New crafty room and inspiration

In February my Dad came over to start the decorating process in our house for us. We chose our study/my craft room for the first one to start with as this is the smallest in the house and more boring probably won't be too badly affected when we get new heating.

Anyway, I don't think I really have any before photos but the walls were a pretty dark orang-y colour with loads of lumps of plaster and holes from where kids had picked at the walls and millions of things had been hung on them over the years.

We decided on flat walls! and a much lighter shade with a lot less holes in. Dad did an amazing job and completely transformed the room. It's amazing what can be done while you go out to work. We just left him to it for 3 days and the whole thing was done. All the bit's that should be white are now white and it's all just such a nicer place to be.

Not a lot has really changed in the room since it was done - I made sure I arranged everything as well as I could when I put everything back in after the decorating so that everything was as easy to get to as possible.

The only thing that remained undecided was what to do with the box in the corner of the room. You see the bit on the left of the really wide photo? Should we put a glass or perspex sheet on there as an extra work surface? Should we put the printer on there? - Probably more sensible than leaving it on the floor as it is now but not a fantastic use of the space...

So then my husband came up with the idea a couple of weeks ago - we could cover it with cushions and blankets and use it as a little chill out space. (Sorry Dad because you took the time to gloss all of the top of it!) I absolutely love this idea and from the moment he suggested it I set to work making it comfortable - it's not the nicest of places to sit without a little home comforts. Check this out too - I have a little secret hiding space for my chocolate bowl!!!! Don't tell my husband - I can't imagine anything better than snuggling up in this small space with my Chocolate bowl at the side of my, a nice cup of tea and my knitting/crochet.

There's nothing too technical gone on there yet and it's still not the most comfortable but I have got a cushion for the cover I was made in the swap that I took part in and that's on there. The mini blanket from the same swap is there too. There's a massive pile of wool on there at the minute - the plan is to make most of it into cushion covers but that could take some time and for now it's as good a place as any to keep all of the wool that I was given a little while ago and the leftovers from previous projects that I have worked on.

My plan is to try to make everything that ends up there myself, one way or another - I thought it could be a good way of practicing things and working on new skills. I'm determined to have a bit of a go at quilting and I believe a cushion cover could be a great way to start.

That brings me on to how I spent most of my weekend and what I have started working on. A blanket that again has a mini story of it's own so will come with it's own post very shortly and this cushion cover. Two weeks ago I went to another one of Eleanor's classes at the wonderful Knit Nottingham - this one was to learn Fair Isle and Intarsia knitting techniques. I love the change of colours and the variety this provides. These are the little samples that I made on the day:

So I went with these colours to use up the rest of the balls that I had and found another 4 colours that would go with them.

Apparently if you photograph them in black and white then you can see even better if the colours will work together or not be obvious enough for the Fair Isle to work.

A few of them are fairly similar but I think I can make it work. I thought a cushion cover was something that should (hopefully) be fairly simple for me to work on but also provide me with enough new techniques and ideas to try out to make it interesting.

I started by working on a relatively new casting on technique - this is one that I learnt about and found out about from the sweater club as this was the cast on that I used for the neck of my sweater - a kind of double edged cast on - I'm not sure what it's called. When I did this for my sweater I left one side of the stitches loose until I had knitted the rest of the neck and then this was what I used to sew it together. I wasn't sure if it would be possible but I thought that this time I would give it a go of casting on and then knitting from both sides in a circle. I hoped that this would provide a neat seam for one end of my cushion cover and a circle for me to start knitting.

I think this seemed to work and I have now done quite a few rounds to start the pattern of the cushion cover. I have taken some inspiration from patterns seen on the internet, on Ravelry and just other people's photos online but I plan to make different designs all of the way up incorporating all of the things that I like and enjoy. I started with a basic checkered pattern and have also put some waves on there too. 

I have taken some inspiration from patterns seen on the internet, on Ravelry and just other people's photos online but I plan to make different designs all of the way up incorporating all of the things that I like and enjoy. I'm not sure how yet but I'm sure Henlow will end up on there somewhere! Watch this space and please send me any inspiration and ideas that might be useful and I might be able to turn into Fair Isle. My patterns so far are 12 stitched wide if anyone want's to give creating a go.

A finish and a new arrival

Ok so this weekend the weather was pretty miserable. I don't know about where you were but here there was just a tiny bit of snow on the ground that was really wet and slushy and it was pretty grey and miserable. This definitely meant that a full on PJ weekend was in order and that in turn meant that I was pretty productive really.

I finished edging and sewing in all of the ends on the baby blanket that I was making for my friend to take to the local hospital's neonatal ward. I'm pretty pleased with it and hopefully it will keep some little girl toasty and comforted for a long while. I know I still have the first teddy that I was bought in hospital when I was a baby so hopefully this will be kept in the same way.

There were also a couple of new projects that I started this weekend but both have background stories so watch this space and I will tell you the whole stories later this week.

Also, this is slightly un-related to me but so cute and exciting that I just had to share a couple of photos with you....my friends got a new arrival to their family - A tiny little kitten. We went to visit them and meet the little guy on Saturday night and I have to say that this is without a doubt the cutest thing I have ever seen - when he was asleep! Slightly mad when he was awake - this little man's called Bruce and isn't he gorgeous!

