The Terrible Twins!

Let me introduce you to Onslow and Oswald the terrible twin monkeys!!
They have their knitted jumpers, hats and scarfs on as it is getting very cold and they were getting goose bumps.
With their little watches on they are never late!

                                

                                                            Best mates as well as brothers!

Quirky Cushion

Finally finished the Quirky cushion cover that was in the pipe line. I used some material for the backing that was bought from Dunhelm Mill, which is a heavier weight of material, it has also added a bit of texture which I rather like.

Here is the cover before it was stuffed.

              Some close up. I have embroidered some flowers at the windows of some of the houses.

                                     And the back which is done in an envelope style.                    

            

           Tis nice and cheerful and makes me smile.....I baggsy the long tall building cos you can put g'kids up there and wouldn't hear them! lol  


                                                     And now onto the next project!!

Peek a boo!

Here's a peek at something that I'm making at the moment. Hopefully it will be finished by the weekend and then if it's turned out right, will show you then. (Tis a bit bright white as it was taken at night with a flash!)

Quirky Quilt Patch

What does one do when the electric is switched off for the whole day?(We were given prior warning that the power would be off due to repairs)
  Normally  that day would have been filled with cooking, cleaning, ironing, washing etc etc.......NOT! haha
 But I was going to use the sewing machine. Still not one to be outwitted I carried on with my knitted quilt which only requires me and two needles! But I had to make a label for when it's finished....eventually..... probably next year.
So here is the label.....

Yep a little house....did you think it would be anything else!!! It's not been ironed yet. And it will go on the end of this (the photo is picking up the wrong shades of green) It's been hand appliqued so took ages. I have to say it looks really nice in real life. This house has some window boxes full of flowers and some apples growing on the tree.

It is a nicer green than the photo, more like the small patch in the first photo.

                                                                         Close Up

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

There are quite a few patches to go....or until I run out of the wool as I wont be able to get any more. Lots of different patterns, some of which are my own and some are taken from the book '200 patchwork blocks'. It's taking me back to when I used to do lots of knitting for the children (in the olden days!) and some of  the patterns that I would have used. Oh well, the electric has been re-connected so no excuse to sit about :0D

                                                                                        

                                                              

Pin Cushion

Well me dearies, what with itchy fingers needing to make something and not having a pin cushion, thought it would be a good idea to make me one! So out comes all the scraps and I thought it would be a good idea to quilt the top....well it wasn't as 1) it was to thick to stick me pins in and 2) the wretched machine wouldn't do free embroidery. Why I don't know as it was fine when I did the other projects so was a bit miffed I can tell you!

Next one I do will not be padded and then the corners will be a lot crisper.

Anyway it had to be a Quirky House didn't it! haha

Bottles

You may remember the bottles that Head Honcho dug up in the garden back in May, well I thought they  lacked a certain something and were a bit boring (and one was rather cracked, which happened when I dropped it after being in the ground all that time without a scratch!) So found some old fashioned labels copyright free to print out.

As the round bottle is a poison bottle that got the danger label. The ingredients that is on the label to the left is enough to make you keel over AND you can give it to babies 1 month old!! Hopefully they no longer produce that particular medicine. haha.

Tis a monkey!

Yep, havn't put a monkey post up for a little while so I can't have that! :0P
Hot off the press is Maureen Monkey

She has monkey faces and bananas all over her. Her bag is to put some more bananas in!

A bit of cross stitch

I'm further on with my large cross stitch than I thought I would be, mainly due to using a blue washable pen to mark out the lines in blocks so mistakes are easily picked up. Having finished more or less 3 pages out of 9 so am pleased with that. Although it is still going to be one of those projects that you amble along on so not an overnight whiz!

 At the moment it doesn't look much but I hope it turns out as nice as the other one that I did in the same series.

Mojo returning.....hopefully!

I hope the loss of the crafting mojo was just a blip! I fancied making something a bit more subdued and feminine than I have been doing of late, and fortunately had the material in my stash.

 Making some sort of pattern and cutting it out. As you might be able to tell the buff coloured fabric is linen, and doesn't it crease but so lovely to sew.

 Finished product, which I'm fairly pleased with as all the patches actually meet in the middle! Yep, there is a little house....well had to put one in didn't I. (It was either that or a monkey haha) This time for the applique house I turned the edges in and slipped stitched all the house.

