Saturday 26 January 2013

New beginnings

First of all I'd like to introuce a new facebook page, here. Not completely sure if it'll work or if you have to be logged in yourself to see it, if so then please just search for 'a couple of crafters' next time you log in, and click like, if you like :)

Secondly I'm starting a new quilt. It's a bit of an open secret but I'm sure the recipients won't be looking here so should be safe to share!
 Firstly it has to be brown.
Hmm, not really my usual thing but I'll give it  a go.
I've got together a collection of browns and a cream, without putting any pink in! A bit of an achievement fo me but I don't think they'd appreciate it. Ok One of the fabrics has a few pink dots, but very muted, honestly!

The next thing is a pattern. Now I didn't want anything too complicated but I wanted it to be stunning so I thought about the filmstrip pattern I had found online and adapted slightly to make my sister's quilt.

 
Its simple to do and looks great, but I didn't really want to do the same thing again, so I did a search again for images of filmstrip quilts and found one entitled Cathy K's quilt. Its fab, go and have a search for it. I would've put a link but wasn't too sure of the legalities!
 
Anyway I used that as a base then spent a happy hour yesterday morning trying to come up with a pattern, and here it is.
 
 
Well part of it anyway. So far I've worked out I need 42x2" squares of each of the 7 brown fabrics I am using, and you don't want to know how many cream ones!! I'll let you know how it goes!


Wednesday 23 January 2013

Bunting

I've asked around and lots of people thought that my idea of 'loose' bunting was a good one so I've been playing around with it.

I like the way that you can change what it says to suit what you need rather than buying lots of different ones

I like the way its reversible so you can hang it in a window, or from an archway, where both sides will be seen

Anyway, what do you think





Monday 21 January 2013

Crochet crochet crochet

I've become a little obsessed with crochet!
I learned many years ago as a child and can vividly remember teaching myself to make yellow, brown and orange granny squares which I made into a fringed waistcoat! Yes, seriously!! I thought it was FAB. No photos though, sorry :)
Now I have a ripple blanket on the go


as well as a japanese flower scarf

 
 and I'm not happy as I've run out of the yellow yarn for the ripple so can't work on it tonight :(  

Tuesday 15 January 2013

Just a quickie,

Do not look here if you are likely to be distracted!

Loads of lovely things to inspire you so maybe best not to look if like me you have loads of thngs on the go, or in the pipeline!!

At last, I'm posting!!!

I know I've been promising for ages to do this, but better late than never. Here goes.

Lets get some photos of what I have been doing. Firstly the Bethlehem Stitch-along Now, I LOVED doing this, until it came to adding fabric. Lost count of the number of times I rang mum in tears. Perhaps it wasn't the best project for a complete novice to start with. I can hand embroider with no issues, the same with making bags etc out of fabric. But put the 2 together was a bit of a stretch!
This was when the fun stopped for me! LOL!!!
Mine now looks nothing like the original because I had great trouble with the patchwork squares for the boarder. No matter how I measured the seams etc, the blocks just wouldn't measure what they were supposed to. But, to be fair, I do actually love the finished hanging. Unfortunately, it's in the November Box in the loft, so unless I can persuade Chris to do up for me, then the finished photo will have to wait until November!

Next project was to make as many Christmas presents as i could in a bid to save money. Strange how you never actually save money though!

I found a fab cushion pattern on this site www.youcanmakethis.com. I ended up making 11 of these cushions and from the feedback, everyone loved them. Below is 2 of the ones i made. I only made the 2 different sizes but I had to work it out from the name sizes + borders + seam allowance. Again, as a novice, I did struggle (think I cried at mum about these too!!!) with the zips! Boy, they were hard work. In the end I kind of cheated and put them in the middles of the backs instead of at the side where I originally wanted it.


The above Mr&Mrs cushions were made for our parents and my brothers and partners.

I then needed some smaller presents. My husband, Chris is a teacher and he always buys something for his TA and then a little something for the other 2 TAs in the year. For his TA and one of the others, who is more of a friend, I made the Sugar Loaf bags by Lisa Lam.

These made a fab present. Again, I struggled (everything on here seems to be a struggle!!! lol but I do enjoy it) with making this. But I persevered and I'm really glad that I did. I LOVE them. Fit perfect in a hand bag. I made 3 of these in the smaller size. I was meant to keep one for myself, but ended up giving the other one to another TA friend. I'm sure thats not the first, or the last, time that I make an extra item for me to only give it away, ay mum! lol

Next I needed to make something for a good friend who is owl mad! So I bought the below pattern from the same place as the name cushions.
I have made more colour combonations of this owl and ended up selling the spares for friends children They went down a storm.


I then started making snakes! My 2 nephews birthdays are in December, so buying for birthday and Christmas can be a bit tricky. So I made them matching snakes (and gave sweets! What sort of Auntie would I be without sweets!)



Then my In-Laws saw them and said a giant one would be ideal for my Sister-In-Law who lives in Australia. She is very used to the warm weather out there, so when there is a little chill, she does really feel it. They said that she has a nasty draft under a door, so a draft excluder size one would be ideal. Unfortunately, I only have a photo taken in the evening on my phone, but will post it anyway.

It ended up being longer than the door, but I still loved it and so did Katie. Not sure what her cat, Anna, made of it though.

