Vintage Pleasure

I Love Crochet 2

I'm sure I've said it before but I seriously I love crochet. I love it for many reasons. It's quick and effective and very relaxing.Oh yeah and very addictive!

This does mean however I have a few works in progress as it is so easy for inspiration to strike and I just have to start hooking there and then.

It's not all WIPs though I do have a fair amount of finished projects too. Like a cover for this mid century stool.

Well I say finished but it does need the ends weaving in. Originally I planned on selling it  but the consensus seems to be that it becomes crochet covered stool number 3 in the Vintage Pleasure household (I may just sneak it to the next vintage and craft fair though).

This stool is stopping too as it will be perfect for the playhouse I just have to decide whether to paint it white or turquoise?

Still Loving Crochet

Well I can't believe how long it's been since I was here last. Lots has been happening. Hubby was 40 last week and we had about 50 people round for supper and drinks on Saturday. Which gave me a deadline to work to on the organising and de-cluttering on the house front.

To keep me sane I have been treating myself to 20 minute crochet breaks. Just enough time for a couple of rows in a big blanket or a granny square.

Then the other day I saw this and dropped everything to pretty up a little stool we have. It's the perfect height to be used a little table by the girls but was covered in that treacle like varnish. Too useful not to keep but not very inspiring.

After an evening of crocheting and painting it is totally transformed. I am actually really pleased with how it turned out.

I am working on a granny square cover for another little stool we have now. So glad I learnt to crochet.

I Love Crochet

My lovely friend taught me how to crochet over the summer holidays.I say taught but it was more like re-learning as I did crochet as a child. It seems it's much like riding a bike and has been delightfully easy to pick up again.

Ours can be a cold house in winter so blankets on the sofa are a must.I have a pile of thrifted crocheted ones but felt the need for one slightly bigger and in just the right colours. I was going to go for Tif's lovely 'ordinary extraordinary blanket'  (which I am sure I will still make) but for my winter snuggle I decided stripes were called for. Random ones at that.

I am at the half way there mark now and it appears at least one member of the family has given it her seal of approval.

Remember When I Used To Make Stuff?

I remember a time on this here blog that I actually used to show you the stuff I made.It's seems ages ago now.It's not that we haven't been creating just we haven't been documenting. Anyway a few weeks ago one of my best friends commissioned me to make a stroller quilt and matching tote for her sister who has recently become a mum for the first time.Quite an honour really. The brief was something that would look girlie but also look good with the pram which is a kind of Khaki colour.

Please excuse the blurry photos I'm trying to get used to my new camera.

To carry on with my 'Into The Woods' idea I decided on a deer silhouette in vintage fabric on a beautifully soft ,chocolate brown linen.The back is a natural linen/cotton and it's all hand quilted in circles.

 

The binding is 'petite granville' from Alexander Henry which brought the girlie element in with the pink an also a little green to tie in with the pram.

When I started these quilts is was with the idea of a matching tote. So I used the same linen and a scaled down version of the deer silhouette.

I like nice long handles on my totes so that you can get your hands inside them without having to take the bag off your shoulder.Something that's all the more necessary when you have a small child in tow! The tote is lined and also has a little pocket for keys etc.

I do have few of these on the go and hope to get them in my etsy shop soon along with some vintage fabric cushions and a few other bits and pieces.

That's once we are over the lurgy that seems to have descended on the household again.

A Christmas Welcome

Every year I like to hang a wreath on my front door so that anyone who calls is welcomed by a touch of Christmas. In the past I have gone for the tackiest one I could find.You know the kind with plastic flowers and gaudy ribbons? This year a friend invited a few of us to her house for  wreath making workshop.

 

So this year my wreath is hopefully not tacky at all.Maybe a little fun but stylish too I hope. It looks lovely on my, very dirty, front door and was worth the four hours of finger numbing work that went into it!

Just one thing though.If you do visit then please wear gloves as the doorbell is somewhere under all that beautiful prickly-ness. We have had a few casualties already!

Birthday Blanket

Well I had a whole post written and then Typepad froze again. It's really frustrating and to be honest putting me off posting.I am very tempted to move.

Basically I wanted to show you the patchwork birthday blanket I made for my sister. She's a little colour phobic and I wasn't sure how I would work it with the browns and creams of her lounge.So I added some blue and green from my stash.

I'm not going to risk uploading any more photos to this post but there are a few 'in action' shots in my Flickr photostream

Hopefully I'll be able to resolve the composing a post problem as I have quite a bit to share with you.

