Spool knitting : the result

Baby was born a week ago and is taking a lot of my time so posting will be rare for the next few weeks, time to adjust to our new life.

Sleeping time at the moment so I post pictures of the final result of my spool-knitting project. I am not really satisfied and will not be able to use it as a money-purse as it was originally intended, but I guess it will be good enough for my make-up. 8,20 meters of knitted cord takes a long time on the traditional tool so I will probably get a semi-mechanical one later on.

I made no pattern for this, just measuring and cutting on the spot. The way I made the inside separation bit isn't quite right but only after finishing it I had an idea of how to make it better! Ah well, next one!

 

 

Another Baby mobile

A very short article today which will be followed by a possibly long silence: Baby isn't there yet but it should not be long now before we hold him or her in our arms. 

The pram and cot are finally ready. My mother-in-law found this lovely cot and decided to change the cloth (originally plain light blue) and with the remains of the fabric I decided to make a few birds to hang on top. 

Hedgehog "New Generation"

 Not writing much in two weeks and suddenly two posts in one day... Well that's because I finished my first music-box cudly toy!

There is a bit of a story behind it. When she was a child my mother had a small hedgehog with a very lovely music (which I now know to be "Schlaf, Kinderlein schlaf"). And when she had children of her own (my sibblings and myself), she played the music for us and let us play with the cute hedgehog. Unfortunately, I do not have a photo to show, but it was small and sweet although a bit hard. We loved it and one day my youngest brother pulled the string too far and broke it! I could not imagine my children growing without this music-box but had no choice... Until I started reading Yencamade's blog and found out about this great website with "washable" music-boxes. To my great delight I found the beloved music again.

At first I considered doing some surgery on the original hedgehog but the fabrics are getting quite worn out, it probably would not have survived the operation! So I set out to look for new fabrics with the help of one of my sisters. I could not find anything that was really close to what I wanted so my sister chose the two fabrics. I must say that I love the result and feel like cuddling the little thing all the time now.

 I tried to make my own pattern but it didn't really work and I was too tired yesterday to even think about it further. A quick google search led me to this website: http://www.ladybugy.com/le_coffre_a_jouets/index.htm and this is the pattern I used 

http://www.ladybugy.com/le_coffre_a_jouets/jouets/herissonl.htm. 

Here are some pictures of the process started last night and finished today.

 

Yoga cushion

My posting isn't as regular as at the beginning already... Being quite busy and tired does not help and I am also trying to finish as many sewing jobs as possible. Repaired a dress and a skirt yesterday, still a shirt to do, some patchwork activity with my mother-in-law (almost done which means: pictures soon!). I started a toy hedgehog in which I will put a music-box for the baby. And finally, the topic of my post today: I saw the end of my "yoga cushion".

I started thinking of making one after my first yoga lesson six months ago but I didn't get round to doing it until much later. Finally now that I will not really need it anymore it is completed. On Yencamade's blog there is a very similar one (although I think better looking than mine) and I realised when cutting the last thread of my cushion that I had forgotten to make a handle! Ah well... maybe next time. 

First I must say that I am quite obsessed with being able to wash everything. Therefore I chose to make an inside cushion first and then the cover.

 

 

I drew two circles and then calculated the circonference (3,1415 x diameter) in order to know the length needed for the middle band. Only afterwards did I remember that I should have cut the band with a couple extra centimeters. The cushion isn't really well done but it isn't meant to be seen, 

so I figured it did not matter!

I left a small opening to be able to pour the mini polystyrene beads. The funnel did not prove useful as the beads got stuck. So I just poured from the jug. And afterwards just closed the cushion.

I paid a lot more attention for the outside cover. The circles were almost perfect, the band got its few extra centimeters, and I even managed to put the zipper in a way which doesn't look too ugly (zippers are not easy to sew properly and I still need to progress on that specific skill!). I chose the black fabric for the bottom as it is due to be on the ground and therefore it will get dirty faster.

