Saturday, February 18, 2012

Quilts, knitting and more.

Have you ever used this stuff?


I found it some time ago - probably a couple of years ago on a stall at a show somewhere. I rediscovered it tucked away in the back of a drawer when I came to reorganise my workroom a few weeks back.


All you have to do is stitch it to the back of some fabric,


Use the steam of an iron held just above the "Texture Magic" and this happens...........



The "Texture Magic" scrumples up and you have instant texture. Great fun to play with. The piece above is destined to become part of a Journal Quilt for this year's challenge. More photos when the first four are completed. The challenge this year is based on colour. The first four are to be Shades of Red. It just makes sense in my head to get all four red quilts done together. Yes, I know that is just insane...........


One little challenge I was given lately by my friend Hilary was to make book covers. This is my first cover. It uses some printed fabric I made ages ago. The notebook inside is home-made. Just a few sheets of textured paper held together by ribbon at the moment. I shall be replacing the ribbon with wire shortly so that I can actually use the notebook. The ribbon holds the pages together too tightly for them to be opened easily.


I promised knitting. This first piece has been ongoing for a little while. A fairisle waistcoat in Rowan Cashsoft 4ply. The design is by the wonderful Martin Storey. I do like his designs. This one is "Rosamund" and can be found in the "Rowan Classic 4ply designs for men and women".


This was finished recently too, a lace weight top. No, I don't have a waist like this - Aggie my tailor's dummy likes to think I have. The design is "Tirrold" by by Jen Arnall-Culliford and can be found in "The Scrumptious Collection" Volume 1 published by Fyberspates. The yarn used is Fyberspates Scrumptious Lace weight, a glorious mixture of silk and merino.


I have been making a number of shawls. This is the second of this design, the gorgeous "Holden Shawlette", by Mindy Wilkes. I wear this one a lot around my neck and shoulders. So useful in the chilly weather. I have yet another shawlette on my needles at the moment, a design by Kristin Briney. This is the "Context Scarf", a delightful shawl which is being knitted in sock yarn.


"Blue Eyes" has been languishing in my collection of WIPs for some time. I completed the top recently by adding a few borders. It is now a modest 36 inches square.

The next photo shows the back. As you can see it uses a spare block I had made for the top but didn't use.


At present the quilt has been layered and quilting has started and faltered........... I must admit to getting bored. I had tried to quilt this very simply and I am not entirely happy with it. It sits on top of Aggie taunting me to get back to finishing it off................. It will have to wait until I have finished with my Journal Quilts. I have four on the go at once at the moment.

7 comments:

Jenny said...

Great to see you back blogging. Love the fairisle! I would so love to be able to knit like that with colours. I've tried once but my tension was too tight.

Mandy said...

Thanks Jenny. Its nice to be back.
I love fairisle, but need other knitting for watching TV, chatting with friends at Knit group and so on. This is my first piece using fairisle in 4ply.
Its worth trying fairisle again, even if your tension was tight last time.

Anonymous said...

Your skills are amazing. I love everything you posted here! And that fair isle vest - wow!! Such great work!

Mandy said...

Thanks so much Elizabeth.

Truly Myrtle said...

I love Fiberspates yarn and patterns - they have teamed up with Ysolda. I can't wait to get my hands on it!

Mandy said...

I agree, Fyberspates yarn is gorgeous. It will be interesting to see what patterns come out of their association with Ysolda.

Unknown said...

Great work done. really love your work very much.
African Fabrics, African Wax Print