Happy Mothers’ Day – cupcakes, vintage crochet and knitting

April 3, 2011April 3, 2011 stitchesoftimeLeave a comment

Hello and a very Happy Mothers’ Day to you if you live in the UK. If you don’t Happy first Sunday in April and I hope that you are having a lovely day anyway! I would like to dedicate this post to all of my lovely friends who are mums both in real life and blogland as a celebration of your fabulousness. And of course to my wonderful Mum who has always been a brilliant friend as well as a mum.

Being a mum is fantastic and I am very thankful that I have such lovely kids who have once again bought me very thoughtful presents and cards.I had a bracelet and Mackintosh pattern box last week and today as a surprise I got this!

Elm creek book — Sylvia's Bridal Sampler Quilt Book

I have wanted this book for ages and I was very impressed as normally the kids don’t buy me crafting books from my wish list (they think I have enough already – as if such a thing exists) So thanks very, very much!

I have lots of friends who have in the last few years become new mums and one of the things I value most about the internet is being able to keep in touch with them, to see pics of the kids and to be able to offer support through the power of a nice comment or two when they may be feeling a bit overwhelmed or the kids are poorly, teething etc. I am very lucky to have had a great group of local friends who I met through a Mother and Toddler group and we have kept each other going through the years and are now supporting through teenage and University issues and the joys of having more time to ourselves now we are becoming empty nesters!

I am always impressed by the mums who run their own businesses both ones I know in real life and through blogging. I have mentioned my very talented friend Kat lots of times before and her medieval headdresses and costume business Kats Hats . I would also like to introduce another friend to you who has recently set up her own business, Simply Yummy Cupcakes, which as you can probably tell is a cake business! The link is from Facebook so you might have to be logged in to see it. Now I know a lot of people do cupcakes but these are something very special – I hope she won’t mind me sharing a couple of pics with you of her work – look how talented she is!

Laura's cakes 1 — These are obviously very topical for today!

Laura's cakes 2 — These 'bouquets' are made out of cupcakes decorated like roses!

Laura also makes cupcakes to order for birthdays, weddings and other special events including some very unusual ‘cake pops’ that you can use as wedding favours – she is based in Newport , South Wales in the UK so if you need special cakes go and have a look at her creations.I am planning to do a little baking later on this afternoon for Jake – some chocolate orange cupcakes with chocolate frosting which I tried out on him last week and they got the seal of approval but they are not as wonderful as Laura’s.

Taking inspiration from another very talented mum, Hen House, I went to a Vintage Fair in town yesterday held in a little Victorian Arcade where my friend Lydia has her wool shop Spun. Hen makes the most wonderful things out of her vintage embroidery finds – adding them to quilts and cushions so look what I picked up.

Vintage crochet 2 — Two crochet runners and a linen tablecloth

Vintage crochet 1 — Look at those lovely flowers!

I have tried to learn to crochet but no luck so far but the little flowers on these two pieces are lovely and I thought that I could turn them into something nice with some denim that I have in my stash and some of the fabric that I bought from Lydia not long ago. Lovely daughter Ellie is home from University in May so hopefully we will be able to spend lots of time crafting and I thought she might like these. The tablecloth I plan to incorporate into a quilted throw for my lounge that I have some beautiful medieval prints for which I bought last year. Quite when I will get around to starting these projects I don’t know as I already have several WIPs to complete but it help to have all the stash handy for when the right time arrives doesn’t it!

I have done very well on my current projects – have nearly finished the stitched exchange piece. It has been a tricky stitch, not so much the pattern but the combination of the fabric I chose and the silk thread and the fact that the count is very small so I have to use the magnifying glass and it has been slow going. As I wanted something a bit more mindless to work on this weekend (we were watching a film where I needed concentrate!) and I needed something new for knitting group I have cast on for a baby cardi in my favourite Sublime yarn – this time a dusky pink. I could not get a good pic of the pattern (Blossom from Let’s Knit magazine August 2010) so apologies but it is a tie front cardi with an eyelet detail in the body (which I have not tried before) and lacy diamond pattern sleeves.

