Craft Book Challenge

I mentioned in a previous post that I have an enormous amount of craft books which, whilst well thumbed and well loved, never get used for their original purpose.  So, with that in mind, I challenged myself to choose 3 books and make something out of each as a Christmas present. 

It was harder than I thought!  I suppose it didn't help that I was choosing them last night, I'd had a pretty bad headache all day (I'm a headache / migraine sufferer) so had done no crafts at all.  I did pick up my crochet but forced myself to put it down as I knew it would make my head worse.  So, I'm up there in my craft room, feeling all grumpy and ill and not wanting to make anything out of any of the books and I found myself thinking "I just don't have enough books, I need some more with patterns I like"!! 

Well, considering I bought 5 online (yet to be delivered) last week, my husband came home from TK Maxx on Sunday with 2 knitting pattern books and 2 jewellery design books for me and I'm heading off to Amazon after this to buy Knitting Mochimochi (because I want to, not for any other reason!!), I think that's a pretty daft thing to think!  Is that a sign of addiction??

So, without further ado, here is what I've chosen.

Number 1 is

Classic Storybook Cross-Stitch by Gillian Souter, picked up in the Oxfam bookstore for a bargain £2 - pristine condition!  My mum loves Beatrix Potter so I'll make something from these pages:

I'm thinking Jemmima Puddleduck or the Peter Rabbit clan, maybe just as a stuffie, maybe a little drawstring bag.  I could also make something for my goddaughter aged 2 and my cousin's adorable boys aged 3 and 1.

Book two is:

How to Sew: Patchwork from the How to Sew boxset of little books.  I'm going to make this little patchwork pig cushion:

Again for my mum!  She is so easy to make and buy for, she loves pigs so I had to do it and I thought this would be a nice introduction to patchwork, so maybe I can make some presents for other people using the same technique.

And finally, book 3:

Sew by Cath Kidston.  And what a rubbish photo I took there!  It comes with the pattern for the bag on the front and...

The material and buttons to make it!  I'm making this for a friend who will know immediately it's Cath Kidston fabric and will be bowled over.  I hope.  Unless I make a right mess of it which I might.

I also started flicking through a magazine mum had bought back from a recent trip to NY/Canada with her.  It's called BHG and is full of patterns for crafty items.  I don't know where she picked it up and forgot to ask if it was American or Canadian.  Do any of you know this magazine?  Do you think I could get a subscription sent over here?  We only have one general crafts magazine in the UK - Crafts Beautiful.  The other publications are only sewing or only knitting or cross stitch and there's about a million card making magazines, but only this one title for crafters who like to shake it up a bit.

Anyway, enough dreaming about crafty magazines and books, back to work!  I'll let you know when I've made progress with actually making things from the books.  I daren't put a deadline on it incase I fail to make the gifts by then and abandon the whole idea!

Crafting for Charity

I've been blogging about my involvement in The Big Knit, knitting mini hats to go on Innocent Smoothie bottles - when they are sold, the company donates 25p to Age Concern.  The closing date is 15th October, with this in mind, I've been scouting around for other charities to get involved in crafting for.  Here are what I found (and I've included overseas charities too).  Please comment if you're going to get involved in one of these projects as I've got a little seed growing in my head about a blogland-wide charity push.

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO COPY AND PASTE THIS INFORMATION ON YOUR OWN BLOG (AND ADD TO IT IF YOU KNOW OF ANY OTHER CHARITIES) - IN FACT, PLEASE DO!

First up is Loving Hands, a fantastic charity campaign run by Lou.  They are involved in a variety of charities (including some of these listed below) and take requests for charities.  They have a regularly updated wish list of items needed, and seasonal charities where there's a drive for particular items.  Sign up for this one and get knitting! (Knitting / crochet, UK)

Smile International  are looking for donations of knitted or crocheted garments, e.g. jumpers, hats, gloves, socks, scarves, baby clothes/shawls and blankets.  There are some free patterns to download to help with this. (Knitting / crochet, UK)

