A new use for quilts

As I am right in the middle of making a new quilt with nothing much to show you at present, I thought I would catch up on a couple of little projects I finished around Christmas time (better late than never!).

This first one is a tiny mini quilt for my eldest son Felix, the orange-clad travelling hippy (as we call him).
Felix wasn't meant to be home for Christmas as he is travelling until next summer, but he surprised us by turning up at the door unannounced a few weeks before (one of the loveliest days of my life so far).
Of course I hadn't bought him a Christmas present and when I asked him what he wanted he said, "can you make me a tiny quilt like the one you gave Jacob. I need it for re-charging my crystals".
Well I bet you didn't know you could use quilts to do that!!

This is the tiny quilt I gave his brother. I made a few different versions of these about 5 years ago and mounted them in box frames and sold them in the shop. But I could never bear to part with this little Amish one.
Jacob should have had a full-sized quilt for his 21st birthday last August, but due to my tardiness and to his inability to give up control of even the simplest thing *sigh* I have not even started it yet. So for his birthday I gave him this tiny quilt instead, just until I had made the large one. Though actually he says he is not going to give it back now anyway, as it's 'cool'!!

So for Felix's 'crystal re-charger' I made a tiny rainbow Dresden Plate and sewed it to a piece of Hometown fabric which featured quite a few places he had visited. The eye fabric came from one of my remaining pieces of Alexander Henry, Frida Kahlo fabric I have been hoarding for years. Some hand quilting, blanket stitches and French knots finished it off.
Here is the quilt at work...

...and here is the back - some Essex Yarn-dyed in black.
He is off again now and this is travelling with him. Well, you mustn't forget your re-charger when you are travelling ;)

Last Christmas I had great fun knitting my first pair of socks and I was looking forward to another go this year.

I found this Regia sock yarn amongst my wool stash, I had bought a 100g ball years ago to crochet mini owls (remember them anyone?) and still had plenty left.
It is the most amazing wool, which makes you look like you are a really good knitter who knows how to do fairisle and such like. When actually the wool just does it all for you!
And look at my heel - I totally worked out how to do it properly this time!

I don't think I can really express how much fun it is to knit socks. It is like magical 3D engineering with wool. I just love it!! And I wear the socks all the time (and last year's pair), they just go through the washing machine and the tumble dryer over and over again. They fit me perfectly and are so warm. I would encourage anyone to give it a try, they really aren't that hard, especially with this fantastic book, Getting Started Knitting Socks by Anne Budd, which I thoroughly recommend.

I am desperate to knit more but I have been suffering with tendonitis in my left hand due to knitting that Noro jacket (too heavy apparently), so I have had to give up all knitting and crocheting for a bit.
Hopefully I will be back spending quality time with my 5 DPN's very, very soon! That's double pointed needles for your non-sock knitters, and really why wouldn't you just become a sock knitter after everything I've just said!

Family Life with Wool

Who's that handsome, wild looking, young man? It's my boy Felix! 

Felix arrived home last week after nearly a year away travelling the world and growing his hair.

It's so lovely to have him back safe and sound.

We weren't really expecting him back at the beginning of February and his arrival has coincided with a 3 week visit by my 89 year old father. Here's dad looking nowhere near 89! I hope I look this good at his age.
So, as you can imagine, my family life has rather taken over at the moment (which is, of course, totally ok and right). But it does mean I am not crafting at my usual hectic pace.

Instead I have been knitting like crazy to get that jumper finished for Felix before summer arrives! Look at all that knitting! I only have a tiny bit of a sleeve and the collar to do (as well as the making up of course).

But I had to put the knitting on hold earlier this week, as I got a turn on the panel. This is The Great Tapestry of Scotland project that I am involved in.
I have been working on the woman's hair. As she is a woman from 8500 BC I thought her hair would probably be quite tangled and matted (no products available then!). So I tackled this by couching 2 threads (of dark brown) at a time until the whole hair area was covered. I then couched a single strand of dark grey or chestnut brown over the top, and completed the look with large cross stitches and bullion knots.

This was a quick way of covering an area and I hope I can use it again on another subject, like the dog/wolf on the other side of the panel. You can read more about the Tapestry Project and see the whole panel here. Also they now have a facebook page which has about 200 photos of all the panels in progress - really worth a look!

It's all wool this week!
I know I should be making African Flowers to finish my blanket (one of my items in the QAL), but instead I am making them for a new project *blushes*.
I have chosen a limited palette (for me!) of 11 shades of gorgeous Rooster Almerino DK to work on something I hope to show you soon.

Meanwhile let's look at something amazing made by someone who actually finishes things!
This incredible crocheted lampshade was made by Amanda of Amanda Makes blog. She bought all the Rooster wool from our website along with some of our sale fabric (which she also used for a lampshade - see her blog).

I think this is one of the most beautiful lampshades I have ever seen and wanted to share it with you. Thanks for letting me Amanda!
One more thing - you still have a few hours left to enter my Notting Hill Giveaway!