Just bits and bobs.....

September...almost over, I can hardly believe it!
It seems no time since we were basking in sunshine and spending endless days in the summerhouse and now its almost time to put it to bed and start thinking of cosy nights inside. Sigh!!.....

Well I haven't been completely idle over the past weeks, but I must say I have definitely slowed down....Lots of bits and bobs really..

I finally finished my grandson's jumper.......and it still fits!

and started one for his brother (I hope to finish this one a little quicker)

 

I've repainted another fireside chair. We only had one in the dining room where DH likes to watch his sport on the bigger TV, but the grandsons love being in this room so we thought we would take out the child's chair we had here before and give them both a 'grown up' one now. Cant make up my mind though whether to leave the green covers which I made previously or make some more in a toning red or taupe fabric!

I've had to remake the red checked chair cushion too as the springs underneath had worn the  bottom away .

I've been playing with my embroidery machine too! I love all these cushions with deer heads and while looking for some machine embroideries to my taste, I found an article about 'picture stitch' and remembered that this was a function of my machine. So I found a photograph of a deer, and a hare which I also love and set about converting them to embroideries and this is the result for the deer.....

I love it! I know it isn't perfect and no doubt if I were a bit more savvy with photoshop I could make the original image much sharper which would then make the embroidery have better definition, but I think for a first attempt it's not bad. So it looks like I'll be making a few cushion covers in the next few weeks. They'll be lovely to add to the knitted deer cushion I hope to make from the pattern lovely Lucy from Lemonade Kitty wrote out for me earlier in the year.

So together with the pile of dressmaking I have lined up I guess it's just as well the weather's changing and the nights drawing in as I could be locked in my sewing room for some time.

 That is when I'm not glued to Pinterest or playing with this awesome App.....

 A corner of my bedroom and Winnibriggs House in glorious watercolour!.......What do you think. I think its awesome in fact I think I will print off the house picture and frame it........

Well enough of my ramblings, I hope you all have a good  and productive week...

TTFN

Jenny xx

Jack of all Trades.....

...but master of none as the old saying goes!!.................

Well look at me two posts in a week, better go steady here lol!

Since I gave up sewing for others I feel I have become a bit of a butterfly crafter, flitting from this to that. Oh sewing will always be my first love, and I have finished off a few WIPs in the dressmaking department in the last few months, but every now and then I feel I want to try something else.

Do you do it....watch these craft programs and think I'd like to try that.

Well my heading sums it up really. A bit of a knitter, a dabble at crochet and now a very amateur beader!  The latter I might add has come about because I am too mean to pay twice the cost of a beautiful bracelet bought me for my retirement to have it made smaller.

Well I've already shown my recent attempts at knitting again ......

I'm pleased to report I am now on the final sleeve so it may still fit my grandson when its done.(And of course there's always his little brother if it takes me too long he he! )

The crochet which my mum taught me over 50 years ago has been revived after being bought this English translation of a Japanese book by my lovely daughter...( Er. she bought it I mean, she didn't write it!!)

so I rifled around my studio and found all these odd balls of wool in a mix of bright and more subdued colours and decided this would be a great project to pick up and do a few motifs when I didn't have lots of time.

This is where the 'master of none' bit comes in....There are no real written instructions, just graphs. However the clue is in the title of the throw 'Honeycomb Afghan'. Honeycomb....hexagon....

Spot the mistake.........even my seven year old grandson knew these were pentagons!!!
However I have done too many now to give them up so will run with it and maybe do the 'proper' one sometime in the future. I have to say I do love the book and there are several other projects I would like to try...If I can read the diagrams properly this time.

And finally the beading. This has been relatively successful in that I have repaired several of my necklaces broken by tiny inquisitive fingers, and those just trying to find something to hang onto! I haven't yet plucked up the courage to tackle the bracelet

(excuse the shocking photo the light was very bad. It is a lovely chartreuse colour really)

But I have made a new coral coloured necklace and a pretty bracelet and my crimping skills are improving!....

So there you have it. Things I am loving having a go at even though I know they are not perfect. I think I would like to take some classes one day just to see if I can conquer the techniques, but then again I'm pretty happy with what I have achieved and at the end of the day that's all that really matters!

