decided!

9. What room are you in: our box room study

10. What is your hobby: all things craft (but not old lady craft, but the husband just read over my shoulder and said no, exclusively old lady craft). Knitting, sewing and making cards.

11. What is your fear: that I’ll be a bad mum.

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years: Ooh, sure to have popped out a few more sprogs by then so probably working part-time and being a mum. Am entering that stage of my life!!

13. Where were you last night: watching Michael McIntyre at the O2 arena for a friend’s birthday. A brilliant evening indeed.

14. Something you are not: good at debating.

15. Muffins: apple and cinnamon from Baker and Spice. The things baked dreams are made of.

16. Wish list items: still a Bobbins bicycle, sewing machine with USB input and computer screen to embroider things, a big loom to learn how to weave and a house of my own!

17. Where did you grow up: good old south London.

18. Last thing you did: Went to Boots and Mothercare to buy things for my hospital bag.

What are you wearing: (maternity) leggings, brown boots, stripey (maternity) t-shirt dress and a green cardigan. Sitting by the radiator so am sweltering!

19. Your TV: Ahem, BBC iPlayer thank you very much. Just about to knit some more of my scarf and watch my current favourite show ‘don’t tell the bride’ I love it, the groom ALWAYS manages to pull it off.

20. Your pets: We don’t have any but my parents have a dog who turned 11 yesterday.

21. Your friends: where would I be without my friends?!

22. Your life: slow at the moment, having a career break to have the baby so its sure to speed up once the little one arrives.

23. Your mood: I’m ok. Bit uncomfortable but ok.

24. Missing someone: Yes, my friend Jen who I’ve not seen since MAY.

25. Vehicle: Poor Old Car. At least it passed its MOT last week after 2 days of work in the garage.

26. Something you're not wearing: much make-up. Just put on mascara for the shops.

27. Your favorite store: Anthropologie and I’ve not even been into the new London one yet.

28. Your favorite color: GREEN.

29. When's the last time you laughed: Must have laughed today but heartily chortled last night at the Michael McIntyre gig.

30. When's the last time you cried: all the flipping time because of flipping hormones.

31. Your best friend: the best. What more can you say?!

32. One place you go over and over: Not been since moving but the Toad’s Mouth Too café in Brockley.

33. One person who emails me regularly: Err not so much since facebook.
34. Favorite place to eat: As above, the Toad. Nothing beats a Full Toad breakfast on a Sunday morning with friends.

And it doesn't stop there. I'd like to say another thank you to R at My Spare Thoughts who has given me 'The Fabulous Sugar Doll Blogger Award'. Thanks!!

This award also has a questionnaire where you divulge 10 items about yourself. But having answered such a long questionnaire above I think that you can forgive me if I opt out of this one. I don't want to bore you all now!!

So in the manner of all blog awards I shall pass this double bundle on to some of my favourite blogs:

Ray at I Will Make Do and Mend

Rebecca at Daydreams in Lace

Becky at Teacups, Cupcakes

Artemis at Tales of a Junkaholic

Hannah at Seeds and Stitches

Tara at Aquamarine

Zoe at Conversation Pieces

Roz at From Pandemonium to Perplexity

Sorry if you have received the same award already, but you know it just means you are super ace!

Pretty Pincushion

Lots of felt, bit of hand sewing, some stuffing et voila: a pretty garden pincushion!

My eldest niece turned 17 last week and to celebrate her birthday I thought I'd send her a parcel with lots of little sewing things to inspire her to continue to be creative in the midst of her textiles A-Level.  It is a lovely present idea that I stole from my mum who made up a sewing box for my sister a few years ago. Some quilting pins with colourful heads, scrumptious threads, needles, printed ribbons, buttons.... the bread and butter of every good sewing box completed with a hand made pincushion. I hope my niece won't mind me saying what a great gift idea this is!

Bunting

I was impressed to see such an arts and crafts approach to church banners in the form of bunting hanging over the back wall whilst at a wedding on Saturday.

Bunting "Fit For The King."