Pink ballet cardi — WIP on the back showing eyelet details

Knitting with the Sublime yarn is wonderful after using the Marble Chunky for my hat. It was quick to knit but not as easy to see the stitch pattern at all whereas with Sublime you can see exactly what you are doing. I am going to Spain again next week (lucky, lucky me – it is my Mum’s 70th birthday in a couple of weeks so we are celebrating out there) so this will be my holiday project along with the JBW pudding ornie.

Speaking of the red chunky hat here it is modelled by me this morning (thanks Jake for taking the pic!) I think it works very well as a slouchy beret and will use the rest of the ball to cast on for a scarf in the same pattern later in the year – not as much need for scarves here in Yorkshire now hurrah!

Red chunky hat modelled — I really like the colour changes in the yarn that give it the stripes and the lacy rib pattern

Well am now off to spend the rest of the day doing my favourite things – lucky me! Hope that you are all having a lovely day wherever you are and thank you very much for visiting.

Birthday and the Bard

March 28, 2011March 28, 2011 stitchesoftimeLeave a comment

This weekend we went to visit Ellie in Worcester as it is her birthday this week. For her birthday treat she wants to visit London and do some more museum visting (goodie!) which we will do later in the year.On Saturday we took a little trip to Stratford-on-Avon so we could visit some of the Shakespeare houses.

For Ellie this was not only a day out but of course a field trip, she is doing a module on musuems at the moment and is very interested from a professional point of view about how things are displayed and how the information is presented. She is currently employed as a conservation assistant at a Tudor house owned by the National Trust in Worcester so was also very interested in how they were looking after the houses and was not impressed by the cobwebs and dust at one of them!

It was a bit dull and cold so apologies for not having nice sunny pics to show you. They also did not allow interior pics in Shakespeare’s house so have only got exterior pics to show you here.

Stratford 1 — Primulas outside Shakespeare's house

Stratford 2 — More arty pics from the garden

Stratford 3 — Beautiful carvings on the Griffin Inn

There were also very few textiles, there were some bedhangings and clothes in the house – Shakespeares’s father was a glove maker so there was a room laid out as his workshop but most of the textiles were very utilitarian apart from some lovely painted linen wall hangings which were very impressive. I did find a lovely blackwork coif in one of the other displays – apologies as it is a bit dark!

Stratford 4 — Seventeenth century coif with insect embroidery

We also went out for a meal with Ellie, my sister, nephew Sam, Jake and her friends. She really liked her birthday pressies which I hoped she would, I bought her Cath Kidston’s Stitch and Sew books, another craft /quilting book Simple Sewn Gifts by Helen Phillips and some pretty material and cup cake decorations and cases.

Simple Sewn Gifts — Look at those cute little patchwork hearts!

It is brilliant having a daughter who enjoys the same stuff as I do and I am looking forward to borrowing the books as well when she comes home in the summer! I can’t believe that she will be 20 this week (she can’t either!) she is so grown up now and very lovely!

Ellen b day 1 — Ellie with her birthday cupcake fixings

Ellie b day 2 — Can't fit that many candles on the cake so she had to make do with the words instead!

I have finished the red chunky wool hat so will get some pics of me modelling it – it has been so nice and warm here that hopefully it is going to straight into the drawer. I managed to get lots done to the garden last week and it is lovely and sunny again today, it is so nice to have an extra hour of daylight in the evenings now so I will have chance to do a bit more pottering later on. I am planning a trip to the garden centre this Sun (as it is Mother’s Day) to buy myself some pretty primulas and lillies for the empty pots.

I am working on a cross stitch exchange for Spring so won’t be able to show you that for a while but have also made a good start on my next Xmas ornie – am doing the JBW Xmas pudding – bit late with this one as it was supposed to be the March finish but better late than never!

JBW Plum pudding — It is stitched over one using a single thread so is coming along fast

Hope that you have all had a lovely week and thank you for visiting.

A quiltilicious week!

March 20, 2011 stitchesoftime5 Comments

I have been doing lots of quilty things this week. Yesterday was International Quilting Day so it is very fitting that lots of my week should have been spent doing these activities.

