The beginning of a new hobby?

I applied to Northumberland Adult Learning at the beginning of January to do two courses that were supposed to start this week - a one hour yoga class on Thursday evenings and a three hour Patchwork and Quilting class on Mondays.  I wanted to do something that was just for me - my social life is pretty non-existent, other than spending time with my (lovely) boyfriend, and watching him play on his pool team on Thursday nights.  I wanted to push myself into something new and exciting, where I wouldn't know anyone which might be a bit scary at first, but would soon get into the routine and really enjoy having activities that were "mine" (does that seem stupid?)

Image taken from here - admittedly, no sign of any biscuits at this meeting, looks like I would've been tutted at for getting crumbs everywhere...

I received two phone calls last week - one to tell me the yoga class had been cancelled and another to say that the patchwork class had too, due to low interest.  I was understandably rather miffed - I've always wanted to try patchwork but I think it requires a lot of discipline.

Image taken from here - will I ever be able to make anything this amazing?! I can dream....

In the same week, the ticket I bought to the initialJ Pins and Needles craft show was refunded as the show has been cancelled.  What a naff crafting week it has been! 

So, to cheer myself up, I bought a "premium" quilting set consisting of a rotary knife, self healing cutting mat and quilting ruler.  I ordered alongside it, some Clover templates so that I don't cut out wonky pieces (squares & octagons, and triangles & hexagons).  I may have also ordered metres and metres of fabric from eBay (oh dear, may my New Year's resolution should have been to curb my eBay habit....) which I'm still waiting for, so I bought some from Grainger Market in Newcastle today that I can have a good play with this weekend.

I also ordered some books from Amazon to help me - 

The Encyclopedia of Quilting and Patchwork Techniques by Katharine Guerrier

(£8.96 at the time of writing).  This book is going to become my quilting bible!   It goes through the basics with the right amount of detail (not so much that it gets boring, not too little that you need to look in another book).  There are lots of photographs and explanations - from different construction of block techniques, how to cut each shape correctly, special effects (piping, folded star, cathedral window etc etc etc), different types of applique, finishing and assembling the final quilts.... it's a great book and really helpful to a novice like me, with my mum at the other end of the country and unable to help.

Quick & Easy Quilts for Kids: 12 Kid Friendly Patterns by Connie Ewbank (£5.24 at the time of writing this).   It is exactly as it says in the title - these are great starter projects for beginners like me, and although it says some can be done in a day, I'm not exactly the fastest person on the planet.  We'll have to wait and see! :)

I can't wait to get started this weekend - I've been daydreaming of quilts all week at work.  Let's hope I can find some of the self discipline, eh!

Wedding gift

So, I've been invited a friend's wedding, and she doesn't want me to get her and her husband to be anything from the gift list.  Crazy, huh? So I'm making her a surprise...

...that I designed using MS Excel.  It's actually a great tool, and not just for spreadsheets - if you get the cells to be square shape, you can use it for knitting and cross stitch patterns.  Here's the template I designed myself in Excel:

I changed my mind about the border, as you can see from below...

I'm considering doing a double border in the blue.  Trying to get a frame to fit it though, that's another whole challenge!  I hope she likes it.

Paper cards

Rather late I know, but I've been having such a good festive period there hasn't been much time for crafting! I tried buying a Hanukkah card for my grandmother from Newcastle, but it seemed that there were no cards anywhere in the city. I even asked a John Lewis assistant who said that she had problems getting Diwali cards too - it seems it's hard to get anything other than a Christmas or standard New Year card up here. So, rather than use Moonpig, as I wanted to write the message out myself, I made one. I'm a bit disappointed with the flames but otherwise happy - hopefully it'll be start of more J-crafting!

Next up is the birthday card I made for my dad using the bunting design I used for my nephew's birthday card last year.  Unfortunately this was taken on a phone camera and the sellotape is really obvious on it (I find that glue doesn't really work on the bunting bit to keep the string secure).