Pins and Needles 2013

This year Pins and Needles (an Initial J Event) was held the weekend before last at Newcastle Race Course.

This is an event that I always attend and tend to stock up on good local produce. This year there were lots and lots of papercraft exhibitors and the sewing and knitting folks were in the minority.  With the event being called Pins and Needles and having a quilting exhibition, and needlework exhibition on show I was a little disappointed not to have more relevant stalls.  I did however come across a new exhibitor who was selling some delicious local wool Natural Knits, The Knitting Gift Shop. 

They have an online shop and you can find them here.

I did snaffle up a few bits from Woolaballoo, a lovely wool supplier from Hexham and I have made myself a very quick neck warmer (crap photos but it's more mustard than green in real life).   I am not the fastest knitter and I managed to knit this up one evening after work (part of the cost went to children in need too).

How cool is the huge button, I swapped the button from the kit with this one which I bought from The Knitting Gift Shop, the lady tells me her husband made these from the leg of an old chair.

This year one of the workshops was Tunisian Crochet, this is something I was really interested in.  I can knit and crochet but this is a technique I have never tried before, so I signed up.

Its a bit odd if you are used to crochet.  In traditional crochet, you work a row of stitches, and the row is then complete. At that point, you turn the work and move on to the next row.  Tunisian crochet is different, each row is a two-step process, and you never have a need to turn the work.  I got myself a bit confused at the end of each row but with a bit of practice and a lovely helpful teacher, I nailed it (I did frog it and start again when I got home and got it right).

If you are interested there are loads of good YouTube tutorials showing how it is done the tool is a cross between a knitting needle and a crochet hook. The finished article is very thick it is like double thickness crochet, if you need this dense finish Tunisian may be the way forward.  As a result of this thickness, the Tunisian uses up lots of wool, I can’t imagine making a full size blanket in this way if for no other reason than the excessive cost of the wool but I hope to make a cushion cover sized piece from patchwork Tunisian squares in the future.  I will add that to my ever growing list of things I want to make.

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A Monthly Make March 2012, and a few buys...

Well I'm gonna come running in at the very end of the month and skid to a flustered halt to present my March 2012 monthly make.  This is pretty much the only thing I have completed this month, my Christmas Quilt Stitchery.

I obviously have to turn it into a quilt at some stage but that will be sometime towards the end of the year.

Following my visit to Sewing for pleasure last week at the NEC I attended Pins and Needles today with my friend Nic.  This year it was held at the Newcastle Racecourse which was a much better venue than the aircraft hanger style arena where it usually is.

(I did take some nice photos of the venue and the knitted underwater display which was amazing, I will blog these another time as this post is rather photo heavy already.)

We had fun and I stocked up on some gorgeous fabrics, this little lot were from Just Quilting

This little (*cough*) pile was from Images of Egypt

and here is an array of other bits and bobs, including some quilting gloves, buttons, threads, patterns and hoops. 

Check out my giant button, I love it, bought from Button's Boutique.

This is my favourite buy of the day, it's a cross stitch pattern in the shape of a sewing machine.  I did see this at Birmingham and hummed and harred, but I snapped it up today.  I'm thinking of sewing it in various shades of dusky pinks and greys but I've not decided yet. 

Well all shopped out I came home to a lovely parcel from Emma Bear Forever in the form of these two lovely grey squares.  Thanks again Emma.

Next weekend will be my two year blogiversary, and so I am planning a little giveaway, stay tuned!

Crafting on hold ...

Well it's time for a quick catch up, I have had a mental busy few weeks with work which has left me precious little time to make anything.  I did book a sneaky day's holiday last week though and spent a fabulous day at Birmingham NEC with my friend Lynda, nattering, shopping and generally putting the world to rights! 

This time I didn't spend a kings ransom and only really bought a few bits, a couple of them are for gifts so I can't show them here, but I did get a nice bargain from the Historical Sampler Company this sweet cross stitch, which was in the sale box:

 Lynda and I were lucky enough to meet the lovely Mandy Shaw of Dandelion Designs and we both pre ordered her new book Stitch at Home which I can't wait to get my hands on.

image from Dandelion Designs website 

I have yet another crafty event this weekend in the form of Pins and Needles, at Newcastle Race Course, it's an event that my lovely friend Nic and I never miss.  There will be lots of fab stalls and I think I was a little reserved in Birmingham so that I had enough cash left for Pins & Needles!  