Cuddles is a charity which supports families dealing with the loss of their baby through miscarriage or stillbirth. They supply gowns, blankets and wraps to maternity units all over the UK.  They particularly need donations of blankets, gowns and wraps but are also grateful for donations of clothes.  There are some free patterns available along with guidelines of what to make. (Knitting / crochet / sewing, UK)

Bonnie Babies makes and sends tiny premature clothes, blankets and, sadly, burial outfits to special baby care units in the UK.  They set a quarterly challenge of items that are particularly needed.  Check out the website for more details.  (Knitting / crochet / sewing, UK)

Algerian Action provides help for children and babies living in poverty in Algeria.  The website has tons of information, Emily Waller runs the appeal and is looking for various items including children/baby clothes (either handmade or used), baby items, and squares to make blankets.  She's got patterns and loads of links.  Check out the "most wanted" page to find out how you can help most. (Knitting / crochet / sewing, International)

Stitches of Love and Kindness send quilts and cushions to children and adults with long term illnesses.  This charity is based in both the UK and the USA so most of you can help.   They are asking for cross stitched squares to be made up into quilts and cushions, help with finishing quilts, stitch cards to be sent with their gifts and donations of fabric, wadding and other supplies.  Patterns are available.  (Cross stitch / quilting / sewing, UK)

Teddies for Tragedies is a fantastic website which gives patterns and guidelines to knit or crochet teddies for children in many disaster areas or war zones around the world.  If you can't knit or crochet, you can sew a teddy bag.  Check out the website to find out where the teddies are needed as and when you finish them.  (Knitting / crochet / sewing, International)

 The Children's Society is asking people to get sponsered to knit little hearts.  The hearts can then be made into magnets or brooches and sold to raise more money.  A good one for the kids.  (Knitting, UK)

Knit a Square is a South African charity looking for knitted squares to make into blankets for orphans throughout Africa. (Knitting / crochet, International)

Knit on the Net is selling a hand knitted poppy pattern for £2.  All proceeds go to The Poppy Appeal and you can wear your knitted poppy with pride.  (Knitting, UK)

The Wrap Up a Kiddie for Winter Appeal is asking for donations of fabric, wool, etc, or you can make cushions or quilts, scarves, hats, cardigans, mittens or stitched pictures.  (Sewing / knitting / crochet / embroidery / cross stitch, International)

Angel Bear aims to send a teddy to every single child in need throughout the world.  Help them out by knitting a bear.  Full patterns on the website, including a crochet version. (Knitting / crochet, International)

The Donkey Sanctuary in Devon are looking for volunteers to knit donkeys that they can sell in their gift shop.  (Knitting, UK)

Knitting for Charity is a website listing various charities which require knitted items in the USA and Canada - have a look and follow the links to see which charities you'd like to get involved with.  (Knitting, USA, Canada)

Binky Patrol gives blanket to children in need and homeless children.  There's plenty of information on the website and you can sew the blankets if you're not a knitter.  (Knitting / sewing / crochet, USA)

Blankets 4 Canada takes donations of knitted, crocheted and quilted blankets for homeless Canadians.  (Knitting / crocheting / sewing / quilting, Canada)

Soldier's Angels organises the Blanket For Hope campaign, asking you to make blankets for injured servicemen and women.  (Sewing, USA)

Chemo Caps distributes knitted caps to cancer sufferers.  This one is a very local campaign as they ask you to donate the caps to your local cancer ward - more information and patterns available on the website.  (Knitting, USA, International)

Cubs for Kids provides teddy bears which generous volunteers then make hats, scarves and jumpers for.  The knitting effort goes on throughout the year and in December the bears are dressed and given to homeless children for Christmas.  (Knitting, USA)

Lion Brand Yarn has a database of charities which need items which you can search.  They also provide patterns.  (Knitting / crochet, International)

I know that the majority of these projects are knitting, but that's what I was searching for.  I'd love it if you added to this list and posted it on your own blog.  If I found there was enough interest, I could set up a Crafting for Charity blog to keep everyone updated.

I can crochet!

