And then a little parcel warmed up my letter box...
Glorious hand knit socks! Knit for me by the adorable Severien. Just because.
And there is something special in sending off two balls of yarn -Koigu KPPPM- and getting some real socks in return!
From the bottom of my heart and my happy warm feet, Thank You Severien!
I'm in early winter blog hibernation. I think we can make that official now.
But we can also conclude that taking time off from all things computer has been quite a productive move. I've been busy crocheting a new blanket, knitting not one, not two, not three but six scarfs, a hat and a sweater, I've been sewing up new pillowcases, new doll quilts, making stationary and who knows what else. I've lost track and most of it hasn't made it onto my camera before either going into use or going in the hush-hush-these-are-presents-to-be-box. And somehow my pile of wips has only grown in size. It has a life of it's own.
But I did manage to sneak in some pictures of my finished stash of hand towels. In an effort not to bore you guys mindless I only snapped some shots of one half of the pile as I made every towel design twice. You know, an effective tactic to avoid squabbling siblings...
Et voilà:
Et voilà some more:
Half the stash now looks like this:
They are in full use by now, brightening up my kitchen drawer, the dinner table and the laundry basket!
Life can be so unfair. Somehow my 4 year old ended up a play blanket short.
With two girls with a great sense of justice and fairness, scores are being kept as to who can take a turn and apparently as to who needs a new blanket.
And then life got even more unfair. Because I decided that yes, a new blanket was a good idea. But this time I would quilt the entire thing by hand. So it would take some time. "Oh no mum" was the initial reaction. After my explanation that this would be the greatest looking blanket ever made by me "Well okay then' was the final reaction.
By now the blanket is finished and mister Linus Lapinus judged it's loftiness and the jury was favorable to me!
- big sigh of relief-
So this is the winning blanket...
The top consists of regular squares alternated by nine patch squares. For these nine patches I chose mainly 1930's reproduction fabrics. And in an effort to tone down the bold colors I picked a white fabric with a delicate blue flower arrangement for the big squares. All in all there are 54 squares in this design. The new owner in fact pointed out to me that this was an awesome design. She calls it "the puzzle quilt". She loves nothing more than to sit straight in the middle of it only to point out at one of the many pieces of fabric in it and to say with her most formal voice "now, who can find me another piece just like this one?" Ah... and don't be mistaken. This is a serious business... her puzzle quilt. Prices and medals and bouquets of flowers can be won for getting it right. I think she might be a bit too much into to Olympic spirit here but hey...
To continue the sewing talk, a pale lilac striped linnen went all around it... a bit like a picture frame and then some contrasting flowery binding, sewn on by hand.
For the backing fabric I picked a soft blue gingham piece of cotton that has been in my stash for quite an eternity. It's extremely soft cotton so it proofed a delight to quilt. For the quilting itself I went all around the inner edges of the squares and then finished each square of with doing the diagonals as well. I could have however used an extra pair of fingers for this.... bruised, battered and blistered... such were my fingers after finishing it. Why on earth can't I work with thimbles?
But it was all worth it. The result is so much better than machine stitching. It gives that good old feeling of coziness and comfort. Hmm, I can already see the husband raising an eyebrow or two. Yes, coziness and comfort. Well at least it does for those who love sewing.... or making puzzles.
Quite literally.
With yarn, a 2.5mm crochet hook and some bits of felt and floss.
And you know what? These are the best kind of friends to make. No questions asked, no complaining, no issues, no sound at all in fact. Just a lot of stitches coming together.
Meet Puti de Pomme... the funky little dog from the well known fabrics.
He came as a kit as part of a swap I did wit Niamh. Thanks so much for him Niamh, he's the best little doggie friend!
For the time being he's moved into the wooden cabinet from where he can keep up with daily summer holiday life.
As of last year my offspring have taken on the habit of asking for a hand made gift from me at party occasions. How cool is that?
So, as we'll be celebrating a certain someone's 7th birthday this summer, she asked me, in keeping with this new tradition, to make her a pocket book.
Ever since I made this one to store my little hexagons, she's been declaring that it would be so useful if she owned one of her own. As it would make the perfect storage for her little scraps and bits of paper. And believe me, she has many of those. My kids are genuine gatherers at heart. So I agreed. It would be a great way to store away all that junk that makes her desk overflow and that makes vacuuming rather a precarious thing to do.
So I set to work and I made her this version...
I hunted down some of favorite pieces of fabric in my scrap basket. Keeping the color palette as soft yet as varied as I could.
The pocket book is a bit bigger than the original one in order to accommodate as much of her scraps of possible. And I placed a bit of cream colored lace on the side to soften up the border between the hexies and the background fabric. But just like the original it has a inner layer of soft flannel to make it a bit firmer but to keep it soft to the touch as well. For easy tying I used a special bit of dotted fabric cord by La Droguerie. It's a gorgeous pale blue-lilac. Inside there is a lining with on the left hand side six smaller pockets and on the right hand side two larger pockets (large enough to hold cards and envelopes).