I have fabric in mind and a few gifts... fingers crossed that the crazy grannies with their shopping trolleys, bad attitudes and sharp elbows are going on a different day to me!

In other crafty news more squares have arrived for the blanket swap and I now have quite a little pile gathering up.

The only craft I have been partaking in recently is my stitcheries for my Lynette Anderson Christmas Quilt. I have made a good start on the second big stitchery and only need to complete the border now.

 This is a nice project to pick up and put down when I have the odd 10 mins spare.

 Well, now that my back is no longer sore all day every day (just most days, for a good part of the day) I have started to get the spring cleaning bug.  As I looked around though I realised that it was more than that, spring cleaning just won't cut it, my home needs decorating badly.

I think as I knew I was not able to do it I have chosen not to see it, but it is definitely more shabby than chic at the moment and I am going to put that right soon.

As a consequence my crafting will have to be put on the back burner for a while while I whip this place into shape.  

My beloved, although wonderful in many hundreds of ways, is useless when it comes to decorating and DIY so it's all up to me!  I will use him for any heavy lifting, fetching and carrying and such though, he is good at that.

One of the first things I need to tackle is my kitchen, it just needs a lick of paint and a general clear out and deep clean.  It is so shabby and messy that I can't bear to put photos here just yet, but I will, I must document it for shame's sake.

I'm off to wallow in my squalor :0(

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Miniature Disasters and Minor Catastrophes

After a particularly stressful week I came home to this yesterday,

the wind has been 'blowing a hooligan' as we say and my poor tramampoline (it's what the kids call it) took off and squished my lovely willow fence. It's going to take many hours digging posts out and fixing, maybe next weekend!

Luckily to cheer myself up; I had taken today off work and my lovely friend and I hot footed it to the Metro Arena in Newcastle to the Pins and Needles craft show; it was fab!!
We spent many hours traipsing up and down the aisles and spent a small fortune on beautiful treats, our bags were groaning with goodies and we could barely carry it all towards the end.
I'll not bore you with it all (and some of it is for pressies) but here is a small selection of the beauties I got.

Piles of new and vintage fabrics

There was a quilting exhibition (no photos allowed) and an exhibition of masterpieces in wool and fabric (photos allowed), check these out, the detail was just incredible.

...did you recognise them?

We took a needlecraft workshop at lunchtime to make a little 'Sleepy Ewe' using a stumpwork technique called a Slip. It involves lots of french knots and they take ages so it's not anywhere near done, I'll finish it this weekend and show you, it's so sweet!

I have made a few more candles this week. I made one for my Mum for Mother's Day and a couple for an order for a friend.

I ordered some more scents, one of which is Baby Powder, this smells of babies bums, yum yum!

I am awaiting delivery of packing boxes but once they arrive I will be able to post out to those that have asked for them I will be in touch soon if you are still interested.

You know how busy I have been, and you know I have a cushion fetish, well I found this delight in Pene's shop on Etsy, it's made from Cath Kidston fabric and I fell in love with it.

As I rushed to her shop to snaffle it up, those beautiful handmade cards also fell into my shopping bag, but they were just too lovley to leave behind. If you have not seen Pene's lovely makes pop over and have a look she has a 15% discount running until Easter Monday, details here.

Anyhoo I will be back soon with more makes, and as it's my 1st Blogiversary next weekend I am planning a lovely giveaway, watch this space.

~ ♥ TTFN ♥ ~

Using up my beads...

It's coming up to the next Pins & Needles show at the Metro Arena in Newcastle and it made me think ... I bought beads at the last show that I have not even opened and the guilt set in.

I set to and made a few key rings / bag charms as the beads are just to pretty to stay hidden away. These are heavily inspired (read copied) from a keyring that my lovely friend made me recently that I posted about here.

Hearts & Roses

Pearls & Ribbons


Whilst I had the bits out and my crochet stuff to hand I mixed my medias and made some crochet and bead earrings, not sure what I would wear these with.


I have taken a bit of a shine to my last crochet cushion and have made a start on another one in a more muted shade, I have still not finished the huge granny square cushion I really should get one thing done at a time.

Oh, one last thing, I gave in to bloggy peer pressure and bought myself the Rosali Bed set from IKEA last week, I was a little unsure till I got it on the bed and I just love it!! My delightful husband climbed into bed with a bit of a quizzical look and said "You do know we don't live in the 1950's don't you?".

...well I wish we did!

Anyone up this way heading to the Pins and Needles show this time; if you are might see you there?

~ ♥ TTFN ♥ ~