It has been a slow week...

This time last year we were back in the UK for my sister's wedding.

I had all good intentions to create a 1 year anniversary gift for her: A wedding portrait cross stitch, similar to the cross stitch portrait my brother had requested. Unfortunately it has been another couple of nutty work weeks so I didn't have the free/craft time to pull it off. The silver lining is that the traditional 2nd year anniversary gift is 'cotton'... so that can be the new goal! Sorry, Sis xxx
I have a reasonable start, and have been enjoying working on my Sis in her fabulous wedding dress. Pretty cute, huh! (She's ridiculously cute in real life too). I cant tell you how much fun these portraits are to work on.

Now I just need to keep this little fella from chewing up the threads!!!
(Isn't that a guilty look)

Wishing you a great Sunday,
Love,
Sam
xxx

Rockies Sockies

Last night was Star Wars night at Coor's Field. While I'm not a big sports fan, or Star Wars fan for that matter, I do like a good event and last night was a great one! We took a pedicab to the baseball field, which is always a fun way to get to the park quickly. The folks that operate the pedicabs are a delightful bunch and yesterday's experience was no exception - once we reached our destination, the driver had Naomi squealing in delight as he treated her to her very own 'figure of eight' fairground style turns! I love this shot we were able to snap - the Colorado shirt with the iconic Union Station in the background. Aah gott a love Colorado.

There were lots of cool details at the ball park last night: A Star Wars costume parade around the field. Dinger, the mascot, donned in a Jedi cloak and carrying a light saber. I also enjoyed that each time a player was announced on the board, he had been assigned a Star Wars character. Naturally the Rockies represented the good guys, and the opposing team were all Stormtroopers! My favourite was the bearded Charlie Blackmon as Chewy!

As we were at a Rockies game it seemed only right that I dug out my Rockies sock yarn to knit on. Isn't this colorway perfect! I always get a few funny looks when knitting at a game - but this is a few hours of sitting time... a perfect time to knit! Does anyone else knit at sporting events? I know there used to be annual stitch and pitch events where knitters would gather and craft at the game. Soo much fun!


Plus the Rockies colorway beats the boring black man sock that I also have on the needles right now.

Hope you have had a fun weekend too.
Love,
Sam

Gnomes

I've been having fun putting together a couple of gifts for a friend that likes gnomes. First is a simple wooden box that is embellished with a cross stitch gnome on the lid.

The box is a Hand Made Modern wooden box from Target, and the gnome pattern comes from the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery's Woodland Sampler (you have to decrease the height of the gnome hat to make it fit).  I started with cross stitch thread but wasn't getting the coverage I wanted, and then changed to use sock yarn from my stash.

I think it turned out pretty cute. Turns out that I wasn't the only one - Naomi asked if I would make a box for her too. For her box I opted for a simple initial in colours that match her room.

This is a simple, quick and easy project. There are some fiddly elements - dealing with the lid as you stitch and tucking in the end of each threads But otherwise it's a straightforward make, with a cute result.

The other project is a storage basket made from the adorable Heather Ross gnome fabric, together with some Michael Miller polka dots.

The pattern is a modified version of the popular, free pattern: One Hour Basket from Hearts and Bees. My modifications were to make it larger:

• I cut 4 pieces of fabric that were 17 x 21 inches
• The square cutouts for each corner were 3.5 inches
• I folded over approx 3 inches of the polka dot fabric at the top of the basket and top stitched across the top and bottom of this polka dot band

The storage basket is quite floppy - which could be a result of the larger size. But if I were to do this again, I'd probably use a stiffer interfacing. However, with enough yarn stashed inside, it stands up quite nicely :)

Hope that you are having a fabulous weekend.
Love,
Sam
xxx

Handspun socks

I hope that you are well and enjoying summer. I've been absent due to work and family travels. It's been a great few weeks. Of course travel time means lots of craft time, which has resulted in a pair of handspun socks.

A few weeks back I picked up this wonderful yarn from BockStark knits on Etsy. I am really fond of handspun and these colours are very soothing.

There is no pattern for these - just a plain old vanilla sock.  I thought that best with all the interest from the yarn.

These kept me company on our travels to, and within, the UK. Plane knitting, train knitting etc... We had such a great time with family in the UK, and were able to get out and about - walking the Roman walls in Chester, visiting historic buildings, checking out Wimbledon, walks along the beach front...





One crafty highlight from the trip: There is a factory that prints Liberty fabric not too far from where my family live. Adjacent to the factory is a factory shop!!! My sister took to me the factory store one weekend, and I picked up a few bags of Liberty scraps as well as some pre-cut bundles. We had such a great time, and came home with fabulous loot, that I was able to tempt my Mum to take me back there the following week. It would be dangerous if this was on my doorstep!





Back in Colorado now, and hiding indoors from this crazy heat.
Stay cool friends.
Love,
Sam
xxx