Little L's Bright Cushion

I finally made a cushion this week with the embroidery which I finished in January. Little L chose the fabric for the cushion which was in my stash. She'd had her eye on the coral print for ages and had asked me to make her something using it. To me, the cushion is a bit too bright and it sticks out like a sore thumb in Little L's room because it's mainly decorated in pastel shades but she loves it and it's her favourite cushion (for the time being, until she has an idea for another one anyway).

New Craft Supplies

A friend of my sisters has been having a bit of a sort out and as she knew that I could sew she sent some things my way. A couple of weeks ago I was sent a dress makers dummy, still in it's box, as it had only been used once for making some bridesmaids dresses and a large tin of sewing thread. This week I received these from the same lady.

The large bag held this wool which its mainly double knitting.

This was the contents of the tin

and this was inside the vanity case. There were quite a few old knitting patterns, mostly for children.

I especially like this ladybird fabric. There is about 4 metres of it so it's a pity that I can't get Little L to wear a dress so I can make her one. I'd make one for myself but I don't think that a dress covered in ladybirds would be a good look on someone quickly approaching 42.

I wanted to sent a gift as a thank you for all the things being sent to me but my sister told me that the best thing to do was to donate to the hospice local to them. The hospice had looked after the lady when she was ill and now she does a lot to help them in return. The donation was easily done on line. I just need to find a space to squash all the stuff into now.

Back To The Usual

Well it's back to my usual routine now that the children have returned to school after the Easter break. I always find the house far too quiet when I'm home alone and prefer to hear the sound of my kids about the house even if the only noise is of them bickering. We never left the house over the holidays as we all managed to have the flu bug which is going around. Little L has only just shook off a nasty cough which she's had for about a fortnight but for the moment everyone here is fit and well.

Over the holidays I've been trying out some new recipes. A couple of which I found while looking through recipe apps. 

Cheesecake cookies, ready to be cut in to squares and a lemon drizzle cake. Both of these were gone within 24 hours so I'll definitely be baking these again.

Potatoes layered with ham, cheese and onion. Not too pretty to look at but they did taste nice.

Also over the holidays I was lucky enough to receive this book which I won in a book give away on Cut Out And Keep.

The book contains easy to follow instructions on binding techniques and some of the smaller books are simply stapled or glued. These are a few of my favourite designs from this book although there are none that I don't like.

Book Necklace

Butterfly Wings Book

Antique Key Book

I can see myself losing this book to Caleb who loves it.

A Quick Catch Up

I thought that I'd pop on for a quick catch up. I didn't realise that the last post was so long ago. 

Little L joined in with her first Easter bonnet parade this morning at school. She is a bit poorly at the moment with a cold and nasty cough which is doing the rounds in our house. She had a terrible night last night and I would have normally kept her home but she'd been looking forward to joining in so I let her go but I'm keeping my ear open for a call to go and collect her.

I just bought a plain 99p hat and used a bit of cardboard and felt and lots of glue to decorate it. There were some great hats there, you could see some of the parents had been busy. One had a large partly opened Easter egg on the top and I still can't make my mind up whether it was a real one or not. I'll have to sit closer next time with my failing eyesight.

Craftwise things have been moving slowly as I've been reading more books through my tablet and I've been watching more telly. I'm not much of a TV watcher but I've been glued to some of the dramas which have been shown lately. We've been watching Mayday, Light Fields, Broad Church and In The Flesh. Anyway they have almost all finished so I'll be back to my usual fidgety self and will have to find something to do.

These are a couple of things which I have finished since my last post. Three pairs of fingerless mitts made using this pattern from Hand Knitted Things. Two pairs of these have already found a home.

The gingerbread man is completed and has gone to live with my mum.

WIP's

Just a quick post to show some things which I have been working on lately.

Fingerless mitts,

some felt animal brooches,

some embroidery

and the start of a rather plump crocheted gingerbread man.

Bats ... Not Just For Halloween

I love bats though I was never a fan of them when I was younger. When I lived at my parents, if the odd bat made an appearance I would soon go into the house out of the way. I used to think they may get tangled my hair and at the time there would be no escape for a poor bat with the back combed, 80's perm I was sporting, finished off with a tin of hairspray.
We encounter quite a bit of bat activity here ( we have a few canal bridges near by so maybe they live under these ) and love spotting my first bat of the Summer.

Last week I made these rather glamorous looking bats using a pattern from the Gingermelon etsy shop.

Scrappy Crochet Blanket

Last week I finally finished the crocheted blanket that I started in June last year made using scrap wool. I was running low on wool as I was approaching the end but my Gran came to the rescue and sent me a bag of scraps. My weekend was spent sewing in what seemed like thousands of ends so I'll have to remember that if I embark on something with so many colour changes again to do this as I go along.  The blanket measured approximately 66 x 66 in so I think that it turned out to be a pretty good size considering it is entirely made from scraps.

In the bag my Gran sent me was enough eyelash wool to make a scarf so at the moment I'm knitting this up then I'll send it back to her.

Also last week this basket turned up at my house. My sister had been given it but knew that she would never use it so passed it to me. It is now home to my knitting, an embroidery I'm working on, an old tin which contains all my sewing bits and bobs and there is still plenty of room inside. My crafty stuff is usually scattered here, there and everywhere around the living room so it's nice to have it all in one place for a change.