Following on from the Harwood’s Quiet Book post, I realised that we had been made some really beautiful things when we were little. My mum’s friend Lynn, who she met when they lived in the States made this fantastic embroidered picture for my little brother when he was born, isn’t it just the most lovely present? And imagine how long it must have taken her, she really is very talented.

The carriages have the date, time and day he was born all immaculately embroidered.

And how much he weighed (sorry about the blurry photo)

I think making these sort of things for boys must be hard anyway but this is just brilliant, I would really love to make these for my friend’s children but where does one find the time? Also do you think she would have used a kit, or a pre printed pattern or just made it up?

This is currently hanging up on the staircase in my parents house in France, just a little further up on the landing I found this embroidered picture which I remember from when we were little but have no idea where it came from.

Look at the detail in the stitches, isn’t it amazing. I really must take the time to learn to embroider properly, I’d dearly love to be able to make things as intricate as this. Another thing to add to the ever-expanding craft ‘to-do’ list…

I’m a very spoilt girl, for my birthday my lovely friends Jai and David got me a liberty coin (a posh gift voucher), very exciting! They thought I would like to buy something crafty, they were right.

I have decided to knit myself an item of clothing, this is quite ambitious as I have yet to see a hand knitted jumper or cardigan (apart from on ravlery) which isn’t hideous, but I’m going to give it a go.

But I can’t decide, these are my shortlist:

The Olive, not massively exciting but a lovely shape and might be good to keep it simple, this would be lovely in a really soft wool and because it’s plain I would wear it a lot (assuming it;s not a complete disaster…)

An Ysolda pattern, I think this is really pretty but maybe not that practical, not sure what colours I would use either.

Not strictly a jumper I know but if you look on ravelry at the completed projects it turns out really well, would look nice with opaque tights or leggings.

The Manu sweater, really cute and I like that I would get to choose pretty buttons too.

Okay so I’m never going to make this but I LOVE it, she spent loads of time on this and it’s amazing – check out her ‘recipe’

So ‘vote now!’, I’m going to spend quite a lot of money and time on this, I probably won’t start it until autumn but I need to make sure I get the right yarn and psych myself up for it. Grrr!

.·:*¨¨*:·.

I have been promising to make myself a new skirt for a while now but hadn’t quite found the right thing. I was thinking about making the Marie:

Found on the fabulous Burda Style of course. I cut out the fabric and everything but i just can’t get that excited about it for some reason, maybe it’s the fabric I chose, maybe it’s the style, who knows?

Anyway I have since moved on due to the discovery of this little beauty – the Kasia:

If you follow the link you can see some other peoples projects, I think it looks best in a dark colour with a bright lining in the pockets, so I’m thinking I might make it in a navy blue with red polka dot contrasting fabric and cover the buttons in it too.

This is an intermediate pattern so it may take me some time but it’s apparently a ‘fall’ skirt so it might just be ready in time for autumn…

I haven’t blogged for ages, I’m sorry. I have had a very busy birthday, food poisoning and, to be honest, a lot of time spent in my lovely garden. However, this does not mean I haven’t done any craft or thought about craft, quite the opposite in fact.

So here are two projects I have got planned for the summer:

Number one, these gorgeous outdoor placemats

You can buy them from fantastic Etsy shop Once Again but I’m definitely going to make some for some alfresco dining that won’t get spoiled by a light breeze!

My mum also sent me this, no idea where she saw it but it’s a must for the mythical craft room

These are surely just some painted picture frames (Ikea anyone?) with some Amy Butler fabric tacked on, genius!

I see both of these projects as a really good excuse to buy and  hoard use some more fabric, hurrah! Ikea have some really great prints at the moment:

I love these bold brights;

And this whole range, all different fairytale, whimsical designs

Recently lots of people seem to be having babies, thinking about having babies, substituting their urge for a baby with a pet etc and I have been trying to think of more interesting, longer lasting presents I can make rather than resorting to a pair of booties.

Then I remembered all the amazing things my parents friends made for us when we were little, here is the first of many handmade masterpeices.

The Harwood’s Quiet Book

Now you’re probably thinking (especially if you know me and/or my siblings) that this is an extremely promising title, and it really can deliver! My mum’s friend at Girl Scouts made this for us and it has been much loved and passed many a rainy day. I am planning to make one in the coming months so take a peek at what the finished article should look like.

I love the vintage fabric she used for the mitten and the trees.

We seem to have lost the clown’s nose but other than that the loose pieces have miraculously all stayed put in the book.

Look a the cute baseball pitcher in his stripy suit.

I was always disappointed that there were only 5 candles so maybe I’ll do more

Pretty ribbon

Now I know why I save all those buttons!

Obviously I would have a shoe to lace rather than an American football but the rainbow lace is brilliant

I was never very good at telling the time, this should have helped. It didn’t, I always preferred to braid the pretty girl’s hair.

All in all I think this is pretty much the best baby gift you can get, what do you think? Anything you would add?

So now I need to go and buy a shit load of needlecord and felt, a selection of ‘notions’ and i’m going to rifle through mine and my mum’s fabric stash for everything else. It’s going to be a mammoth project but it will be worth it if someone else’s children love it as much as we did.

You might think it’s a bit ambitious to knock up a whole quilt in a couple for weeks but I disagree, I have been meaning to start this for ages but just haven’t gotten around to it. My very good friend Gareth is going ot be a dad in the next few weeks and I promised I would make him/her a quilt. Yes, that’s right: ‘him/her’, selfishly they have chosen not to know the gender of their child making it much more difficult for me to craft appropriately, but I struggle on…

Anyway I decided a while ago on the advice of Lizzy to make a quilt based on a patchwork trimmed blanket from Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross. This is made using a peice of fleece blanket with a patchwork edge and an appliqued letter for the baby’s first name.

I really want to make a cot quilt so I’m going to just make a plain white quilt filled with cotton wadding and do a rainbow patchwork edge and then run a very straightforward criss-cross patchwork on my machine. Obviously I won’t be able to do the letter until the baby is born anyway but I’m fairly confident I can put this together in a week or so. The most time consuming thing so far is the lack of good online patchwork shops. I just want to be able to buy everything I need in one place, is that so much to ask?

I was talking to my friend Caroline at work, she was saying how she wants a pattern for a really big chunky cowl so her mum can knit it for her. I don’t quite know how, but this has some how worked it’s way into my consciousness and now, guess what? I want one too…

So I had a look on etsy and found this gorgeous one;

It’s slightly out of my price range sadly so I had a look on ravelry and found a few of good patterns

Chunky Chunky Cowl

Chunky Chunky Ribbed Cowl

Marian Seed Stitch Cowl

I like the crochet ones and I’ll probably make them wider than the pattern but what do you think? Any preferences?

My friend brought this positively wonderful quilt to my attention earlier in the year (another inspired Purl Bee production) as she was thinking of making it for her wedding, this hasn’t yet happened but it made me think, how good would this look as a skirt? Fucking brilliant, that’s how good!

So at some point (when I finish my painstakingly slow hand-stitched patchwork quilt) I plan to make this and then sew into a simple straight skirt pattern, I worry that it might be slightly ‘folky’ but i just need to accessorise it correctly and I’m sure it will look great.