Well, sort of!  I went to a crochet class with my mum on Sunday at Yarn which is a fab little wool shop in Beeston, Nottingham.  Neither of us had ever crocheted before, only a couple of the other 8 ladies there had, so it was a real beginners class.  We started with a chain, then moved on to double crochet.  I really struggled with that and need to practice.  Then on to trebles, I like them!  Here's my practice "square":

Rubbish, eh?  It's all wonky and wobbly!  We then moved onto making Afghan squares or Granny squares.  This worked out a lot better:

Much better!  I was quite pleased with this and it only took me about 3 hours!!  We've signed up for the next course they run - improvers, so I have to get my double crochet stitch up to speed and practice my trebles a bit more.  I was so enthusiastic about it when I got home, I made a full Granny square towards the blanket I'm going to make:

It only took me 3 hours, so a big improvement!  I just have to make sure I don't get hooked on making these and neglect practicing double crochet.

Apart from our materials, the teaching, a fantastic lunch, hundreds of mugs of coffee, biscuits and cake, we were also given a 10% discount on yarn on the day.  I managed to buy a bag full.  I bought 8 balls of different shades of blue for the blanket I indend to knit using squares, each a different pattern.  The shop also stocks some gorgeous Amy Butler fabric and I just had to treat myself!  The shop owner had made up some knitting bags, one small, one large, from the fabric and you got the pattern free if you bought the material.  Well how could I resist... I have to make one for mum and one for me.  Here's the material, watch this space for the bags!:

I also managed to find time to knit a few more hats for the Big Knit.  Arghh, closing date 15th October, running out of time...  I had some lovely chenille yarn that I'd bought on sale, I decided to make a hat out of it.  It didn't quite work out - see how big it is compared to the others!

Oh dear.  I'm hoping I can felt it in the washing machine to make it the right size, but the yarn didn't have a label (hence it being on sale) and so I don't know if it's Superwash.  Fingers crossed.

I finally got down to some of my crewel embroidery in time to post for the 2010 Stitch Along (not that I have posted yet as I can't figure out how!!).  I didn't get much done as it's so hard!  I end up unpicking most rows and starting again.  Not looking very neat:

So, a lot to do this week.  I want to make some more hats, practice my double crochet, make another Granny square or two, I also need to whip up some Christmas presents for Cathy's Christmas Countdown which I have to post about on Friday, arghh!  Why can't I get my arse into gear??  It means that I will be starting on my Craft Book Challenge tonight - I'll post pictures of the books I chose tomorrow and hopefully get started.  I do want to make a couple of hanging scented hearts for some people, so that might be a way to get me started.  There's also the cushion I'm making that needs turning into a cushion, not sure if I've got the confidence to try that one yet.

Finished by Friday! Though I might be cheating...

Good morning,

I have finished the stitcher part of my angel friends and I'm really happy with it.  Here it is:

Now, the stitchery part IS finished and it was finished last night, i.e. by Friday, so the cheating?  Well, I'm going to make this into a cushion so it's not a finished article, but I really wanted to join in Finished by Friday and I failed last week. Considering that this has taken me a week to stitch (damn you lazy daisies!) I think it counts!!

I also made two more hats for the Big Knit - though I haven't sewed them on as I lost my darning needles. 

I'm going to have to go to the craft shop tonight (oh what a hardship!) to replace them - so no doubt they'll turn up when I get home!  I'll also get another bobbin holder box for the rest of my threads to finish sorting that out.  I thought I'd set myself some goals of things I have to finish and make a little side bar list as I have a memory like a sieve.  I'm not going to get much done this weekend.  I have some birthday cards to make tonight, then we've got the step daughter staying over this weekend and I've got my crochet class on Sunday, but these are the things I need to finish over the next couple of weeks:

1. The Big Knit hats - due in the 15th October
2. Make the stitchery into a cushion
3. Get started on my Scabious embroidery for the 2010 weekly SAL, I need to post on Sunday!
4. Make a pin cushion so I stop standing on pins in my bare feet
5. Make a needle book so I stop loosing my needles
6. Finish sorting my threads out
7. Decorate the box I bought to be my Wedding Memories box
8. Make covers for the CDs of wedding photos people have given me
9. Make some Christmas presents!

