Finally finished my first quilt

At last I have finally finished my first quilt!

I started this quilt in 2008, it was made for my daughter M's 18th birthday that year. I managed to keep it a complete surprise for her and she really loved it and all the colours and fabric used. However, I was so rushed to keep the deadline that I didn't really finish it properly but promised that I would when I had time. So over the last Christmas break when she came home (with the quilt) I got around to adding more lines of quilting and re doing the binding, the only thing I need to add now is a label!

Now I look back it was really quite ambitious for a first quilt, well size wise anyway as it was for a double bed, but the actual patchwork top was fairly traditional with 9 inch squares. It was made using mainly Kaffe Fassett material with a few plain patches added in and then backed with Kaffe Fassett with a plain blue binding.

I have since made other quilt, a double for my other daughter C for her 18th birthday. Again, fairly traditional with 6 inch squares this time in blues and pinks with a boarder and backed with a spotty blue fabric. C came with me to choose the materials so it wasn't the big surprise that her sister had, but she was really delighted with the finished quilt.

I think for my next quilt I will try something a little more adventurous and try making a few blocks out of all the scraps I have left over. Perhaps make a lap quilt, so I can wrap up warm while reading or knitting!

Socks

Last summer I taught myself how to knit socks. I had knitted jumpers and scarfs since my early teens, and when the children were babies I made a few cardigans for them, but really didn't have time to do much more. However, I decided I wanted to knit again - and what I wanted to knit was socks. I had been to Woolfest 2011 in Cockermouth and seen fantastic wool and hand crafted woollen socks for sale, but at that time I didn't realise that I wanted to knit again or learn to knit socks, it looked too difficult having to use double ended needles. It was a few weeks later when I found some magic wool, that knitted itself into a pattern, that I thought about it again.  The wool I found was by Regia, and the shop had sample socks knitted up in the various self patterned wool. They looked so inspiring, so I bought the jacquard wool las vegas for my first pair and bamboo double pointed needles, a simple sock pattern was thrown in - so I was all set. 

Armed with the pattern and watching tutorials on you tube to help me turn the heel, I managed to complete my first pair of socks! 

Daughter C loved them so much that I gave them to her, and then made myself another pair. M said she would like a pair, so I made a pair to go in her Christmas stocking using Regia brasil salvador - well I managed to complete one sock in the run up to Christmas which went in her stocking and then completed the other over the holidays.

It really is quite addictive. I've started another pair again using Regia wool, this time using crazy colour in blues and greens.

Then for my next pair I think I'll try a different pattern......

Birthday boy

Today is our dogs birthday, he is seven years old! To celebrated we had a walk together around the fields this afternoon. Although still very cold here with frost on the ground, there was a beautiful blue sky. This is such a lovely change from the terrible grey, wet days we had over the Christmas and New Year break.

Birthday boy 

Blue sky! even a shadow

and signs of spring!

 Although it is quite a while ago now, just a few photos of Christmas...

We had friends and neighbours around for drinks on Christmas Eve which was a lovely relaxed evening - well, once the rush of getting everything ready was over - mulled wine, lots of nibbles and plenty of chat - set the tone for the rest of the break!

I think apart from taking the dog for a walk we didn't venture outside. On boxing day we all went for a local walk with the dog, and the next day went across to the NE to visit relations.

Over the break M wanted to eat apple pie, so she made a pie which turned out to be a fantastic work of art as well as really yummy. The filling was apple and cinnamon, so very festive. Not sure where she got the recipe from, but hope she can remember as I would like to make it again.

What am I doing?! its nearly Christmas

Hmm, well the decorating has to be done - but not the christmassy type yet! I had to give the kitchen and living room a quick lick of paint to freshen it up before the holidays.

Now finished, so we can decorate! M&C are home from University and can help. We get out all the christmas decorations which have been stored throughout the year and decorate the tree and the house. Each decoration tells a story so we have fun remembering when they were made or bought, we still have lots from when they were little - and they go on the tree each year!

Lots to do......

Busy times - Glasgow, Newquay, Harrogate, Lancaster and Edinburgh!

I've had quite a gap since my last posting as I have been really busy! So this will be a whistle stop tour of all my comings and goings over the past few weeks.

I went to the Country Living Christmas Fair in Glasgow with my friend so we could help her daughter on her stand. I could only help one day this year, but what a busy day! and I believe the other days were just as busy as by the end she had sold all her stock bar a few items - a great achievement. Her company is called VNTG designs and a link can be found on the side bar. I only managed to take one photograph - which was at the end of the day once the fair had closed and we were setting up again for the next day. VNTG makes quirky vintage inspired products including lovely covered notebooks and cards amongst lots of other beautiful products - take a look!

I did have a chance to have a look around the fair myself and bought a few bits and bobs for christmas!

I travelled back from Glasgow and the next day I left very early on the train for Exeter to meet my daughter C. It is such a long way for her to travel home during term time as she would spend most of the weekend on the  train, so I go down and we visit a different different town each time. This time we stayed at Newquay. C is a keen surfer, having taken up the sport last year when she started at Uni, and although she didn't surf this weekend, we did have a fantastic walk along the cliffs on the Saturday. The day was really nice, sunny but a little windy, and we went from Newquay to Watergate to start our walk following the South West Coast Path. We went through Mawgan Porth and onto Pendarves Point, where we had lunch watching the waves crashing in. Then turned back and retraced our steps. 

