I love secret projects.

In the meantime, a few pictures. My dad rocks. Happy birthday dad! (And yes, that is a proper CBE. Like I said…)

Some of the ones I like are well known, some not so much, but all are worth a peek, I hope you’ll agree.

So, here we go!

1. Posie Gets Cozy

Portland designer Alicia Paulson has an impossibly beautiful home, an incredible collection of sweet felt, cross stitch, embroidery and crochet patterns, and takes truly beautiful pictures. I’ve made A LOT of her designs. Go Alicia!

2. Yarnstorm

Quilting, baking, knitting, crochet, art and gardening, with Jane Brocket, who has a spectacular eye for colour and a ‘can do’ take on life.

She started me on my quilting journey. And hurrah for that! (More quilting here this weekend if that’s your bag)

3. Brooklyn Tweed

Jared Flood has superstar status in the knitting world, but is also an accomplished photographer, and now has his own yarn range. If any designer will persuade you to get into knitting, he is it.

Here’s his Rock Island shawl. Not one for beginners but totally GAWJUS.

Photo (c) Jared Flood.

4. Craftiness Is Not Optional

Mum of two and sewing genius Jess posts daily about clothes, with regular free tutorials on kid’s and women’s clothes and accessories. Great for last minute presents. I love her ric-rac flowers.

5. Feminist Ryan Gosling

This blog exploded just a few months ago, and riffs with exceptional humour on the whole F*ckYeah web meme that won’t go away. Succinct feminist theory and hot pictures of Ryan Gosling. What’s not to like?! This is my favourite post.

6. The Sartorialist

I love Scott Schuman for his coverage of the shows, but his street snaps are second to none. A superstar fashion blogger who deserves to be so.

7. Needled

Scottish knitwear designer Kate Davies takes you on adventures through the Highlands, and regularly reveals her latest, exceptional design. She has a penchant for ‘woolly wool’ and Fair Isle and great taste in dogs and hats.

Like this one…

8. Cotton and Cloud

Kyoko Nakayoshi is a talented Japanese knitwear designer, who I feel privileged to have worked with regularly over the past year. Her blog is full of useful knitting tips and techniques, as well as links to lovely products like these fab knitting needles. Knitscene recently named her one of the top 8 knitwear designers to watch in 2012, and deservedly so!

9. Birdface

Helen Ward is a graphic designer with a sideline in amazing paper art. She has occasional tutorials for everything from pretty Christmas decorations, to  leg warmers and is always inspirational. She rocks!

Here’s Helen with her fabulous knitted gate, which she created during Totterdown’s Woolly Wonderland…

10. Jen Arnall-Culliford Knitwear

Jen AC is a widely respected technical editor with a sideline in just-so designs. She’s also my friend, and the person who encouraged me to go for my job on The Knitter. Thanks Jen!  Her blog is a lovely mix of knitting, stitching, foodie loveliness and good old common sense.

Enough from me. I’d love to hear about your favourite blog, so leave me a comment!

I’m not sure I’d recommend doing all this work in one go. By the end I was definitely getting slap dash, and so the finished result is a little, erm, relaxed in terms of how many corners are squared up. Oops.

This was the first time I tried using a quarter inch seam rather than three-eighths. Three-eighths is definitely easier, but the lady at Country Threads was faintly horrified when I suggested going back to a bigger seam allowance. Haha. Turns out, that gets problematic once you’re making more complex blocks as nothing adds up.

But, heck, if it’s just squares I say go with what works for you. My first attempt (using three-eighth seams) was definitely neater.

Anyhoo, I’m onto the quilting now, which is a very nice way to spend an evening in the winter, as sitting under the quilt all evening while you work on it gets seriously warm. I like hand-quilting, as it gives a more uneven, rumpled finish. And it also doesn’t flatten out the quilt the way machine quilting can do.

Lay your backing fabric (mine is a nice old white sheet) down, then your wadding (I use Bamboo Blend, which is really soft) and your quilt top in a sandwich. Your wadding and backing should be about 5cm/2ins wider all round than the top. Smooth the layers out and then safety pin them together.

