Celebrate!

We have been busy celebrating here recently, firstly a birthday...

Then the birthday boy got an extra special gift ....a new cousin (I've already had my new Aunty cuddles, she is such a sweet baby). As luck would have it I had ordered a new chart to make a birth sampler and it arrived the same week as my niece did.

Oooh look at that gorgeous packaging I almost didn't want to unwrap it. I love receiving charts from Maja from The Snowflower Diaries it's like unwrapping a special gift.

I am a sucker for the little details such as this cute little sticker to keep the plastic sealed.

This is the pattern I chose, I knew my sister was expecting a girl and wanted a small chart that I could personalise. I am fully aware of my flaws one of which is my short attention span which is why I chose a small chart as there is more chance of my niece seeing it finished before she leaves home!

I have made a little progress on my sons cushion but it is slow going and to be honest tedious. I really don't like stitching on canvas but I like the finished look.

Ignore the fact that the stitching isn't following the printed pattern....it's another of my flaws. I become obsessed and frustrated trying to work out where the stitches should go. Fortunately for me the Historical Sampler Company included a printed chart. Woop woop! So I am following the chart instead so much easier and no procrastinating required whew!

To break up the tedium of the canvas work I made this kit up.

The kids gave me the Cath Kidston book set several years ago which included a kit to make this sweet little bag. It's my first bag and I am really chuffed especially as I managed to line it too! 

The kit did not include lining or instructions to line the bag. The lining is a pink cotton by P & B Studio but the outer material is cotton duck and was a pain to sew! The bag holds a couple of balls of yarn just nicely. 

These three books are full of inspiring ideas but I must not be distracted so for the moment they have been put back in the cupboard. Thanks for stopping by x.  

Summer???

Well in true school holiday fashion the weather here has been pretty abysmal. We have had the odd day of sunshine and my kids have made the most of those days. Twin1 and twin 2 were trying to make the worlds longest daisy chain while their brother raced friends up and down the street on his scooter.

Otherwise the kids and I have just been pootling round the house with the odd trip out for routine appointments and shopping. Not much fun but we're making the best of it. The girls are working on entries for our local flower show which is next month and I have been having a sort out of craft stash. Oh boy. I had no idea at just how many kits, WIP pieces and patterns I had! My son was watching me sort through them all when he spied a certain kit that I bought years ago to make for him and asked me to make it now.

It's a canvas kit for a personalised cushion. I made the girls one each when they were little and my son has always complained he didn't have his own one. This should have been made up years ago...my bad! 

There was just a teeny weeny problem though...

In order to start the cushion kit I needed to get this off the scroll frame which meant I needed to finish it. This has been on this frame for more years than I can remember ....for the shame! This was a kit that I really struggled with as I really don't like stitching on canvas and I had got stuck with just the last 10 rows of border to do. However thanks to the awful dull, wet and windy summer we are having so far I have been able to spend a couple of days finishing off that border. Will need to do a little bit of shopping so that I can turn it into a cushion but the stitching is done thank goodness! I think this was a kit by Beth Russell - William Morris Sampler. Right it's looking like another wet, windy and dull day here so no excuses ... I am off to get the cushion kit on the scroll frame. Oh and if anyone has a little sunshine going spare please feel free to send it over this way the kids and I would much appreciate it :0) x

Chick, chick, chick, chick, chicken!

lay a little egg for me...

Well if these little guys could lay eggs they would be lavender scented ones as they are actually little lavender bags. Have noticed round here lately with the warmer evenings that we are starting to get a lot of moths coming in, not the big ones but the horrible little ones that like to find nice clothing for their young to munch through..yuk! Hate the horrible little things anyhoo decided it was time to make some little lavender bags to dot round the wardrobes. As I have the knitting and crochet bits and bobs out and I am trying to de-stash some cotton yarn I chose to make these little bags from this book. They are knitted but look a bit like crochet to me they have a nice dense texture which helps to keep the lavender in.

They kind of remind me of the old fashioned bean bags we used in gym when I was at school and the kids and I can't stop throwing them around they are very tactile.
The idea morphed into these little guys after an afternoon of catching up on my magazine reading when I spied this...