The first thing that I completed was this block to give to one of the members of my quilt group. She is making a charity block quilt and last month gave me a piece of cat fabric which I then added to make a crazy patchwork block. I was pleased with the way this turned out in the end as I has to do the join with the dark turquoise triangle in it several times as I could not get the points right. I have done crazy patchwork before when I have made bags but never with so many different angles so it was a bit of a challenge. It has helped improved my machine work which I wanted to get better at.

cat block — You will recognise this fabric from my current quilt WIP - more of this later!

Yesterday I sent the whole day at the quilt group sewing day where I finally managed to get the rest of the pieces cut out and the whole of the top put together except for the borders which are cut. It was very helpful to have advice from the others as I am very spatially challenged so had a bit of difficulty working out which pieces to sew together first but got there in the end and I am very pleased with the end result. Consensus of opinion among the group was that it looks very nice as it is but I did still want to put the rabbit applique on then one of the group suggested making it double-sided with a fleecy backing and putting the rabbit on that side. I thought that was an excellent idea so am now going to source some pale pink fleece to do that.

Bunny Quilt 3 — A bit crumpled but looking good

One of the women from the group Christine, runs her own quilting business – she has a long arm quilting machine and also sells fabric and runs workshops and she had brought her wares with her so I had to have a little indulge. I bought this very cute cat fabric and co-ordinates which I thought would be a good children’s quilt – probably be an Xmas pressie at the rate I am going though!

cat fabric 1 — A close up of the pretty cats

I also bought two different white on white prints to use as contrasts and this cute vintage bunny print. I now have quite a lot of fat quarters and feel the need to have a nice box to put them all in like Crazy Mom has rather than them be in random drawers all over the lounge as I lose track of what I have bought. I want have them all together so that I can see all the different colours which I hope will help me plan more effectively what I want to make.Will have to buy a box and get sorting!

Kerry and Tracey from my medieval group came for a sewing day today – we haven’t seen each other for a long time so it was great to have a catch up. I didn’t get much done but did sew up the JBW stocking but they both finished little ornaments , Tracey’s was a lavender filled one for her kitchen which made my conservatory smell really nice and Kerry made a lovely Xmas heart ornie for her tree. They bought loads of Xmas fabric stash when we went to Harrogate last Nov so are starting to use that up.

Also managed to make three knitting sessions this week which was bit of a miracle so am making very good progress with the red chunky wool hat. The weather was extremely good at the start and the end of the week – though dull and misty in the middle – so I may finish it just in time for it to go into a drawer for next Winter but at least I will be prepared!

I have been out in the garden twice doing some tidying up after the long soggy cold season but thankfully there is less frost and snow damage than last year so it won’t take so long to get the garden restored. It does gladden my little heart to see all the signs of Spring, my clematis are looking very good so far and the rhododendron are just about to bloom. I have lost a couple of azaleas and a pireus due to frost but will probably just get some nice bright primulas or similar to put in pots as I have a lot of empty ones at present. I have all of next week off work in order to do lots of house stuff so hopefully the weather will be kind and I can get a lot done outside.

Then we are off to Worcester for next weekend to see Ellie as it is her birthday the week after and we have a little history field trip to Stratford-on-Avon planned. I am hoping to come back with some Shakespearean inspired textile pics for you.

I hope you have a lovely week ahead and thank you very much for visiting.

Another day, another dollar

March 13, 2011 stitchesoftimeLeave a comment

I have been working lots this week including teaching on Saturday so have not had as much time for crafting as I hoped and only made one of the three knitting sessions that I had planned. However it has been a very nice week – I have been out and about observing my students teaching which has been very interesting. I consider myself very lucky to have a lovely job that I enjoy and hopefully it will continue – massive cuts in government funding ahead so who knows!

I have made pretty good progress with the hat – I am making this out of the same James Brett marble chunky that I used for my wristwarmers knitted over Xmas. I thought maybe I wouldn’t get the wear out of it being so late in the year for hats but it has been very much blowing a gale this week so I have been very cold when out and about so will be glad of it. Some parts of the UK have had snow but luckily not us – yet! Though snow at Easter is not unheard of in Yorkshire. The pattern is another freebie from Ravelry called Springtime Sloppy Beret and has a lacy pattern on the main body of the hat. I might try the same pattern for a scarf and put some fringes on each end as well.

