An Arty Affair...

Hi Peeps!

A posting with a little difference today, I've been getting into drawing a little, I was never very good at drawing from memory but can copy or draw what I see a little better.

A little about me...I am a very easily distracted daydreamer (the reason this blog exists!).  I also am very easily influenced by things I see and get excited about new challenges, which is the main reason I never finish these  challenges! :)

The first time I watched  the film Miss Potter, with Renée Zellweger & Ewan McGregor, I went to the shop the next day and bought a cheap artists sketch pad and pencils as I decided I could be an artist! I used these tools just once then they got put aside when the next interest came across.

Well recently, I watched this film again - if you haven't seen it yet I totally recommend this film, it's such a lovely story and full of romanticism.  After watching this for perhaps the 30th time recently it inspired me to get out my paper and pencils again and draw some Beatrix Potter characters and in doing so I've rediscovered my love of drawing.  Ok, I'm not the worlds greatest, but it can be really relaxing.  I think this is why I get so emphatic about most arts and crafts, including my music - not only because I enjoy doing them so much but they truly are therapeutic and good for the soul.

Here are my first attempts at Peter Rabbit and Jemima Puddleduck:

And here's Miss Tiggywinkle although I'm not as pleased with her, I tried to copy her with the same shading and I think she looks a bit disjointed, might have to go over it again.

I don't think I'll be putting down the needles and picking up pencils all the time but it's certainly another skill I can practice when I fancy something a little different.

Do any of you enjoy sketching, even in designing your crafty projects? I'd love to see some other work if any of you would like to share :)

Until the next time…..

Mrs K

xxx

Dreaming of Quilting...

Howdy do!

Amongst my many hobbies and due to my BIG weakness of being easily distracted, I find myself daydreaming about…….Quilting.

As you may know from my first post, my first big project I ever completed was a double quilt as a gift to my mum.  I was (and still am) so proud of this accomplishment but I know now looking back that I broke SO many rules making it as I was new to the art and as a result the wadding/batting has moved inside the quilt over the years and the squares aren't quite lined up.  But my main regret is not knowing about stippling at the time.

I have read up on quilting a lot since that quilt and have designed many projects over the years to make but never got round to working on any, mainly due to the expense of buying some good quality fabrics and needing some tools for the job.

In the last few months I have bought a Fiskar rotary cutting tool which I really want to try out but haven't invested in a cutting mat yet as have been told glass mats have taken over the self-healing in popularity and I'm confused as to which I should buy.   What are your thoughts?

I have also wanted to get an embroidery foot for my sewing machine after watching YouTube videos on how to free-motion quilt and stipple in particular - this video searching led me to a few great blogs and websites, mainly  Leah Day's site: http://freemotionquilting.blogspot.co.uk/ which is so inspirational and makes me want to get going with quilting again.

My mum bought me the aforementioned embroidery foot for Christmas! Since then I've been impatiently waiting to set up my sewing machine and have a go but realise now that when I got my machine as a child, MANY years ago, I really should have kept all those little parts that came in the drawer which I just discarded in frustration from not knowing what they were, as I found in my manual that I got a darning plate with my machine to cover the feed dogs and I can no longer find one online to replace it as my machine is so old!!

Does anyone have any tips on where I can find one or anything I can do instead? I didn't really want to tape over my feed dogs as they'll get sticky from the tape.

I then got to thinking I've never actually 'cared' for my machine as I got it so young and haven't used it much as an adult.  I bought a little bottle of sewing machine oil from a local shop and sat myself down the other week and serviced my machine - it felt so good to look after it and clean out all the lint and it was also very interesting taking bits apart and finding out how it works.  It really helps you appreciate your machine and get to know it.  It also runs so smoothly now!! I never knew it wasn't supposed to grate when you manually turned the machine...

I've been helping mum with a project she started, a patchwork cot quilt for my niece, so hopefully will  get to have a go at some quiltling soon! :)

TTFN

Mrs K

xxx

UFOs...The truth is out there!

Hi peeps!

I'm so ashamed….it's been so long since my last confession (yet another thing I start and don't see through…..) - I think I should post a progress post on all the bits of projects I've written about but still haven't finished (and a few more I've started since my last post and haven't got round to blogging!) and hopefully shame myself into completing something.

