Aaaand, a short one!

Everythings going well in the world of craft over here. The Spring Girl cross-stitch is progressing nicely. The luggage tags have been worked on (one set is very close to being in the shop!). Smiles all round. Hopefully there should be some photos for you soon.

I'd just like to give a little shout-out to another wonderful crafty, stitchy blogger. Daffycat is holding a fantastic double giveaway over on her blog! That's right, she's offering not one, but two sets of gorgeous hand dyed fabic just waiting for some pretty stitching on them. Entries close on May 4th, so get over there and enter, people!

A very L-O-N-G post!

Hello, I'm still here! Amazing how general life gets in the way of blogging sometimes hey? Anyway, it's the weekend so I finally have time to post.

So I haven't been posting much but I have been crafting!
The third of my Seasons girls cross-stitches, Winter, is done. Wheeee! Only one more to go and they will all be finished!


I really like the colours in this one, the photo's not that great but the blues are really pretty. This one also included white glow-in-the-dark thread as well as normal and variations threads. It's used in the snow in the corners, and you know what - it actually does glow-in-the-dark! It looks quite weird actually, with random glowing spots over the design.

I was all ready to go with Spring, the last girl but as I was ironing the Aida (you wouldn't believe the creases in it!) I found a dirty patch. So that needed a bit of cleaning. I couldn't get rid of it completely but in only really shows on one side so I think we'll all just pretend it isn't there.

Most of my crafting time in this past week has been spent on making this book. It's for my Art & Fashion class at school, a fantastic subject - I get to spend it doing crafty things!


It was taking ages to make it just at school and I want to move onto the next project there (softies!) so I brought it home to finish off. It's quite a simple design really and I'm thinking of making more to sell in our MadeIt shop. Some of the pages are made from decorated paper. I painted some of mine and ripped up and stuck sheet music on some others. The style of binding the book ends up with the tails of thread so I decorated mine by knotting some beads on.
Part of the project guidelines was that we had to put some stuff in the book. I have no idea what I want to use it for so I just decorated some of the pages, sticking to my turquoise colour scheme.



I went through my stash and pulled out everything that was turquoise and used it. The drawn pages were done using my new Inktense Derwent pencils. I love these pencils and have a big tin of 72 now to go with my set of 72 Studio Derwent pencils. Inktense pencils are similar to watercolours but they are brighter and look more like ink than watercolour pencils.

Lastly, Crafty Things and I have been working together to come up with these:


They are patchwork luggage tags! Crafty Things made a set when we went on holidays last September. I'm sure you all know how hard it can be to distinguish your bags from all the other ones on the carousel. These tags make it much easier to spot. They are about 11cm by 6cm with an elastic hairband used to attach them. The set we use is just patchwork front with a plain calico back. The ones we are working on now (pictured) have a little pocket on the back so that you can add a name and address on a card if you want, in case they get lost.


We were thinking of using clear plastic at first but decided fabric was better. With plastic anyone could see your details, and these days you don't particularly want this. This way, the card is hidden but still there just in case. (Are we slightly security-mad and paranoid perhaps?)
We just have to figure out the best card to use so that it won't fall our, because that would just be useless! Once that's sorted they will be up for sale in our shop. I think we'll make a few pocket-less sets (maybe with some crocheted flowers on the back) and they will probably be there sooner. I'll let you know, watch this space!

Supporting other Bloggers

Just a little post about a giveaway at Clare's Craftroom. She is offering a lovely stitching design as a prize for leaving a comment. This is one of the very positive things that I love about the world of craft bloggers - the generosity of all.

Take a wander over to Meet Me At Mikes and read about her lovely book launch and then wander through the archives to see more of this generosity at work.

I seem to have come down with my first cold for the year - stuffy nose and woolly head! Just in time for Easter.

A potpourri of sites I have wandered across lately

Just wanted to share some of the sites I have explored lately.

Heather, from Ragged Old Blogger:Bits and Pieces has posted some pictures of her mixed media work. She has used photographs as the base but then extended these. I think I like the third one best.

If you like creating art with kids then have a look here. I love the way a lot of the art activities are related to an artist or piece of work. Another place for art ideas I stumbled across. In one of her recent entries she reviews a great picture book called "ISH" which I have on my shelf to remind me that things do not have to be perfect.

Then there is the wishing I had one of these on the bookcase. Another crafty book to put on the wishlist.

Knitting is still happening. Sewing has slowed down but ideas are gathering. Finally some photos just to give this post some colour.

Eating the apples in our backyard and looking so beautiful, bright and colourful.

Another shot of my mushroom. This one was taken outside in amongst the wood shavings.

More Playing Around with Wool

I have been trying to create a few different spooligarumi to inspire the children I am working with at the moment. The latest experiment was this little mushroom. After making the lengths of corking I wound, stitched and shaped to get this final product.

The stalk was made first and stuffed lightly to keep it firm. The red part of the top came next and this sits on top of the stalk. The little patch of white was done last and is a piece of two pin spooling. This is stitched to the stalk to hold it all together. I didn't put any stuffing in the top of the mushroom but might try this another time. French knots form the little white dots on top.

A Little Bit Of Knitting

I have been doing a little bit of knitting. Last year at the Craft Fair I bought some yarn from one of the stalls and it came with a pattern to knit a very simple neck warmer. I got around to trying out the pattern at last using some Jo Sharp Alpaca Kid Lustre in a very nice blue - I think I would call it a denim blue.



The pattern was created by Prudence Mapstone. She is a very talented fibre artist and she has published several books.

It takes only one ball and is done mostly in garter stitch with a little bit of rib. The rib is hidden in this picture by the flower. Nice and quick - just the thing for knitting in front of the television.

I have started another one using some Jo Sharp Alpaca Silk Georgette in a very pale salmon colour. In this photo I have starting working on the first ribbed section.