Colour Inspiration - Orange

You wouldn't believe it now but I once hated orange. For years I detested it. I wouldn't wear anything orange or buy anything at all in the colour (I still don't wear it to be honest). The last few years it has not only grown on me I have become a little obsessed with it. For the last few years I had planned that my bedroom would be orange and teal but mainly teal. Now that it has become a reality it's mainly orange.  It's a bright sunshine colour and can be overwhelming. However, if done right it can be uplifting.

I have begun collecting fabrics for a quilt I plan to make for my room. It will be my first quilt and I plan for it to be fairly simple. Just squares in orange, teal and white. The problem being that I am finding it difficult to find orange fabrics and ones that I like. This is my collection thus far and they don't really go together. I still like them though. The bottom fabric with the mushrooms I have had for a while and sadly I have no idea where I got it from. This is more of a burnt orange and so rather than have it for the quilt it will back up a few cross stitch cushions. The top two fabrics I got from Purple Stitches. I highly recommend them for speed of delivery. I have ordered from them a few times now and I have always been pleased and the fabric has always been as I expected it to be.

Shockingly I have no orange sock yarn. Something I may have to rectify (because of course I don't have enough). Funnily, I received my mini skein set from Lisa as I was planning this post and one of the skeins contained orange. I will need to plan something with it for my room.

Another way of adding a hint of orange to a room is to paint (revamp) some old furniture. Chalk Paint is perfect for this (I learned this from Homemaker). Annie Sloan is famous for her chalk paint. I was having a look as I have a full length mirror with a wooden frame. The frame matches the wood in my room but it's looking a little tired. Once I build up the courage I might treat myself to some chalk paint and freshen it. Barcelona Orange would be perfect. Annie Sloan doesn't just sell her paint but she has a blog and hints and tips on how to use the paint. The paint itself is a little expensive but you can order samples for a fraction of the price and in some cases these might just be enough for the project you have in mind. I might order a sample and paint some picture frames.

My obsession with orange actually goes all the way back to me spotting a camper van cross stitch pillow in an issue of cross stitcher. That was back in 2012. I found a new appreciation for the colour and fell in love with camper vans. I did attempt to see if this pattern was still available to purchase from the magazine but sadly that's not the case and it's now out of print. I look forward to bringing this home.

I suppose that orange would go with yellow but the colour I chose was teal. Teal is one of my all time favourite colours. If you don't know that then you haven't been paying attention to my blog (so rude). When I planned the colours for a room that didn't exist yet I started this blanket. When I finished it a month or so before I purchased my flat I was actually unsure that I liked it. Turns out I just needed a lighter space for me to appreciate it. If you want to know more about the blanket you can see it here.

In other news I just about have all the furniture for my bedroom. I just have to get the wall art up (still to do) and add other craft projects I have planned. I'll give a full virtual tour once it's finished. Don't expect that to be soon.

Anyone else found a new appreciation for a colour they previously detested?

P.S I have seen a lot of orange with pink or with grey of late. I think I prefer the teal.

Colour Inspiration - Red

 This is my first colour themed post and it seemed apt that I should base the first one around the colour red. My mum was well known for her love of this colour. She would sometimes dress from head to toe in red. She would have had the whole house decorated in it if she could have. Myself, I was not always a fan but in the last few years I have grown to appreciate it and in fact have surprised myself by gravitating towards it. It's both bold and vibrant and I actually do enjoy working with this colour.

As a result I actually have a fair amount of red in my stash. As you can see above I already own a fair amount of red in my sock yarn stash. The first two are hand dyed yarn. I think this is quite a hard colour to get right when hand dying. Not that I have any experience in it. However, I imagine it would be so easy for it to turn out pink rather than red. The first is by my good friend Lisa of For the Love of Yarn. The second is by Jillian of Mothy and the Squid. Unusual for me in that they are solid colours and I think a nice bold pattern would be suited to them. I also have a selection of 4ply yarns by Patons and Debbie Bliss. I bought these with my mum in mind. Not traditionally sock yarn as you can see but that's what they will be used for. These will knit up a little thicker than the hand dyed which is perfect for winter socks or for under boots without having to pick up DK or Aran.

My fabric stash is rather limited and I won't be able to do this every month but I have picked up a few in reds. My living room is going to be in blues with a touch of red and with that in mind I had picked this up months ago. So long ago that I can't remember where I got the top one from. I can tell you that it is from a series called 'Little Red Riding Hood' by Riley Blake. It's quite pretty and of course I love any design with mushrooms or toadstools. This print is available with other background colours including blue. I think though that it stands out more against the white. The bottom fabric is by Liberty fabrics (I love Liberty Fabrics) and I picked this up from Mandors. These along with some pale blue might eventually become cushion covers.

I do have some washi tape in reds. Like the fabric though I have not kept note of where I got it from. With the fabric I probably should have but I'm never going to do that with washi tape. Instead I thought I would pick out a couple from places I have shopped from. The top two is from Unwrap colour and I picked up some tape from them recently. The stars I love because it's a foil washi tape. That is something that I don't have in my collection. The bottom two are from Fox and Star, a stationary shop that I love but don't buy from much. Only because I tend to buy most of my notebooks in person (far too many notebooks). I have a red stripy tape in my collection which I am sure I did get from Fox and Star. The little star flowers though is now on my radar. It is very much like a sashiko embroidery pattern. I have shopped at both stores and the images of the tape have always matched what arrives through the post.

