Fair Isle Cuffs

Hi all hope you are well on this very windy day.

Though it's days like this you need to

dig out your winter gear.

So out came my latest project i just finished,

these fabulous cuffs

 I got the pattern free here

on the Little Cotton Rabbits blog.

Julie is such a talented knitter i love her

animals, I've got a rabbit on the go at the moment.

I have altered it slightly from the original,

 i had to go up a needle size for it to fit.

I used a mixture of Drops Merino 4 ply and 

Debbie Bliss 4 ply.

I'm very impressed with Drops yarn it's so soft and 

it's good on price as well.

I chose similar colours to my Nordic shawl

so i can wear them together.

I haven't done any knitting for about a year, i started

getting wrist pain's so had to stop.

When i saw these cuffs i knew i needed to make some,

so i have learnt to knit in a different way.

It was tricky at first but by the time i had completed

the first cuff i was getting there.

I don't think this was the greatest pattern to learn with 

but hay ho i got there in the end and 

NO PAIN

YEAHHHH!!

XXXXX

Coffee Pot cover

Hi all, i know...... I've not been here for a while.

I have just been enjoying the summer and

I didn't have a lot to show you,

so i took a bit of a break.

It's good to chill and take stock .

Anyhow here is a little something 

i wanted to share

A Coffee Pot cover i made for my

caravan,

 although i did really love how it turned out 

so i now

use it in the house.

I used a mixture of Cotton and Acrylic yarn in an 

Aran weight and a 5.00mm hook.

I made a foundation row just short of wrapping all around

the tin and then just made rows of

 Double and Treble crochets,

Until you reach the height you want. 

It's as simple as that.

The container is a recycled 

hot chocolate tin.

It was to nice a tin to throw away.

XXXXX

Cathedral Window cushion

 Ta-Dah!!!

I've finished my cushion

and i love love love it.

I finished sewing the buttons on while watching 

TV last night, 

i think they finish it off nicely and also hide

the slightly scuwiff  joins in a few places.

I have used Tilda Fabric 

The All that is spring collection.

I love the muted tones, they are right up my street.

The buttons are also from the Tilda range.

 For the back i have used some gorgeous taupe

Clarke and Clarke spot and i actually

fitted a zip for the first time

WHOOOO!

I've always chickened out before and gone for an

envelope fold for the backs of my cushions.

I must confess i did have to unpick one side and resew it, as i did go

a little bit wonky.

It wasn't as tricky as i thought it would be,

thank god for YouTube

.

It now has pride of place on my bed.

Hubby doesn't understand why we have extra cushions

on the bed, i just tut at him an say

"because it looks pretty."

Fellas

 they have no idea!

XXXXXXXX

Patchwork cushion

Hi blogger's I'm still here.

It's been a bit hectic here with my son starting his new 

Apprenticeship and we have to get him to work at 8 in the morn,

as he's not old enough to drive yet his dad and i are his Taxi.

(Not used to getting up so early)

It's been a couple of weeks now and we

are getting into a routine.

(can't wait for him to pass his driving test though!!!)

I've been having a play with patch working and just finished

a cushion 

My little stash of material

I'm not sure what this pattern is called i saw it in a magazine

i bought from W H Smiths patch working for beginners.

In the mag they made a place mat but i wanted to 

make mine into a more practical cushion.

I also had a go a free motion quilting 

managing a loopy swirl  travelling up and down the blocks.

Gosh it's harder than you think.

I had a few practise go's before i plucked up the courage

to work on my cushion front.

A little bit scared and a 

deep breath off i went.

It turned out alright for a first go,

there are some fab patterns out there

more practise needed though.

I even had a go at making my own bias edging.

I love it

  so much so as i was wandering around blogland

and came across a fabulous pattern called

Cathedral Window 

I was desperate to try.

So as soon as i finished this cushion i was straight onto the next

and a few YouTube tutorials later off i went.

Here's a sneaky peak

I have used some Tilda fabric i picked up cheap.

I will share it properly with you when i have finished it.

THANKS

XXXXXXXXXX

 

Camper Sprocket Pillow

Hi all I've not been blogging

for a bit, the only reason is 

i haven't had any little projects to share.

The weather has been fab so I've been

pottering outside and hubby is also building himself

a workshop in the garden so it's a bit of a building site.

I am quietly getting on with my

crochet sampler blanket i will finish it this year.

i have also been thinking of having a dabble with

sewing.