                                                              Close Ups

                                                       

                                          For the edge binding I put the linen with the pattern and
                                          pattern with the linen which looks really nice in real life.

                                           The back is a simple slip on with no buttons (which
                                           means no button holes!!)

For the front I gently eased some wadding in half so that the patchwork and quilting has a slightly padded effect. With the cushion inserted the linen looks so much better.

Even daughter was impressed and she doesn't do pink! I have an urge to do some more cushions, I've got some ideas for some different mottos to embroider on.....watch this space!

A boquet of button flowers!

There seems to be a lot of button boquets about on peoples blogs so I thought that as I have a box full of buttons and the other equipment to hand....give it a go. Great to find inspiration on others blogs.

This minature vase of flowers was made from shirt buttons, pearls and paper, then twisted with florist wire. The mini vase was the one shown a few posts back that Head Honcho had dug up from the garden. It's so tiny, what could it have been used for?

The pound coin shows how small it is. The buttons must have been in my button box for the last 40 years!

The label is just a stick on one, with coffee painted on around the edges to make it look older, and with it saying Petite Flowers finished off with a bit of ribbon string.

In situ. Most suprised that HH even thought it looked cute! Now the other bottles are bigger and one of them says poisonous on the side (they are those pale green ones) so will need to think about what to do with them, bigger boquet maybe?

A bit of activity in the kitchen

I thought I would try out a way of preserving the carrots and beans that were grown in the garden as the freezer was rather full. Having heard about salting beans and that sounded pretty easy, but, why not carrots as well. So mixed plenty of salt with water (no weighing involved!) and sterilized the jars. These two have been in a dark cupboard for nearly two months. I'm going to keep them for a few more months and then have a taste (after much rinsing!) If it works it would be a good way to store food and leave more freezer space for other things.

p.s. They were put in the jars uncooked. Will let you know the outcome.

Mojo lost

Have had a bit of a lull in the crafting side of things :0(
Have tried 2 different things (not saying what!) and neither have so far turned out right and I don't have the oomph to correct them as yet.

On a better note I have knitted a few more squares for the blanket so now upto 26 blocks, still a loonng way to go tho.
So no pictures to put up.....maybe it's the overcast weather making it hard to get going! Do others have the same problem?

Cute things for the house

When we went for our rellie visiting trip I mentioned that we went to the shops (and more shops!) and my favourite shop now for bits and bobs is Wilkinsons. This little bird  was £2 and the 3 drawer cupboard  £3. It's a handy size for storing those small bits that you don't know where to put! Also got this matching home sign for £2. The colours are a light sagey green and the birdie is a lime green. Bargains!!
They are housed on the mantlepiece now. I still havn't seen a Wilkes in Scotland, although I know they are on-line but there is nothing like seeing items in real life!

Chalk Pictures

A whiley ago my daughter was into 'painting' with pastels. So she encouraged me to have a go. I think the photo is a lot better than the actual picture! I have to say tho it's quick, but pastel dust everywhere! I did it on a left over peice of black thick paper. I sprayed some  hairspray to try and set it without it making any difference.

Was a lovely sunny day today, in fact probably better than some summer days we had. lol. So did a much needed clear up of some of the garden. Got a load of bulbs to put in as well, so hopefully it will be sunshine tomorrow as well.

knitted blanket

Whilst I was away the other week, this is another crafty thing that I started. I had bought the book
'200 knitted Blocks' by Jan Eaton. Inspired by these squares I made about 20 inbetween visiting/shops & etc. There are easy blocks and some for the more advanced knitter. I did make some of my own patterns up as well so it's is a right mixed bunch of patterns. The wool is just cheapo acrylic from QD I think. But I love the colours which are apple green and raspberry red.

I have a long way to go as I should imagine that at least 100 + are needed to make a good size blanket to snuggle into when it's really cold. Can you line it with a cotton backing tho to make it neat at the back? Well I will cross that line when I get to it, plenty of knitting to do yet!

Although the books title says 200 blocks there isn't 200 different patterns but different colourways are included. (I did know this as the reviews were very helpful) but nevertheless I thought it is a nice little book.








200 knitted blocks

Felt mat

You may remember this

Putting a toe into felt making, then came to a standstill and it was put to oneside for a year.
But it has come out of the dark drawer and I had a play around and did some freehand embroidery on my Tesco sewing machine. It has been hammered that machine and can't believe it's still going strong. (I have blown a few up in the past including a Bernina!)

