Beading a Fringe

Remember the red scarf which I couldn't photograph properly?  Well here it is again, still not the correct colour!  So why am I showing you again?  Because I've added a beaded fringe to it.

I was going to use a pattern from The Beaded Edge 2 - a truly beautiful book with gorgeous crocheted and beaded edgings that I got for my birthday.  Alas, it may have to stay a gorgeous book as I could not make head nor tale of the instructions.  Instead I used a pattern from Simple Glass Beading by Dorothy Wood.

As this is part of my craft book challenge, I can also link up over at Heart of Charnwood who's doing a monthly Craft Book Challenge too.  If you want to join in too, and be in the running for the prize, simply complete a project from a craft book and link up, see the post here for all the details.

You can just see a strip of the fabric at the top, and that is probably the truest colour.  I used a selection of different shades of red seed beads, sizes 10 and 11, some white pearls, clear AB crystals and some lovely opaque drops I bought a while ago by mistake and had no idea how to use. The whole fringe was beading using nymo thread and a beading needle.

It took me HOURS.  Really, I didn't think it would take that long, but it did.  One issue I had with the pattern was that no photos were shown of the side of the fringe, so when I got to the bottom bead vertically (the fourth bead at that time), I really couldn't see where to go.  I did figure it out but not until I'd added 2 extra rows and done half the fringe.  It's staying as it is!

Well ladies, I finished the scarf last week and work something red the very next day so I could wear it to work.  Around lunchtime I noticed a long thread hanging off one of the fringes, an entire row had dropped out!  I had a quick scout round the office and there are tiny red beads everywhere!  It's now sitting waiting for me to fix it.  I'll rethread the row that dropped out, then I'm going to put dobs of beading glue on each join, I don't want the whole thing falling off!!

none of these colours

Well hello!  I'm scheduling this post as I don't want to fall off the face of the internet again!  I've dropped in to show you the red scarf I sewed.  This is WIP #53 which, if you were inclined to check is labelled as "red scarf with beaded fringe".  No, it's not an invisible beaded fringe, I haven't done that yet, but I have sewed the red scarf and decided to show you anyway.!

It's a simple piece of chiffony material, hemmed on all four edges.  It is not that colour above.  I thought the snow would make a good backdrop and the natural light would show the correct colour.  No.

It's definitely not that colour. So indoors with the light off and a dark background didn't work either.

How about with the electric lights on?  NO!  Definitely not.

Back outside... nope, not that colour either.  It's actually red with a bit of a gold sparkle.  Hopes are not high for the photos of the scarf with the beaded fringe attached...

fluffy and blue

Last week I showed you the recipe book cover I'd made from my latest copy of Australian Handmade (my latest copy, but not yours in Oz, it's a few months late).  Well, I spotted loads of projects in that issue that I want to make and I just so happened to have the materials for one of them.

As you know, I love to crochet and this project seemed right up my alley.

I crocheted this scarf (called Ice Blue) in the magazine using a couple of balls of Sublime Kid Silk Mohair that I had lying around.  The pattern used 2 different shades, alternating between every few rows, but I chose to do it all in one colour.

Made up of a shell pattern, it was super-easy.  I only went wrong a few times as I was watching TV the entire time I was making it.  The only issue I had was with the yarn.  If you have to undo mohair, it's a nightmare.  The little tufty bits get stuck on each other and the whole thing tangles.  At one point I had a ball of tangle rather than a ball of yarn and I had to get Mr CA involved in untangling it.  It took us over an hour!

Craft Book Challenge - January Roundup

This is a round up post of my Craft Book Challenge attempts for the month so no new stuff - sorry!  If you're not already joining in, come join us at Liesl's blog.

I managed to use 3 of my craft books this month:

Sew Darn Cute by Jenny Ryan
I made this patchwork scarf:

Knitted Toy Tales by Laura Long
And knitted this frog prince that Blogger insists on showing sideways

Free and Easy Stitch Style by Poppy Treffry
And got to grips with free motion embroidery.  See my post here if you're interested in learning more about it.

Three books in one month, not bad!

Stitching in the Ditch (well, to the side of the ditch really)

I've finally finished something!  My first finish of the year on 12th January - that's a bit rubbish really!  It is also my first Craft Book Challenge finish of the year.

