Quilt Love

I thought I'd just give a quick update on the craft swap with FromTwelveToTwoFifteen... well as planned last Sunday I quickly popped over to where she was staying, dodging rain showers and traffic in town and we happily swapped blankets! Very happily! I was so eager to see the patchwork quilt she had made for Little P after seeing photos of it on her blog... It did not disappoint!

It's so bright and cheerful and each and every fabric is lovely - I like just sitting and looking at them all and how well they work together! 

It certainly is a feast for the eyes. It's so soft and squishy too. My favourite part is the edging...

and how it works so well with the fabric on the back. Amazing. I wouldn't know where to start when making one of these but I'm so glad Maddy does! Little P also loves it too. She spotted it as soon as she walked in and promptly made herself a bed on the floor with it and asked it she could sleep under it all night. I like it because it is just the right amount of 'girl'... It's not covered in pink, pink, pink, but it's definitely a little girl's blanket! Love it! So glad we did the swap! Here's a look at some of the fabrics...

It will definitely be a Forever Quilt... so thank you so much FromTwelveToTwoFifteen! 

I've been getting on with new crochet projects since the completion of the big granny square blanket. It didn't take long at all to get inspired for new things, and with plenty of babies on the way again (not my own!) why not start with a baby project? Something not quite so big as the last project!

I'm not usually a fan of baby yarns. Don't get me wrong, I love the softness and squishiness, but it's the colour palette available that gets me. Pale pink. Pale blue. Yellow. White. That's it. I like bright and vibrant colours usually. But it just so happens that the idea I had for my latest yarny venture called for these colours. After looking at my own stash and realising I did not have the correct colour combination available, it seemed only natural to order more yarn. What else? After scouting about the internet for various colour combinations and yarn weights, I settled on Lion Brand Baby's First - a chunky weight cotton blend yarn in just the right colours for what I wanted. I do love cotton and cotton blends! 

So it is essentially pink, blue and yellow - traditional baby colours, but the blue is more 'teal-ish' and the pink is a bit stronger than many baby pinks. It's so lovely and squishy and nice to work with - it can split a bit but as long as you pay attention it's fine. Also being chunky weight, it works up really quickly, and I'm almost done! The only downside of this yarn is that it is only available in 9 colours - all quite pale and babyish. It would be awesome if it was available in a range of bright colours too, I would use it loads.

It's been a dull rainy week here in my part of the world. Except yesterday which was a scorcher. I've been papping in the garden again whilst Little P runs around playing. I soon know when she gets bored of me taking pictures as she tries to put her hand in every picture! Loads more daylilies out in the garden, but one of my fave plants, my Pineapple Lily (Eucomis bicolour) is in flower and looking great...

I have also had a stamp carving session but will show more of that when I finish the rest of it, but now I'm going to head off and try and squeeze in a bit of crochet before Little Lady returns, so until next time...

The Crafty Swap

You may remember that once upon a time I mentioned a craft swap I'm doing with Maddy of From Twelve to Two Fifteen... well the time is almost upon us to complete the task and swap creations. Tomorrow is the day, I'll venture over to see her whilst she is back in the UK and present her with what has been a mammoth project over the last few months... the giant granny square blanket.
Firstly I was building up piles and piles of brightly coloured granny squares made from lovely yarn - Mostly Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran with some RICO Essentials Soft Merino Aran thrown in to complete the colour palette.
This...

Became this...

which have eventually become this...

I have to admit I love it, and this picture doesn't really do it justice at all. There are 100 granny squares (made using Attic 24's Summer Garden Granny Square pattern) and they are all joined in one continuous motion using this method  by Babylove Brand which I found very easy to follow! It actually all joined together quicker than I thought, and I will definitely be joining future granny square blankets in this way. Revelation. I have really enjoyed this project, and will miss it somewhat. I've had endless evenings of crocheting random colour squares and then the privilege of combining them to make a blanket which I hope will be greatly received. I have already had a preview of the quilt made for Little P, as Maddy finished a while back and posted about it here... I have 'borrowed' a pic off her blog to show it off, but will no doubt take more photos when we receive it tomorrow!

