Autumn decoration

October is the start of the crafting season - in my life anyway as Christmas isn't far away.  And a change of season is the cue to bring out my autumn decorations.  It seems this autumn's must have is the white mini pumpkin.  They are in all the most beautiful Instagram photos.  I think they may be called Mini Boos but they haven't reached us up here in North Wales.  So I thought to make my own.  Its an easy crochet pattern I found at Plant June and you can make two or three in an evening - well, perhaps crochet one evening and put together the next.  June crocheted her stalks and so did I previously, but for my little white Boos I used a small stick from the garden or a cinnamon stick and a die cut felt leaf hot glued in place.

Next I stitched acorns using this pattern from Tatiana Maximenko.  You might have seen I used her pattern for the mushrooms I photographed for my last post.  Tatiana's patterns are beautiful, simple and photographed in detail to help you in your sewing.  Her stitching is perfect and I must admit it needs time and patience to achieve anywhere near the same results. I need to try a few more as, of course, practise makes perfect - well as perfect as I can get.

My last project was somewhat easier to execute.  I was looking through my pile of Landscape magazine back issues for a cake recipe I remembered - I thought last year.  But I was distracted by the cover of a winter issue featuring decorations using Honesty seedpods.  I'd collected the dried pods earlier in the summer and they were stored in my shed waiting to have their seeds saved for next year.  I sacrificed a few to make these lovely window decorations.  I stuck the seeds to the "silver pennies" with a dot of liquid craft glue and then used the same to glue them into a flower shape.  When the sun shines through the window they light up!

Have you ever noticed the seedpods are three layers thick.  There is a stronger outer layer and inside is the silvery tissue paper thin layer with seeds on each side.  Such a clever design!  Its quite easy to peel the layers apart with your fingers and of course easy for the winds of autumn to separate those layers too and fling the seeds far and wide.  Isn't nature amazing.

It's about time......

You know what I'm going to say.... it's about time I updated my blog! Summer has reached its peak and the season is due for a change! Last year was all about turning the jungle outside my back door back into a garden after almost 20 years of neglect. This year my handy handyman suggested the tumbledown shed could be cleared away and a new one built in its place. I quite liked the extremely "distressed" look of what was obviously once a wash-house but after a bit of persuasion I agreed.

And now its all but finished I have to admit I'm very pleased with it and am enjoying having a place to store all the junk that used to live outside my backdoor. And I really like the fact that its been cobbled together with a door found in a reclaim yard for £10, windows are second hand from someone who had had replacements,  the roof changed from corrugated iron to perspex to make the most of evening light, and the corrugated iron put to use as the back wall.

Someone sometime had painted this pretty floral decoration on the door - I would love to know where it came from.

I bought the gorgeous red geraniums from an NGS open garden we visited in July and have even bought some coloured solar lights after vowing I would never go in for garden lighting! But that's okay as they are inside the shed!

At the end of July I met up with my sister in Amsterdam for a short break. We took our lives in our hands walking about the city centre trying to avoid being run down by the bikes, scooters, cars and trams all vying for space on the busy streets.  Much more to my taste, we visited the great windmills at Zaanse Schans, a sort of open air museum, where we also watched clogs being made, resisted buying a pair (!) and bought cheese instead.

Then August has been all about gadding about with my sister visiting from Germany.  We managed a trip out on most days of her visit - we're very lucky to have many places worth visiting close enough for a half day trip. These are just a few.

A dash to the coast to watch the sunset. We found an escaped kite on the shoreline and got it into the sky again. We gave it to a passing family who after a bit of practice, also got it flying.

Port Sunlight in Cheshire was a lovely day out. So many beautiful houses to admire and a wander around the Lady Lever Art Gallery to admire some of my favourite Pre-Raphalite paintings.

And on a warm sunny afternoon we wandered about the beautiful garden at Nantclwyd y Dre, an ancient house restored and open to the public here in town. The garden is a work in progress being recreated by volunteers. Could have stayed there all day!

So with all this roaming around I haven't been that creative. However with Autumn on the way and Christmas looming in the distance I think I'd better start thinking about it!!!

But I haven't completely stayed away from my beloved sewing machine and my hooks. There are always gifts that need making. This one was for my new tablet that had to be bought after the BBC decided not to support iPlayer on my Kindle anymore. I can't manage without iPlayer in the evenings when I need to be at my Mother's house.

I made these two covered notebooks for my sister and her friend who both need to be planning for their retirements. It will be here before they know it - like it was for me!!

And I hooked this summery scarf for a friend's birthday. It was a total copy of one an Instagram friend posted on her feed. I just loved the style and yarn she had used so I'm hoping she thinks imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

And one more photo - I learned how to make these origami flowers and gave them as another birthday gift. Very easy but rather time consuming.

There have been other makes too of course since I last posted, but this will do for now. Its time to look forward not backward and there is much to do!