Start pinning at the centre and work outwards, so you can smooth any wrinkles to the edge of the quilt where, poof! , they vanish. Curved safety pins make getting through all three layers easier. I used normal dressmakers pins on my first quilt, and spent every evening I worked on it stabbing myself accidentally, and picking up pins when I’d finished (and missing one every time).

I use a medium length embroidery needle (nice and sharp) and 4 strands of embroidery thread. I’ve seen 3 strands recommended by Jane Brocket, but 4 is easier, as you can double up two, and use a loop knot to start.

For this quilt I’m using a running stitch and quilting at the end of the squares, in a grid across the quilt, 2 squares apart. I’ve done all the horizontal lines, and once I’ve done the vertical ones I’ll be back to show you my stitching and talk bindings. Ttfn!

My cheap clothes come from charity shops, so they’re cheap for a different reason, but often they still can’t escape the nasty button curse. Evidence, if you will…

Yes this top is a little bobbly, but I love it, and it’s got loads of wear left.

Quick fix.

Get an AMAZING button, like this one (I wish I could remember where it’s from. I still have one left – try The Button Queen for similar).

Carefully cut off the old button. You’ll probably find the buttonhole is slightly the wrong size for your new button, so cut the hole a millimetre at a time (on the inner edge of the garment) or sew it up a little (on the outer edge of the garment). Both these fixes will move the button away from the garment edge. Maybe sew around the edge of the buttonhole for good measure to neaten it.

(Handsewn button holes are way prettier than factory sewn ones)

Sew on your new button, and finish by winding the thread around the bottom of the button, and fasten off.

This will raise the button from the surface of the garment slightly, so it’ll sit nicer.

Stand back and admire your lovely new garment. A nice button will make you happier if you are wearing it, than if it’s in a button jar.

I am obsessed with buttonholes and buttons at the mo, as I’ve just written all about them for the next issue of The Knitter  - it hits the shops on February 21 if you need to know more…

I love quilts. I was smitten from the first time I read Jane Brocket‘s, The Gentle Art of Domesticity.

Trouble is, making a quilt can seem like a pretty big deal. So I managed to take three years to complete the first one.

My second (kingsize) quilt is currently hibernating – it’s so big  it’s tricky to find the space to work on it. But, hey, why finish a project when you can start another? You know what I’m talking about.

(I wish I could be faithful to my projects like Jen, but honestly, it’s never going to happen.)

The team at The Knitter recently gave our ops ed Helen a couple of Moda charm packs for her birthday. I had the lovely task of choosing them in Country Threads - and it gave me the quilting bug again.

So I spent a free morning turning this pile of fabric…

…into this lovely neat pile of 5 inch squares (that’s 12.5cm, if you’re a metric kind of guy/gal/whatever).

I ironed each piece of fabric and then cut them out with my rotary cutter, mat and quilting ruler. (You can get these cheaply on ebay).

Later, my folks Storm to the (amazing) M Shed, so I spent the afternoon laying out all the lovely squares (just 192 of them).

SIZING YOUR QUILT

You can guestimate the size of your quilt by putting down a diagonal spread of squares, as tall and wide as you think the quilt will probably be. In this case my diagonal was 14 x 10, but after a while I realised I’d got more squares than would fit, so I pulled out some of the squares near the edges at random, and eventually filled a space 16 x 12 squares.

COLOUR AND PATTERN – SINGLES

For a simple, patchwork quilt, first, place squares you only have one or two of. Some of my singles (from an Etchings by Moda charm pack) were quite dark reds and greys, so I tried to spread them out evenly across my rough grid, along with the pale teals that were dotted through the pack as well.

There were a lot of lighter creamy squares from the charm pack, so they were laid out next.

COLOUR AND PATTERN – MULTIPLE PIECES

The main job, was then working with the squares that came from fat quarters and half metres of fabric. A fat quarter will yield 16 x 5in squares, and a half metre double that, so you need to make sure these are evenly placed to avoid ‘pools’ of colour.

