Colourful Beads

I have been having more fun making beads. This time I have made them by crocheting a ball and stuffing it with merino tops, using all the different wools I have as a little test. Then putting them in the washing machine, they did start off in a pillow case but escaped *note to self tie up the pillow case* I put them on 95 0 and was really pleased with the results.

Then I got together all my embroidery threads and some very old pamphlets with samples of embroidery stitches in, and decided to have a go at embroidery. I am not the neatest of sewers so was not sure how they would come out, but I do like the results...no dainty stitches there, I like the naive look of the beads.
They are now in the studio ready for me to sew some beads on, and then turn into necklaces.
They will be mixed with the crochet and some felted beads with a lot of freeform crochet in between.

The scumbled workshop went well and I am running another one on the 19th of March. Everyone produced lovely freeform crochet work. The best being an 8 year old who just quietly worked away next to her mother and produced a beautiful scumbled heart. There is a link here to The Air Gallery on Facebook.

Next week I am going to experiment making fabric beads, I am soooo lucky that I can call this my job :)

OO shiney :)

Arthur has been home sick with a cold for 2 days, so I've not been able to make it into the new studio to work.

I have managed to crochet these beads though :) Which have taken 2 days to make using freeform crochet. The colours are perfect for Summer. I have been dreaming of long hot days by the sea and walking through gardens full of colourful flowers as I crocheted away :)

Looking forward to a day in the Studio tommorow, turning all of the beads into necklaces.
I am also getting ready to run a Scumbled Crochet Class at The Air Gallery in Wells on Saturday, should be fun :)

Spring Greens

We have had a lovely bank Holiday Monday, doing odd jobs around the house and the garden, me and the boys had nettle soup for lunch, made with nettles, potatoes,onion lovage, rosemary and oregana yum. Tony was not convinced that it would be delicious and stuck to bread and pate.
It was so nice to have lunch together, the boys are rarely around over the weekends now. We all went for a walk around our local woods after lunch.
They all have a bit of a competitive streak..as you can see from the top pic, I was taking a picture of Arthur and Harry, but the others wanted to see if they could jump higher Lol :)

Lots of chatting on the way (inbetween the jumping and climbing).
The colours of spring are fantastic, the vibrant greens of the new leaves against the blue sky..
The fields are full of dandelions and daisys, the wild garlic is all along the hedgerows and ready to flower.
The blue bells are just starting to come out. I will have to go back next week to see how the colours have changed.
How high can Arthur be lifted! and for how long? Harry ran up the hill carrying Arthur building up his muscles ready for the army.





Arthur is so going to miss his big brothers soooo much.
I am desperate to capture every moment of these last few months of us all being together.
More competitions in jumping, Arthur wanted to do it all by himself..and also refused to hold my hand on the walk.




More pictures of the beautiful spring flowers, happy colours :)

I have also been making a lot, inspired by Arthurs beading above where he used everything to hand regardless of shape or colour. I have made some allsorts bracelets, I loved the way the buttons were bunched together, I have not been able up to now to find a use for the shank buttons.
I have also made another scumble cushion, I am trying to get a collection together to get into Galleries. I have added buttons to this one.


I had a great day last Monday taking pictures of the new bracelets for my website, the bracelet above is made using recycled jewellery and wooden beads.
I hope you all had a good Bank holiday weekend. x

Blog Awards

Ya, I have been given 2 blog awards one of which was a little while ago and i hadn't noticed.

The first one is from Woolyholic (and she lives up to her name. ) Her crochet skills are amazing, and make you wish you were part of the Granny Square swap..take a looksee :)

                                              

Thankyou Woolyholic :) 

My second award was from the lovely Mollimoo her blog is full of loveliness and sharing as well as the crafty things she makes for her Folksy and Etsy shop, she is also a bit of a buttonholic so when she pops into my shop for a visit we don't stop talking!

                                       

For this I must make an acceptance speech..so here goes.

I would like to say a huge thankyou to all you bloggers who pop in to read my little blog and leave comments.  It is a great comfort to know there are so many crafty folks out there and I am often inspired by all of your blogs and creations.

*tears welling up*  stumbles off stage.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I will pass these on my next post, which will also include the fun i had at the Fibre Fest in Devon.

Tree project count down!

Just a very quick update on the tree sock project.  Everyone was still busy knitting squares tonight and I did a bit of needlefelting graffiti, as above which will be sewn onto one of the branches.

