It's getting better all the time!

I have neglected my crafts this past few months- sorry.  But I've had a dark few months.  Nothing has happened per say but I've been on a roller coaster of emotions which is finally starting to settle down.  One of the flies in my ointment has been my house.  I've never bonded with it after almost 6 years.  This will make sense to all you ladies out there, I know.  If you don't like your home, you feel without an anchor...
So, after a lot of soul searching, I've decided that this year I must love my house.  After a short visit to my lovely sister's home, I was inspired by every tiny homemade touch.  A name plate for the front door, tea cosies (one was mine!) glass painting and even a beautiful basket for the lowly loo roll.  Some bought, homemade and given meant that her home had a soul and felt loved. 
I think that I've spent so long making things for others that I've forgotten to make this house my home.  2012 marks the year of domestic bliss!
Project 1- Make the curtains fit.
The cheap curtains we bought to "make do" never fit and neither did my nice Next ones from our last house.  So out came the sewing machine and a shaky pair of scissors and...snip, snip, snip they were cut to length.  A bit of steam pressing those hems, pinning and measuring means that each set looks much better.  I really must paint those window sills this weekend though!  I wasn't brave enough to attack my expensive set but happily paid out a few pounds and got them done just right by my local cleaners. (no photo for that one as the room's too dark)

 

 

I'm overwhelmed with ideas now and can't wait to make my house a home- wish me luck!

And then two came along at once....

My last post was about my first swap and yes, I wait and wait and then two came along at once! I happened across a swap and was actually in time to join in- what are the odds eh! This one came with a list of likes and dislikes to lead my gift choices. This got me stuck for a while as I wanted to stay away from the obvious as my swappee loves chocolate, fudge and lavender. I ended up just giving the gifts a bit of a twist and made...

1- Chocolate, pistachio and almond fudge (I hope it makes it there ok)
2-Lavender heart keyring- so she can keep lavender with her all day
3- Everlasting flowers- until the Spring brings out the bulbs!

The fudge was so easy and yummy- It's from Nigella's Express book and can be kept in the fridge but is best in the freezer where you can sneak chunks straight from the drawer and into your mouth. YUM
The flowers were made from floristry ribbon using the kit I purchased from the Glow event in Bluewater last month. I'm hoping to make up some more bunches for Mothers day.
The heart keyring was a wrench to give away as I absolutely loved it. I had so much fun using some of the embroidery skills I've picked up this year to make an old fashioned floral design. I made a mini bag and stuffed as much lavender as I could inside and blanket stitched beads around the edge.

I do hope you love it.

Thanks for organising this snipsnaphappy!

http://snipsnaphappy.blogspot.com/

A pause before publishing this post.....My own parcel arrived on Monday!

I've only just started making things for me to keep as there is always a birthday or celebration to cater for so I LOVED getting these thoughtful gifts. Mine came from lily@makingitvintage and they are all corkers. The peg bag is swinging on the line- one of my many on my to do list- and my fabric, calender and paper will all be stashed for the right project. But my favourite and best are these fingerless gloves! I joined Slimmingworld last year and have managed to lose 4 stone which is wonderful but leaves me with very cold hands and feet! Who knew that those skinny girls with multiple vests and tops weren't being fashionable but were just really, really cold? So, yes, I love them! They go on in the morning so I have nice warm hands when it comes to changing my baby's nappy (don't worry, I take the gloves off for that) and they stay on for morning lessons until I am truly warmed up. I only got them 4 days ago and they are hardly off and the classes I teach think they are fab too. So a huge thank you Lily and I hope your own gift will be as much loved as mine x

Fabulous February Swaps

I love reading about other peoples swaps. I've always seemed to miss them though so I had an idea. Why not do a mini swap with my fabulous crafty sisters? It would be such a treat to get a surprise packet once in a while. So, we all agreed for a February parcel based on the theme of "Hearts". Theming the swap seemed such a good idea at the time but you end up wracked with insecure choices and worry over them liking it. In the end, I opted to just have fun with it and got a bit carried away I must admit!

