Liberty Book of Home Sewing - Giveaway

Last weekend, I realised I'd been blogging a whole year.  Wowee.  I had no idea when I started whether I'd have anything to say.  Or if I'd even maintain my interest in learning how to do things I'd never done before.  But I have loved everything about the whole process.  I've loved learning how to do new things.  I've loved reading about you lovely people that I'd never otherwise come into contact with.  And most of all, I have loved knowing that you are out there cheering me on in my still small creative endeavours.

I know it's traditional on the anniversary of a blog to have a giveaway of a lovely thing made by the blogger.  But I thought you deserved a bit more than that (maybe next year).  So, it hit me that I could give away a book to celebrate.  (Any excuse for a legitimate break in the book diet.) It needed to be a special book.  And a crafty book.  One that would make you oooh and aaah, but that you might not splash out on yourself.  So, I thought this might be just the ticket.

I got a copy with a subscription to Mollie Makes.  And now I want everyone to have one.  This book is beautiful.

If you don't sew, I guarantee that it will make you want to.  If you do sew (and you don't already own the book), you will definitely want to make everything in it.  Immediately.  If you can sew a bit, it will make you want to have a go.  It has beautifully illustrated step-by-step instructions.

And a touch of quirkiness which appeals to me.

And it's clothbound, in hardback, and printed on good thick paper.

I do hope you like it.  If you'd like the chance to own the book, all you need to do is leave me a comment.  It would be nice if you could follow me but you don't have to.  If you'd like to blog about the giveaway, come back and let me know that you have and I'll add your name twice.  I'd love to know what you think works most about NKK and what you'd like to see more of.  If you remember to include that in your comments that would be fab but I won't exclude you if you don't.  In short, I'd love to hear from you.  Oh yes, and I'll choose a winner on  Saturday 11 February so you can leave a comment on this post any time up until then.

Thank you for all your support over the last year.  Not to put too fine a point on it, the last twelve months has been a challenge in ways that I don't write about here, but it had been delightful to have a place to escape to.  That you choose to read what I have to say and comment on my blog is truly amazing to me.

C.x

Not a great first date

First, just to let you know that service from the house of NKK will be intermittent at best in the next few weeks.  Posts will be random and commentary on all your lovely blogs will likely be lacking.  For tomorrow, we are off to see our house by the sea.  Hurray!  Then back for three weeks and then sailing out for good.  It'll be a bit of a roller coaster ride.


Okay, so to my date with Prints Charming.   I have such a feast of colour for you today. 

You will be pleased to know that I did not let you down.  I did not swear once (well, not out loud anyway...).  As to the rest...


It was not a very auspicious start.  I arrived 45 minutes late.  I hate being late.  I am rarely so.  My only excuse is that my life is even more chaotic than usual at the moment.  So, I got the dunce's chair rammed into the back corner with the edge of the table and the table leg to contend with.  Not so good.

Luckily the lovely women of Prints Charming allowed me to think it was no big deal and chatted away while I got my act together.   


I am left handed.  When it comes to hand sewing, this usually makes your average right handed seamstress run away screaming.    But they managed to remain quite composed.  I kept forgetting to tie the knot to start a stitch, so it kept slipping through.  No cursing please.  Big sigh and start again.  

What really killed me was the chain stitch.  I understood completely the theory, but I kept forgetting to anchor each stitch so that it all came unravelled in a most annoying way.  (You are allowed to laugh, by the way.  I won't be the least offended.)It wasn't helped by the fact that I kept getting distracted, wanting to take photos of all the lovely treats they'd bought with them and had strewn around the place.

And I was mesmerised by the detail of the sample work everywhere.

Not to mention the teacher's necklace.

But it seems there really is no short cut to the swear a lot/rip it/start again mode of learning that I have developed this year.


Undaunted, I came away armed with two instruction books (hurray - there's a book for it!).

And after much consideration on colour choice, these lovely threads.

They will be used to adorn (sic) this lovely blue bird.

You will understand from the scraggy bits of thread messing up the place that I already have plans in the swearing/rip it out/start again department.

More soon I hope from our house by the sea!


C.x

At it again

I have written before that my natural instinct is to looks to books as having the answers to everything.  I am busy decorating my little old lady house in my head (the finance and legal bods haven't registered the same sense or urgency), and I am accumulating a small collection of books to help me do this.  I love these books.  They confirm my view that it is cool to be rummaging through flea markets and craft fairs for that special something that speaks to me and will make our old lady house ours.  And they have such pretty pictures...

(if anyone knows where to get this picture of the Queen, I'd love to hear from you :)

This kitchen belongs to Aurelie Mathigot, the crochet queen, who seems to be able to make just about anything with a hook and yarn.

And I love this yellow collection where the grey slate is such a fab backdrop to the blossom and retro kitchen ware that you might not look at twice on its own.