And just to add some interest, down in the corner a little label from that wonderful Puti de Pomme fabric...
It will be a hit. I'm so sur of that. Because if she doesn't like it then I'll keep it all to myself. Ah.... as if that would even be possible...
So I fell asleep. Fast asleep.
At least over here I did.
In day-to-day life I was everything but asleep. Somehow life changed gears in May and is only now starting to wind down again. At first I had just no time to get anything up on this blog. Later I found that not having it on my mind was very calming. And a little later my mind started filling up with the existential questions one harbors about the internet and all of this virtual living. Nietzsche would have been proud of me.
But lately I was thinking, oh what the heck. Virtual life or not, it's life in one way or another. So here we are again!
Mind you, it's the summer holidays by now so the frequency of blog posts may still be a bit all over the place.
So I hear you thinking 'with all of that busy life going on, did you do any crafting at all?'
Well surprisingly, yes. A whole lot in fact. Among others I managed to knit 5 winter scarves, I am 2/3rds done with a hand quilted play blanket, I did a custom baby blanket... oh there's a thing with teeny tiny hexies half way done, some embroidery started, a cardigan is just missing one sleeve, another one is taking shape and in between a new crochet project is coming to life. A retirement gift was made for a teacher, a birthday present for the daughter and why not start with another version of the pillow I fell asleep on.... this time a story time pillow.
For this version, I got the leftovers from the previous pillow and arranged them to form a square -I had a square pillow insert laying around hence the choice of shape-. I made the quilted patchwork part into a pocket in which my offspring can tuck away the books she'd like to read. The edge of the pocket is finished with some English lace and white piping.
I adjusted the embroidery to fit the shape and changed the text into 'Story time' as it's meant to be the pillow you lean against while reading one of the many wonderful books we hold in our modest library.
It's a great pillow and the two of them together make a nice set. And most importantly, both of these pillows have become items the offspring must have around at all times!
And then Amy made the best pillow ever.
And I had lots of projects in various stages of completion demanding my attention.
But I set to make one for this household anyway. That's how well restrained and disciplined I truly am. Hah!
In my defense, it's gorgeous. And I had these Lecien flower fabrics that I had been hovering over for months on end, trying to decide what they should be. I had a moment of clear vision and knew the answer to that and the rest of the universe would be 'that pillow'.
Cute embroidery coupled with flowery fabric, quilting, crisp white lace and white piping... a combination that can't go wrong.
The little lady on who's bed this pillow now sits, went "ooooooooooooohhhhhh" and buried her head in it claiming that she'd stay that way forever. School got in the way of those plans but I get her. I do.
What more can I say? Except, go make one for yourself. Best thing you'll have done in a very long time!
And since I was doing towels, I had one more brilliant towel idea. Anyone with young children will get this...
There comes a time when bibs are outgrown for all sorts of reasons but a towel in reach for cleaning up messy faces, dripping cups and greasy hands still is a good idea. Leaving a full blown kitchen towel by every child's plate is a bit much and the ties of those old bibs, folded to look like a small towel, keep getting tangled up with the cups and cutlery producing even more mess to clean up. So I had a better idea.
Have a look at this:
A small sized towel - they call it guest towels over here- with a twist. A hand sewn hexagon flower, a small label, a little bit of embroidered ribbon and, hey where did I see that before, a crocheted edging. This time only at the bottom of the towel as the top sports a fancy piece of ribbon for hanging the thing up on a hook.
Folded in four, this layout makes for a pretty and comfortable sized towel that will replace all bibs around here.
Oh I'm a fan. I made four so far... in pairs of two identical ones... in an effort to reduce discussions at the table to a minimum. They are such a pretty and fun means of getting out those small pieces of ribbon that linger in your sewing basket. Those little fabric scraps, the remaining labels. A cool purpose to indulge in hexagon sewing. And before you know it you're saying, in a slightly shrieky and panicking voice, things like "don't use it for your chocolate fingers... it might get stained!"
Useful. Did I mention they are really useful?
Were was I?
Well, mainly here. In my garden. In between the copious rain. Enjoying such beauties as these camelias.
But I did promise a further look at what I had been up to. So here it is. A pretty pile of towels.
The bathroom was in need of some new additions. Now I'm no great fan of prints on towels. Nor of bold colors. They are too much of a sore sight to my weary eyes in the morning. So I went for crisp white ones. Big and fluffy. And with the help of some cotton and a crochet hook, now with a softly colored frill at both ends.
And as a way to use up some leftover fabric scraps and label scraps, I made small labels to go with the color of the crochet edgings.
This is one of those projects that will be repeated in the future as more towels need replacing. Elegant, soft and luxurious looking towels. Man, it just about turns my humble bathroom in a true spa!
Just a little peek into something I've been working on but isn't finished yet. White and fluffy just like that fluffy bunny. Soon I'll have more to show...
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