Monday 12 September 2011

Going on a Late Summer Holiday

After much effort I have shortlisted three sock patterns for holiday and wound two skeins into balls.
Orange and Pink Wool
The weather is slightly different to the current gales that seem to be buffeting my personal part of London.
weather
So I will be back soon with tales from across the waters!

Going on a Late Summer Holiday

After much effort I have shortlisted three sock patterns for holiday and wound two skeins into balls.
Orange and Pink Wool
The weather is slightly different to the current gales that seem to be buffeting my personal part of London.
weather
So I will be back soon with tales from across the waters.

Sunday 11 September 2011

Bit of everything

I have baked.
Jam Doughnut Muffins
I have glued.
Daisy Button Earrings
I have sewn.
Snap frame purse
And I have put things in jars and then put a pin cushion on top plus some ribbon.
Sewing Sets
Been pretty active really.

I also went to an Elderly Lady Tea Party yesterday. I was advised it would be drinking gin from teacups but I'm more of a sherry woman myself. I haven't got a picture of what I was wearing but I did snap these three on the sofa.
Tea Party
Kind of gives you the idea. I freaking *adore* fancy dress parties but never seem to get invited to them so this was awesome.

Monday 5 September 2011

Awesome Boobs

I let my chest speak for itself.
Awesome bag
But seriously, the bag. Yippeee!
Tape Measure Handbag 1
Tape handle duly added.
Tape Measure Handbag 2
It was a bit of a bodge but has worked out pretty well. I've been using it the last two days and am very happy with it.
Bag inside
I'll definitely be making more for xmas presents.

The Cranford KAL continues very well. I am now a whole Cranford in.
Cranford Mitten
Really hard to get the colours to look right.

I have a massage booked tonight. I think I've waxed lyrical about them before but themassagerooms.com come to your house and let you choose duration, type and areas of focus then, in an unusual twist, give you a menu of young women to choose from. I have duly chosen and a blond slovenian will be here shortly. All sounds horribly sordid while being blissfully wonderful. Scented candles ho!

Oh ok, just one more picture of the bag then....
Bag Strap
Nom. 

Saturday 3 September 2011

Run Byrne Run

Something really weird happened this morning. This is an illustration of what happened.
Running action shot
See? Weird. Weeks ago I bought some trainers. A week or so after that I downloaded the free NHS "Couch to 5k" podcast. Then many weeks went past. Then this morning I woke up shortly after 6 and thought "Right, time to go running." I'm worried it might be dementia. Or the menopause or something. Anyway, I made it through day 1 week 1 and no I didn't feel better afterwards. I felt sweaty. And no that's not the same thing.

Having got the insanity out of my system I went off to Kew to visit Tikki Patchwork.
Tikki Patwork in Kew
Now there's a lovely shop and easy walking distance from the tube station. Not big but with every space used well to display lovely fabrics and accoutrements. You see I am planning another quilt. NOT a handsewn one or paper-pieced. Something with rectangles which are machine sewn and rotary cut. The Make Lounge has some fabrics but this place was a little Aladdin's cave with a couple of hundred 100% cottons to choose from. On this occasion I was only there to look but when have I ever only window shopped? My haul was modest.
Thread
The tape measure ribbon/cotton tape is for the handle of the metal frame bag I made a few weeks ago. It's going to be ideal so I shall put that together this weekend.

I made my cat-to-be a toy this week. I've been meaning to try one of these for ages and thought it might work as a christmas tree decoration with the right fabric. So I got a load of small scraps for a try-out and here you are.
Fabric Ball
I am sure the cat will tear it apart in about 30 seconds but then they'll probably enjoy it so I don't mind. And it would work on a tree except the pentagons need to be smaller. So now we know.

Lastly the Cranford-a-long has been going well. I have just divided for the thumb on my first one - although this is a shot from earlier.
Cranford WIP
The colours are very hard to photograph but it is neither so garish or gothic as it looks. Plus it is certainly knitting up quickly. I've made a couple of mods which I'll write up on Rav.