No wonder it caught my eye, as I am a huge fan of the traditional fabric triangle. So much so that I had it as decoration for my own wedding:

at the entrance to the church,

at the back of the church

and everywhere in between!

A wonderful friend has made a string of bunting in pale pinks and cherry reds to adorn the baby's nursery. By introducing my love for such a traditional, festive decoration to my daughter from such an early age may well bring an appreciation of bunting in her life too! And if not, it will certainly please me!

Knitting Needle Tidy

There has been no stopping me this week! I suppose it has something to do with having more time on my hands through taking a career break what with being pregnant and all, coupled with the fact that I promised myself that I wouldn't make any baby things until I'd completed all the projects that I'd started over the last year.

However, this one I started last week as I was getting annoyed with my hand sewn knitting needle pouch that I made about 3 years ago. The needles kept on poking holes in the edges and falling out everywhere. And now it's getting to be more of an effort in bending down and picking things up I thought that I'd remedy the situation by just making a new one!

I practiced the roll when making a present for my artist friend to keep her paintbrushes organised and again for my own make-up brushes, so am quite skilled now at this simple project.

Here's the knitting needle tidy all rolled up...

...and unrolled to reveal many, many pouches to house all the needles.

There are larger pouches at one end for chunky and long needles

which gradually get smaller to accommodate the thinner ones.

And there is even room for the crochet, circular and double-pointed needles (still missing one from flinging it across the room in an unsuccessful trial of knitting in the round, hence the circular needle!)

To fold up, pop the flap over the tops of the needles and roll up

securing it tightly with a bow.

Neat, tidy and organised.

I might have started another project yesterday too... in organising my needles I started looking at all of my wool which is now spread out over the spare bed for a 'scraps' scarf I'm making for myself. Will post pictures if I'm happy with it, still not sure if it makes me look a bit eco-hippy (you know the look I mean!!)

Have a good weekend everyone!

The FINISHED Heirloom Patchwork Quilt

One thousand times "Hurrah!"

I started this project with two things in mind, 1) to be sentimental and make a quilt in my first year of marriage that would be loved and familiar by the husband, myself and (future) children, and 2) to try out a new skill on my newly acquired sewing machine. It has taken me almost a year to complete but only through working on it in fits and spurts, hence my excitement to have it finished and not sitting in the corner looking sad.

I made a rookie error by choosing the patchwork fabric on the internet. I would recommend that you always buy from a shop where you can compare the different fabrics together. Now that the sewing shop has opened nearby I'll not be placing any more online orders!

The quilt:

When laid out flat the quilt fits a double bed. However, I made it quite thin so it is to be used as a bedspread with sheets and a blanket beneath, rather than a quilt fit for a British winter.

The pattern:

Inspired by a traditional American quilt I chose a simple diagonal design with patchwork squares. I arranged the patchwork to use a common repeat every 4 blocks (the navy and white polka dot squares) with the floral squares' position chosen by colour rather than strict repeat. This gives the quilt a pleasing calm amidst the busy fabrics.

The navy polka dot squares match the border and backing fabric which provides an anchor to the design.

Machine quilting: 

An ideal method for a beginner quilter. I machine quilted the patchwork along the seams of the original piecing which hid the quilting but also any mistakes made!

All folded up:

Looking good enough to sit on a shelf in a Laura Ashley shop methinks!

And the less pretty but structurally important parts:

Mitred corners

The back, showing the quilting.

I hope you can celebrate the completion of this project with me! If you're interested here is the progress made on the quilt starting out, deciding the pattern, sewing the patchwork, finished patchwork, basting and tacking.

I have fallen in love....

...with this little lady!

I need to attend the...

This is what I need after struggling with knitting in the round using double pointed needles. Who would have thought it could be so hard?! Thank you to my lovely friend Lisa who actually had the pleasure of attending this knitting stall at a country fair and who took the photo.