Red chunky hat — The variegated wool looks good on this longer repeat

I have also finished another one of the JBW Xmas Stocking ornies for my tree – this has yet to be made up but I am doing ok so far with my one a month – though this is actually Feb’s ornament as it was started then so will have to get cracking on March’s one. Thinking of doing the Xmas pudding one next. Have also just signed up again for the Seasonal Exchange Blog Spring exchange (missed the Winter one due to slackness on my part of checking blog) so will have to have a think about what to do for that.

JBW stocking — Look at all the pretty little trees!

I would like to share with you a blog I have just recently found – this is not a crafting blog but a gardening one and belongs to Dave who is the brother of one of my old friends Pete. Pete posted the link on Facebook and I read all of his old posts last night and loved it. He has a brilliant and very funny writing style and the photography is amazing. He is a professional gardener who mainly works at a Tudor Priory in Sussex. The blog is called The Anxious Gardener so do go and have a read.

Well here’s hoping we all have a nice week ahead, I have a very nice weekend planned at the end of it – a sewing day on Saturday with the quilt group (might finally get the bunny quilt cut out!) and a sewing day with the girls from the medieval group on Sunday. Am trying to give up housework for Lent so have to find distractions to stop me being tempted!

Thank you very much as always for visiting.

Me and my imaginary friends – why I love blogging

March 6, 2011March 11, 2011 stitchesoftime2 Comments

I have recently started another blog for work that I am doing as a way of keeping in contact with my students while they are away from University on their teaching placements. I had thought about using blogs for work before and have done some short inputs about using blogs but this year I have had a couple of students who have been very keen so we are all doing it. I have also realised that it is a very good way of keeping all my good ideas, links etc. in one place for my students to be able to share and comment on.

Doing all this and explaining what I see as the benefits of blogging have made me realise just how much I get out of having my own blog and how much I really enjoy all the contact with my ‘imaginary friends’ as Thimbleanna calls them. I am thrilled that so many people visit me – around 4000 a month now – about half of whom are looking for info on re-enactment or historical subjects and love the fact that I am part of this big network of people all sharing things.

The first two blogs I ever read were Mary Kathryn’s needlework blog and Crazy Aunt Purl’s knitting and general coping with life blog. These two women have had a big impact on me in so many ways over the last four years which is remarkable as we have never met nor are likely to – though I hope to go and visit their parts of the USA sometime soon.

I have been very impressed by their craft skills, their attitude to coping with life’s little (and big!) ups and downs and have loved the way that they have shared so much of their lives and their passion for all the things they do. Other blogs have been added to my favourites along the way – usually as links from people’s blogrolls or posts and I have been entertained and awed by so many talented people.

It is very difficult to describe what you get from this to non- bloggers as I know people (and my kids!) often look at me a bit strangely when I try and describe how I feel about being connected, inspired, uplifted, amused and generally made very happy by reading everyone’s posts. To me it is like having lots of pen pals – with the added advantages of seeing pictures of so many lovely things all the time Hen House’s gorgeous vintage quilts, Do You Mind if I Knit’s cute doggies, beach walks and fabulous art, Crazy Mom’s lovely quilt work, Don’t Look Now’s wonderful original designs to name but a tiny few. You are all wonderful imaginary friends and thank you so much for sharing.

As well as all the craft love and the free patterns and the like I also love the ‘extras’ that blogging brings to my life. One of these has been the chance to read a really good book as I have been participating in Crazy Aunt Purl’s latest book club. It has been a very last-minute participate as my copy only arrived on Friday and we are going to post about the book tomorrow so I have spent most of the weekend reading. The book chosen is When We Were Strangers’ by Pamela Schoenewaldt based on one of my favourite subjects, that of emigration to the USA – in this case an Italian seamstress in the late 1880s. It is really good, I am intending to finish it tonight and would recommend it to anyone . I will be passing it on to my Mum when I next go to Spain as I am sure she will love it.

