Nightmare Before Valentine's Day Swap

OK so Valentine's Day was quite a while ago now, but I didn't want to post these pics until I knew Sara had received her goodies in the post.  Sara at Kitty Eden was my partner in this swap and her hints/guidelines/preferences were...

Fave Tim Burton film:

  can't decide between Alice in Wonderland or Nightmare Before Christmas

Fave colours

   red and blue

Well there could only be one choice really...

 Alice!!!

I've wanted to make an Alice doll for such a long time and here she is complete with stripey legs, frilly pinny and key in her pocket.

I also put in some red and blue crafty goodies in red and blue lidded jars (get me!), and of course some Valentine chocolatey goodness.

And a Queen of Hearts pincushion made with red roses fabric (no painting required) and studded with pins with heart-shaped heads.  Cute as...

 Hope she liked it all.  It was a fab swap to get me back into the swing of things and I wasn't even too late for me.

This is my first proper day off in what seems like ages but hopeully now I'll be able to get a bit more organised.  I am bursting to share our latest bit of news but you'll have to wait for now.

ttfn
xx

Goodies.

Goodies Number 1

Kiddie decided she wanted to make pudding of some kind after Sunday lunch.  She didn't want any help - she was adamant so we left her to it.  After a while (and a couple of hiccups) she came back in the room with these little babies.

The photos don't really do them justice.  She'd made choclate cupcakes with bright red (?) butter cream and edible glitter (glitter with everything - it's a must).  But... because I'm trying to lose weight she'd made me 2 teeny weeny ones in petit fours cases so I didn't miss out but didn't fall off the wagon. Hopefully it won't make any difference tonight - Tuesday night weigh-in!

Goodies Number 2

Stash.  Stash!!  STASH!!  STASH!!!  My fabric stash has grown somewhat this weekend which can never be a bad thing.  :o)

A bundle of 24 fat quarters has found it's way into my bag and is heading up the stairs to The Spare Room as we speak.

On Sunday we visited 'Stitches' at the NEC.  That's main annual trade show for needlecrafts, knitting wools, fabrics and 'habby'.  One of our suppliers is branching out into patchwork fabrics and we bought some to see how it goes.  Some of the designs are fab.  Very 'Cath-like'.  And there are some really cute mini prints too.

Bundles of 4 FQs are in our shop for £8.95 but they won't be there for long.  Tomorrow afternoon is the next P & Q workshop and I would imagine our band of new enthusiasts will be stash-building too :o)

Goodies Number 3


Shhhh.  Don't tell OH but I've bought " ANOTHER new book!!.."  Our bargain book shop in Lichfield is brilliant.  SOmehow they manage to get stocks of some of the most recent craft books at stupidly cheap prices.  This one was a fiver and while I've never noticed it before, I thought it would be brill for more fund raising projects for The Tribute Fund.  I shall sit and peruse...

Other books I've bought VERY recently have included the Tilda books by Tone Finnanger.  And all are £5 or £6!!  My arms are several inches longer due to the weight of my bags when I leave the shop!

Right.  Must go and get ready for work.

Next time - once I got the nod that the parcel has arrived - I'll be 'doing a reveal' of my return to blog swaps.  The Nightmare Before Valentine's Day swap organised by Apryl was fab fun.  I'll show you what I made and sent and, when it arrives, show you what I received.  Excited!  :o)

ttfn
xx

The first of many...

...in a long line of projects I've dabbled with since last we spoke.  Apologies for the fact that you need to be lying on your side to look at the photos.  If you've got a laptop on the sofa or in bed then no probs.  If you're like me and have a PC on a desk I'm imaging you now - cheek on the tabletop, nose on the space bar.  :o)

These two babies were made for my neice and nephew as christening gifts.  Well I was going to be God-Mummy and I hadn't got a clue what to get in the gift department.  I wanted to get them something that would last and hopefully they would keep for a long time.  All the china cups and money boxes and stuff are not really 'my thing'. 