Fireplace Showcase

What a week for completing projects! Our living room in our new place has been pretty much out of action since moving due to a slow-moving renovation to the fireplace. It looked like this when we moved in. We had the majority of the original tiles and had high hopes to place them as their Edwardian designer would have liked, but due to tiles being cracked and just not in good enough shape we put our heads together and came up with a new design. By the way, if you need vintage dutch delft tiles there are NONE in London. We've looked everywhere for ones to match!

I can proudly reveal our new and very much improved fireplace set with original Dutch delft tiles:

Hurrah!

Just needs a second coat of paint to the hearth but otherwise project completed.

So you can see what we've done here. The original tiling had a second line of tiles surrounding these ones but because we couldn't find any to replace the cracked and missing ones we (I say we, really the husband) extended the fireplace surround with wood so that only a single line of tiles were needed.

Beautiful tiles and stunning grouting, good job husband!

Sadly our hopes of a log fire in the winter months couldn't be fulfilled with this particular fireplace as we would have had to rip out the existing hearth and fashion a new one to the chimney breast. A job that I didn't fancy pursuing and the husband didn't care to execute. There are two working fireplaces downstairs that we have access to so we can still cuddle up by the fire when the nights draw in.

Another finished corner to the room is my craft corner that I wrote about a while ago here. It's now up and running but a little sparse. I'll see to that though, mark my words!

Yes that is another project-on-the-go sitting by the sewing machine.

However, the living room is not 100% ready yet due to the growing pile of baby things waiting to be washed, sorted and organised:

But my excuse it that I'm not starting that until I'm 7 months pregnant, giving me just enough time to complete a few more projects...!

Knitted Blanket Showcase

Finally a completed project!

Hurrah! 'Tis finished. After ten, or maybe eleven balls of wool and goodness knows how many hours of work I can present my very first knitted patchwork blanket. The project started off rather unplanned with knitting up squares in different patterns. But it soon became clear that this style would work well as a blanket, the knitted equivalent to a quilter's sampler project. Using this method allowed me to try out many different patterns thus adding extra interest to the blanket. The indigo wool (Rowan big wool) was bought for me when I first learnt to knit so it is fantastic to have been able to use it for a project such as this one. The mauve wool (Patons shadow tweed) was chosen because it complemented the original indigo and had lovely flecks of turquoise, mustard, scarlet and green scattered along the dip-dyed effect.

You can just about make out the bobbles in this pattern (there are 6- set out like on a die). One of my favourite stitches ever, as the bobble is created by knitting 5 stitches into one and then purling 5 together when you reach the section on the other side.

A panel knitted in a tweed style creates the centre piece of the blanket.

I've tried to include samples from all styles of knitting: embossed patterns, lace knitting, mock-cable (easy peasy compared to actual cable), openwork patterns, patterns with texture and come to think of it, not a single simple panel in sockinette stitch in sight!

The edging.

My project of the last week that turned out to be rather long winded as I didn't realise I needed almost 5m of knitting!

Folded up and ready for the winter.

I love that satisfied feeling you get when a project is completed. And, seeing as I started this project last winter the feeling is heightened with that of relief: relief that the cumbersome basket that sat in the corner full to the brim with a sad and unfinished project is now no more! Following this knitting frenzy I shall be turning my attention towards my sewing machine, now accessible in my craft corner which up until this point has been taken over by the husband and his DIY (boo) in all efforts to finish our bespoke fireplace. Next project: finishing my patchwork quilit!

Nature is Red and Green

Now, I know that autumn is supposed to bring on a glorious display of golds, oranges and other firey colours, but for me here in the mild south east nature is offering an autumn of scrumptious reds which compliment with calming greens.

Let me demonstrate for you my autumnal awareness:

This house is currently empty for sale! I'm not that naughty to take a photo of someone's front steps without asking!

I'm sure many others will understand the importance of the immediate environment on their mood. I for one am certainly influenced by it (especially if a room is messy, it will make me cranky!) and it is now apparent why I'm feeling so relaxed and calm at the moment- nature is so beautiful during this season! Hehehe, I could also be relaxed due to not working at the moment but I'll give most of the credit to nature.