Casual quilting

I was struck down by stomach cramps last night. So after a hot water bottle , a couple of paracetomal and a tot of brandy, I settled on the sofa with some trashy telly and some hand quilting.

I've had this panel for a long long time! I have no idea why I brought it? Probably the magpie in me going oooooh pretty! 

You can't really see the quilting , but it's pretty basic stitching , and it's turning out nice and poofy! 

I've done the usual three layers that I do , cotton , wadding, cotton! 

My only bug bare is that it's a touch too small for my embroidery hoop so it's being done without! And I'm constantly worrying about it rucking up! 

Here's the very attractive back! Not much more to say really apart from I think I know what I'm going to do with it when the hand quilting a finished and my tummy stops hurting! 

Much love

Frankie

Xxx

There's only so many pieces of fruit a person can sew.....

I have two magazines delivered a month, Disney sweets and treats and love quilting and patchwork! Which my sister and brother in law kindly got me as a present! 

I stopped buying seeing magazines a while ago, it seemed to be a lot of the same old same old , lots of kitsch things to fill a house, and lots of upcycling projects I would never do! Plus every issue seemed to feature how to make a pin cushion, and nobody needs that many pin cushions! 

However I am seriously enjoying love quilting and patchwork, maybe it's because it's focused on one skill, or that it features a great mixture of projects for different skill levels! 

But it also has excellent free items, like things you'll actually use, not just things to clog up the place! 

In fact I enjoy it that much I re read it pretty much everyday, there's nothing I like more than my morning brew and a quick retread whilst lil knitwit eats his breakfast. 

But a few days ago I got another magazine surprise! Mr knitwit brought me a copy of let's knit on the way back from the barbers! 

He doesn't really get the craft thing so it always surprises me when he does something like this! Anyway I was pleasantly surprised by the projects in this as well! In fact there a couple of things I'm going to try and make and one project that might encourage me to ask Mr knitwits nan how to use double pointed needles! 

And as an added bonus it came with a kit to make this. 

Which little knitwit has his eye on! It's patiently waiting in the knitting queue. I've got an order for a minion to do and then part three of my little lamb review and then I'm going to make this bad boy! 

Much love

Frankie

Xxx

Little Knitwits Flowers

My Mums uncle and Auntie haven't been doing to well recently, ones poorly and now the other is as well.

I spoke to my uncle a few months ago and he was more upset about the state of his garden than his health. He was upset because he hadn't been able to plant any flowers for the past few years so it didnt look very pretty. And this is a man who's very proud of his garden.

So lil Knitwit decided to do something about it....

These are lolly pop flowers, everything was from lil knitwits craft box and have been put together using masking tape (the glue just wasn't sticking)

I cut some of the shapes from craft foam and coloured paper and he decided how they would look.

I did consider doing a tutorial but its pretty basic stuff , just let your kid go wild with the craft box!

Here is a list of things I put out for lil knitwit to use:
lolly sticks (ours were from a craft kit but you could recycle)
card
foam
buttons
pipe cleaners
mini pegs
masking tape

all in all he had a blast making them and im really hoping they cheer my uncle up, even if they wont last very long inside!

I like the idea of flowers that don't die and think these would make an awesome kids craft for mothers day etc! with the added bonus that they are no mess!

and when your in the first week of the summer holidays trying to remember how to clean with a small child running about your ankles no mess is a big deal!

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

Little Lamb Wool - Part Two, Baby Gift Set

So I've officially finished my first project for my LittleLambWool review!

And its turned out better than I could have hoped!

For this project I used the Peter Pan Merino baby DK that I was sent, and not only was I able to make the baby booties that I originally wanted to make I was also able to make a little matching hat!

First I'll talk about the wool, its beautiful to knit with doesn't snap and has a fantastic springy quality making it perfect for little babies to snuggle in!

The pattern I used for the booties was this one from all free knitting.

The booties are mainly knitted in garter stitch but have a lil bit of stocking stitch as a nice feature. I'd say these booties are a perfect project for beginner knitters due to the simplicity and as a bonus they are also super quick to knit up! I think in total these took me about an hour for both?

I added little felt hearts to the sole, this is a great way of personalising simple booties. I've used this technique before on a pair of unblogged booties, but that time I also stitched on the surname of the baby.

Using the rest of the wool I quickly knitted up a basic hat (me and Mr Knitwit had great fun trying to remember how big babies heads are! Its surprising hard when you don't have one in front of you) I simply turned up the bottom edge of the hat to make a little brim and carefully tacked it down at four points so it wouldn't come undone.

I embellished the hat with two pom pom ears using a grey wool from my stash and a little bear face made up from felt and buttons! TOP TIP : stitch the buttons to the felt circles before you stitch the circles to the hat, it's far easier the position everything and leaves a neater finish!

