Some Cross Stitch in Progress & A Look Inside My Book

I have finally made a start on stitching the "stop faffing about" sampler I designed back in the spring.

I've been feeling quite tired in the evenings lately and haven't been able to really focus on any of the crafty projects I've had in progress. It's been quite frustrating not having any crafting to do while watching TV, so I thought it would be good to make a start on something super-simple that even my sleepy brain can manage.

I find it very amusing that the motto on this sampler is all about NOT procrastinating and yet here I am, taking months and months to get around to stitching it!

Fancy stitching this sampler yourself? You can find this chart (plus a version with a very mild cuss word) HERE.

In other news... you can now "Look Inside" my new book, Super-Cute Felt Animals, over on Amazon. This feature isn't quite as good as being able to flick through a book in a real bookshop but it's still very useful when you're shopping for craft books!

P.S. those of you who follow my blog via RSS feed or email updates - apologies if you've seen this post before! I accidentally hit the wrong button when working on it. Told you I was feeling tired at the moment! :)

My Sky Blanket... Finally Finished!

Remember my sky blanket? After finishing it last month I have finally taken some nice photos of it to share with you guys. Hurrah!

(Big thanks to my parents for holding it up for that photo!)

 

The blanket was inspired by / based on Lea Redmond's awesome Sky Scarf project where you knit a row of a scarf each day for a year, based on the weather that day.

 

I loved this idea but decided to knit a blanket instead so I'd end up with a cosy blanket I could use year after year instead of a scarf that would be fun to knit but which (being honest with myself) I knew I'd never wear. I also thought knitting blanket squares would make for a more portable project than having to carry a half-finished scarf around with me for months.

I started on 1st January 2012, and knitted a square for 360 days.

 

The plan was to sew the blanket together gradually (each week or so) as I knitted more squares but I fell a little behind at the end of the year when I was busy with a) the Christmas season in my shops and b) working on my new book. Then this year I just got a bit of project fatigue and couldn't face sewing in all those yarn ends! (So very many ends)  .

I got there eventually though and I cannot even begin to tell you how thrilled I am with how this project has turned out. I think the finished blanket looks gorgeous and I am still totally in love with the concept - a blanket that's a record of (almost) a year of the weather! It makes me happy every time I look at it.

Here are some snaps of the blanket as it grew...

February:

  
April:

June:

August:

Early November:

And here it is, finished! Woohoo!

I arranged the squares running from left to right in rows, like a calendar. In the above photo, the top left square is day #1 and the bottom right square is day #360.

I love the mix of these colours together! Because each square is knitted with two strands of double-knit yarn, the finished blanket is thick and very cosy. 

The back looks like this:

 

Oh, and there's a pretty blue and white button sewn onto one corner so I'll always be able to tell where the year of squares begins. 

 

You can find instructions for knitting a sky scarf here but if you want to knit a blanket just like mine, I'll be sharing all the info about how I made my blanket in a "how to" post in a week or two :)

Update: find out how to knit your own sky blanket HERE.

Book Review: Hoop-la!

Today I'm taking a look at Kirsty Neale's new book, Hoop-La!: 100 things to do with embroidery hoops.

Kirsty used to buy felt from me (I shared some of her adorable finger puppets in a Show & Tell post a couple of years ago) and I've been a fan of her work ever since. I've been really looking forward to her book coming out, and was delighted when she asked me to take part in the blog tour for it.
 

Hoop-La! starts with some useful tips for working with embroidery hoops, and a great selection of ideas for decorating the hoops themselves - painting them, adding washi tape, stitching a crochet edging, etc.

Then it's on to the projects... all 100 of them! Most of the projects take up a page or half a page of the book, with a photo of the finished piece and step by step instructions. Many of the projects also include a helpful "top tip".

 

The designs range from simple to detailed, and from stylish to incredibly cute. The motifs include flowers, fruit, dishes, mushrooms, mixtapes, animals, people, birds, and geometric designs. There's also a typewriter, a chandelier, a little house, a paper plane... and much more.

 

There are also lots of different crafts and techniques covered in the book, including applique, embroidery, cross stitch, screenprinting, crochet, patchwork, stencilling, making sunprints, reverse applique, sashiko, crewel work, and beading.

Some of the hoops are used to display special pieces of fabric, embroidered and printed designs, or interesting objects. Others are used to create quirky wall art - like an appliqued giraffe that's spread across 3 small hoops, and a gorgeous diorama framed in a hoop. And several are used to make "practical" items, like a noughts and crosses game, a chalkboard, a mini photo album or a jewellery holder.

 

Then at the back of the book there's a comprehensive techniques section with lots of clear diagrams and photos. 

You can check out lots of the designs from the book in this cute little video (if the video isn't showing up for you, click here to watch it).

There's a really great mix of projects in this book! The designs themselves are lots of fun, and the techniques and ideas can also be easily adapted to make your own embroidery hoop projects. Hoop-La! is absolutely on my "to buy" list and I'm sure I'll be getting it off my shelves for many projects in the years to come. 

You can visit Kirsty's blog HERE and follow along with the blog tour HERE.

