Baby Makes

My lovely friend brought a beautiful baby girl into the world last Friday.  Beautiful baby Sophie was so eagerly awaited and is such a blessing.

This little treasure gave me the opportunity to make a few little handmade items, no better excuse to make is there?  Sophie's nursery has a jungle theme so I made this little patchwork blanket for her to squiggle about on.

It is backed with the softest minky fleece and labelled with a dresden plate tag.

The minky was great for another baby project, this little minky rabbit made using a great little pattern from Mandy Shaw.

There were also knitting and crochet makes and a larger longer sewn project which is awaiting finishing touches, but what a pleasure it is to make for such a treasure.

I will add these into my monthly makes for September.  

The Flickr group is filling up nicely and our lovely host is doing a great job so far.

Right back to the decorating *sigh*...

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A Busy Time Ahead ...

Well, almost a year ago now I decided that I need to put down the crochet hook / step away from the sewing machine and spend some time getting my house in order.

My home is in desperate need of decoration in many of the rooms, husband disagrees of course, but that's because he is a man and is not capable of seeing muck!

I have been making for gifts for friends and for my friend's baby who was born earlier this week *squeeee*, but now I am at the stage where I can concentrate on the house.

I am still planning to make a pretty crafty home this year (and probably every year), so there may be a little radio silence this end whilst I get up to my elbows in tile grout and paint!  If and when I have anything to show I will be sure to share it here.

My first priority is a new bathroom, our old bathroom is just about finished with so many bits that are not working, leaking or banging that for sanity's sake it needs a re-do!  I have a wonderful hubby who gives me free reign on all things decoration and house style, he totally does not get my style at all and thinks I am stuck in a timewarp, but at least I get my way.

I did show him the style of tiles and shower I fancy for the new bathroom, here they are:

he said, "Oh terrific, I see you are going for the Lunatic Asylum look!".

Yes, yes I am ...

Back Soon.

p.s. I was featured on cut out and keep a few days ago with my little hexie cushion tutorial.

There are ooodles of great tutorials on there if you are in need of inspiration, pop over and have a little look.

Before I Peg It...

I had a little rotting peg bag incident a few weeks ago.  My beloved left my handmade peg bag out in the rain over a weekend and by Monday my wooden dolly pegs had rotted and my poor bag was all mouldy.

I grabbed a couple of meters of this beautiful fabric at Festival of Quilts and set to and made myself a brand new peg bag.

The pattern was from this lovely book by Dandelion Designs Mandy Shaw.  

Although my old peg bag was beyond help I did manage to salvage the little wooden coat hanger from the last peg bag it scrubbed up quite well.

The intention was to use a green spotty contrasting fabric for the inside but in my haste to put it all together I cocked it up!  I didn't have the energy or the inclination to unpick it all so I left it as it was, I do still love it, and not a raw seam in sight.

I think I will get in early and enter this as my September monthly make

 if you are playing too pop over to the group and join in HERE.

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Like I don't have enough to do...

... I've gone and started a new project!

I saw this pattern in a magazine that I was flicking through at the local supermarket, it's called Daisy Chain (I did think of you Laura) and it was featured in the Woman's Weekly Knitting and Crochet Special (Yeah, I'm old before my time).

On holiday earlier this month I managed to snaffle up some cheap yarn at the market in Bridlington, this Wendy Sorrento, is so very soft and it was £1.90 a ball.  I have since had to add to my stash as I was shocked at how easily these hexies ate up that white yarn.

Being a sucker for anything hexie and loving soft yarn I just needed to make this.
Somewhere along the way I lost concentration as when I was making my happy little piles I noticed one hexie was not quite right and I had in fact made a pentagon by mistake, can you spot it? 

I was a reluctant to chuck it to one side so I made another pentagon and made a little lavender filled minky pentagon pouch for it and fixed it all together to create a new pin cushion.

Quite pleased I was able to salvage it, it's officially the softest pin cushion I own.

The card in the basket is the pattern written out so I don't have to keep grappling with the magazine, I also keep a note of what yarn I use and how much and hopefully when I have a finished article I will add a photo of what I made to the back for future reference.

I am plodding on with this and hope to have a blanket to call my own soon, I have set myself a deadline of 'by the end of the year' but who knows, you can be sure that if I actually finish anything I will be shouting it from the rooftops!

Please tell me I'm not the only one who starts new projects with dozens of others still on the go?

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Monthly Makes August

Hi guys, just a quick post to let you know I have published a Monthly Makes guest post over at Hookin' with LaaLaa.

There is still time to pop your make into the Flickr group for this month.

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My little holiday

Earlier this month I had a week of rest and relaxation with my lovely family in sunny Scarborough. The boys chose the destination this year Scarborough is a bit of a family favourite of ours.

This beautiful seaside town if full of stunning buildings and we were so lucky with the weather. I won't inundate you all with family photos but I wanted to share these, this is part of what my holiday consisted of

  

 Don't worry, check below, seaside calories don't count...

Happy days...

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Makes Given and Received

Lovely Lynda knowing my love for dresden plates made this terrific sewing project pouch, it's her very own design and it such a great item.  This was a gift made especially for me, isn't it just amazing having crafty likeminded friends?

 this is a little over A5 sized, with some CK, some Tilda and little nautical themes in the plate.

lots of felty pages for pins and needles

a huge pouch in the back for my bits and bobs

and a hand quilted back

Just beautiful, I will treasure it!  Thanks again x

As I knew we were meeting up I wanted to make Lynda a little gift to take with me.  This was a great holiday project as it was mostly hand sewn using tiny little half inch hexies.

I made myself some envelopes to hold the tiny little papers by cutting up my latest Cath Kidston magazine, there were lots of CK print pages in there just screaming to be used.  

teeny tiny...

This little project was great fun to make and the purse pattern is the fortune cookie clutch purse from U Handbag.  

I do love the shape and would like to make one for myself, I have added it to the bottom of my ever growing list of things to make!

I would like to add this as my August Monthly Make. 

Don't forget there is still time to join in the fun you can post your makes HERE in the August group.