A little crochet

 

Good morning.  I realised recently that my blog has become somewhere to show my Stampin' Up creations and nothing else.  That wasn't the reason that I started blogging in the first place.  As I'm not using it as a shop window for SU products, I've decided to go back to the original idea.  At the moment, I primarily use SU products, but as I am in the midst of a massive crafting tidy up, there is no knowing what I many unearth and be inspired by!

 

Having a crafting clear out is very daunting, particularly as I'm such a hoarder.  But quite honestly, I've got stuff stashed in nearly every room in my house and I've forgotten about half of what I have accumulated over nearly 20 years of card making (not to mention scrap booking!).

 

Or crochet!  There seems to be a fair amount of wool in my house too!  I've always got a crochet project on the go.  At the moment, it's a rainbow ripple blanket, but more of that another time.  Today I'm showing you a blanket that I finished at Christmas for Emily.  This is the second blanket that I have made in this style - the first one can be found here . Initially I was reluctant, because the blanket is made up of hundreds of hexagons that all need individually blocking out to get a crisp shape, as well as a lot of sewing.  However, Emily is very persuasive!  Also when I agreed to it, she had a single bed - which she doesn't now!

 

The blanket took me about a year and a half to complete, and quite frankly it was very boring to make - more of a chore than a pleasure.  I think it's because there are only three colours.  Emily's vision was a field of daisies - hence the colour scheme.  Anyway, because I was fed up with making it, I decided to make a conscious effort over the Christmas holidays to get it finished, and I did.  Not without some help though.  My lovely mum sewed in all the ends of the countless hexagons, a nasty job.  So here it is.  And someone else made herself very comfortable on it too!

 

Thanks for dropping by.  Have a good day.

Take care

Michelle x

New WIP - it's Rippletastic!

Hello my lovely readers.  Time to share my new WIP with you.  It's a ripple blanket for Edward, the colours are completely of his choosing, although Emily helped decide the order.  I have never attempted a ripple before but it is SO easy.  I can't actually believe how simple it is.  I have used Lucy's brilliant pattern (here ) and also took inspiration from here and

here .

The photos aren't the best quality, isn't the light appalling at this time of year?  But I think they will do.

The colours, in order of crocheting, are : meadow, teal, spring green, aster, royal, turquoise, denim, bright green, green, aspen and bottle.  Almost forgot to say that it is the usual Stylecraft Special Doubleknit.

Well, I have almost finished at work - one more day to go.  The pressure is off as all our obligations have been carried out.  Tomorrow will consist of a fun morning and a final assembly.  I have to go to Edward's school during the morning for a presentation - he is being given an award for academic achievement.  I am so proud and I may even cry!

We have managed to avoid the snow so far although we have been forecast some for tomorrow - hope it's not too bad.  I know further north it has been heavier.

Keep safe and well.

M x

Christmas Money Wallets

Well, it's been a while.  Things have been rather hectic to say the least, but I bet everyone else is in the same position.  I am pleased to say that I have pretty much finished my Christmas shopping and most things have been wrapped too.  Today I have been writing Christmas cards, as well as making a couple more.  I have a couple of parcels to post and that is pretty much that.  The next job is to plan the food - haven't really given it much thought yet, except that I have made a Christmas cake.  I used the Waitrose Delia Smith cake in a box and am really pleased with how it has turned out.  Much less hassle than buying all the dried fruit that will sit in the cupboard for ever more.

I am giving my nephew and niece money for Christmas and I wanted to make them something nice to put the money in, hence the money wallets below.  I used a landscape folded card and decorated the front with papers that were free gifts, used matching embellishments for the envelopes.  Then I cut a semi-circle freehand inside to hold the money.  (Just got to find the cash now!!).

I have started a new crochet blanket for Edward - colours chosen by him - which I hope to share with you this week if I have time.  We are now in the final push at work - just got to get through Christmas parties tomorrow, panto at Stevenage on Tuesday, Christmas lunch and staff panto on Wednesday, Christingle on Thursday and then we break up on Friday - if I last that long!!

Ta ta and have a good week.  Thanks for dropping by.

M x

Craft Fair

Today was the culmination of all my weeks of hard work.  I had plenty of stock ready, flower brooches, hair clips, note cards, post-it-note holders, note pads, Christmas tree decorations etc.  Yesterday I decided to get a box of cards ready to sell as well (you never know), so I spent a couple of hours printing and cutting inserts as well as cutting hand made labels, and bagging the cards and envelopes in cellophane bags.

