Florence's Attic

for those of you who indulge in the filthy habit...

a pack of knitted ciggies for you

bought from a craft fair in Leeds for my auntie who I hope will see the funny side!

x

Better Courtside Booties and a new arrival

Here are the Courtside Booties from Crochet Today. 

This is my second attempt at them, and they are so much better this time.  I am really pleased as I love the design, and they will make good baby pressies.  I think even if the baby doesn't wear them, they still look cool say hanging from a drawer handle in the bedroom.  Once figured out (these are definately an intermediate pattern, not easy as the magazine says) they are quite quick.  These were for a baby shower at the weekend.  I'm also going to put in an iou in for a baby quilt as I couldn't find any suitable fabric.  The happy couple don't know if the baby is going to be a pink or blue one and are quite alternative so are loving the colour grey.  Do you know, there is a real lack of grey fabrics out there?  I wanted graphic prints, but there was hardly any grey at all in my nearest quilt shop.  So the boots are grey, and I'll make a baby quilt later on in the summer.  I had never been to a baby shower before, but one of the girls I work with is from the US so decided to organise one.  It was fun - tea, cake and a natter.  I have heard stories of very grand gifts being given at American baby showers, but the done thing here is the wait till the baby is born, so hopefully my present has covered both bases!  My parents made me laugh.  My Dad didn't understand what a baby shower was and thought it was wrong that I was leaving Bizzie at home, and my mum tried to explain to him "it was one of those things you see the celebs go to looking glamorous holding extravagant gifts".

I would also like to announce the arrival of...

Janome Decor DC3050.  Do you name your sewing machine?  My last one would have had a very child unfriendly name if I did.  Going off topic for a mo Mister J and I were talking about naming the car the other day and all he could come up with was Herbie.  Mmm, very original.  So being a Breakfast at Tiffany's fan I think we will leave it as "car without a name" (just like her cat).  Anyway, here it is.  I am so chuffed as there was no way I could've bought one this summer as there are too many other things to pay out for, but my mum gave it to me out of a little amount of money she has just been left.  My great aunt would have really approved of the gesture - she was even knitting earlier on this year at the age of 96, and Bizzie has baby Annabel wrapped up in one of those blankets.
I have said before on this blog that I am not geeky about sewing machines, but I found myself questioning things such as how many stitches I really need, what will it's main uses be, and whether I wanted a computerised one.  The latter was the one that most troubled me.  This machine I really liked,it's functions were exactly what I needed, but it had a digital screen which put me off.  The owner of the shop told me it is just a circuit board, and not a computer, so I went with it.  It fits my walking foot, and he swapped my quarter inch and darning foot over so I am very happy.  In case you are interested, the funtions it has that I wanted are:
Variable Speed (the amount of times the dog or children have walked past and my foot has gone down and my old machine ran away with me
Up/Down needle function - this is so good for chain piecing and turning corners
A couple of button hole stitches - just watch me applique everything in my house now
High Presser Foot - for getting quilts through
Wide feed dogs
Free arm - I really want to start making more clothes and some of the made for quilting machines don't have this.
Now I know some of you probably have fancy Berninas, but this to me is like a dream.  Also, just to add my political statement, please buy local.  This machine is from a little shop in Portslade (to the West of Brighton).  It is really old fashioned, but my first machine (a tiny Frister and Rossman) came from there about 20 years ago.  I then bought my old Janome there about 4 years ago, and now this one.  They service and repair machines, and really know their stuff.  The owner spent over an hour showing me the features of different machines and let me try them out.  I had a bit more to spend than the £289 it was, but he just explained the next machine up did a very basic alphabet and to question if that is worth another £40 to me.  I could have bought the machine cheaper online, but money can''t buy this service!

Oh and by the way.  I will always put the dust cover on it, and never shove it under the dining table when we have dinner...

x

In the South again

I so love going "up north".  As we do it quite often the children, my mum and I have the journey down to a fine art.  The new St Pancras International station looks amazing.  We usually do the tourist things - this time we visited Haworth, and took the children to Eureka - stuff we have done before but they make a good day out.  I went to an exhibition at Bankfield Museum in Halifax.  There is an exhibition by the Practical Study Group which was really interesting - if you are near and into textiles it is well worth popping into and it is on till June.  I didn't take any photos as I wasn't sure if they were allowed.  The museum is really interesting.  It has permanent displays of samplers, clothing and textiles (including patchwork).  The exhibition space mainly has craft exhibitions, particularly textiles.

On the Sunday night we stayed in Leeds.  We went into the Corn Exchange hoping to have lunch and found it empty.  It is a real shame as there were lots of little shops there including a really good bead shop.  We found out it is going to be turned into a food hall, so at least it is still going to be open and used.  The building is absolutely amazing - here are a couple of photos.

We ended up having lunch at Harvey Nichols as they have an outdoor cafe in one of the arcades.  I love Harvey Nichols food hall, but was a bit disappointed by the lunch.  It probably didn't help that Bizzie had a toddler turn as soon as we sat down so we ordered really quickly and ended up spending over £20 on a bagel and drink for each of the children which they barely touched!  Their window displays are always worth looking at and I love this one.  I don't really drink cocktails these days like I used to, but they still appeal to me in a kitsch way.  I also still love cocktail umbrellas.  It all started when I went to Spain on holiday as a child and would have a snowball.  The glasses came all dressed up - umbreallas, sparkler and a cherry too!  Don't start me on Pina Coladas out of a pineapple...nothing is too tasteless for me!

a close up of the skirt - I love the jewel like quality.

It is good to be back home, but we are all tired and tetchy today so taking it easy.  I am pleased I am working tomorow, instead of today like I planned, as I would have been so tired.  Instead we are about to do the supermarket together - won't that be fun!

If anyone knows Yorkshire well can they recommend and yarn or fabric shops?  We go up there often and I am always disapointed that somewhere that has such as rich history of textiles has so few shops specialising in that area.  They must be there, but I haven't found them yet...

Happy Tuesday x

Ding Ding Round 2

Just a quickie - have had a boy poorly off school, then a weekend of college  (yes, we drove in the snow)and now the school holidays.  I have started work on my quilt for my final project, but it is hand sewn so my evenings are being spent doing this, rather than surfing.

Anyway, here is a peek of some of my college work (for my fashion accessory project).  It is so nearly finished...

and here is a picture of the round 2 of the Spring Fling Round Robin quilt swap. 

Part of me loves it, and part of me is unsure about it.  I got the orange and thought it looked great as it warmed the centre up, and bought another colour in.  My first idea was to do checkerboard, but after I had put the strip of the yellow floral on the centre square the measurements involved a half inch, which means the one inch units of the checkerboard wouldn't have fitted in

   

Looking at the photo I feel that it looks a bit ott.  I think if a strong blue or green is introduced again on the next round it will come together again.  The golden yellow is hand dyed (procion mx), and this is the fabric which I will send out, along with what is left of the floral one (and I only used a tiny bit, so there is loads left).  I hope the next recipient likes it.  It can go on point, or be left square - the choice is theirs!

I am taking the children up to Yorkshire this weekend, so will be back next week.

x