Knit then Stitch.....Stitch then Knit

Hello lovelies. Thank you all for your sweet comments re my little slipper chair. I have spent many moments these past two weeks sitting on it whilst knitting a stitch or two of my purple aran cardie. My little slipper chair has even been used for what it was originally intended for back in the day.....that is to sit on it, enabling the easier slipping on of one's shoes.....(my San Fransisco boots need a shoe horn to slip one's feet into). Come to think of it, as I have been knitting my purple pretty I have been sitting on my patchwork needlepoint chair as well.....I love to spread the lurve around. =) This past little while has been  filled with a little knitting then stitching....then a little stitching then knitting. 

My cardie is progressing, albeit slowly. If I just sat and knitted and knitted, my cardie would be on my back keeping out the wintry chill. My problem is I get distracted with other pretties that are colliding around in my imagination. The nature of knitting is, is it not, that you pick up whatever it is you are knitting and when you have progressed a little (or indeed a lot) you put it down until the next time. Sometimes for me  it is a very long time.

The back and fronts of my cardie are finished and now I am knitting the yoke. I am enjoying this pattern as it doesn't tax the brain pan too much. Though I do relish a complicated knitting pattern, it is wonderful  to just sit and knit and not have to think too much about it.

You know how I said I get easily distracted, well, as I knitted I became a little preoccupied with another pressing thought. As I sat and continued to knit and purl and cable, it occurred to me that I do not have a bag in which to hold my knitting. Sure, I have  a few baskets but I wanted something more suitable when I am out and about. A knitting bag was required, a carryall to hold the paraphernalia needed when knitting a woolly pretty. A more suitable bag to hold knitting needles, yarn needles for sewing in the ends, tape measure, row markers, stitch holders, pen and notebook for taking notes for keeping track of where you are in the pattern, pattern books and all those other knitting bits and pieces.

I thought a scrappy bag could be rather spiffy. Gathering together pretty fabrics I stitched 1" strips together.

Though the strips joined together dance a merry polka, to add a little interest I decided to machine sketch a little picture. It's been an age since I have machine sketched anything. Doodling with my machine is always an enjoyable pastime for me so I drew a picture of a girl  lazing on a sofa, knitting, with a kitty cat snoozing on the floor and a sweet birdie in a bird cage, and a pot of tea complete with a tea cup resting on a little table.

I chose a Koda fabric with the name of Bubble Gum as the background and sketched everything in black. With the machine sketching complete I ruched strips of fabric that I stitched together which will dosy doe around the border of the picture.  I drafted a pattern and thought I would use some pretty bamboo handles which I rescued from an op shop a long time ago.

Stitching my knitting gal onto the front of the bag, I then stitched the ruched strip of fabric to the  front, sashaying its way merrily around the edge.

After sewing the back and front together and stitching in the lining I then hand stitched the handles to the bag. I toyed with adding a touch of whimsy in the way of bobble trim or ric rac but believe it or not I didn't. Kinda hard to believe I know, but there you go. I was in a 'KISS' (keep it simple stupid) frame of mind.

Ooooh.....nothing makes my heart go pitty-pat quite like a sea of scrappy happiness!

But then........a sea of bright and happy, woolly loveliness makes my heart skip a beat or two, too.

I am happy with my new knitting bag. I love the pretty fabrics and I love the sense of fun it exudes. It is a good size too; about 20" in width and 15" in length....big enough to carry all those woolly bits and pieces. It was such an easy pretty to design and make. From go to woe it was a breeze to fashion. After the herculean stitching of my pretty curtains and tarted up chairs of late, I was up for a little stitching that required no thinking, nor indeed any opposition. 'Tis wonderful, is it not, to every now and then whip up something quick and simple??

Now all I have to do is get on with the knitting of my cardie. Maybe, just maybe this pretty will soon be on my back, all buttoned up, bracing against the frigid winter chill. That is of course if me, myself and I do not  imagine another 'must have' pretty in the dark corridors of my discombobulated brain pan. One never really knows, does one?? But......this is what makes a creative life oh so fascinating!

Sending a little love your way this lovely day. Until the next time.......

Linking up this week to Handmade Monday

Just my cup of tea

A little while ago I spotted this tea trolley covered in dust and cobwebs and carted it home with me; and of course gave it a lick of grey paint. I thought it would be perfect to wheel into the parlour, laden with teacups and cakes when I play ladies and serve tea.

Aah yes......a tea party in the parlour, in front of the fire.....perfect! I can wheel my new little tea trolley anywhere my li'l ole heart desires! =)

But, as I don't host tea parties, or indeed serve high tea every day, (mores the pity) my little, tea trolley serves as a side table next to my newly, tarted up chair. It's a perfect spot to rest  the odd book or two which is being read to sit along with of course, a cup of tea......or two.

