Apologies

Apologies for being away so long. I am having some technical difficulties which include all my previous photos being lost but I am going to draw a line under this big gap in my blog and start again from here.

Speak soon
Philippa

New needles

I have recently taken to trying new crafts and knitting was top of my list to get to grips with. I love stitching but I wanted something easy to do one handed while I hold a sleeping baby and that wouldn't take too much brain power. I attempted a Craftsy course which I enjoyed but struggled a little to keep up and I saw Christine Perry's book recommended by Lucy at Attic24. I am now so addicted that my every free moment has been taken up with knitting. Hubby has asked me for a pair of orange socks and so that will be my latest project. I have used the brightest orange that I could find as Hubby's favourite colour is 'traffic cone orange'. I'm not loving it but he will.

A catch up

Wow-over a year has past since I last blogged and I can only say life got a bit in the way.

We have a new house, a new baby and George is now a proper toddler.

There has been some crafting but not nearly as much as I would like.

I am now making an effort to get my life back in track following the chaos but I won't bore you except to add these photos of my gorgeous boys (how lucky am I to live in a house full of boys to grow strong and protect their little mummy)

Binding

Hand-stitching binding onto a quilt is my favourite bit.
I love the feeling of getting all the cut edges covered up and smoothed down by the binding. There is something very satisfying about getting a clear finish to a project.
This afternoon g is playing with his toys and I am stitching the binding on his quilt.

What did I do?

Yesterday hubby and I wandered past a local vintage furniture yard and I spotted a broken ercol chair which I fell in love with. I knew it needed a lot of work with re webbing and new cushions made but I sat down last night and did some research.
Needless to say this morning I went back and bought the chair.



The wood is in great condition but now I'm realising how much of a big job I've taken on.
In good news though I managed to get this beautiful coffee table which looks gorgeous in our living room.



It is drop leaf so that we can still make lots of room for George's toys but I love it.

Bliss

True relaxation=sleeping baby, chocolate, stitching fire and a little tipple of drink.
Hubby and I are chilling out on the sofa tonight enjoying a film and relaxing.
Life is good!!

WIP Wednesday

I have worked on this birth sampler since I was 12 weeks pregnant and am very ready to get it finished.



At the beginning of the year I was struggling with what to get for George for his first birthday in March and then remembered this cross stitch which I have picked up and put down so much in the last 12 months. With a new baby it got packed up and put in the cupboard but now I'm determined to get it done.

I'm planning on having it professionally framed which I like to do for my cross stitches which on display. Let's hope the framer can do it in time.

Getting back to normal

We are slowly getting back to normal here after the very sad passing of my Grandma and then Grandad a few weeks later. It has taken some time but gradually everything is dropping back into place again.

Despite a very sad time I did manage to get some sewing done over the Christmas break.
I am aiming to try to get some projects finished before I start a Rosalie Quinlan's united Stitches which I am so excited about.
Both of these are waiting to go to the framers






I had set myself the task of getting two other projects done by George's birthday but that seems to be approaching a little quickly (I can't believe my baby will be 1)
I bought a quilt kit for him earlier in the year and I started a cross stitch birth sampler when I first got pregnant. If you can believe it I wanted to get up finished for when he was born so all I had to do was sew in the name and date (whoops). The quilt has come along nicely but I think I will be begging the framer to get the birth sampler framed in time.
I will be back with more very soon and hopefully with two nicely finished projects.

A little grey cloud

I'm sorry to have neglected my blog so much recently but life has been dealing us a few curveballs with the saddest being the passing of my grandmother. She was a wonderful lady who encouraged all of my crafting loves.
I have been doing lots of crafting and will be back soon to show photos.
Please bear with me just a little longer

End of summer

It has been a hectic and wonderful summer but I love that autumn is slowly arriving.
Tonight we had our first fire of the season and I settled in to knitting a new winter scarf.




