Appaloosa Cowl – A hand-knit cowl pattern.

Knit this pretty cowl in Malabrigo Arroyo or suitable sport weight/5ply yarn. I designed this simple lacey cowl which features moss stitch and gull stitch.

Pattern available on Etsy. Boho Beach Baby shop

“It’s Hip to be Square” Baby Blanket

It’s finally finished! After sitting around for the longest time and waiting for the last little crocheted flower to be sewn on – it’s done! I couldn’t be happier.

The “It’s Hip to be Square” baby blanket is made up of a series of moss stitch and garter stitch knitted panels joined with crochet chains to granny squares. The granny squares each feature their own little crochet flower. It has a brightly coloured granny border and is edged with a double frill. I’ll be writing a pattern soon.

Front

Back

The blanket is 100% wool. I’ve mainly used Shepherd ‘Colour 4 Me’ 8ply and some Cleckheaton Country Kids 8ply.

 It measures 78cm square or approx 30.5 inches square. Originally I had intended it to be bigger with more granny squares but just wanted to finish it in the end. I’d use a lighter acrylic yarn next if I design a bigger one this one weighs in at about 500 grams in total. Designing another larger one in acrylic or polyester is on my to-do list.

Detail Granny-squares and Flowers

Sneak Peek!

Here is a sneak peek at something coming soon. I have had this sitting around as a ufo for so long!

Here is a Miss Ming, looking gorgeous as usual.

And finally a photo of Mooloolaba beach on New Years Day – it is now completely washed away by all the storms and wind we’ve been having lately.

Cheers from Fran.

Two UFOs completed ...& a Beach UFO!

The Delft Blue quilt is finished - it’s always good to complete a project! The final quilt measures 144cm x 178cm or 57”x70”, single size.

This quilt is now available from my Etsy shop.

 

Also complete is a quilt made from a Moda “Nostalgia” Layer Cake. I pieced this top while watching coverage of cyclone Yasi in February 2011. I can’t believe that it was two years ago now, which just shows how long things can sit around as UFOs.

This is such a wonky, odd little quilt of my own design – I literally just picked up the layer cake and started playing with it. I had it quilted by Jeanette of Quilting Platypus in December 2011 when she was just starting out with her long arm quilter at an introductory discount rate. She did such a good job with it because it is quite wonky. The backing is a pretty Art Deco style floral print in duck egg blue/brown.

So finally after two years I went in search of a binding and was really happy with the striped binding I found. It incorporates all the colours on the front of the quilt, and links into the blue/brown of the back with a blue stripe which is an exact match. Once again the binding is cut on the bias

This quilt is now available from my Etsy shop.

***

Speaking of ufos - here is a small ‘pipi’ ball which I discovered washed up on the sand during my beach walk on Christmas Day 2012.

 Cheers Fran.

Baby Elisa-Rose Receives her Quilt.

Baby Elisa-Rose and her parents recently attended a bbq to receive the Strawberry Shortcake Quilt  and a hand knit 'February' jacket and cap.

The ocean is an icky brown colour at the moment due to all the rain. Surprisingly it only takes a couple of weeks of fine weather to clear back to a lovely blue colour.

It hasn't stopped the surfers from enjoying the swell tho'.

Miss Ming sleeps blissfully on a rainy day.

Cheers from Fran.

Delft Blues Log Cabin Quilt

Apologies for the long absence from blogging, I’ve been busy with other things.

I started putting this quilt together a while ago using a jellyroll of Delft Blue framed in pure white. Miss Ming gives it her seal of approval! J

I reached a point when it was square and decided to add a yellow dot fabric which I picked up at Sp*tl*t to the sides and ends so that it is almost a single size quilt with the thinking that the yellow would enhance and compliment the splashes of yellow among the Delft Blues.

The back is a grey dot fabric which matches the yellow dot on the front. I have joined together all the little leftover pieces of jellyroll from making the log cabins into a long strip. This is pieced together with a leftover strip of the yellow and the grey dot which was only 42 inches wide to give me the correct width. (I love using up all the little leftovers in the backing!)

I decided to free-motion quilt it using a meandering line with loops in it and that way I could just scoot around all the pins. Wadding is a machine washable wool/polyester mix which I have found to be my favourite to use.

Binding:

I always cut my binding strips on the diagonal – 45 degrees – it’s a little more fiddly at the cutting stage. This creates a springy edge which stands out like a tube and also bends and folds better with the quilt. I chose a dotty fabric in blues and white.

I’ve almost finished putting the binding on which I machine stitch front and back. ( I used to hand stitch the back, too busy at the moment.) Will post more pics when done.

Cheers Fran.

My Very First Milo

I have admired this little pattern for a long time on Ravelry, and noted the popularity of it amongst my Ravelry friends. I recently purchased the pattern and made one. It is such a well written pattern which gives you options to add your own creative elements to your garment.

The best thing about this pattern is that there are no seams.  It is made using Panda Magnum Soft 8 Ply on 4mm needles in the 6 month size.

This is also my very first cable which was not as hard I thought it would be. All in all a very satisfying knit – I can see why it’s so popular to make. You can find my details here:-

Franie-Jay's First Milo

The pattern includes several options of cable design for you to choose from.

Milo is designed by Georgie Hallam and published in tiKKi knits on Ravelry. All of her patterns are simple and seamless. You can find them here:-

tiKKi knits Milo

Cheers Fran.