I Wish Someone Had Told Me........

I think I was always a bit addicted to buying yarn....running a knitting business it does come with the territory.  Although with yarn I wasn't very experimental.  I never really liked fancy yarns.  Plain simple colours have always worked for me.....apart from the little booties I made in variegated yarn....I never even ventured that far into fancy yarn.

But.....I wish someone hat told me that buying fabric was addictive......It's referred to now as "Crafting Crack" around these parts....not particularly a nice term....but I just can't stop looking and buying fabric......Someone around here mentioned that making quilts was addictive, but the process of buying the fabric has become equally as addictive if not more fun than the making of the quilts themselves.

My thing at the moment is to sit in front of the computer scrolling through the online fabric swatches at Fabric.com .  I then make up mood boards on the design wall.....if I like the colours I've come up with then I just take a screen shot and file it away.....last night I stumbled across fabrics from Riley Blake...a red, orange and blue story......thus I've made a purchase and have another quilt lined up.

I don't think I'm ready to move on from squares just yet when it comes to my quilt making....maybe when the knitting dies down a little I'll experiment with other patterns, but my priority is still to get Niece No 2's pink quilt completed....Quilt No. 1 is sitting here all completed and waiting for the other one to be made.

I've also got another stash of fabric here to make what I referred to as the Easter Quilt , although that stash got raided and a few of the fabrics made their way into Niece No 2's stash.....so I'll be doing a top up when I get around to making that quilt.

So there you have it......My name is Vicki and I am an addict.....and addict of textiles and woolly things.

Am I the only one that stashes and stores craft materials, or is it quite normal for most crafty people to secretly stash?.......Or are you one of those sane people that just buys what you need?  I wish I was the latter!!



Vic x

Sunny Spread

I love this pattern....Sunny Spread.  This blanket I just started making in my spare time.  It uses Baby Cashmerino and I used a 3.5mm hook for all the main work.  It is glorious.  The colours I love, although not traditional baby colours, but I think anything goes these days.

It used around 6 balls of the main silver grey, and one ball each of  the donkey grey, charcoal grey and mustard, black, white and lemon. 

I personally went with a plain single crochet border.  I didn't use the border on the pattern, for me it was a bit too much and too matchy, matchy!! I always make sure that I use a hook at least half a size smaller when crocheting a border to a blanket.....I used a 3mm for this border.  By doing this you don't get that loose wavy border that looks as if you have too many stitches added....When using the 3mm, your border will seem a bit tight on completion, but blocking will completely stretch it out as you can see from the finished blanket.

The size on completion of this blanket is 83cm x 62cm.....It is probably a large pram or moses basket size, and I guess if making it for a cot, probably add an extra row on width and length would make it perfect.....I ran out of the silver grey yarn and I didn't have any in a matching dye lot, so stopped at 6 x 7 rows.

You can find my blanket on Ravelry here, but for now I'm off to finish some other long overdue hat orders........

Vicki x

What's Wrong With Maxi?

I thought it was important to help a friend of a friend out....take the time to read Yael's blog here.....Do you know what's wrong with her son Maxi?

Vicki x

Reflecting.......

I had an appointment today in East Melbourne.....an appointment that I go to on a yearly basis.  I always make a point of spending some time wandering through the Fitzroy Gardens and today was no exception.

Today I just reflected on the events that have taken place in the past 24 hours and just wondered why.....



Vicki x

All the Leaves are Brown and the Sky is Grey........

It's been a quiet week this past week......I've sort of felt a little under the weather, not sick just tired and lacking energy.  Our clocks went back one hour the weekend before last and the weather is finally,....yes finally changing to the Autumnal season that it should be......so maybe the shifting seasons have just zapped my energy a little.

I've put the last of the Summer clothes away.....I'm one of those pesky people that likes to pull out all my seasonal clothes and look for whats missing.....I did pull out some Winter clothes around a month ago, but the weather continued on with sunny days, so back they went.....I've shopped up a storm this past week....new shirt, long sleeve T's, merino knits and dresses, another pair of ankle boots, grey cords, belts, tights....I like to look at what I've got and just fill the gaps.....Navy, plum, aubergine and grey I'm loving a little too much at the moment......and my knitting orders seem to have fallen that way as well!!

I've started to slowly cut the squares for quilt no 2 for niece no 2.....the pinks are making me very happy, and just wait to you see what I decided for the backing fabric.....the clue is in one of the squares above.....Can you guess?

Hope your past week has been a good one....I've a busy one this week.....lots of work, lots of knitting, lots of sewing, and I've finally found a new doctor.....and a new hairdresser, double score!!.....but for now I'm off to make some warming soup I think.

See you soon.

Vic x

Hope....& the travelling suitcase!!

The anchor remains firm and steady amidst the stormy waters, symbolizing the stable part of a human being.  That quality, which enables us to keep a clear mind amid the confusion of sensation, emotion and the general “storms” of life.

My nieces.....I haven't seen them since this post.  I finished the blue and green quilt late last night.  Picked it up from the laundrette today, all clean, squishy and soft....Can you guess which niece will get this quilt?

Vicki x

Quilt it Quilt it Real Good Continued.......

Still quilting I am......I managed to get all the top of the single bed quilt put together over Easter....520 squares to be exact.  I had forgotten how long it took.  I had to do 26 squares for the length and 20 across for the width, so it was easy to break it down to 5 rows of 26 squares each day over Easter!!  Made the task more manageable.

This weekend I'm going to start the quilting.  The process of sewing all the layers together.  Again I'm going with cotton wadding in the middle and also this time I'm going with a coloured back to this quilt.  The quilt I made for myself had a calico back, that you can see here.   As this quilt is for a child., I just thought it should be a bit more fun and bright, so I've gone with a lime green and white polka dot print.....and the polka dots are huge and don't appear in the quilt at all, so it's a real contrast.  Looking forward to seeing it finished, although I plan to do the quilting over the course of a week, not all in one day like I did last time!!

Once that's done I guess I'll have to commence the second one.....the pink one....might just start on the cutting process for this one over the weekend.....my least favourite job of all!

Hope you're all well.


Vic x