Liebster

Thanks so much to Gillyflower

Hurray!


A huge thank you to Gill from Gillyflower for thinking of me and noknittedknickers for the Liebster Blog Award.  I am delighted and flattered and not a little amazed.  Two months ago I had no idea how many talented women were out there creating the most fabulous things and sharing them with others.  You are lovely and amazing and I am so so pleased to join your gang.  I have such a long way to go in my creative endeavours and your comments and feedback ( and this award) all chivvy me along to keep trying, keep creating, keep writing about it all.  Thank you thank you thank you.

There's still time to enter the giveaway for the thread cutter (another thank you).  So glad all those who commented already realise that this little gizmo is all that's been missing from their lives to date... :)  All you need to do is leave a comment on my post of 17 March for a chance to win. 

A big hello to all those who've dropped by for the first time in recent days, and to those who are coming back to check in on noknittedknickers.  Lovely to have you here.

I gather that the Liebster award is all about paying it forward to other new and small blogs.  I am discovering new and exciting blogs every day, so this is a tough one.  Also, the rules seem a bit flexible on who should be included.  Anyway, I have randomly selected a cut off of blogs I like with less than 100 followers.  So, here, in no particular order, are my choices:

Knitted Back Together

Nimble Fingers and Steady Eyebrows

Apples and Pears

A Girl in Winter

These represent to me what is best about blogging: creativity, flair, sophistication, a sense of humour and engagement with community.  An inspiration.

Back soon with more creative endeavours.

C.x

Woman meets machine

LOOK!

I made that.  All by myself.  No need to rip and start again.  First time.  With a sewing machine and everything.  Me.  Yes indeed.  I'm so clever I could skip.

Okay, now that that shameless bragging is out of the way, let me tell you.  I went to my sewing class yesterday all excited.  I got there 20 minutes early and hung around outside nervously waiting to be let in.  Everyone arrived and we all settled down while the teacher went over everything she'd already explained about machines last week.  (The woman has the patience of a kindergarten teacher.)  She gave us scraps to practice on first.  I would show you this practice piece if my sampler looked like the woman's next to me, with neat rows of all the machine's stitches as she went through the settings one by one.  My sampler looked different to that.  A bit challenged really.  Random bits of stitching all over the place.  Still, I got there somehow without injuring myself or breaking the machine.  And then at some point the teacher told us to take out our fabric that we'd cut last week and start to sew the bottoms of the fabric for the inner pockets together.  So that's what we did.  After that, it went by in a bit of a blur with only the odd hiccup.  (Note to self: never sew with the foot raised.)  And by the end of class I had this:

I could tell you the million and one things that are wrong with it and what I might try to do differently next time.  But mostly I want to come round to your house with it so that you can see it for yourself and  ooh and aah and tell me your stories about how you learnt to sew and what a lovely bag this is going to be.  Oh yes, and how clever I am...

Of course, this is only the inner lining of the bag.  The apple print fabric will be on the outside with the dotty fabric making an outside pocket.  But when I open the bag and look inside, this is what I'll see:

The dotty lining with two apple pockets.  Sweet, no?

Last class next week where we make the outer bag and the strap and put it all together.   So expect more shameless bragging then.

C.x

Just a little something - Giveaway

This week, I have reached over a 1000 hits on the blog.  Even leaving aside my Mum and my sisters and Mr. P and randoms people I've pestered at parties to take a look, that still means that total strangers are checking in to see what's going on.  And I'm chuffed to bits about that.  Either it's lots and lots of people having a look once, or the same 5 people lots and lots of times.  Either way, I'm happy.  And so I wanted to say thank you in the tradition of Blogland by having a giveaway.  Now, I know that I'm supposed to make something to give away.  But you will know that I have yet to make much of anything, let alone something all you talented people out there might want.  So, my giveaway is a bit different. 



A thread cutter!  Those of you who followed my progress through Australia may remember the fiasco of my wool-buyer expedition to Morris & Sons in Sydney and how they wouldn't allow me to return everything when I realised I could get it all for a fraction of the price back home.  Anyway, because of this, I ended up with not one but two thread cutters.  One thing you should know about me is that when I take on something new I go for it with all the zeal of a convert, and buy lots of gadgets and gizmos that aren't strictly necessary.  I half thought the thread cutter would be one of those things.  What's wrong with a scissors, after all....