Here's a rather awkward picture of the hat on the only round thing I could find, I promise it looks far cuter on a baby!

All in all I'm super please with the project and I think it makes a perfect baby gift (and who doesn't love a handmade baby gift!)

I knitted the whole set on size 4mm needles, to make sure they matched properly and used every last scrap of wool!

and remember if you'd like to make something similar all you haver to do is pop over to littlelambwool and purchase this wool, which at £3.45 is an absolute steal! And it comes in fourteen colours so you can personalise to the sex of the baby.

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

Disclaimer: Although these items were sent to me free, all opinions are my own. I would never provide good reviews for items I myself would not use, as a teacher once told me I'm honest almost to a fault!

Little Lamb Wool - Part One

Guess who's been a lucky girl?

ME!

The lovely people at LittleLambWool were nice enough to send me a little package of goodies!

Lets just take a minute to appreciate the adorableness of their sheep logo?

Anyhoo's they were kind enough to let me have a peruse of the website and see if their was anything I fancied! And luckily I had a good two hours to kill! Yes I spent two hours looking at the website but its soooooo well laid out!

they stock a variety of things from knitting patterns, knitting books, gifts, accessories and wool!

The wool page was the one that caught my attention the most. I wouldn't consider myself to be a novice knitter, just one who trundles along. so having the different types of wool laid out clearly and the ability to refine the search by wool weight, fibre, colour and brand really helped me! I can imagine if you needed a specific wool for a project this website would make it really easy to find.

Anyway these are the treats that they sent me!

My first pick was a Peter Pan merino baby DK (white) this is destined to be baby booties for my friend who's expecting a little baby! Sex so far unknown so I'm playing it safe! And it is the most beautiful white I have ever seen as well as being adorable, soft and squishy! I think I'm going to knit up the baby booties first (I've already found a free pattern on line) so look out for those in Little Lamb Wool - Part Two!

The second item they sent was WYS 4ply bird prints (bullfinch) As soon as I saw the colours in this wool on the website I fell in love, its just so typically British! It says on the label its perfect for sock making, sadly I can't knit socks (although this wool makes me tempted to try) so I'm going to make a little teddy bear again for the new bambino! I think it will be nice to have a darker teddy, hopefully it will need less washing!

The Teddy bear will be Little Lamb Wool - Part Three and I am itching to start! (I'm using a pattern from raverly so you'll be able to whip up your won should you wish!)

Now I'll end with a quick nod to the packaging, both wools arrived packaged together in a green plastic jiffy bag, which is brilliant for making sure that the wools don't get wet in transit and means that even through we were out Mr.Postman managed to post them through!

Thank you to Little Lamb Wool for a wonderful gift, and please do visit their page! Just try not to loose two hours like I did!

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

Disclaimer: Although these items were sent to me free, all opinions are my own. I would never provide good reviews for items I myself would not use, as a teacher once told me I'm honest almost to a fault!

Never be afraid to try something new, remember amateurs built the ark, professionals built the titanic....

I loved photography, I loved taking pictures, I loved looking at pictures, I loved it all , every opportunity I had I stole my brother in laws canon SLR and took pictures. 

(Here's my brother on his wedding day, I think I was 15/16/17 when I took this) 

So naturally when the opportunity to study photography as an a level came up I grabbed it with both hands. I mean what could go wrong I LOVED taking pictures! 

I enjoyed my lessons to a certain extent, their wasn't a proper studio , and the printer never had ink , and the computers froze as soon as you looked at them. But it was reasonably fun and I learnt the basics of how my camera worked. (I had brought myself the exact same camera as my brother in law , who researched the best deals for me, because he's a gem and stuff) 

And I still liked taking pictures, I didn't like  the hours we seemed to spend on photoshop, making crap pictures looked good. But I still liked to take pictures. 

I even went on the class trip to New York and took even more pictures! 

And I really loved taking pictures in New York! Because there was so much to photograph! 

And then after our first year, the results came in..... I got a D (only just it was nearly an E) I asked my teachers what went wrong were my pictures bad? No they were good, not brilliant but not awful. So what was the problem? I hadn't explained myself properly, there was no link between me and another photographers work, there was very little annotation. 

Enjoying it wasn't enough, I needed to know stuff, so I quit photography and put my camera away. 

Don't get me wrong , I still got it out on the odd occasion but it was no longer glued to my hand. 

I used it to take pictures of Mr knitwit on his bike. 

And to take pictures for my shop. 

But I didn't play with it anymore, I didn't experiment. Until yesterday,

 I found an old flash and blew off the cobwebs. 

I've never shot with a flash attachment before so it was a steep learning curve. Luckily I had a willing model. 

I like taking pictures, I thought I didn't, but it turns out I don't like explaining myself. 

