Friday 25 January 2013

How small is too small?

In amongst all of my other projects, I’ve been experimenting with different sized crochet hooks and different types of thread.

TinyBee

Here is my teeny tiny bumble bee.

tinybee2

You can see from the 50p next to it, it is really quite small.  I made it using embroidery thread and a 2mm hook, and although it was quite fiddly, I love the way the thread reflects the light.  A completely different look to the wool I’ve used up until now. 

Has anyone else tried crochet with anything other than wool?

Sally

xxx

Thursday 24 January 2013

Crafty Creatives January Box

Whoo hooo – Finally I’ve found a bit of time to do some crafting.

Here are some things I’ve been making using the goodies from the latest Crafty Creatives box.  The box had a woodland theme, and was full of lovely foresty things.

The first thing I used were the beads, 2 foxes and 3 toadstools. 

CCboxBeads

I made a bracelet by joining some silver coloured rings with some jump rings and then added a clasp.  I then looped the bottom of some headpins so they didn’t slip through the holes and attached them to the bracelet.
I already had an owl bead, so I attached that to a necklace to make a set.

The kit this time was needle felting leaves.  I’ve done a little needle felting before and never really been able to make anything of note, but I attempted a leaf:

CCboxNeedleLeaf
Again not a great job, but there is something quite therapeutic about sitting stabbing a needle through the wool!


My favourite thing in the box was the owl fabric.  It’s my daughter’s birthday on Tuesday and I’ve used it to make her a present

owllunchbagfront

She’s been asking for a new lunch bag for a while, so when she fell in love with this fabric, I thought it would be a nice present to make her. 

owllunchbagBack

The lunch bag is made using my Yum Yum lunch bag pattern (click here to go to my Etsy shop)


Finally I’ve added a heavy bronze chain to the owl pendant that was in the box, to make a lovely statement piece of jewellery.

owlpendant

There is plenty more in the box that I haven’t yet used.  I’m sure I’ll share more over the next couple of weeks.

Hooray for a long-awaited crafty day

Sally

xxx

Best Laid Plans... and Simply Homemade

Do you ever have those days where all your plans go awry?

Today I'd planned on making a lunch bag for my daughter's birthday present using the gorgeous owl fabric in my Crafty Creatives box, but firstly I had a meeting. I thought that the meeting wouldn't take too long and I could get on with my sewing, but - it went on until 11.30 (partly due to the fact that we are both crafters and we had to look at and admire the quilts each of us were making). This wasn't a problem, as I had the whole afternoon to sew, so I headed to my desk. But then the doorbell rang, it was my plumber - 3 weeks later than he'd promised, but as my tap was still leaking and my stopcock had still seized up I let him in to fix things.  He left and I crept towards my craft room, but this time my phone rang and I ended up at another friend's house to help him put some photos on his website. I left his house just in time to jump into the car and go to get Daisy from school - sigh, no sewing for me today.

So instead of my planned post showing what I'd made with this months CC box, I thought I'd share the new  issue of Simply Homemade, which has a series of floor cushions/beanbags that I designed and made for them:

SH1
SH2SH2
SH3SH3

These were such fun to make - richly coloured corduroy with bright jewel felt hearts blanket stitched on - all I can say is YUM!  My favourite is the square floor cushion, just because of the lovely pompom trim around the edges.

Fingers crossed I will get back to my sewing machine tomorrow, and hopefully I'll be able to share my Crafty Creatives post!

Sally
xxx

Wednesday 23 January 2013

Lucky Me!

I was lucky enough to be a winner of a giveaway on the lovely Button Patch blog, and the fabric bundle I won arrived today
WonFabric
What a fantastic bundle of fabric.  There is a bit of everything, stripes, florals, plains and plenty of dotty fabric.  I think I’m going to use it to make a boys quilt.
If you haven’t found Button Patch, then I’d recommend you go over and have a look.  There is a fantastic tutorial on there for making a superhero cape and mask, as well as plenty of photographic inspiration.
Tomorrow I’ll show you what I’ve been making with my January box from Crafty Creatives.
Sally
xxx

Friday 18 January 2013

Snow Day–Hooray

 

P1010802

This hill was our home for the morning!  Our sledge was well used.

Doesn’t our village look pretty from up here?   

Sally

xxx

Wednesday 16 January 2013

A Busy Month

Sorry for the lack of posting over the last month.  I’ve been designing and organising some craft kits to sell, watch this space over the next couple of weeks for some sneak previews. 

Back to the crafting I have actually been doing.  I’ve subscribed to Simply Crochet and have been steadily working my way through the patterns in their first issue.  I don’t think there is a pattern I didn’t like in the magazine!

Firstly my little dragon:

dragon

It’s not quite finished yet, I need to add some wings and some horns to it, but I’ve run out of fabric glue at the moment so I’ll be finishing it once that arrives.

I’ve also crocheted a granny squares beanie hat from another pattern in the magazine – here it is beautifully modelled by Daisy.

hat

And then finally, a chunky cowl, finished just in time for the chilly weather that has had us shivering. By the time I took this photo Daisy had got fed up with modelling:

cowl

She refused to come out until I promised her that I wouldn’t take a photo of her face, so here is a photo of just the cowl.

cowl2

The cowl was really great to crochet, although using a hook fatter than my thumb took a little bit of getting used to.  The best bit is that it grew so quickly, I managed to finish it within a couple of days, oh yes and the fact that it’s so warm I think I’m going to live in it until at least April!

Anyone else completely hooked on crochet at the moment?

Sally

xxx