Usually there would be a lovely vase with an arrangement of over-spilling flowers sitting atop it, but alas, the flower kingdom on our little plot of earth has dived deep, deep down into the depths of terra firma  and won't show their pretty little heads until Spring, and I am afraid my little tea trolley is looking a bit bare.

I decided my tea trolley needed a lamp. As my newly tarted up chair is a comfy spot to read a book, it is a spot which needs a little illumination at night time. Not just any plebeian kinda of lamp mind you, but a lamp made from tea cups, a teapot and a lamp shade with a little bit of machine sketching, 'Kim' style.

But, before the teacup and teapot fancy in my brainpan could become a reality, I first had to hunt down the hardware for my lamp. An easy task one would think; after all I am not the first to fashion one of these pretties....there are a few of these teacup and teapot lamp follies out there. It took a while to gather my bits and bobs together and a little wear and tear on the soles of my favourite boots. Store after store, with male sale assistant after male sale assistant having said, "sorry maam but we don't have those parts.....go and try over at such and such.....though I don't like your chances".........!

So after encountering many a nescient, male look which really didn't get lost in transaction, (yes indeedy I could read their minds...."are you crazy woman, you won't be able to make this....why on earth don't you just buy an over the counter kinda lamp"). Many a sympathetic glance was cast towards the direction of my husband......"gee whiz mate, I'm glad she's not my missus!!" But not to be deterred, I remembered a light shop where I had purchased some lovely lights a while ago. I know, I know, one would think  this would be the first port of call, but to tell you the truth my good husband and I didn't give it a thought, as we had crossed the threshold of two light shops earlier that day and all we got were some more blank stares at our requests. To our delight, the proprietors of our last port of call were two ladies and glory be, had most everything we needed for my teacup and teapot folly; with a few other elements found at a plumbing outlet. Hallelujah!!

I gathered a few of my china pretties, a lampshade and the pieces of hardware needed to fashion my teacup and teapot folly.

Then my husband began to drill. With my eyes closed and gritting my teeth, my husband began to drill a hole through each piece of china. Although I have complete faith in my husband's drilling ability, I did wonder if each piece of delicate china would shatter to smithereens. Though I do have the odd pretty tea cup or two or three or four or............I didn't want my entire fine bone china collection  to be depleted in one fell swoop.

So far so good!

But then.........disaster struck! Horror of horrors!! My two prettiest teacups shattered to smithereens...oh no!! Yes indeedy, my pretty violet teacup (it had the prettiest shape) and my pretty forget-me-not teacup took umbrage at being drilled, and exploded into pieces! It appears there was not enough water in the cups when my husband drilled. The diamond tip, it seems, got a little too hot under the collar. Oh what a bother! Oh well, it looks like there are two more shattered pretties to go in the 'one-day-I-am-going-to-make-a-mosaic-out-of-that', bucket!!!

Handing two more teacups and saucers tentatively over to my husband, he once again proceeded to drill holes. This time all was well.

With my china pretties all sitting happily on top of each other, now 'tis time to enjoy a li'l machine sketching.

To keep with the theme of teacups and teapots, I decided to machine sketch teapots and teacups on a length of white fabric which I would later glue to the shade.

I had a lot of fun stitching these pretties. Doodles and squiggles, flowers and birds......it really was the best fun.

With my lampshade completed, a little ric rac added to the bottom and the electrics finished, my teacup/teapot folly is a vision splendid (well it is to me). Pretty, pretty blue. There is just something about the hue blue. The colour blue, always sings the sweetest song to my heart.

After thirty eight years of matrimonial bliss, I thought this little teacup/teapot folly could possibly be the teacup that brought 'the house of china' crashing down, but no......my husband said, (and you most probably will not believe this......I assure you I tell no porky pie), "I wouldn't mind making another one of these"!!!!!! Wha'll I do declare, it looks like this gal will be married for a little while longer!! This is a good thing as I am quite certain there is no other person of the male kind who would put up with all my 'bright' ideas, that I seem to conjure up on a regular basis!! =)

My teacup/teapot folly didn't turn out exactly how I envisioned. I really, really loved the two teacups that were sadly shattered, BUT......I am happy with my new lamp. Yes indeedy, this teacup/teapot folly is just my cup of tea.

I am filled with great joy.....delirious actually, with my teacup/teapot folly sitting atop my 'have-wheels-will-travel' tea trolley, which keeps my tarted up 'new' chair company. This little corner of the room is now the perfect spot to enjoy a cuppa and a good book, both day and night.

Hope you are enjoying a lovely week everyone. Until the next time...........


Linking this week to:
The Charm of Home - Home Sweet Home
Bernideen's, BTTCG party
Jann's Share your cup
Mimi's Five Star Frou Frou
Sweet Inspiration Link Party