There are far, far too many unfinished projects in this house, so yesterday's nap-time was an opportunity to actually move some of them over to the finished pile. It's several months since I went up to the Harrogate Knitting and Stitching show with my mum, but whilst there I had a lovely time on the Clothkits stand. I remember so many of their things from my own childhood and all of their projects have a lovely air of nostalgia about them. I've blogged before about the "Jemima" doll that I made for LMC and it's lovely that this is now one of her favourite things that ... read more
Inside the pages, vintage style
Old magazines completely fascinate me. The adverts really are from a time gone by and many of the articles leave me wondering what life was really like when housewives would sit down with a cup of tea between chores read them. Last year when I was at the Knitting and Stitching show up in Harrogate I found a lovely stall specialising in secondhand books and magazines - particularly ones with a crafty slant to them. One magazine that found its way home with me was a September 1957 copy of Pins and Needles. This is described as "Christine Veasey's Magazine" but despite a while ... read more
Needle cases
This was a quick little project that made use of some bits from my stash whilst creating a lovely gift for someone. These needle cases are very quick and easy to make, yet look really good. The outer fabric is upholstery swatches that my mum picked up somewhere years ago and then inside I used constrasting felt colours inside. To make them I took two pieces of the upholstery material, put them right sides together and sewed round all apart from one inch. I turned it back out to the right sides and went right round the edges with a running stitch. After cutting two pieces of felt to size I ... read more
Designs and Such Christmas Tree
I was delighted to recently be asked to review something from new local St Albans company Designs and Such. They are an online craft store that sell both craft kits and also one-of-a-kind handmade items which would make lovely gifts. Being a crafter myself it seemed logical to test out one of their kits and I was sent the Trio of Feltivity kit to make for Christmas. I should add here that time constraints mean that I've only completed one of the trio so far - the chirstmas tree - but watch out for the other two completed projects later in this advent craft month here on ... read more
Festive bunting
I'm going to start my festive advent journey on here with a simple bit of homemade decoration. There's not much that's as simple to make as some festive bunting. I actually bought this as a kit at the Knitting & Stitching show in Harrogate last week for a bargain price of £2.50, but it's so simple to make this yourself from things that you may easily have in your stash. All you need to do is find some festive fabric and with pinking shears cut out some triangle shapes. If you want double sided bunting (as I've done here) then cut two triangles from each fabric and ... read more
Fabric numbers
There are so many unfinished sewing, knitting and crochet projects in this house at the moment that it's more than a little ridiculous - even for me! Here's a little sneak preview of one of the sewing projects though - the irresistible numbers from Meg McElwee's latest book Growing Up Sew Liberated: Making Handmade Clothes and Projects for Your Creative Child. You may already know Meg from her lovely blog, Sew Liberated, and as you would expect this book is crammed full of amazing projects for children of a range of ages. The non-clothes projects are all focussed on ... read more
Autumn Clean
You hear of people having a Spring Clean, but I think I'm currently in the middle of an Autumn Clean instead! I've got a strange desire to tidy, clean and sort things at the moment. No idea why as it is very unlike me. One area that has got a lot of attention lately are my sewing and knitting stashes. They'd got a bit out of control lately with piles of yarn, fabric and threads all threatening to fall off shelves whenever I went looking for something. Some lovely (cheap) storage boxes from Wilkos helped and certainly look much better on my shelves than the precarious ... read more
Missing mojo
Since we moved house I seem to have lost all sewing and knitting mojo. I'm not really sure why as I keep wanting to do things, but have just not been motivated to do so for the last couple of months. I'm hoping that this is going to change as I am missing not having something on the go. A trip round the shops on Saturday resulted in one purchase that may help and to make things even better a parcel waiting on the doorstep upon my return. In the last couple of years I haven't actually made myself anything to wear on my sewing machine. Plenty of bags and household items, but ... read more