I also crave the simplicity of this kitchen set up.  If and when we ever get this house, I'm planning on plain white cupboards to counter level and shelves on top.

I had vague impressions of this kind of collection for my own sideboard when I bought the Danish vase last week.  But the best thing about Decorate is that it has got me thinking about room plans.  So I have enrolled Mr. P to draw up rooms to scale and cut outs of our furniture so that I can literally play house.  A poor substitute for the real thing, but still...

I love this Ercol-style furniture, and have unearthed a fab nest of tables on John Lewis's website.  A girl can dream...

More cupboards with shelves overhead, this time from a house in Brooklyn...

And finally the clean lines of this house from Perfect English Cottages.

I know there are hundreds of websites out there with just this kind of inspirational content.  And I do look at them.  But to me, there's no substitute for settling down with a cup of tea or a glass or wine to lose myself in these pages.  I love the weight and feel of them, and how the content slowly reveals itself as I flick through.  And I usually have my ipad on hand to search on ebay or look up an idea if the inspiration hits me.  So hooray for books, I say.  It's also a little bit more than that.  In truth, I am having a shocker of a time at work at the moment and burying myself in these books, dreaming about my old lady house by the sea, is just the antidote I need.  If only the money and legal people could get their act together...

C.x

Butterfly brain

When I was 11, I went to a school where the head nun had a special name for the flighty girls under her care (the ones who were giddy little things who were always getting into trouble).  She called them 'féileacán' (pronounced a bit like fail-uh-cawn (as in yawn)), meaning 'butterfly'.  Today, I have a butterfly brain, and Sr. Benigna would definitely not approve.

Firstly, I am sick.  Not properly sick, as in dying, but sick enough to stay at home.  I went to the dentist yesterday.  This involved laughing gas (wheeeee!) and a general anaesthetic.  I now have stitches in my mouth and am on a diet of mush.  I think anyone on a diet of mush can't be expected to behave seriously in a serious job with serious people.  So I am playing hookie.  (In truth my mouth hurts like hell and I keep telling my tongue not to go rooting at my stitches and the anaesthetic in my system is making me a bit dizzy, so I'm not entirely on the skive.)  Anyway, this means that I have lots of time to do stuff.  But I can't settle to much.  I have finished a book called Room by Emma Donaghue which is just breathtaking.  Such a powerful story told by an original voice.  It's had lots of publicity so I suspect you may already have read or heard about it.  And I don't want to ruin it for you by telling you the story.  But please please please rush out and buy it.  Immediately.

I have also been opening and closing the fridge a lot trying to figure out what I can eat.  Mr. P has come into his own, making leek and potato soup (pureed of course).  And he has bought me flowers.  He buys flowers on occasion when I'm not sick too, but it was just lovely yesterday to wake up in the afternoon to these...

...in my favourite jug...

AND this rather splendid specimen...

... now living next to the parrot (an incense burner, which isn't usually my cup of tea but was too difficult to resist...)

So there you have it - homely Spring daffodils and a delicate hothouse flower, which together perfectly match my butterfly mood.

This afternoon, I have plans to crochet.  This doubtless means I will fall asleep in front of an old movie instead....

C.x

Not quite slack Alice

You might be forgiven for thinking that this blog has lost its way somewhat in the last few weeks, and should really come clean with its intention to tell you little about my attempts at crafting and lots about my gallivanting and my capacity to drink coffee and shop.   But I have been a little less idle than that.  Really.

Remember this?

Well, now I have made these!

Nine whole squares!  Okay, so they probably wouldn't withstand too close an inspection from the crochet police, but I think they're pretty good.  A king size blanket is out of the question - I would have to give up work, or eating. or sleeping, or pretty much anything else and just crochet until I was 489 and still not finish it.  But I have a throw that I measured these against, and by my estimation I would need over 200 to reach that size.  Still very daunting.  But we'll see.  For now, I'm just going to concentrate on making a square when the mood takes me.  And if all I end up with is a cushion cover, then so be it.

I also felt spurred on by my knitting fit...

 ...to try my hand at something with two needles.  And I have made this:

Yes indeed.  It will be completely obvious what this is.  But just in case...

Still none the wiser?  Well. its supposed to be a coffee cosy.  The trouble is, I'm not sure I have any cups the right shape.  Here it is on a glass...

Yes, well...  I can claim no credit for the pattern.  I found it in a book that I'd bought for a friend, and came across the pattern as I was flicking through it.  It really is a lovely book.

Even if, perhaps, knitting is not its forte.  Or mine, come to that...

I got the lovely shiny buttons in a really fab shop that I need to blog about another time.  But now, we are getting on with it in the house of noknittedknickers.  We are washing...

... and determined to find some Spring on this grey, grey day...

There's a definite air of back to school.  Work tomorrow.

A lovely holiday, now over.

Hope you have a good week.

C.x