Isn't it super lovely? Sewing is really not a craft I know a lot about, so I can't even imagine the work that went into this, but I know it will be huge amounts since it has been dubbed 'the forever quilt'! I know Little Lady will love it and spend many hours using it in her games and snuggling under it... as will I.

Here's a few more pics of the blanket, before I part with it... I think it deserved a montage...

and another full-body shot...

and a little look at it all packaged up...

and a close-up of that super little detail...

Yep, personalised wooden buttons bought for me by my trusty friend Curly Girl Coop... the perfect detailing to finish it off!

So there was an enormous cavern left where the blanket once filled my evenings... but not for long. It seems it's baby time again... it always seems to come in gluts, 3 babies due close together, then none for months! So I'll be back on baby crafting for a bit, and see what else takes my fancy. I also still have the 'As We Go Stripy Blanket' which I started work on months ago but it went on the back-burner when the BIG granny blanket came along. I did find time last weekend to figure out and type up a pattern for a square I created last year (or maybe actually the year before that) as I have been asked a couple of times recently for a pattern for it. I have titled it 'The Popcorn Flower Square' and it can be found from a link at the top of the page or by simply clicking here.

I've also been enjoying the glorious sunshine over the last week, and have had lots of lovely days with my Little P, including trips to the park and beach. We took a day trip to Southwold earlier this week, which was great fun. Always such a lovely place to visit. I particularly love the shot of Little Lady wandering along the pier...

I've had great fun also playing with my camera, and trying to snap some nice shots of the nature around me. There are plenty of flowers in the garden to practice on, since I went overboard on my daylily collection a few years back! They are great plants, the flowers may only last a day but there are so many of them, staggered throughout the summer months. Here are a few of my faves...

I also found myself a teeny weeny baby cactus from a local exotic plant nursey, and look forward to watching him grow!

My cacti and succulent collection is coming along nicely... Now I realise I do have a few collections going on... ooops.

I also made it out into the countryside again with the Little One and spotted a few more of those Six-Spotted Burnet moths I took a photo of before. I managed to get close up this time and I am pretty proud of the photo I got...

Look at him drinking! I love it!

Right, got to go, I'm continuing on a new project and having a well deserved cup of tea. I shall update you all on the craft swap in due course! So until next time...

Priorities

When I embarked on this journey into Blogland, I had great ambitions. I would blog weekly. I would have lots of photos. I would design lots of new things and share them with the world. I would give anyone who took time to read my blog a little insight into the life of me. Weekly became fortnightly. Fortnightly became monthly, and now it is just when I get the chance to sit and organise myself.
Blogging is something I very much enjoy, and think about a lot. I am always thinking of what I'll write, taking pictures and organising them. But actually taking the time to down write has fallen down my priorities list somewhat - until now, when I find myself waiting for the super-late England match to kick off!
Anyone with a high-maintenance 3 year old will know that they will take up most of your time, and energy. Often when I finally get her to bed, I'm ready to hit the sack too. It's not just physical exhaustion, it's the mental too. Questions all day long, good ones too. Why is asked for everything. Why do apples float? Why why why... by the end of the day I have run out of answers!
Of course, I am happy she is inquisitive and asks questions. She's growing up so fast and most of the time is a pleasure (she is very much still a nightmare at other times!) and I love being her Mum and am privileged to spend all the time I do with her.
Spare time gets split between 'boring' household chores and routines and my little bubble of 'being me'. I have been indulging in what makes me happy and what I'm interested in over the last couple of years. Crochet fills a great deal of my creative time... and rubber stamp carving. And lots of other little things I love - music, art, plants, nature, rocks etc... When I sit back and look at my life and the things I have surrounded myself with, I realise I am very happy right now. I love my life - my girl, my family and friends, my hobbies and interests. One interest I have 'indulged' in recently is rocks and minerals... I have always been fascinated by rocks and minerals, the colours, patterns and forms they take on. I love opal... natural opal, not lab created stuff. I love my opal ring, and my Australian boulder opal pendant. I also have a small collection of stones and crystals which I am now able to display on a super shelf!