The final image is from the garden. Sadly there aren't as many red flowers in there this year. Just one solitary red tulip. I have plans to change that for next year. I have a spring selection of red flowers and I look forward to planting them and watching them grow.

 

 I also love red with other colours. It goes well with my favourite colour, blue. This combination was all the fad a few years ago. It's maybe waining a little but I still love them together and that's my colour choices for my living room. If you head over the my Pinterest board you will see examples of these colours combined.

Lastly, something I have always liked is redwork. It became popular back in the 1800s and is still liked today. It's like blackwork but instead you are working entirely with red thread. I always meant to do something along those lines with my own design. Now that I have my own space it's the perfect opportunity.

What's New In May

I don't have any events to direct you to this month. If there are any out there then I have missed it and I'm sorry. Here are a few things that I am looking at just now. First of all I am trying my hand at Sashiko for the first time. Well, for the first time on my own. Previously I had taken part in a class with my old knitting group. I have already said all this before on last weeks WIP post. I am constantly adding to my 'Stitch It' pinterest board but over the last few weeks it has been filling up with Sashiko images. I actually now wish I had created a board for it all on it's own, which may still happen.  Sashiko (pronounced sashko) is a traditional form of Japanese embroidery usually involving blue fabric and white thread. There is a reason behind all that but I am saving the big explanation for a post I have planned related to this one subject. The image above you will have seen last week. This was me stitching and as you can tell I decided not to stick with tradition. Again I don't want to say too much about it just yet but what I can say is that there is something a little but therapeutic about this form of embroidery.

I also treated myself recently to a new craft book. I picked up a copy of  The Knitters Book of Yarn by Clara Parkes. I reccently reviewed Parkes travel writing book and I mentioned how much I enjoyed reading a craft book that was about someone enjoying the craft rather than just being filled with patterns. I expect this to be a little of the same in that it's about an aspect of knitting. Like the last one I hope to learn something too. I am bad for not paying attention the the blends of yarn that I use. I just go ahead and start knitting with it. My sole concern is colur and will the colourway work for the pattern I have chosen. I'm looking forward to it and I will review it as soon as I have finished reading it. This book has been out for a few years and I had to order my copy. I got mine from Waterstones (I don't do a certain online book/just about everything retailer).

  I love Bloglovin just now. If I was to add to me advice to bloggers post it would be to get yourself on there and claim your blog. It can gain you more followers and it can show you some of the fantastic blogs out there. This is how I came across Homey Oh My. Homey Oh My is a design blog. Obviously given my circumstances just now I am inclined to have a look at design blogs. What makes this one so good is that it looks so fresh. I love it for it's clean look. The blogger also posts tutorials and she recently blogged about learning to knit and crochet. A fellow crafter so of course I love her blog. If you scroll down to the bottom of my craft blogs list you will find a new heading and this blog listed beneath it. If you are bloglovin yourself give me a shout. You will see a bloglovin badge to the right here.

 I also would like to give a shout out to my friend Phyllis. She started her own craft selling page called Rosebuds & Rainbows (how fab is that name). If you can't knit or crochet but love the end result you can comission her to produce something for you. Head over to her facebook page and you will see some of her lovely work. She has also taken to designing her own patterns and as some of these patterns are socks I have to share them with you. The image above is of her Rib n Roll socks and the pattern is available of ravelry along with all her other patterns. Her socks are fantastic and I think that someone wanting to move away from the basic sock would find these patterns ideal. I have also added her facebook page to my craft shop list so please go along and check her out even just to say hi.

Lastly I promised to tell you a few things that I plan for my blog. I actually have a few plans but I realise that I can't do all of them at once and so I have decided to stick with one or two at a time. First off, as well as adding the bloglovin badge to the right I have plans for some themed posts. If you follow me on pinterest (and if you do say hello so I can give you a follow back) then you will have seen that as well as Sashiko I am quickly filling up a board just on colour inspiration. Actually I have lots of boards for specific colours but the colour inspiration board hosts everything else. The above collage is an example of some of the things I have posted there. I think that you can't be a crafter without enjoying colour. There may be some that you detest but you will still love colour and you will have favourite combinations. Am I right? Well each month for the rest of the year I plan to have a themed post around one colour. I will post different ideas and inspiration around that colour. I have chosen the colour this month round about three or four times but I have finally settled on the first. Since it's the anniversary of my mum's passing this month it feels apt that I should pick her favourite colour, red. So I hope you look out for that and I hope that you enjoy these new themed posts.

I am sure that I will have more ideas in the future but I will keep you updated as they come. One last thing before I go. I have also added a new list to the right of the screen. It's a list of top 10 most popular posts in the last 30 days. I can never tell which posts are going to be the most popular so it will be interesting to look at this evolving.

If any of you are trying something new this month then let me know. I would love to hear about it. Or if you would like to host a What's New post then drop me a message.