Now some self-critics: 

1) I underestimated the size of my behind (*blushing*) and made the cushion a bit too small...

2) The 25cm zipper is almost too small to let the inner cushion in.

3) Polystyrene beads are quite nice and comfy but to make a "proper" yoga cushion I should have used something heavier. It might make a nice head-cushion though.

Ah well... "C'est en faisant qu'on apprend" (we learn by doing), next time it will be better!

Sweet hair-clip

I have been meaning to post something for the past week but didn't really get round to it... Too tired and somewhat busy - been working on my spool-knitting. Unfortunately I haven't finished this project yet so I have to post about something else: my Mothers Day creation for instance.

It felt a bit like when I was at primary school, sticking things together and painting them before offering them with all my love to my darling mother. The only difference is that I am a little more than a quater of a century old!
More seriously, my mother became my guinea-pig and I decided to experiment on her what I could make for other people later: nice and original looking hair-clips.

My mother is a brilliant cook. Two or three years ago she decided to experiment baking Macarons. Lovely little sweet things which cost a fortune when bought in a Boulangerie-Pâtisserie in France and everywhere in the world. She managed them so well that she even made some for my wedding! 

So I decided to make her fake and colourful macarons to wear in her hair.

I bought a large hair-clip and some sort of clay (dough) which gets hard simply by drying with air, no need to put it in the oven. Then once the different pieces were dry, I painted them and put a coat of varnish to make the whole thing shine. And finally I glued everything together. On the clip I had glued a piece of white cotton in order to 1) make it slightly prettier 2) for the macarons to stick better.

The final result does not look too bad (my husband even said it looked yummy) - my mother appreciated it BUT I have learnt one thing about this experiment: hair-clips need to be a lot lighter to be worn comfortably. This one is too heavy and therefore it will just be decoration on the shelf ;-)

Lesson: make everything a bit thinner OR find another material to work with.

Spool knitting

A second post today just to give a preview of what I started on the weekend. 

On Saturday being a bit bored and not wanting to sew, I decided to take out the spool knitting mushroom that was in my grand-mother's sewing-box (which is now mine). I had in mind that it was difficult and boring but went for it nevertheless. On Youtube I found a video by the author of http://atelier-fleurdesprit.over-blog.com/ and just followed her simple explanations (in French). I tried with a bit of white wool, it worked out, so on the next day I was in Karstadt taking advantage of the sales and bought 6 balls of yarn. At the end of the day I had knitted 1,45m of it.

What to do with so it? The question was answered by Mouette in her blog: a bag!http://a4epingles.blogs.marieclaireidees.com/archive/2008/09/23/coudre-un-rectangle-regulier-au-tricotin.html

I knitted and knitted, but it came to my mind that for a first time it might be of an ambitious project. I have therefore reduced it to making a money-purse. Last night I had over 2,80m of cord but just about a third of my pattern filled... I assume it will take me some time to complete the project. But I really enjoy it and like the result, then I might ask for a mechanical spool knitting machine for my birthday.

Just take a look at what I had done by lunchtime yesterday:

Baby mobile

Finally it is finished. Very simple to make, it just took me time because I am a bit lazy these days and also because on the weekend I started two other projects (I sometimes find focusing on one thing only a bit boring).

First I got from http://www.vbs-hobby.com/de.html the wooden parts for the mobile and from http://www.spieluhr.de/ (thanks a lot Cristina of Yencamade for the tip!) I bought the music-box. To be perfectly honest I ordered four different music-boxes but only this one is used for mobiles and turns with the music. La Le Lu is the chosen tune.

 And with fleece, ribbons, coton, wool and wadding I made the different elements:
 

 Some were too small and when turned inside out, they looked strangely shaped so I had to make them over again but bigger. I'm not very happy with the shape of my clouds but I guess I just need practice with my sewing-machine on making small objects. The face of the moon was made by hand-embroidery which is why it looks a bit funny from above (see the video).

