Adventures in Quilting

Having done patchwork before I thought it was about time I leaped into the world of quilting. Armed with my 'Dare to be Square' book I set to. I have made an end of bed/knee quilt for my niece as a Christmas gift. I hope it will become the blanket she takes with her though life as I give it to her now at 18 months. Finished photo to follow!

Cushion for Annabelle

Annabelle is 1!

Very keen to provide lovely things for my niece I made an appliqué cushion with her name and things beginning with 'A' on it. Apple, anchor, aardvark!

Main cushion cover made from felt with a zip closure on the back, appliquéd felt and Amy Butler fabric letters with embroidered apple and anchor and appliquéd aardvark.

Appliquéd Aardvark - if thats not a craft blog waiting to be published I don't know what is.

I digress!

As you can see, the cushion got a round of applause.

Charity Corsages

Me and my knitting group made a tree for Knit in Public day last month, full of leaves and flowers (and 3 slugs).

The plan was to sew these flowers and leaves together into corsages and then sell them for Mustard Tree; a charity for homeless and vulnerable people in Manchester.

So here are the finished articles! Some knitted, some sewn, some crocheted.

We have sold a few already and got over £40! If we continue to sell at similar prices we should get over £130, which I think is pretty good.

Tape Measure Bunting

Bunting! Just single sided, cut with pinking shears. I bought some cheap (55p) tape measures and sewed the triangles to that instead of bias binding or cotton tape. I think they look pretty snazzy.

Fabric Covered Letters

Papier mache letters (bought from Fred Aldous in Manchester - £5 each) and covered in Amy Butler fabric. I traced the letters onto the fabric and glued the face pieces down with PVA. I then snipped v shapes around the curves and wrapped round the sides. I then made a sort of bias binding to fit round the edges, and glued with PVA again. I am going to use them as display items in the workshops I run at work.

Knitted Elephant

Here is 'Flo' from Knitty.com. Done in two balls of Rowan Pure Wool Aran with domed buttons for eyes and some toggles for tusks. I bought some blue tapestry wool to do blanket stitch round the ears and feet but I quite like it as it is. After a bit of trial and error I upped the needle size to 4mm.

After I started knitting this I saw this article and thought it was quite serendipitous: http://bit.ly/hXYekb

I also think it is a he, unsure of a name, we await the outcome of the football today as I have promised my boyfriend if Manchester United win I will call him Ferguson, if not he is being called Everton.

Pattern available here: http://bit.ly/bnZum1

Sheer from Rowan Studio 22

This jumper is pretty cool. 3/4 of the body and sleeves are done in Kid Classic - a mohair mix yarn, then the top 1/4 is in Kidsilk Haze - a mohair and silk yarn that is super fine but with lots of fluff.

By keeping the work on the same sized needles though out it creates the fine top panels. Done in reds in the book, I have gone for these taupe shades: Bitter Sweet in the Kid Classic and Majestic in Kidsilk Haze.

It knit up very quickly and not with any real effort - it just seems to have appeared before my eyes.

Now onto something more appropriate for the sunny weather we have been having. (Why do I knit 'winter' garments as soon as it gets warm??)