I heart Rainy Days

Especially when spontaneous Rainy Day Projects come out really well...

Excited by his very own new sofa (which is actually quite old, but has been sitting in the attic), my son and I spent the morning making this little cushion using up strips of Liberty's Tana Lawn airplanes cotton, leftover from his quilt, patched with some scraps of muslin, and I embroidered a silly little plane over the empty strip.  

And the evening I spent making this adorable skirt, using up the last of a favourite floral cotton (also seen on this dress) and from a pattern I have been meaning to try out for a while.  I shortened it dramatically, mainly due to a shortage of fabric, but I love how it turned out, and I will most definitely be making many more.

Overall, a very satisfying day.

Jane Brocket Book Launch

I recently started reading Jane Brocket's blog Yarnstorm after accidentally finding one of her books, The Gentle Art of Quilt-Making, in London's Liberty.  I was supposed to be buying yarn for all the various headbands, hottie covers and snoods I was making as Christmas presents, but I was so captivated by the colours, the prints and satisfactory big-ness of these quilts that I soon found myself, book open in hand, wandering over to the delicious and delightful Tana Lawn fabrics...  Needless to say, I bought the book, enough fabric and batting to bequilt a small army and I am proud to say that I have almost finished my first proper quilt (although I have to admit that I am on the verge of abandoning the tediously infinite running stitch in favour of my machine... but more about that later).  

So when I read that the same woman who inspired me to take the plunge into patchwork was going to be writing a book about knitting, and launching that book in one of my favourite yarn shops, Loop, I had to swing by.

Jane was every bit as lovely and gentle as her book titles suggest, and her first knitting book does not disappoint.  No page wasting with beginners instructions and diagrams (which if I'm honest were of no use to me when I was learning the basics - thank you YouTube!) just 40 great projects; approachable and adaptable, accompanied by warm scene-setting introductions.  I will be starting with the 'string of pearls' cushion covers... just as soon as I've ticked some things off my list (currently standing at: finish quilt for V, Cavalier Capelet, redecorate doll's house, finish oilcloth placemats... and it goes on).

'string of pearls' cushion covers

The Gentle Art of Knitting is available from Amazon.

While You Were Sleeping

Unhappy with the monotonous state of my sofa, I decided to put my son's afternoon nap to good use and made some new cushion covers. 

Let me begin by saying a few words about cushions.  I love cushions.  And I develop deep and fond attachments for the special cushions in my life.  As a girl, I had the cushion equivalent of a security blanket.  It was just an ordinary square, foam-filled sofa cushion, with a ditsy floral cover.  His name was simply, Cushion.  Looking back I now find it a little strange that this flowery cushion seemed to be so obviously a "he" to me...  Anyway, ever since Cushion, I have loved cushions.  I take my bedtime pillow with me on holiday, I steal those nasty synthetic plane cushions if I've had a good nap on them, and naturally, I will never tire of making cushion covers.  They're the ideal little project: quick, stash-busting and make such a difference to a room.

For a while now I've had some beautiful vintage Laura Ashley curtains that used to be in my Grandmother's house, they didn't fit any of the windows in my house so I've been saving them for something else.  

And after three big cushions I still have some fabric left for a clutch purse to fit the 1950s celluloid frame I found on eBay...coming soon!

two little cushions made in homage to the original Cushion of my childhood