52 Reasons Book

I have noticed 52 reasons books popping up on the Internet for the past couple of years around Valentines Day ( though I think they could be given at any time of year )and never got around to making one until now. I like the idea of these because they are personal to whoever you are making it for. When I started mine, I seemed to get a memory block when I had only reached number 15 and I wasn't going to resort to just using, nice eyes, nice smile, etc. After a little break though I thought of lots.

My sister had never heard of these books and while we were discussing it one night on the phone my husband was being nosey. He said coming up with 52 things would be really easy and made me a list. Anyone who ever read his list though would think that I'm a cross between a domestic slave and a clown. He also seems to have the ability to insult with a compliment. It's a good job I have a sense of humour.

The tutorial I used to make this book can be found here

Last Weeks Stitching

Last week I made a start on an animal cushion for Little L.

 She has been asking me to make her one ever since my mum came home with this booklet which she found on a trip to Scotland last Summer. The motifs are mainly of animals with a few of flowers and aeroplanes.

All the transfers are intact and as it has survived this long (published in 1974) without anyone taking scissors to it, I traced out the designs.

This is as far as I have got with the cushion as I don't have a cushion pad yet and I think I'll wait until the weather picks up to go shopping for one.

I also had a lovely parcel pop through my letterbox last week. I found out a few weeks ago that I had won a competition that was hosted on the Cut Out And Keep site and the prize were these packs of embroidery thread from Sublime Stitching. I'd forgotten all about it and thought that maybe I'd had an online shopping spree that had slipped my mind so I was delighted when I opened the parcel and saw these. They will certainly come in handy here and I can't wait to try them out.

Love Heart Brooch

Yesterday afternoon I made this love heart brooch and thought I'd share it on here.

MATERIALS

Red and cream felt

Matching thread

Assortment of tiny beads and buttons

A brooch back

Cut out two red hearts using the largest heart shape and one cream heart using the smallest heart. Using small stitches, sew the cream heart onto one of the red heart. Sew a brooch back onto the other red heart, remembering to reverse the shape.

Start sewing the beads and buttons on to the cream heart shape. I placed the largest pieces on first then filled in with the beads.

Using a red thread, sew both hearts together and it's finished.

Fun Animal Hats

This week I finished making this new hat for Little L, just in time for this cold snap we are having. This one was very quick to make and only needed 50g of wool for the main piece and a few scraps. 

The pattern I used is from the book, Animal Hats which I bought just before Christmas. The book has hats to fit adults, older children, babies and toddlers. Most of the patterns are for knitting and crocheting and there are a couple in the babies and toddler section which are made from fleece. I think that the hats would make great gifts, if you know anyone who is into wearing animal hats anyway. Little L loves the designs and has asked me to make half of the book for her.

Stocking Up

This morning was spent replenishing my husbands stock of piccalilli.  We have not had shop bought for a couple of years now since I found out how easy it was to make and usually make two batches a year. My piccalilli does have more of a brown colour to it rather than the bright yellow seen in shops and that is due to the recipe using malt vinegar rather than white. I can't find the exact recipe which I found on line but this piccalilli recipe is very close to the one I use. The only difference is that I use 50g less sugar, don't use coriander seeds and I salt the veg before hand.

Problem Sorted

Earlier this week I was having trouble uploading images but after changing my browser to Google Chrome everything seems back to normal.

I'm just getting into my usual routine now my children have returned to school. Craft wise the only thing I have made since before Christmas is a mobile phone case. After the ' car keys locked in the boot ' palaver, I thought that I should buy a mobile. I've not owned one for about 10 years. I used to have it practically glued to me, narrowly missing obstacles in the street due to constant texting. When the phone died on me I just never bothered to replace it. I can't say that I missed having one either. Life is much more quieter without one. My eldest son set the phone up for me as I didn't have a clue. I don't even think that my last mobile had a camera on it.

Anyway this is the case which I made at the beginning of the week. Anders said that if he has to take the phone anywhere with him, he'll have to make sure he hides it.

A Quick Hello

I just thought that I'd nip on here to say a quick hello and I hope that everyone had a lovely Christmas.
At the moment I seem to be having problems uploading images. I'm not getting anything popping up telling me that I have reached my limit and I have deleted some photos just in case but that doesn't seem to have worked. Anyway I'll be back as soon as I find out what the problem is.