I was quite pleased with how my stall looked although I could have done with a bit more space.  Mark suggested I take my laptop and have a slide show running with all my special commissions, but unfortunately the table wasn't big enough.

Such a shame that I barely sold anything!  I am really disappointed as I have worked so hard.  I don't think it was just my stall though, because the whole hall was really quiet - there was a slow trickle of people for a couple of hours and then nothing.  I think the problem was that it wasn't advertised properly.

So now I have a lot of stock and no where to sell to sell it.  I am thinking of opening an Ebay or Etsy shop in the New Year.  Heigh ho, never mind.

It's been quite a tough week with one thing and another - Edward has been sick, Emily hasn't had a good week, work's been a pain.  The best thing that has happened was on Friday when I had a Christmas Shopping day and Mark and I went to Watford.  I did get most of my shopping done, as well as treating myself to a new pair of shoes, oh and a couple of tops too!

I hope you have all had a better week.

M x

Busy busy

I've been so busy crafting over the last week or so, but sorry, I have no photos to share with you at the moment.  I started to make some gifts to sell at the Christmas Fair at the school where I work, and I have made sets of note cards, and little note books.  I've also been crocheting some flowers for hair clips and bigger flowers for corsages.  Going great guns I have to say!  So I was a tad disappointed yesterday to be told I couldn't have a stall because of new legislation from the local authority!!!  Apparently the school have to apply and pay for a license for private sellers because they are a charity, and it's not financially viable for them.  I can see all that, and am not cross with the Parents Association, but honestly bureaucracy gone mad!!

Anyway I have found another location to have a stall, just had it confirmed tonight, so I am back on my mission to craft!  So over the weekend I will photograph the things I have made so far and share them with you.

I am obviously back at work now half term is over.  We are now in the mad half term leading up to Christmas, where the only talk is Christmas performances, Christmas panto, Christmas blah blah blah!  One high point is the Year 5 trip to the BBC next Thursday.  Last time we went we met Chris Hollins and Carol Kirkwood - exciting stuff!

Oh I forgot to tell you, that I crochet myself a hat for the winter.  If I can pluck up the courage I will get Mark to take a photo of me wearing it - we'll see.

Take care

M x

It's finished!!!!

The Flower Garden blanket is finally finished.  Yep, as of this morning.  I am SO thrilled to have it finished and that it looks so beautiful. Wow! 713 hexagons, can you imagine!  I can't give you amounts of wool or measurements (you can see how it looks on a standard double bed) but  I have used 10 different colours for the flowers, with the middles making up the 11th colour.  There are 50 flowers altogether (350 hexagons) with the remaining 363 hexagons being crocheted in white.  I have just edged it with a row of single crochets.  The worst part of the blanket was the blocking out and leaving them to dry over night, but it was worth the effort and made the sewing together much easier.

For my next project I have promised to make Edward a striped blanket, and I have suggested a ripple (my cunning plan because I have never made a ripple before).  Emily is trying to persuade me to make her another blanket and she wants it to be like my Flower Garden.  Not sure I can cope with more hexagons at the moment.  Her colour scheme is to have all the flowers white with yellow middles like daisies and joined together with green hexagons like grass!  We shall see :)

M x

Flower Power

Had a little card making session over the weekend, getting back to my roots - stamping and colouring.  I've made no secret of my love of Marion Emberson's stamps, and I finally got the time to have a little play.  I must say I really enjoyed the simplicity of stamping and colouring and adding a little embellishment with ribbon and sparkle, and my appetite has been whetted for more cards of this type.

For today's card, I coloured it in with my Promarkers, using my favourite colours.  Obviously there are plenty of options available.  I stamped the image three times, more or less in a straight line and just used two colours so it wasn't overly busy.  I made the little bow on the ribbon and stuck it down with Pinflair glue (in a syringe) -  I am quite impressed with the glue, I've never used it before.  I added a little bit of Glamour Dust in the centre of the flowers because I do like a little bit of sparkle!

Ingredients

Stamps : Flowers - Thanks a Bunch and Happy Birthday sentiment - Sunshine and Flowers

both by Marion Emberson

Promarkers : Orchid and Mulberry

Grosgrain ribbon and jewel from stash

Glitter in centre of flowers : Glamour Dust

Hope you like the card.  I feel very pleased with how it turned out.

