OMG... How much?

Right, this year for the first time in ages, we are not going to the Knitting  & Stitching Show at Ally Pally.  There are a couple of reasons for this, am not sure if I mentioned it but recently both my brother-in law and my sister had mini strokes, TIAs or transient ischaemic attacks... in fact if it had not been for my bil having one first, my sister would not have realised what was happening when she had hers.  Both of them had a bit of tingling in their hands and an inability to hold a mug, feeling a tad odd and bit headachey.  

A previous matron of the hospital was in the stroke ward at the same time, nothing escaped her beady eye!

He had been on an aspirin regime which could well explain why there was little if no damage... however my sister was not so lucky, her carotid artery was totally bunged up (think mega amounts of sediment in your central heating!) which meant a whole different ball game.  Firstly, she was not allowed out of the ward... had to stay on flat surfaces - no stairs, lest any clots be released if she bumped about, the anaesthetists who could undertake this were on hols so it was almost two weeks later that they operated.  She had a carotid endarterectomy, yep, they removed that section of her carotid... you know the one that spurts everywhere in horror movies and put in a new piece.  She recovered really well thanks to the magnificent work of the stroke unit at Southend... if she had not had this scare, then she would most definitely have had a major stroke within the year.  So please, when you see those ads and articles about the signs and symptoms of strokes, just take the time to read them... it's just about thinking FAST.  She is back driving now but K&S is a long day, so maybe next year...

The show opens today and yes, I do kind of regret not going but to be honest a flippant comment made on Twitter has made me think... do you know that I cannot tell you how much I have in my various stashes?  I can tell you that I put 160+ fat quarters in a picnic hamper a few weeks ago.  I have a separate hamper for Christmas... a humongous plastic container for half yards or more... and at the back of the dining room lurks an even bigger trunk in which I know there is at least 4 yards of cream and gold dog tooth check wool fabric from the early 90s and an early visit to Ally Pally.  Tell me, what possessed me?

I aspire to sort my collection into this sort of  order

Not sure that we should tackle wool as it is pervasive, you think you have it locked down... but no, it hides in small spaces (that would be behind and under the sofas), it can literally roll anywhere and it does.  I have found it in every room in my house with the exception of the bathroom but frankly that is just a matter of time.  I love going through it and remembering where I bought it... and yes there is an Ally Pally novelty yarn  that I bought which, well honestly I must have been hypnotised by aliens... it is so mortifying that I could not even offer it up for a swap let alone take it surreptitiously to a charity shop, as even they have standards!

If only own stash was so well ordered and coherent

And do you know what, we haven't even addressed kit, like sewing boxes, cutting mats and rulers, buttons, ribbons, interfacing, tissue, hoops, threads, patterns, knitting needles, crochet hooks and no, don't go there with books, look I told you don't go there... need I go on?  I am sure there is an answer, it's just that I am not sure I will like it.  And do you know that I have just realised, I have not touched on embroidery, tapestry, felting, Hardanger...

I long to own something like this... memories of Brightwells in Southend,  the Grace Bros of fabric shops! 

So there it is the reasons I am not at Ally Pally this year, mostly because over the years I have accumulated the contents of the main hall and they are scattered about the house, in every nook, cranny and crevice... mind you what about under the stairs at the back, now there's a thought!

Countdown to Christmas - An Advent Chest of Drawers

I am typing this with sticky fingers, so any typos you see are due to my fingers not leaving the keys... Right so I have found my Christmas making mojo (it was hidden behind last year's Christmas cards) and now I am ready to get on with the next project which is a little Advent chest of drawers calendar... Thomas Chippendale watch out!

I don't know about you but I am a sucker for crafting magazines, I love to browse through them, especially when someone I know is in there... better still if I did not expect to see them, take a bow Wendy Massey who is featuring in this month's Craftseller, as one of their "regular designers", well that is really thrilling as Wendy also runs Handmade Monday.  Anyway, at the moment most of the magazines are giving away crafting papers... but I don't make cards or scrapbook and I can only pass on so much which means I have to find a use for it and the Advent chest of drawers is it.

