Sew Hip magazine!

Guess what I found in the newsagents today? It's the new issue of Sew Hip .. and inside? It's the quilt I showed a sneaky peak of a couple of weeks ago! Called Love is All Around ... Just in time for Valentines day!











Updated ... well they were pretty yucky photos!  Sorry !  Here's a slightly better view of Love is All Around.  Its about 1m square btw! Fabrics are mainly Kona Cottons and threads were all Aurifil 40 and 50wt cottons.

If you fancy making the quilt btw its Sew Hip Issue 26 you need! (If you are overseas I believe a digital version is available) and  I have some Kona Cottons on my site for sale too, including pre-fused hearts and circles too.

Skip Stitch Blades

Who would have thought cutting holes in fabric could be so much fun!  

Ha ha!  I've been having a ball using my new skip stitch blade.  

They fit on a normal 45mm rotary cutter (even old ones like mine) and you use them in pretty much the same way but instead of cutting a solid line they skip along making tiny little perforated holes that you use to embellish with beautiful crochet (a-hmmm ... ok I'm still a novice crocheter) or add ribbons or lace, tassels or fringing or some other good embellishing stuff.  You can use them in scrap booking too but I don't so that (this year).

They come in 3 sizes, Original, #2 and #3.

The original was developed to perforate fleece, leather and soft foam so the 'teeth' are quite deep and spaced a reasonable distance apart. The #2 blade is ideal for thinner fabrics like flannel or wool, and the #3 blade is suitable for fringing.  I haven't tried the #2 and #3 blades yet but hey I'm a bit of a gadget freak so I had to have them all.

 Now my crochet leaves much to the imagination but you know I am not going to worry

 (and neither will my 7 month old grandson I suspect  .. this is his car blanket!)

  This is a fun new addiction brewing here ... but  do you really know why I so excited? 

Well because it means I can sit and watch a film at the same time I am working on a project. 

I can't do that when I'm sewing .. and certainly not when I'm knitting either ..a skill I truly would have loved to inherit  from my mother. Mrs F (my mum) has the amazing ability to watch TV, chat and knit at ten to the dozen with that flicky pointer finger movement to get the wool from one needle to the other  .. whilst I on the other hand hold my needles like pokers and have to drop one needle to pass the wool around ... BUT CROCHET well I can do that (almost) without looking. 

So you see why I'm excited ... no more sour-faced husband when he wants company watching TV and I'm busy stitching elsewhere ... I can sit, watch, keep the man happy and keep me happy with busy fingers (I don't do sitting still and doing nothing very well see) 

Woo hoo ... more skip stitchery in the pipeline for me.

By the way ... I brought a bunch of these blades but I only have 2 of each size left so if you would like one or all of them be quick and head over to my website and place your order! I've even added a special price for all three ! 

Click here to buy