My parcel contained:

1-A felt notebook cover (for all those designs and crafty ideas)

http://www.craftstylish.com/item/41496/how-to-make-a-button-embellished-notebook-cover

2-A "Mug Hug" from my "Cute and Easy" crochet book

3-Herbal Tea bags with paper heart tags (featuring sentimental notes)

4- Heart Cookie (Christmas box- couldn't resist)

5- Fimo heart buttons- Not my best work but not bad for a first attempt.

One of my sisters posted that this was a monthly thing. God No, it took me most of the month to do these! I will do a separate post for my sisters beautiful gifts. It was like getting a hug in the post my girls- I look forward to our next challenge!

Glow event at Bluewater

I went to my first craft event on Friday and had such a blast! These things are always far away day events that wouldn't be up my husband's and little girl's street. I had heard about the Glow event at Bluewater earlier this year as I was invited to teach there but, as it's on my day with my little tot, I decided not to go. Friday came and I thought I would pop in as I had jobs at Bluewater and I grinned the whole time!

I stocked up on healthy nibbles for my baby, milk and planned rest stops but she spent most of the time holding my hand and toddling around as I one-handed pushed the buggy. The Mermaid's Grotto was our favourite- I don't think we could make one pass without popping in and waving to all the fish and stroking the seaweed strands. The life-sized Mermaid and Fisherman are amazing don't you think? I love her hair and false eyelashes!

I met the wonderful Erika Knight who's books I learnt to crochet by and did finger knitting with Hannah on my knee. She is bringing out her own range of stunning wools and individual patterns for downloading which is a great idea. She also said that she's bringing out a new crochet book for Baby patterns which I must get.

I saw the exhibit of costumes from Downton abbey and managed to even quickly stitch my name into the world's longest embroidery- this was tricky as Hannah was again on my knee, babbling away and pretending to sew with the other ladies.

I did buy myself one treat. There was a stall demonstrating how to turn florist ribbon and tape into amazing flowers. The chap who demonstrated had all the right patter and made it look so effortless that you knew it would actually be really hard. He whipped up two flowers so quickly for my girls and spritzed them with perfume ( which is so 1970s). But it looked like something new and a craft I have never done before so I bought into it happily, knowing that I may flop but I would enjoy the process! I bought the starter kit which came with loads of different colour ribbon, tape, dvd of techniques and the special cutting tool. Then I spent a happy couple of hours getting to grips with it all. Guess what? It worked! I love the ones so far and will pop some pictures up when I have made a few bunches. With Mother's day coming up, I know what I'll be making...

It's sewing city over here!

Hello New Year!

It's so nice to have a break from Christmas for a while. I've been having a comfortable January hitting some long awaited projects- several of which I forgot to take pictures for sadly : (

A new hat for me, phone covers for hubbie and sister and lots of over due button-sewing and clothes mending. All these have been made much easier by a long-awaited (and much desired) craft cupboard! It may be small but it's my little space and I love it.

No more hunting for books on the edges of shelves and fishing around under the bed for boxes that never want to come back out unless you lift the darn bed...My buttons are in cute boxes, fat quarters neatly folded and my ribbons are now in a sweet little jar. There is even a bottom cupboard that fits in my sewing machine and larger cloth pieces as I am now getting really good at saving beautiful fabrics from old, worn out and outgrown clothes, buttons and trimmings instead of bundling the lot off to the local charity shop.

