Oven glove tutorial and free pattern

I have made a pattern for these oven gloves which you can download here and follow the photographs below for how to make them. I hope they make sense! The fabric I used is a cotton print I got from the market (trying very hard to look like a Kath Kidston Print!) and the Bias binding I also got from the haberdashery on the market. It is 2cm wide. You can buy specially made insulating wadding, and I bought some called Insul fleece, I’ve not used it before and was a little dubious about how successful it would be as it’s quite thin. However it can easily be quilted on the machine without any special machine feet but to be honest I think I would double it if I was to do it again as it wasn’t as insulating as I hoped it would be. If you didn’t want to fork out for the more expensive insulation wadding you could instead buy some thick curtain lining, as this is much cheaper and I think would do the job just as well, seen as I use tea towels and all sorts to get hot things out of the oven.
Apologies for the photos not being great, but I took them while showing everyone how to do it!

Photo tutorial after the jump....

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Baby Car Seat Canopy Tutorial

It was half term a couple of weeks ago so I had some free time on my hands AND some energy which is nice after months of feeling exhausted! I have bought loads of fabric with projects in mind, I think my hubby was getting a little nervous I was never going to use it! So I set about on my first baby sewing project since finding we were pregnant! Can't believe it's taken me this long to get started! I'd seen these types of covers online and decided rather than buy one I thought I'd make one. I've photographed each step so you can make one too. It's super quick and easy and really only took me an afternoon. Think I may knock up some more for my preggers friends!

You will need:

• Two pieces of fabric measuring 103cm x86cm for the body and lining
• 4 bits of fabric measuring 23x8cm for the straps
• Co-ordinating(or contrasting!) machine cotton
• About 20cm of Velcro (hook and loop tape)

Here you can see the lovely pop of colour from the underside, and the car seat can still be easily carried with the fabric over the handle.

Photo tutorial after the jump.....

Ombre dip dye apron

A couple of weeks ago, I was due to host another crafting session with my growing craft group DCI (Dream Create Inspire!). I had decided that we were going to make aprons, and I had sent out the materials list etc, but when the time came, I had totally forgotten to go out and some fabric for myself! Now I know, I do have boxes and boxes of fabric stashed away, but not large enough bits to make a whole apron out of! Then I remembered under the stairs I had put some old white Ikea curtains that I had already hacked about a bit to re-fashion some curtains......so I took those with me and while I was making it, (pattern to follow shortly) I had a little brain wave to jazz it up a bit. Why not dip dye it!? So that's exactly what I did! Brief "how-to" below the picture.

• First you need to make up the dye as per the instructions on the packet. Use a cold water dye. Ideally in something deep like a bucket.
• Then you need to drench the apron or the product to be dyed in water. It needs to be wet all the way through, then wring it out a bit, but not so its bone dry.
• I dipped the apron in as far as I wanted the Ombre affect to go up the apron, then lifted it out so that just the first 3 or 4 inches or so were still in the dye. Then I suspended the apron from above the bucket, you could use a clothes airer or tape the neck strap to a table with the bucket underneath.... 
• Its important to keep the apron damp throughout the dying process as the dye gets naturally drawn up the fabric due to osmosis (fancy word!)thats how you get the nice faded out effect rater than a sharp difference between colour and white. To keep it damp, I occasionally poured water from the top of the apron down the front into the bucket. 
• I left my apron to sit overnight. 
• When you are happy with the dyed effect you need to rinse out the extra dye. BE VERY CAREFUL not to get the dye on parts of the apron you want to keep white! I got blue dye on my waist straps and the neck which was really annoying! Run it under hot and cold water alternately until the water runs clear, then hang it out to dry. 
• I then ironed mine to seal the dye in and to get all the creases out. Ta-da!

Baby headband update!

Wow! It has been such a long time since I have posted anything-and there has been good reason I must add! Firstly My hubby and I went over to San Antonio to spend Christmas with his family. We had an AMAZING time and are really looking forward to going back sometime in the future. The fabric shops were MINDBLOWING! Just so many varieties of fabric and such reasonable prices, we have nothing in the UK in comparison to the selection over there. I spent literally all of my spending money in Joannes and Hancocks and Hobby Lobby! I bought flannels, and minky fabric and such lovely quality chevron cottons in turquoise, coral and grey, can’t bring myself to use them yet, I’m still just looking at them and planning what to make!
The second reason I have not been creating and posting is that we found that we are pregnant! Yay! But as a consequence I have been suffering with extreme morning sickness and so have been ridiculously unwell and really haven’t been up to do anything apart from nibbling dry biscuits and sucking ice cubes! I spent three weeks straight on the couch and in bed unable to function, the doctor gave me some medication and it’s much easier to manage now, so I’m back to supply work at school. I’m currently 19weeks and the nausea still hasn’t totally cleared up, so I’m taking cups of ice cubes into lessons and sipping coke from a mug so it looks like black coffee! Not much of a bump yet so the students haven’t noticed!
ANYWAY-you may remember one of my posts back in October when my Sister in law was over and we were making headbands for the arrival of her baby girl? (previous post) Well baby arrived well and healthy a couple of weeks ago and I couldn’t resist uploading pictures of her in the headbands we created! She is such a beautiful yummy baby already the headbands don’t add much!

A winter scarf

Well it really has been a very long time since my last post! The weather has changed a lot and I really hate the cold, makes me very grumpy! I do really like scarves though! I had been noticing a lot if these long loopy eternity scarves people were wearing and thought to myself it can't be that hard can it?? So with a tiny bit of help from a more experienced knitter, I learnt to cable knit (it really is SO easy)! If you want to make this too there is the pattern and equipment list below the photo.

Size needles:10mm
Super chunky wool (just under 3 balls)
And the pattern below:

Cast on 34 stitches
1st row: (right side) k10 P2 k9 p2 k10
2nd row and every following alternate row: p13 k2 p9 k2 p10
3rd row-As first row
5the row- k10 p2 c9b (See below) P2 k10
7th row: as first row
9th row: as first row
11th row: as first row
12th row: as first row
These 12 rows form pattern
Keeping pattern correct throughout, continue until you have the length you need! Then cast off and sew the two ends together.

To cable: (Slip next 4 sts. Onto cable needle and leave at back of work, k5, then k.4 from cable needle)