Knitting Dog learns to Sew

Well last Wednesday was the first of my six week course on how to use a sewing machine! 

I've been looking forward tot his for quite some time. I have had a sewing machine before but never known to to use it properly. I got a new sewing machine for Christmas but hadn't even turned it on until a couple of weeks ago not knowing what to do! 

The sewing course is in our little Town at a small shop Love Heart Home https://www.facebook.com/pages/Love-Heart-Home/116750541703684 there are only three of us on the course so the tuition is perfect and you can ask as many silly questions as you like! The ladies there are all very knowledgeable and know so much about fabric and techniques. If I can come away with even a a hint of their knowledge about sewing I will have learnt a great deal! 

This week we made a protective heat mat 

Next time I will be making a pencil roll, fabric already purchased from the shop as I'm not fully confident in choosing the right sort yet! I can't wait! 

Birthday Madness!!

Well April has been a bit crazy! 

Lots of Birthdays including my Husbands 30th! The Big 3 - 0! This meant my first ever attempt at a Birthday Cake! 

As he is an avid Derby County fan I decided to go for a Football shirt including Derby County Mascot Rammie! I am by no means a baker but I am a perfectionist! The cake and fondant icing part was definitely trial and error and I have learnt a lot for next time! At least I'm contemplating doing another! 

Making the little Rammie mascot was my favourite part and if I could just make fondant critters all day I'd be a very happy lady! 

Here's a little peek at my creation....

Tomorrow is an exciting day and the first day of my Sewing course in a little shop in my village! I'm very excited and looking forward to telling you all about it in my next blog.....

A Sunny Weekend Away

Well things have been a little quite on the blog this year so far so I am making a March resolution and I must write more blogs, repeat I must write more blogs.....

So far this year a lot of my friends and relatives have been having babies so I have been a busy bee trying to knit some baby bits. My favourite are my Mary Jane baby booties (pics on my twitter page @knittingdog) 

I am currently in the process on knitting some red Snow White inspired ones complete with rosy apple buttons! 

Me, my husband and Little Lola the Border Terrier have just come back from a weekend away in Shropshire, about 1 mile from the Welsh border. A little place called nantmawr. We staying in a cosy one up one down converted pigsty! Well it didn't look much like a pigsty anymore absolutely stunning, complete with log burner and bunting to boot. 

Not that we needed to log burner much, this has been the hottest weekend so far and the beautiful weather made our trip all the more enjoyable. 

We took in sights such as Lake Vyrnwy and its breath taking waterfall and a trip up the Moelydd along part of Offa's Dyke trail to the wonderful 306 degree views all the way across to the snow covered Snowdon. 

We really didn't want to come home. 

Well I must stop rambling and actually write more blogs so it's not such a massive one each time! I do like to whittle on! 

One last thing I am sooooo looking forward to starting my beginners sewing machine course at the end on April! More to follow .....

December Delights

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

I do love decorating the house for Christmas! Tree went up on the 1st December. This year I wanted to make a bauble for my sister as it the first year of her and her husband being married. I wanted to make something personal so I decided to decoupage hearts of her first dance lyrics on to a polystyrene bauble base. I added the embellishment of the extra hears and pearls for extra depth. 

I of course had to have a practice run with my first dance lyrics first! So ended up making one for my sister, one for myself and mixed the two sets of heart lyrics together to make one for my mum! I enjoyed making them so much and will be making more on request! 

I have been busy this weekend finishing off my fire place "Merry Christmas" garland.

This has been made out of Red & Green felt but could be made out of any material and fabric. I have embroidered white snowflakes on to the letters. I toyed with the idea of using silver thread. Maybe next time for another project! 

  Next weekend I will be going foraging in the woods some materials to make my Christmas Table Centre piece! 

Got to love Christmas! 

The first of many!

So this is my first post on my blog! 

I don't really know what I'm doing so bear with me!

I've wanted to write a blog for a while but never really knew what to talk about but I suppose the answer there is anything! 

Let me tell you a bit about myself and why I'm doing this...

I have always considered myself a creative person, a lover of things cute and quirky that you can't always find on the high street! Oh and I love anything little, the smaller and cuter the better really! Everything is just better when it's miniature! 

Like I said I've always considered myself creative but I more or less wing things when it comes to sewing, knitting, sticking and drawing! I have had a lot of books to tell me the techniques of things but I kind of read them and then think oh I can do this (never the most technically perfect of people!) 

There's also the fact that I tend to make things up in my head and then will them to exist! The perfect outfit, card, present, so why not make them myself! 

With the creation of "Pinterest" I was in my element as the world is literally your oyster with people from all over the world putting their ideas down for others to see. So I suppose this is my way of putting my ideas down and hey if someone wants to have a read them, then go for it! 

I have decided to go back to basics and learn the fundamental principals of crafts! Absorb the knowledge my Mum has, that she has learnt through her life. The kind of stuff I want to pass onto my children. 

I had a back to basics knitting lesson with the mum on Sunday and I have to show her how I have progressed tomorrow so I best get Knitting again as I don't have a lot to show so far! I'm sure this will bring a lot of stories to my blog so keep reading!