The following day we went to St Ives. Here we visited Tate St Ives and the current exhibition 'The Indiscipline of Painting' which looks at the history and legacy of abstract painting, and then went to the Barbara Hepworth Museum and sculpture garden. The Trewyn Studio where she lived and worked were given to the nation and placed in the care of the Tate in 1980. There are displays of sculptures in stone, bronze and wood, both in the house and in the gardens. Also there is a time line of archival material which we found really interesting.

The next day we travelled back to Exeter, but stopped on the way to visit one of my favourite haunts down this way, Cowslip Workshops just outside Launceston. It has a fantastic range of fabrics and very helpful staff and a wonderful organic cafe. Workshops and classes are offered throughout the year, and I'm hoping to make one of my visits south coincide with a workshop in the spring. I hadn't realised, silly of me not to have checked, but there was a Christmas Crafts event being held there over the weekend - which we just missed. The staff were telling us all about it, and the fact that Kirstie Allsopp had also been there over the weekend filming for her C4 series Kirstie's Handmade Britain - which I believe is being shown this coming week on December 14th. 

Inspired by all the fabulous quilts and patchwork I bought some material which I will make into a small quilt - probably after Christmas now.

Cowslip fabric shop

C and I had a lovely cup of coffee in the cafe and we went on our way back to Exeter. Whist C was at her lecture I went into the city and found another lovely craft shop 'Inspirations' - packed full of beautiful material, wool, ribbons and all things crafty. I just had to buy some wool to knit some socks!

Back home for a few days, then off to the Stitch and Knit show at Harrogate - just for the day this time. This is a really big textile exhibition, for knitters and stitchers and so much more - paper crafts, felting, embroidery, jewellery making. Interesting, but very different to the Quilt festival that I went to in Birmingham earlier in the year.

My next diary point was much nearer home. I sing with the Casterton Choral Society each year. My good friend A and I go along, rehearsals start in September and culminate in performances over two nights in December (4th and 5th). This year we were performing Handel's Messiah. The performances take place in the local Parish Church, and at the first performance this year we had a little snow/sleet storm which made the whole thing feel very Christmasy. 

Over the past few months I have been building up to taking a stand at a small Craft Fair. I have made lots of bits and bobs for friends over the years who have encouraged me to try and sell some of my items, so I have been busy developing my products which include tote bags, teapot cosy's, fabric covers for note books and diary's, children's crayon bags, christmas bunting, stockings and decorations and a few cushions. The fair was held this week on Wednesday and here are a few photo's of my stand just after I had set it all up. 

There were nine stands, selling a variety of different items from sock monkeys, to jewellery, to spiral bound notebooks with the covers made from old board games, to preserves, soaps and body products, mobiles and children's jewellery. It was an interesting afternoon, and for a first outing I was pleased with the way things went and the way my products were received. 

Now with Christmas almost upon us I have to get organised to buy gifts, think about food and generally tidy the house and make it more festive! So my last outing was to Edinburgh to shop! I had booked a hotel a while ago and have been looking forward to visiting Edinburgh again, it is always lovely at Christmas time with the Winter Festival. The city centre is all lit up, there is a German Market and there is ice skating and other fair rides in the Princess Street Gardens. However, my visit coincided with the worst storms in Scotland for at least 10 years! On the way up my train stopped due to water on the line just outside Tebay, then when we got going again the train was terminated at Carlisle and we had to wait for the next train to come through for Edinburgh and because of the adverse weather conditions a 50 mph limit was imposed on all the trains in Scotland - so my journey took over five hours, instead of two!! Still, we all got to Edinburgh safely but the whole city seemed to be closed down because of the weather - no market or funfair because of the high winds. The shops were still open, and in fact were not that busy - I guess people had stayed at home - so I wandered around and took it all in, made lists of what I would go back and buy the next day (just in case I forgot which shop had what!).  The journey back was fine, I was loaded down with bags, but at least I had done the bulk of my christmas gift shopping and had a lovely break.

Wow, if you are still reading - thanks for sticking with it! hope you have a good weekend.

Felted Angels

I'm going along to a felting class this term which is held at a local school. I really enjoy the class, the tutor Annie is so welcoming and encouraging and has shown us the basics of wet felting over the past weeks. The other students in the group are also so friendly and love to share ideas and bring in things that they have made at home, and I really look forward to the class. Over the weeks we have covered how to make basic felt, have made flowers, made nuno felt and cobweb felt, felted stones and this last week started to make angels - for christmas decorations.

The angels are so cute and really quite easy to make with basic sewing skills, and can be made very individual with different decoration. We each made an A4 sized basic natural coloured felt with some added angelina fibres to add a bit of sparkle. Then a cone shape was cut to make the body and joined at the back with a row of running stitches. A head and arms were made and a triangle of felt cut for the wings. Then the angel can be decorated with buttons and stitching.

Making the felt

This is what we were aiming for 

Concentration!

J adding hair

Hopefully everyone will bring their angels back to the class next week so we can see the finished family of angels!

Update: a photo of the Angels - and even a Father Christmas! All so different!!

Walking the dog

Yesterday was such a lovely day. It was a crisp autumn day and I had a great walk with our cocker spaniel. The lanes near our house are full of autumn goodness. The trees have turned colour, but many have now dropped their leaves due to a heavy frost a couple of nights before. There are sloes (now ready to pick after the frost), rose hips and other berries giving a splash of red and lots of acorns which have dropped or been blown from the trees. There was also a fantastic mossy wall that I hadn't noticed before, it looked as it it had been felted!

I love this mossy wall! 

We really enjoyed our walk