But believe it or not, this little thing is amazing.  I can take it on a plane without freaking out the security people.  It doesn't have any sharp pointy bits to stick through the seams of my wool bag or take anyone's eye out.  And it saves my wool from being pulled apart by my fists.  In short, this is my new favourite toy.  So, I thought you might like one too.  And you can even wear it round your neck if you want so that you always know where it is when you need it.

I do hope you'll think it useful too.  All you need to do for a chance to receive this is to leave a comment on this post.  I'll keep it open until Sunday 27 March.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

C.x

A house by the sea

So, I think it's time I began to tell you about our house by the sea.  About a year ago, I had a flash of genius.  Well, to me it was, anyway.  To you it will be perfectly obvious.  I have owned a flat in London for years.  It was supposed to be my first place of my own.  A starter flat.  Not a forever home (to use Kirstie and Phil speak).

photo from here

(Sorry, I actually quite like Kirstie and Phil, but this was such a hideous photo that I just had to share it with you...)

But life happened  and I have held onto this flat far longer thank I'd intended while I went walkabout.  Other people lived in it and gradually it stopped being my flat and became just an investment (a laughable concept for me given my profigacy, but that's what it turned out to be).  I never stayed in my flat when I went back to London to visit.  Every now and again I'd check in on it, and once or twice I gave it a lick of paint, but otherwise it suffered from benign neglect. 

And then one day last year, I woke up to the brainwave that I could sell this flat and buy a little house by the sea.  Somewhere where tourists would come and rent it so that I could pay a mortgage, but still be a place where we could come to on holiday and eventually settle in. 

It has taken until now to sell my flat.  We found a buyer 7 months ago, but then days before exchange in October, the buyer demanded changes to the lease.  And then my neighbour demanded that the exclusive right to their garden be clarified....  On and on it went, so that it was only last week that we completed on the sale. 

So, it's only now that I can dare to believe the house by the sea is actually real.  We've even chosen the place and the seller has been good enough to wait while we faffed around.  A bracing part of the English coastline.  No soft options here...


image from here


Last year, I spent weeks after I decided on this cunning plan surfing websites for everything from curtain fabric to sofas.  (I really really want this one from Rose & Grey ...

... but will probably end up with something sensible from Ikea.)

But then, with all the complications, I gave up because it was just too depressing.  But now, I can have free reign. 

It being by the sea and a holiday home, I want a nod to the nautical, but I don't want to drown in it either.  And I want it to be fun (if that's not too Boden-speak...).  And today, I have come across this...

by Jonny Hannah from St. Jude's Prints which works well.  (I'm glad I tracked it down.  I saw something similar in a dress shop in Devon last year but couldn't find it for ages.  And this...

... from Rockett St George which I absolutely love.

I'm sure there'll be plenty of stripes and ticking and colour.  (Back to the old fashioned deck chairs...)

 And it may be that I never get around to buying these prints.  But for now, it's nice to be able to dream about it again. 

But first, we need to get all the boring bits out of the way - solicitor, surveyor, mortgage, builders.  So you see plenty of time yet to choose a colour scheme... 

And I think that that's what the sudden urge to craft is all about.  Nesting.

C.x

Busy bee

My weekends are normally sloth-filled affairs.  Speaking frankly, Mr. P and I are idle creatures.  But this weekend has been a shining exception.

On Friday, we went to a cocktail party on HMS Gloucester, docked in Manhattan for a few days and due to be decommissioned shortly.  This sounds more salubrious that it was, and involved me trapping myself in the ship at one point when I went to the loo instead of sipping cocktails on deck.

On Saturday, I went to my first sewing class at Purl Soho.  I can't tell you enough good things about this shop.  Like being dropped into a rainbow.

There's so much inspiration wherever you turn, whether it's baby bibs...

...or felted figurines...

... or cashmere scarves...

... or these exquisite Liberty Tana Lawn samplers...

(such a simple idea, but such a lovely display just inside the front door).

They have a blog (Purl Bee) with regular project ideas (the quilts next to the cashmere scarves in the photo are some recent examples).  And the staff are friendly and helpful (but I think I've mentioned that before).

