Wednesday 21 April 2010

Special Offer....



I woke up one morning during the Easter Holidays

to find this 'Special Offer' stuck to our bedroom door.

It's one offer that really can't be missed, but unfortunately it

has to be put on hold, at least until we have moved house!





It reads " SPECIAL OFFER"


If you buy a dog, you get a FREE happy, bored-free child.


Buy now while stocks last !


Then there is a drawing of a dogs bowl with food in, and a cow! Yes, a cow! -This was stuck on our bedroom door by our youngest (11yrs) daughter who -as you can see- is desperate for a dog! I thought it was so cute, I had to blog it! The cow did start off as a dog, but it went wrong!


***


All my crafting stash is packed ready for moving ; so after having a very boring, not-much-crafting-going-on kinda few weeks, I went and bought some secondhand fabric to recycle and make a few crocheted baskets and trivets :0)


This little basket has got two handles onthe sides. I love the blue that comes through.


Oh, the feel of the scissors cutting through the fabric, the feel of the hook as you're busy crocheting a way..... I'm either going to have to dig out some of my stash, or get to the shop...


The bowl above I 'prettied' up with some matching yarn.

***



The sun was shining beautifully on my camelieas last week, so I couldn't resist taking a few shots of the sun shining on the centres of the flowers. It always makes me think it's got a light shining from the centre of the flower when I take photos like these.







Sorry my posts have been a bit 'hit and miss'. Unfortunately, I do have very 'bizzydays' :).


But, I will try and make more of an effort now the school run is again well under way until July! Enjoy the sunshine ladies..

Speak to you soon ..










Wednesday 14 April 2010

I love Granny Squares..

They are so relaxing to crochet, so repetitive and easy to make once you've decided which type of square to make.

I was lucky enough to come across this first edition Womans Day magazine at my local book exchange... what a find! :) I couldn't believe my little eyes.

It was made in 1973 -so still a bit younger than me (lol) but aren't the pictures and pattern fab!

I just obviously I had to snap it up, and I just thought I'd show you some of the lovely patterns that are in it...






This is the 'blurb' part as my children call them.. I don't know if these magazines are still made in America? Do you?....














I just love these colourful afghans... I must get round to making another one..



Look at this gorgeous table cloth -maybe I should make this next .... I love the colours of the daisies..








Don't you think that the little girl down on the right is absolutely adorable?



Now this is my latest finished piece, It's just made from 'two round' granny squares that have been crocheted together as I go along... so I haven't 'blocked' it as yet. It's going to be a cushion cover when I get round to purchasing some natural cotton for the back...




This is one of my morning (and afternoon, and.... evening) visitors...




As soon as you open the back door, she flies down and stands on the edge of the doorstep , fighting off any other blackbirds.....




Then she stands on the edge of the door frame waithing for her raisins to take back to her babies. She's done this for the past three years!!




She has learnt not to hop into the kitchen, because if she get startled by the children running into the kitchen, she gets stuck on the window sill, and forgets the way out! So she sensibly noe stays by the door and then she can make a quick getaway if something makes her jump! :)

If the back door isn't open, she stands at the kitchen window looking in until you feel sorry for her and open the back door to offer more raisins or oats!

Do you have any visitors to your doors?
Hopefully this post will come out a bit better looking than my last ones, as I have taken all your kind advice and used it!! LOL
Have a good week lovely people...












Sunday 11 April 2010

Little owls...


Well, here's my second post -not so scary this time! I've played around with my blog/last post a bit since I wrote it, and I've discovered what 'gadgets' are (dohhh!), so I've added a couple of them -the easy ones, but it's a start :)

I just wanted to show you a couple of photos of some really cute owls that I picked up in the charity shop last week.
Oh dear, they've come out at the top again! (I'd really appreciate it if anyone can tell me how to put the photos in the middle of my writing?...)
Well, can anyone guess what they are?
They're salt & pepper shakers! Aren't they cute! And they were a bargain price, only 75p! I just couldn't resist! they've even got their original stoppers in the bottom!
If I can bear it, when I actually start listing in one of my shops (etsy, dawanda etc..) I shall put them in there.
Has anyone got any advice on all of the craft websites? There's quite a few to choose from, and I've got shops in them all (greedy I know, but I didn't want anyone to pinch my shop name! :))
-well, the ones I know of Etsy, Folksy, DaWanda, Misi, & Coriandr.
Etsy seems really professional to me - and theres already a few people on there selling the items I want to make and sell. I think you probably have to spend a lot of time on there promoting and getting well known. I mean once you are it would be worth all the hard work, but it's just getting the time isn't it ladies? :)
Anyway, I'm going to scoot off with out putting the other owl photos on, as I know thet'll just come out on top!
Have a good week : )


Wednesday 7 April 2010

My Favourite Things...




Yarn bowl


Fabric bowl




Tags with crochet scallop edge




Lace and jute twine. I love natural items to work with.




Treasured needle holder






Favourite crochet hook

















Well here goes....
I've been sitting on the sidelines too long.. I couldn't think of anything to blog about, but now I've had a while to think (quite a while actually...) I thought I would start off just by showing you a few of my favourite things.

Now, the photo above the above sentence (if that makes sense..) was supposed to come out above this sentence, so bear with me in this blogging lark, I'm bound to make a few mistakes :) I'm going to pop on another photo and see where that comes out!?

Oh, I see, the writing goes down and the photo's go up ! :) I'll have to see how it comes out when I press the 'publish post' button.

Anyway, back to my 'favourite things'.... I love crocheting I've been doing it for a couple of years now. I love to crochet with big hooks, and with lots of different types of yarn at once, and with rag strips which takes aaaagggggeeeessss to cut up but is well worth the effort. One of my favourite things is my homemade size 12mm crochet hook. I didn't know that I could also 'wittle' wood until I couldn't find a size 12mm hook anywhere to buy in the u.k., so I went to my local charity shop and bought a wooden size 12mm knitting needle, cut it in half with a pair of secataurs (spelling?) and then used a craft knife and sandpaper to make a hook! And it's my favorite one. It's the big one in the 3rd photo above next to the gold one.

Next I also love sewing and making thins like cushions and toys. I also love crocheting my own little 'lacy' bits like edgings and buttons for my cushions. I have got shops on Etsy, DaWanda, Folksy, Misi, and Coriandr, but as yet (the same with blogging) have lacked the get up and go to actually list anything!! lol, but now I've actually got round to blogging, I might get round to listing something in one of them!

Another of my favorite things is my lovely needle holder made by my youngest daughter who was ten when she made it. Actually it's not just one of my favourite things, it's one of my treasured possessions, and the two little buttons on the heart are part of my mothers day present from her this year (they were 85p and £1.05 bless her) which I obviously couldn't part with in any thing I made, so I sewed them on to the case.

All the other pictures are just things I've made or like.

Now, I'm not very 'technical', and have no idea how to add links or put things at the side of my blog, so feel free to send me any advice or ideas as they will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks for reading my first blog.. I'd love and welcome any comments .....