The trick is to get all your singles down, and then put down the largest quantity of the strongest colour or pattern you have available next. So if you have 24 cream squares and 16 red squares, put down the red ones first, as they’ll catch your eye most.

Work through your fabric supply in this order, laying down singles, then large quantities of strong colours/patterns, large colours of neutrals, smaller quantities of strong colours and then finally smaller quantities of neutrals.

DON’T BE AFRAID TO CHANGE YOUR MIND

Not all my original planned fabrics made it in. I had about another 50 squares in two fabrics which were gorgeous, but didn’t look quite right, and there was another fabric in my first pile for this project that I didn’t even cut up.

It may seem a shame to cut squares you then don’t use, but there’s always another quilt to be made, so they’ll get used up eventually. Better to hang fire on a fabric that doesn’t quite work, than ruin the overall effect.

I ended up with a colour scheme of dark red, cream, pale teal and grey which I absolutely love, and is a bit more stylish than my first two attempts.

I don’t have a craft room or a studio, and I also have a kid who loves nothing better than to ‘get involved’ with my projects. But I also know that, after a whole day working on a quilt, I’ll probably not feel like sewing that evening as well…

So how to keep everything in order until the sewing machine comes out?

POCKET PLANNING

First I drew a layout plan.

And then folded an A4 sheet of paper in half for each of my 12 columns of squares.

On the front,  I put the number of the column and a rough description of the top square in the pile.

On the back, I put the number of the column and a rough description of the bottom square in the pile.

One column was the same at both ends, so I described the 2nd square from the top as well.

Then I placed all the squares from each column inside (in order, piled on top of each other) and fastened the sides of each folder paper with masking tape.

Voila!

Now I can sew as much or as little as I fancy, and know that all my pieces are not going to get jumbled up.

A few other quilting tips I’ve picked up on my short but sweet quilting journey…

(1) Take pictures of your layout as you go. This is my first properly ‘random’ layout, with no plan at the beginning. Taking pictures makes it easier to spot when a square is in the ‘wrong’ place, rather than just by eye.

(2) Look at your quilt ‘upside down’. If it’s going on a bed or your lap, you’ll be looking at it from this end just as often. Does it still work?

(3) Do your layout on a cotton sheet or blanket. The pieces stick to the fabric, so they won’t fly around the room at the slightest breeze (although, do yourself a favour and keep the door shut).

(4) Plan your quilt in daylight if you possibly can. Subtleties of colour are lost in artificial light, so daylight may not be so forgiving of your mixing and matching!

Oooo, here’s one I made earlier (OK, the only one actually…)

OK, enough quilting! I’m off to knit a sleeve (in the round, no shaping, easy!), and watch a cheesy film. Night!

Oooo, I do love a charity shop find. I’m a bit obsessed with embroidery at the moment, so when I spotted this gem for £3.50 I couldn’t resist.

Jane Austen’s Sewing Box, by Jennifer Forest is an absolute treasure trove of crafty happiness.

Jennifer’s charming book looks at what arts and crafts meant to Regency women, as reflected in Jane Austen’s novels and letters. There are 18 lovely projects, which include pin cushions, thread cases, and pillow covers, but for me it is the story behind each of these objects which elevates JASB to a higher level.

The hidden code of craft at this time is absolutely fascinating. Women in high society were expected to stitch (by hand) linen shirts and trousers for their brothers and husbands, nursery sets for poor village families, and also be highly skilled in embroidery. But plain sewing was strictly done behind closed doors. Only the ‘finer’ crafts were appropriate for company.

I have just embarked on my most ambitious embroidery project to date, and my stitching skills are woeful compared to what would have been seen as acceptable in the 1800s, but to read this now gives me a real sense of connection to women in the past.

I wonder what they would think of the craft culture of today…

Reblogged from Pepperbox Couture :

Remember the last garden post I did with that ‘nifty thrifty trick’ for saving seeds? Well as luck would have it, Mademoiselle Chaos over at blogspot has developed a seed bomb tutorial that would work perfectly with that seed saving tip!! This is a clever and cute way to save and store seeds and they would also make perfect gifts, or to keep for your own garden. Also, if your interested in the concept of guerrilla gardening this tutorial is for you. Click on her name in green above to be redirected to her …

This is completely amazing, and will definitely feature in my home-made pressies this year!