I was thinking about making Christmas presents this morning whilst leafing through Crafts Beautiful magazine (and drying my hair - I like to multi task) when I came across an advert for their new website for craft books - click here for link - and I immediately started salivating.  I have a real addiction to craft books.  I love to read them, leaf through them time and time again and dream about things I can make.  Here are a few pictures of my collection:

The one thing I rarely do with my craft books is make anything out of them!!  So, I'm going to start.  I've set myself a challenge - I'm going to select 3 different books and make one Christmas present out of each book.  I'll post next week to let you know which books I've selected and maybe which presents if I've decided yet.  This way, I hope to go through all my books by Christmas and make something, then maybe I can start on the magazines I've been hoarding (or the new books I'm about to buy, I just can't stop myself!!)

A fruitless week so far...

So, last week was a crafting failure where I managed to get pretty much nothing done.  This week hasn't faired much better.  On Friday and Saturday nights I worked on my embroidered angels, but got no other chance to craft.  I went out with my mum on Saturday and we visited a craft shop we've never been to - Pear Tree Yard - if you live in the Nottingham area, it's well worth a visit.  It was like an Aladdin's cave!  Stuff everywhere and really good value.

Sunday was spent in domestic slavery, cleaning the house and doing the washing.  At the end of the day I only had the energy for thread winding (more on that later!).

I settled down on Monday and Tuesday after work to carry on with my stitched angel friends.  I decided they DID need a border and so sewed a stem stitch wavy border, with purple lazy daisy flowers in the corners.  I'm now adding other flowers around the stem.  It's still not finished!  I am such a slow stitcher.  Here's how it looks now:

And here's a close up:

I'm pretty happy with it.  The only problem is the size.  I was intending to turn it into a little cushion to hang on a door or something, an ornament, but it now measures about 18cm wide x 16cm high!  I think I'm going to make it into a real cushion.  When my boyfriend-that-was (now husband) moved in, he had a whole stack of cushion pads - I have no idea why!  They are quite small and are about 10cm bigger all round than this embroidery.  I had cut the linen before I started and it's not too much bigger than the edge of the border, so I think I'll "reverse applique" the embroidery into the front of the cushion, if that makes sense!  I've never made a cushion before so this could be a disaster!  Watch this space...

Back to the always exciting topic of thread winding!  I bought a thread holder box at the craft shop on Saturday and was full of excitement about having lovely neat thread.  So I sat and wound bobbins on Sunday night and put them in my holder.  It's now full and I've still got all my purples, browns, blacks, creams and whites to wind!  I'm going to need another one:

As you can see, it was all lovely and colour coordinated, until I put the one purple and 5 grey bobbins I'd wound in! 

I'm babysitting tonight, for the very person the stitching angels cushion-to-be is for, so I've had to bring along my knitting to take with me.  I'll be making some more hats for the Big Knit.  That leaves me just tomorrow night to finish the stitching if I'm to enter it for Finished for Friday.  Can I enter that if technically it isn't finished, just the stitching part is??  I don't want to miss another week and somehow I don't think a mini hat cuts it!

Finished by Sunday - or is it?

I really enjoyed the Friday Night Sew In, although I didn't finish my little angels.  I sat down again on Sunday night after a thrilling day of cleaning and ironing and carried on stitching them up.  I've finished!

Or have I?  I'm wondering about a square border made up of green stem stitch stalks and leaves, and lazy daisy flowers in the 3 shades of purple (used for the flowers and dresses) and the blue used for the writing.  What do you ladies think?  I'd love your opinion.

Stitching angels

I've had a hard time getting motivated this week.  Everything I've tried to make has gone wrong so I've just been winding thread round bobbins.  I was determined to sew something for the Friday Night Sew In at Handmade by Heidi but I just didn't fancy working on any of the projects I'd started, so I decided to work on a new embroidery.  I found this lovely little stitchery pattern at Elin's Kreative Side, she's got some great free patterns.

So Friday night, husband out on site, dinner eaten, rabbits fed, I sat down and sewed:

I've still got a way to go before it's finished, but this will make a lovely Christmas present for my best friend sewn into a little hanging cushion.

