Nini Makes

Cold walks & a sweet new zine

Tristan is ripping out a Metallica song upstairs on his guitar, Gracie is washing her hair and Pippi is tucked up next to me hogging the heater, so I'm stealing a few moments to post some images from a very frosty walk I took yesterday morning. It was one of those mornings that looked like snow at first glance and you just know an extra layer will be needed.

I half expected a Snow Queen to pop out from behind a tree somewhere.

Now onto a much less subdued image, a new zine by Nicole, from Follow the White Bunny and Carina from Carina's Craftblog; the pair have teamed up to start &Stitches.
When Nicole contacted me a couple of months back to be one of the crafters featured in their first issue I didn't hesitate, I knew their new zine would be fun and first rate and when I received it I wasn't disappointed. It's bright and cheerful and full of tips and talented stitchy people like the authors themselves. The zine also includes patterns like the fishies below – I'm seeing this one on a beach bag.

The first issue is all about colour and it's a cracker. In their own words "&Stitches is a quarterly e-zine, all about modern stitching. It has a strong focus on Embroidery (and yes that includes all kinds of Embroidery!) but other (hand) sewing projects and themes are definitely on the map too."

I'm looking forward to future issues, this stitchy zine is off to a fantastic start. Now hop on over and pick yourself up a copy here.

Nearly there

Short scarf

We had a lovely early Christmas with the UK family on Sunday so I can show a few of the items I've finished so far. The short winter scarf was cut from a thrifted cashmere sweater and I lined it with a vintage silk scarf. It's probably the gift I most want to repeat to make one for myself.

I'm working all out now to finish a couple things for Gracie and the American family because we're off to California at the end of this week. I'm sure most of you are busy with last minute preparations too.

Finished Purl Bee booties

These booties were simple and fun and both children want grown-up versions of them, think I'll have to find some very big felted jumpers for that job. The pattern is here.

Gifting

It's been really great diving into my boxes and tins of stash I have tucked away all over the house to make gifts. This year I've already sculpted clay, needle felted, made jewelry, sewn, embroidered, lino printed and baked. Feels good to use only the resources I have on hand. I've so far only had to buy one zipper (for a gift not shown) and I've made 17 gifts. That means I've been either very resourceful or I'm a HUGE hoarder of stash. I prefer to believe the resourceful one ;)

The Black Apple dolls above are from Emily Martin's pattern and far quicker than patterns I've drafted myself so I recommend them if you need some quick gifts for little people. The pattern is here. The pencil case above and doll on the left are made from my favourite vintage tea towel, they were for two sisters.

I have had to buy some gifts though because I find teenage boys challenging to make things for and there are seven of them on my list! 

I hope your own lists are being nicely checked off and you're either finishing all you've planned or throwing your hands up with a smile and drinking mulled wine instead.

Happy days to you,

Jx

Gifting

For teachers

Gracie made a flower and bird ornament for her teacher. A repurposed embroidered tray cloth became a small gift bag with chocolates that the birdie snuggled into. Tristan's teacher is also his math teacher so he got a math themed bookmark.I'd like to tell you T made it himself, but he simply approved it. 

Purl Bee booties 

So today winter break starts and happily the sun is back out and the fierce winds have died down, though I hear 70,000 homes are still without power up north. I'm now sitting here soaking in the warmth and savouring my last few hours of me time for the next month. I loved this simple baby bootie pattern from Molly's Sketchbook at Purl Bee. Lucky we have a brand new baby cousin that I can whip a pair up for so these are being finished.  

Also, I'm really loving these tinies from Lisa, these wonderful paintings by Claire Desjardins found via Erin and also the new Bookhou ceramics (though I think they're all gone already). And these fun marshmallow reindeer lollies look so simple they'll be added to our vacation activites. (found via Pinterest).

Now I'm off to make some dough for dinner, it's going to be Friday night pizzas for us.

Happy weekend to you,

Jx

A new, old pattern and a visitor

We've had some wild skies lately. With extraordinary images like this one it's easy to see how one could expect to see magical little people living in this landscape. 

Log cabin Gnomebody's Home cushion

You may recognize this pattern and cushion, I made it at least three years ago.
I wanted to offer up this "Lights are on but gnomebody's home" pattern then but I started to feel a little gnomed-out, by the time I went to put it online gnomes were e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e!

A sweet person called Ruth stitched this one up for me to test the pattern but I can't find her blog any more to link to. She's since gone off to start uni so she's probably now involved in busy studenty stuff. Click on the cushion image to make it larger and see what a beautiful job she made of it. 