It has been a very literary week one way and another – I have not done much in the way of crafting this week, have been very tired so have been going to bed early with lots of good reads , a friend from knitting, Cath, lent me two of the Benni Harper quilt murder mysteries by Earlene Fowler and I have really enjoyed those. I have always loved a good murder mystery, being a lifelong Agatha Christie fan, and have recently read Agatha’s biography and autobiography ‘Come Tell me Where You Live’ which was very interesting. The Benni Harper books are particularly good in terms of the way the characters are written, I really identify with the main character and can’t wait to read more of the series.

This week there was of course World Book Day which I have always promoted as part of my job and the new World Book Night where a million books were given away by people who had registered with the scheme. My friend Barbara from knitting who has a wonderful blog about knitting had registered to get copies of Nigel Slater’s autobiography Toast so I went along to my friend Lydia’s wool shop, Spun, yesterday to collect the book and have a little knit and natter. As soon as I have finished the book club novel and the other couple I have one the go – another Laura Ingalls Wilder biography and a history of the National Trust Ellie gave me for Christmas I will start on that one then pass it on to my sister-in-law Amanda who is a very keen cook.

I love reading and am a huge fan of print books – I have seen and admired other people’s Kindle’s and i Pads but I think I will be sticking to my old-fashioned books for a long while yet – I love buying books and spend far too much on them (aided by the lovely Amazon wish list!) but just think it would not be the same to have a download rather than a thud on the doormat when another lovely tome is delivered.

To conclude I will leave you with a pic of what little crafting has gone on this week – I am still at cast on stage with the new hat as the other pattern I was having trouble with got even more troublesome so I abandoned it and am about three – quarters of the way through the latest JBW Xmas stocking. So the only thing I have to show you is the pair of Moss Stitch wristwarmers in Aqua Sublime (which are not even sewn up yet!) and some lovely Artesano Hummingbird yarn that I bought yesterday. These are both presents for family member (not Ellie in case she reads this and gets excited!)

Aqua handwarmers and wool — Lovely colours and look there is sun - in my dining room, in Yorkshire - hurrah!

I have a lovely week ahead, as well as all the reading there are three knitting groups this week so I should get a bit more done on the hat and then a dinner party at the weekend that I am holding for my brother and sister-in-law. I hope that you have a lovely week as well and thanks as always for visiting – to paraphrase Fleetwood Mac -‘you make blogging fun!’

A few pretty pictures

February 27, 2011February 27, 2011 stitchesoftimeLeave a comment

I have just returned from Spain and as well as some knitting and stitching (no finishes to show yet!) I have been indulging in two of my other favourite pastimes, mountain biking and photography. I am hugely amateur at both of these but do love to do them and have spent a lot of time over the past week enjoying myself. I had the luxury of a week on my own (no children!) so as well of lots of sitting on my terrace in the sun reading and crafting it meant lots of cycling off-road and staring at the mountains and taking (hopefully) arty photos of the landscape.

Here are a couple of my bike ride locations.

Spain bike ride — Off towards the mountains!

Spain bike ride 2 — On the scrubland between La Marina and the coast

I had great fun and this time managed not to injure myself (apart from a few minor scratches when I got a bit lost in the pine forest one day!) which is better than the last two times when I have come back hurt. It did me the world of good and now am raring to go (at least for the next six weeks till I go back at Easter!)

I don’t have a very good camera – mainly due to the fact that I keep breaking them so have never been able to justify spending a lot of money on one but I took what I thought were some nice landscape shots.

Spain beach 1 — Walkway down to one of the local beaches

Spain landscape 1 — Looking across from one of the verdes to the mountains

Spain - flowers — The flowers on my terrace

The sunsets in La Marina are amazing and I keep trying to get good pics but most of mine end up fuzzy or with houses (or telegraph poles) in the way. This one I took from my Mum’s back terrace one evening – the sky goes such lovely pinky orange colours.

Spain sunset — Sunset over the mountains

We also went to visit an exhibition of costumes from 25 years of fiestas in the local town of Torrevieja which was very good – these are just a couple of pics from there –

Fiesta 2 — One of the many beautiful beaded headresses

As well as all the lovely me time there was lots of time with family and I got to meet the newest member of the family in person (this is one of the little girls I have knitted cardis for). Here is Avive, who is now 9 months old, with her lovely Mummy, my cousin Joanne, and her great – grandmother my Nana – who will be 99 this July! Avive is Nana’s 7th great-grandchild and her fourth great- grandaughter. Ellen was her first which means that there is 19 years between them all.

