A little "Cath" here and a little "K" there.....

My sister's Christmas present requests are challenging to say the least. After taking up the wool last year she decided that she would very much like a woolly granny square throw to go on her conservatory sofa....I obliged and needless to say it took a while!!  I'll blog the Christmas blanket another time but there's a little sneak peek below

Anyway...to bring us back to the title of my post today...my sisters request for Christmas 2010.....

...... A Quilt......... more specifically....... A Cath Kidston Quilt......oh and could I make it a double!!!

The past two months has been spent scouring ebay for patchwork pieces, remnants and yardage. Its going to be a patchwork quilt of a random design.

This sneak peek is possible as I gave her the option of some design input...completely random or a bit of a pattern?  Luckily she opted for random so I don't have to embark on a mammoth colour jigsaw! Luckily during the consultation (very technologically done via text) she downgraded the size to that of a sofa throw. Want to see what I've achieved so far.....

After a lot of cutting I have gained a pile of squares!

 Arranging them at random took a fair while but it was enjoyable and fun!

Now all that is left is an awful lot of sewing!!!

Anyone for Hibernation?

Several months ago I promised that I would make a work colleague a teacosy. The remit was a challenge in itself as I had to work to the following criteria:
1) Use whatever colours you like
2) Use whatever theme you like
3) You can't borrow the actual teapot to fit the teacosy to as my wife uses it everyday

To have no limits on a creation for someone should be the dream job....however I found the lack of direction daunting....how to pick a theme to please? several designs were thought of and discarded...some ideas have been jotted down for future use.


The final teacosy design was inspired by the change in seasons (some fantastic autumn weather), a well thought out wedding present and a look into my stash of yarn....

The yarn stash threw up some eyelash wool in a shade of dark and light grey and a beige yarn. The eyelash wool was perfect for the end cosy...very......Spikey

     

Yes, The winning teacosy design was a hedgehog....a cute snuffly spikey friend. The eyelash yarn made perfect spikes. (the inspiring wedding present was a hedgehog house for the garden - so soon I'll hopefully have the real thing!).

The teacosy was well received and has already made a few friends in its new home

                                                                                                                      
Hopefully with a little practice my teacosy-ing skills will improve so I can turn out a teacosy without a teapot fitting - this one worked well but is a bit baggier in the tummy than I would have liked....still....It leaves room for a few biscuits!!

                                                                                                                                           

Scarf Ta-dah!

A few posts back I described the horrors of beginning to knit with  a new and very expensive beaded silk Yarn (Artyarns).  The scarves were intended for my mother and new mother-in-law as a thankyou for the hard work they put in during the organisation of my wedding.

The True value of these scarves lies not in the expensive yarn but in the concentration, time and effort that went into them. Crochet is second nature to me but knitting remains a challenge. So knitting this simple lace scarf pattern was a real labour of love. A good knitter would probably have made hundreds in the time I made one....but hey, it's the thought that counts! The pattern I used can be found on ravelry as 'the one row lace scarf, by Turvid.

Want to see the result??

                                                                                                                  

The bridesmaid also got some thankyou scarves. This time crocheted with a thicker silk. I chose two patterns from a stitch dictionary and repeated as necessary

 Can you see them on the right? The thicker silk drapes really well.

 
 Here's a closer look at the stitch patterns

 

 And all four jumbled up together. The colours make quite a pleasing sight ;-)

Cariad

Phew, what a month!

On September 11^th 2010 I got married!

There was a lot of crafting leading up to this stupendous event but for today I’ll keep it light hearted and introduce these little critters!

We had 5 small children in attendance at the wedding and thought a good way to occupy their tiny hands and appease their fidgeting ways through the speeches was to give them a balloon to play with....a nice floaty star shaped helium balloon.....the only problem with floaty light balloons and little children is their tendency to tug out of tiny fingers and float up on high....followed by loud wails of dismay. To prevent such a disastrous turn of events some balloon weights were required. A quick search online yielded either some moulded plastic shapes...or a concrete block covered in tin foil. What a dismal selection!

After all the efforts of making the wedding to my own tastes, organising, enslaving the artistic skills of my brother and printing and sticking cardboard shapes right up until the end; the last thing that I wanted was to place a tacky balloon weight on the table. So I turned to ravelry and found some lovely appealing amigurami/small toy patterns. My Husband (Wooo!) helped narrow down the selection and voila! The balloon weight zoo was born!

 

There is a turtle

And elephant

 

A chick

 

A penguin

And a Pig!

I left the naming to the small people.

I filled them with stuffing and chickpeas and tightly sewed on the eyes....they were not intended as toys (parents were duly warned to be vigilant!).

They were created under pressure...time was running out and at critter three there was definitely an air of “oh my god what have I let myself in for!” but the pain and the panic and the effort was well rewarded.

Not one critter was left behind after the wedding. They were carefully packed into the cars to go home with. Cries were fended off by the appearance of the penguin whilst the turtle went on an exploration trip under the table. The elephant turned some funky moves on the dance floor and the pig and chick were regarded with barely focusing eyes from the newborn two.

Overall a success. And definitely something I will be exploring for future projects as I’m sure I’m not the only one in need of some classy balloon weights!