Oh, the purple!

I'm in a bit of a purple patch at the moment. Sometimes I get cravings for lilac which are usually sated by the purchase of some ribbon, yarn or linen thread. Last week I bought a lilac dress from Oyster&Pearl - shown in picture. It literally glows and makes me happy when I wear it. And I have just finished crocheting a bracelet/necklace to match. I haven't blogged for a while, but the creation of this lovely thing has inspired me.

 

 

 Too much loveliness.

Here is a fuller shot of the dress. The photo doesn't do the colour justice - it is literally an eye-popping glowing lilac. Happiness.

And lastly some purple mitts - my Monteverdi Mitts, see them on Ravelry - made for the lovely Jo of Iced Vovo.

The joy of Monteverdi and maybe a new direction?

Hello after quite a break! I find I tend to hibernate in winter and don't seem to manage much more than work, eat, sleep.

I'd like to change my blog a little. My loves include more than craft and I'd like to share these too. I love reading and am part of a reading group. I also play recorder with the Hobart Society of Recorder Players and love early music in particular.

I recently purchased a new CD of music by Monteverdi, and have been invigorated by it. I have cravings for it. In the mornings if I feel flat just thinking about the album cheers me up. Music is enriching my life more than usual at the moment and I am reconnecting with my love of early music in particular.

I look forward to sharing many more beautiful things with you - craft, books, music.

If you are not familiar with Monteverdi, here is a little taste...

Two finished quilts and two pairs of mitts!

My Row-by-row quilt is done! I finally got around to doing the binding... I bought the American Jane kit online last year. The fabric is from their 'Punctuation' range.

The Quilted Crow girls have (again) done a wonderful job with the machine quilting.

In the end, the binding only took around 5 hours from cutting and piecing the strips to hand-finishing it on the wrong side. In my head the binding had become a bigger-than-Ben-Hur task and I've been procrastinating for quite a few weeks. It feels good to have it done. I can move on to new projects and not feel quite so guilty about the unfinished ones!

And here's my finished April mini-quilt from Kathleen Tracy's quilt-a-long. I emailed her the finished photos and got a lovely reply - thank you Kathleen!

Here's the back. I really enjoyed making this little quilt and am looking forward to participating again in the future.

These fingerless mitts are for my oldest nephew, Marcel, and are knitted from some very gorgeous Zara merino in my stash, and were posted to Melbourne yesterday. I love this yarn. It's so soft and machine washes beautifully. I have a cardigan knitted in the stuff and it still hasn't pilled after 2 years of almost constant wear.

And these mitts are for Alice - knitted in Jo Sharp tweeds also from my stash. I hope she likes them. We went for a walk on the mountain on the weekend, in the mist and the cold. Gosh it was beautiful! But by 5pm we were all feeling the need for extra layers and scarves and mitts!

I have so many more plans for things I want to make (and things I need to finish!). Making things keeps me content and gives me so much joy. I watched a documentary on the weekend about how we see colour, and I imagined what life might be like without colour - a whole lot less rich, that's for sure. It made me realise how much of the pleasure of making comes from the colour of the yarns and fabrics I choose.

Wishing you all a gorgeous Autumn - enjoy the changing colours and the crispness in the air - it's the perfect time for knitting and quilting!

Mariner's compass workshop - part 1

A couple of months ago, I wrote that I had enrolled in a Mariner's compass workshop at the Patch Works in West Hobart. We had our first of two sessions this afternoon and it was great. I have never done paper foundation piecing before and the crisp result and accurate points are truly astounding. Jill is a patient and knowledgeable tutor and I learned so much!

I completed the last of my eight point units about 10 minutes ago and had to post straight away! Next bit of homework is to joint the eight units together. I'll do that in daylight when I'm less tired.

It's coming along nicely! I haven't chosen the fabric for my curved inner border yet. I'm thinking a dark caramel brown or mid blue. I have lots of fabric left over from the points, and was thinking of using it in a pieced rather than plain border. Can't wait for our second workshop!

The other ladies in the workshop are using mainly batiks and have chosen some really awesome colour combinations - lots of lovely greens, blue and purples. I'm looking forward to seeing their finished projects - how inspiring!

Birthday mitts and April quilt progress

A completed pair of Bouteloua Mitts! These are for my sister-in-law. Happy Birthday Shannon! The yarn is Naturally Waikiwi 4ply sock - with New Zealand Merino, nylon, alpaca and possum.

You'll remember from this post that I've been making a grey pair for myself (still unfinished). It's a beautiful pattern and very satisfying to knit.

Here is an update on the April quilt-a-long. It's all pieced, sandwiched and pinned ready for hand quilting. I think I'll need to put some serious time in to get this finished by the end of April - I can see the quilting taking me a long time...

I've also got a few more projects on the go - some fingerless gloves for my nephew and for Alice, and a Steampunk Softie also for my nephew. Plus a whole pile of things on my wish-list. Sigh. So many beautiful projects, so little time!