Spain Avive and Nana — Avive showing Nana how to clap

I have just finished a pair of aqua wristwarmers in the same moss stitch as the pink ones I made a while ago – have got to sew them up still and am half way through another one of the little JBW Xmas stockings. I have also cast on for a hat for me but am having a little trouble with the pattern (purely due to my incompetence!) so may have to start again with that.

I finished the black version of the beret for Ellie so that will be on the way to her this week. I did take some pics of that but they came out awfully (told you I was a very amateur photographer!) so will have to get her to take a pic of her modelling it.

Hope you have enjoyed my pics and thanks again for visiting – off to cut out more quilt pieces next!

The right tools for the job

February 13, 2011March 11, 2011 stitchesoftime4 Comments

Hello there hope that you are having a nice weekend. I am despite the pouring rain! I am nice and snug and warm – have been having boiler fettling again today due to a radiator issue and a broken fan but all is well now (fingers crossed!) so I have been enjoying being inside doing a little bit of crafting. Only a little bit as most of this weekend has been taken up with work but that is ok as it has been fun stuff.

Just after Xmas I treated myself to some proper cutting tools for quilting. I had already bought a rotary cutter which is fab but now have a large A2 cutting mat and two rulers, an 18 inch long one and a 6 inch square which make life a lot easier. I have been cutting out the pieces for this project –

Sorry the pic is a bit pale – that is a photo of the pattern, I have had it in my file for long time and actually bought the fabric last year but I am only just getting around to it now.It is called Bunny Hugs and I got it as a freebie download from the Free Quilting website .

I am making it with a selection of lovely paisley fabrics in pink and turquoise. The pattern has lots of different sized pieces so I have come up with a nifty idea to keep check of what I am cutting out. I have made a list and as I cut each one I tick it off and label it on the reverse with a little peel off sticker.

Bunny quilt 1 — My new tools and lovely fabrics!

It will be a while till I get chance to sew it all together as I have another packed week and then I am off to sunny Spain but I am pleased with the cutting out so far – the proper rulers make all the difference and mean I don’t risk cutting my hands!

I had a very lovely evening yesterday – we were invited to go and watch a presentation by the Project Nepal 2 team who went to do their build last Oct. You may be aware that I went to Nepal two years ago to do a similar thing – check out my pages on Project Nepal and My Time in Nepal if you want more details of my adventures.

It was lovely to meet up with old freinds – many who went out to Nepal again this trip and they had a very interesting time. It made me really nostalgic for the time I spent there, I absolutely loved it and really want to go again (just checked out prices for flights and it’s not that expensive – but can’t go for a few years yet!)

The pictures they showed of the mountains were again amazing – they went after the build in the village to stay at Pokhara in a beautiful hotel on an island – check out these views.

fishtail lodge gardens — The view from Fishtail Lodge gardens

View from Fishtail Lodge Pohkara — The view of Machapuchare - Fishtail Mountain - from Pokhara

Heaven, heaven, heaven. I think Pokhara is one of the most beautiful places on earth and I am very priviliged to have been there. A wonderful evening and it made me quite emotional.

Anyway on to other very, very exciting news! Fingers crossed and all being well I am going to teach in China later on this year! I am really thrilled as I have wanted to go out to work in China for a long time – the University runs lots of joint courses with a Polytechnic there and there are always offers of work but they have always been longer term and I have not been able to go. Well this is for just over 2 weeks and I will be going in September and hopefully then again in March 2012. We are going to be doing workshops on teaching creatively with groups of Chinese teacher trainers and using a translator as most of them don’t speak English so that will be a very interesting experience for me.

The place I will be going to is called Guangzhou and it looks incredible – it is the third largest city in China and I got some pics from Google to show you what it looks like.

guangzhou 1 — The city was host to the 16th Asian games last year

guangzhou 3 — I really want to go and visit this tower

Incredible isn’t it – I am very lucky! We will get about 5 days off while we are there so time for a bit of sightseeing, and there may well be textiles! I wonder what the luggage allowance is and whether I can persuade any of my colleagues to share their space with me?