Kiddie received several (for which I am very grateful - before anyone gets upset (o:  ) but they do gather dust somewhat and once she was out of the Winnie the Pooh stage they weren't really in keeping with her room.  I didn't want to use said mugs and bowls for fear of breakages, but sadly they will be relegated to boxes in the loft.

Maybe these quilts will.  Who knows...

Anyhoo.

I wanted to do very pretty and girly for my neice but she wasn't an ickle baby so it had to suit 'a big girl'.

A few ditsy prints and some polka dots seemed to fit the bill quite nicely.  I did squeeze some pink in there but also lilac and that scrummy appley, leafy Spring green to stop it from being too babyish.

Apparently on the night of The Big Event a very tired girl would not go to sleep until she had her new blankie to cover her up.  Result!

My baby bruv and SiL wanted to hang the quilts on the kids' bedroom walls to keep them nice. 

NOOOOOO! 

They had strict instructions that they must be loved and snuggled and squished and used.

My nephew was not a baby either.  He was most definitely an active little chap (who really didn't want to hang around while some woman in a long white frock poured water over his head!!).  Pale baby blue would not be right.  This one called for bright colors.

My brother and his wife are as nuts about the South West coast as me.  In fact they are actually young and fit enough to don the neoprene and catch a few waves.  So a seaside/coastal/beach theme seemed quite apt.  They have a camper van and tent which they use quite a bit so I decided to make a quilt to suit.

Sand, dunes, fish and of course BUSES!  Perfect.

So there we have it.  A bit of what I've been up to.  There's much more to share but I won't hit you with it all in one go.  Slowly slowly...

I've practised uploading photos again (and I've changed to the new Blogger posting method).  Just need to remember to rotate the flipping photos before uploading them and I'll be sorted!

ttfn

xx

Here we go again...

err... a very tentative 'hello'.

I'm scared to say it but I think I'm back. Only one year and one month later 'normal' service has hopefully been resumed.

To wrap it all up very quickly - hub was out of work for 11 of the past 18 months but in December he started a new job which (fingers, toes and everything else crossed) is much better and will (hopefully) last. He is much happier there and has settled in really well. Phew!

So the PC is mine again. The house is mine again (on the days I'm not at work). And inbetween housework I can squeeze some crafting and blogging. Did I get that the right way around?

I have actually been keeping my hands busy while I've been away. I had to do something to keep me sane. :o) Photos will follow but - as Miranda's mum would say - "Bear with. Bear with".

Apart from hooking and quilting and shimmying and stick-bashing I've created a new blog.
I really must be stupid to go from no bloggin to running two and contributing to a third but - hey ho - I think it's called hitting the ground running.

My new one is about my sponsored weight-loss programme (aarrgghh!! that phrase). I need to lose many pounds so I thought I'd donate some of them to charity. Have a quick lookie over there and all will be revealed.

The blog I contribute to is the blog for the shop where I work - Staffordshire Needlecraft Centre. It's a place to keep our customers up to date with new stock, workshops and so on. We are developing a mail order side to the business so we can send stuff through the post. Patchwork fabric, haberdashery, wool, lace, trims, buttons.... you name it.

Anyway, enough of that.

I'm off to grab some breakfast then it's back to sorting out the chaos that is The Spare Room. HQ is in a bit of a state since I acquired some new drawers for my patchwork stash. I'll take some piccies of that too so I can brush up my rusty blogging skills. How do you upload photos again....?

ttfn

Happy New Year!!!

So as promised... ooh a year ago... here are some photos of what I've been up to during my absence from the Land of Blog.

First off is my attempt at knitting from a pattern. The sleeveless cardi is what I chose for the kiddie. Sirdar class this as an Easy Knit so I thought I'd stand some sort of chance of finishing it.



This is current progress. The back and one side are complete. I'm currently working the last bit of the other side then the fun begins. Sewing up and working the neck- and button bands. Eeek! I've never had to pick up stitches or anything like it before so I think it may be taking a trip to work with me once I'm ready to start. I'm determined to complete it before she's too big for it!!
Unfortunately I've rapidly come to the comclusion that I'm not a knitter. I've made so many mistakes and had to unpick so much. When you're crocheting it's easy to undo and redo and mishaps. Last night I sat down to do a bit on the cardi. I'd worked 3 rows before I realised that I'd messed up my purls and knits and had worked 3 rows back to front. If I slide it off the needles and unravel I don't know which stitches to pick back up and the thought of un-knitting those three rows just does not appeal!!



