Magazine Winner, and an Amendment...

Thanks for the welcome back and for all the entries for the magazine! 

I popped you all on a list and copped out with the random number generator and the winner is:

Liz ~ Shortbread & Ginger

Congratulations, if you could email me your address (kandipandi{at}tiscali{dot}co{dot}uk) I'll post out this week with a few little bits added in.

I have been spending even more time at the beach this weekend, I'm just scared summer will be gone in a flash and as my youngest boys are now 12 there will not be many more summers that they will want to spend on the beach; we need to make the most of it!

I did manage a bit of crochet on the beach, lots of people come to talk to me when I'm knitting/sewing/making outdoors it's always a good conversation starter.

Been in the kitchen this weekend too making more melts and candles, these are quite popular in my little shop, my home smells of lemon meringue pie and bubblegum, yum!

 

Ooh before I forget, I made a little mistake in my little hexie tutorial and one of the measurements is wrong!  Poor Judith follwing my instructions to the letter got confuddled and thought it was her brain not getting it when infact it was my dodgy measurement. The change is as follows:

Next make a cushion back. You will need;

· Two large rectangles of cotton 18” x 17”

Should read


· Two large rectangles of cotton 9” x 17”

Sincere apologies for any confusion.

Right, must finish up my magic ball swaps, almost there.  I posted my Fabric Swap to Australia today, hope it gets there soon Kerri!

~ ♥ Back Soon ♥ ~ 

Candles, blindness and pimps...

I've been pottering with the wax again this weekend.  I got some new scents to try out so made some candles, melts and tarts with Freesia, Clean Cotton and Carribean Coconut ~ yum!  

I have had a few enquiries about the bubblegum scented stuff, due to the fact that I spilled my precious scent all over the kitchen I will have to invest in some more soon, and will pop some more tea lights and bits in the shop.

I found a lovely wild rose tea set last week and I fell for the sugar bowl.

 

I have made myself a candle with this and it's currently in pride of place on my coffee table ~ carribean coconut mmmmm.

I also had a fight with a roman blind this weekend. I bought the fabric last year, started it over Easter, made an arse of it and fixed it this weekend.

 

Before           and               After 

 

If that wasn't enought stress I had to make another one.  They are not terribly impressive but boy were they a pain to do ~ lots of swearing happened!

Another quick make was this t-shirt mini makeover; I got the idea from Mum of All Trades  last week and shamelessley copied it!

'Mam's pimped her top', Thomas announced :0)

~ ♥ Back Soon ♥ ~

Nothing's quite ready...

I've not got much to show this week.

I am half way through a scarf and 7/8 of the way through a crochet cushion.

I've not had much free time this week with one thing and another but I have managed to make a few more candles

(it's a little distraction from making cushions!).

I have made a couple of little bits but I can't show them yet as they are gifts for Birthday Swaps and I am also preparing for the Easter Swap organised by Hookin' with LaaLaa so I am gathering and making things for that.

I did manage to knock up a little pair of earrings for my Knitting Guru Lynda;

On the subject of Lynda I received more lovely gifts in the post from her this week, just because (arent they the best sort of gifts?) want to see what I got...

A wonderful stash of unusual knitting magazines from the USA with some fab patterns and ideas, I won't show you all the ones I love, so here are just a few of the treasures within the pages,

Eeeeekkk gorgeous cushions!!!

Anyone need a knitted goat?

Isn't this stunning, imagine lounging on this on a warm summers day

Fab or what?

I am now the proud owner of this lovely little cross stitch and felt mirror pouch for my handbag.

It's just cute as butter and far too good to get slung into my bag and lost in the morass so it's now living on my shelf of messy wonderfulness in the lounge.

These little beauties look too good to use, but I have had a stressful week at work and I do love a soothing bath; how beautiful would it be to soak with these...

... I bet I drift off.

Thanks again lovely lady xXx

In other news; I can't quite belive that it is almost one year since I started my blog, so in honour of such an auspicious occasion I have a giveaway planned, I will blog it on Saturday!

