All you knit is love

I was giving a knitting workshop this month for beginners,

introducing them into knitting with circular needles.

It was quite a task, as my students are Spanish and they already new a bit of the job, working with long needles...

and this was my dilemma!!!

Cause they have this funny way of  clamp them under the arms and lift the yarn over the needles, instead of catching it...

The mere look at it gives me muscular cramp,

but they resisted to learn it the other way,

so we kept on going round and round...

and made beautiful and comfy double  loop scarves from wonderful 100% wool, 

which

I bought in my favoured wool shop in Barcelona

All you knit is love

Carrer de la Barra de Ferro, 8

It has to be something like this...

a few days ago I was looking for a wrap tunic pattern in the Internet, but I couldn't find anything interesting.

Instead I came across with a lot of wrap dresses, most of them referring to the fashion icon from the 70ties, Diane von Fürstenberg.

As I scrolled through the images I got really amazed by the way a simple design can be so feminine, comfy and easy to make and decided to get me pattern and fabric...

Work in progress...

you remember the gorgeous Japanese fabrics I purchased for one of my students???

we started one of my favourite 9 patch design for beginners.

ohh, its so easy and the effect just stunning!!

you sew blocs of 9 from

13.5x13.5 mm squares

ones the blocs are finished you make a cross cut right in the centre of each bloc

(you get 4 pieces)

than turn two opposite corners of to the centre of the bloc

(now two large squares and two small squares are facing each other in diagonal)

sew the bloc together again and join as much blocs as you need

for your desired quilt size.

 this one will have 4 by 6 blocs and a size of about 140x210cm

Five playing...

...or how to knit cute boot cuffs!!

I used 100g bulky yarn and a set of 3,5mm bamboo needles and a 5mm crochet hook

cast 12 stitches on each of for needles

than start with the fifth working in rounds

always K2, P2

work up to a length of 22cm

than loosely cast off

use the last stitch to crochet the shell edge

stitch in between two K stitches and work 5 DC

and in between two P stitches work one SC

all the round

work the second boot cuff the same way,

if you like you can add a crochet flower!!!

Enjoy!!

shopping..

the other day in Barcelona, I popped in one of my favourite shops:

nunoya, Carrer de la Palla, 6

they sell gorgeous Japanese kimono fabrics, as well as the extraordinary Echino collection designed by Etsuko Furuya.
Over the years I have sewn a lot of things with these fabrics and I just love them!!
Here a selection of my latest purchase for one of my students..

it's going to be a quilt soon!!!

Red Pepper Quiche

I got loads of red peppers for a really good price on the weekly marked
and backed them in the oven at 180`C with aubergines until they where cooked,
then pealed them and put them with an egg, cream and a ripe goatcheese mixture, salt and pepper
on top of puff paste. After backing the quiche for about half an hour, it was only a matter of a few minutes
to see it disappear with a glas of red wine ...

Oven backed veggies is a  traditional way of cooking them here in Catalunya, and they are just delicious that way!!!!!

Hey there, I am back to routine

...it's every year the same story, getting the kids back to school routine after an eleven week brake
and then organizing myself into the workshops again, takes it's time.
But thanks to my lovely students with their eager exitement to go creative again it's so smooth to get back into, what I call, the rest of the year life here in Catalunya.

getting started with Kaffe Fassetts "Mary Mary" Quilt

New this year are the workshops I give in the creative shop "Entredos" in Calella, a fantastic place not only for sewing, but also for knitting and crochet.