Funky stripes!!

Just had to post this funky fabric which I've turned into a useful iPod case.

I love going to the haberdashers and seeing what remnants they have in the bargain box, I liken it to having a rummage at a jumble sale ;) I'll look through and see what material I like, might not have anything in mind straight away but I know it will get used for something, it then gets stored in my otterman awaiting an inspiring thought or two!  I have absolute loads of different materials in there and never pay anymore than £2 for a piece of fabric; here's a piccy of my stash (and you can't see it all lol)

Then I have my wool stash teehee ;) even I don't have a clue some of the colours in the bottom that are hidden from view :)

Christmas is coming ....

With Christmas just a month away (where has this year gone??), thought I would share two ornaments I recently made and gave away.

This was made for my youngest son's school fayre. The classes were all given a colour theme for the presents to bring in, our class had red, gold and silver. So as this was a WIP, and wasn't really sure what to do with this gorgeous pattern from an old magazine, I decided to make a hanging ornament. Really hope whoever the lucky recipient is enjoys seeing it on the tree this year.

This gorgeous little blackwork Angel was made for a dear friend who lives in Canada; I try to send something at Christmas in memory of her precious child who was too good for the planet and was stillborn, her name is Angel Hope so hence I send an angel to watch over the family.

This jolly bright Santa is making firm friends with my other soft toys I have out at Christmas time. He was made in the round using a 3.5mm/US E4 hook. He worked up so quick and is much easier than he looks. I'm hoping he sees a few Christmases with our family.

Recent craftings

Afternoon everyone, lately I've been doing a lot of crocheting, a bit of knitting and cross-stitch.

I've been following The Crochet Crowd on both Facebook and YouTube, I love the simplicity of the explanations that Mikey uses in his video tutorials. Thankfully, through Mikey I have learnt to be bi-lingual in regards English vs American terms and work quiet easily between the two. Most of his videos show charts from Redheart.com where the written patterns are so easy to follow and here is what I've managed to complete via this website recently:

The last photo is my WIP Corner to corner afghan for my daughter.

The following items are patterns I've got in my stash and from magazines; the black waistcoat is actually a free form project that I designed as I went along an is the intellectual property of myself:

Ermmm!!!!

Whoops haven't been around for a while ... Life has been hectic but will try to get back on here more often soon

I will be trying to share more of my crafts and little insights into my life. I'm doing more knitting and crochet projects now, I'm still cross-stitching but not as much 😞

Works In Progress

Hi There Everyone!!!!

I can't believe how well I've managed to get on this week with both of my WIP's ... alternating them is definitely working towards getting them finished.

My Red Pagoda is coming along lovely now that I've re-found my love for it .... it got put to oneside as it was starting to get boring, I even considered not finishing it at one point last year which isn't a good sign. My break from it has obviously restored the love as I'm enjoying working on it again. Its being worked on 16 count aida and is slowish going as I'm trying to fill in the bottom left corner. Here are the progress pictures of it from this week:

Progress from 01/01/13

Progress from 03/01/13

Progress from 05/01/13

My other WIP is of Tatty Ted (TT24 Parcel Delivery), this one is coming along the quickest and has surprised me how far I have got in only a few days of working on it. This is almost finished, just needs the dreaded backstitching doing which if you've ever stitched a Tatty Ted you'll know is slow going. I have made a start on it and I'm so glad that I decided to do it on evenweave; the piece of evenweave I'm using is a remnent so I couldn't tell you the count of it. The only problem I've had with this kit was that there wasn't quite enough blending filament to do all that the pattern calls for; I've hopefully found a solution for this in the shape of some DMC pearlescent effects thread in shade E5200. I've done as much as I could with the blending filament that was included and I've decided to try to use the pearlescent threat for the snowballs which need to be added in the form of french knots. Here's the progress so far:

Progress of 02/01/13

Progress of 04/01/13 (all stitching finished, just needs
backstitching now)

Progress of 06/01/13 (with backstitch started)

As for the kits I was going to start after these are finished, well I've had one hi-jacked by my 8yr old son. He has decided he wants to do my ginger cat wearing a Santa hat. Thought you might like to see him in action:

And finally for those who know that I do knitted/crocheted items here is my latest order from Handmade by Stitchy that I sewed up last week ... its just awaiting collection now.

With kids going back to school this week I hope it hasn't been too bad for those with additional needs. Thankfully, we've not had any problems so far but we'll see how the week pans out :)

Love as always Stitchy xxx