I hope to share with you my Flower Garden blanket soon, I just have to finish the edging.  I am so pleased that it is almost finished - over 700 hexagons completed - wow!

I am really looking forward to half term (a week and a half to go), as work is getting me down a bit, but I feel in a way that other things have turned a corner.  That small glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel is definitely burning brighter.  I might even start to feel that life is getting better (although now I am scared I have tempted fate!).  Maybe soon I will feel like sharing.  All I will say at this point is that it has been a very long, hard year.

Hope you are all having a good week,  Take care.

M x

What a week!

Boy, am I glad this week is over!  It's been such a long, busy week and I feel absolutely wrecked.  Mark has been on a four day jolly - oops!  I mean business trip - to Spain and only got back last night.  He did bring me some chocolate, a bottle of gin and a bottle of perfume, so he is forgiven, but I am so tired with being virtually a single parent.  It was a big help that my lovely mum came to stay for four days (thank you Mum!) and she took care of Emily during the day, as well as Chloe, and kept my house clean and tidy - she's a star!  I haven't even had the energy to pick up my crochet in the evenings, not that there has been that much time, what with dog walking, school meetings and dog training.  Anyway, it's the weekend now, time to recharge the batteries.

So now I have the time, I'd like to share a couple more cards with you.  These were a bit experimental but I am so happy with how they turned out.  I bought a bag of mixed flowers in the sale from Craftwork Cards and these matched up with some blank cards that I already had in my stock.  I teamed them with a bit of ribbon and a sentiment, and added Candi to the centres - couldn't be simpler.  Hope you like them.

Have a great weekend.  I plan to make a few more cards, do a bit to my blanket and generally chill out a bit.  I'm off to have a rather large G&T.  Cheers!

M x

That's all for now . . . .

Christmas cards that is!  I've made 63 and I'm bored with doing them now.  I am really pleased with how they turned out - I absolutely love contemporary designs and colours - no red and gold, robins, snowmen etc for me.

Can you believe it's September already?  At least it has been a lovely day today, although have you noticed the drop in temperature in the evenings?  Time to get the snugly crocheted blankets out.  As the nights are starting to draw in, we're having to take Chloe out earlier and earlier so that she can still have a good run.  She's 6 months old now and is such a joy (even when she is being naughty).  Did I mention last week that she chewed a 12" x 12" DCWV scrapbook pad - I was not amused!

Tuesday is looming and that means back to work and school.  Emily will hopefully be starting 6th Form.  We have to take her shopping tomorrow to kit her out - uniform is so much easier!  She is supposed to wear business dress but would not be comfortable in a formal suit.  So we are going for smart separates.  But as you know, I can't stand shopping, so tomorrow is going to be torture!

Wish me luck!

M x

Summer Holiday Tasks - Update

Well, the summer holidays are at the halfway point and I thought it was about time to take stock and see how I am doing with the goals I set myself.

1. Complete my Me in my MoleskinE journal.

I've pretty much finished the actual book (more photos to come soon) and only have the tags to do that go in each page pocket. I'm really happy with how it turned out and can't wait to share the rest with you.

2. Make a start on my Christmas cards.

Well, up until this morning I hadn't made any, but this afternoon I have made 8 cards so far, and now feel on a roll to make some more. Edward thinks I am completely nuts to make them in August, but I know there is a method in my madness! Will share them with you over the next few days.

3. Tidy my craft area/make it work for me.

No, not happened yet!

4. Finish my new Flower Garden blanket.

In hindsight I think this was a tall order. However, it is progressing nicely. I made a plan of how it is going to look (it took me an hour and a half to do it!), using my Promarkers. Counting up all the hexagons was scary - I have to make 713 in total!! I have already made about 300, so still plenty more to do.


The thing that is slowing me down, is blocking out all the hexagons. I can only do about 13 at a time and have to leave them overnight to dry. It's definitely worth it as they sit better, flatter.

This is how far I have got in joining them up. It hasn't taken too long but I am glad I made the plan as I have to refer to it constantly.

5. Make more cards/be adventurous.

I haven't really done this yet either, but there is still plenty of time. It's typical though don't you think, that when you have lots of time to be creative, the ideas seem to dry up.