I look forward to the next Friday Night Sew In!  It's just a shame I didn't get something Finished For Friday this week...

A few hats and some thread

When I last posted about the Big Knit, I had done 2 and a half hats, well by Tuesday night I had done 9 in total.  I knew that my husband was working on site Wednesday night and wouldn't be home so I had big plans (I always have plans) to get another 5 hats knitted and also do the embroidery panel for the colouring caddy I still haven't touched (my plans are always unrealistic too).  So I settled down on the sofa with Eastenders to knit a few hats before dinner.  I made one, then I thought I'd start the embroidery. 

The background:  I'm embroidering the little girl's name (Evie) across a panel so I'd written it out in a water soluble pen, then I'd tried to do a lattice stitch so had drawn a grid.  I then decided I didn't like the lattice stitch and unpicked it, so I was left with the grid in blue on the material.  I started doing a long and short stitch in bright pink in one corner with the idea of going through shades of pink to a very pale one in the right hand corner of the last "e".  I then discovered I only had a measley 4 shades of pink!  Well that wasn't enough, cue a trip to the shop, the purchase of most of the pink DMCs they had and some bobbin cards. 

So, back to last night.  I decided to wet the piece to get rid of the blue lines which were ruining my vision of the embroidery, so whilst I waited for it to dry, I thought I'd carry on with winding threads onto bobbins.  Before I knew it it was 10pm and I had done nothing except that one little hat. 

Here his is with his brothers:

And I can't even claim that I now have a lovely neat box of embroidery threads as I've still got a long way to go.  I inherited a lot of my embroidery threads from my mum who's been stitching for years, she gave me a load of off cuts and bits from kits she'd finished to use in my card making.  Add to this a pack of mixed threads I bought to get me going and specific colours I've bought since and it makes for a mess of skeins of thread mixed with strands of thread:

I've wound the longer threads and the skeins onto bobbins which now look like this (well the blues, greens and pinks do, but not the other colours yet):

Which looks lovely and very easy to find the right colour, but it still means I've got a tangled mess of threads in another box!  How do other stitchers out there deal with their threads - the ones you've cut but only used 3 strands of, or the end of skein for example?  Maybe I need a special stitching project to use them all up?

Friday night sew in

I was browsing blogland looking for a stitch-along to take part in (like I have time for more projects!) and I stumbled across the Friday Night Sew In over at Handmade by Heidi, scheduled for this Friday, so I thought "why not?".

The idea is you get some work done on a Friday night, then post about it the next day, so watch this space!

If you want to join in, click here.

Two and a half hats down

I had big crafting plans for the weekend, I was going to make a colouring folder for my friend's daughter, a couple of bibs for her baby son, knit some little hats for The Big Knit and maybe finally make that much-needed pin cushion.  So what happened?  I woke up with a stinking cold and spent most of the time sitting around feeling sorry for myself!  I did manage to wind some embroidery thread onto cardboard bobbins, but then I ran out.  I vastly underestimated how much embroidery thread I have!

Sunday evening I cut out the bits for the colouring folder and sat down to embroider the little girl in question's name on the front piece.  So I started with a lattice stitch, hated it and ripped it out, then went into long and short stitch, starting in a corner. The plan was to do some colour blending in pink. Except I only have 5 different shades of pink.  Rubbish considering the size of my thread collection!  So I gave up on that and knitted hats for charity instead!  I made 2 and a half before I had to go to bed...

If you want to know more about The Big Knit, click this link: The Big Knit

Rebecca's birthday presents - done!

Last time I posted about Rebecca's birthday presents, I was almost done, yet Thursday came and I still had to attach the decoration blocks to the t-shirts, embroider them on, start and finish the Tigger and Piglet embroideries and frame them.  I ended up working late on Thursday so only managed one embroidered border.  That meant that Friday night I raced through the other embroidered border, the Piglet embroidery and started the Tigger embroidery.  I woke up this morning feeling ill, so finished it off in bed! 

We went to the birthday party this afternoon and the presents were a big hit!

So here they are, the two appliqued t-shirts:

I found the button I've used as the snout in my pink button jar - no idea where it came from!