This project was taken from Sew Darn Cute (see details on my Craft Book Challenge tab) and was really good fun to make.  I love doing patchwork. This was my first time doing "stitching in the ditch" though and I am not very good at it! 

Here's the scarf:

All rolled up.  It was hard to get a shot of this scarf as it's not very bendy and I couldn't fit the whole thing in a picture.  The light is rubbish too, I need to try to just take pictures at the weekends of my projects as I'm never at home during the day light hours - but I wanted to show you!

Here it is fanned out (look at me trying to be artistic!):

They are all Moda fabrics from layer cakes I bought - one was Freebird and the other Boutique but I can't remember which the others were and don't know which range these fabrics were from! 

Here's a close up of my stitching in the ditch:

Can you see where I wander away from the ditch?  I didn't know if I should sort of stretch the materials apart (there is a layer of wadding in there) as I sewed, sometimes that seemed to work, other times it didn't.  Ah well, I suppose I just need to practice.  Any tips?

I'm planning on making two more, one in reds and browns and the other in dusky aquas (from the same Moda stash) to add to my present box.  I started cutting last night but then my husband saw the scarf and said it was weird.  He backtracked saying that it's only as he's never seen a scarf like that.  I wore it to work today anyway, tied like a tie as it looked strange and bulking in a knot and 2 men immediately poked fun at me.  :0(  I'm ignoring them.

Edit: I just want to say thanks to Rachel of Tiny Pink for her suggestion of where I can get some Bliss - Rachel, I couldn't email you back as you are a no reply blogger so I really hope you see this.  Thanks!

Finally finished the scarf (free pattern) - and fab giveaway win!

So, the lovely Val Laird (visit her here) finally sorted my whole photo/post thing out by telling me how to email my posts to myself, cutting out the photo problem.  I still do have a little problem as there’s a limit on the size of photos I can send (anyone know a non-technical way to make them smaller?) but it’s a lot quicker anyway!

So, first up, I need to say a massive thanks to Cathy for the fab bag I won in her giveaway. 

I’ve been joining in with Cathy’s Christmas Countdown and I was lucky enough to win this gorgeous bag last month. 

 

Look at that detail and the lovely little label!  I love it Cathy and it’s under my desk as we speak.  I'm just sorry that my photos don't do it justice, I fell in love with it as soon as I opened the parcel.  Come on ladies, join Cathy for the final month’s Countdown by posting about your November Christmas present makes, it’s that simple and you could win a prize.  All you have to do is email Cathy or comment on her blog directing her to your post.

I’ve finally finished that basket weave scarf!  Ta da…

And here’s a close up (albeit an orange close up – the scarf is russet!):

Do you want to know how to do the basket weave pattern?

It’s pretty simple, I did it in multiples of 4 stitches and 5 rows, though you could really make that any number (larger) that you wanted for bigger squares.  I had to count my stitches – it had to be a multiple of 8 + 4 so 12, 20, 28, 36, 44 all work and I chose 44 stitches. 

Rows 1-5 : knit 4, purl 4 to end of row

Rows 6 – 10: purl 4, knit 4 to end of row

Then just repeat this pattern to infinity!

I also made my dad a fabric covered notice board from a piece of black and white stripy fabric, a cork board and a couple of layers of wadding, plus hundreds of staples and a bit of PVA glue.  He’s a big Notts County fan.  Overseas readers never heard of Notts County?  Oh, hang on, I bet you British readers have never heard of them either!  They’re a football team.  Certainly not Premiership material, I don’t know what division they are in now as they keep changing the system but it used to be division 4, basically a bit up from the Sunday pub team matches!!  Anyway, they play in black and white stripes, hence the black and white theme of his presents.

That’s it for now but I should be back on Monday with lots and lots of Christmas gift finishes – if not then it’s looking more and more unlikely that my family will get any Christmas presents!!

P.S.  Look what I saw in the carpark of my local Asda:

The holidays are coming!

How can you mess up a simple coaster?? Read on and I'll show you!

My birthday is coming up and my mum and dad have promised me a sewing machine.  I'd decided (after reading the comments my lovely readers sent me) to get a Husqvarna.  Ten minutes walk down the road from my house is a Husqvarna shop.  I'd never been in as I'd never wanted to buy a sewing machine.  Well!  I had been missing out, it was packed full of gorgeous fabrics including those from the likes of Tilda!  I chose the machine I wanted (an Emerald 116, or, if it's too much with me going half price, then an E20), then I set myself loose on the fabrics!!  I can't believe I didn't take a picture of my stash, but I bought a handful of fat quarters, then a metre of the most beautiful, double-width linen with "Coffee" on it (see below) and another with little animals printed on it. 