6. To enter a card on a challenge blog.

This has also not happened but I have been looking at the Less is More challenge blog and may give it a go soon. This week's challenge is a One Layer card using ink - sounds interesting, so I may give it a go.

So, I suppose I am quite pleased with how things are going. What I didn't want is too feel under pressure with the tasks I have set myself. If I don't achieve everything it doesn't really matter as long as I feel like I have done some of the things I wanted to do.

Hope you are all having a great weekend.

M x

Good morning!

Well, I hope the sun is shining for you wherever you are today. It's a bit overcast here today, but will probably brighten up.

Edward is playing cricket every day this week at a cricket summer school. He was so excited today he could barely eat his breakfast!

I have been concentrating on my crochet - the flower garden blanket, and my moleskin journal (which I will show you soon), but I did have to make a quick card yesterday. It's for Mark's best friends who are celebrating their silver wedding anniversary tomorrow.

I used DCWV Luxury and Metallic stacks and kept it simple. Just added a bit of pale grey grosgrain ribbon and that was it.

I'm hoping inspiration is going to strike soon as I have another couple of cards to make (they're both for my mother-in-law - never the easiest person to make for) - no ideas springing to mind at the moment. I think it's because she likes traditional cards and I am much more contemporary. Ah well I'm sure it'll be OK.

Have a good day everyone.

M x

Sneaky Peak

So I've started another blanket. I know I wasn't supposed to, I was supposed to be finishing off my other hexagon blanket. But my mum gave me an old crochet book and I was very taken with these pretty little hexagons. They are so quick to make, just two rounds and they are done. The wool is the usual Stylecraft Special and I am using what I had left over from Emily's striped blanket. There's going to be quite a lot of white hexagons too, to join them together, but I don't have the wool for that yet.

I started joining them yesterday - thought I ought to do it as I go otherwise it's too mammoth a task. I had a false start with the first one, had to unpick it and start again, but now I am happy with the results.

All the flowers are going to have the bright yellow/orange centre.

I'm really pleased with how it's coming along. Realistically I don't think I am going to get it completely finished during the summer holidays but I think it will grow quickly.

This week has been quite a good first week. I have made good progress with my ME in my MoleskinE journal, but I'm not rushing it. I've been able to relax and rest and recharge. I don't know if I told you that I hurt my leg during a rounders match at the Year 6 leaver's party. I felt something pop as I ran to first base, and like a fool I carried on running! The next day I could barely walk on it. Then the pain started to recede, but on Sunday I realised I had a whacking great bruise on the back of my calf, and that it was still very sore. I already had a physio appointment booked on Tuesday for something else, so while I was there she had a look and said I had torn the muscle belly of my calf - recommended rest, ice and no running for at least 6 weeks! So there we are, just as well I'm on holiday otherwise it would be a bit tricky!

Isn't it great that the weather has improved (hope I haven't temped fate now!), it makes me feel so much better. Hope you are having a good week.

M x

Yippee!

The summer holidays are here!!

Well, it's been a roller coaster of a year but it finally came to an emotional end yesterday. I've had a brilliant two years with this group of children and it was hard saying goodbye and sending them on their way to secondary school. There were tears and hugs, presents and cards and lots of photos. The children and parents gave us some lovely gifts - lots of chocolates, flowers and some very generous Cath Kidston vouchers. I feel very lucky indeed.

And now the pressure is off and the holidays are here, and I've been thinking about setting myself some goals for the six weeks, and a few spring to mind.

1. To make my ME in my MoleskinE Journal from this clever lady here .



2. To enter into a challenge blog as suggested by the lovely Autumn Mist (check out her blog here .



3. To complete my current crochet WIP (more of that later).



4. Making a start on some Christmas cards.



5. Spending more time in general on my card making, trying out all my new products and being a bit more adventurous.



6. Tidying up my craft area and making it work more for me.

That's turned into quite a list - I didn't expect that. And the other thing is to find more time to share things with you.

Hope you all have a great weekend.

M x

And another finished blanket :)

So pleased that I finished Emily's blanket yesterday. This one didn't take very long at all, I started it in February and have done it in small bursts of energy.

Emily's room looking unusually tidy (I think all the rubbish and dirty clothes are out of shot!!).

