Hexies and Mug Rugs

 

 

 

I'm a newbie to the hexie craze. I've always known about hexies, secretly, in the back of my mind... Not what they were called, or how creative you could be with them... But I knew they were there, I could remember cushion covers my great grandma did with them... Then not quite a week ago I was looking through my scrap bin wondering what I could do with all these little blocky bits as I'd already worked out I could use the 'log cabin quilting' for the strips... when I stumbled upon a hexie page!!!

Approx 400 cut out hexies, 65ish basteded hexies and an infintie number of pin pricks later, I found the Let's Get Hexied! (Hooked on Hexies!) Facebook Group

Ive made myself a template for fussy cutting/template cutting/material cutting. I have collected all my 'sewing kit' cottons that I don't actually use in my machine and put them together.

I've made a generous number of thin card 'paper pieces' and hole punched them for easy pinning and removal...

Any other hints/tips/tricks for a newbie?

Above is a sneak peek of the hexies I made for the facebook group hexie swap. Aren't they so pretty and colourful!

Below is the envelopes I posted them out in... The envelopes desperately needed some hexie love too!

 

Just over a week into my hexie journey I heard a myth about 1/4" hexies... Hexies are so cute, 1/4" hexies would need to be cuter, right? So I tried my hand at some... Although it was about 1am, and I was unable to print the templates for fear of waking the house hold - So I traced them from my laptop screen (Sorry to all the techies out there who just had a heart attack 'cos I touched my laptop screen!) they came out about 1cm each... not the .7cm needed for 1/4"

Doing 1 flower was quite enough for me! It is certianly cute though, but I can't imagine making a quilt from them - Just embellishments. Even then I would have to really love the person a  whole lot!

Here is a progress picture of where my Hexie quilt is at right now - It's just a scrappy one and requires very little planning - I like it that way.

And here, last but not least, is a picture of a couple of  log cabin mug rugs I had pieced, hand stitched, hand quilted and hand finished with pieces from my scrap box. They will go into my 'gifts' box for when needed.

 

The strange part is, I made one using the sewing machine and didn't even bother to finish it - I just didn't like how machine looked after doing 2 by hand... Do you prefer hand or machine quilting?

P.s. The machine sewn mug rugs took an hour compared to about 3-4 hours for the hand sewn ones.

P.p.s Don't tell me not to get too hooked on hexies - I fear it's already too late!

Aussie Heroes Quilts.

Recently I have become interested in quilting. Well, that's a lie. I have always been interested in quilting, I have just been to stingy to lash out and buy the material I want to make myself my dream quilt. But this quilting bug I have has been getting quite fierce and I really wanted to try my hand at something. That is when I stumbled upon Aussie Hero Quilts. Ladies making quilts for men and women serving overseas, to make their lives a little more comfortable and show that they are being thought of whilst they put their lives on the line for us each and every day.

So I decided to start my own quilt, I know it will take a while - I have the attention span of a gnat most days, unfortunately though, I don't think our men and women will be coming home for good any time soon, so the fact it will take me a while probably isn't of great concern.

I decided to use the block of the month at the time -Twisted Ribbon - but I wanted the ribbon to twist through the whole quilt, so I made a few changes. My practice block is above, to make sure I was happy with all the colours.

I have now cut all my blocks and sewn all the triangle blocks, they are in the process of being trimmed... they have been for a few weeks now - Oops!

If you would like to know more information, or even contribute yourself - either with your sewing skills, or monetarily please visit their site http://aussieheroquilts.blogspot.com.au/ - You will be glad you did!

Cable Handbag and Illusion Knitting

 Here is the beginnings of the Cabled Handbag I am making... I found a few ok patterns trawlling through ravelry, but in the end nothing quite right for me... So I decided to make my own. I think it may be a labour of love - Something that is only pulled out when my DP is watching the rugby so I have a good block of time to do nothing but concentrate on it... It may take a whole season (?unsure if that is correct rugby terminology) but I will finish it one day! AND I am writing the pattern down, so I can share it with you all!

Whilst trawling through Ravelry I did however stumble upon the wonder that is Illusion(or shadow) knitting. I had never heard of it before but it is seriously amazing! For all you who are Ravelers, you can find the pattern here! I had delusions of making my own pattern for a baby blanket with Hobbes, from calvin and Hobbes on it, but in all honesty, I think it would take me as long to draft the pattern as it would to actually knit it and in the end, it may only ever be a nice idea.

I would love to see your illusion knits, or any patterns you may have for cabled hand bags, feel free to post pictures/link in the comments below!

More Bibs and More Teddies!

Same bib (bapron) as in the last post - Just in the most gorgeous prints ever! I made one of these for my little brother and one for my DP's nephew... Both boys totally gorgeous and both boys unable to Houdini their way out of these! Definite win in my books~!

