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

You Are Always On Your Mobile

Its Day 7! I am officially halfway through Pinterest fortnight! (And yes I do wish it had just been Pinterest week!) Todays craft is another baby one, but more shockingly it's actually coming to you at a reasonable hour of the day! No rushing for me today, Its already Finished! And I've nearly finished tomorrows as well! Honestly if you could see the smug look on my face right now , you would want to punch me!

 

But enough of punching me in the face! Here we go! We have three inspirations today!

 

 

A very adorable baby mobile from Here, I cant believe how simple but stunning this is!

 

 

How many animals?! I here you say, but don't worry I'm not an over achiever I didn't make this many animals! Although if anybody has made one of these please let me know where you get your patience from and send me over a bottle! This beauty can be found Here.

 

 

And lastly we have this one from Here on Etsy but sadly it is no longer available but there are lots more lovely things in the shop! 

 

Now if you haven't already realised todays projects is a baby mobile! I decided to base mine on my signature animal , OWLS! And just to warn you these owls include sequins. This make was literally a sparkle fest from beginning to end!

 

 

I apologise for the pictures I couldn't find anything to hang it off , so I had to settle for a door handle! All the owls bar two are also facing the wrong way!

 

 

Because of the beads on the strings, the owls spin around sort of by themselves and in light breeze, or if you move near it. I have been told this is something to do with physics? But I prefer to think of it as crafty magic!

 

 

Each of the owls is completely different! They have sequin and bead eyes and other bead details and some even have embroidered wings!

 

 

They also have little hearts on there tummies, I wish I had taken a picture of them all lined up before a sewed them on! Then you could see the variety of personalities!

 

 

Everything was hand stitched, my sewing machine has stayed firmly under its cover! And the string were hand knotted to keep everything firmly in place.

 

 

It's also quite easy to untangle, I learnt this the hard way after leaving it in my workbag.

 

 

 

Just spotted and actual pin board at the back of this picture! Coincidence? I think not!

 

All in all I LOVE it , I can see many more of these cropping up around the place, it was such a relaxing make! And its always nice to know that there isn't another one quite like it in the world! I'm hoping to pop this up in my Etsy shop as soon as I have a spare moment.

 

See you tomorrow for the second half of Pinterest fortnight! What will I do with myself when its over? Probably allow myself to recover I'm dreaming of pins, felt, wool and sequins!!

 

Much Love

 

Frankie

 

xxx

 

 

Woof Woof

So its Day 2 of my Pinterest fortnight and this is the inspiration for todays Pinterest craft. When I saw this I had to pin it! It reminded me so much of my Nan and Grandads dog and my friend Ally's dog formally known as Molly dog! Now I'm not a dog person but I love me some molly dog!

I cant find the origin of this picture which is huge shame seen as its so darn cute! This looks pillow sized but I decided to do my version as a PIN! cushion, (and its pinterest fortnight! How perfect is that!?)

So far I've made two but I have a few more in the works !

This one used the very last piece of this heart patterned fleece I had and I don't know where I can get any more but I think this little guy more than deserves it!

I also made this little guy in blue! I love the pearly eye and the vintage lace (It was my Grandmas so it counts as vintage!? Right?)

Not quite sure which is my favourite, all I do know is that I can't bring myself to put pins in these little guys!!! How silly is that? They are pin cushions! Sometimes I think I'm to soft for my own good!  So I think I'll save them for a craft fair I'm doing later this year!

See you on Day 3!

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

It's Time To Sink Or Swim

Big things are happening here at Knitwits homebase! Well my front room! I have opened an Etsy shop! Yes! ive finally taken the plunge and put myself out there so yes it is time to "sink or swim".

So far I have three things in my shop but I plan on doing some updates very soon and adding more items! Here's what we've got so far!

Hand Knitted Pink Owl Doorstop - £15.00

 

 

Hand Knitted Green Owl Doorstop - £15.00

 Hand Knitted Multicoloured Nerd Owl Doorstop £15.00

 

I said the owls might be smartening up their look!

