épingles & aiguilles,

I loved embroidering this, a custom order for a cotton reel pin cushion, 

pins & needles..., in french!

Hope I've spelt it correctly!

ps, I did get both, you lot are a bad influence!

Red shoes...,

I've posted before about my love of the colour red.  For a while now, I've been on the look out for a woollen jumper to felt, which is just the right shade of red.  The one I used for this latest softie shoe, is more pink than red...,  

but on Friday, while dragging Luke on a thrifting trip into town, I spotted not one, but two red jumpers.  Now, given that I am getting short of storage space, and also trying to be thrifty in my thrifting, I can't warrant buying both jumpers, the question is, which should I get?

One is a lovely, rich shade of true red, the other is just as nice, but a slightly bluer red, and I just couldn't make my mind up.  They have put them both on one side for me, and I'm going to ask you lot for advice on which colour to go for, which would you get?!

(another softie shoe, it's been a while since I've made these, was fun remembering how!)

(I know what you're all going to say..., get both!)

Tick, tock...,

Thank you all for humoring me with my soppy previous post!, the exhibition opening went well, as did his speech.  As a way of saying thank you, I spent yesterday evening working on a new tutorial, and here it is..., a wrist watch pin cushion!. 

To make one, you will need...,

2 circles, measuring 8cm across of coloured felt (I've used a felted jumper)

1 circle, measuring 5.5cm of cream felt

1 strip of fabric, 3cm wide and long enough to wrap round your wrist with a 3cm overlap

1 strip of felt, same size as fabric strip

selection of small buttons

embroidery thread (I've used pearl cotton 8)

small amount of stuffing

1 snap fastener

pins, sewing needle, scissors, sewing machine (optional)

First, take the strips of fabric and felt, place them wrong sides together, pin and stitch all the way round the edge in blanket stitch.

Take one of the circles of coloured felt, and cut two, 3cm long slits.  Thread the strap through, making sure the felt circle is right side up, and the strap has the fabric side facing down.  Secure the strap in place with a few stitches.  Put this to one side while you work on the watch face.

Next, embroider the watch face numbers, either by hand, or you can do this by free machining on a sewing machine.  If you are a bit unsure how to do machine embroidery, I have a video tutorial posted on You Tube which explains how to do it!  It will help, to get the spacing right, to do the 12, 3, 6 and 9 first, then fill in the gaps with the other numbers.

Now, going back to the strap piece and holding it fabric side up, take the other circle of coloured felt, and place this, right side up, on top of the first felt circle.  Stitch blanket stitch all round the edge to join the two together, stop when you just have 5 cm left to sew, and stuff the watch face via this gap.  Once you are happy with the shape, continue sewing to close.  Attach the watch face with a few random straight stitches (I always prefer to do this part after it has been stuffed so I can get the positioning right, as stuffing it quite often changes the shape).  Add a winder to the right hand side, I did this by attaching two small buttons, one on top of the other.  Sew on another button centrally on the watch face, and embroider on the clock hands.

I made mine to say, 8 o'clock, my favorite time.  If it's 8am and we're still in bed, it means we've had a lie in, and 8pm, is when the kids are tucked up in bed, and I start sewing!

Test the strap round your wrist, and mark with a pin whereabouts the snap fastener needs to go.  Sew on the fastener, then add a button on the outside of the strap, although this is purely for decoration.

and there you go!.  It looks big on me, but I have ridiculously tiny wrists.  Just adjust the sizes of the circles if you want to make yours smaller.

As always, if you make one, I love to see your creations, please join the 'Lucykate Crafts... pattern pieces' group on Flickr and post your work there!

Happy stitching!

My Husband...,

is a very talented man!  He has spent the last three weeks or so, up till all hours of the evening, and late into the night painting a very important portrait, for the 'Changing Faces' debate being held at the Mall Gallery in London towards the end of this month.

I don't have an image of the actual portrait to show you, the one in the advert (above) is a preliminary sketch.  Changing Faces is a charity who work to support people who have a disfigurement.  The reason my husband, whom I usually refer to as Mr LK, but he does have a name in his own right, Alastair, is involved with this is because, not only is he a much commissioned portrait painter, but he is also the President of the 

Royal Society of Portrait Painters.  He is their youngest ever President, and as this is his first year of appointment, it is also his first time of officially opening the annual open exhibition, tomorrow at the Mall Gallery.  He will be giving a speech in front of a lot of important people too.  I have no doubt he'll be fantastic, but it's going to be difficult for him.  He's doing all this, away from home, with the knowledge that this morning, his much loved stepfather sadly passed away.

To Alastair, be strong, all our love, Amy, Lucy & Luke.

xxx