 First of all I went around all the hearts in matching thread. Then freehand with blue thread on the green and green thread on the blue. Afterwards with a darker blue thread went around and around the hearts to make them stand out. The actual felt is quite thick, I think I didn't roll it enough to get a thinner fabric. Somebody did suggest making it into a notebook cover but it would have been to thick and is not pliable. (thanks for that I did take it on board)
My camera will not pick up the red's properly as it's not as pink as shown but more red.

                       Close up                             

Finished mat. The binding and back is a very zingy lime green and looks fab with the other colours. (Showing more of an apple green here).
There is now a vase a flowers on top of it on the windowsill. Shall I do some more felt making? Well ya never know as I still have some bits left over...so watch this space!
p.s. You can see the colour difference in  the various photos, that's my camera for you, sometimes OK and other times grrrr. The nearest colours to the real thing is the second photo down.

Monkey Cards

I think I mentioned before that I very rarely do cards. (I am in awe of all those card makers out there, they come up with such brilliant designs) Anyway being as I'm a monkey fan, (as you might have gathered!) couldn't resist these little critters. Now what to do with them? On my blog hops I stumbled on 'It's all fiddle fart' and her amazing cards. And so took inspiration from there and come up with these. Really pleased with how they come out and they can be used for all sorts of occasions. The poorly one says inside 'hang in there'. Out of the package I got 8 cards in total so was extremely pleased.

 I had some googly eyes in my stash so copied Fiddle Farts idea on adding them to give a more 3D look.

 I added the branches for them to swing on and the sentiments and I think they look pretty OK!

The insides have I left blank so that whatever the occasion I have a card for it!!

Found lead & here is Trevor

I honestly did search the suitcase three times and the lead wasn't in it. But before putting it up in the loft (until our next adventure)  Head Honcho found it in one of the little zippy compartments. Can't understand that, must be loosing my marbles a bit quicker than I thought!

So here is one thing I created whilst whiling the time away in Travel Lodge inbetween travels. He is called Trevor the Travel bug. (was going to call him Trevor the Travel Lodge Bug but thought might get into trouble with them...,insinuating their rooms aren't upto scratch :0D )

Now this is was inspired by the MSE knitting thread and the very clever Orkneystar showed a little kiwi bird she had knitted from a pattern (oops sorry I cant remember off hand who originally created it, if I do will insert so can give credit) Now Orkney can knit on 4 needles but I have never done that but thought good opportunity to have a go in hotel. Packed the required 4 needles then couldn't understand why I couldn't get past the first casting on row of 4 stitches! So gave up on that and did with 2 needles and winged it so needless to say it took a life on of it's own and because the head was mishapen somewhat and as he was a tad chilly, I kindly knitted him a hat and scarf.


Then of course he looked a bit funny without any arms (the pattern didnt have any but that's when it's done properly and looks great) so he got some flippers, couldn't do the feet properly so he got some flipper feet as well!! Yes, he has got one eye bit bigger than the other! The beak has been chopped of instead of the long elegant one he should have had. When he was finished I realised what I had done wrong in the first place.....I didn't use double ended needles, how daft am I.  (you needn't answer that)

Anyway he makes me smile and is looking down at me from the mantelpiece reminding me of Travel Lodge and the deep south....(and lots of shops!)

Here he is tucked up in the caravan that we later transferred to. So really he is a very, very, very distant cousin of the original! And he does look like a bug which you would see under a microscope rather than a kiwi bird :0D

Edit to add here is the REAL thing;   http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/kiwi-3

Back home

Hello fellow bloggers, back again from deep down south!
Once more my camera lead has gone missing so cant post any photos (don't worry they arn't loads of my holiday ones!!)
So will get upto date when I find said lead.

Felting

I had a brain storm last year and had a go at felt making. This is my first and only project. The hearts are  more reddy pink than pink pink if you see what I mean! It's a bit thick so maybe it wasn't rolled enough in hot water. Havn't the foggiest idea what to do with it at the moment. Will have a go doing some free hand embroidery on the top and see what that turns out like.

 This will be a last post for a little while as going awol and not attached to a computer.....sigh. Never mind am taking plenty of crafty projects and you never know might have something to show when I get re-attached!