Patchworking in particular.

i stumbled across a fabulous blog 

called Cluck Cluck Sew

all i can say is wow she makes the most 

beautiful quilts and cushions.

When i saw this tutorial for a 

Sprocket Cushion 

i knew i had found my first project.

So last night i set to and couldn't stop till i finished.

I had bought this camper van material in a pack with these other 

three last year. I had no idea what i was going to do with it,

i just loved it because it was pink and had campers on it.

When i saw the sprocket cushion i knew this pack was 

perfect. Oooh i felt a bit giddy at the thought and had to

start straight away.

So i rummaged around and found some plain cotton material

that Beth had left over from her patch blanket she made, and away i went.

It's not bad for a first attempt . 

I think i would prefer a patterned material

for the sides and back, and 

my front patchwork wouldn't lie flat after

i had sewn the pieces together.

Pulling it in the middle with a button did hide a lot of faults

so i got away with it.

I'm definitely going to make another, it's a good excuse to go

material shopping.

The only problem is it's yet another new hobby!

I need more space?

Oh yeah!! hubbies workshop.

I've more chance of winning the lotto 

than getting in there.

XXXXX

Zentangle Dad

Hi all i know I'm a bit late showing the card

i made for my Dad for Fathers day.

To be honest, i have spent the last week outside and 

not at the computer.

The weather has been glorious and

i would rather be outside,

Crocheting, Pottering, watching the Tennis,

sort of through the conservatory window.

I finished my matching cushion for my outdoor sofa,

I'll not bore you with another picture it's the same as this one.

So here at last is the card

Told you i made a card and gone

Zentangle Mad.

Doing this is so therapeutic, you get so 

engrossed in it time just flies.

I can imagine doing Zentangles would be a 

good stress buster.

I have finally got back on with the sampler blanket i started

a few months ago, i'm not going to start anything else until

this is finished.

The little voice in my head just Laughed 

and said "Yeah right".

See you soon

XXXX

Anniversary Cards

Hi all i popped on today to show you 

a couple of anniversary cards i have made recently.

 This first one is for my Mum and Dad.

Mum loves Orchids and this digi stamp was perfect.

I've coloured it with Spectrum Noir pencils and blended with

Sansador and paper stumps.

the sentiment is from woodware and I've stamped it so it looks

all joined up.

I've also been having a play with the art of 

ZENTANGLE.

It's so so so addictive.

I made a little panel for the edge of the card.

I've also got another card to show soon were I've gone

zentangle mad.

 The second is for hubby.

this is also coloured with the Spectrum noir pencils.

and I've frantaged round the edge.

The papers are DCWV Nana's Nursery.

La La Land Bunting Die and hand wrote LOVE.

Lace from Dunelm Mill.

Thanks for stopping by, I'm off outside now, 

the sun is shining so i'm making the most

of it while its here.

XXXXX

Crochet cushion Ta Dah!

Hi all on the gorgeous bank holiday Monday,

The sun is shining here and we have

a BBQ planned for tea time

(so pleeeze stay Mr sun).

Now the weather is better out came my

outdoor sofa and i wanted to make a crochet cushion

to match the cushions i made last year out of some

gorgeous Clarke and Clarke material i had stashed.

I had a bit of a change and made a ruffle trim 

around the cushion.

I bought some vintage buttons, they are all the same size

but different, i love them.

All the yarn came from my stash, bits of wool left over

from other projects.

The cream is Drops Lima the same wool as my recent pink 

cushion it's so nice to used and a very reasonable price.

Although i think it's looking a bit lonely LoL, so yes

number 2 in under way.

This sofa is the best thing we bought for outside, it's so

comfy, it's like having another room.

I spent a lot of time on it last year and also this year.

Morning brew, lunch, afternoon brew, crocheting.

It,s shaded in the morning and then gets the 

afternoon, evening sun.

I love it!!

Here are a couple of garden pic's the 

Lapins were full of bees, so i went to get my

camera to take some pic's and there was only one left when i got back.

I love these white foxgloves they are one of my

favourite flowers.

I don't seed them myself i let nature take its course 

and i have a lovely display every year.

Thanks for stopping by today,

I'm off to have my Lunch outside.

XXXXX

R.I.P. Old faithful

After 22 years of faithful service, on nearly every day especially since the kiddies have been around

I have to announce the retirement of my washing machine. Boo Hoo.  

