Sunday 27 May 2018

Spring Flowers - Wild Garlic Baby Shoes


One of my favourite spirng flowers in my garden, are the wild garlic plants that come up every year in a shady corner at the bottom. (This last sentence gives the totally wrong idea about my garden - that it is huge and I live on the edge of an area of woodland. My garden is actually the size of a postage stamp, and I live in a town. Hubby planted the garlic, and it comes up every year.) 

I think these flowers are so beautiful, so used them as inspiration for the design on these shoes. I'm not sure that garlic is a particularly popular theme for babies. But if you look at the beautiful flowerhead above it really should be.




These Wild Garlic Shoes are for sale in my Etsy Shop, along with a selection of other baby shoes inspired by nature.  I'm getting near the end of the spring-flower inspired shoes.

https://ginxcraft.blogspot.co.uk/2018/02/ginx-woolly-linx-party-march.html

Just a reminder that my Ginx Woolly Linx party for May is still running. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

Monday 21 May 2018

Bridesmaid Dress


I made this post a few weeks ago, and some how forgot to post it. We have all gone a bit wedding mad here in the UK, so it seems like the right time.

I read a very interesting post on Sum of Their Stoires, about sewing with vintage patterns. One of the patterns looked familiar to me, so I had a look through the old patterns I have in my sewing box. I was mistaken, as it was not quite the same pattern, but clearly from the same series. 

And since my sister and I have been sorting through the family photos, I thought you might like to see me in the bridesmaid dress. I was bridesmaid for my cousin. I also still have the dress hung up in a wardrobe, and my daughter wore it for a while when she was the right size. 

I think I might be giving away the fact that I am a bit of a hoarder!



https://ginxcraft.blogspot.co.uk/2018/02/ginx-woolly-linx-party-march.html

Just a reminder that my Ginx Woolly Linx party for May is still running. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

Wednesday 16 May 2018

Spring Flowers - Daisy Baby Shoes


I love daisies - such an unassuming little flower but so pretty. I have made daisy shoes before, but looking at the flower really carefully, I realized that by using daisy stitch I was not really reproducing how the flower actually looks. 

So with the shoes above I have used a simple circle of stitches, which I think is closer to the real flower. I love the greyish wool, which I think looks like a stone wall. I was going to knit another pair from it, but don't have quite enough. Annoying!

The pattern is my Baby Bee Shoe pattern, and these shoes are also heading for my Etsy Shop. I still have to make some little drawstring bag for them, and am definitely GOING TO DO IT TODAY. (I am shouting at myself.)



https://ginxcraft.blogspot.co.uk/2018/02/ginx-woolly-linx-party-march.html

Just a reminder that my Ginx Woolly Linx party for May is now running. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

Saturday 12 May 2018

Double Dutch


Last week a raveller from Canada, Cat Beattie, posted some pictures of a Dutch Pencil Case that she had made from one of my patterns. She made it for her father-in-law, who is about to make a trip to Amsterdam. Hasn't she done a great job. I love seeing my patterns made up. This is one of my free ones. It has been downloaded 90 times, but this is the first time I have seen it made up by someone who isn't me. Here is a link to the pattern - Dutch Pencil Case.


Cat really kindly said I could post her pictures, and in our chat we have found we have quite a lot in common - black cats, knitting, love of nature ... I do love how crafting (and the internet) brings people together. Perhaps international relations should just be left to us crafters.  (I do hope my next paragraph is not going to ruin this.)


In trying to think of a title for this post I typed in "expressions containing the word Dutch". What a lot of them there are! "Double Dutch", "Dutch courage", "to go Dutch", "a Dutch uncle", and a few others that I had not heard, "take Dutch leave", "a Dutch wife", and "a Dutch agreement". I found a site which explains some of these, if you haven't heard them before. So it led me to wonder if these expressions are peculiarly English or are they known in other parts of the world. As I know quite a few Dutch people look at my blog, I wonder if you have any expressions about the English? I would love to hear if you use any colloquial expressions, the more unusual the better, but not any that would cause offense ...



https://ginxcraft.blogspot.co.uk/2018/02/ginx-woolly-linx-party-march.html

Just a reminder that there is still plenty of time to join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for May. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

Saturday 5 May 2018

Spring Flowers - Apple Blossom Baby Shoes


So many Spring flowers seem to be appearing. I love this season, but you have to make the most of it, as with some of the flowers they are here for a week or two and then they are gone. So I have been out with my camera, and then using the ideas for some inspiration for embroidery on some new baby shoes for my shop.

These shoes were inspired by Apple Blossom, but also by this lovely blue wool that I found in my stash. I love it when wool changes shade, and for these I was careful to get the colour change to match in both shoes. The pattern is my Baby Bee Shoe pattern. It is a fairly easy knit, but I love to make them individual with a bit of embroidery. These shoes are heading for my Etsy Shop, although first I will make a little drawstring bag for them. I have some more flower-inspired shoes and photographs on the way.


https://ginxcraft.blogspot.co.uk/2018/02/ginx-woolly-linx-party-march.html

Just a reminder that my Ginx Woolly Linx party for May is now running. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.