Harbingers of Spring

I posted this on my facebook page today in the hope that winter really is gone. However in the UK we all know we could easily face snow storms or torrential rain or inch thick ice tomorrow or the day after or next week or even next month. But its nature and our gardens that convince us Spring really is springing.

I've been using some spring-like colours to crochet too.  I don't usually make much for babies or young children but I read a blog post about what sells at craft fairs and it seems baby makes are popular so I thought I'd try a few items. I found the pattern for these pretty rattles and balls in Greta's Etsy shop ATERGcrochet. I used Petra No3 crochet cotton and bought some rattle inserts on ebay.

Afriend said she would love a jar full of the flower rattles for her windowsill but they are rather time consuming to make - all those colour changes - so it wouldn't be practical time and price wise to make them in large enough numbers to fill vases - if you know what I mean.

Of course you could simplify by using fewer colours and I might try one to see how it works out. On a practical note, I would love to have jingle bells inside instead of a rattle but I haven't been able to find any inserts small enough or make something suitable. If anyone knows of a supplier of jingle bell inserts about an inch square do let me know.

A Little Free Stitchy Time

I saw these little fabric trays at A Spoonful of Sugar and thought they would be just right for my Mum's 91st birthday as she is rather untidy by the bedside, with sweets, medication, pens, headache sticks, inhalers, tissues, biscuits, etc, etc, etc, jumbled all over the bed and bedside table. At least the very small items could be gathered in a couple of these.

I tried a patchwork one for variety and then I thought these small fabric spaces were the perfect spot for a little free motion stitching. I took a couple of classes earlier in the spring and really should practise and build on what I learned there. I tried a couple of floral motives and really started enjoying the stitching instead of being rather afraid of lowering those sewing machine teeth!

I like how they turned out so now I'm going to move on to some other motifs - birds, apples, pears and cherries are calling to me!  And Mum liked her gift and is at least putting some of her bits and bobs in them.  We'll see how long that lasts!  I crocheted a jam jar cover for her pens and pencils too as she's a great crossword fan and can never find a pen!

 

Daffs for March and Marie Curie

Last year I was organised enough to make and sell daffodil brooches in time for St David's Day on 1st March and was able to donate £85 to Marie Curie and MacMillan cancer charities.  But this year it just didn't happen.  However Marie Curie's Wear a Daffodil in March fund raiser goes on for the rest of the month so I've made a few anyway. 

I normally just sell through my Facebook page and locally to friends and family but just in case anyone that reads this would like one just let me know.  £2.00 covers postage and £1.50 goes to the appeal.  Leave a comment or email on annhayes2008@gmail.com.

Vintage Finds & March Remembered

I was pleased to find this box of crochet coasters in a charity shop recently.  Now crochet coaster patterns seem quite popular in blogland and on Pinterest but they always seem rather impractical to me as they are bound to get stained in use and frequent laundering would spoil them.  So I've turned these into my favourite craft fair/gift item, scented sachets or pincushions.  I cut out hessian squares just a bit bigger than the coasters and attached them with invisible stitches.  I put some scented drawer sachets from M&S inside which were made from thick perfumed paper, then added in polyester stuffing and a button to make a pillow shape.  This has made a very practical pincushion I think as the paper stops pins and needles disappearing inside the cushion.  And for some reason the coconut scent of the paper mixed with the smell of the hessian is very pleasant.

I put together my March review scrapbook page this morning - it does seem that I've done a lot of crocheting in the last 4 weeks.  And if anyone who bought my Daffodil brooches is reading this (yes, I mean you Baukje!) and hasn't seen my Facebook page, I crocheted 77 daffodils and made £105 for my two cancer charities.  I'm happy with that but it doesn't seem much when compared to the no make-up selfie that managed to raise £8 million for cancer research in just a couple of days!!!!!  But as the saying goes (though I hate to say it myself) "every little counts"!

Cute & Easy Crochet

I often turn to my craft books and Pinterest boards for inspiration when there's a craft fair coming up but do worry about using someone else's idea for profit - even if its with raising money for charity in mind.  I love these little purses I found in Nicki Trench's book Cute & Easy Crochet - they would be perfect for my stall, but there's that guilt feeling in the back of my mind again!

However I spied a similar comment on Nicki's facebook page and to my delight found that she has very generously given permission to sell her designs in return for a small one-off Product Selling Fee.  Yipee!  I can feel completely comfortable making these for my stall now.  I have tweeked the pattern a bit.  I found I coudn't make a neat buttonhole fastening so have changed to large press studs or magnetic fasteners.  And if the lining fabric I've chosen is a bit thin I back it with fusible interfacing to make a sturdier purse that would perfectly protect a mobile phone. 

Using odd balls of Aran yarn from my stash produces slightly random sized purses but I rather like that as different folks will want to use them for different purposes. 