On the whole though I am quite satisfied with the result and I hope Baby will have sweet dreams thanks to this mobile.

Considering getting the plastic holder from amazon (cf. previous post) and just see if it fits. Anybody else had an idea?

Mobiles

I made my first mobile when I was in England. I had received six very sweet German wooden decorations for my birthday and could not find the right place to put them all. And then it came to my mind that putting them all together could produce a lovely effect. My only self-imposed requirement was that it should be in shades of brown so as to emphasize the decorations rather than the mobile itself. I used a sort of brown, thin and supple suede cord, two embroidery hoops of different sizes and a very large wooden button.

I simply love the result and this mobile is hanging throughout the seasons.  

My next attempt was two years later when I was about to celebrate Easter in Germany for the first time. I am so impressed at all the efforts a lot of people make to decorate their homes around here! I just wanted to do the same. I got a bit more ambitious and went for a trickier project, made with nylon thread (difficult to see and to prevent everything to get completely tangled) and all the elements were a lot lighter than for my previous mobile, managing the weight and balance was a real challenge.

But then again the result was quite pleasant and I was quite happy to have my first seasonal mobile.

I made a third one around Christmas time 2010 as well, but unfortunalty I cannot find out in which folder I have put the picture (IF I made one at all in fact).

There is a very good reason for me to show you those: baby will be arriving soon and I am currently making him or her a mobile to hang above the bed. I am a bit slow at doing things these days, so it might be that I will not be finished until the end of the weekend despite its simplicity! But when I will be done you can expect pictures of the process as well as the final product AND possibly a video too.

Before I finish and publish this post, one question for those who read me: any idea of where I could get a sort of "arm" to hang the mobile above the bed? (in German it seems to be simply called mobilehalter ). Something like this: http://www.amazon.de/Sterntaler-Mobile-Gest%C3%A4nge-weiss-Spieluhrmodul/dp/B0015FNU6U/ref=sr_1_4?s=baby&ie=UTF8&qid=1310641894&sr=1-4. I don't like the look of the wooden ones on Amazon and the plastic ones they have do seem - according to the comments - to hang quite low. 

I'd be greatful for suggestions!

Baby's book project - 2

Posting already the second part of the baby's book project as I have done a bit of work on it over the weekend.

Everything being set-up I "just" need to get on sewing and do the embroidery (my favourite activity!). I started with the embroidery and considered doing all of it first and then do the sewing but I still need to decide what's the best way to go: finish a double page and then get on to the next or use one skill at the time and going through the whole book several times...

 To give the pages a bit of thickness and a slight rigidity I am adding a coat of Vilene which can be ironed so as to make one side stick to the cloth.

 

And on one page I have added a squeaky thing (called Quietsche in German and found on this website: http://www.vbs-hobby.com/de.html ).

And despite having done the last page, I still have about 12 pages to go through!

 

Baby's book project - 1

Baby is due quite soon now, about a month to go. I am getting quite impatient but at the same time I still have many things that I want to make to him/her so I am not too much in a hurry. The project that I started last week though will not need to be finished so soon as it requires the baby to be a couple of months old to appreciate it: a book.

Now, it isn't a normal paper or carton book with text, but a soft book of textures, colours and shapes.

I will be showing you pictures of it little by little as I go along making it.

 The first step I took was to make a test with paper, placing the various elements, doing some drawings in order to get a first general idea of what it could look like.

Then I chose the fabric for the pages: a simple white cotton. After much thinking on the size, I cut three (or was it four?) stripes of about 16 cm width and 66 cm length. Then I cut them in the middle and obtained what were to become double pages.

One final page will be 14x14cm, and I have left a space of about 2cm in the middle to sew all the pages together in the end.

After cutting everything I started setting up all the elements of the book and in a next post I will show and tell you more about it ...