Mr C and I met up with friends today for a day out at Waddesdon Manor. A fantastic day for catching up with old friends, and their adorable little son. I'll share some of the other pictures later, but had to share the little gift I bought myself in their gift shop.I completely fell in love with this ribbon - the red and cream colour were gorgeous - and loved the retro style that it has. I'm not yet sure how to use it, but decoration on a simple cream tote bag may well be an option. ... read more
NZ Stitches
I had a bit of a sort of all my sewing and knitting things over the weekend and realised just how bad I am at actually finishing things. I have a whole pile of half finished projects and a single box full of not finished (or in some cases not even started) cross stitch projects.We're swiftly running out of space in our little flat so I've vowed to finish a few projects before allowing myself to buy anything else, no matter how cheap it is. (Mr C's probably reading this and hoping that I'll do the same with books!) The first projects to get finished were probably my most recent ... read more
Woolly Embroidery
I certainly wasn't planning to buy any more craft books when I went to the Knitting and Stitching show, but this one on the Embroiderers' Guild book stand caught my attention and I just couldn't put it down.Woolly Embroidery is an American English language version of a book that was originally published in Japan in 2006. Split into two halves, the first part of the book provides beautiful photographs of various embroidered items, whilst the second half contains instructions and patterns for the reader to be able to reproduce them, along with a detailed reference ... read more
More purples
As I said in my last post, quite a few purple items ended up in my shopping bag last week. Another example was this 'experimental pack' from Stef Francis. An exciting little bundle containing dyed silk noil, Indian organza, Indian fabric, two skeins of dyed yarn, coloured copper wire and some sequins. I'm not sure how it's going to be used yet, but just looking at it and feeling the contents is keeping me satisfied for the time being until my creative juices take over. ... read more
Tired and happy
I feel very tired and happy this evening. I've spent the day with my mum at the Knitting and Stitching show at Alexandra Palace in London and we think we must have been walking round for about five hours in total with only a short stop for a cup of tea! There were many, many great finds during the day, and some quite exciting purchases as well. Details and some photos just as soon as I've recharged my batteries... ... read more
Exciting Times
I've got some exciting times coming up over the next month or so.Firstly, Mr C and I off to the River Cottage Festival this weekend. Unfortunately the weather forecast isn't looking too good, but fingers crossed. I'm a bit fan of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and his various television programmes and accompanying books.The week after next I have managed to get myself booked on to a Rowan beginners crochet course that is being held at a local John Lewis. I've been wanting to learn to crochet for ages and am really looking forward ... read more
Canons Ashby
On our way back from Bruntingthorpe on Saturday Mr C and I visited Canons Ashby in Northamptonshire. Here there is an Elizabethan manor house, gardens and the Priory Church of St Mary, all that remains of the Augustinian priory from which Canons Ashby takes its name.The interior of the church roof was a fantastic wooden structure that I completely fell in love with. There's something about things made out of wood that give them a lovely warm feeling that somehow seems so homely. Out in the grounds of the house is an orchard and also several apple and pear trees along a ... read more
Somewhere to keep my knitting needles
Since learning to knit about a year ago I have been after something to keep my growing collection of needles in. I had a look in a few shops, but didn't quite find anything that fitted the bill either through style or the material used to make it. One of the books that I used when I was learning to knit was Debbie Stoller's Stitch 'n Bitch and in the patterns section in the back of the book I found a fantastic sounding pattern for a "roll-your-own needle case" by Echo Devore. I used some material that I'd had in my stash for a while (originally from the John Lewis bargain bin) and I'm really ... read more