Frilly, flouncy and flowery

I needed a break from my Christmas quilt, which is my biggest undertaking so far, so I made an apron for my friend Julie with some Tanya Whelan fabric from my stash. It was great to do something without a scant quarter inch seam allowance!

Flouncy apron modelled by Lara -it's a bit too big for her!

Sunshine on a rainy day...

At last we're seeing a little sunshine in the UK, hoping it holds out for the Olympics.
I managed to get to a carboot sale on Sunday, dodged the rain and bought a lovely old manual Singer sewing machine to ornament my craft room.

I paid £10 for it, which I thought was fair because it has obviously been well used and the re are bits missing, but I think it is really beautiful.

I made a Kindle case for my daughter this week, it is a little too big because I used mine for the measurements and the new ones are smaller. She loves it though so I can take my time with a replacement.

Excuse the feet that got in on the act in these pics!
Since finishing this I have found a brilliant tutorial on finishing off binding which I tried out and I think it will improve the look of my projects a lot. It is on youtube, Quilt binding: Joining ends, Marci Baker of Alicia's attic.

My daughter and her boyfriend are off to Mablethorpe for the weekend so I bought them rain ponchos.They are always game for a laugh....

Restoring an antique printer's tray.

I've been looking for an old printer's tray for a while now. There are always a few on ebay but very expensive. I spotted this sad and lonely example on a carboot sale last week. It looked like it had been in a damp cellar for years, filthy, warped and split. The woman selling it was really rude and unfriendly and generally I would have told her to f..forget it, but I really wanted it so I parted with my £5 - which was probably £4 more than it was worth - and brought it home.

Cleaning it up was a real challenge, I'd say I probably spent 6 hours on it in total, but I really enjoyed working with wood. It felt like I was bringing it back to life.Anyway here's what I did:

I forgot to take a 'before' picture but this after the first soaking so you can get the idea...

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I used Pledge soapy cleaner for wood, but in a much highe concentration than I would use for general cleaning, a toothbrush and a bottle brush.

I used the garden hose on high pressure to try and remove the filthy paper lining clinging to the corners.

I used linseed oil to recondition the wood, it took 2 generous applications, and used cotton buds to work it right into the corners.

 

Ta da! Just need to find lots of teeny tiny treasues to fill it now.

Ta da!

Finished the aqua and red quilt and feeling quite pleased with myself.

Starting to get the hang of it!

Vintage embroidery baby quilt for my neighbour.

 Aqua and red quilt top

Cook's assistant

Finished baby quilt

If I fits...

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These are the latest 2 quilts I have done, I think they are getting much better with practise. I started disassembling one that I made about 6 months ago and I could see how much Ive improved technically in that time. Did the binding slightly different on Amy's quilt using a tut from Sometimes Crafter blogspot which was really helpful - http://sometimescrafter.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/binding-tutorial-attaching-it-to-back.htm.

My glamorous assistant Molly helped with cooking and embroidery as you can see!

Baby quilt

I think I'm getting better at this. I had planned to give this to my neighbour when her baby is born but I have made a mistake with the binding and left a raw edge which would fray after washing. So Ive started another redwork pattern to make another one.
Apart from the mistake I'm pleased with it, it's far from perfect but this has been such a steep learning curve I'm willing to briefly silence that inner voice that is our most ruthless critic!

Subversive embroidery -don't read if easily offended

I love the idea of combining a traditionally lady-like craft with subversive sentiments - also good for learning to embroider cursive (haha curse-ive!)

I'm now working on some more traditional designs to be made in to quilt blocks - no swearing. Above is my gorgeous new fabric from fabricinspirations.co.uk - must give them a plug their service is exceptional.

What Ho Jeeves

Went on holiday with my husband to Dorset last week, we made a decision not to take laptops and would you believe it both started reading again! I bought Carry on Jeeves in a secondhand book shop and discovered a joy I have been missing all these years. I laughed so much in the hotel bar whilst reading I think people thought I was drunk.

The sea swirling around The Cob at Lyme Regis

Lovely old coach we saw on the way

New Forest ponies

A little patriotic corner of my kitchen for the Jubilee

It's been too long...

I havent blogged in almost a year because I forgot my password! How pathetic (not to mention lazy).
I have to admit my Pinterest obssession may also be slightly to blame!
Anyways what's new? I have taken a temporary break from knitting to try my hand at quilting. It's harder than it looks!

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Here are my first attempts.
I have done these using pre-cuts, charm squares and layer cakes, and used part of a jelly roll to sash the turquoise one. I'm now learning to cut and build my own blocks.

There is such a wealth of information on the net, I cannot get over how generous people are to share their knowledge for free.

Best sites I've found so far are http://incompetech.com/graphpaper for free hexie paper,
http://sewhappygeek.co.uk/index.php/tag/hexies-tutorial/ for how to make hexies, Missouri Star quilt company videos on youtube - they are so enthusiastic! http://nanacompany.typepad.com/nanacompany/ for pure inspiration.

Lots and lots of links through Pinterest too.