Fabric pumpkins and knitted pumpkins.

Hello everyone,

How are you all?
 Weekend is coming and the school breaks up next week so I have a full week to catch up on some stitching and knitting.
Here are a few projects I have finished to celebrate Halloween which is fast approaching here in the UK.

These colourful pumpkins are made from scraps of fabric and I also filled them with Lavender they make lovely decorations around the house.
The pattern for these are from the book Modern Vintage Gifts

designs and patterns by Helen Phillips
check out Helen's blog which she keeps updated regularly.

H ere are a couple of my knitted pumpkins I have made quite a few times for friends, especially the larger one.

Lastly here is a little cross stitch for Autumn

an Acorn Medallion the pattern design is by NeedleKnowledge and Cheryl Fall
I have nearly finished this hopefully this evening.

Well that's it for now and I hope you all have a lovely weekend.

bye for now

Julie

x

Crochet baby blanket finished.

Hello everyone,

I hope all of you are well and enjoying your weekend.
I have a few moments to update my blog before making tea. I have been quite busy with family and we have been helping my son to move into his new flat so that leaves a quite house with just Mr C Bruno and me.
However I am going to be a Nana again as my daughter is expecting a baby due next March and you can imagine my Grand daughter is so excited, so that means lot's of baby projects to plan and here is my first finish this baby blanket.

This is the first CTC pattern I have crocheted my daughter has already seen this and loves it.

 I also started a baby hooded jacket  which is being knitted using James C Brett wool and I plan to crochet another blanket too.

You may have noticed my blog posts have been fewer I find it hard to fit in around work and family as must be the same for most of us, when I am off work it is easier to post but in the mean time you can always find me adding new pictures of my projects and anything else I am doing on ,

INSTAGRAM

as Julieinstitches

and

RAVELRY

as juliesgems3

Bye for now, and if you want to link or message me I would still love to hear from you.

Julie

xx

Knitted tea cosy finished and other stitching progress.

Hello everyone,

How are we all I have not posted for a few weeks I know, I have broke up from work for the holidays at the moment with me working at a school so Mr C and I are away in our caravan on and off.

You can find me on Revelry sometimes and I have posted the odd picture on Instagram  showing pictures of any of my projects I have been working on.

I finished the knitted tea cosy I mentioned last,

pattern is by Lynn Rowe from the Woolnest

I used one of Lynn's other patterns to crochet this bunting for my sisters birthday.

Sue has promised to hang this in her summer house or along the top of her dresser, I hope she remembers to send me a picture.


I have to show you this lovely gift from my blog friend Lynn B at Happiness Is Cross Stitching
it came through the post this morning what a lovely surprise.

A very useful large cross stitch project bag with a see through front so you can easily see which project you have inside, it is beautifully made and with my favourite owl image what a super gift for a st itchy friend.
Oh and check out the owl stitch marker to all made by Lynn B

Here is how it looks with my hoop fabric, threads and notions pouch tucked safely inside.
You can find products similar to this one and many more items in Lynn's shop over at
Stitching Fairy Crafts


Before I go here is an update on the Bee embroidery I have been stitching

the pattern is from Homemade embroidery magazine special, not much more to do.

Well that is all for now, we will be away for 2 weeks so till next time.

happy stitching

Julie xx

I won a hexie table mat and new items to show from my holidays.

Hello all,

How are you all? I hope everyone is well and that you have had time to stitch knit or crochet.

I certainly did I made a little time to do both while I was on holiday it was marvellous we had a lovely restful time and Bruno has done nothing but sulk since he has been back, he must have had about 8 walks each day and paddle in the river that was by the caravan.

But hey on with the post I had a lovely surprise when my blog friend Sheryl over at
Sewing After Seven emailed me to say I had won her give away here is the picture.

The picture dose not do it justice it is so beautifully stitched and nicely put together.

Sheryl hand made a sweet gift tag and also gave me left over fabric with extra hexagon pieces to use with my projects. How kind thank so much xx



I have a few things I bought from my holiday Mr C treated me as he always dose, we found a few wool shops and could not resist buying some more yarn.

DK Sirdar Country Style and in this Sublime knitting booklet is a pattern for a waistcoat that I like the look of which I will be using the yarn for.

Also I saw these useful tins with a vintage retro design on the lid which also included a note book to jot down all your knitting notes.

I paid £5.00 for this set which I think is quite good value.

I had planned to be good and not buy any yarn while on holiday but it is so hard to resist walking past a yarn shop and not walking away with some lovely yarn, at least I have something in mind on what to make with it.

So for my next projects to make on my to do list are-

1. knitted waistcoat 

2. crochet bag (for Suzie)

My WIP project list are-

1. knitted tea cosy

2.crochet throw

3.knitted teddy bears for charity(on going)

I will keep you posted, I must dash now tea is on, have a lovely weekend

happy knitting or crocheting.

bye for now

Julie x

&

Bruno x

I finished an Ombre crochet shawl and bought a new knitting book.

Hi Everyone,

How are you all I hope you are enjoying your weekend so far, we had heavy rain today but I just managed to walk Bruno before we were soaked. Tomorrow appears to be looking good with sunshine on the way which will be nice.

Well today after doing some ironing and cleaning etc; I concentrated on finishing a shawl I was crocheting for myself here is a picture

the yarn I used was by Lion Brand shawl in a ball. When you purchase the yarn there is a free pattern available to download from Lion Brands website using a code on the ball band, but I had decided I would like to crochet the shawl, and I had this pattern from Inside Crochet magazine called the Ombre Shawl by Sarah Shrimpton

The pattern is easy to follow mainly consisting of trebles and chain stitches, even though I did not use the yarn as suggested  I think it still works well for me anyway.



I also have a new book it arrived today called Knit Yourself Calm,

it is new out and the designer for the patterns is Lynne Rowe, there are at least 16 projects inside with plenty of helpful picture tutorials and instructions with new how to techniques for beginners.

It is a lovely book and would make a nice gift for someone you know who loves to knit.

If you want to read more about Lynne Rowe's work visit her website at The Wool Nest

there is also a monthly Pod Cast to follow.

That's all for now folks

bye for now

Julie xx