It is very much inspired by Stone and Violet but made by a friend who takes old wooden pallets and fashions them into furniture. I wondered if he could make smaller items so I dropped him a line and a day later he made the most beautiful mountain shelf! Any local people to me check out Joe's Pallet Wood Furniture Facebook page!
Nature has also been filling my time. Spring is a super time of year, and last year you may remember I was preoccupied with nesting blackbirds in our garden... well this year it has been the turn of the goldfinch. Yep, such a beautiful little bird nested in a small tree outside our lounge window. Great viewpoint! The Little Lady and I spent many an hour sitting at the window chatting and spotting the birds as they were to and fro from the nest. I love her taking an interest too. I even tried some stealth photography to try and capture one of the babies who was peeping out of the nest...

Ahh baby goldfinch and a proud parent. I didn't see them fledge however. They were suddenly gone, but there are quite a few goldfinches about here at the moment so I hope they are doing OK. Last time I spied them, they were sitting right up on the edge of the nest and looked pretty big.
I have been out and about with the camera snapping the beauty that is nature. Here are a couple of my faves:
A single Allium flower opening

A trip to see some wild orchids at a local wildlife reserve was fruitful... there was a field littered with these amazing flowers...

And some strange moths I have never seen before... No idea how I spotted these on a blade of grass in a meadow, but I'm glad I did. I since researched and discovered that they are Six-spot Burnet moths. Who knew?

Obviously crafting has been filling my time. The main project is the ongoing blanket for the craft swap with Maddy (see her lovely blog FromTwelveToTwoFifteen) The granny squares have been piling up...

And today I reached the 100 mark! Then came the laying out and colour planning, and then learning to continuously join the whole lot! I used this tutorial to help me along my way. So far I have 2 rows of 10 joined, and I really like the continuous process... it's easier than I thought it would be so far! More pictures to follow...
I also made a couple of gifts for a little man who entered the world a few weeks ago... It's a friend of my Mum's, so she asked me to make some bunting with his name on, and I made a cute little giraffe toy for him too.

Pattern is that of I Love Buttons by Emma and yarn is a mixture of Sirdar Snuggly Baby Bamboo and King Cole Bamboo Cotton. I love this pattern - it's super easy and it's great fun to use loads of colours, even if the changes are a bind.

And there is the bunting, looking good against the blue sky. I like this bunting -  a very simple pattern by Pink Milk adapted slightly to add a border to it. Finished off with felt letters, as I find they look neater than crocheted ones.

Yarn is Rico Creative Cotton Aran in a variety of colours  - my favourite for making bunting.

Last year I, like hundreds of others, partook in making bunting triangles for Yarndale. I loved being part of a community project, thinking my tiny contribution helped to make an awesome spectacle of bunting strung up around Yarndale. So naturally, when the Yarndale team called for mandala makers, I was of course intrigued. Firtsly, I love the cause - even though I won't be able to make it this year - and secondly, I love mandalas. I have made a few previously and admit that they are totally addictive. I love playing with colour and texture... and just winging it round by round. I turned to my stash of Lily Sugar 'n' Cream, a lovely stiff cotton in amazing bright colours and set to work. Previously my mandalas had been a riot of colour, but this time I fancied sticking to a colour scheme, so I just picked 3 colours that I liked together...

I'm not sure exactly how I made it as I followed a rough pattern but adapted it a fair amount. I am pleased with it, and rather like limiting my colour use sometimes - I think it shows the pattern off a bit more in this case.
I also decided to decorate the packaging up a bit, and to keep it in my style I decided to carve up a couple of mandala stamps. I researched simple mandala patterns and tweaked them to make them suitable for stamp carving. I used jet black StazOn ink and was super pleased with the overall effect...

I also stamped up the back with some Yarndale bunting...

I mounted one of the stamps up and sent it off to Lucy as a little extra gift, as I was quite proud of it!

So that brings me nearly to kick-off time... can I manage to actually stay awake for the match now? I'm not so sure about that! I will try and pop in and post when I can, but blogging is taking very much a backseat at the moment like I said, but it is always at the forefront of my thoughts! So until next time, however long that may be...

Better Late Than Never...