George was 6 months old last week and now he is more capable of playing I am aiming to get a bit more sewing and blogging done.
Our house is full of a thousand projects all waiting to be finished so that is going to be my aim before Christmas. I spent a day sorting through my sewing cabinet and getting rid of old projects which will never get done so I now have a pile of project to finish before anything new can come in... Let's see how that goes. I'm sure I'm like many quilters who struggles to settle on a project while there are so many beautiful quilts to make. Too many quilts, too little time.

Summer stitching

Despite being in shorts I am making a start on my Christmas stitching.
I love The Birdhouse' Christmas designs and am spending a few minutes of my holiday starting the Christmas Trio.



Hubby has been off work for three weeks so this is about all that has been done recently but hopefully with a couple of sewing days planned in front of the machine next week i may get some progress made.
Have a great weekend :)

Caught the bug

I've caught the ripple bug. It's so addictive!!!!
On Saturday I took a class and have been spending every spare second since rippling away. Today is a horrible wet rainy day so while baby is sleeping a cup of coffee and my crochet hook is calling.

Noticing the differences

Today while sitting on the sofa and watching Glastonbury festival on TV and binding a quilt I can't help but think how much our lives have changed.
Hubby and I have seen many of the bands live but this year instead of being up to our knees in the mud we are teaching baby George about our favourite bands.



I have had a good time at the sewing machine today and finally managed to quilt a small quilt for George. I made top in my first few weeks of pregnancy and it got put to one side.



I've done a quick stitch in the ditch quilting pattern and hopefully it will be bound up tonight. I love hand stitching the binding- I could do this all day.

Don't forget to check out the shop this week for some great products and sign up to our newsletter to be notified about our offers of the week.

Quilted Hearts is 1

Our website Quilted Hearts has just celebrated her first birthday and we would like to offer all of our blog readers 10% off as a thank you for supporting us in our first year. Just add discount code birthday to your order in June and the discount will be deducted at the till. 

Go to www.quilted-hearts.co.uk to see our beautiful patterns, kits and magazines. 

Following a little quiet period to have baby George we are now back in full swing with lots of beautiful new patterns and kits. In the coming months we are also adding lots of new items including gifts and new designers patterns. We are also planning a pattern of the week to highlight some of our nicest products. This will be offered at a discount for one week only (while stocks last).

Don't forget that we have a facebook page to check up on us and see what we are up to. 

What did I do?

A few weeks ago, in a sleepy haze I'm sure, I decided to sign up for a knitting class at my local wool shop. Instead of going for the beginners classes, I thought to myself that I know how to knit basic things eg scarfs so I would go up a level. I signed up to the 'my first cardigan' thinking how wonderful it would be to make something for George to wear.
This has now resulted in me having to re- learn how to knit. I have spent most of my free time this week on you tube watching videos before my class next Saturday and although I am completely petrified I'm really excited. I have also resorted to taking an online course with Craftsy. I learnt how to crochet with them and now love it so let's hope I can manage the same with knitting.
Eeek!
Back to the needles :)

Rainy days

This sums up our day : sleepy baby, sleepy dog and a little big of crochet. The weather is miserable so we are all tucked up on the sofa enjoying a quiet day.
I'm using some stylecraft special DK to make a small blanket which hopefully will be ready to go in George's cot. Lots of different colours and small squares to make it easy to pick up and put down.

2 months on

I can barely believe how quickly the past 2 months have whizzed by.
George is such a lovely baby and now we have worked through some initial difficulties he is so happy and sweet.



He is such a brave boy barely blinking at his first set of injections and is currently taking his first cold in his stride.
He loves bath time and playing with his toys but his favourite thing is to lay on his changing mat babbling away to us.




Every second with him is fun and he has made being a mummy so fantastic.

A little peace and quiet

Today this happened...



So while he slept peacefully in his rocking chair I spent a bit of time working on these...




These little squares are perfect for the short snippets of time during naps.

Have a great weekend

Happy Easter

My little Easter chick and I wish you all a good Easter break.

A small distraction

A little someone has been keeping my attentions away from the computer and sewing machine recently but I'm ok with that.
Hubby and I had a baby boy George a week ago and he is gorgeous. It has been quite a hard few weeks but hubby and I are in complete agreement that this is my most successful project yet :)