A day at the beach

Today was the day for our annual Sunday school trip. The last few years we’ve visited the beach at Exmouth, but this year decided to go to Charmouth which is a little closer. Leaving home I was very pesimistic – there were big grey clouds and very little blue sky. But the closer I got to the beach the sunnier it got – hurrah!

I love these houses stacked up on the hill (although I was glad I was driving rather than walking up these hills on my way home!)

We had only been there about 2 minutes before the kids were digging holes and racing the waves. We had a picnic and then some of the kids (with some adult supervision) went fossil hunting. I decided to stay where I was, on my patchwork picnic blanket…

…reading a lovely mag.

I made the picnic blanket a couple of years ago entirely from charity shop finds. The backing is made from a tablecloth, the pink squares are from a shirt and the white and yellow squares are from skirts. And of course, it is topped off with some of my favourite buttons 🙂

The best bit of the day – enjoying time with fantastic friends, and lots of cuddles with a gorgeous Baby Girl. The worst bit of the day – sunburn! I remembered my suncream, but I’m still looking pretty rosy!

Crochet chain

I have to say, I’m loving these crochet chains!

These ones are skinny (half the width of the first ones I made) and are therefore even quicker to make 🙂

I still need to finish the end ones (sew in the ends and add a button) but I’m really pleased with how it’s turned out so far.

And now I’m off to spend the afternoon with a lovely Little Girl and her Big Brothers – I love days like this!

 

A splash of colour

Good evening all! How are you? I’ve had a great day – we had sports day at school and all the kids were great. Even better, my team won! I can’t really take any credit for that, but I did feel really proud of the kids in my group who tried so hard in their races and were brilliant at cheering their team members on.

Anyway, I’ve had a few free minutes to make more chains.

Don’t they look lovely and colourful?

I think I’ll make just a couple more before linking them all together. And I had a great suggestion from Mo (aka TwinkleToes) – they’d be great Christmas decorations in festive colours! I’d better get started now before I lose interest 🙂

A lovely June afternoon

Now this is how June should be…

…beautiful blue skies, fluffy white clouds and the sun shining on my back. Bliss! I made the most of the sun this afternoon (you never know how long it’s going to hang around) by taking a long planned project into the garden.

Now I don’t know about you, but I often have ideas flitting around in my mind. Some of them are just passing thoughts – they fly in one ear and out the other barely leaving an impression. Others burst in out of nowhere and demand to be dealt with straight away. And some come quietly and nestle on the edges of my mind, growing and developing over time. This was one of those ideas.

I’ve had some bare pin boards and small tester tubs of paint for a while now. I had plans for them, and decided that as soon as it was sunny I’d work on them in the garden (I’m much less likely to make a mess of things if I’m outside and have a little more space!) However, I had this thought just as the rain set in. And even though there have been a couple of sunny spells they have never been at the right times.

And all the time I was waiting for sun the initial Idea grew and changed. It’s now got to the point where it’s quite different to how it started. My pin boards (originally intended to be covered in book pages and fabric) will now be display boards.

You see, I’ve been thinking about this upcoming fair where I’ll be selling my wares (as long as I get my act together and make some wares to sell!) and thinking particularly about how to display said wares. And these boards popped into my mind – with a little work they will become a pretty, self standing unit.

Now the edges are painted I’m going to cover the cork with pretty paper. Then I’m going to attach some tiny hinges – the boards will open and close like a book! I’ll be able to close them up when transporting them around, then open them ready to display…well, I’m sure I’ll think of something to display on them.

Let me tell you now about one of those Make Me NOW ideas.

Last night I decided to get out my crochet hook. I’ve not really done any all week and wanted a quick start-and-finish-in-an-evening project. I started googling around for inspiration and came across some beautiful crochet garlands. This caught my imagination, and I looked at hearts, flowers, stars, circles, snowflakes and all sorts of other variations and combinations. But the fact is, there is just too much choice. I couldn’t decide what to make! But after a little more scrolling through I found something brilliant…

Crochet ‘paper’ chains!

I love paper chains. They’re one of my favourite things to make with kids as they are easy to do and can be decorated and adapted for just about any occasion you can think of. And crochet chains just seemed like a brilliant idea!

There were no patterns (that I could find, but I didn’t look very hard) but they were super easy to make – I just whipped up 26 rows of 6 htr. Easy peasy!

I sewed each of the ends together making sure that each loop was attached to the previous one before I did so. The loops on the end are a little different though – I added a button hole and button so it can be undone and hooked around a curtain rail, or banisters, or anything else you can think of!

Each loop only took 5 – 10 mins to complete. I’ve really got the bug for it now, and have started on a skinny chain – will show you progress tomorrow 🙂

One hundred

Good afternoon and welcome to my 100th post! Thanks for sticking around for so long and reading my crafty ramblings 🙂

In celebration of my 100th post I have finished my order for 100 buttons. I have to say, I hadn’t really planned this, but it’s a happy coincidence.