Same bear as in the last post. This one was requested by my sisters friend after she saw the one I made for my brother. Totally love how this guy turned out, but still a bit worried the white buttons make him look evil :/ what do you think?

Bib and Teddy bear

I have been doing an awful lot of crochet and knitting lately but haven't completed anything to post yet. So when i whipped up these super fast cuties for my brother, I thought it would be a great opportunity to post on my blog.

 The first creation was the "Baby Pip" teddy bear. For some reason I just had to make a teddy bear from the teddy bear material. Looking back now I wonder if that is not just a little cannibalistic!
You can find the pattern and instructions for this gorgeous creature here.

Secondly, I made this super cute bib to accompany the Teddy Bear. It is actually titled a "Bapron" by its clever creator. It goes both around the arms and the neck, for those with super wiggly little bubs!
You can find the pattern and instructions for the Bapron right here.

Soft as the clouds cushion

I was recently lucky enough to buy my Grandmas Sofa and Recliners from her, and being the wonderful lady she is, she threw in the cushions she had which went with it oh so nicely. However, whilst I loved the colour (golden) and loved the pattern, they didn't work so well in my lounge room.  

While browsing in Big W the other day, I noticed some yarn called "Ping Pong Baby" by "Palette Colours" so i grabbed 4 balls of the colour 'snow bunny' and got knitting. 

For this project you will need:

1x Cushion insert (size 18 or 50cm x 50cm or approx 20"x20")

1x 250g ball of "Ping Pong Baby" yarn, by Palette Yarns

4mm Knitting needles (UK size 8, USA size 6)

Sewing thread in coordinating colour

Needle (I used a wool needle as it is easiest to see when sewing the knitted piece up) 

A few hours of your time

Skills used:

Knitting in stocking stitch (which can be found here)

Basic hand sewing skills

Directions: 

Cast On: 26 stitches, using the thumb method, ensuring there is one baulbauls between each 'stitch'

Row 1: Knit , ensuring there is one baulbaul between each stitch, and left at the turning end

Row 2: Purl, ensuring there is one baulbaul between each stitch, and left at the turning end

Repeat these two rows until there is less than 52 baulbauls remaining on your yarn and then proceed to cast off.

Cast off as usual, ensuring there is 1 baulbaul between each cast off stitch. 

Sew up!

This is easiest to do either inside out, or right side out, folded in half so the two short ends meet.

Using a blanket stitch through both sides of the knitted piece around  the end of row baulbauls,
sew from the cast on/off end, to the fold.

Turn right side out, if needed & Stuff with cushion insert

Sew closed the cast on/off end using blanket stitch.

And now you have your very own soft as a cloud cushion too!

 

Baby Blanket, Finally completed!

So glad this is finally done!

Am loving how cute it is, and it is my first completed blanket ever!

Long time - No post... oops! Mini Christmas Stockings

So it's been a long time in between posts for me, But i figured I should do an update before christmas. 

Pretty much all my time has been taken up with crafting these super cute christmas stockings,

 

 You can use any basic baby sock pattern, As I hate using double point needles, or knitting in the round, I knitted it flat.

Then I just matress stitched up the back, and added a hanging cord.

I drafted the letters on graph paper, and knit them in using the generic intarsia method.

Here is a non-traditional stocking for a friend who wanted to support me, but doesn't celebrate christmas.It was so much fun to work with colours other than red white and green!

Can't wait to hang mine on the christmas tree with some lifesavers and other trinkets hidden inside!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

Amigurumi Emo.

Here is the little cutie I made today, from the pattern found here. The best thing about this pattern, is no restrictions and no licenses, you are free to sell your creations, so long as you give credit where credit is due, and do not reproduce the actuall pattern instructions.

I did have serious reservations as I was making this, about how it would turn out as the head seemed HUGE and comapred to the other amigurumi I have played around with, it really is! But overall it works out well. I think If i was to make it again, I would definitely try and make it smaller though, we all know the smaller something is, the cuter it is ;)

Amigurumi Cactus & Mario Mushroom.

So today, I thought I was going to run out of hours in the day before I could even think of crochet, but somehow I managed to squeeze in making these two cuties.

Firstly a Mario Brothers Mushroom, which you can find the pattern for here (along with so so so many other fabulous patterns for sonic/mario/pokemon) by the very talented wolf dreamer.

Secondly, is this cute potted cactus, which unfortunately doesn't have half the pizazz of Ana Paula's creation which you can find here.

I'm really enjoying following all the free patterns people have so generously put on the internet and hope oneday soon I'll have the confidence to design some of my own completely from scratch.