Hoop-La! is published by David & Charles. RRP £14.99. It's available from Amazon UK, Amazon USA, Stitch Craft Create, The Book Depository and many other bookshops.

[Disclaimer: David & Charles sent me a free PDF copy of this book to review. The Amazon & Book Depository links in this post are affiliate links]

Review: Crafty Magazine

Today I'm reviewing an issue of Crafty Magazine.

Rather shamefully, this post has been sitting half-finished my my drafts folder for so long (thanks to me being busy with some other projects) that the issue I'm reviewing is no longer in newsagents... but you can still buy copies from their online shop, and hopefully this review will give you a feel for what the magazine is like overall even if you can't get your hands on this specific issue. Anyway, enough about me being a bad blogger and on to the review...

Issue #6 of Crafty Magazine has a cute knitted fox bag on the cover, which is inspired by Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr Fox. I can't get enough of woodland animals at the moment and this bag is pretty adorable but sadly I think it might be a little bit beyond my own knitting skill level (for the moment, at least!).

Crafty starts with "What's New" - a few pages featuring things like cool new fabric, fun sewing-themed gifts, lovely handmade products and upcoming events and exhibitions with a crafty theme. 

 

There's also an events page with things coming up in October (remember, this issue came out a while ago!) around the UK, and a couple of pages of "Good Reads" which includes reviews of some new craft books but also an interview with one of the authors.

There are 26 "Makes" in this issue, covering a wide mix of different crafts: needlefelting, knitting, crochet, sewing, embroidery, jewellery-making, paper-crafting, cross-stitching, dip-dyeing, cooking, and more! All the projects are fun, modern and colourful (you guys know how much I love a nice bit of colour). Some are extracts from craft books while others have been specially designed for the magazine, but the standard of photography is high throughout. 

Rather predictably, the stitchy projects are the ones that appeal to me the most. I especially love these craft-themed merit badges...

 

... and this paisley embroidery, although don't know that I'd have the confidence to wear a shirt like this! I'd love to embroider the pattern on something like a cushion though.

All the projects have step by step instructions - some are more detailed, with step by step pics and/or stitch guides, and others are quicker "how tos" like these plant markers made from old forks and broken plates. 

This issue of Crafty comes with a free coaster-making kit.

Sadly, this kit includes that special kind of felt (stiff and paper thin) that I have only ever encountered in free-on-the-cover-of-magazines projects and which I would absolutely replace with felt from my own stash were I to make any of the coaster projects in the magazine.

But! I would absolutely prefer to buy a magazine where the freebie kit materials aren't top quality (and thus, are more affordable for the publisher to provide) because I wouldn't want the cover price to be pushed up just for the sake of a free kit I may not get round to making anyway. Also, the coaster is self-adhesive (you peel off a layer of plastic to reveal the sticky surface, like you do with double-sided tape) which is really great.

(NB the felt was flat when it came out of the pack, I managed to crease it before taking the photo)

The instructions that go along with the kit are really great! There are four different, fun designs included that you could make with the kit (plus two more availablle on Crafty's website) - so you've got lots of options for things you can make from the free supplies but also have 4+ projects you can make from felt in the future.

Another great thing about having several projects you can make from the same supplies is that you could buy a pack of plain coasters, some sheets of felt and some embroidery threads in these colours and make several different designs from them... instead of having to invest supplies to make one thing and then having lots left over.

 
The only real problem with the coaster projects is the templates which say "blow up to desired size". I don't mind enlarging templates (especially from a magazine so crammed with stuff as this one is) but it's always so much more helpful to see "blow up to X% or to desired size", where X will make templates big enough to make the item at the size shown in the photos. Also in the case of the coaster templates, the templates need to be exactly the same size as your coaster so your felt design will fit neatly on top, which is going to be tricky to achieve without being told what % to enlarge them by.

As well as craft projects, this issue also includes a sewing column written by Tilly from the Great British Sewing Bee, an interview with a feltmaker, and a lovely home tour...

... plus articles about The Colour Run (which looks so much fun that it almost makes me want to take up running just so I can take part in a future event) and super cool town Hebden Bridge.

There's also "The Crafty Guide to Business" which this issue focused on offering bespoke orders and a feature on craft bloggers who went from blogging to writing craft books.

One thing I really like about the content across the magazine is how many of the tutorials and other features have a "sidebar" with three things along the same theme. For example, alongside the paisley embroidery project there are three fabrics that feature paisley motifs, alongside the plant labels are three more plant label ideas from craft blogs (with the blog addresses included), alongside the needlefelting tutorial is info about three courses/books so you can learn more about needlefelting, and alongside the fox bag tutorial there are three fox-y shopping ideas.

Overall, this is a lovely magazine! It's jam-packed with content, with a really broad mix of crafty projects and a good balance between stuff to make and features to read... and it feels fresh and up-to-date, like a great blog.

Issue 7 (out now) looks great and seems to contain even more makes!

I especially love the look of this cross stitch lampshade project.

Crafty Magazine is £4.99 per issue, or you can subscribe here.  

[Disclaimer: the nice folks at Crafty Magazine sent me a free review copy of issue 6. I'm also currently working on a project for a future issue of the magazine but you guys know I'm always honest in my reviews!]