This is NOT a Tesco Tabbard!

But a victorious Victoria Blazer!

I finally jumped on the Victoria bandwagon and stitched myself up a snazzy blazer. As the blog post title suggests I had a little wobble during the early construction stages when it strongly resembled an old Tesco uniform I had worn many moons ago.

Thankfully I think it is looking ever so slightly more trendy now it is finished!



Despite being a little hard to track down as it is awaiting a reprint, the pattern was purchased from Trixie Lixie online and came the next day. I love the packaging and everything about the pattern, well worth the money.




The main shell fabric is a deliciously soft pin dot cotton flannel with just the perfect amount of drape.



And it is lined in a very quilty inspired cotton lawn (how could I not!) both from Heathcoat Fabrics in Tiverton, Devon. A large fabric shop that is well worth a visit if you are local.




I managed to stitch this up in one 4 hour sewing session, luckily the clear instructions that accompany the pattern along with the fantastic sew along posts from the By Hand girls make for a very smooth process.

 

Much smoother than taking photos with the help of 9 and 4 year old children!

Playing Hookey

I've been playing away.

These days it seems I have more and more obligatory sewing that must be done. And don't get me wrong, I still am madly truly deeply in love with sewing, but when it becomes work, work can sometimes be a chore and its nice to have a break from that.

So I taught myself to crochet. Again.

I had learnt to crochet right back in the days when Mollie Makes first came on the scene. I didn't however really get the hang of it and after making an apple cosy promptly forgot the bare grasp I had on the skill.

Then inspired on instagram by the likes of Bonnie from Pink Stitches I decided it was high time I picked up my hook again!

I started with a blanket, made from old balls of wool I had from before either of my children were born! It is a squircle granny square with a large spike stitch border (I used a tutorial for the border but I can't remember where from, sorry!)

I had hoped to make it bigger, but ran out of the white yarn. And in all honesty for a first blanket it was a good size to attempt, any larger and I would have lost interest. Crochet takes way longer than quilting, fact. The kids certainly love it and its always in use. 

Then I decided time for something for me

A lovely big squishy crochet shawl, using the Nordic Shawl pattern from My Rose Valley. I  love the simple style and the most fun was playing around with which colours to use.

Next, my local yarn shop, Social Fabric, asked if I would help them get a kit together for a granny square blanket. They gave me a lovely bundle of soft DK yarn and I set to work turning it into piles of granny squares for a shop sample.

Then, back to something for the children. I saw this amazing doll on Instagram and just had to track down where it came from and make one.

You can find the instructions for this doll over at Annaboos house in the cal. I adapted the pattern to have a slightly longer body and stripey tights. I am pleased to say coconut (as my children affectionately called her during her bald pre-hair period) is all finished. 

A second doll had been promised to my older daughter, but in the meantime I can be found making a batch of animal ear headbands, I've been asked for purple hippo ears and brown bears too!

Aneela Anthology Spiderwebs - A Finish

I started this quilt last year, well actually thanks to the accountability of instgram I know that I made just two blocks back in January 2013. I can't really say why I stopped at two, I was all excited, rushing out to buy a whole load of white solid yardage to make up the quilt. But then they sat on my wall, taunting me all year. They are pretty time consuming with all those little strips, and if I am honest I think I was finding it hard to cut up the last of my scraps!

Until I went on retreat in March with the best sewing friends a girl could ask for, Jo did a pretty good job at blogging about it (I was too exhausted from all the stitching when I came back!). I packed up all my precut and premarked white squares and a shoe box full of Aneela scraps along with my sewing machine and several bags of snacks and treats! We didn't leave the cottage for the whole weekend and stitched until our eyes were sore!

 

In the space of two days I managed to make enough blocks to get a fair sized quilt and put the top together too. All that remained when I got home was to quilt it, in a simple loopy fmq, and bind it. It is much smaller than I would usually make, but I had started to run out of scraps and it is still big enough to go across the bottom of a single bed nicely.

I really have loved every single line that Aneela has done so it is wonderful to have them all together in this quilt. It is backed with a vintage pink floral sheet that used to belong to my Nan, which makes it extra special. I started the quilt so long ago that Hello Petal has since been released so that's not included in the quilt. I guess I will have to make another one then!

 

If you are interested in making your own spiderweb quilt, I used the great tutorial by Heather over at House of A La Mode

I'll leave you with a thank you to my daughter who helped me take these photos (because I have a migraine AGAIN!) and a huge hug and a thank you to anyone who sent me any Aneela scraps all those moons ago to make my Aneela Sampler quilt, this quilt only exists because I couldn't bare to waste a single precious scrap of it! Thank you xxxxx

A new tutorial - circular knitting needle case

I've teamed up with the wonderful Village Haberdashery again to bring you a new tutorial. This time I am showing you how to make a handy case for your circular knitting needles. Obviously not all of you knit, but these make amazing original gifts for knitters in your life too!

You can find the full tutorial over at the Daily Stitch Blog and of course all of the great fabrics I've used are available at The Village Haberdashery. Look out for a linked giveaway coming soon too!