I won a prize!

What with all the excitement of seeing the bluebells yesterday, I completely forgot to mention that I won a prize this week! C&H Fabrics were clearly pushing their news letter and if you signed up for it you were entered into a prize drawer. I thought I might as well and I won 3rd prize! Fancy that!!

It's a very nice knitting book (by a designer I've never heard of but hey...) using Rowan Wool (above left) and what I thought was a small book of old patterns re-worked. But no, it's a cute notebook. I rather like the look of one of the patterns - a cabled cardigan (above right). There were quite a few things I liked really. But if any of them ever gets made it certainly won't be in Rowan wool. Gorgeous wool but too pricey for me...

I bought a really nice sewing magazine this week called Sew Playtime. I think it's one of those occasional special issue things.
It has lots and lots of things to make for children and I just couldn't resist buying it!!
I loved this little "Cat Nap" baby book designed by Josie Day of Sew for Soul. She has a lovely blog all about upcylcing and makes the most amazing things. I often look to see what she's up to, so was delighted to see she has 2 projects in the magazine. And look at those sardines in a tin. They look amazing but I know they would take forever to make. Or if you wanted something a bit quicker, how about asking your child to drawer a picture of them-self, then making it into a doll??

I don't know if I will ever make anything from it but it will certainly give hours of pleasure just leafing through it. Maybe a Christmas present for the family's latest arrival? My niece had her baby on Friday - a girl she has called Violet. The baby blanket I'm making for her is coming along slowly. I think there's still about 30 squares to go, then the joining. The blocking method seems to have worked quite well - the neighbour's cat came and helped me with them...

Not sure how long they will actually stay square until they're joined though, seeing as the yarn is acrylic. You can see how much the centre squared has been "squared up" in the picture below.

The colours look quite good when laid out together. I wonder how long it will actually take me to decide on the placement of each colour when it comes to joining them together?... I want it to look random but balanced, with no two squares the same in each 9 square block. That's going to take some doing! I did read a really helpful tutorial this week by Heather of The patchwork Heart. She has a bright colourful blog full of really good tutorials. Shame her tutorial didn't come a little sooner!

Right - better crack on with it. Those pesky squares won't make themselves!!