Baby Building Blocks

So, this project was intended as a gift to my niece on her birth….she was born 1st June 2012!

I really need to tackle this one as she's at the age to be playing with these now and I can just see her face when I present her with these on her 12th birthday when I finally complete them and she's expecting a One Direction calendar or Topshop vouchers!

I haven't done bad with them as I got 3 completed, but the think that made me lose interest in this project is the filling. I searched high and low for some foam blocks to fill these with and ended up resorting to toy stuffing instead which gives them more of a round shape rather than stackable blocks.

I did try upholsterers shops for sofa cushions but the foams were far too firm for a baby to squeeze!

My sister is currently waiting for her new sofa delivering and we decided that the worn seat cushions from her old sofa would give me the perfect material to cut some made to measure blocks from as they are a lot softer from years of being squashed!

So I'm waiting for SCS to deliver her sofa so I can steal her current cushions and try re-stuffing my completed blocks. I really should be knitting more squares however for the rest of the blocks in the meantime but I can't find my knitting bag with the wools in!! I'm going to have a hunt this week and get working on these and put other things aside until I have this finished.

Glitzy Cat Paw Wrap
Ok, so I started this one mid December 2011…...oh Lord, I didn't realise it was over a year! I just went back in my blog to check and my first post was 16th December!

I haven't really got much further if I'm honest - this has 6 rows (77sts) to the pattern so to avoid confusion I try to not stop mid pattern and just pick it up when I have time to knit the full 6 rows at least, which means it's sat staring at me in my knitting basket next to our sofa for over a year now and only been picked up around 5 times…….surely I've had more time than that in the last year - well, I suppose I have to take into account the other hoard of UFOs I have!

Here's a photo of my progress:

I've got a little sticking point on it which is always to point where I lose interest a bit…..I don't know how but I seem to have lost 5 stitches somewhere as I count them every few rows just to pacify my paranoia and I'm down to 72! I can't see anything obvious looking at my work but I also can't undo my work as I can only do this in straight forward knitting/purling….this pattern is full of yarn overs and passing stitches over so I'm terrified of tacking taking it back.  I'm thinking I need to find a local knitting group and go along one week on my lunch hour and see if an expert can help me! Would they find this rude? Or perhaps relish the challenge of fixing a problem for a novice like me?

Ethereal Shawl

Ok so this one didn't really get off the ground - after frogging it for the 5th time after my last post(!) I decided to store the wool and needles ready to start again when I'd got one of my other projects finished so I can concentrate on it properly.  I got the urge to knit lace out of my system by having a go at it and I also managed to knit in the round which was a first for me too - if I am to start this again however I need to get a shorter length circular needle, I didn't realise you need to buy the correct length as well as needle size with circular so although my gauge was ok I found it very difficult to stretch the stitches round to join the circle each round.

Fair Isle Knitting Bag

This one was supposed to be a little travel project I could take on my business trips and could use the end product to store a bigger knitting project in.

The real reason for doing it was I was impatient to have a go at Fair Isle  on a big project for the first time! (which, incidentally, I still really love to knit!)

I actually really like working on this one and have written the pattern myself as I knit up the first side so I have a pattern to follow for the second - and I finally bought some handles to use on this once it's complete too, I'll post a picture of this one in a future post (hopefully complete!)

I could probably whittle through this one quite quickly and get it finished then use it to carry a project around with me to work on when I'm out and about!

I'd like to line it too I think with a cotton fabric as the bag itself is nice and thick but I think it could do with a contrasting bright lining (or perhaps flowery)

NEW ADDITION! - Cross Stitch (Iris Plant)

I tried very small cross stitch patterns once or twice in my childhood and failed each time as I didn't know any of the rules (I didn't even know there were any rules!) so my stiches crossed in opposite ways, I used a whole piece of thread instead of using only 2 strands too for example so you lost all the detail.

My mum bought me a couple of small wedding related kits when I was getting married which I didn't make but decided to save as gifts for friends weddings in the future to maybe use to make a card.  But then mum bought be a large A4 size kit this Christmas of an Iris plant in a blue and white bowl (my favourite!) so I decided to give it a go and read the instructions thoroughly before beginning :)

Unfortunately the kit manufacturer forgot to include a list of the thread colours and quantities for me to check off against and use to work out which symbols applied to which so I had to refer to the DMC site and use very good light to work out the very subtle differences in colour!  I managed to make my own chart of colours (and hope I have the right number of lengths for each colour to complete the chart) and have started off on my adventure.