As soon as I saw the coffee fabric, I knew I'd make coasters and placemats for my brother for Christmas as this fabric is right up his street, and, after all, how hard can it be to make a coaster?  Well, I overestimated myself!!

Attempt number one:

And a close up of the awful stitching on the wonky binding:

Clearly I can't do bias binding!!  Ladies, any tips on where I went wrong??  Other than picking it up and thinking I could sew it I mean!

Attempt number two:

Hum, also somewhat wonky!  I'd used a layer of batting/wadding inside to make it thicker, but I had to iron it as the fabric was all creased after I'd finished poking and prodding it, and it flattened the wadding completely!  In the end I chose interfacing and got it right... not perfect by any means, but OK for a first third attempt.

Ta da:

A close up of one of the designs and (hang on though, I have to press publish after each photo then come back into it, what's happened to Blogger??)...

A view of all four coasters and...

A view of the set showing the back.  Comments and suggestions would be very very welcome before I try the placemats ladies!

I didn't actually do much at the weekend but I did get some more of the basket weave scarf knitted:

It's now 54cm (21 inches approx) long!  I've set myself a challenge to knit at least 20 rows per night in order to get it done soon so I can knit something a bit lot more interesting.  The colour of the photo still isn't right, it's now orange!

And finally in today's little show and tell, I started embroidering bookmarks last night.  I'm going to make a couple for each reader in my life (shockingly few people!), with a personalised embroidery on the front and back it with a lovely piece of Moda fabric from the layer cakes I splashed out on and have done nothing with but sat and admired them ever since!

This one is for my dad, he likes his real ale, the design is from Aimee Ray's Doodle Stitching, The Motif Collection, and would have been straightforward had the bulb on my lightbox not blown...  I should point out that only the beer glass is Aimee's design, the random little mess between the glasses is all my own work.  It's still to be stitched to it's backing of course!  That's probably be a disaster much like the coaster disaster...

Sorry, once again the photo is rubbish, I'm crap at taking pictures and I don't have the patience for it. 

I don't know when I'll next have something to show you as I have to get to work with a piece of pink Lycra and an hourglass shaped stool for one of the shops the company my husband owns is fitting out... don't ask!

Knitting

I'll start with knitting as that is where I started!  My grandma taught me to knit as a small child and I loved to make toys from Jean Greenhowe's books.  When I decided, aged 32, to pick it up again, my grandmother was no longer with us so I turned to a book.  I chose Knitty Gritty by Aneeta Patel.  It really is a fantastic book and made it so easy to pick up. 

I started at the beginning and knitted a chunky scarf for myself...

The next project in the book was a pair of baby booties, so I knitted them.  Luckily my friends Lucy and Ben had just had a baby girl (hello Chloe!) so I could put them to use.

Then I knitted a hat.  My first disaster.  I wanted the hat to match the scarf.  The scarf had been knitted in a big chunky wool and the hat pattern called for DK.  I thought I could get round that by not using as many stitches as it said to use in the pattern, the result?  A new hat for my nearly-2 year old goddaughter, Rebecca!

So I knitted a hat in a different wool.

After all this knitting and purling, I needed a challenge so moved swiftly onto the lacy summer scarf.  I decided to knit this for my Aunty Gwen's birthday and used a Sublime merino wall in a nice shade of pink. 

I was so proud of it, I made another for my friend Graz's birthday!

Doing well in knitting so far!  This was all swiftly followed by a knitted mouse, for no reason at all, taken from Knitted Toy Tales by Laura Long:

And a lacy look mohair scarf knitted in Sublime Kid Mohair for my mother-in-law Nita's birthday.  It looks quite nice but was SO boring to knit, it's all just a loose knit.  Yawn.

At about this time I'd joined in a swap over on Cut Out + Keep and decided I wanted to knit a butterly brooch.  I found a pattern on the internet but when I knitted it, I didn't like it at all so, wait for it... I made up my own!  I was so so proud of myself for this simple little pattern:

(Little butterfly is bottom right - I don't know how to crop photos!!)

And there we are.  Next knitting post will be up to date and a bit more interesting, I hope!