Warped! What a load of old sheets...

Anyone visiting Halfpenny Home notices pretty quickly that we love bright colours - the handyed yarns from Colinette, the ostrich feathers in vibrant shades of turquoise and hot pink and the brightly coloured handpainted knitting needles! We are also big fans of pattern - big blousy florals, stripes and ginghams are often paired up with paisley, floral and gingham bias binding!
Which is why people are so often surprised to learn that we also love cool, plain linens - particularly old linen, cotton or metis (linen and cotton woven together) sheets from France. We even used a particularly lovely one (adorned with old mother of pearl buttons...) as the background for the Halfpenny Home online shop!
If you are really lucky you may come across your very own initials on a hand-monogrammed sheet like this one which graces my bed!

They are sometimes almost too nice to be kept just for sleeping between and a few of my windows at home are dressed in old sheets!

It's the hand-sewn seams and the uneven weave that gives the fabric it's unique look and charm.

Yum!

Sometimes there are small red monogrammes...

and sometimes there are bigger ones - hmmm, HH? Couldn't leave this sheet behind!

We were especially excited to see the linen egg project in the very first issue of Mollie Makes as it's so pretty and a lovely way to use up all those little scraps of fabric that you cannot bear to throw away! We've put together bundles of linen pieces that would be perfect for making these little eggs...look at the daisies!

These are so much fun to make and I can't stop just yet...
Nic x

Colinette Yarn arrives at Halfpenny Home!

I spent the whole day putting it into skeins and looking at all the lovely colour combinations. Colinette yarn is hand dyed so you get a lovely variegated yarn. We've got Skye, which is an aran weight yarn in star anise, vatican pie and velvet leaf. Point five is a lumpy bumpy yarn which is popular with felters and we have it in five colourways including turquoise, raspberry, toasted macaroon, mint julep and wasabi squeeze. The names are incredible aren't they? Other treats include a shaggy cotton yarn called Fandango and a double knit washable merino which I reckon would be perfect for socks. It's going to be a lively knitting morning tomorrow!
I had to share these cake photos with you! The chocolate muffins are from Scoffin' and the cardboard cake shaped gift boxes are by mimibellatree.
We had a visit from Iris on Saturday, she came in to show us her latest Linus quilt. Linus quilts are made by volunteers for children in distress, the name comes from the Peanuts character who was never without his comfort blanket! Iris has tried out some of the fancy stitches on her new sewing machine on this one.
Not wanting to be left out of all this creative activity I thought I would show off a recent commission - a loose cover fashioned from an old linen sheet for a stately winged arm chair. I like this style of cover as it's unpiped and if made in old sheets can be washed without any fear of shrinkage.
I had to be very disciplined and get the cover finished before I unwrapped the brand new pegloom which arrived last week and I'm eager to try out! Have a good week, Nic x