Here's a picture of my makeshift strand organisation:

And I've invested in an embroidery hoop to give me some good tension, here's progress on my cross stitch so far:

Now, what's stopped me working on this one…...two things; firstly the need to work on my baby blocks for my niece and secondly (and probably more importantly) - I've made a mistake.  Yes that's right, I made a little error and lost my momentum, there's  a surprise :) At least this one is a small one, I've placed around 8 stitches one square too high so need to remove them and do them again.

Ok, so I think that's all I had outstanding - there have been a few new additions to my project list but I'm determined not to start anything else whilst working on these, after all, it was supposed to be one at a time and one long term project!!

I think I need to get over the embarrassment of knitting in public and take my work more places with me - I currently only work on things when I have a free lunch hour at work or the odd half hour at home amongst my many other hobbies. 

Where do you folks take your crafts? I would be lovely to hear some of the places you whip out your work to inspire me to bite the bullet and go public!

TTFN peeps

Mrs K

xxx

I'm starting to hate frogs.

I can't believe I'm doing this but I'm about to frog my shawl.....for the 5th time!

I'm just drinking a brew and building up the courage to 'rip it' (this is frogging to anyone who hasn't heard the term before, due to the sound they make!) it's a term I am becoming far too familiar with....

And all because I'm a chatterbox and tried to multitask following a complex lace pattern whilst gossiping with my friend! Think I should stick to concentrating on one thing at once so I can actually finish this project! :)

A very disgruntled Mrs K
xxx

Baby block progress...

Hi all!

I should slap my own wrists, I keep slacking on the updates - it's a good job I don't have more followers to be honest because they'd be disappointed with the lack of reading material on here! :)

My intentions was to update you on each block as it progressed but since I have just finished my 18th square last night and am half way through sewing up my 3rd block I suppose I'd better do this all in one go!

Here's the first block I made and sewed up:



I was really pleased with it although I struggled with the filling - it's so hard to find sponge that's the right shape and size and has the right 'squeezability' to it for baby blocks - I tried upholsterers but their sponge was too good a quality and I struggled to squeeze most once they were cut to 5" cubes so then I decided on car sponges, but they're too small so I had to cut them into smaller pieces and build a cube from them (this is what the blocks are stuffed with in these first pictures). But even though they looked pretty good, as soon as I showed them to one person and they squeezed them, all the little blocks became dislodged inside, despite the fact that I had actually sewn them together to stop them moving!

So back to the drawing board - I decided, mainly due to impatience and irritability, to just plump for the toy stuffing which I already had in from the monkeys I made in an earlier post (incidentally, why is it monkeys for plural rather than monkies??)

I'm really please with the stuffing for 'squeezability', however it does tend to make them look a little rounded rather than cubes - you'll see this when I post my completed photo of the 3 blocks once my last ones sewn up - maybe you can come up with a better suggestion?

The other bonus for using toy stuffing is that I can insert a bell/rattle more easily and it make noise when shaken. My first and second blocks are just plain stuffing but my third has a bell in the middle. I'm not sure for the rest, I would like to do one with scrunchy plastic sound then maybe another bell and a few more plain (there will be 8 blocks in total) - my mum suggested a squeaker in one but you'd have to squeeze the block right in to get to the little squeaker in the middle so might not work........hmm.

Anyway, I digress - when I was half was through the second block I came across a tutorial video when browsing one lunch that showed how to knit fairisle two handed (this wasn't an issue for me as I taught myself to knit really and don't hold the needles or yarn correctly at all - I've tried since to teach myself to speed up my knitting however I always fall back into my quirky way where I seem to use my whole arm to wind the yarn around!). I'm really trying to stick to this method now as it means I can knit both left and right handed holding the yarn correctly but I still seem to be adapting the technique so I can knit it my quirky way.

So once I'd watched the video a few times I decided I would use this for the remaining squares I would knit - it means that you don't get those irritating yarns stretching across the back of your work because you weave them in as you knit - this will be great for when I tackle something a little larger with fairisle such as a jumber or Christmas stocking so you have a neat back!