Well, it's been a while (43 days to be precise) since I last sat down and typed up a post. In that time, Christmas has been and gone, and 2014 is in full swing It's been a busy period... but also very enjoyable. Having a little one about the place certainly brings out the festivity in yourself! It feels too late to be talking too much about Christmas, as things are just getting back to normal and into the usual routine, but I have a few photos to show of some of my festive makes - I took these pics way back before Christmas, but haven't had a chance to do much with them!
First up are the cards I made. It's the first time I have made my Christmas cards, and I am pleased to say I will be doing so again. I don't have a huge amount to make so it is pretty manageable. The hardest part is deciding what to do... crochet motifs? stamping? embellishments? I went mainly for printing with lino block shapes, but did have a handful adorned with buttons and pretty papers...

The lino printed selection made from a simple triangle and snowflake shape...

And some fancy button work...

I was pleased with both types of card - I love the low-tech effect of the printing, and the fact it's imperfect... but I also rather like the simplicity and neatness of the paper/button ones. Who knows what I'll create next year?!

I also decided to make some of my tags and wrapping paper (by make, I mean decorate!) I bought a roll of brown wrapping paper and some plain tags in red and brown and a few supplies from The Homemakery to pretty them up. The tags were a mix of washi tapes, stamps and fabric tape. Here's a few of my favourites...

And then there is the wrapping paper... I have discovered a great new creative outlet for myself - stamp carving. Yep, taking blocks of rubber and carving my own stamps ready to print with inks. The possibilities are endless, and I really love it, from the designing phase and carving, right through to the end product. I have been doing a lot of this recently and will write more about it at some point soon. To start with, I carved simple shapes - a Christmas tree was used for the wrapping paper. The rubber used for carving stamps is so much easier than cutting lino blocks. It's more expensive obviously, but well worth it, and normal stamp pads work great, whereas lino blocks need a proper printing ink.
Lino block printing definitely still has a place for certain things, but at the moment rubber stamp carving is where it's at for me! So here is my first attempt at carving a Speedball Speedycarve block (the pink stuff) to make wrapping paper...

I was chuffed with it, and it has sparked a whole new line of interest, bordering obsession, but like I said, more to come another day.

Things have been quiet on the crochet front since Christmas, but the build up was fairly full of it. I promised a picture of my Christmas bunting and star garland in situ - the light is rather poor in the lounge and it never gets better, so I took the best ones I could and brightened them up on my laptop to try and make them look more true to life...

I got quite a few nice comments on the bunting, and have already started on a 'Merry' to hang above it next year. I thought I better start it now so that I have yarn from the same batch and don't forget exactly how I made it, although I'm not exactly into crocheting Christmas things in January!

The stars also looked rather sweet on the fireplace...

It's been a grey few days here, and it's getting colder too... but I did manage to get out and take a couple of photos in the garden. I absolutely love the pinky-white flowers on the Viburnum bushes at this time of year... a little bit of fresh colour in an otherwise bleak garden...

And a couple of others just because...

After a busy Christmas period, it's quite nice to get back into routine. Little P is so much better when she has familiar routine, and everything goes back to functioning that little bit better. I am also back to limited crafting time now, but any time I've had I have been busy designing and making stamps to make some Thank You cards for Little Lady's Christmas presents. They are all made now, and just need writing up at some point! Then I'll probably get back to crocheting (Little P wants a Hello Kitty toy) and showing my stamp carving efforts. But until next time, I must be off - I'm watching Sherlock and it's getting interesting!



Garden Politics

It's been a while again since I last got a chance to write on here, as usual there are many reasons. Little P was a poorly thing for a whole week, and only her Mummy would do - she did not leave my side poor thing. It was sad seeing the usually bubbly little thing so lethargic and miserable. She tried her best to be happy but it wasn't easy! It was a tiring week for us both, and I was so happy when her antibiotics kicked in and she perked up. Now she's back to bouncing around and wearing me out in a completely different way, but one I much prefer!

I'm enjoying this 'free-time' while she is out and about, to sit down in the sun in the garden. Yes, sun. Yesterday it felt like winter again, today it is beautiful. Crazy English weather! But on a nice English summer's day there's nowhere else I'd rather be (well, almost!) 