Mitts, socks, a hat and a quilt-a-long

Well, it's been a long while since my last post. I've done lots of crafting, but not a lot of posting! I've joined A Sentimental Quilter's April quilt-a-long and am very happy so far. It has taken a lot longer than I expected to get these little blocks together. There's a real art to getting scrappy blocks looking good and Kathleen Tracy is  a genius. I have all her books and love her small quilts to bits.

These fingerless gloves are bit of a frankenstein - cuffs from Nancy Bush's 'Norwegian Gloves', some stripes to my own design, meshed together using an old Patons glove pattern. They've turned out ok, but I don't like the colours now they're knitted up. I'd definitely make them again - in different colours.

I wrote out the pattern as a pdf, so it'll be easy to replicate them. I'm not sure about posting it as a freebie because I've re-used the cuff from someone else's pattern. I learned a lot writing up the pattern and would definitely like to publish something original in the future.

The completed socks! These were given to my friend Alice, and she has been wearing them around the house to keep cosy.

And finally a beanie for my brother's birthday. I love the way the greens and blues and greys meld together. I wasn't sure about the colour combination when I started, but love the result.

A little bit of Autumn Sewing

I lost my sunglasses case a couple of months ago and have been meaning to make a replacement for ages. Here is the result. A patchwork piece in Autumn colours.

I appliqued the heart and hand quilted around the heart and the black squares.

I didn't attach any kind of fastening as the case is deep enough and firm enough to hold the glasses tight.

All I want to do at the moment is stay at home and craft. I have decided to use up as much of my wool stash as possible. So stay tuned for lots of knitted projects over the coming months!

Two weekends... and a magic loop!

Last weekend was drizzly and overcast and my mood switched from patchwork to cosy knitting, and here is the result...

One sock. Very quick to knit in Crofter DK, done on two needles and seamed. Not quite finished as you can see. A very easy, mindless knit. Once, a long time ago, I knit a sock in the round using 4 ply yarn. One sock. And found the tedium unbearable, and discovered I hate knitting in the round on double pointed needles, and never finished the second sock. Juggling all those needles drove me mad.

Recently I found the most gorgeous fingerless mitt pattern on the web - and wouldn't you know it's knit in the round. But I bought the pdf anyway because I just loved the mitts, and mitts are smaller than socks, and I thought I might just manage.

 

This weekend the weather has been extreme for Hobart - in the high thirties - not good weather for sewing or using the iron! So I decided again to knit. And worked on the beautiful mitts (pictured above). The pattern recommends using the 'magic loop' method and it has CHANGED MY LIFE! Who would have thought knitting in the round could be so addictive? I have caught mitt mania and already have a few more magic loop mitt projects lined up. Using the recently purchased yarn below.

 

Do I need more yarn? No. Is it slightly odd to be thinking about winter mitts in thirty plus degree weather? Yes. But I have mitt mania...

Not glove mania, I will be clear about that. Gloves have fingers. And who wants to knit in tiny circles round and round ten tiny times? Not me. I'm very happy to knit gloves on two needles and seam each and every finger. I shall leave the round and roundness to fingerless mitts!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I made these felted hearts for my library colleagues, from a free Knitting Daily pattern.

They are such a clever design: using short row shaping to get the lovely shape. Mine didn't felt very well, though, and aren't as fuzzy and gorgeous as the ones pictured on the pattern.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

The blocks are done!

All 42 squares are ready to be sewn together. This will have to wait until next weekend. I'll need to tweak the block positions to get the balance just right.

I'm itching to buy fabric for the border, backing and binding, but the sensible thing to do will be to wait until the blocks are joined together. Then hopefully I'll get a better idea of which prints will work the best.

I do know I want a rich red for the border and backing, maybe the large scale print above for the back? I usually choose a cheap plain cotton for the back, but I'm going to splash out this time on fabrics from the same range. This quilt feels special and timeless to me, and I think it will be worth spending the extra money on more Rouenneries Deux to finish it 'properly'.

I'm also pondering a change to my blog banner. I'm thinking maybe squares of knitting, patchwork and embroidery in matching colours joined together, and with the words 'Yarn and Yearn' somehow worked into the pieces. I just love what other people have done with the look of their blogs. The banner really sums up the style of a blog, and at the moment I'm not sure mine says much at all. I really admire people who have a strong sense of their own style and express it in every detail. I suppose these are the people who inspire us to keep on creating - I know I'm never lost for ideas, and I thank all you wonderful crafters out there for keeping me inspired and motivated!

Progress

A very short entry today - the Rouenneries Deux broken dishes blocks are multiplying...

An ending and a beginning

A finished quilt for my dear friend Sara's birthday. The fabric was bought about a year ago after being inspired by this beautiful creation. Sara loves it and I'm so happy it's gone to a good home!

Here's a view of the back. The finished size is about 160 X 190 cm, and I squared off each block to 13 inches. Here's a good tutorial if you want to have a go at making some cross blocks yourself. You can vary the width and placement of the cross bars and the whole process becomes semi-improvised. The only thing I was fussy about was keeping the horizontal and vertical lines at 90 degrees because I like right angles!