Thursday 1 September 2011

Cranford-A-Long Day 1

 Mittalong2011Red-300x61
A while ago I donated a blogpost to p/hop asking "What Mittens Would the A-Team Wear?". At the time I suggested Cranfords for Face. Now all these months later I am finally knitting a pair! But not for him - oh no. These babies are for me.
Cranford Mittens p/hop knit-a-long
It's not too late to join the knit-a-long. There is a thread on Ravelry for all those taking part. And you can get the pattern from the p/hop site in return for a heart-hugging donation.


Monday 29 August 2011

Making a Mess Monday

I have been making this quilt since 22nd March 2010. It's been a labour of not exactly love - more grim determination. I have now assembled all the bits and am ready to move to the quilting stage. EXCEPT...all the paper pieces need to be untacked and taken out.
002
There are literally thousands. This is not a quick job.
004
I remember talking to someone about the Kaffe Fassett knitting exhibition that had been on in the V&A years ago. They had talked about wanting to be able to see the inside of the intarsia and fairisle garments to see how the 'wrong side' had been handled. Then there is Kate who has a unique turn of phrase and talks about the "naughty" or "private" side (technical term) of her knitting. Quilts of course have exactly the same thing.
005
At the Festival of Quilts I had to physically restrain my mater from lifting up the quilt edges to look at the backs, despite the "DO NOT TOUCH" signs in every language and all handmade hanging from every available post.
Signs, Signs
It's natural to want to see what people have done where they weren't expecting it to show. Possibly this is why people (in general, not me) like reality shows.
ME IN THE BBUK DIARY ROOM!!!
So having to remove each of these paper hexagons individually, every one having been hand sewn by myself in the first place, has given me quite a lot of time to contemplate the naughty side.
006
Still another couple of hundred to go....things may get naughtier.

Friday 26 August 2011

STOP PRESS

I have the landlord's permission to get a cat.
Source: None via Alex on Pinterest

I have to pay extra deposit but I had expected that.

I am so excited. 
Source: flickr.com via Alex on Pinterest


It won't be til after I get back holiday but then....
Source: flickr.com via Alex on Pinterest


Countdown to kitty....

Thursday 25 August 2011

Walking in the Rain

It was raining on Tuesday night so I decided to do a Gene Kelly and walk down to the river and get the boat home. It would have taken about half an hour to reach the pier if I had gone direct but I meandered and took twice as long. And I took photos. But only on my phone, so don't judge the quality.
Grand Building Entrance with pillars

London Telephone box in the rain
Trees at the end of the street
Narrow London Street Passage
Puddle
Lantern and tree in the rain
Bronze elephant statue
Wet pavement
Lantern with steps in the rain
London Recession
Edgar Wallace Pub
unhappy building
Narrow steps
Park Gateway 
It always amazes me the variety of architecture, textures, atmospheres you can find so close together in London.

Monday 22 August 2011

Making Monday

A little bit of making...
Bookmarks
I've been meaning to make machine embroidered bookmarks since I did a Make Lounge workshop on it last year. Or was it this year? Doesn't really matter. I woke up early yesterday and cut these out before I left. The afternoon saw them finished.
Star Bright Bookmark
I tried stitching patterns and following the outline of the fabric design, but ended up liking the writing best. The others were still quite sweet though.
Flower fabric
I used some of the liberty fabrics PurlPower gave me in a swap. The one above is one of them. So pretty! I need to keep some of the others hidden for christmas. But then one more won't hurt.
016
I do like machine embroidery. Like a lot of things I had always meant to try it but lacked the courage/knowledge to just go for it. The worry was that I'd break my sewing machine by doing it wrong. That's why the workshop was so useful - as with the metal purse frame one. It showed me how and now I'm not worried. It's really very easy, your machine won't break and you just need the right foot for your machine. It's going to be so handy for when I start quilting my patchwork quilt - if I ever finish it that is.