I do hope you have all had a lovely week – I will not be posting next week as will not be in the country so shall update you all on my return. Am planning a black hat finish and at least one Xmas ornie completion while in Spain – just wish they would let me stitch on the plane!

Thanks again for visiting.

More talented friends and relatives

February 5, 2011February 5, 2011 stitchesoftime3 Comments

You may remember some time ago I wrote about my talented friend Bucket and his 18th century embroidered waistcoat. Well here is a pic of it in its finished state – I hope Bucket does not mind me sharing this pic from his partner’s Facebook album. Look at the amazingness of this!

Bucket's waistcoat finished — A master embroiderer indeed!

My wonderfully talented daughter Ellie has also been very busy – she had a very cute patchwork cushion kit from Madeline Millington for Xmas and her friend Gemma has given her a sewing machine so she has produced this very lovely cushion.

Here it is on her bed.

Ellie's patchwork cushion 2 — Being looked after by her collection of frogs!

I have not got much to report myself this week – so it is a good job Facebook came to the rescue for me as I am still only halfway through Ellie’s hat – since it is knitted in black and the weather has been awful I don’t think I could have got a decent pic for you anyway. Would have made more progress but have had another very busy week. Did have a long train journey this week and took the knitting but sadly it was a crowded train and I didn’t want to poke the guy next to me with my needles so got little done – must learn to knit on circulars so I can knit more on trains!

I was hoping to do a bit of garden tidying this weekend – we had a couple of days with a bit of blue sky and I got all optimistic but then I remembered that I live in Yorkshire and it is only the first week of Feb! The poor garden looks so tatty – I am longing to be able to get out and restore it to prettiness – roll on summer!

The very, very good news is that full boiler function was restored on Weds – ohh the warmth – it is so fantastic and it did not mean having to have a new boiler thank goodness so we are all very happy and toasty once again.

I have just ordered a new book from Amazon as I am going to be participating in Crazy Aunt Purl’s book club on her blog. I have meant to join in before but have missed deadlines but this book looks particularly good as it is about immigration to the USA which is a subject I am really interested in. The book is called When We Were Strangers and looks like a very nice read. It may well be my holiday book as I am off in two weeks for a little bit of ‘blue skies and bougainvillea’ therapy in Spain again. Have also treated myself to another Laura Ingalls Wilder book as I love reading things from her life.

Well I hope that you are all having a lovely crafty weekend and are nice and warm and toasty – just listening to the rain lashing down makes me very glad to be inside – off to stir my beef stew now!

Thanks for visiting.

Cold everything but still a warm heart!

January 30, 2011 stitchesoftime6 Comments

Well in household news today the big story is the fact that my boiler has broken! Hopefully it should be fixed on Weds as the engineer came yesterday and will be back with a new part. Please keep your fingers crossed for me as it is a very old boiler and I am dreading having to replace it! It broke on Friday so I came home after a day out visiting students with very cold toes to no heating or hot water 😦

Luckily we have a spare heater that usually lives in the garage and a gas fire in the lounge so we have been wrapping up warm (hurrah for fleeces and wristwarmers) and sitting in sleeping bags. It is a good job we are used to being outdoors and are hardy types but it takes me back to a few years ago when the kids were little and we didn’t have central heating ….. I have really got used to being able to come home and get up to a warm house! It makes me really appreciate warmth. Thankfully Jake’s shower room has an electric shower in so we won’t smell!

I have actually been very cosy the last couple of evenings sitting in my thickest sleeping bag knitting away and have finished another pair of wristwamers, the moss sitch ones that I cast on last week from Creative Yarns . Here they are in all of their lovely pinkness!

Pink wristwarmers — Knitted in Sublime yarn again

Managed to get to my new Tuesday evening knitting group again this week (hurrah) and met even more lovely people and also managed to get into town to pop in to a new yarn shop in Huddersfield that my friend Lydia has opened up. The shop is called Spun and as well as wool has fabric! I was bemoaning the lack of pretty fabric for quilting the other day but look what she had. Lydia is also running workshops on all kinds of textile subjects – check out her website for details.