Note:  There is one proviso from Nicki - you can only make up to 100 items from any one pattern.  Hmm, can't imagine that will be a problem for me! :o)

Down by the Riverside

There's much to do in the house and in the garden but I've been itching to go walking in the fields since the good weather arrived at the weekend.  So I skived off for an hour or so this afternoon.  The river banks have been "tidied up" by the council in this field, as you can tell by the piles of wood chippings left at regular intervals.  This has rather spoiled the footpath as although you can't see in this photo, the ugly industrial buildings and council yards along the opposite bank are much in evidence now they are no longer screened by trees and undergrowth.

These three little chaps were certainly on a mission to get from A to B as quickly as possible!  I kept overtaking them as they dallied now and then in the shallows, but in next to no time they were there again paddling away as fast as they could. 

There's nothing as spring-like and sunshiny as a Celandine - they are like little candles lighting up the hedgerows.

I love to see a ploughed field all ready for planting.  I wonder what will grow here this year.

You know its a good day when you can see the moon lit up by the sun.  Its been evident in the daytime sky for the past three days.

And the sky has been that intense blue you only get in the colder months of the year.  Worth a little frost at night don't you think!

For the rest of the week I've promised myself I'll spend all the time I can tidying up the ravages of the winter and recent storms in the garden but I'm glad I couldn't resist the call of the fields today.

And I have been a bit productive too.  These little corsage brooches I made with Mothers Day in mind.  I found the pattern in Nicki Trench's book Crochet with Flowers.  If you like Nicki's patterns as much as I do you might be interested to know she has recently started a Crochet Club.  I thought we would be getting an exclusive pattern every month and special offers on yarn etc but today I was delighted to find out we will be receiving the yarn to make this month's pattern too - a small corsage similar to this one.  There's still time to join and get the pattern and yarn yourself if you are quick.  :)

Remembering February

Oh dear, very late again I've created my February digital page.  These pages are really just for me to remember my year but making myself post them here does at least mean I get them done before December!  This is my third year of creating monthly review pages and I do so enjoy looking back at 2012 and 2013 that I really wish I'd started earlier - 2000, the new millenium would have been good but I can't see that happening now!

Anyway, St David's Day and the daffodil brooch project kept me very busy in the run up to 1st March and I'm very happy to report that so far I have raised about £90 for cancer charities selling my brooches.  I still have a few orders coming in so I'm carrying on through March in support of the Marie Curie Daffodil appeal.  If any of my lovely blog readers would like a brooch just leave me a comment. 

Daffy Down Dilly

Its St David's Day on Saturday next here in Wales and I've been busy with my crochet hook and our national flower - the daffodil.  When I was little we were more likely to make paper leeks, the other emblem of Wales.  They were easy - a roll of white paper crayoned green at the top, fringed carefully with a scissors and attached to your jumper with a safety pin.  We made them in school and there was usually an Eisteddfod too. 

I don't know whether its coincidence but the Macmillan Cancer Support charity, whose emblem is also the daffodil, usually has a fund raising period at this time of year - is it just in Wales?  I don't know.  However a couple of people asked whether I would be making daffodils following on from my Remembrance Sunday poppy making marathon last year.  And I thought why not.   I've made about 30 so far, which will make a nice little sum for the charity if they are all sold.

And luckily the earliest daffs in the garden have decided its time to come out too - always a joyful sight.  It won't be long before every town and village in the UK is decorated with daffodils on verges and roundabouts but the first in my garden are always special and are duly recorded with my camera.

Nordic/FairIsle Shawl Finished!

I've finished my Nordic Shawl - I was hoping to finish it during our short break away two weeks ago but it didn't happen.  I found the shawl pattern on Annette's gorgeous blog My Rose Valley and it seems to have become rather an obsession with many crocheters.  I'm a bit obsessed myself and am already planning my next shawl.

The original pattern uses double knit but I was determined I was not going to buy yarn for my shawl as my stash mountain is threatening to take over my small craft room!  But I didn't have enough of anything suitable to be the main colour, ie 250gms.  So I decided to make my shawl using this vintage 2ply fair isle wool I bought some years ago in a charity shop.  Its a lovely silvery grey - but of course is much finer than double knit!

So I had to add lots of extra rows and stitches to the pattern - which in case you need to know, was absolutely no problem at all apart from it taking a lot more time to complete my shawl.  The colours for the striped panel were also skeins of various 2ply and 3ply yarns I've collected.

 

 

So I'm rather pleased with my shawl - its a cosy extra layer to put on when I'm sitting still crafting either over my shoulders or on my knees, and I'm very glad I went with the vintage yarn option.  My next shawl will be in double knitting however and I have a summery version in mind. 

Do take a look at Annette's blog - even if you are not a fan of crochet it will make your mouth water!