And best of all, there's a woman who's going to teach me how to sew.  Those of you who have read this blog before will know that my New Year's Resolution includes the Merry Christmas project  (to sew letters and stuff them).  But I actually want to get a bit beyond that.  So I signed up for sewing classes.  I haven't quite decided yet if I want to make clothes, but I definitely want to learn how to use a sewing machine, and maybe make cushion covers or simple curtains.  After that we'll see.  Mostly, I just want to conquer my fear of sewing machines.  Yes indeed.  Now, I am afraid of spiders and dark alleys and the usual list of panic-inducing bogie- men, but I must also confess to a fear of sewing machines.  Now, admittedly, I haven't used one since I was thirteen, and it's not like I lost a digit, or sewed my hair to the apron I was trying to make.  I have no traumatic memories to justify this fear.  But I think  it's to do with the noise and the feeling that it and not I am in control of the process.  As though it will literally run away with itself if I don't sit rigidly paying attention to what's happening.

I haven't told this to my teacher yet.  And I was relieved to see that yesterday, she took her time and explained everything six times, and gave lots of snippets of interesting information.  And although she took a sewing machine out towards the end of the lesson, she didn't actually let us loose on them.  Instead, she talked soothingly of feet and soles and ankles and arms as though the machine was a friend of hers who could be our friend too.

We are going to make bags.  I knew this before the class, and I had a vision of a simple rectangle of fabric sewn on three sides with the extravagance of a handle to finish.  A bit like a pillow case with a string attached.  I wasn't terribly enthusiastic about this as a project, but had put it down to wanting to run marathons before I could crawl.  But the bag we are to make is a bit more presentable than that.  I will let you know how I get on, but in theory it will be reversible, and have pockets inside and out with a magnetic clasp.  This is the fabric I've chosen:

As you can see, I have even acquired the tools of the trade.  Of course, I have no clue what to do with them...  Anyway, we spent most of the class cutting our cloth.  This involved a self-healing mat (I LOVE this concept and want to apply it to all sorts of things...).  And a rotary cutter.  Hmmm.  Not at all sure about this contraption.  I'm sure I will come to love it, but for now, I can't seem to be able to cut through four layers of fabric at a time.  And I am left-handed so I kept having to flip everything around.  I am used to this.  But my right hand is weak and kept allowing the rule against which I was cutting to slip around.  Not great if you're trying to cut a straight line.  But I am determined to master it all and will be back for more next week.  Stay tuned.

Having been out and about so much yesterday, I wanted to hunker down today.  Mr. P demanded scones.  So I obliged.  (They are fast becoming a staple in the house of no knitted knickers.)

I have mislaid the scone cutter that's the right size, but have discovered that a wine glass is just as good.  My ulterior motive for making these is this beauty...

... purchased on holiday and carted back across the world by hand in the manner of ancient traders.  So, I decided to do it right and have afternoon tea.

And then, because I was on a roll, I made stewed rhubarb.  I LOVE rhubarb.  I think it might be one of my desert island foods.  But I digress....

I use a thumb of finely-grated fresh ginger and the juice of half an orange as well as the sugar.  It gives it depth (and besides, I love ginger, so any excuse...)

And to cap it all, while rooting around in the freezer for some worthy fish, Mr. P unearthed some bangers that he'd TOTALLY forgotten about....  So, we had bangers and mash for dinner.  Which was really just a base for Nigel Slater's onion gravy with marsala.  Heaven on a plate.

Oh, and I made two more granny squares.

(And if you hadn't already guessed it, the abundance of foodie photos in this post is down to the fact that I am learning to use my tripod.  The one I've had for 10 years and never learned how to use.  It's amazing what blogging drives you to...)

So, you see really, I am glad the weekend is over and I can return to work for a rest.

Have a good week.

C.x

The Chapati man

Mr. P and I had curry for dinner.  Nothing more to say on that really, except it was delicious, and it does give me the excuse I've been waiting for to share the chapati man with you...

More tomorrow about my first sewing class.

C.x

The wait is over

I had no intention of posting today, but then Mr. P found this in the Telegraph (not something I read, myself).  Too good an opportunity to pass up.  Enjoy.

You too can knit your own royal wedding!

Breath-taking.

C.x