Gone Fishin'!

Thanks for all the warm wishes about our new arrival, baby Oscar.

I won't be around for a couple of weeks as we are off to the Isle of Mull for a two-week break tomorrow.

We won't have any internet access, but I'm sure we'll manage to fill our time with our island adventures.

Take care of yourselves and see you in two weeks' time.
Have a brilliant time at Woolfest, you lucky devils who are going.

Happy knitting. x K

New addition to the family

Ok, I'll spill the beans without leaving you wondering any longer- my beautiful niece has had a beautiful baby boy. He made his bold entrance last Thursday. He is my second delightful great-nephew.
Isn't he lovely? He receives the Oscar for being the most adorable Welsh baby, since, let's see, his gorgeous big sister, Miss Cola.
He'll soon be receiving the lilac wavy blanket I showed you last month.


I'm being quite serious here- please don't say if you wrongly guessed the good news was that I was expecting. Thank-you.

Shoo-Fly

Supergran - are you "Canadian" or "Welsh"??? Either way, you are very welcome.

Some people take you at your word.
Some people like photographic proof you've been doing your patchwork!

Here are the four Shoo-Fly blocks I've made so far from the leftovers from the blue and white as-yet-unnamed quilt top.
I'm moving up in the quilting world as I have progressed to triangles with this one!
Don't worry if the triangle edges don't seem aligned to the edge of the blocks- once the 1/4 inch seam allowances have been sewn into the seams they should be bang on.

I don't know why they're called Shoo-Fly blocks, even though I borrowed a beautiful book about Amish quilts from Partick library.
I think they will become part of a storage bag for the blue and white thing when it becomes a quilt, rather than just a top. Or maybe a jammie case to sit on top of the bed. (Why does a grown woman need so many pyjama cases?)

The other side of the storage bag/ p.j. case will be done in another square and triangle pattern block, but I can't remember its name at the mo.
Each of these blocks is one foot across.
I'm getting the feeling that the patchwork/piecing is more of a draw to me than the quilting btw, but it's still early days.
Strange as this may seem, I do not want to establish a fabric stash, so I want to use up as much as I can as I go along.
I have even included a pic of the reverse side of one of the blocks for you madsters who immediately turn over all embroidery/ fair-isle/ patchwork to look at the back.
I got some brilliant news this week which I hope to share with you in my next entry. In the meantime- feast your eyes on my Shoo-Flies.

Balcary Bay

Unfortunately I've had to block comments on the last post due to a rogue commenter. I may have to find out how to enable comment moderation. Apologies if you already said something sensible, I'll try to copy it over if I can. x K

Balcary Bay

Quite often on this blog I give you a view from Balcary Bay. I don't think I've ever given you a view OF Balcary Bay before because of its location.
Well, here is a rare view of good old Balcary Bay!
Last weekend we went out in a boat (glorified rowing boat really, don't be picturing me on a luxury yacht) to Hestan Island and this is the view looking back. If you can see a yellowish beach on the left, that's where I usually stand posing with shawls etc, it's strange for me to see it from this perspective. The water is the Solway Firth at high tide.

Ok, craft content. Knitting? Check. Interminable ribbing on a Twilley's Freedom Spirit Cardigan. Crochet? Check. Making a bag from Sirdar Indigo, one side complete. Patchwork? Check. Have made four "Shoo-Fly" blocks from the leftovers from the blue and white quilt top. Dress-making? Not this week, does buying fabric count?

I hope to show you some nice FO pix soon. I am really quite uncharacteristically stressed at work at the moment and haven't had a chance to really get tore* into my projects this week.

I know get torn is grammatical, but get tore in is the idiom.

Have a good crafty week. x K

Cardonald Cottage?

Hee hee, I did my course at Cardonald COLLEGE, not Cardonald Cottage as my previous post claims!

I kind of like the sound of that- sounds like some historically important location or something.

Thanks for all the lovely comments about my skirt.

Glad you approve of the new sewing machine too, yes girls, go and dust yours off, let's have some sewing fun this summer. x K

Coming clean

Thank-you for all your lovely comments about my quilt top- now get working on yours, you skivers!

I've been holding out on you, Part the Second.

I've been attending a Dressmaking Course at Cardonald Cottage. I've just completed Course F and thoroughly enjoyed it. I got a lot out of the tuition, as you do, but also I learned tons and got a lot of inspiration from my classmates. (This is nothing to do with my quilting, which I've been plugging away at with the help of books and the internet.)

I've been holding out on you, Part the Third.
I've made myself a skirt! It's in a linen and cotton blend and I made it from Butterick Pattern B4557 (scroll down, she's wearing a black top and a patterned black skirt) at my class. I'm going to make myself at least one more, using some patterned black fabric, (another linen with white surface embroidery) I'm a sucker for advertising.


The photos are 1- front view 2- back view showing darts and zip 3- waistband, couldn't get matching bias binding so I went for a toning colour.

According to the quilting books you can make your own bias binding in the matching shade, but this is a beginner project, I've never sewn anything to wear before.

Unlike some lucky people, I don't have a Vianne or Dianne or Leeanne or anyone to stand very still for me while I fix the hem or photograph the finished product, so I have to stick with a humble hedge.


I've been holding out on you, Part the Fourth.
I've recently been treated to a
New Sewing Machine !!! It's model 3210, the simpler, blue one. I love it! I'm even learning to use it properly.

No more revelations to break at the moment.

Happy crafting and I hope you enjoyed World Wide Knit in Public Day. x K

Not a tutorial on how to make a quilt top

I've been holding out on you, Part the First.

I've made a bed quilt top behind your back. I did most of it during the Bank Holiday weekend last week, and I did the border today.

This link is not a tutorial on how to make a quilt top.

It's not "How to make a quilt top" it's "How I made a quilt top".

I come with great big L plates on at the moment, although I really enjoyed it and I am pleased with the results so far.

You can find out how I got from pencil and paper to full top by looking at my KEDkrafty's Patchwork Quilt Top Step by Step on Flickr.

If you know nothing about quilts, the top is the big sheety bit at the top. I haven't touched the layering and binding, and oh yeah, the actual quilting bit yet.

It's quite detailed, if you get bored just look at the pictures.

I would love it if you would leave a comment, either on Flickr or on here.

Do you happen to know the name of that diagonal layout I've done? If so, I'd be much obliged if you'd let me know, I'm having a hard time finding out.

Thank you my friends, and Happy Crafting! K x