Inspired by Pip and Blair

I love it when the little pieces of cyberspace we share collide and spur me on to actually do something. A few months ago the lovely Pip's home was featured in an Australian mag.As luck would have it on of our 'blog fairy godmothers' the lovely Aline was in Australia at the time so I cheekily asked her to pick me up the mag. Which, being the lovely lady she is, she did. Not only the mag but also some sweet little koala bear clips and a boomerang.Oh how my girls love their 'blog fairy godmothers'!

 

When the mag arrived  this photo really took my eye and I realised that I needed more cushions for the playroom sofa.A whole heap of ecclectic cushions in fact.All mixy-matchy and fun.Not too much thought about them all looking right together.So I set to and made a few.

I have admired from afar the 'union jack design fetish' that seems to be everywhere but have never sucuumbed until now.I thrifted a length of unused tea-towel fabric and washed it and washed it and washed it until it had faded slightly. Then I used some of my Prints Charming fabric stash and handstiched on some detail.The intention was to use it to display all the girls collected badges but...well lets just say they don't make for a very comfortable cushion!

Then the lovely Blair blogged about her stash value quilt and I was so taken with the technique.I knew however that it would be a long time before I'll get around to making a whole quilt.So I just made a piece big enough for a large cushion cover.It's backed in a thick cotton waffle that is actually a baby blanket.So combined with the quilted front the cushion is so snuggly.

The other couple of cushions are made from my vintage fabric stash. The sofa looks and feels much more inviting now. It even makes the upholstery look a little more pleasant.The sofa is an Edwardian drop arm one that was a birthday present from my hubby. We are going to have it recovered in a bluey-grey velvet. Umm... I must ask hubby when that will be!

 

Quilting With Kids

I can't believe that the 6 weeks hols are so nearly over.Can it really be that long ago that I had to drag my girls out of bed for the last school run?

It means aswell that it must be well over 2 months ago that I took into school 30 little squares of white cotton and a packet of fabric pens...

 

...and came back with 30 beautiful quilt squares.

 

I asked the children to draw a picture of themselves that told us something about what they liked to do.So there was plenty of football pictures from the boys!

I love Jake's football spikes and yes he does have bright red hair!

 

Originally I was just going to piece the squares together with a couple of cotton prints but...kids being kids they drew right upto the edges and left me no seam allowance!

 

So I improvised and hand-stitched them onto the same white cotton and then machine quilted the whole thing.I think that the binding,which I can't for the life of remember what it is, really compliments the backing which is from the Cake Rock Collection . It definitely had to have a boy vibe which I found quite hard with my normally girly tendencies.

The photo was taken very late at night just before it went in the washer and the drier.I had my fingers and toes crossed that the fabric pens held fast and that the patches didn't fray too much. Thankfully everything was fine and the children were over the moon with their creation. So was their lovely teacher Miss Ffye who received the quilt for her new baby Louie.

I did enjoy it but I am kind of hoping that none of the girls teachers get pregnant this year!

Start To Finish

I seem to spend alot of my time finishing jobs I started. Like the kitchen deep clean I started yesterday will be have some more work spent on it on thurs...probably. It's not because I don't have the commitment but because I have too many commitments. See how I did that? Play on words eh.

 Oh to have the luxury of enough time to be inspired and actually follow through.

 

Like the time to paint a picture then draw up a pattern and actually make what you had in your head. Luxury I tell you.

 

But I suppose when you are 14 it's easy to find the time.I mean what else is there to worry about apart from how your hair looks or if you have your PE kit ready? Lily doesn't have to worry about deep cleaning the kitchen now does she?!

Sarah Nicol

So last week Paddy and I managed a very grown up evening date. A trip to the theatre and a beautiful meal. No kids just each other. I love those kind of dates. Time to really take in everything around us without worrying about whether the little people are seeing everything around them. I love The Royal Exchange it is such a beautiful big old building yet the theatre itself is so intimate.You really feel part of the play. Another thing I love is that around the theatre they showcase artists work which is also availlable to purchase.

 

That's where I came across a new to me textile artist Sarah Nicol. I just love her doorstops. I mean how cute are they? You can just expect some little woodland creature popping their head out the door and inviting you in for tea and cakes! I think I've fallen in love with the blue one and it's red roof.My all time favourite colour combo is red and blue.

 

That blue one with the spotty roof really gets me too. Sarah also makes a smaller version that stand about 20cm tall if I remember right. She calls these 'Herb Houses'. I am still kicking myself that I didn't buy one on display at the theatre.It was so sweet and red. She doesn't seem to have any listed in her shop at the minute either.

 

Sarah  makes lots of other lovely stuff like pillows and wall hangings. All gorgeous but I think the 'Herb Houses' have stolen my heart. Go check her site out and let me know what you think. 

P.S. All photographs are shown with full permision