stash watch

Erin McMorris fabric from her 'weekends' collection, flower cut-outs in lime, flower power in green & flower lollipops in grass, on sale from over here 

bank holiday update

despite the rather damp weather we've had a good start to the half term holiday, a trip up to London for a picnic with long lost friends in telegraph hill park, 

a new knitting project on the needles {maybe it's the colder weather but i'm preparing for the autumn already!}

mini granny stripes

i couldn't resist a little go at the granny stripe pattern & at the same time managed to use up just about every gram of the debbie bliss 'pure cotton' yarn

there was just about enough to make a small dolly sized blanket, i'm well & truly hooked, what a great pattern, i really will be making a big version of this once i get a few other projects finished first!

i also wanted to thank Margaret from paper pastries for sending over the lovely 'message in a bottle kit' i'd won over on 'the ardent sparrow's' giveway, it's ever so sweet, thank you

good'granny'ness

what a week, i think after all my making & blogging during kcwc i needed a week off, we've also had a busy weekend of visiting & big birthday parties, all good fun but rather tiring, so it's great that this post will be photo heavy & word lite, the circle in a square granny blanket is finished {finally!} 

ta-da

this little beauty was a long time in the making {16 months to be exact} but well worth the effort, i had a last minute change of plan with the layout & didn't go with making it square, this way it can either happily sit on the back of the sofa or it also fit's little O's bed rather well {i wish it was big enough for our bed, but then that would probably have taken five years to make!}

i'm already thinking about what my next big project can be, i really want to make a granny stripe blanket as i've seen so many lovely one's on ravelry, 

the details are over on my ravelry page, or on previous blog post here, 

KCWC day seven - part two

the cardigan got finished last night & i managed to sew the last of the ends in this morning {as well as baking 24 cup cakes for the fete!} little O even helped me pick out the buttons she liked, shame there weren't more button holes as she picked out a whole heap of good ones, 

i used the lilla koftan pattern again, a few changes but not many, i used up some of the left over yarn from my granny blanket {which is all finished, it just doesn't have the ends sewn in, so no 'tada' yet}it's a real shame this yarn is discontinued, as it's lovely to work with & is so very soft & makes a cute little summer cardigan, my ravelry notes can be found here

it's been a busy week for me, think i'll be off to bed now & hopefully be back next week with a little more to say

KCWC day seven - part one

i think i'm almost too tired to type, it's been a busy day, the rain stayed away, little O happily tottered off to join in all the fun of the revels, in a costume that can only {loosely} be described as a mermaid

she was happy {she had to add her own stamp though - looking pretty cool eh!}

 

KCWC day six

another good sewing day, another dress made, i used the same pattern from the "homemade" book & up-cycled a skirt a friend had passed onto me, which had plenty of fabric to use,

this one was even quicker than the last, as i knew what i was doing this time & i also made the most of the skirt by using the hemming & straps from it's previous life, very handy

it's a very twirly dress, little O enjoyed twirling round the garden in it, now i'm eyeing up other clothes for re-fashioning

i've also finished the body of the rainbow cardigan this afternoon, so still on track to get it finished tomorrow

KCWC day four & five

as yesterday was a work day i didn't get too much done, 

at the start of the week i also started a knitting project, which i've been working on whilst sat in-front of the telly in the evenings, as i don't tend to sew much at that time, i took the knitting along to work with me & got a few rows done at lunch, i'm feeling quite confident that i'll get it finished within the week {helped by the fact it's going to have short sleeves}here's a peek

today i've sewn a few sequins onto the fancy dress outfit {& also learned not to take a 2 year shopping for said sequins - she has very strong opinions about what she likes!}

better get back to the knitting

KCWC day three

today i have moved out my comfort zone & to a place i really hadn't planned to go 'fancy dress' whilst i would have loved to spend some time today sewing another dress or maybe a skirt, a fancy dress outfit was what was needed for little O to wear to our village fete this weekend, so a fancy dress outfit is was i made, well started to make really, the main outfit is finished, i have to say it all went rather well {especially considering i made it up as i went along, as i always seem to do!} it's just in need of a little embellishment, so now a trip to the shops to buy some sequins is called for,

here is a sneek peek, i'll share the rest when it's finished!

