Sunday 22 April 2012

weekend fun and Give away winner

So I've had a fairly productive weekend.  I finished my Louisa Harding jacket, which is very chunky and so has only taken just over a week.  I'm reasonably happy and will definitely wear it ....


I realised that although I have knitted a few garments throughout my life - I didn't actually finish many of them and I find the making up a bit nerve wracking!   I have now discovered matress stitch and things have improved a lot so I did OK with the making-up here, although I really do find that hard and this was very thick wook with an uneven slub cotton running through it which I had to remove to use for sewing up.  The pattern had a very complicated knitted band but I went for a crochet picot edge again using a chain of 3 and extending this to 5 for the button loops.  My knitting confidence has raised a little and I am going to try some fair isle handwarmers and if that goes OK, who knows, maybe a fair isle jumper.

Gemma and I tried to make macarons... and I do say tried.  We didn't get the right texture, not runny enough, and although we were making 14 chocolate ones, after a bit too long in the oven only 3 were edible!  They all tasted OK and we are not downhearted but will try again soon.  It's interesting to have a bit of a technical challenge.



I bought a magazine I have never bought before, Sew Home, mainly because it had some free fabric charm squares and some makes from Helen Phillips whose work I really like.  You may remember when I made my quilt I struggled a bit with making all the edges meet accurately, so I decided to have a go a the little pin cushion in the mag with the free fabrics.  As I was making the 2 pieced sides I thought it wasn't really needed to have two pieced sides, so decided to make 2 and then to have a runner up prize in my giveaway.  It was still quite difficult for me ... don't know why  .... but I tried hard and hope they aren't too bad!  (Quite tiny though).  I do think I would find this level of technique in large quilting items quite challenging!  The magazine said it should take 45 minutes to make ..... I think it took nearly that to sew up the opening and the buttons on!



Winners

So I have drawn the winner of my giveaway which is ..... Trudy and for a runner-up Gillian.  So send me your addresses (try through my profile and if this doesn't work leave a comment and I reply with my email- as I'm not sure how it works).  Hope the items are OK!  I will have more in future.

I seem to be getting into the habit of a photo of Rosie in most blogs .... so here it is, bathtime ....


6 comments:

  1. Your jacket looks fabulous and the colour is lovely. The pin cushions are good too, those buttons are really pretty. Bless her, Rosie's expression says it all LOL!
    Karen x

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  2. The picture of Rosie made me smile. We don't like doggy bathtime in this house - I tend to get wetter that Ollie!! Rosie has the most gorgeous big eyes, I bet she can get away with anything.
    I love Helen's work too - I will look out for the Sew Home magazine.

    Your jacket looks brilliant - and it only took a week to make which is the sort of project I like!

    Take care xx

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    1. Thanks. The jacket pattern is from a Louisa Harding book - she has lots of chunky wool and knits which are very quick to do ....don't know whether it will stretch though.

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  3. Oh thank you, how exciting!!! I am very happy :-) I will try to send you my address through your profile.

    That knitted jacket is stunning, it looks really good. It looks as though it took months to make! I too found macarons very tricky - yours seem to have come out looking nice and round - mine were a mess.

    Gillian xx

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  4. Maggie, thank you so much!! I'm thrilled to have won your giveaway, and look forward to receiving your gorgeous pincushion, and all the other beautiful gifts you have very kindly offered. I'm absolutely thrilled : -) Yippeeeeeeeee!!
    Cheers, Trudy x

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  5. Your macarons look amazing! Even if you think they were only an 'attempt'!

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