Hometown Quilting and Fabric Shop - Rochester, Kent

I really spoiled myself on Wednesday evening and went down to my favourite shop, Hometown, for their January Sale. 

Hometown is much more than a fabric and haberdashery store. It’s a paradise for fabric lovers, quilters and patchworkers or anyone who shares a passion for making things. The shop not only stocks an eclectic selection of books and hands-on creative kits; but also a range of contemporary home accessories, including Pantone colour mugs, and stylish British handmade textile gifts and accessories.

The owner, Marion Haslam, has been a keen quilt maker and quilt teacher for more than 20 years and has published four books.

Hometown has now been open since 2008 and is a wonderful little shop. I think the sale is on until Saturday 28th January so I may be able to squeeze in another visit between now and then!

Belated Happy New Year!

We are still here, we haven't disappeared but we have been taking a bit of a break after a very busy Christmas season. October, November, and December were extremely busy with paint your own pottery events and it has taken a little while to recover.

Anyway we wish you a belated Happy New Year for 2012 and look forward to sharing many more pottery and craft ideas with you in future.

I am very excited to share my most recent news which is a new addition to my family - yes! that's right - a brand new sewing machine - a Janome CXL301. It is computerised and so simple and easy to use. It has 30 built in stitches and one step button holes. It is truly amazing.

 I am so excited. I have never owned one before and I am really looking forward to trying out lots of different projects, especially machine embroidery which looks quite tricky. However, I am armed with a darning foot and I know how to drop the feed dog now so I have no excuse but to get going.

My first two projects were fixing my son's school trousers and mending my cushions in the living room so let's hope it gets better than that!

So many things left to do......

Doodlebugs Pottery has been really busy for the last 6 weeks or so with Christmas markets and lights festivals which have been great fun  but all of a sudden there are only 2 days left and still so many projects I want to do.....

I love these button Christmas cards, so simple but so effective ....

I am also making a little scottie dog which I first saw here. This is him so far...

 

Mine is a teal colour with red blanket stitch so a slight variation but would look great as part of a rag wreath or hanging garland or like this one from Elizabeth at Creative Breathing. So cute.

and this is my Scottie dog finished (apologies for the poor lighting!)

Crochet Update

There are so many great projects I want to do and so little time to do them all! Every time I go onto the computer I find another pattern I love and want to try and now I have got the basics of crochet that's another craft I can add to my long list.

After my lesson in half term I have got the crochet bug, I love it. So relaxing and more satisfying than knitting, with just the one stitch to worry about!

I have started to crochet this in  a lovely chunky yarn (Sirdar Connemara 359) which is a pretty brown, yellow, orange and pink mix.

The pattern is American so watch out for the differences between double crochet and treble. I also added a few stitches to the foundation chain to start with so instead of 37 stitches I did 57 but apart from that it is a great pattern for a beginner. I will post a photo of the finished cowl as soon as I finish it which at the moment won't be any time soon. I do hope to finish it by Christmas though!

Here are some pictures of other things I want to try...... I particulary like this floral baby blanket but it looks like an awful lot of work! I don't know if the original pattern is available for there is a free download for something similar here

This looks more achievable (pattern here) and if you don't fancy crochet there is also a tutorial for a knitted star. 



These would look so pretty hanging on a garland or on your Christmas tree

I also love these snowmen from mochimochiland (they are knitted rather than crocheted), you have to buy the pattern but it is only $2.00, how could you resist?



Crochet Lesson

I am so proud! Today I created this........

I know you are thinking 'What on earth is that?' but this is my first attempt at crochet. I had a lesson with a lovely lady at Sew a Good Yarn in Maidstone (very reasonable at £11 for an hour's tuition) and within the hour I had learnt how to do a chain, double crochet and treble crochet. I have even bought the wool to attempt this. If I get into trouble I can always go back for help (which I am sure I will need to do)! I will let you into a secret - my teacher started me off with the chain so I know that bit is right! Watch this space........
(If you want to attempt making this cowl and you are a beginner like me just bear in mind that this is an American pattern and single/double/treble have different meanings to the English. English double crochet is the same as American single crochet and English treble crochet is the same as American double crochet) Hope that makes sense!