Crochet is a different story. I am addicted. Totally. While I've been away from my own blog and every one elses there is ONE that I've continued to visit every day - Attic24. I'm also a frequent visitor to Ravelry and Lion Brand for advice and free patterns. What joy.

This next couple of pix combines crochet with mine and the kiddie's other obsession...

It's a WIP amigurumi David Tennant. Oh how we sobbed last night when he finally began to glow... At least kiddie now has a yarn version to cuddle up to.

Other crocheted gems I've found are Granny Stars,

lovely snowflakes - both courtesy of links on Attic 24,

and a pair of "knitted characters" for my nephews - viewers of Harry Hill's TV Burp will know all about these woolly chap. I found the pattern on EssHaych's blog and it's brill (well I managed to complete 2 of them anyway). Sadly I didn't manage to get pics with their faces on so you'll have to Google or use your imagination.

And now I have a new toy to play with. Look what Santa brought for me :O)

An embellisher. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited but have only had the tiniest little play on it so far.

A bit of felt and some wool tops/roving to make a heart,

and a tulip-y kind of flower

and some yarn and tops with organza fabric.

I am now desperate for a book to get me started. I've seen so many amazing pieces of work made using embellishers but I want to give myself a tutorial. So a book with lots of basic techniques would be brill. Off to hit Amazon to see what's out there.

I shan't promise to post again soon as I'm so flippin' erratic with this thing. Hubbie is redundant again so the computer is his domain all day, joining job agencies, tweaking CVs, etc. Fingers crossed for his first interview on 15th January...

ttfn

xx

So...

...it's been a while. How've you been?

Me? Oh I'm fine.

I'm 40 now y'know. I had a little shindig with a "Beautiful Briny" theme. I went as Ursula the Sea Witch from the Little Mermaid and scared my neice so much she wouldn't speak to me for the whole night. Can't understand why myself...



I had loads of lovely prezzies. These were off my sis and her family. Yep. There are 40. Count 'em.

And my lovely mummy bought me this -

No! NOT the small child in the distance. She's mine anyway. And NOT the whole balloon full of people but I did get to ride in it. A-ma-zing!! I want to go again. We flew from the grounds of Shugborough Hall - a stately home not far from Lichfield. The country seat of the Earls of Lichfield. This is where the late, great Patrick Lichfield lived.

My darling OH bought me a fabulous shiny new bike so we all have one now and have no excuse not to go out riding them. I have ridden it... err... once so far. Yes. I'm useless I know. But I really, really will when the Spring comes. Honest!

We did finally manage to get away in the Bongo. Yay! It was brill (if a little chilly). We went to Swanage for the weekend for a dive trip. It was brill to be parked on Swanage Pier making our own bacon butties and cups of tea in the sunshine while everyone else traipsed off to a "greasy spoon". Next season we definitely need an awning to stow all the excess (diving) kit but apart from that it is ace.

I've had a few other social engagements in recent times. Rocky Horror Picture Show - the stage version - came to the Birmingham Hippodrome and 8 of us had a girlie night out. I want to wear that corset every day! It just puts everything in the right place. OK so you can't breathe very easily and sitting down is a bit of a challenge but apart from that...

On 10th November OH and I went to see Muse live at the NIA, Birmingham. Words cannot describe just how fantastic they were. I now seem to lose inordinate amounts of time watching videos of the gig on YouTube. If I'm not doing that then I'm playing Scrabble on Facebook.

But that's not to say that all craft activity has gone out of the window. Fitting it all in around work has been difficult but I do seem to be getting back on track now.

But I'll save that for daylight hours so I can take some photos and let you see my achievements in "Glorious Technicolour".

It's great to be back.

ttfn

xx

Is anybody there?

WARNING!! WARNING!

I will be back soon.

Watch this space ----------------------->