Spun fabric — I have forgotten the name of the brand but it is very pretty!

I did also buy some wool from her – the black is for a hat for Ellie that I cast on yesterday -she wants one like the lilac one I have just knitted for her friend ( I am resizing it this time as the last one was quite loose) and the lovely green is a treat for me – very luxurious Manos yarn that I am intending to make a hat and wristwarmers with.

Spun shop wool — The hat for me is a bit of a priority as I appear to have lost my Noro beret!

I am not doing very well with keeping hold of my accessories as I lost my lovely thick gloves before Xmas and have yet to find a suitable replacement pair – roll on Summer then I won’t need all these things.

My friend Judy (she of the egg cosies!) came round yesterday for a bit of a knit and natter – or in her case rag rug and natter. She went to one of Lydia’s recent workshops and is making this lovely cushion using the rag rugging technique with wool instead of rags.

The lack of heating has altered my plans for the weekend as it is too cold to be cutting out quilt fabric in the conservatory so I have decided to treat myself to an afternoon of catching up on blog visiting – that won’t be too much of a hardship!

I have quite a busy week ahead but am really looking forward to another weekend with no marking at the end of it ! Things are slowing down a bit at work so am looking forward to stepping up the craft time again!

I do hope you all have a lovely week and thanks again for visiting and for all your comments, that really does give me a very warm heart.

The art of boiling an egg – warning this post contains pictures of breakfast!

January 23, 2011January 23, 2011 stitchesoftime7 Comments

One of the things I like best about the weekend is Sunday mornings – I like to get up late and have brunch which often does involve eggs. I have posted before about the joys of brunch inspired by a website 365 days of breakfast but today I decided that I would have a boiled egg – inspired by an Xmas pressie from my lovely friend Judy which I will show you a pic of later.

And you know how they say about people who can’t cook ‘she can’t even boil an egg’ well I can cook, I think pretty well, but I had real trouble will the egg so will have to work on the egg boiling skills. It was still edible but had exploded (think I need to add salt to the water next time) and it was not cooked for long enough. So in the pic below there is a stand in egg model used as my real breakfast would not fit in the egg cup!

Interestingly the kids did not know what this was when I opened the pressie – I don’t think that we have ever had egg cosies though we have had boiled eggs. I remember having them as a kid and the egg cup that I am using is a genuine vintage one given to me by my mother as an Easter gift (it had chocolate egg in it) circa 1972. I have a pair (I think the other one belonged to my sister originally).

I don’t really have much vintage china but someone who really does like collecting it is Hen House – she has loads of vintage things in her houses.Go and have a visit!

I am having a very nice weekend – I have been doing quite a lot of work still as I have a lot of marking but have been also been doing some more knitting and have cast on for another set of handwarmers. I have finished a set of the lilac ones for me – I haven’t taken a pic as they are identical to the last set. The pair I am knitting at the moment are called Moss Stitch Handwarmers – a freebie from Creative Yarns on Ravelry.

This is the progress so far –

Moss Stitch handwarmers — Knitted in Sublime again

The main body of this is knitted in Double Moss Stitch which I have not tried before but I really like. It gives a really good effect especially in the Sublime which is a joy to knit with as it has such great stich definition.

Moss stitch handwarmers 2 — Double Moss Stitch - how pretty!

And not only was there lovely knitting last night but lovely knitting while watching the new series of the Tudors! How fab. Despite all the inaccuracies (Jonathon Rhys Meyers is still looking rather dashing and not at all obese ,gouty and plagued by problems with his abscess as he would have been at this stage in his life) I just enjoy it for the costumes and the atmosphere. My only complaint is I have yet to ever find any info about an exhibition of costumes used in the series and would love to go and see some close up – if anyone ever finds out about one please let me know.

If you have not seen it here is the trailer to tempt you – look at all the fab textiles in this! I have just learnt how to embed video into my posts which is very useful!

Well I am off to do a bit more work now then hopefully more knitting this evening – what a nice way to spend a day!