~ ♥ TTFN ♥ ~

~ ♥ Mothers Day Makes ♥~

~ ♥ Happy Mothers Day to all you Mothers out there, especially to mine ♥~

As I took the handmade pledge last year I made most of my Mothers Day Gifts.

First up is the RICO loopy scarf I knitted, this was quite fiddly but I like the effect.
Look at the pile once it was finished, it looks like a pile of fishing nets in need of detangling!

Fat Scarf
Skinny Scarf

There was enough wool for one thick scarf (cast on 7 stitches) and one thin scarf (cast on 2 stitches).

I bought the wool at the fair last Friday but it's from www.blacksheepwools.com.

Remember the fugly fabric I made Mum's heat pad cover from; well I quilted it and made her a glasses case from the same stuff, it's an 8 inch nightmare, with freaky buttons, I know she will adore it. I just can't bear to post photos of that fabric again!

I made her a little candle too. I didn't use one of my vintage teacups due to the fact that she changes the colour scheme in her lounge like normal people change their socks, so I opted for the only neutral container I had which was this little crystal pot I got from the charity shop for 50p yesterday. The scent is Clean Linen, which smells divine!


I also bought her some flowers too as she loves them, and she's worth it!

I got breakfast in bed this morning made by my little one (assisted by my husband), bless him.


He also stole a daff from our garden fresh with dew, but I had to forgive him :)


Lunch was made for me today and this afternoon we went to the local bootsale and I hit the vintage teacup motherlode, and got some amazing fabric too, I'll show you in the week when I get them photographed.

Oh I almost forgot; here is my little 'Sleepy Ewe' finally finished from the slipwork workshop I took last Friday. Lots of little black french knots on black felt = sore eyes!
You can't really tell from the photo but he is only about 2" long.

He is sweet though.

~ ♥ TTFN ♥ ~

A new obsession in embryo?

So you know how I am addicted to cushions, well I have had a little break from cushions this week and have finally embarked on making candles.

I've fancied trying this for ages now as I have seen pretty teacup candles for sale and thought, I bet I could make one of those, so I did. I rummaged under my bed for one of many teasets I have stashed away and created my first ever teacup candle. It turned out quite well, it was a little more of a faff than I had anticipated but it's not terribly complicated and the result is quite good (plus you get to pick dripped wax off stuff when you slop it ~ which I enjoy ~ I am a bit warped). This was my first attempt (apologies for the dark pics, I took these at night). Candle making bits and bobs, I used Blackberry scent for this one at the request of my friend

Candle in embryo, you can't fill it up first go, you must let it well then poke it and top it up (I'm sure there is a technical term for it),

And the finished article. I gave this to my friend as my 'guinea pig' and apparently it's lovely, it even looks a bit tea coloured :)

I snaffle pretty tea sets up when I'm in the local charity shops and recently one of the lovely ladies said to me after my third tea set that week; 'are you planning a tea party?' to which I replied that I was planning to try my hand at making teacup candles and she was rather intrigued. She quickly talked me into making one for her, or rather for the shop as a donation. This little one is the one I made for the Marie Curie Charity Shop, it's 'Lemon Meringue Pie' scent and it's beautiful. I had some wax left and make myself a tea light and it smells divine.

They were really pleased to recieve it yesterday and she told the staff it was not for sale, she want's to keep it close as it smells lovely ~ bless.
I might knock a few of these up for Mothers Day which is not too far off now.

So there you have it, perhaps another little obsession in the making? Oh and on the(tenuous)subject of Marie Curie Cancer Care just a quick photo of my daffs on the kitchen table; making me smile at the minute, they just scream Spring with the promise of longer lighter days to come.


I think the miserable weather has got me down,I have been feeling really fed up these past couple of weeks. Last week lovely Lynda sowed the seeds of 'time for a new haircut'; and having a rare day off and a mini mid life crisis I went and had my hair all cut off today, this is the shortest it's been in a long time but it feels kind of liberating and a bit grown up!

(how do you ladies take photos of yourselves it's hard!)


p.s. Just wanted to note that I bought some safety labels for the bottom of the candles just to be sure my backside is covered should someone lose their mind and set fire to something ~ it was not my fault...honest :)

~ ♥ TTFN ♥ ~