You will need:

24 match boxes... be warned they are hard to find, I cleared out our local newsagent!
Decorative papers... there are tons given away with crafting mags at this time of year
Brass headed paper fasteners (optional) and a map pin
Glue
Ribbon
Ruler
Paper scissors... if you even think of using your fabric scissors, that knock that you hear on the door is me coming to place you on the naughty step, you have been warned.
Heavy card, cornflake boxes work well

In the almost words of Mrs Beaton, first empty your match boxes, yes I realise that Bonfire night is not for more than a month so now you have a challenge to think what we can use them for... a model of the Titanic is not an option, nor is burning down London Bridge.

Put the boxes in eight groups of three, stacked on each other, remove the drawers as we do not want to inadvertently leave them stuck in there.  Glue the external packs together one on top of another, easiest way to do this is to dot  glue on two of  the box tops, you should now have eight groups... if you find that the frames lift then use anything to hand to weight them down.

Whilst they dry, we can move onto the next stage, choose two complementary papers, one will be used on the "drawers" and the other for the sides

Measure the height of the drawer and cut your paper to fit the front of the drawer and extending it just round the corners, dob a little glue on each end... don't over do it or the drawers will not fit back in.  Now I found paper with little hearts and decided not to put handles on my drawers but you can... use the map pin as an awl to poke a hole in the front of your drawer, then use a little pair of scissors to extend the hole, insert your brass headed paper fasteners. 

Now we are going to work on the frame, on each group of three boxes, cover one side with your other paper, start from the middle of the box, cover the side and take it underneath, then glue in place.  When you have completed this, lay out your first layer as shown below.  Then glue the next layer in place on top... you will be left with a hole in the middle... this is fine and you will be covering it up.

You now have a chance to decorate the sides... I found some wooden hearts and stars which I painted red and white to give it a Norwegian Christmas theme and stuck those on the sides... so check out those papers and stamps that you have and start decoupaging those blank spaces, think snowflakes, Christmas trees, mittens, boots, candy canes and gingerbread men.  

Make sure that you place them towards the sides of your box.  Insert the drawers and number them randomly, 1 to 24 ready for your little surprises.

Cut two squares from your card, a little larger than the frame you have created, cover these with paper...ensure you take the paper over the edges, this is particularly important for the top section.  

Glue or stick the the frame in place in the centre of your pieces of card.  When it has dried/set, tie up your little chest of drawers with ribbon... yes, you guessed it I raided the Jane Means ribbon hoard, nothing like red and white ribbons to say Christmas.

Finally fill the drawers... you might use chocolate coins or a really great idea is a set of promises for the recipients, if you have children, then how about "Today we will make Christmas cookies", or "Today you will go and see Fr Christmas", you get the idea.

So if you are looking for inspiration for Christmas, take a look at Handmade Monday, you can bet that Wendy and the other posters are already in the swing!

Scrapping about

Made these elephants from scraps from the kid's dresses I made recently, popped a pic up on Facebook and a chum in Germany asked if I would make one for her... so I got up early this morning and made this one.

So it isn't only me, then...

About a week ago, I read a really interesting blog post about errors in craft books and over the years I, too have come across these.  However, recently I am discovering more and more of these but not just in books but magazines as well.

The first time I really came across this was about 25 years ago, I had bought a pattern book from a major wool retailer... I cast on my cardigan and started to knit the pattern but it just did not add up.  I ripped back, I cursed, I walked away, I started again.  Then I took to squared paper and still it did not work.  I rang the retailer to be told in no uncertain terms, that it must be my knitting that was at fault... the wool and the pattern are still in my wool chest (actually I might get it out and give it another go... if I can sit down and re-write the pattern).  Now, back then I did not have the confidence to say, "Actually I do know what I am doing and you know your pattern in wrong!" but you know what I do now, Be afraid be very afraid...

Last year I was making a dress from a pattern featured in a high end (err... you mean expensive) magazine, firstly, there was no indication of a seam allowance, so I assumed 5/8", there were patch pockets to be placed but no spots to show where tailors marking should be sewn to place the pockets.... and the interfacing did not fit.  I can honestly say I do not think that anyone who actually sewed had sat down and read the pattern, it was so frustrating as more was left out than included.  So I wrote a polite note to the editor explaining what was wrong and offering to test future patterns but like Diana Ross "I'm still waiting." (bet you are all oohing and aahing in harmony)

There is another popular knitting designer with her own line of yarns and whenever she brings out a new book my LYS will not sell it for a couple of weeks as they know that the errata slips will be sent out a couple of weeks later.