The blanket consists of 10 colours and bands of 10 rows of each. I think I started off with a chain 180 stitches long, but to be honest, I can't actually remember! Each colour is repeated twice. After my epic Granny Stripe, this one was so quick to make, and a lot less ends to sew in! The wool is the usual Stylecraft's Special DK from here

Someone else has taken a shine to it too! Chloe always curled up on it when I was working on it, so it didn't come as a surprise that she was the first one to try it out when it was on the bed.

Chloe's such a cutie. We've had her for 12 weeks now and it feels like we have always had her. She's a good girl (most of the time), and has taken to her training very well. She's also my early morning wake-up call - when Mark goes down to her around 6.30am, she comes bounding up the stairs and onto the bed to say good morning, usually landing on my head!

Hope your Monday was trouble free. I've had quite a good day, nothing out of the ordinary, but no stress. I am busy making props for our Year 6 production of The Wizard of Oz - it's amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it!

M x

Busy Week

Well, I hope you are all coping with the heat. It's a bit of a shocker after all the rain this week, but it's so lovely to finally have a bit of summer.

It's been quite a busy week and I haven't achieved much in the card making department. The only cards I have made were for Thursday. The first was for a friend's daughter who was sixteen. I used the Craftwork Cards range of Fruit Scoop. It's quite bright, so am definitely adopting the "less is more" approach.

The second card was for my daughter Emily who also turned sixteen on Thursday. I can't believe where the time has gone, it just doesn't seem possible. She's a massive Mighty Boosh fan hence the pictures. She really loved it.

So the week was spent getting ready for her birthday, preparing for the family party yesterday, taking the dog for her training etc etc. Work has been a bit rubbish again, roll on the end of term.

Today I have been making lots and lots of cupcakes to take to work on Tuesday for my birthday. I always make life more difficult for myself by making some for my class as well as the staff, but they do appreciate it, so it makes it worthwhile.

I have realised that this is my 200th post and am thinking of having a little giveaway (if I can work out how to do it on blogger - any help greatly received). I will have a little think about what I can do.

Hope you all have a really good week.

Take care

M x

P.S. Started a new crochet project even though I have a couple still on the go, just couldn't resist! Watch out for some photos soon :)

P.P.S Booked my Harry Potter cinema tickets for Friday 15th July - can hardly contain my excitement :)

Puppy Photos

I thought it was about time I put some more photos of Chloe on my blog. My goodness how she has grown. She is now twice the weight she was when we had her weighed at 8 weeks, and suddenly she seems all legs.

The first couple of photos are when she was about 10 weeks old and she looks like such a little thing - sort of chubby yet tiny.

She has a thing for shoes, any shoes, she's not fussy. She likes to pair up my Crocs in the flower bed (slightly OCD methinks!).

And this is her at 13 weeks, she is thinner and sleeker, and definitely leggy. As you can see, she loves her comfort - cushions and crocheted blankets. She particularly likes my Rowan Cashsoft blanket that I made last year.

She's not been very well this week, has behaving out of character, so tonight we took her to the vets and it would appear that she has a bladder infection. So now she is on a course of antibiotics for a week and we have to go back next week for a check up. At least she has no problems taking her tablet - pushed into a little bit of cheese, it didn't touch the sides. So different from giving tablets to a cat - what a palaver that was. Of course going to the vet is a licence to print money. I hope this isn't the start of things to come.

It's half term this week and all my grand plans of card making haven't exactly come to fruition, although I have made some today. I haven't got pictures yet as our main computer is down so I can't scan them. Hopefully I'll get some decent photos tomorrow.

I downloaded a blank Promarker colour chart from the Letraset website and had fun colouring in the squares of the colours I have. I have 66 pens including a blending one. Still loads to get!! Although after the vet bill, not for some time!!

The other day I felt the urge to do some painting. I used to love painting when I was doing my O and A Level art and I haven't done any for ages. I am inspired by Dyan Reaveley at Art From the Heart (here ) also a blog called Luna ( here ). I've only drawn the image so far and painted the background, but I will show you soon.

I hope you are all having a lovely week, nice that the weather is picking up. Back to work on Monday and another stressful week of my daughter doing her GCSEs. I know I haven't mentioned much about that but yes, we are in the throes of them, and I will be so glad when they are over. There are four next week - 2 maths, 1 history and 1 Italian - wish us luck.

Take care

M x