. Have a good and productive week whatever you are doing. Mine has so far involved Lego engineering, baking, Wii, pushing swings and buying ice cream and pretty much similar next week.Bored I will certainly not be!!

TTFN

Jenny xx

SO WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON......

I sometimes find it a bit hard to get back into my crafty ways after holidays and particularly Christmas. I think we all set ourselves so many tasks that we get a bit overloaded with it. At least I do.
I love making all the decorations, table settings and the odd gift, baking the cake, making mincemeat and mince pies but when you add that to customer orders and family requests, I sigh a little with relief when the big day comes thinking that now I can decide what I want to do, and when!
And so now that things have calmed down a bit and I have decided to take a break from my sewing business, I have been able to pick and choose how I spend my 'spare' time.
I have kept my hand in by making these, for family members and really enjoyed doing them without any pressure.

I have also been busy making this little knitting bag for our giveaway,

 and Ive also made a  knitting needle roll for this lovely lady  Jan from Lemonade Kitty  who wrote out a graph pattern for a knitted cushion I admired on her blog. So very kind of you Jan! Hopefully it will get done before next Christmas and I will be able to show you how beautiful it is!
I have done quite a bit of baking  and trying new soup recipes. Though why when I think of all the food consumed over Christmas I don't know except that in this dismal weather I think we all need a bit of comfort food!

And I have finally got back into knitting. I used to do loads when my children were small, but as they got bigger my enthusiasm waned and sewing rather took over (much quicker for me). I also found that unless I could afford to pay an awful lot out for wool the results never quite matched the effort.
That was until I discovered Phildar!  I know, I know I should support British and I do try but for me I have personally never found any patterns as stylish or yarn as delightful to knit! (Please don't all clamour to beat me up)

Phildar withdrew from selling here some long time ago but  from a chance read on Jorths blog I discovered that they were still in operation and that I could order the magazines and yarn direct from France. Of course I am not only revising my knitting skills here but also brushing up on my not very good schoolgirl French as all the patterns are in this language, so perhaps I get browny points for that!!
I am pleased to report though that I have already completed the back of a new jumper for my grandson, and am beavering away at the front now.

 I am really enjoying it and cant wait to make some of the others in the 3 magazines I have so far purchased. They were all on special offer and the yarn very reasonable.
So that's me for now. I would love to know what you are up to and if you have a favourite reasonably priced yarn you would recommend for ease of knitting and  practicality. Little ones' (and sometimes big ones') knitwear does need to withstand an awful lot of washing, so I'd be interested in your thoughts.

Have a great week. Don't forget our giveaway and if you know someone who likes knitting and a bit of vintage don't forget to tell them too, its free!
 Hope to hear from you soon

TTFN

Jenny xx

A LITTLE VINTAGE STYLE GIVEAWAY

I cant believe that its been a week already since my last post!. It has been a busy but happy week. We have added a few more bits to our shop Olive and Edna's Vintage Emporium and had a few sales. But as with any new venture promotion is all important and though we know that all you lovely bloggers are worth a giveaway at any time, I hope you will forgive us on this occasion if we are doing it with a purpose!

We are offering this lovely handmade vintage style knitting/crochet/craft bag made from vintage and new materials. It is embellished with a hand crocheted doily and as you can see from the picture is plenty big enough to hold your next knitting project. Of course it can also be used as a tote to carry your every day necessities. The uses are endless. We will be adding these to our shop very shortly.

Of course this wont be the only little treasure we will be sending to the lucky winner. There will be other delights including a French copy of Modes& Travaux from November 1955. This wonderful blast from the chic French past is full of amazing fashion, awesome knitting patterns and brilliant advertisements of the time. I mean girls don't you all long to have 'un poli brillant' on your saucepans!! There will also be one or two other little surprises which we hope to match the personal style of the winner.

 

And so how to enter....  

Just click on the link on my sidebar for Olive and Edna's Vintage Emporium, have a browse and then 'like' us if you do. Then pop back here to tell us and you will be entered into a draw which will take place in two weeks time on Sunday 9th February 2014. If you want to follow us on Twitter too we are @oliveandedna  so let us know in a separate comment that you have done so and we will enter your name for both in the draw.

Have a lovely week and I will be back soon with a round up of some of my makes since Christmas, ( just to show that I havn't abandoned my crafting altogether)

TTFN

Jenny (and Heidi too) xx