Happy mothers day!

So after 26 years of pure frustration & occasionally tears (when my age was in single numbers!) I have finally figured out how to tie knots in yarn with 2 sticks and gosh darn it I'm rather stinkingly proud of myself :D My dearest mum has been trying to teach me to knit since I was 5, 26 years later for Mothers Day she finally got her scarf!
Now I don't know the knitting lingo but it was like knitting rope with broomsticks! I used UK sized 10 needles with Sirdar Bohemia yarn and it came out like this

And a crumpled up shot so you can see the pretty colours :D

If anyone has any basic beginner patterns that you think I could wrap my brain around please do share as I really enjoyed making this little scarf. Oh and my mum loved it...well she said she did lol

Hope you all had a great mothers day, I know I did! 

One fluffy baby quilt and a trip out :)

So once the baby quilt was thrown excitedly into the washing machine yesterday it was announced we were going for a walk down to the beach before our Sunday lunch (It wasn't me that announced it!) 

It was that lovely mix of sunny and cold, but not too cold.

The waves were rocking, I love the sound of crashing waves!

And as anyone that has kids knows we came home with a mountain of beach combed shells pebbles and rocks :)

Once we got home I hauled the quilt out of the wash and got it hung out to dry (Katy I'm seriously thinking on a tumble dryer again!) and now it's all dry and squishy soft I thought I'd better share :D

it's finished at approximately 32"x32" 

The backing and quilting

This one is in my shop

I'm now having a play making some Blythe doll bonnets and capes so should have some to show and tell soon!

Hope you all have a great week :)

Quick peek - New York Beauty 0 baby quilt

Ok so these are rubbish photo's but forgive me I'm excited :)
I got this finished and it's about to be thrown in the washer to get it's self all soft (I am addicted to spray starch!) and crinkly but I couldn't wait to share so here you go

I backed it in a very pretty spring yellow, in real life it's a cross between a buttery yellow and lemon.

It's a strange feeling to be excited about doing laundry that only other quilters understand! 

I'll be back with proper photo's once its dry again :)

Under invasion! (And a quilt top)

So how many of you lovely ladies have had to endure your sons playing War hammer? ok so how about how many of you have watched as slowly your other half came down with the fever? Make no mistake it is an illness, 2 nights ago I awoke to him indoors stumbling around the bedroom at 2am telling me he was looking for "Space wolves" yes he was sound asleep! ( And will kill me for telling you all :D) Once ridding the sewing room of the Mama Wasp I did think I'd be free to sew away till my heart was content...how mistaken was I...Well you may remember for previous posts that this desk was no where to be seen in my sewing room...

I know Lizzy, Him in door's mum will be killing herself laughing at this! 

I suppose on the bright side of things next time a wasp gets in there are whole armies up there to take it out :) and yes him in doors lives in that hat.

Anyway that was partly to explain why the next pics you will see are in the sitting room and not the sewing room...we had no room!

The x and + blocks are finally all swapped over and ready to post back out tomorrow! This is a shot of all of them ready to sort...

And this is all of the beautiful blocks laid out ready to swap around, great fun by the way, I must have made over 50 quilts in my head looking at them all. You ladies are really talented!

So they shall all be on their way to new homes on Saturday and I can't wait to see what you all make with them.

Lastly I accidentally made a quilt, I'm joining in with The New York Beauty quilt along on Flickr, as a side note I'd love to add a button but aint got a clue how so rather than blowing up the interwebs trying I'll just pop the link there instead :D So yes quilt top as I was saying... I made New York Beauty Bock 0 in a Mahoooosive size, well thats what happens when you print these buggers out on A3 rather than A4! Once I had made the 4 quarters I quickly realised that if I kept going at this size I would have a floor quilt bigger than our bedroom so I made an "executive decision" and turned it into a baby quilt

The Mahooosive block at 23" x23"

Is now a baby quilt top at 32"x32"

It seems I have put my wadding in "a safe place" yes it's now so safe I can't find it, so this top will stay a top until I get to my LQS Just quilting and pick some more up. You know what will happen then don't you? The wadding in the "Safe place" will jump out at me...hayho such is life!

These blocks are really fun to make, I am a paper piecing idiot and even I enjoyed making them.

Hope you have a fun weekend planned :)

  

News from my fluffy world and 2 finished quilts!

So I've been busy again :)

Playing with picture frame blocks and turning them into a squishy soft baby quilt. I had a load of tartan wool that I've used for the backing on this one-but I forgot to get photo's lol Its had it's first wash and it has crinkled up fabulously. All of those straight lines brought out the wonky fiend in me so it has wonky quilting to satisfy my urge to create chaos Mwhaha! 

Did I mention my addiction to voile before? Ok well I admit it here on the internet in front of you all. I have an addiction to voile! It is soooo soft and cool against skin, drapes beautifully and isn't the p.i.t.a. to sew that people think it is. So with all of that in mind I made another voile quilt-

 & heres a close up :)

For the back I used the last of my liberty and stripes of Anna Maria Horner as, again, I was a little sort on Liberty for the backing.

So coming clean here with my little update and my little bit of news I have set up a shop on Etsy ( you may have noticed I made an effort with the photos lol) You can pop over and have a look 

 Issabella The Cat on Etsy!!! 

I am really excited and hope you like what you see :) As time goes on I will be adding a section for my digital photography, just waiting for my test prints to come back (For the 3rd time!) and maybe some Blythe doll goodies too. I would love any feedback you would like to share so feel free to leave a comment :)

So for the reasoning behind setting up shop...If you read regularly you'll know I moved house just before Christmas and now have a whole loft to sew in (Now that the wasp is evicted!) so lots of space & now lots of time as my work/life balance has swung full way towards life (I won't bore you with the details) 

After the last craft market I did in December I promised myself I will no longer worry about ending up with hypothermia whilst trying to sell my crafts and put the markets on hold until the weather turns...well as warm as it gets in Northern England! So an online venue was needed and Etsy filled the criteria, so  there I am :D

Pop over and have a look & if you like what you see tell everyone you know lol (Etsy stats are more addictive to look at than even Blogger stats!) 

Hope you have a great weekend planned and manage to fit some sewing time in :)