I have got measurements for the tree, but when i laid out the knitting and measured it, I did not allow for stretch...and there is a lot of that :) So tommorow i will sew up some squares for the branches but only half the measurements, the rest will be sewn on while at the tree.
Which will be 5.30 Friday 10th July. Lots of knitting ladies meeting by the tree..Tony will also be joining us with a ladder.. I have volunteered him to do the higher branches! He is actually very good at sewing. I have watched him sew hems on his trousers.. I am pretty rubbish at sewing so he did not ask me to do it :)

I laid out some of the squares in the garden (lawn not looking good!) to get an idea of how it will look, the trunk is roughly 41 " .

Can't wait to see it on the tree, everyone has worked really hard, including the neighbours.

Knitting a tree sock project!

This is the start of quite a huge project, and being really organised (noooot!) we have only three weeks to complete it!

For the Gillingham Festival which starts on the 4th of July for two weeks, I suggested we cover the tree opposite the show ground with knitting, people have nodded and agreed but not really got any idea what i'm talking about (this happens alot he he ). I am on twitter and am following Knit City which is so inspiring and this is the sort of thing I hope to achieve hopefully with a little bit of help from fellow knitters.
Some of the knit and Natter group have donated knitted bits already as above, which is fantastic.  Tommorow 13th of June is World Wide Knit in Public Day and we are going to knit outside my shop...I am going to attempt knitting with my giant needles (should help the project along a bit!)  There will be lots of tea and coffee and Biscuits  to keep us all going.  If any of you would like to join us and knit a square you would be very welcome :) Also if any of you knitters out there have odd bits of knitting (ie tension squares) that you don't know what to do with we could add them to the pile..then there's going to be one huge sewing day. I did pick up an extreme sewing needle from Rachel John at Ally pally last year so that should make it a bit easier.
This is the tree..it is going to be so colourful!! The sign may need a bit of knitting to.

Colours of spring.

This is my summer hat I crocheted while on Holiday, not photographed very well, I need to get one of the boys to take a picture of me in it.  I like it but I am going to try and make the next one much more 'bucket like'. More like the old cloche hats.  It has been made using the Adriafil memphis cotton from my shop.  I was going to do a link to my website (now I have learn't how to do this.) but have just looked and I have not yet added the plain cottons...a week of photography coming up I think!
This is bunting i am knitting to show off the sock yarns I have just got in, I don't think any one could imagine how the ball of wool will knit up without seeing it. The long bit is the cord to hang the bunting from ( I think it would look great as a skinny scarf.) I will add felt balls and possibly buttons to the finished bunting.
My pile of finished triangles. I love the colours.
I have spent the last two days still in holiday mode. Sunday we went for a walk along the disused rail track at Sturminster Newton, Arthur rode his bike by himself for the first time and absolutly loved the freedom. It is a lovely place to walk, a nice safe path in the middle of beautiful countryside.
Today I took Arthur and Harry out with my Mum to Brokers wood .
We had a lovely picnic by the lake, and Harry ran off with Arthur so Mum and me were able to take some pictures.  It really felt like spring.
Harry and Arthur on the flying fox.

We saw wild orchids, bluebells, and violets, a brilliant time to walk in the woods.
The bluebells were just starting to come out, but I'm glad I got some pictures.  The last couple of years when they have been out it has constantly poured with rain.
The blossom looks beautifull every where. Back to work tommorow. :(

egg cosies are not just for Easter..

I hope!  I made these cute egg cosies before Easter and put some on Folksy. 

I,ve also been making summer socks for mobile phones (no heels involved!).
These colourful ones i did not put on as I took the wrong style pics, I forgot that I needed to do them square. I will be taking pics again next week when Arthur is at nursery.

I was doing these in vintagey (not sure if thats a real word?) colours, with lovely fabric vintage buttons. I managed to put a couple of these on Folksy.
So next week i will be adding lots more on Etsy and folksy, because I will have lots more time..Arthur starts nursery 4 mornings a week yay!

Spring Time ha ra!

I have been adding more yarn to my website, I love the colours of the Gedifra cotton and can't wait to crochet some flowers and bags using it.  I have as usual got too many projects on the go!

In between masses of stock has been arriving which seems to take days to sort and then I change the whole shop around to fit it in.  This is great fun but does mean theres a lot less time to make.  Which is why I like the classes on Saturday mornings because it means I get to play too :)
The yarn above is just like ribbon, I think it would be great embellished onto things and used in Jewellery making. I made a crochet necklace using it which I hope to finish soon and I will post up.
It was so lovely to be out in the sun last Monday (the weeks seem to be going by to fast!) I met a friend at Pythouse and we had a delicious lunch.  Then walked round the garden and played hide and seek with Arthur.
So nice to see the daffodils out in the sunshine and know that spring is well on its way.
I will be glad when the clocks go forward this weekend, Arthur has been waking at 6 o Clock for the last three weeks but still goes to bed at the same time, at least then we can go to bed an hour earlier and when we wake it will be a more sensible time.