KCWC day two

after yesterdays poor start, i have more than made up for it today, as i had cut out the fabric for this pattern last night, the actual sewing took very little time & if it hadn't have been for the stopping & starting {due to small child requiring attention} i think i could have finished this within a couple of hours

the 'lollipop dress'

the pattern came from a book called 'homemade' which is a lovely book my sister gave me last year, the biggest problem was enlarging the pattern to the correct size {which i must have done as the fit of the dress is not way off}the instructions in the most were clear & easy to follow, the dress came together really well,

i'm very pleased with the finished dress, i think it also helps that i love this fabric {just picked up from a local C&H fabrics, sorry no idea what it is}it looks like lots of little lollipops to me

the straps & bodice lining is some heather bailey 'nicey jane' i picked up on sale from 'prints to polka dots' which worked really well with the other print, it looks ever so cute on too - i'll have to get a snap of little O wearing it

i would really love to make another one of these tomorrow {& trust me i'm sure there will be more} but i think i'm going to have to make a start on a mermaids tail!

KCWC day one

i've been at work today, so haven't got much done on day one, i did pick up some fabrics a few weeks back & managed to cut out a dress pattern around cooking the kids their tea, so plan on cutting out the fabric tonight & get sewing tomorrow - we'll see, i did have some plans for other things, but have luckily remembered i need to come up with a fancy dress outfit for little O to wear to the village fete on sunday, so it's likely that will be my other project for the week, if i can come up with an idea that is!  {main theme is the 'four seasons' our pre-school is just sticking to summer/seaside, she'd like to be a 'crab', i'm thinking more along the lines of a mermaid!}

{the little golfers fabric is going to be made into something for me i think}

been sewing

it's safe to say little O is over the worst of the pox, she's back to her usual chirpy self {i'm just wishing i could tie her hands together to stop her picking the darn scabs off!}only joking of-course!


a few days ago i took the opportunity to get at the sewing machine during probably the 10th viewing of 'Dora the explorer' for that day, having sorted a stash of fabrics i wanted to make some more zippy wallets with, i changed my plan & made a mat for my sewing machine instead,

since we moved i now have space to keep my machine out all the time, i share a long desk with my darling dearest, he has his computer up one end & my machine is up the other, it works well, he has a wireless keyboard & mouse, so they can get hidden in his draw whilst i'm sewing, then when he wants the desk, my machine just gets pushed up against the wall, so it really needed a mat you see {to stop it scratching up the desk each time of-course} not so sure it needed to be quite so flowery, but i was working with the scraps i had!

you might notice this was made with the scraps from the pin wheel quilt {which has still yet to be quilted} i just made it up as i went along, it's slightly wonky & clearly not the neatest sewing i've done, but it's perfect for what it's intended for

{little O had given up on Dora by now & was trying to get in on the act, by informing me that i had in fact just made this so she could keep her legs warm before swiftly whisking it off to her bedroom}

another go!

trying out another way to post a photo {thanks Rachel} this is the other zippy wallet i made {i've been picking out fabrics to make some more today!}

a zippy wallet

zippy wallet, a photo by Handmade at home on Flickr.

found myself looking for a quick project i could make up as a little birthday present! this was perfect, in fact i liked it so much i made two! tutorial over at noodlehead

{i'm having a few issues with the quality of photos when i upload them through blogger - they are much better coming via flickr but i can only seem to post one at a time! any ideas or help would be much appreciated}

a stroll round the park

the pox has taken hold, little O is covered, being house bound with Dora the explorer on re-play, i think i was going a little stir crazy {that may have also been due to the sleep deprivation!} not wanting to let this spoil our bank holiday weekend we {bundled little O in her buggy } & headed for a stroll round Petworth Park to feel the wind in our hair

& boy was it windy! it did the job though, now i've just got to get through the rest of this week!

a great excuse for a party

extra long bank holiday weekend, royal wedding, what more do you need, a big group of us hired out the village cricket pavilion for a get-together, it couldn't have worked out better, the children played together, we drank fizz, ate great food, chatted, sat in the sun, watched the children run around the rec & play at the park {okay so it was mostly the dads that supervised the park playing but they then did nip off to the pub when they'd had enough}aside from what your view of the royal family is, it was so lovely that everyone came together, all pitched in, & made great memories for the small folk

however the rest of the weekend is likely to be quieter as little O has come out in chicken pox

{the mugs do belong to us, well the children really - our parish council presented them to all the children at school & pre-school, i have quite mixed feelings on this but am trying not to get too cynical !}