I decided to get him out of hard drive storage, dust him off and offer him up. The pattern can be found here.

Everywhere I look while I walk this time of year seems I see places that could be home to fairies, gnomes and sprites – hopefully no trolls. Little mossy logs and toadstool villages are perfect homes. These agarics are from a few weeks ago and I thought we'd have no more after our warm spell, but I spotted new ones yesterday, also loads of parasols in the grasses and earthballs in the woods. Lucky the frost hasn't set in too badly yet to finish off the fungi.

Now the leaves are copper and gold and hailing down. Soon they'll be gone and I haven't managed any nice images yet. Hopefully I'll get some in the coming week when I drag my sister up and down hills and through the woods with me. She's visiting from Texas where she now lives and there they've had several months of outrageously hot and dry weather – hope she packed her layers and her walking boots.

Hope you have a magical day :)

Jx

Mistletoe kisses, another pattern finished

Mistletoe Kisses pattern stitched on a linen tea towel

I finished stitching up this pattern using a loose lazy daisy stitch for the leaves and a small stem stitch for the branch. I'm not a fan of the stem stitch but I liked the way the smaller stitch length worked for this. The mistletoe stems are backstitch and the birds are split stitch, and of course, French knots for the berries. Appliqué is used for the red breasts and I toyed with filling in the birds but honestly I'm on a mission for finishing things at the moment, I also think it lends itself more to a vintage feel by not filling.

To receive this new pattern go to the Embroidery & Appliqué page here. It is available on a donation basis as all patterns on this page now are. I think I might have forgotten to say in my previous post that there is no minimum donation and also that Gracie will receive all the donations on patterns she has drawn.

In other news, this week is busy as I prepare for G's birthday and also the children are home for their half-term break but I'm hoping to squeeze in a day in the city to visit Jill. I also received a surprise package from Kay, thank you Kay – I really needed that chocolate treat this week and it's already gone. Also thank you Pam, everyone needs a cheerleader and friend like you.
And most importantly, if you know Sonia, she's had very sad news, you may want to send a message her way. 

Have a lovely week.

Jx

A new pattern and more on the way

This is one of the many branch, twiggy things that has crossed my desk in the last couple of weeks. A festive little offering – I even have it out before the new year (patting myself on the back here). And now I'm slapping my hand because it's four in the morning as I finish this. It will take me at least a week to recover from getting so carried away into the very wee hours.

Partridge in snow

There's no question what, or who inspired this one. If you visit here often you'll know partridges are one of my favourite birds. They are so humorous, and friendly, sidling up to my window and pecking on it to say hello, but it has to be said they're a little stupid too. If a car drives up behind them they try and outrun it, seemingly forgetting that they have wings and can fly. 

This new pattern is part of a three page tutorial and pattern for large and small ornaments (small 1.75" ornament pictured). It marks the beginning of a new way of offering my embroidery and appliqué patterns. I'm now offering all patterns on a donation basis. In order to allow myself the many hours it takes to create each one, I'll ask for a voluntary donation for patterns in the future, but there are still dozens of tutorials here on NM that are free.

If I go way back to the beginning, I've given out hundreds of patterns, which I have loved doing, but accepting donations from now on might enable me time to tackle my giant binder full of sketches waiting to become patterns. At the moment I really do have to justify time spent.

I've had mixed feelings about the whole donation thing, I have never even accepted advertising here on NM so I may move them to a different site in the future. I'll think on it more after some sleep....

This new pattern can be found here along with several others – two more are coming soon.

And to see another new twiggy tutorial go to Whip-Up today where I show how I'm using them to tame unruly hair. It's a real privilege to be guest blogging on one of my all time favourite sites. Thanks Kathreen, you're a star!

I'll get there

Woodland peg fairy

There were so many things on my to-do list to be finished by the end of this week but as we all know stuff sometimes gets in the way. No need to bore you with a list of stuff.

Sometimes it's best to throw my hands up and sit down to a pile of scraps with daughter and her friend. Making hats with beech tree seed pods, dresses of muslin and painted on faces made us smile. It's been too long since we pulled out our box of peg people parts, we'll have to visit that box more often.

New pattern sometime soon

One of those to-do list items was this new pattern. Clearly not finished as I thought it might be, but playtime with little G sometimes must shoot to the top of the list, I'm sure you'd all agree :)

Thinking of friends whose families are struggling with illnesses right now, you know who you are and that I send my love.