When I started this morning I had 42 more buttons to cover. I had 12 circles ready cut with tiny buttons sewn on and ready to go. I cut 20 circles from my new tablecloth, then made up the numbers with circles from other fabrics. Here they are in my ‘finished’ tin…

…and tipped out in a mini button mountain!

Let’s have a closer look, but be warned – there are a lot of photos!

I’ve mostly had fun making them (apart from pushing the backs on which made my hands sore) but I’m glad they’re finished at last!

Beautiful bargain

After quite a time spent in procrastination this morning, I’m pleased to announce that I did actually get some work done – eventually. My major sources of distraction this morning were pretty blogs. The big problem with blogs is that they often link to others. So I’ll be reading through a post and click on a link for another pretty blog. That next blog will also have several links to blogs I’ve never seen before, and before you know it I’ve spent all morning drooling over gorgeous projects and not a scrap of work has been done. I’m guessing that I’m not the only one with this problem (am I?!) and that pretty blogs probably contribute fairly substantially to procrastination levels worldwide.

Anyway, I managed to drag myself away from the distractions long enough to mostly plan Sunday school before I went out for my meeting. And as a reward for actually getting something productive done I stopped in town on my way home to browse through charity shop goodies.

Charity shops have not always been my favourite places – I never liked (and am still not particularly keen on) the smell of them as a child, but I’ve got over that now as I realise there can be some fantastic finds if you spend a little time looking. My bargain today came from the bottom of a crate of linen goods, mostly napkins and table runners. I came across a bundle of 3 napkins with pretty embroidery in the corner. They would have been perfect for making some buttons from, but at £2 for 3 they were more than I can afford right now. I put them back and carried on rummaging and found the greatest bargain – a small tablecloth for £1.20!

And it’s just covered in embroidery!

Each corner has the same design, but in different colours – purple…

…blue…

…yellow/orange…

…pink.

I love these little flowers which are dotted around.

There are one or two small stains in places, but as I’ll be cutting it up for buttons it really doesn’t matter to me. There may even be one or two other projects that come out of this beauty – I’m just waiting for inspiration to hit!

It’s whizzing around in the washing machine right now, and I’ll give it a good old iron before I get started on cutting it up. In some respects it’s a bit of a shame to ‘vandalise’ it with scissors, but I figure it’s better to make use of things in a new format rather than let them sit unloved and gathering dust elsewhere.

(By the way, blame the photo quality on the weather – it’s so gloomy all the time at the moment that I’m finding it really hard to get a good picture!)

Another gorgeous giveaway

May I draw your attention to a completely fabulous giveaway – Fee of Chipper Nelly makes the most gorgeous wooden blocks (amongst other things) and is celebrating 200 followers with a great giveaway! Go and have a look – I promise you won’t be disappointed with what you see.

In other news, I’m worriedly watching my washing on the line as I type this – it’s crazily windy and I have visions of my laundry ending up in a tree or something. It’s also looking very grey and gloomy and like it might rain. Again. Hurrah for British summertime!

I’m also busily procrastinating (which is why I’m looking at giveaways and telling you about them!) as I should be preparing for school/Sunday school before I go out for a meeting. I really should go…

…but I’ll probably check in again later for a little more procrastination! Enjoy your day 🙂

Catching up

Things have been quiet on the crafting front the last week or so. Mostly because I’ve been either too busy or too tired to bother. But at the back of my mind is the niggling, nagging voice reminding me that I’ll be selling my wares in just a couple of weeks. I really need to listen to that voice, as I don’t have enough stock just yet. But my motivation is really lacking at the moment! Anyone got any tips on where to find some?!

I did have the bright idea of doing a few little cross stitch keyrings. I started with my own design for a Union Jack in pastel colours. Nice and simple and quick to make, right? Wrong.

It was simple enough, but I’d forgotten just how long cross stitch takes! (Or maybe it’s just me? Or maybe it was just because I chose really small aida ?) Anyway, it took a really long time to finish, and as a result I haven’t even started any others. Anyway, here’s the front…

…and the back.

I’m going to to stuff it slightly, but haven’t even got round to that bit yet, that’s how lazy I’ve been!

Anyway, I’m hoping for a good dose of inspiration/motivation to kick in really soon – any ideas on where to find either would be much appreciated!

On Monday I posted off the buttons that Maryanne won in my giveaway.

I included a little note with a button in the corner 🙂

Then I finished off the package with tissue paper and ribbon.

And today I had a lovely surprise from Maryanne herself – she’s nominated me for the One Lovely Blog award!

