...and a craft update....

I've been busy making things all summer.  Here's a quick round up:

Craftsy block of the month.  I'm up to date!  Well, I haven't done September, but it's only the 1st today.

My brother and his wife had a baby boy in July, and I made him a little quilt.

I knitted a square for a community blanket organised by the Natural Mamas forum.

I received some *gorgeous* yarn from a co-op (indie dyer Family Pendragon) and so far have made hats for Betsy and Meg, and a cardi for Meg.  There's much more to come from this particular stash!

Recent makings

I've had a few different projects on the go.  I've started to knit hexipuffs, for the beekeepers quilt by Tiny Owl Knits.  It's going to take at least a year, if I do 1 a day.  I wanted a little drawstring project bag for hexipuffing on the go, so I made this:

I've made 20 little hexipuffs so far.  Betsy asks me daily if I've nearly finished!

I bought some gorgeous scandi-style fabric when I was looking for something to make bunting with.  I didn't want anything too Jubilee-ish, and fell in love with this:

I finished the bunting today.  It's going to decorate the front of the house for the street party next weekend.

I've caught up with the Craftsy block of the month for April, but haven't done May yet.  I'm planning on an evening or two of sewing this week,and the BOM is top of my to-do list.
April's were great, my first attempt at English paper piecing.  I wasn't looking forward to it, but I really enjoyed the hand sewing.

My friend went to Sri Lanka earlier in the year and brought me back a big pile of fabric.  I've finally got around to using it.  I made a tiered skirt for Betsy and a gypsy top for Meg, both from Making Children's Clothes by Emma Hardy.

A new quilt

I've made a quilt for my friend Rachael's 40th birthday.  It was pretty straight forward, and used a Moda Wonderland layer cake.  I used the Easy Bake pattern from Cluck Cluck Sew.  I'm very happy with it, thought the binding is not great.  It's my quilting Achilles heel!

Next on my quilt list is Freddie's jelly roll race quilt.  The top is done, it just needs basting, quilting and (eek) binding.

Adventures in quilting (rock and roll!)

I used to go out on a Saturday night, in the olden days.  Now I stay in and knit, or sew.  With a glass of wine by my side!


I've done the next two blocks of the Craftsy Block of the Month.  It was triangles this month, magic triangles for the first one and traditionally pieced triangles for the second one.

Here they are all together.  I'm very pleased with how it's looking so far.

I made a jelly roll race quilt top this weekend.  It's fab - one jelly roll plus 3 hours gets you this:

I've ordered some batman fabric to make the backing, along with some dark blue and pale blue.  It's coming from the US so I'll have to wait for a couple of weeks.  It's for Freddie, I'm really looking forward to finishing it for him.

A new quilting project

I've been sewing tonight.  After a break from the sewing machine and lots of evenings doing crochet or knitting, it's been lovely to sew again.

Craftsy are doing a free online quilting course, Block of the Month  
Each month you make two quilt blocks and by the end of the year you've made 20 odd blocks and quilted it.  Great idea!
I'm using fabric from my stash, though I did order some ruby red plain fabric to use too.


The first two blocks are 'sew and slash', quite quick and easy to make.  


Here is the asterisk block:

and the wonky hash tag:

I'm looking forward to the next two blocks!

Recent makings

Now Christmas is over, and I've been able to make things for us again.

I've had a kit from Mollie Makes magazine for months and months. I've finally got around to making it, now I have a smartphone to put into it (yay!).

Rob saw me making it, and said he could do with a cover for his iPod. So I've made this for his birthday, in Port Vale colours.

I've also been working on a large cushion cover for our delicious sofa. I'm using the leftover yarn from the massive granny stripe blanket I made last year.

I've done 45 of the 91 mini granny squares. I need to find a jumper to make it into a whole cushion cover, I'll be rummaging through charity shops to find what I want.

I had to mention these brownies - flourless brownies from a little book of brownie recipes Mum got me for Christmas. In my best Craig voice... A-Maze-Ing! Oh they were good. I'm going to make a pile of blondies for Rob's birthday tomorrow, with candles stuck in them. Can't wait!

The rest of the month in pictures

What with making presents every night, I haven't made time to blog much this month. We have done some cool stuff though, so here are a few highlights in photos.

We were lucky enough to get lots of snow when we visited Rob's parents before Christmas. We went on a steam train too, with sherry, mince pies, Father Christmas and presents.

I made Meg's stocking (she was too little for one last year).

I did some embroidery for the first time. I like it!

Freddie loved his Skylanders present so so much.

Meg was ill just after Christmas, and needed lots of cuddles.

I am looking forward to non-Christmas crafting now. I have balled the yarn from my first ever shawl club. It's the Easyknits Sushi-Shawl-Along Club. A delicious knitted rectangle of hand dyed yarn arrived. You ball it, then knit the shawl pattern it comes with. It's way easier than balling a skein, I always get tangled up with skeins. Can't wait to cast on!