Saturday 20 October 2012

Halloween Costume–Gravedigger

We had plans for the whole weekend that fell through at the last minute, so Daisy and I found ourselves home alone this morning.  We used the time wisely and made her Halloween Costume for this years school disco.

halloweencostume

Please note that although she looks like she’s hating every moment of this - I actually told her she had to look serious and she’s taken me at my word.

Anyway back to the costume – I borrowed a jacket off of a friend, plus added a pair of black tracksuit trousers that she already had, my husband’s tie and one of her older brothers shirts.  The top hat was recycled from another friend’s ringmasters costume (minus the red band).

halloweencostume2

Luckily the only bit we had to actually make was the shovel – it is a piece of square cardboard with the cardboard inner of some wrapping paper stuck to the back of it.  We spent a fun hour covering the whole thing in black duct/gaffer tape.  We drew the wording freehand in pencil onto baking paper,  and covered the letters and paper in white duct tape.  We then turned the baking paper over and cut the letters out (you can see the letters through the paper).  By cutting out the back of the paper it means the letters will be the right way round. We then peeled off the paper and stuck them onto the shovel.

Now all I’ve got to find is a pair of black boots in a size 6 and she’ll be ready!

Sally

xxx

Tuesday 16 October 2012

Lovely Warm Feet

I’ve been quiet over the last week with yet more crochet, in fact its safe to say I’ve become a little bit obsessed with the easy rhythm of hooking the wool and pulling it through.  I found a pattern for Mary Jane crochet slippers on the website Good Knits – and here is one of the finished slippers:

slipper1

Why a photo of only one slipper? I hear you ask.  Ok… you asked for it – this is them together:

slipper2

 

see the bar across the front, you will notice that I didn’t quite measure both the same, so the one on the right is very much longer than the one on the left – ooops!  Luckily they are only for me, and I’m happy to loop it around the button twice, but if I make any as a gift for anyone else, I’ll be sure to measure them right!

I only had chunky wool rather than DK, but to be honest that worked better for me as my feet are a size 8 and if I’d used DK then I would have had to increase the length of the foot.  I might try another pair in DK for my daughter – I’ll let you know whether they fit her size 6 foot.

Next time I might be ready to show you my 70’s pattern revamp, but it’s taking a little longer to make than I expected.  I’m just hoping it will be worth the wait!

Sally

xxx

Monday 8 October 2012

A Little Bit of Crochet

A couple of weeks ago I had an urge to crochet.  There must be something about the nights drawing in and the days getting chilly, but I decided that I would make and this time finish a blanket.

P1010711

I did a bit of maths (obviously using a calculator!) – each square took 20 minutes & there are a grand total of 48 squares so I guess its taken me 16 hours of crochet plus quite a bit more time to sew it together and to edge it with treble crochet. 

Here’s another photo of it hanging on the back of my sofa - because I’m proud that I managed to finish it.

P1010717

I used a chunky yarn and a size 4 hook, purely as I wanted it to be a lovely thick blanket, and I chose my favourite bright colours which go well with the colour of my sofa and curtains.  Sadly as it’s such a grey and misty day I can’t really do the colours justice – they are actually a lot brighter in real life, and the blue is a lot richer than it appears here.  Maybe I’ll wait for a sunny day and take another photo.

For my next project I’m sticking with crochet, and I’m hoping to update a pattern from the 70’s part work of Golden Hands – Are you excited yet?

Sally

xxx

Wednesday 3 October 2012

Yellow Spot Doorstop

It’s been a while since I did any free motion embroidery, and I’ve missed it, so yesterday I grabbed some calico and popped my free motion foot onto my machine, and off I went.

flower-doorstop-close

A sunny yellow flower with a lime green ribbon stalk.  I used it to make a doorstop:

flower-doorstop-front

I used another piece of ribbon to make the handle, and I left a 2” velcro opening at the back so that I can sell it unfilled, making the postage more affordable.

I’ve added it to my Etsy shop, priced at £7.01 ($11.00).

Sally

xxx