Thank you so much for thinking of me Maryanne (and please visit her lovely blog if you haven’t already – it’s just lovely, and very deserving of the Lovely Blog award!!) If I get time at the weekend I may even pass this one on, as I’ve discovered so many lovely blogs since the last time I dished out the awards and I’d love to share some of my favourites. Watch this space!

Awards

Over the last couple of weeks I have been honoured with some awards from some lovely people! It’s taken me some time trawling through my comments to find them (although I’ve appreciated each and every one of them, I’ve not had the mental capacity to deal with them all until now, and some go back a couple of weeks – but I think I’ve found them all in the end!) I can’t quite believe how many there have been – there are some super generous people out there 🙂

The first was an award I’ve not heard of – the Liebster Award. It turns out that Sara (from Sincerely, Sara who nominated me) didn’t know either! So it’s all a bit of a mystery, but fairly similar to others which are around in that you share a few things about yourself and then nominate others for the award. Thank you for nominating me Sara – I got round to mentioning it eventually!

This week I’ve been nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award – on Monday I was nominated by Sam at The Giraffe’s Hat (what a great name for a blog!) and this morning I was nominated by Jill at Nice Piece of Work. Thank you ladies!

On Tuesday I received an email from the lovely Susan over at Crochet Addicts telling me she’d nominated me for the Sunshine Award – how exciting! This is another one I’d not come across before but I think it’s great, as we’re not getting much real sunshine at the moment 🙂 And later that same day I got a message from Melissa at Lazy Daisy Crochet, saying there was a surprise for me over at her blog. It turns out that Susan had also nominated her for the Sunshine Award, and she in turn had passed it on to me! So thank you very

All these awards say that you should share some facts about your life (the number varies) and then nominate a number of other blogs for the same award. However, that feels like it will take all day, so instead how about you have a look at the blogs of all these lovely ladies who passed these awards to me – they’re all well worth it 🙂 And once more, thanks so much ladies for these nominations – I’m glad you enjoy my blog!

(I’m slowly figuring out how to add things to my sidebar, so these may (or may not!) turn up on there soon…)

Giveaways galore

Good afternoon, how are we all today? Hope you’re all enjoying a chilled out and relaxing Saturday.

That’s how my day started – waking up naturally for a change (I love when there is no alarm nagging me to get out of bed) then reading in bed for probably an hour or more before I got up. Bliss.

Things have gone downhill since. I have spent most of my time today on lesson planning and preparation either for school or Sunday school. And it’s still not all finished. But that’s what Sunday afternoons are for, right? Finishing all the school work last minute that has been put off all week. I don’t think there’s too much left to do thankfully, but I really can’t face any more right now.

So, on to happier, more exciting things.

Firstly, a new commission. I was having coffee with a group of ladies from church yesterday afternoon at the lovely Monks Yard (2nd time in 2 weeks – this is becoming something of a habbit!) Anyway, I took along a crochet project (the one I gave you a little peep of here) to work on while we chatted. I’ve finally got to a point with crochet where I don’t need to obsessively stare at it the whole time in case I get things wrong. Now a glance every few stitches is sufficient, meaning that I can hold a conversation without looking like I’m being really rude and avioding all eye contact.

Anyway, I was merrily stitching away when the lovly lady next to me asked if I’d make a small blanket for a baby basket her granddaughter plays with when she visits. So I got started before tea, then finished it off whilst watching a dvd with a friend in the evening. (We watched Under the Tuscan Sun. It’s one of my favourite films just because of the scenery, and it makes me want to visit Italy every time I see it.) I also finished the other project, and will show you pics when it’s been given to my friend!

I loved this as it was so quick to make – very satisfying. I still have to sew in the ends, but that shouldn’t take too long.

Moving on to this morning…

I was just about to step out of the door when I noticed this lovely looking parcel lying on the door mat.

Isn’t that just the most lovely padded envelope you’ve ever seen?! It seemed like my birthday all over again! I ripped it open…

…and peered inside.

It was the book I won in Hannah’s giveaway.

And tucked inside the front cover was this little letter on lovely paper…

Hannah you have beautiful handwriting – I’d love to be able to write like that! Thank you so much for your generous giveaway 🙂 I’m really looking forward to reading it (I’ll let you know what I think!)

And finally, the result of my giveaway! Here are the names of all the lovely people who commented…

and being mixed up (I decided to use the Padded Envelope of Wonder today, instead of the High Tec Hat).

And the winner is…

Maryanne, from Woolhogs. Congratulations! Email me your address and I’ll pop your buttons in the post 🙂

Oh, and before I forget, I’ve just set up a facebook page! There’s not much on it at the moment, but I’m hoping to add more over the next couple of days.

I’ve also been honoured with a couple of awards this week – it’s very exciting, but I think they need a post of their own…