Meanwhile, my nice homemade cushions kept getting used as make-shift doorstops in the living room, by my practical, but not-so-crafty husband. Grrrr.

So this month I salvaged some very out of date dried lentils that were due to get binned, and made him nice and weighty again.

And now he gets used every day!

He’s supposed to be a Totoro-esque squirrel, but after living with him for a year, I’ve got to admit he looks more like a cat.

I made him from an old felted Fair Isle jumper, some cream felt and velvet ric-rac (from The Makery), and buttons, yarn and embroidery thread I had knocking around, so he only cost me a few pounds.

If you want to make him, you’ll need the template and the materials list.

Unfortunately Cloth only published the main template, but this is what the pieces look like laid out.

You need a front, 2 back pieces, each 2cm wider than half the front (so they overlap) and 10cm longer (to fold under to make a base). The sides are 2 smaller triangles, the size of which is determined by the width of the base, and the height of the front and back – easy to work out. The tail pieces and tummy panel need to fit in with the rest, so just draw those freehand once you’ve cut out the main pieces.

First, stitch through the ric rack to attach the tummy panel and tail topper to the main pieces.

Then pin the various bits together and blanket stitch them around the edges to join them. Because it’s felt there’s no hemming involved. Hurrah!

The two back pieces are only stitched together at the very top, and along the base. I added velcro to close them.

The vertical opening in the back is left open for a little sack of filling. I made one from some muslin, but you could just fill an old sock. The stiff wool fabric means your doorstop doesn’t need to be stuffed to bursting to stand upright.

Hide the opening with the ‘tail’, stitching it to the bottom edge only. Make a loop for it at the top, so that you can fasten it with a pretty button to keep it upright.

The flat bottomed shape means he’ll easily slide out of the way with a nudge from your slipper, which is particularly handy.

I only used a machine to sew the velcro and the ric rac on, but as long as you use a thimble you could do this by hand too.

His face is embroidered – blanket stitch around the button eyes, satin stitch for the nose, french knots for the freckles, and back stitch for the mouth. I used wool, but embroidery thread would be fine.

He’s a pretty ‘organic’ project- the main thing is to get the embroidery right. Maybe practise your blanket stitch too if it’s new to you.

Not my most sophisticated idea ever, but he does make me chuckle!

I quite like it, but only quite.

It’s not the hat’s fault. It is a lovely hat. But the sad truth is, my head is the head of a giant, so this Almond Comfit just doesn’t look big enough. More of a soldier’s beret than a sauve Parisienne’s topper.

I knit the largest size. OK, I went one needle size down, but I always have to do that ‘cos I’m a loosey goosey when it comes to gauge. If you look at Ysolda‘s and my pictures, my stitches are still looser than hers, even with the smaller needle! Grrr…

Anyway, I currently have five hand knitted winter hats which is verging on greedy, so I was already pondering who might like the scrummy red colour, and it was Helen’s birthday on Monday…

So hello and goodbye hat. I may make you again with thicker yarn on bigger needles. You shall not defeat me!

It is still a clever pattern. Well played Ysolda. Perhaps you could consider adding a freakishly large size for the next one.

I got quite a small frame so that everything is quite tightly packed in, much like it was in the Cadbury’s tin where so much of this resided for so long. I’ve been arranging and rearranging all these treasures in the tin lid as the dimensions are so similar.

The crochet cotton was a little tangled, so I rewound the last few metres back onto the cardboard spool more neatly. That felt a bit strange, but nana was pretty tidy so I think she would have wanted everything to look its best.

I didn’t realise until now that some of the silk thread is really fine. Not embroidery thread at all I think, but for stitching up evening gowns perhaps. It’s also taken me this long to notice that some of the colours we love are the same – the teals and soft greens. That feels good.

I do need to work out how to get everything to stay put, having not framed this kind of stuff before, so if this is your forte, I’d be grateful for any tips!

I’ll be back with the finished piece soon…