Currently I am making some children's clothes, and do you know what they have forgotten... how much allowance there is for the hem.  Well you know that hems can vary from 3" to about an inch... so I have stared at the pattern pictures and I am going to just make it up, and do you know what, it is really difficult to sew it up with crossed fingers.

So why am I moaning, well these mistakes are expensive and it is us the consumer who pays... I have probably over £100 of wool and fabric from projects undertaken from books or patterns that contain mistakes.  And that means it is now over to you, if it is wrong then tell the publisher and if they do nothing then the next thing to do is boycott them.

Finally, when I write my tutorials, I try to do it as I am writing but if you spot a mistake, then email me or make a comment and I will revise the post.

Right, now tell me, am I the only one?

Great Scot! She's wearing her Sunday Best...

Can I ask, did you have a Sunday best dress?  I had several throughout my childhood, they were split between Summer and Winter, back in the days when the return to school in September meant the Winter was  imminent and the Whitsun half term break meant that Summer was coming.  The awful woolly vest came out of hiding in September, it was crafted from Merino wool and was an off yellow, well a mucky cream shade and had already served two brothers and a sister... I want you to know that as the youngest child I really did suffer.  I hated it, it was hot, itchy and it had belonged to others, but Sunday best dresses were mine and mine alone!

So my friend Pierina, she of the hot water bottle cover, told me about a fave dress of hers, a red needlecord pinafore with Scottie dogs... I had a red pinafore too, which was always worn with a white polo neck sweater but I think the Scotties would have been a step too far for my utilitarian mother...

Anyway the point of this story is that Pierina's cousin in Milan had a baby about five or six months ago, and she wanted to send her dress for the baby... I showed her the lovely cross over pinny but this would not do the job.  "No Ros, this is Italy... no cotton after the 1st of September, it needs to be a pinafore and a red pinafore and Scottie dogs, it needs Scottie dogs."  She was adamant, there was no changing her mind so that is why I made this pinny.

Now, you all know that I cannot draw, I can trace with help but I cannot draw for toffee, so I had to get Ash from the coffee shop Barlow and Fields... other coffee shops are available but frankly the coffee just won't be as good, to produce my template.  I think it is rather good as the dogs look as though they could leap off the pocket to chase a rabbit.  Also Ash is jolly useful as my covered button snapper in,  I am sure he will add this skill to his CV, it is bound to stand him in good stead.

Anyway it may be too late for fashion week in Milan but just think in a couple of weeks some poor child in Milan will be wearing an English pinafore and continuing a tradition of wearing a red pinny for Sunday best.

Here's my marker...

OK, team... this week's tutorial is not yet completed so it will be going up later this week.  However, just to show that I have not been slacking I managed to put together Harrison, the reindeer.

You may recognise him from the September issue of Sew magazine, he was a quick, easy make, although next time I think I will use the little polystyrene balls rather than stuffing as the legs were a challenge.  I think it would make a rather nice place setting as a table gift and I think you could happily run up a dozen in an afternoon and sit stuffing them in front of the TV.  And hitting the ribbon stash for a spot of Jane Means just sets him off beautifully.

There is something else you need to know... one of you out there is creating a ginger felt shortage... I have had nightmares trying to get hold of ginger felt, now be honest with me, is someone about to flood the market with ginger bread men garlands?  I can find brown felt, camel felt but the ginger stuff has gone on the missing list... own up or let me know where you are hiding it?  

Now, time to look at what the others have been up to during the past week over at Handmade Monday.

And to show that I am a woman of my word... here is Marlon Brando playing with my marker...

Little things please...

Over the last week I have been making some little outfits for friend's children, I really enjoy making for kids as they are made so quickly.  Also it gives me an excuse to pop into the wonderful Belle Fabrics in Leigh to drool over their fabrics.

I started with a little cross over reversible pinny for Camille. 

Apparently she wore it for two days straight, because it was "swingy" and made her feel like a princess.

Then I made a little reversible wrapover dress for Lola, Cecelia's threee year old grand-daughter, in a pale pink needlecord with a toning cotton fabric... and then I did what I always warn other people about, I forgot to take a picture, so I made another dress in the same pattern yesterday.

Then there was a winter pinafore for Georgia, completed with a matching hair grip and an alternative set of buttons to match the stripey lining... I hid them in the pocket for Georgia to find.

I was wondering if you thought that yummy mummies might buy them if I popped them into an online shop, what do you think?