I've been quite taken by the garden and nature lately, I must be mellowing in my old age. For weeks and weeks, I've watched a pair of blackbirds (dubbed Mr and Mrs B) build a nest in a clematis in the garden. They then disappeared for a few days, and I felt sad that they weren't going to nest in our garden. But then they returned, and she laid eggs and the pair took it in turns to sit on them and guard the nest. It was lovely to see them so close up. Then there were frantic trips in and out of the nest with food, all day long. The chicks had hatched! She continued guarding her territory, dive-bombing and large birds thats entered the vicinity. Yesterday, I came downstairs and opened the blinds, to see two young fluffy blackbirds hopping along after Mrs B in the border at the back of the garden. Wow! They are super cute and  just bundles of fluff really. I then sat and crocheted by the window watching the young fledglings explore their new world. It was amazing to watch, I don't think I've ever really seen baby birds just out of the nest like that before. I did get a little bit obsessed with watching them, but I'm glad I did. Later I went into the garden and heard a bit of a commotion - and then I saw a seagull with a baby bird in it's beak. I was horrified and thought 'nooo, not my babies please?!' 

It turned out to be a baby starling - we have a lot of them nesting in the gutters here. But I was then on fierce seagull/crow patrol. I swear, if one landed near my babies I was going to scare it sooo bad! So, that took up yesterday. I'm happy to be sitting in the garden now, and I can hear them chirping away in the bush. Poor Mr and Mrs B are still working tirelessly to bring them food, and I thought I was a busy mum! In fact, as I've been sitting here typing, one baby has flown right past me on his maiden test flight and landed a couple of metres away from me. Dad was close behing telling him to get back to the nest! He was escorted back promptly, but I can hear him flapping his wings in the bush now - he's eager to be off! The other one doesn't seem quite so adventurous, he's quite happy to be perched up high in the bush and be fed.

I've tried to get photos but I haven't had much luck yet! I have been taking snapshots of the garden springing into life, albeit a bit later this year! I love playing around with my camera and will showcase a few of my faves...

An Erythronium pagoda (Dog's Tooth Violet)...

A special daffodil called 'Pheasant's Eye'...

A type of Muscari (grape hyacinth)...

And a montage of some others I took...

On the crochet front, I'm afraid I don't have too much to show. It's not that I haven't been crocheting my spare time away, it's just all the things I'm making still seem to be gifts and I can't show them yet! There's a big project, a designing project, and as usual, lot's of baby things - why so many babies all at once? 

I can show a couple of the things I've made and given as gifts, as they have been received now (gratefully I hope!) First up was a little fox, made for Little Lady's bestest friend's second birthday. I trawled the internet for something I hadn't made before and that I really wanted to, and came up with foxy - the KISS series Fox by K4TT.

I made him using Sirdar Snuggly Baby Bamboo and a 3.5mm hook, and he worked out quite well I think! He was a bit tricky around his face (constant colour changes) but I love how he turned out. The level of detail in the pattern is amazing, I love the shape of the tail, how it swishes round.

Next up, was a gift for my brother's girlfriend, an avid West Ham United fan. I put my football rivalry to the side and made her a Hammers monster in claret and blue. He is cool, I rather like him! It was the FreshStitches Mr Toothy pattern again - I just love that monster so much!

And a couple of baby gifts to finish up - the 'Chubby Teddy Rattle', a lovely free pattern I found on Ravelry - it's very quick and easy to whip up (I have in fact made 3 as I like them so much!). I used the trusty Baby Bamboo again, it's just so soft for toys and easy to work with. I also purchased a few 'rattles' to put inside. They are little plastic discs which rattle nicely, as I found the bells just don't work - the sound gets muffled and they don't sound too great (if they do sound at all).

I also made a rabbit snuggler for a little lady born in February. Another free, quick and easy pattern I found on Ravelry. It's quite sweet and I like the other choices of animal to make - the owl is very nice!

Finally, another FreshStitches pattern... it's that Alastair the Caterpillar. A very quick and easy project, but very cute. I used Rico Creative Cotton for this as FreshStitches uses Aran (worsted) weight yarn for most of her things, and I didn't want him to turn out tiny!

So that's that for now, I'm going to get back to the sun (it really is quite warm now) and maybe crochet a bit until my little Lady returns, so until next time...