Quilt and cake

So the Christmas quilt got finished just as the tree was put up last weekend and now the flat now feels very festive indeed. I am really happy with how the quilt came out and in the end I'm glad that I hand quilted it instead of doing it by machine. It really gives it a bit more of a home made feel and spending so much time on it actually makes it feel like more of an heirloom than if I'd done it all on the machine. 

Back of the quilt - made of scraps

This and the quilt I made for Shan's wedding have to be my biggest crafting achievement this year. Most of all I am glad that I managed to get it finished before the season was over. The Mr and I have been happily snuggled under it for the last week and I have been constantly bundling Flo up in it as she has a horrible cold at the moment.

She won't thank me for this photo

The finished quilt and tree going up called for some mini mince pie making and so I bought out the trusty Nigella recipe from her Christmas cookbook. Although it takes a bit of extra time to make these following her recipe I loved the outcome of flaky pasty. But the 36 I made really didn't last that long as they're so small you can just pop them in the mouth and they're gone!

I also made a batch of cupcakes for the local NCT group party. My piping skills weren't that great but I got to use my Christmas cupcake cases and edible snowflakes again.

Festive YUM

To top it all off they are repeating the episodes of Pointless that I was on earlier this year with my sister in law. We're on again tonight 5.15pm BBC1. Catch up on iPlayer if you fancy seeing me embarrass myself on TV.

It's here!

I haven't got the tree up yet, I think it's a tad early for that but I did receive my first Christmas card and make some Christmas cup cakes; two batches, ahem!
Got the cute edible snow flakes from Lakeland and Christmassy cases too, so I had to test them out.

Now, back to all the crafting I have to do!

Relaxing in the Parc

Wow, it’s been a whole month since my last blog! November has indeed been a busy month and I suspect that December has the same in store. I like to be busy but also like to have that kick back time. Thankfully the Mr, Flo and I got just that at the beginning of November when we took our first family holiday to Centre Parcs in Elveden forest!

I had never been to Centre Parcs before but have to say that I loved it. It is the perfect holiday if you have kids. There are so many things they can do and everywhere is child friendly, so you never have to worry about that is-my-shouting-child-ruining-someone-else’s-holiday feeling. The bikes were a particular hit with Flo who loved her ‘HAT’ or helmet as it’s normally called.

Hat Mummy Hat!

I managed to get some knitting done while kicking back on the drive there and back as well as some quilting done during the cosy nights in at our lodge. Let it be known, the Christmas quilt is nearly done! Just the border left to sew on, so there is a chance that it will be finished by the time I put the tree up! 

During the sewing I did at Centre Parcs we also discovered that the quilt has magical powers to induce sleep. Each night the Mr. fell asleep under it’s magic spell as I stitched away. To demonstrate this picture was taken at 9pm:

Zonko

Knitting wise I have been working on a vintage leaf scarf pattern as my friend Kat’s 30^th birthday present. I offered to knit her something instead of buying her a generic gift and she chose this cute vintage scarf and some red yarn. 

This photo looks pretty vintage!

The 4-ply yarn has meant it’s taken me longer than I thought it might so far, but I would love her to have it to wear before Christmas. All that is left to do is to knit the last leaf and do some decorative stitching, so it should be possible. She also chose the cutest crochet vintage hat which I’m going to have a go at once the scarf is complete. Watch this space.

Making the most of work

I’ve been at my new job for a couple of months now and am starting to settle into our new family rhythm with me working more days and longer hours.

I really enjoy my journey into work as I usually get a seat on the tube at some point in my 40 min train ride and this means that I can get some knitting done! So it is good productive ‘me’ knitting time.

The little walk I take from the tube to work is also a pleasure. Being at Oxford Circus means that I walk by some of the flagship stores and get to see some amazing window displays. I’m trying to remember to bring my camera out with my more as I totally missed taking pictures of the brilliant window displays for Wool Week this year. Jigsaw and Liberty had lovely windows and I kicked myself for missing the photo opportunity!

However, I did manage to have my camera on me last week when Claire Nixon was doing a live knitting installation in the shop window of the newly refurbished Oasis flagship store on Argyle Street.

She was showcasing her knitted interior including huge lampshade and footstool, while knitting on over size chairs with supersized yarn and needles. It was cool to see hand knitting live on the highstreet!

Finally the sight that will always bring a smile to my face in the morning:

Nola Jane

I finished Flo's Nola Jane jumper yesterday and she had a spell of wearing it today. As you can see it looks sooooo cute! Unfortunately I had to take it off of her quite quickly as the pure wool it is knitted in was making her sweat! I think it will have to get very cold very soon for her to get any wear out of it as it's already snug and if she has a growth spurt then it's bye bye Nola Jane.

I really enjoyed this knit. At first the cuff and hem seemed a little excessive as they're doubled up but it really does give the jumper a beautiful structure. I found it really hard to graft the seams under the arms and was left with gaping holes at each end, so I just whipped them together with a few stitches to close them up. This didn't leave a great end result, but it's only under the arms so I wasn't too worried about them. The only modification I made to the pattern was to do just 3 rows of the crochet ruffle as my ruffles came out quite big and I didn't want them bunched up under Flo's chin.

Overall it was a lovely project and I would definitely would knit something from Petit Purls again as all of their designs are totally gorgeous. The colour also really suited Flo and the quality of the yarn makes this jumper something I will be passing down in future. I just wish I had made it a size bigger!

Yumming Bird

 

So last week I discovered that I work around the corner from the Hummingbird Bakery. I’ve been working my way through the recipes in their most recent book called Cake Days over the last few months and love pretty much every recipe! So I thought that I’d pop in to see what the shop had to offer.

Needless to say it was a lovely little shop with the most beautifully iced cakes on display.  I of course had to buy something and went for a Carrot cupcake. The best thing about it was that they packaged my cupcake up in it’s own little box with a handle! So I skipped back to the office with perfect cupcake box dangling from my hand and straight to the coffee bar for an accompanying Latté. Yes, my office has a proper coffee bar with barista and everything – I am totally jammy in this respect. YUM delicious!

The cake was totally scrumptious and I enjoyed every bite however £2.50 for a cupcake is horrific. Knowing that I could make a batch of 12 for about the same price is sure to keep me out of the shop and in the kitchen. I just need to work on my icing skills.

Free Rapunzel!

Last week I managed to finish the hat my sister in law asked me to make her and she loves it! Well, you’d hope so after she’d chosen the pattern and bought the yarn for it, but it’s always nice to have your handy-work appreciated.

Free Rapunzel was really fun to knit and although I don’t make a lot of things in bulky yarn these days but was lovely to see the knitting growing so speedily out of my needles and to have a project come together so quickly for a change.

The cabled brim was a nice interesting design, with a bit of interest without being mind melting. I also enjoyed knitting the plats down from the ear flaps, which look like simply platted yarn but are actually a long knitted cable. The pom-pom and tassels topped off this funky knit perfectly. Fun to make and definitely fun to wear.