First Things...

Hello!

My name is Caroline and I'm 25 living in London.  I'm a full-time PhD student in Sexuality and Gender studies, who spends most of her spare time reading or crafting.  I'm going to use this blog to chart my crafting (knitting, sewing, baking and quilting) projects.  There will be photos galore, mostly taken with my iPhone 4, so I can do a quick snap and not be too stresseld over the lighting.  

How long have I been crafting?

• Knitting: Started when I was 20 and a friend taught me how to do a basic knit stitch.  Didn't progress from making a huge burgundy scarf monstrosity that I've kept for sentimental reasons.  Competent at: simple cables and lace, knitting in the round (circular and dpn), miniature knitting, socks etc.  I'm yet to try making a garment.

• Baking: As a child, I baked most Sunday afternoons with my Mum.  There would be a spread of Welsh cakes, pikelets, scones etc.  However during my teens I forgot about baking and lost all of my skills. I discovered this 3 and a bit years ago when I wanted to bake a birthday cake for a friend and it was a disaster.  I'm now competent at a wide variety of cakes and breads. My boyfriend is particularly a fan of my Toffee Chocolate Brownies.

• Sewing: Again hand and machine sewed when I was young with my Grandma and at school.  I forgot all my skills but decided I wanted to try it again.  I'd now put myself at a competent beginner.  So far, I've made a mini-patchwork stocking, a circle skirt, bag, table mats and a few other odds and ends. 

• Quilting: This is the latest of my crafting skills e.g. I'm just taking a beginners course in machine quilting at the moment at the wonderful Sally Bourne Interiors workshop.  In the workshop I'm making a set of 4 patchwork table mats.  I've bought the fabric and have started to design my first quilt!  It's going to feature four fat quarters of Eleanor Grosch's Zoo Menagerie fabric that I bought from the charming Backstitch.  

My sewing machines:

Singer 30, treadle in a walnut veneered cabinet.  It's my beauty, though I'm still just beginning to become competent with the treadle part.  I have to watch that I don't go backwards too often.

Pfaff Select 4.0.  This was quite reasonable at £399 for an ex-display model that only arrived yesterday from The Sewing Centre in Battersea, London.  I'm already in love!

I'll post some more pictures once I've some new projects to show you all!