New Craft Books

I'd not bought any craft books for a while so when I saw the Mollie Makes Feathered Friends was due to come out I hopped over to Amazon and popped it in my basket as I knew that Little L would love some of the projects in it. It arrived last week and the first thing Little L was drawn to was some colourful hanging parrots which are designed by Laura Howard from Bugs And Fishes

I made two of the smallest size, one for Little L and the other for one of her friends.

Little L's is currently tied to the handle on her wardrobe door.

The next thing that Little L loved from the book was a crocheted penguin pillow. This was really quick to made and I just need a pillow to fill it and to sew the bottom up.

The other book which I was working from last week was folk art needlecraft which I was lucky enough to win in a give away from Cut Out And Keep.

The only thing I have made from the book so far is this small sewing case but there are plenty of projects in this book that I want to get around to making.

I especially like these tiny dolls

and this hedgehog bag. A free tutorial for the hedgehog bag can be found here

Summer Sewing

This week I've been using my sewing machine to make a couple of summery garments.

For this top ( made for my Mum ) I used a New Look pattern 6871 which includes four other versions of this style as well.

I also altered this dress of Little L's in to a pair of shorts. I think that she has only worn it twice and now outgrown it.

I used pink tape to cover the side seams and reused the covered buttons from the dress by sewing them on the bottom of the seam.

Knowing Little L's aversion to dresses I think that she may get more wear from a pair of shorts and she has already been looking for something suitable for chopping up and altering.

Recycling Socks

This morning was spent making Gilbert & Freda, a pair of sock monsters. Now sitting on a chair in Little L's room waiting for her to come home from school.

Chicken News

Last month all three of our hens were broody so my sister sent me four eggs for them to sit on. One hatched last week so we now have a lovely fluffy little chick. As soon as we discovered the chick we moved it along with the hen who hatched it to an empty rabbit hutch as the other hens tried to attack it as soon as they saw it. My sister had warned us that they may over mother it and kill it as they were all broody.

The chick is a sablepoot which looks like this but hopefully ours will be a hen so we can keep it. The sablepoot cockerel is the photo is Gorgeous George ( before he grew his full tail ) who lived with us for a while. Last year my niece hatched a clutch of sablepoot eggs and ended up with one hen the rest cockerels so she asked if we wanted one. I said on condition they have him back if he starts making too much noise (I live in a residential area so I don't think being woken by a cock crowing would go down to well with the neighbours). It took him quite a while to find his voice and for a little thing, he was very loud. Also he started to attack us which didn't hurt us at all because he could only reach our legs. He was becoming very protective of his girls and didn't like us hand feeding them which while we knew to keep an eye on him, he could easily get Little L in the face so we set him back to my sisters. He's settled in well and hangs about with their sablepoot hen. Our chick is from those two getting together so at least my sister knows George is fertile.