Christmas Felt Makes

I have been playing with some of Annie's gorgeous felt this week and made some simple Christmas decorations

 I stuffed them lightly with wadding and a few teaspoons of French lavender and added some of my beloved bakers twine.

I like to make a new decoration for my tree every year.

Are you into the Christmas mood yet, what are you making?

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Little Triumphs

A friend at work has started quilting and came to ask me some advice about sewing as I sew right?

Well I was baffled.

Between us we were confused, pinned it, unpinned it, sewed it, unpicked it and then got mad!

I thought I would look into paper piecing and knew where to start for help, I went to Kerry's blog and followed her advice and tutorial and links and by George I got it!

Finally...

It might not look much to you but it was a mini triumph for me.  I have looked on in awe at the beautiful quilts and paper pieced blocks in blogland and in Pinterest and now it's something I feel is in my grasp.

Thanks Kerry Mmmwwaahhh!

I am partaking in a workshop this weekend to make a start in quilting and I feel like this could be a new little obsession for me.  I'll let you know how I get on...

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I'm still here and still making

Just wanted to drop and in and say hi, I'm still here and still making.

We have just changed internet providers which left us without internet for over two weeks.  My poor kids have been having withdrawal symptoms and I have missed blogging, twitter and pinterest more than I thought I would.

I have been busy thinking advent and christmas decoration swaps and have been beavering away making and gathering but as they are gifts I can't show any of my hard work yet. 

One thing I can show is this frame I made in multicoloured yarn. 

I've made so many of these now that I don't need a pattern, not sure what this will frame but it cheers me up!

Last week I was asked to make 6 hexie kits for a customer for Christmas Pressies for her girlfriends, 

I got a little carried away and made 8 so I have popped the other two in my almost defunct Folksy shop if anyone is interested.


In other news I'm dipping my toes in quilting next weekend with a full day quilting workshop at Just Quilting I'm really looking forward to that, I'll let you know how it goes, I sense a new obsession coming on...

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Autumn Swap Goodies

A while back I signed up to the Autum Harvest and Happy Halloween Swap hosted by Blueberry Heart. 

I was paired with the lovely Tracy of Mad About Bags fame, and we got in touch and we both prefered the Autumn theme so we got making and gathering and this is the result. 

This is what I received:

lots of Autumnal goodness

 A gorgeous Autumn Wreath

 The prettiest ceramic and felt brooch on a pile of autumnal coloured fabric squares.

A little altered box full of leaf charms and beads

A pack of autumn themed notelets

Two autumnal cross stitch patterns (my current obsession).

In that top picture was a tin of very chocolatey cookies, they are now history ;0)

It is wrong to have a favourite but I really love the brooch lots.

Thanks again Tracy!

This is what I sent, it's nice to be able to show these as i can't show them at the time of making them:

 Well I had to send a bag to Mad about Bags

Thanks Tracy for your wonderful gifts, all very well received and many thanks to Blueberry Heart too for organising this swap.

Now I must crack on with the Christmas Decorations and the Advent Swap makes.

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West Coast Shells - Wicker Man Country

Over the summer I have been collecting small white shells from my local beach as and when I found them. 

 I saw a lovely make on Blueberry Heart's Blog and I fell in love with it and asked if it was ok if I made myself a version of this...

Shell and Pearl Heart by Blueberry Heart.

I have just returned from a few days away on the west coast of Scotland.  We were overlooking the beach and it was just so relaxing.  We did choose to go the week where the tail end of a hurricane was passing though...

...but imagine my delight when I spotted this cove with a full beach of small white shells just feet from our place.  Yay!  I hit the motherlode.

Bag full!  Can't wait to get cracking with this little make and it will be a nice memento of our break.

I did manage to make a few bits when I was away, I have been making for swaps mainly so I can't show those but I can show these...

A couple of knitted purses for Annie's Christmas Shoe Box Appeal ~ I'll pop these in the post this week chick.  This is a really simple pattern, if anyone want's a copy give me a shout and I'll pass it on.

I won't bore you silly with holiday photos, but I will share these two.  My hubbie and I are ardent film fans and whilst staying in the Dumfries and Galloway area we decided to follow the Wicker Man trail.  

It's a film we both love, a cult classic from 1973 (the year I was born).  The story is set on the fictional Scottish Island of Summerisle but was infact filmed in various locations in and around the Dumfries and Galloway area.

In true tourist style we ponced around the villages with maps and leaflets and snapped a few pics in prominent places from the film:

forgive the gimpy poses

Right I'm off for a catch up on all your blogs and hopefully I will be able to comment, it seems blogger is playing funny beggars again!

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Golden Hands

I was delighted when I came across these magazines in my local charity shop recently.

I found three of them at first and on further digging found all 75 issues. 



Mrs Rowley, whose name is delicately scrawled in pencil on the back of each one, must have taken very good care of these.


look at the face on her!

Golden Hands was published by Marshall Cavendish in the 1970's (75 parts) and ran for about 2 years with many part and re issues.

knitted wedding coat anyone?

The magazine featured a wide range of handicrafts including knitting, sewing, embroidery, crochet, macrame, tatting, beading, patchwork, fashion and home crafts.  Each edition contained a series of patterns for clothes, soft furnishings and novelty items.

I just love these!  I spent hours pouring through these I have flagged up lots of things I want to make, it's odd that even though this magazine is as old as me (37 years old) there are lots of makes and items that are just as relevant today.


I want to make all of these!




Yay hexies!

Mrs Rowley must have made someone this little spooky towelling rabbit as she left her pattern in here.

 

Many of the items are VERY 70's and I love them loads, check these out:

quilt your sexy man a waistcoat?


holy cow!

Right, I'm off to knit myself a 1970's purple pantygirdle!

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An apology, a whinge and some little makes...

Can I apologise for been a bag blogger.  Real life has just been insane busy, mainly work and I've been coming home from work and literally falling into bed exhaused!

Things are changing though, first up I've booked a week off work and intend to relaaaaaxxxxxx.  
Following my little break I'm planning to reign things in a bit at work and have more time for me and my family!

I have also decided to wrap up my selling for now.  Maybe I will sell again in another guise, but at the moment I don't want the pressure of making stuff to sell.  The idea behind my Folksy shop was to sell stuff I had already made and hadn't found a home for but I was beginning to find it stressful and it's supposed to be fun, I was never in it for the money.

So there you have it my moan is now over, onto my makes...

I made a few bits this week for gifts, including these keyrings and a bookmark for a ladybird lover.

There have been a couple of appeals that I couldn't turn down recently.

Jodi asked if anyone could help knit some little hats for charity,  Jodi is collecting knitted hats for the Special Care Baby Unit at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

I got the crochet hook out and made these two little hats, they are so small.

If you are able to help pop over and have a look at Jodi's appeal here.

Our Annie the Felt Fairy is also on the lookout for knitters, for her operation Christmas Child Appeal.

I'm planning to knock some bits up to send to needy kids, if you can help, you can find more details here.

Right, back to the Christmas makes and some relaxation!

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