These two little Christmas felties are what I made in my spare Christmas holiday minutes. They're both from "Fa La La Felt" (see previous posts) and they have come out so beautifully. This is the kind of thing you can only do when nothing else is pressing as there is a lot of time taken for such a tiny object. They are so worth it now and I am loving how each pattern works up. I will tag my Fa La La projects so you can see how I'm working through this great book.February also sees "Hero Day" at my school. It's my own fault! I've organised a day to celebrate real life heroes past and present and one of the activities is dressing up for the children. I had my costume pretty much sorted until I remembered that Katie was going to need one too! So, I've been pillaging the local charity shops and got loads of cheap fabric and sheets and have been madly cutting and stitching up the costumes. I look forward to sharing these next month- I just hope I can get them finished in time....

Merry Christmas everyone!

Well! I can just breath a sigh of relief and stop the crazy Christmas crochet. No more, nup, nadda, zip, I'm all finished on gifts, wrappings, trimmings and trappings... It's been so long with the work basket out each night that last night's bid for freedom felt sooooo wrong.
Katie's Christmas wrap (the rainbow coloured strip bottom right) was only finished on the 22nd and was causing me so much stress! I could only do it when my little darling was asleep, so, fitting it in with dinner, work and-oh yes- sleep was tricky. But it's done and it's lovely. Thick and warm. Small enough to fit her frame and large enough to use as a small adult wrap will keep it usable for as long as she wishes.
Presents this year seemed to be mainly scarves. This bulky pattern from "Cute and easy crochet" that I talked about last post knocks up so quickly and looks the business.

A last minute gift was this cute pudding. It was a free pattern that came as an email gift from "Inside Crochet" magazine which I was subscribed to. I haven't found many patterns that I would use from this year's magazines, so I haven't renewed my membership. Then this pattern sprung up and it's right up my street. Easy, quick and fun. It's now part of a gift box of handmade decorations for my Mum.
These Christmas projects have now taken my Ravelry page to over 60 projects. Will 2012 see my first 100?? It's a challenge I think I'll go for.

So, Merry Christmas everyone! Have a good holiday and look forward to coming back online after some serious family time!

Christmas is coming...

It's been a whole month since my last post *slap wrist* but I have not been lazy! In fact, it's Christmas Crazy in my work basket at the moment. Where did the year go?? I started so organised with my Christmas Crafty Project in January but had to shelve that due to an overwhelming batch of pregnant friends and family. Now I am in November and my list of jobs seems to be growing instead of shrinking...

Oh well, at least this means that I will have a few posts this month as I frantically pump out projects. This Christmas is turning into a "What can I make with the stash I've got?" kind of year. I've been happily stock-piling lovely wool all year and am trying to work through enough so that I can, once again, close the lid on my huge wool box. This is great for the pennies and means that I am having to read through all my craft books to find projects to match the stuff I've got ( I plan far too many projects in so little time!). I can't wait to take a Crafty Christmas Collection photo of all the completed projects- I may even keep one or two for us this year-Yay!By the way, these patterns (apart from the wrap) came from this gorgeous book. I love, love, love this crochet book! It was one of my birthday presents and may just be one of those books where every pattern is made or planned to be made. I love, love, love this book! I got it as one of my birthday presents this year and just know that it will be one of those rare books where I make all (or plan to make all) of the patterns inside. it's set out into three levels which is great if you want a quicky gift project or something a bit more special.

So, photo explanation is now due, I think. Using left over chunky wool from my earlier baby blankets, I've made a seashell chunky scarf and a lovely shopping bag which will be filled with Christmas sweeties for one of my nieces. I've made a wrap for my Mother-in-law and a delicate scarf for her daughter too! I did take a small Halloween break to stitch this Cat Woman mask for my wonderful minxy daughter (didn't it work up well?) and am now working on another wrap for her too as she has been asking each time I work on one for others!

In between all this is various cards, baby gifts and party presents...I just can't crochet fast enough at the moment. I've also been using crochet and knitting in teaching a Year 5 class about instructions. Quite a few are asking for lessons so I'm sowing some more seeds next week and will keep you posted...A school crochet/ craft group may be on the way!This is why blogging has taken such a back seat as I can't seem to stop long enough to share. I will be good this month and aim for at least 3 posts.