I also made a couple of bags for 2 of my closest friends. But in my haste to get them finished I've forgotton to take a photo. I do have one though (I started using it before I gave it away!!) so I will get a photo of it. I also made a Japanese Knot bag and will get photos of that too.

Last Christmas I made LOADS of sock monkeys. One lady put in an order of 17! This is the photo she sent me before wrapping them all up. She put in another order this Christmas for 2 little boys who are new in the family.

I also made owl keyrings which were very popular. I also thought it would be a nice present to make for Chris's class one Christmas. So I made 29 Sock Owl keyrings. I vowed never to make that many in one go again!

I also try crochet now. I'm doing the Granny Stripe that Lucy at Attic24 has made. I am 4 stripes from starting the border. I can't wait. 

 Its a lot longer now! I'll take an update photo ASAP. This is my first crochet project. I have done a few other items in between, such as Lucys Happy Flower Decoration and Birdie Decoration. I loved making those, once I got used to crocheting in circles! YouTube to the rescue!

Another owl project (I can see a theme forming!!) This was one of the VERY first things I made. I bought the pattern when I went to Birmingham NEC with mum.


 And finally.................
I'm sure we all have a project that we have started and not finished. Well here is mine....

 It has progressed slightly from this. I have actually started the stitching around the leaves. Maybe I'll get this done in time for Spring to go in the hall. What a good idea!



Saturday 12 January 2013

Bunting

Lying in bed the other night I had an idea, as you do, and couldn't wait to get stuck in (before I forgot all about it and it languished forever, unmade, along with all the other ideas which were really great at the time...).

Now I can't understand why he made such a fuss about putting it on his bedroom door, I can't see why its uncool for a 13 YO boy, but then I'm not a 13 YO boy I suppose. Anyway I insisted, although I did mollify him somewhat by telling him it was a prototype, the first ever, and it was all his!! I think it worked, well he stopped moaning anyway, and he hasn't taken it down yet even though I insisted on it being on the outside so I can see it too !!

Anyway, it took a few attempts, but here it is...


(not on the door, obviously, its too dark in the hallway to take a photo)


and close-up.....I have great plans for this idea, I'll keep you updated.

And just look at this bunch of loveliness..


Now this was a leap of faith in Lucy over in the attic. As I mentioned a few days ago I saw the Japanese flower scarf over on her blog and fell in love with it. I tried it in wool from my stash but it was only ok, not fab, so I took the plunge and ordered the wool she used, over the internet, without seeing/stroking it first. All I can say is WOW!! The photo doesn't do this justice at all, the colours are beautiful and it is sooooo soft! It isn't even much of a problem that I haven't got time to do anything with it for a few days - it looks lovely just as it is, and I can have a stroke every time I walk past it.




I also have a HUGE thank you to make to a lady called Judy over in her Very Fine House. I have been following her blog for a whileand was browsing there the other day and it was her who rekindled my interest in Lucys scarf. I have seen loads of very interesting and inspiring things there including her beautiful Museum Medallion Quilt which I discovered purely by accident on someone elses blog! It is a stunning quilt, a quick google image search for museum medallion quilt should show you exactly what I mean! I can't wait to make a start on this, especially as Judy has been kind enough to send me a copy of the pattern. Once I get myself organised I intend to do a pastel version, mainly hand pieced. Great to sit in the garden with when summer gets here. April 20th and 21st, I think is earmarked for summer this year! lol

Thursday 10 January 2013

Wavy ripple blanket

I saw this over in Lucy's Attic a while ago and wanted to have a go but  have been dithering about colours. I finally started it a few days ago but didn't like my colour choice - luckily it was all from my stash so I hadn't been and bought it specially, it will get used at some point. I then decided to do a coastal blanket with sort of blues, sands, white, grey etc etc but didn't have the wool and wasn't really confident enough on how it would look to go and buy some more. So...I decided to go back to my very first plan of some time ago and do a rainbow version.

Finally made a start although I have made a slight alteration, which I think will make the ripples a bit more, well, ripply! I've increased the number of plain stitches in between the increases/decreases to 6. It remains to be seen how much of a difference it will actually make!





Also because I have started this several times I was a bit fed up with counting the chains for the foundation so to be a bit lazy I began a chain with a different length of wool and then started doing the foundation row into that as I was going. I joined the wool I was going to crochet with to the beginning chain, then made 3 starting chains, did 1 treble into the first of the starting chains and then carried on  down the rest of the foundation chain following Lucy's instructions. Not sure if this sounds very clear,



or if this picture makes it any clearer!! :)




Also, talking about buying wool specially, I fell in love with the japanese flower scarf in Lucys attic too (I had a day in bed with a cold earlier in the week and spent most of it in Lucys archives!). I did sort out some wool which I thought would do, made a couple of the flowers by following links to a diagram, yes I followed a diagram, and actually managed to join-as-you-go, but it just wasn't right. I was disappointed that it wasn't looking as nice as Lucy's. So after an internet search for the best buys I am now eagerly awaiting the postman.......I'll keep you updated :)

Thursday 3 January 2013

Romeo, Romeo etc

How cute is he!!

This is Romeo, knitted from the pattern from Mary-Janes Tearoom, (link on the sidebar). He does look a bit mouse-like but that's my stuffing, not the pattern. This one is destined as a birthday present for a friend of mine who's mad about Teddies so hopefully she'll like him. I hope to make some for the grandchildren so as I do more they'll get more teddy-like! Thats the plan anyway.