Here's what the 'F' square looked like mid-knit on the reverse:



You can see at the bottom of the square (to the right) I did the first couple of pattern rows with the yarn stretched, but then the rest are using the new method - I was so excited when it worked that I took this photo!

So after all that, here are the 6 squares to make up my second cube:



And here are 5 of the squares for my 3rd cube:



I didn't get a photo of the 6th square as I only finished it last night and immediately started sewing up the block so the next photo I add will be of the 3 blocks together which I'll be giving to my niece, although it may be a while until she can play with them as she's only 6 weeks on Friday! :)

Speaking of which, I didn't ever get around to announcing her birth on my blog so here it is - welcome to the world Isobel Victoria Douglas!

I am one proud auntie - I already have a beautiful little nephew on my husband's side who is at such an amazing age where his development astounds you every time you see him, he will be 2 in a few weeks, I can't believe how time has flown! And now I have a gorgeous little niece to complete the set - here is my first photo with her:



Well, that's it until next time folks!
Love Mrs K
xxx

iPhone Cable - my first time...

Well, it's been a while...I really need to start blogging more about what I'm doing but to be honest I work that slowly there's probably not a lot more I can tell you!

So here's an impromptu little project due to me getting distracted by learning new techniques and discovering the art of cables! I take my knitting into work with me on the off chance I'll get a bit of free time at lunch to work on something (but rarely do!) and found that colleagues have a habit of requesting things making for the homes which I promise to add to my every increasing to do list and of course never get round to making :)

a side note here: I do keep promising myself I will make some of these smaller items and sell them as a way of starting up my dream business where I picture myself sat in a little craft room in a summer house with the birds singing while I sew and knit away......aah, the dream.

I didn't take any progress shots so here it is, the finished, rather amateur looking but lovingly hand-made article:

I decided to line it with cotton and wadding so it's nicely padded (just in case my friend has a few too many shandies and drops it!). This little bit of sewing has reinvigorated my love for all things quilted and I've decided I'm going to tackle another project to remind myself how to use my sewing machine as it's been sat gathering dust for several years now I'm ashamed to say. If I'm going to quilt I'd like to try and do it properly rather than winging it like last time so I've decided I'm going to try and source a free-motion darning foot for my machine and have a go at some embroidery!

Well that's all for now folks,
promise I won't leave it as long next time...
Mrs K
xxx

ABCs aren't as easy as I thought...

Hi guys,

Well I’ve had a productive few days, I’ve almost finished designing my alphabet and pictures for the building blocks! The pattern only comes with ABC which will make 1 block (6 sides including a picture for each letter) so I have copied the format and designed each letter of the alphabet and a picture for each…they took some deciding on I’ll tell you, to be honest I’m still struggling with a few letters to get them finished off! I'll post pictures of each square as I finish them (or maybe each few as there will be a lot....) :)

Also I’m still not sure on how I’m going to make them up as there will be 3 letters and 3 images per block which will run through the alphabet in order, I’m not going to try and get clever with how they are position to be able to spell words etc…, they are for a newborn after all :) But obviously there are 26 letters in the alphabet and this isn’t divisible by 3…..so I’ll have 8 full blocks and 2 letters and pictures left over – any ideas from anyone how to correct this? The only thing I’ve come up with is to do the old XYZ as the 24th block (which will help a bit with picture issues, but then what do I do for the picture on there as it’s only a small space?

The over the weekend I’ve finally achieved a life-long dream – I’ve taught myself to crochet!! I’ve tried so many times before but never quite managed to master it, I became a dab hand at making the first chain but the thing I always struggle with is identifying where the loops are to crochet into, but I’ve found that after your first row it’s a lot easier as you’re going through the stitch. I still need some practice because I’m nervous when it gets to the end or beginning of a row where I should be stopping, it’s still quite hard to identify the stiches around there, and of course I can only do the crocheter’s equivalent to the knitted scarf at the moment so I have all the weird and wonderful stitches and techniques to learn but at least I can do the basics now! Here's my first piece of crochet (incidentally the ideal size to sit my iPhone on for my desk at work! :)



Catch up with you soon,
Mrs K
xxx