Sewing and crochet

I’m always making things and I’m a pretty good ‘finisher’ but not quite so good at taking photo’s of everything made. Most of the time I’m making for someone and want to give it away as soon as it is finished, hence either no photo or a bit of a snap rather than a beautifully styled web and instagram worthy composition. Ah well, it’s real life in my house. So, in no particular order here is some of my stuff.

Zip Pouch

I made many zip pouches for Christmas, this is the latest quick pouch with my favourite Bernina stitch sampler pouch in the background.

Crochet cushion panel attached to a shop bought cushion. This is the third made in this pattern and is a gift, though I’m quite liking this for myself!

Birthday Banner

I’ve made a couple of these with the names of the grandchildren as a separate banner. There are now 2 more grandchildren so I need to get cracking making some more!

New baby

‘Mini Me’s’ were the family Christmas present of a couple of years ago. New babies in the family have meant the ‘Little people’ families need to increase too. I have to say that this baby was the most fiddly thing ever!

For this family setting I needed to make a new ‘big boy’ so that ‘baby’ could represent the new baby.

Ahhhh so cute!

18 months ago I would never have dreamt that I would be making face masks but I’ve made loads and loads. Something clearly went a bit wrong with this one, so is probably not just covid proof but everything proof haha

I made this pirate outfit for a friend as a joke - who knows why, but it does look good on his grandson. As you can see it comes complete with parrot.

In the interests of actually making a blog post, I’ll stop here. I’ll be back with more later!

Ongoing and finished projects

I haven't blogged lately about my current works. That is mainly because I haven't actually finished very much. I'm still beavering away with my hexagon quilt which is going to be a variation on the 'grandmothers flower garden' pattern. So far I have completed 40 flowers, so that is growing nicely. I decided to press all the hexagons with their seam allowances so that it makes it easier to sew together, and it does......but blimey, such a lot of ironing. The only way to do it without going mad  is to set the ironing board to a comfy height and do it in front of the telly or whilst listening to a  good audio story (Terry Pratchett - Reaper Man is the current listen).

I am still quilting my african themed quilt at Nottingham Patchwork Group sewing days. I progressed this a bit further last Sunday and it is close to being finished. I reckon a couple more sessions and it will be finished........well, possibly. Here is how it is at the block layout stage

mad pirate

My pirate outfit is finished, but I can't show you that yet because it's a surprise present. Oh, ok then, here it is..........modelled by me! I know, it really suits me.

i-cord vase cover for a jam jar

And finally, something finished and it's for me. It started life with my newest knitting gadget to make knitted cord (see here).  I wanted  a pretty vase and although we have many vases, they are all in storage, so armed with an empty (and clean) olive jar, I decided it would look really nice with the cord wrapped and stitched around it. Well, it does look lovely, but bloomin' heck, it took ages. I'm definitely hanging onto this one - kids, are you listening? 

I'm also working on a very secret crochet project, so I don't know why I mentioned it because I just cannot say what it is. I'm also planning a knitting project which is a special request from a daughter. More on that to follow. 

Ooh, and I found a photo of some pottery that I had a go at during the new year holiday. I was very much guided by Rob Rutterford,  the master potter himself - see here for his website, and I really can't claim any input at all to the glazing, but I really enjoyed playing with the clay! The buttons will go on my hearts and flowers garland when I get around to it. They were made especially for it and are absolutely perfect for the job. Will update with a photo when it's done!