French Knots

Busy Sewing

The studio is toasty warm once the heater is on and there is nothing better than sewing away to my hearts content. Radio on, Studio Dog curled up at my feet stitching samples for workshops - it's the best job in the world :)

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Something Amazing

When I heard about The School Run I knew I wanted to be involved.

Mike was going to be driving a converted landrover from here to a nursery in the Gambia, having fitted it out as an ambulance and filled it with medical and educational supplies. His wife Oooh Betty had the wonderful idea of sending handmade toys to the children at the nursery and that is where I thought I could help.

Flo at Serendipitea and Coffee offered a venue and  I asked my friends and customers to come along and help make toys, so many did and we had a fab evening sewing and chatting. The pile of toys we made for Mike to take with him was heart warming, stuffed with love, and the thought that we could give them to Mike and he would give them to a child so far away - just amazing.

So when I saw this picture of my spotty eared elephant it made me cry. 

Vintage Beauty

I got my Grandma's sewing machine out yesterday for the first time in about 15 years, languishing in the box room under a pile of fabric all that time. For Shame! As soon as I unlocked the box the familiar smell hit me and as I put some fabric under the presser foot and started to sew -  clickety click, clickety click with each turn of the handle

 So much beauty, the effort and care put into the decoration makes her special

I had a little look on the Singer website to see how old she is - 1944! Goodness what a history, so  many miles of stitching sewn and I'm going to enjoy her beauty and sew more with her.

Related articles

Prettifying

Finding pleasure

Finding pleasure

I am trying to rest as much as I can while the children are at school so I can 'spend' my energy at each end of the day when the children need me. Generally this involves sitting watching more tv than  have in years, snoozing, listening to podcasts or doing a bit of crochet. I have also been trying meditation but thoughts keep popping into my head - whats for tea, where is littlest's swimming stuff for his lesson later, you know how it is - but I'm going to continue practicing.

As an antidote to indolence and to cheer me up I like a little perky project, like the jacket in my last post, as having nothing to show for my day still seems so alien.

I cut into some gorgeous old faded floral fabric to rustle up a roomy bag, with an antimacasser, doliy and a bit of ribbon thrown in it's certainly pretty.

As it is a large, wide bag I wanted a way to pull the sides in both to give shape and to keep my bits and bobs safe inside.

   So a couple of bits of ribbon sewn into the sides seams and tied in a bow is an easy solution and gives the bag a lovely shape.

It has cheered me up, as has the glorious sunshine this afternoon, and will cheer me up even more when I use it to go to Yarndale on Saturday!

 

Prettifying

I'm sure you have an old favourite too, nothing wrong with it, it's comfy and you wear it a lot but it could perhaps do with a little pizzaz.

I decided my trusty old denim jacket could do with a little something to perk it up and perhaps perk me up a bit too in the process.

So a spot of patchwork with a suffolk puff and lovely old button in the centre was just the ticket.

As the wet grey weather moves in and the days become darker some more Perky Projects are called for, I can't get out and about as much at the moment so little spirit lifters like this are just what I need.  

Like my Suffolk Puff Cardi

and as the summer is well and truly gone I need a new banner to replace the ice cream colours of this one

So sitting crocheting and sewing is firmly on the agenda.

Perky Projects

So here is the first Perky Project!

I found some lovely old Sanderson fabric that I had forgotten I had (too much fabric, no no, not at all!) but there wasn't quite enough for the bay window so I ordered some more from Ebay. When it arrived it was not quite the same pattern, so now I had two floral fabrics neither of which were large enough to make the curtains.

So naturally the answer was to stalk some more Sanderson fabric on ebay and make patchwork curtains. They still need lining but now they are up it might be a while before I get round to it.

They have certainly perked up the room and I am delighted with them.

Have you got any Perky Projects planned to cheer up the winter months?

Suffolk Puffing

I seem to be in the grip of a passion for cutting fabric up then putting it back together! First it was patchwork hexagons and this last few weeks it's been suffolk puffs. I like playing with the different colours and patterns, arranging them to give a pleasing and cohesive effect.

This little fabric necklace has become a favourite to wear, it's made with some perfectly scrumptious fabric that I bought from Sal's Snippets when we were in Cornwall a couple of summers ago and I convinced the family we had to drive to Porthscatho to the Homespun Fair and they were rewarded with delicious cakes after I'd had a lovely mooch around the tempting stalls. I had been saving the fabric, as I do so many of my lovely fabrics, but then thought what am I actually saving them for? So much better to use them and enjoy them.

Then I had an idea for a little girl's birthday present

and mounted the finished puff arrangement on a hairband. The Baby Brother kindly modelled the hairband for me so I could judge where to stick the puffs but was not keen to have his picture taken wearing it - poor lad has to put up with so much!

Enjoy your chilly weekend, I'll be back next week with the first in a new series 'Meeting.......' a chance to be nosy and find out more about some of our favourite creative bloggers.

 

Patching it together

I'm very photo led in my blogging so when the camera and computer have a fall out and decide not to talk to each other things grind to a bit of a halt. I managed to get them to have a quick chat this morning so ...

When sorting through a pile of bags under my sewing table I came across this lovely English Paper Pieced patchwork, it was given to me years ago by a dear friend and contains some wonderful patterns and colours.

 and really deserves to see the light of day

as it is already brilliant for hiding under! So I've started hand stitching a few more hexies, as they are lovely and big I think it will grown quite quickly

I'm picturing it backed with an old brushed cotton sheet, all soft and snuggly for curling under on a cosy winter afternoon.......perhaps not this winter though! 

Christmas 2011

So Mr FK got tendonitis and a foot swollen like a sausage for Christmas and I got a pinched nerve in my neck, lucky us! Thank goodness for ibuprofen :) My Little Helper got up at 4am and we manged to keep him penned in our bed till nearly 5am before he woke his sister, then downstairs for stockings and presents.  A lovely day, lots of cooking and eating repeated on Boxing Day with more family coming round. Then mainly sitting about waiting for Mr FKs foot to improve, plus a Drs visit then a quick trip to hospital for an xray - on such dark rainy days it's no trouble to snuggle up inside and play Uno, watch family films and chill out.

While rummaging around in the eaves for the Christmas decorations we came across a big blue Ikea bag, these vintage red velvet curtains were inside - we've been here nearly 11 years and they've not been used since we lived in our other house. What a find! They look fab in the kitchen over the french windows keeping the winter chills out.

Also in the bag were a pair of curtains made from some very old floral Sanderson fabric, High Summer, which I have no memory of what so ever! They are being remade and lined with old blankets for the living room as they go perfectly with the greenyblue walls. Thrifty me! What better bargain than using something you already own? I'm looking at our furniture with fresh eyes and planning some more thrifty makeovers in the New Year to cheer me up once all the decorations come down.

 

New Bedding

A very long time ago I bought a little wooden cradle from the charity shop which was swathed in awful peach nylon but underneath the cradle was very sweet.

As The Baby Brother enjoys putting his teddies to bed I decided to revamp the cradle for him. With some fab space themed fabric I made a mattress, pillow, sheet and little patchwork quilt. We wrapped it up for Christmas and on Christmas morning I was really looking forward to seeing his reaction.

 
He tore the paper off, shouted 'boat' and climbed in!! Not the reaction I was anticipating but his delight was a joy to see.

 
And Sock Monkey likes it too!