So I'm going to keep taking pictures and if someone asks me why I've done it like that I'm going to tell them because it's pretty! 

After all it's all very well and good being able to explain your work, but if it ain't pretty, it ain't nothin. 

Much love

Frankie

Amateur photographer 

Xxx

it started with a broken needle....

I recently posted this picture on both my instagram and facebook.

with the caption - Wasn't sure it was possible but I've snapped a hand sewing needle! X


anyway i had one perfectly sensible comment and then this happened between me and one of my bestest friends Conor. (and yes his name does only have 1n)

conor - Is a sign that you have transcended to a new level of sewing?

me - Nah I think it's just because I'm "sew" hardcore x

conor - That was a "threadful" pun...

me -  I was waiting on "pins" for your response!

conor - You're gonna have me in "Stitches" at this rate!

me - Ain't no "bobbin" about from me x

conor - "Needle" to keep tabs on you!

me -  I'll have to learn to "button" it x

conor -  Nooo, it'd be wrong to keep you "Hem"-med in

me - But still ill try to keep "zipped" and stop "ribbon" you (BOOM TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE!) x

conor - Don't think I'll "Bow" to this, if I can ever "Tie" you down I will "Knot" hold back my revenge! (TRIPLE WORD!!! NEW HIGH SCORE)

me - I was hoping you wouldn't "cotton" on to the "fabric" of my plan. I'm going to "spool" you in the art of wordplay. Your gonna wish you'd never "cross"(stitched) me! (I SEE YOUR THREE AND RAISE YOU! BOOM!) x

conor - Don't "Spin" me a "Line"! I'm "Yarning" to foil your plan, I "Wool"'nt push it too far. I think your plan, is such a load a "Silk". Gonn have to "Enbroiden" your strategies!
 DID SOMEBODY SAY FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

me - There's six you muppet 😅

conor - YEAH... THAT'S RIGHT NO-ONE SAID FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!!!! CAUSE IT WAS SIX!!!! WINNNN!!!

me -  I can see I'm not going to Make the "Cut", I can't pull the "Wool" over your eyes. So I'm going to "Patch" together a clever response, I think that I'm better, "kNot" that I'm "bias" or anything and you "shear" are a "knitwit" ps. Not sure line counts it's almost as if your heads full of "stuffing"

Did I hear eight from the lady in the back? SOLD!

conor - Repitition!!!!

me- WHAT! The duck! WHERE? X

conor -  I Totally used wool and Knot!! Fix!!!!!

me - Yeah it is a "fix" (doesn't count if you don't quote it!) you win gosh "darn" it  x

 I have been "spooled" x

conor - "Eye" take this victory in the name of Mighty Myself!!!

me - As I said "knit" wit ........

and he finished with this picture

my friends are awesome

much love 

frankie

xxx

Finished cushion.

so I've finished another custom order for a cushion.

you've seen this embroidery before but know its all sewn up! The idea is that the little girl is the client herself wearing a coat her father brought her from his winnings from a competition.

Anyway her mum kept the buttons and then the client herself decided to get rib of her button stash (guess who helped there!) but wanted to keep these three buttons because they are special!

She want it incorporated into something for her home and before I heard the story I was going to go in a completely different direction!

Anyway it was lots and lots of fun to crack out the old embroidery skills again and to do something that's so personal!

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

Patchwork baby toys.

I like the idea of handmade things for babies, so I've been experimenting. 

I've used my love of patchwork and created some simple baby toys. 

First of all I made the ball, I traced a pentagon from my laptop and used an English paper pieced technique. 

Here's the basic steps:

1. Cut out 12 pentagons (I think this is the right number, you try counting things on a round object, it's hard!) 

2. Cut fabric slightly larger than templates. 

3. Tack fabric to templates (don't stich through the template!) 

4. Once all of your pieces are tacked, start stitching them together. I used a simple whip stitch and stitched from the outside. 

5. It gets shape pretty quickly, so you have to slip the templates out as soon as you can, (you will have to stitch a few without the template , which is easier than it sounds) 

6. Stuff with toy fibre and slip stitch your last opening closed and voila! 

I realise that these instructions are probably clear as mud but if I get chance I'll create a tutorial with pictures and all that sort of fabulousness! 

For the square one, I used the same method but made six square templates instead! 

Anyway I think they are pretty cute! You could leave the card templates in but I decided to take them out so its washable.... Babies slobber.... Like all the dammed time! 

I think they'd make lovely baby gifts, and as an added bonus they use scraps!!!! Yay!!!! 