I think this sheep looks a bit sinister!  It's the way I sewed his  mouth!!

Here is the full set of embroideries:

 

 

So there we go, onto the next project...

I've just joined the Finished for Friday challenge over at Lit and laundry, so I'm off to post there.  Come over and take a look.

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Emergency birthday present!

I'm going to let you into a little secret, I'm incredibly disorganised!  I like to think I'm organised, and I'm good at sorting out my craft stuff and making lists, but I'm rubbish at actually doing the things on the list.  Last week a work colleague who's also a friend told me she'd be thirty the following Friday but she wouldn't be at work that day (as in tomorrow), so I thought I'd better make her a present.  Can you guess when I made the present and card?  Last night... 

I "whipped up" (that means cursed and swore as my thread got tangled and it all went wrong) 2 little scented heart sachets.  This time I decided to try something new and appliquéd, then embroidered a pair of knickers and a bra on them.  I started off with a blanket stitch around the edges in a lovely cream floss, then I whipped that with more floss and was quite impressed that it looked like that little edging you get on knickers.

I'd love to know what you think:

I also whipped up a quick birthday card.  I often find it hard to make cards when I know it's got to be done that day, I was really stuck on this one and it's not really my usual style, but I hope she likes it anyway.

So now that's all done, I've got to get back to finishing Rebecca's presents in time for her party on Saturday.  I added a tail to the pig and I've pressed them and Bondawebbed them onto the t-shirts, now I just have to embroider round the edges.  My Piglet and Tigger embroidery kits showed up too, I made a start on Piglet last night (when it gets past 9 and I'm wondering what to make, I always turn to embroidery or cross stitch, I'm not sure why!) and have just tonight and tomorrow to get them finished.  Then I'll have to attempt to frame them...  Watch this space!

Age Concern/Innocent Smoothies - The Big Knit

Strange co-incidence.  I'd been wondering about trying to find a charity project that I could do some craft for when my mum told me about The Big Knit.  It's those little hats that are put on Innocent Smoothie bottles in Sainsburys and Boots each year.  So I'm going to get involved and I hope you'll think about it too.

The deadline is Friday 15th October and all the information is here The Big Knit included 3 patterns.  I did a quick scout on the internet and managed to find some more patterns here, here and here.

I will post up some pictures of my hats as soon as they're done.  I'd love to see your efforts too...

sewing round a pig

I thought I'd show you what I'm currently working on before posting about some projects I completed before starting this blog.

It's Rebecca's birthday soon and her party is next Saturday, so I have a deadline for finishing her presents.  I've embroidered her two Winnie the Pooh pictures, but unfortunately the other two haven't turned up in the post yet so I'm working on a couple of t-shirts to make sure she gets something!  She likes pigs at the moment so I'm appliqueing an pig t-shirt and also a sheep.  Both are my own design.

I've almost finished satin stitching around the pig - it has taken hours!  I'm just hoping it starts to look a bit better when I put some features and the nose on.

And here's the sheep all cut out and Bondawebbed together:

I think I'm going to running stitch the white bits as it'll add to the effect when it frays a little.  I'm not sure how I'll do his head or face yet.  I'll post more when they're done.

the knitting needle roll is finished!

My mum lent me her sewing machine last weekend and said I could keep it for a while.  I'm brand new to machine sewing so, not one to take things slowly, I immediately decided to make a knitting needle roll of my own design.

I'd bought some lovely fabrics which matched to a fat quarter I wanted to use.  I hadn't thought about the fact that the fat quarter was too small to make a knitting needle roll from, but after cutting it in half and stitching it up, I made it work!  I finally finished on Friday night, after many hours of pinning and tacking and sewing, and ripping out the seam and sewing it again!  In the end I did manage to sew the front on upside down so the two little pockets are a in a bit of a strange place but hey, I made it!

Here are the photos:

Here is the inside with all my needles in it, the top folds down to cover them and stop them falling out like this:

(That pocket shouldn't be there!)  And here is the outside:

And here it is all rolled up:

Although frustrating, I did enjoy making this and it gave me some confidence.  I think I just need to make sure things are facing the right way before sewing them on!