Cool huh? I thought the shape kind of reminded me of my bean bag lavender bags and my little brain tried to work out if I could make little lavender bag birdies....ooh fun! Off I went rummaging in my stash but alas all the colours I needed were not there. I wanted to make these birdies so badly that I was almost breaking out in a sweat and trying to persuade hubby that a trip to the wool shop was called for. Thankfully my little brain stepped in at the last moment and a wee brainwave took over.... I had lots and I mean lots of white cotton yarn and some but not a lot of mustard yellow and rust orange......chickens! Of course sooo obvious and surely a lot more simple to make. Phew stash collecting averted. I would love to say that these guys were made in a flash but I would be telling tales cos they were not. I followed the instructions for the body and the legs from the birdie instructions however the combs had me stumped, briefly, then I just winged it (sorry no pun intended) and I think it worked out ok.

Theses little guys haven't made it into any wardrobes yet as they are having so much fun popping up all over the house. Going to have to round them up and give them a serious talking to ...they have an important job to do!
Thanks for popping by and hope you've all had just as much fun as I have this weekend x

Finds and thinking

We had to make an impromptu trip out this morning to buy gifts, cards and paper for a couple of birthdays, one of which is today eeek ...yep I like living on the edge! As the birthdays are kids ones I resent paying out several pounds for cards that will be tossed out in a few days time so made a trip to a local charity shop which sell some lovely cards at 'normal' prices. Got the cards but as you do we had a little wander round and I managed to pick up some books to read and then I found this...

I bought it for the frame as it is lovely and in really good nick and I plan to put my own needlework in it at some point down the line. Couldn't pass it up really for all it cost. It's been professionally framed as the framers details are still on the back. There were several others pieces of framed cross stich for sale which I didn't manage to get a good look at as I had a stroppy 8 year old boy with me who doesn't do 'shopping' and his patience had worn out by this point. I got the impression the stitched pieces had all come from the same home as they were similarly framed and it made me feel a little sad to think that this person has maybe died and the family didn't want them. Got me to thinking about my own needlework pieces and what will happen to them when I am gone. I realise that they will not be to everyone's taste and can only hope my own children will want them or they may pick out a few favourites to keep ....but what about the rest? I've never really given this any thought till now what do the rest of you plan to do with your needlework? Hmmmm food for thought. Anyway I've got a hyper 8 year old to get organised for a birthday party this afternoon wish me luck....

Finished!

.....yep I am officially finished college now whoop whoop! I am no longer a student but a qualified Early Years Officer who is now on the job hunting treadmill. It's been two long years but woohoo I am done. I am sorry I have been absent from my blog for so long but I needed to get my head down and do some serious studying which paid off as I got a grade A. Ok enough of that before I bore you all to tears 'grin'.

I haven't really had much time to be creative nor have I had time to read for pleasure and I have this pile of books that have built up just waiting to be read..... Oh can't wait for warm sunny days to sit out and read these.

We will be welcoming two new members to the clan this year; my niece is due in the next couple of weeks and another niece or nephew will be arriving just before Xmas! Exciting so I have been busy crocheting.

A stripey baby blanket in neutral coloured cottons just because I wanted to use up what was in my stash so not very girly colours but pretty all the same.

using up stash 

This is made from a lovely soft cotton; Sirdar Simply Recycled Cotton and is very light weight which is fine for a summer baby.

I also had two little newborn hats all knitted up but didn't get a chance to photograph them before my little niece spied them on a visit and thought they were for her own baby Spider (Spider is the name of her baby doll and not an actual spider 'smile')and not for her soon to be little sister! Well I couldn't say no could I? I got a phone call from her mum later that day to say little niece wanted a hat to wear too so could I oblige? As it is summer time here in the UK I chose to crochet a hat using cotton from my stash. The first hat was meant for a toddler size (my niece is on the small side) but it was too small so I crocheted another in a child size phew this one fits! The other hat can go to Spider!

Thanks for stopping by x