Much love

Frankie

Xxx

Trying Tapestry

I'd love to say its been a slow week, but it hasn't! I've started three new projects and cleaned up the sewing room (turns out I own 23 zips, funny how none of them are ever right for the projects at hand! ) 

my other projects are:

clothes/embroidery/refashion = think cowboy meets a hippy

shoes/refashion/drawing = think mental thoughts

and this bad boy

That folks is a tapestry, or at least I think it is, I'm still having difficulty with the difference between cross stitch and tapestry, I think its just because one uses silks and the other wool!

Anyway little knitwits godfather saw this and thought I might like to give it a go, it came with all the wools but not instructions!

According to the paper with it, its a copy of one of the old masters pictures? Anyway I'm completely winging it, I tried cross stitching but it just looked messy so I'm doing rows of back stitch. Its more relaxing than I thought it would be but I still think its going to take a long time. just to clarify does anybody know what stitch your actually meant to do with tapestry?

I'm not 100% what ill do with the finished product but I'm sure I'll think of something.

In other news i saw these awesome shoes on pinterest and I'm now dreaming of my own little version!

I'm going to keep my eyes open for cheap tape measures and have a good rummage through my old shoes, see if I cant breathe some life back into them!

I also think I'm going to try and finish the blouse I cut out like two months ago, mainly because it was sat judging me when I was cleaning up my sewing space today,

"where you gonna put me Frankie? cant put me with fabric can you, I'm not fabric I'm pieces of fabric, cant hang me in your wardrobe I'm not finished! so yeah I might have to finish it! I just find it hard after reading to awesome instructions from Tilly's book to switch back to the sparse instructions of other books! Although this has been written by thrifty stitcher so I'm expecting good things!

I at least want to get it done before I start sewing the new pencil skirt I'm envisioning, I wear my wool check one all the time but its a bit too toasty for warmer days so I'm going to use the last of my tartan poly cotton for Minerva fabrics and make myself a summer version.

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

If it's not one it's the other....

Mr knitwit and little knitwit are taking it in turns to be poorly this week. Hence I've not really done much at all, so here's a very brief update! 

Started to re read chocolat by Joanne Harris, couldn't tell you how many times I've read it , but I never find myself bored by it. 

Had paddling pool fun! We decided to add some bubble bath because we were emptying it. We have since refilled it with water so hopefully little knitwit will have more chances to go in. 

Went for afternoon tea with the ladies I used to dance with and had a lovely time! This is just one of the plates we had! It was lovely to catch up with them all, and it was even nicer to eat lots of cake!!!! 

And during afternoon tea I was given this! It's an actual physical copy of the cd for which I did the album artwork! I think it looks awesome! And I can't wait to have a listen! 

I think this is going to be today's job! My sewing area has been sumwat neglected and I've just been given some fabric so I need to store it correctly! 

Urgh I'm not sure I have to energy for cleaning today, I'd much rather sleep! 

Much love

Frankie

Xx

I'm not saying it's been hot today, but two hobbits did just walk into my house and destroy the one true ring...

England is hot.

You've seen it on the news,

You've heard the rumours

And if youve stepped outside you've felt it. 

It is warm! 

So I'm going to contribute two tutorials today! The first is a refashion and the second is how to be British when it's hot. 

So tutorial! 

To be honest this is more like common sense (well at least i thought it was until one of the mums at nursery asked me how to do it!)

Children grow, they grow upwards and then they grow outwards, but you can pretty much bet on the fact that they will never fit their clothes properly, the waist could be too big but the legs are just right or visa versa.

Well here's what I do when the waist fits but the legs are too short. 

Get jeans 

Cut a bit of the bottom 

Do two turns up, it's really that simple (and kind of obvious) 

Here's lil knitwit wearing them in the paddling pool.

So here's my second tutorial:

How to cope with the sudden change to hot weather! 

1. Say "ooh it's hot , a lot"

2. Learn not to stare at topless men , either in admiration or disgust, either way they will think your pervy.

3. Try not to be topless everywhere, certain places require clothes, shopping for example, and whilst doing the school run, nobody wants to see you fondling the fruit and veg or picking up your kids topless. 

4. Eat dinner in the garden, ignore the fact there's crap loads of flys and that your dinners getting colder faster. Just pretend your continental and that your having a good time. 

5. Open and close your windows twenty times, same with curtains, try and work out which combination makes the room cooler.

6. Drink tea, it's a hot beverage but strangely refreshing? Plus your not sure what'll happen to your body during withdrawal. 

7. Drink loads of juice/water, make everyone else drink juice/water, force them! Dehydration kills! Consequently spend most of day peeing! 

8. Wearing a bikini top unstead of a bra.... Bliss! 

9. Use more tissues that during flu season because of stupid hay fever

10. Complain loudly about the heat you've waited 11 months for! 

11. Cover entire family in factor 50, suns rays do not prenetrate consequently have to use fake tan

Much love 

And enjoy the sun

Frankie

Xxx