Also, I forgot to say thanks for sharing your favourite childhood book memories, it was really fun to read them.

Happy weekend,

Jx

Give us a hand

Mummy's hand, photo by Gracie

Gracie was working on a drawing and she wanted a hand model. I wasn't good at keeping my hand still enough so she photographed it instead. The clutter in the background is what my desk looks like when more than one project at a time is happening, which admittedly is often. I thought about Photoshopping it all out but I like real life better – though I often wish I could Photoshop it all out in real life and save the time of clearing up all my junk.

Gracie's hand, photo by Mummy

And speaking of projects, Gracie will soon be posting her first tutorial on her blog. The other day she spotted something at a shop that she really, really wanted and I said "No because I can show you how to make your own with supplies we already have and I promise you will like even more than the one in the shop." She wasn't convinced. I can't steal her thunder so I won't give it away but she's extra excited about her results and can't wait to share how to make them (although chances are you may have made them yourself already!) A tiny little thing, but it really ignited her enthusiasm to make instead of buy which of course made me smile really big inside :)

A quick something for me

On Wednesday I spent a fun hour with six girls and their ideas for making things with old clothes; I'd hoped at least one boy would be in our textiles group but maybe some will join in time. One of the items I shared with them was this protective sleeve I whipped up for my phone. I've been wanting to make one for the longest time, I'm not crazy about the cases in the shops. This denim sleeve made from old jeans took me no time to make and even though it's very simple it's just what I wanted. It's been a long while since I made something for me so then I got right into another project just for me that I'll show soon. Two in one week, I'm getting spoiled ;)

Apple thief

One last photo before I say goodnight. Hurricane Katia didn't effect us as much as the north of the country but it sure brought down a lot of apples. Too bad poor Pippi just found out she can't have the plums and apples any more, too hard on her tummy says the vet.

Have a great week,

Jx

 

Autumn and a return to routine

With such a cool August, very early apples and the demise of my geraniums it looks like October around here not September. Along with September come those mixed up feelings of dread and excitement that back to school time brings. There must be a word for it, maybe we could call it xreadment? 

I'm excited for the changes autumn is bringing us, happy to be back in a routine, but also sad to lose our freedom. I'm positive I'm not alone in this and in fact I'm sure I say something similar each year;) I wish I could have all you other mothers (dads too) around for coffee after dropping our children at their first days back to school.

And, if anyone has a trick for getting children out of bed in the morning please share it; if it involves bribing them with hot chocolate, that one no longer works for me. I'd seriously love suggestions.

The hedgerows are exploding with autumn colour already like these huge blue damsons yet there's still colourful purple vetch, honeysuckle and hog weed dotted about.

Hawthorn berries are in abundance.

And so many elderberries I think the birds would spare a few for me to dye with again this year.

I've been working on a couple of new projects yet to be published and otherwise crafting little, except for these extra slow stitches started way back here. I'm hoping to now use our new autumn routine to schedule time for completing new projects and get back to keeping up this space including a new shop soon.

I tried to post this yesterday but our Internet service was out again. T and G have now finished a very happy first day of school and are really positive about the year ahead, phew :) 

If you're back to school this week too, hope it's a smooth one for you. Enjoy the signs of the new season wherever you are.

Jx

PS, thank you very much for the sweet birthday messages for Tristan, we both loved reading them.

FInished top and Thursday rainbows

Linen top for Gracie 

I've managed to complete a WIP that has been hanging around for a good while now. This top I was originally making for myself in the loveliest linen but it turned out way too small though I followed the pattern size chart, so I finished it off for Gracie, eventually. She was very happy, in a jumping up and down sort of way, though the photo doesn't look like it. The top is an old Built By Wendy for Simplicity pattern (number 3835 but I can't see it on the Simplicity website). The applique is the Out On a Limb pattern here. If you get this Built by Wendy top pattern be warned, it runs very small. The one I made myself back in February is here.

Chasing the pot of gold

Poppytalk Summer Colour week is rainbow today. Which technically isn't a colour it's multiple colours. My contributions you may have seen before. A rainbow from a few weeks ago; two photos I spliced together in Photoshop, not particularly well, but enough to get the full arc in there. If you click on it to enlarge the image you can just see a second full rainbow above the brighter one - this scene was over the field next to us. If I'd had the time and didn't have to get dinner on I think I would have high-tailed it after the pot of gold.

Pans of watercolours

And another reissued image from a painting session in March. Those were the only two rainbows I could manage.

Happy Thursday, hope the sun shines on you.

Jx