It's nearly Halloween!

As it is nearly Halloween I just wanted to tell you about this great site that I found called http://www.pumpkinmasters.com/. It is full of tips, ideas on how to carve pumpkins, recipes, fun stuff, halloween facts and history etc.

This is a great tip to preserve your pumpkin if you carve it 2-3 days before Halloween:   

1. Prevent your pumpkin from drying out by placing petroleum jelly on the cut edges of your carving.
2. Spray your pumpkin with water, cover it with plastic wrap then store it in the refrigerator when it's not on display. This helps prevent premature decomposition.
3. Soak or spray the pumpkin with water mixed with a little bit of bleach. This will help ward off mold and kill insects for a longer preservation.

If your pumpkin is showing signs of shriveling, soak it in water for several hours. The more shriveled the pumpkin, the longer it needs to soak. When the pumpkin is removed from the water, dry the inside with a towel as much as possible to impede mold growth. Dried-out pumpkins and melons can be revived almost completely with this technique.

I really love this tip:-


Create the smell of Halloween spice. Just sprinkle a little cinnamon, nutmeg, and pumpkin spice on the bottom of the pumpkin lid. Once the pumpkin is lit, it will create a wonderful seasonal scent.

I was also searching the web and found some great vintage halloween pictures at www.graphicshunt.com/:

So whatever you are doing for Halloween have a great time and don't forget to use the pumpkin flesh that you scrape out for a delicious recipe such as pumpkin soup or these delicious pumpkin cupcakes. Absolutely delicious with the cinnamon cream cheese topping. The only mistake I made was halving the recipe and only baking 12 instead of 24. They really are soooo good!

Next Pumpkin Project & GIVEAWAY!

I have just knitted this fabulous little pumpkin (it should take about 10 minutes but it took me over a week what with other stuff getting in the way!) I am going to try knitting a bigger one by doubling the number of cast on stitches but this size is very cute.

It is knitted using the magic loop technique which is basically knitting on circular needles (there is a great tutorial here). This site also shows you the long tail cast on method which is useful as your tail and yarn are in the same place and makes for a neater finish. You can also find tutorials for this technique on youtube.

So, here is the pattern (which I found here)

You will need:
Orange yarn for your pumpkin and green for your stem.
Circular needles
Fleece for stuffing
Wool needle for sewing up
double pointed needles (for the i-cord stem)

Pattern:
With circular needles cast on 9 stitches.
Round 1: Knit the first round.
Round 2: Increase into every stitch in the second round, you will now have 18 stitches.
Round 3: Knit 1 round.
Round 4: Increase into each stitch in the 4th round, you will now have 36 stitches.
Round 5 to 9: Knit
Round 10: Knit 2 together all across the round.(18 stitches)
Round 11: Knit.
Round 12: Knit 2 together all across the round. (9 stitches)
Round 13: Knit.

Leaving a long thread, break yarn and thread onto a wool needle, thread your wool needle back through your stitches, stuff and pull tight. Do not overstuff as this may make your pumpkin look too round. The convolutions of the pumpkin's skin show up quite nicely if you understuffed your pumpkin

Once you have closed the top opening of your pumpkin, take your needle, push down through your pumpkin, pull out on the other side and pull tight. This makes a depression on the top of your pumpkin. Sew tightly underneath.

Pick up 2 stitches in the middle of the top of your pumpkin, attach your green thread and knit an i-cord for a stalk.

The i-cord technique tutorial is available here. However, I only cast on 3 stitches rather than 5. This gave me a thinner stem which was more in-keeping with the size and shape of the pumpkin.

If you try this pattern send me some pics.

PUMPKIN GIVEAWAY:

If you don't fancy knitting your own I am going to give away the pumpkin that I knitted

What to do...

Please leave a comment at the end of this post by 8pm on Sunday 23rd October 2011 and I will randomly pick a winner from your entries. The winner will receive my cute knitted pumpkin in time for Halloween!