I sandwiched the quilt on my bed - the only space large enough in my little flat. I used cotton flannel in the middle - mainly to minimise the bulk of the quilt to make quilting it easier. Another advantage of the flannel was that the front and back 'stuck' to it very nicely. It was easy to smooth out the creases and flip the quilt over without the whole sandwich falling apart. I used one pin per square and quilted in the ditch around each block. The quilting process was surprisingly quick and only took an afternoon. I bound the quilt in red and hand finished it. I really enjoyed making this quilt and have a vision of another one in pale acid pink and yellow and white. However.... I have lots of fabric to keep me occupied before I go out and buy more! Fabric like this:

Rouenneries Deux. I was so excited to hear French General were reworking this line that I bought four charm packs as soon as they were released. It's a long weekend this weekend and I'm going to make a good start on a quilt. The photo above shows two of the charm packs disassembled and squares of the same print paired together.

Next step was to sort the squares into pairs of reds and neutrals ready for my broken dishes blocks.

 Production line.

A finished broken dishes block. I just love French General fabric and am loving seeing these blocks come together.

Ten blocks so far - not bad for an afternoon's work. I'll end up with around 40 blocks altogether from the four charm packs. Each block will have a finished size of 8 inches - around 20cm. So with some chunky borders I'll end up with a good double sized quilt.

This morning after my yoga class I registered for the April Mariner's Compass paper piecing workshop at The Patch Works in West Hobart. I'm really looking forward to this. It looks like there'll be a lot of precision work required - and some curved seams! A lovely challenge. I've never done a quilting workshop before - I've taught myself from books and online tutorials - and am looking forward to being together with other creative people. I'll let you know how it goes!

Meet Arnold the penguin and Quick Red Fox

This is Arnold the penguin from Fiona Dalton's gorgeous book 'Hop Skip Jump'. I handed over my toy books to my sister and nephew and asked them to choose a toy each. My sister bookmarked a few patterns and my oldest nephew Marcel chose Arnold for her - good choice! I'm a big Hop Skip Jump fan and have made a few toys now. I really recommend purchasing the book - it's choc-full of really wonderful characters.

Arnold's beak is curved and a bit wonky, but I just think that adds to his character - I love it actually! The pattern called for a hat recycled from a jumper cuff. I didn't have one handy so knitted his beanie instead - from some Jo Sharp tweed - classy penguin! I filled his legs with rice instead of fibre-fill and they dangle sooooo cutely over the edge of the table. The rice gives his legs some weight and they swing very nicely when you give him a shake.

And finally, Marcel chose Quick Red Fox - such a standout pattern. Both nephews now have foxes! The only thing I did differently this time was to make the kerchief longer so I could tie it in a proper knot - the other one was a touch too short.

There will be more Hop Skip Jump toys to come, I'm sure. I already have another Arnold in mind for a young friend who likes penguins, and a doll all cut out and ready to sew.

My very first pojagi!

It was my sister's birthday in January and I made her a pojagi window hanging as part of her birthday present. I used the same hanky linen as my bathroom curtain. I think the crisp texture and see-through-ness of the fabric is perfect for this technique. It's based on traditional Korean patchwork and I followed the Silly BooDilly's tutorial 2 here.

Here is the piece in progress. It was very enjoyable to make, but quite time consuming. You press and encase all the seams as you go to get the lovely stained glass outline effect. Here is a beautiful example in blues by the Silly BooDilly. Isn't that just one of the loveliest things? And another beautiful example in neutrals.

If you doubled your fabric in one of the panels you could encase a leaf, or a feather. So delicate and peaceful to look at.

A bag and a glove

It was my cousin's birthday in January and I made her a patchwork shopping tote. I used up all my eighths of some Heather Bailey Freshcut that I bought a few years ago. They were just waiting for the right project! I also added in the bright yellow and the brown print - I think they really make the other pieces zing. The bag is lined in patched pieces of Freshcut and is reversible.

The glove is the second half of my dear friend Izabel's birthday present. She received one glove for her birthday last year and I didn't manage to finish the other one until my summer holidays! Apologies Izabel! But I hope you enjoy your gloves when the weather cools and you have fun with the book. The glove is from a lovely Patons vintage book and has bobbles around the cuff and a little lace detail on the back. It is knitted in a 5 ply possum merino from New Zealand.

Both presents were packaged thus. In sheet music from 'The Mikado' sewn into an envelope.

Here is my finished cupboard and painted kitchen and tidy house! The remaining green wall will be covered with off white tiles to become a splash-back for the stove. I cooked dinner for friends recently and it was so nice not to have to spend half an hour moving things off the table and couch to make room for guests!

This is a view of the shelves on the kitchen side (behind that upper right blank panel that you can see in the previous photo). I had so much fun rearranging kitchen stuff and putting my nicest crockery on display. This is my little minimal designer zone and it makes me calm to look at it.

I have some more stuff to show you in my next few posts including some more Hop Skip Jump toys and a finished quilt! I hope you come back and take a look!