Crafts

Trying to get back into doing my crafts more and spending less time on the computer!  

Yesterday I had to go out to get ONE ball of wool so I could finish a sweater I was making.  I was only a few rows from the end before I ran out - typical!  Did I come home with only one ball of yarn?  Of course I didn't...a few more seemed to make their way up to the counter and into my shopping bag as well.

I was pleased to find the silk/cotton blend balls in the plastic bags for 50p for two balls - definitely a bargain indeed.

With my love of birds I thought I would try this cross stitch, it was only a £1 in the CS.  I used to do a lot of cross stitch when I lived in NZ but it seems to have fallen by the wayside in the UK partly due to the lack of real good light.  Still I am determined to give this a go and if I find I am struggling I will take it with me to do while in NZ.

After the discovery that the diary/planner I had bought for 2014 didn't include Saturdays or Sundays (are we not supposed to have any plans in the weekend?) I had to go and buy another, so took advantage of the Pound Shop.

I also treated myself to not one, but two fountain pens!  They cost rather more than a pound each from WH Smith! One to use at home and the other to take out and away with me.

I have started practising my cello again - hoping I will be more consistent this time.  I have a lesson booked as my teacher is well again fortunately so I am looking forward to that.

I just LOVE books!

While following the links my friend from Canada sent me I spotted two more books I liked the look of on her blog.  Of course I just had to look them up on Amazon and I still liked the look of them and felt that they were two books I would like to add to new collection of books.  (Note to self:  find at least four books to give away, or send to the charity shop over the weekend!)

The first fits in really well with my plans for keeping an Artists Journal

For now I am only going to have the one, but this will be a good introduction for me to hopefully eventually have a completely separate 'Natutralist's Journal' something that I'd like to make for my Dad who has always had a love of Nature and has passed it on to me.

I really enjoyed reading the section on Autumn...how appropriate.

The second book I was unsure whether to get at first.  While I used to do a lot of cross stitch when I was younger when living in New Zealand, I have found that I have done very little here.  Partly because of the lack of light...but perhaps if I get back into it I can invest in one of those special embroidery lamps.  Time will

Anyway the reason I got this book is in fact similar to the reasons my friend JJ bought hers.  The recent loss of a beloved member of our family - Shadow our Collie.  Unfortunately I should have checked with her first as the book actually doesn't have any patterns for Rough Collies in it.  However, it does have Shetland Sheepdogs.

Hopefully with a bit of work I can lengthen the nose and get this picture to look a bit more Collie like.  I hope to make something for my husband as Shadow really was his shadow and both of us are missing him a lot.

My sketches for today:

Magazine Giveaway

I've been given a lovely big box of craft magazines, paints etc... and thought I'd share them with my friends as I really can't read them all. So if you would like to receive a magazine or two in the post, let me know which ones and I will either put you in a draw (if more than one person wants the same thing) and then post them out.

More snow and a cross stitch freebie.

This is what we woke up to this morning!

School is closed again so the boys are doing what teenage boys do....

The younger has been outside for a couple of hours playing in it and is now on the playstation...

The older one is still in bed! I think he is suffering from study-itis...

Now for a giveaway. A couple of days ago I mentioned I had rather a few partially completed (or should I say started?) cross stitch that I know I will never finish. So if anyone wants to give them a good home - one that will complete them and be able to later put up a picture of the completed project then I would be happy to send them to you.

The first I have available is actually one my DS1 started, oh probably about 10 years ago now.

Aliens and their space ship.

As you can see he'd made a start. There is slight staining on the fabric from the wooden embroidery ring, but I'm sure this will come out.

So if you would like this cross stitch project or know of someone who would let me know and I will happily post it to you!

How Many???

Today I found the box that contained all my cross stitch equipment and... an awful lot of unfinished projects! Goodness, I must have been rather scatterbrained when I first came to England as inside the box there must be at least 10 partially started projects on the go! (Of course I'm not at all scatterbrained now!) I look at these various projects now and realise that there is probably no way I have any interest in finishing many of them - life and times have changed rather significantly since they were started some 15 years ago. Some of course I would like to complete. Sadly my most favourite has rust marks from where I left the needle in all those years ago - so any remedies for getting these stains out will be gratefully received.

I've picked a relatively small unfinished project to start with that is half way completed. Over the next few days I will go through all the other projects and photograph them and any that I know I won't complete I will post on my blog and if anyone else is keen to complete them I will post them to you as it seems a shame to completely give up on them.