Our Zanussi has served us well but had started to show its age, like I had to kick the door to get it going, also all the writing had faded off so I had to put them back on with a marker pen. It also started to make a funny sound when draining.

So hubby took me out washing machine shopping,
after doing a bit of surfing on the internet for the best price.
Isn't the internet great you don't have to trawl around all the shops any more
then end up back at the first place because they were the best. 

So farewell old girl

And hello sexy

It's nearly double the drum size and has a 15 min wash, ooh how can you get so excited over a washing machine.

Can't wait to take it for a spin. Ha! Ha!

Xxxxxxx

Spectrum Noir Pencils

Happy Friday all

What could be better, It's Friday, the sun is shinning

and i have just  received my complete set of 

Spectrum Noir pencils from C&C.

I love blendable pencils, i have the Polychromos ones

as you will probably know already.

But after seeing the fab pencils from Spectrum Noir on 

TV last week i had to give in and order them.

Well they were a very good price.

 You can download a colour chart from the 

website here

I did the A4 blank colour chart so i could colour

it in myself, then i would have a true colour copy for matching.

I did have one little problem i discovered that i had

two of the same colour in my essentials tin. That meant i was

missing one colour so i emailed  Crafters Companion and they said

they would mail me the missing pencil.

It hasn't arrived yet, but they couldn't have been more helpful.

Watch this space.

The first thing i wanted to do was to colour on Kraft card

they had some samples on kraft which looked great

so i wanted to give it a go.

Here's the result of a bit of playing last night.

Wow

I'm impressed

The colour goes on and blends beautifully.

I do feel i need a bit more practise on the 

skin to make it stand out more, but no I'm 

really happy with the results.

I used Crafters Companion Kraft card

and inked it up with vintage photo distress ink.

Handmade Coffee filter paper flowers. 

( I so need to make more).

Leaves are from a Crealies die.

Stamp i have used is Tilda with cherries in basket

 it's an older stamp but I'm going to make a point of using them more,

I keep buying new ones and the old ones seem to get forgotten about.

I can't tell you where the papers are from, i found this in my bits draw

and thought i would go perfectly.

Tim Holtz sentiment tag.

Lace from stash.

Well would you believe it the postie has just been

and my missing pencil has arrived.

You can't beat that for good customer service.

Thanks for stopping by and have a fab

weekend 

I'm off for another play with my pencils.

xxxxx

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I've had a little play

 The Postie also brought this little
beauty.
xxx

Tilda stamp storage technique

Hi all hope you are well,

I've been a bit poorly with 

Man Flu!!!!!

I couldn't actually take to my bed to recover

until this weekend you know how it is when your

a busy mum.

I have done absolutely nothing this weekend and

boy do i feel better for it.

Anyhow passing my craft desk i noticed i

still hadn't got round to laminating my new Tilda's

that arrived last week.

Which got me thinking, i don't think i have ever shared

how i store my stamps.

 (forgive me if i have my minds still a bit flu foggy.)

But here goes anyway.

I stamp the images onto spare paper

and write the name of the stamp

next to it and colour them in.

Then i roughly cut them out.

Then place them along with the card that came with the 

stamp into a laminating pouch.

 With the laminating machine warmed up

i put the piece to be laminated in the paper folder

then through the machine

There you have it

and the stamp clings to the back

I keep them in 3 draws, i love these plastic draws

you can keep adding to them as your stash grows

i could probably get one more set before i hit the ceiling lol.

As all my stamps have a picture on them i

find it a lot easier to flick through and find the one i want.

As you can see i have a few Tilda's,

i bet it's not as many as some of you out there.

She can be a bit addictive!

 

I hope you enjoyed looking at how i store my stamps.

Thanks for stopping by 

xxxxxx

In the garden

 Hi all here are a few snaps i took in the garden 

yesterday

 I love this time of year

 All the flowers are making an appearance

 But they are not to over grown

 A sea of Forget-me-nots

 The smell of Apple Blossom

 The wild life fighting to survive

(I think this was a wood pigeon)

 Favourite nesting material

(they weren't to keen on the wool ends i put out last year)

 Wild flower patch coming to life

 Sweet peas in can't wait!

 Time for tea

And some hooky fun

(yes i know, yet another cushion on the go.

What can i say, watch this space).

xxxxx