Home Inspiration 2

I am sure you have seen some of her creations in your favourite interior design magazines, or even in crafts magazines... Jan Constantine does deserve an entry in my blog. I am into vintage - British style for the new house (the old flat was yuppie-financial district, black/red/silver, and this is not 'homely' enough for a certain husband of mine, only problem he cannot define what is homely for him!). Here is one of her famous cushion cover.

Jan’s designs are hand worked on natural cottons linens and wools. The felted wool work is perfect for some Christmas decorations. Needless to say the price is a bit above my budget. But do not fear, she has also published a book, that I bought and is very user-friendly with lovely designs, and you can now make your own Jan Constantine's cushion covers, or blanket, or bag or... well whatever you fancy really (there are some cool Christmas projects).

Apart from drooling over other people's designs, I have some projects on the go... but sadly no picture at the moment. There is crochet blanket, a scarf for M (that is manly enough for him to approve of - he is SO difficult) and a quilt I started 10 years ago (at least) and that I intend to finish soon.... All coming soon.

New home inspiration

Not sure I mentioned this but a week after we came from our honeymoon we put an offer on a house that was accepted. We are nearing (I hope) the lengthy legal process and should be able to get the keys at the end of the month, unless the structural survey says there is something really wrong with the house... We are planning quite extensive work on the house (make it an open plan kitchen/living room, changing the heating system, maybe adding a conservatory...). So needless to say we will not have a lot of money left (as in none) to actually buy any new furniture.


So we are looking for inspiration for decoration, soft furnishings etc. So I thought I could share with you what is inspiring me for decorating the new house - and hopefully I will be able to show you how it translates when I am trying to copy their style.

This week (well it has been a while now) I got really inspired by Anna Carrington. Who would have thought of sewing thousands of pearl buttons to make up the Queen's head in 'psychedelic disco colours'? Anna did. Surely, this is a girl after our own hearts. She uses unusual material (safety pins, knives, forks) making sure that 'objects have got more than one life'.

I love her choice of materials, these objects we all use everyday to make beautiful pieces of art. I am sure all of you will be inspired too.

A case for my needles

I finally had a day off that I could spend at home. No one to see, nothing to really do... so plenty of projects I could get on with. I finally started and finished a case for my needles. Here it is.




I love the colours and I could finally use the lace trimming and fabric I bought ages ago. I even remembered that I needed to make it easy to carry.

Reading about knitting

I just had to share this... When M moved back to England I moved out from my flat in South East London (10 mns from my work) to a (small) house in North London (an hour and a half from my work). And suddenly I had time to read... Commuting is not really my thing, but at least I do get a seat on the train, and can indulge in some good reading. This is a bit of a long story to introduce how to knit a love song by Rachael Herron.


This is even more my kind of book than my usual kind of book (only happy endings for me). There is romance, beautiful people, someone starting a new life (inspiring)...and it is all based around knitting!!! I was not sure about the first two chapters, but then got so engrossed in it that I wanted to commute longer journeys!! I hope you enjoy it too!

Customising

Take a T-shirt you have had for a bit of time, nice but a bit boring... And some left over yarn.









Find the right pattern on ravelry...








Here it is.... A brand new T-shirt!

Being in the cloud

I fell in love with it and ran to John Lewis on Bond Street to buy the yarn, the crochet hook came from Scotland and the pattern from Yorkshire...

And I got started straight away. Took me a week (had to go to Brussels for work in-between and forgot the project at home), and it was all worth it!

I changed the edging as you can see, it hides the (many) mistakes I made especially at the beginning. Do mark the last stitch of each row, it is worth it. I LOVE the yarn (Rowan Kidsilk aura - shade 768) but it is unforgiving, you make a mistake, you live with it... But it so soft and warm, that I felt compelled to buy more yarn...I am just weak.

Retail therapy

I love ysolda's designs; It's her 25th birthday and to celebrate, she's offering all of her designs at a 25% discount on ravelry today. So what are you waiting for? It is time to get your Ishbel.