This is the link to the shop until I've manage to work out how to put a permanent link onto this blog (I'm still learning this technology stuff is hard! I'd rather learn how to cast on again and that was torture!)

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/KnitWitsOwls

And remember I'm also on twitter @KnitwitsOwls

Oh such an exciting day!

Much Love

Frankie

XXX

Embroidery the New Rock and Roll!

Now even I'm willing to admit that this was a LONG work in progress , but it was justified! It was the first large scale piece of hand embroidery I'd done in a long time and I stupidly decided to use single strands of embroidery floss!

 

 

I worked it in one of my grandmothers large embroidery hoops, and I finished it a little while ago. the only problem is now I have no idea what to do with it? I'm thinking a nice cushion , and the other problem is I have no idea what to embroider onto the banner at the bottom? Hmmmmmmmmmm?

 

 

I'm really pleased with how it turned out and that I actually finished it. Somehow I've ended up with a nasty reputation for not always finishing projects with my family! I don't know how that happened they are works in progress! Just because they haven't progressed in two or three years doesn't mean they never will!

 

 

The design was my own , It was something I drew for a friend as a tattoo design, but they decided not to get it in the end! Ooooooh maybe embroidery is the new tattoo! All the cool design with none of the pain!

 

 

Hmmmm the offensive banner , it definitely needs to be something tattoo inspired!

 

I definitely think this will end up as a cushion, a sort of tattoo for your home! After all Embroidery is the new rock and roll! Although in a completely un rock and roll fashion I'm going to go and give this bad boy a good press!

 

Much Love

 

Frankie

 

xxx

The Owls

One of my absolute favourite things to knit are these owls (apart from baby booties! but owls don't strike fear into the heart of my other half! ) There's no pattern for my owls, its all in my head but there are similar ones online and some beautiful crochet ones! Makes me really wish I could crochet, but its one thing I just cant get my head around!

 

The Granddad of all the owls!

 

This was the first owl I ever made. He's made from scraps , scrap felt, scrap wool, re-used button and fabric for the eyes, both of which came from various old items of my sons clothing. I even wrote a tag for it "hand made with love". I made him a doorstop because my mum is always looking after her grand children , so I thought a doorstop would make it easier for lil feet to follow her around the house! He's filled with rice and stuffing to make it safer in case lil hands decided to have a look inside my owl!

 

Well one set of those lil feet and lil hands was quite taken with granny's owl. The words "is it mine?" were used more than once! So the needles had to come out again...

 

This ones very very squishy and very very girly , much easier for bedtime cuddling than a doorstop! The lil Lady this went to was very pleased with her squishy bedtime owl.

 

This is what happened next. Someone paid me to make one for them! Any crafter will tell you when someone offers to pay for your work your heart skips a beat! they requested greens and browns to match there décor!

 

Then someone else wanted one! For their grand daughter I was hoping to be able to get the pink wool out again (living with two boys means I rarely get to play with anything pink and craft related) but they wanted reds and browns so......

 

Can you see the girly detail on the eyes? those flower buttons were the only ones I had so they needed a very special occasion, this seemed perfect! this one was squishy as well (I think there must be something in the rice that makes them stand a little straighter and look a little rounder!)

 

 

There they all are together a lil owl family!

 

The next one a made was for my nanny! She was to fussed on colours she said she "Trusted" me! ooooooh the honour! A pretty risky statement though!

 

This is what she ended up with...

 

I think I was very reserved  I especially like the little heart button on its chest! You can also see on this one I learnt a new way of attaching to noses/beaks? So they look real!

 

I LOVE making owls! and hopefully one day ill be able to set up my own etsy shop so I can sell them and they other things I like to make!

 

Is there anything you like to knit sew or bake over and over again? Or do you like to keep changing it up?

 

Bye for now

Frankie xxx