He's so tiny even his paws are still pink!!!

Gorgeous and I'm not even really a cat person.

2 Crafty Creatives boxes

Ok so it's official - I am rubbish at this - I haven't blogged about either of the last two Crafty Creatives boxes and the next one could be arriving any day now.

The first one that I received was on the theme of Spots and Stripes.

In this one I received the art card, as usual.

The kit is a jewellery making kit - I'm really excited to see what I can make with this as my friend enjoys making jewellery and has made me some beautiful earrings and things before so I would love to give this a go.
There's a roll of stripy tape - will be brill for wrapping prezzies or I might have to try to incorporate this into a card.
There's a bundle of spotty and stripy straws - I'm not sure what I will do with these yet but there is a great idea on the Crafty Creatives blog for how to use these on a birthday card. It's my nieces birthday this week so there may be something I can do like this.
Spotty cupcake cases
3m of stripy string - again maybe to be used on a card or maybe when I'm wrapping a prezzy for someone.
Green and white spotty PVC fabric - I must learn to sew to make this into something.
Fat quarter of striped cotton fabric - again I must learn to make this into something - this could be the lining to a bag maybe - I need to make a bag to keep a load of my wool in as it's spreading quite a lot at the mo.
Pack of sticky foam dots - always useful
A sheet of stripey tissue paper - again this could be fantastic for present wrapping or I could try to incorporate this into a card.

Finally, this is the first time that anything like this has happened with the Crafty Creatives boxes but this one managed to get bashed and the box a little battered in the post. I mentioned this to the lovely ladies at Crafty Creatives then almost the following day I returned home to find this little package on my doorstep

This contained replacements for the beads that had come slightly damaged due to the bashed up box. Check out these beautiful spotty glass beads. I think that once I have mastered the kit for jewellery making I will attempt to make these into a necklace or pair of earrings.

The latest box I received was on the theme of Steampunk.

I wasn't entirely sure of this as a theme as this isn't the most me kind of thing but as always the contents are beautiful. To start off with just the art card this month is really well drawn.

The kit is to decoupage a trinket box. Again another craft that I think would be brilliant to try but that I know I would never get around to trying without the kit.

There is also 3m of brown leather cord - maybe to be used as cord/drawstring to a bag.

Pipe spacer beads - again, once I have mastered jewellery making these will be brill

A bottle of crackle glaze

Metallic transfer foils - I can't wait to try these on a card.

A bundle of leather scraps - I got a little piece of red and also some black.

Reel of wire - mine is black

Bulb and clock charms, lock clasps and watch parts - I got a selection of tiny parts.

Brown tweed fabric - ok so the rest of the box isn't so me this month but this material I love and you get a decent sized piece as well. I would love to make this into a bag or it could maybe become a cushion cover or at least the back to a cushion.

I finished my sweater!!!!

Sorry about the PJs - Very excited! Say no more.

Lots of cards and a little Mother's Day treat

There have been so many birthdays recently and also with Mother's Day being last weekend too I have all of a sudden had a lot of cards to make.

I think we'll start with my friend's birthday card - she had two black cats so I hoped that this would be ok. I hope that one of them doesn't feel too left out but I daren't try to draw another one and didn't have a stamp that I could use with two on:

Nan's Birthday - this image reminds me a lot of myself when I was younger - I wouldn't be seen anywhere without my teddy although mine was more of a money and lamb that I ended up carrying around a lot:

The final birthday is my Father-in-Law's although this isn't until Sunday so if you're reading this and it's not your birthday yet then please stop scrolling now.

I have to confess that both my Nan's and Father-in-Law's I didn't actually completely make myself as my husband fancy a go with so watery paints on these. I think they've turned out really well. Maybe some water-colour paper would be better to paint on next time though.

Then we come to Mother's Day. I obviously made a couple of cards - one might be slightly familiar as I did a similar design for one of my work colleagues for her Birthday (or again my husband did as he did all of the tricky bit cutting all of the pieces out on our machine so all I had to do was glue it all together). I made this one for my Mum:

And I found the idea for this one on the internet for my Mother-in-Law - again I'm loving the simple but effective design (maybe next time I could also add a couple of flowers to it at the end if I was to make this kind of card again:

Finally I think I have saved the best until last. I make some little daffodil charms/key rings for both Mum's. I love them, so intricate and pretty if I do say so myself.

I apologise for the poor backgrounds of most of these photo's, the plan was to crop off the outsides showing the cutting mat from most of them but forgot until after I uploaded them - sorry.

Baby blanket

My friend told me earlier in the week that someone that she works with was collecting baby blankets for our local hospital's premature/special care baby unit. I thought that this was a fantastic idea especially as, when I was born I was really really poorly and was in the special care baby unit at our local hospital so I thought this was a brilliant idea. I set to work straight away even though I've still not finished my jumper - I am close though - have finished the neck and started sewing it on, it's just taking a while to sew. Anyway I thought this was a fantastic way to practice new techniques and patterns so I have started on a granny stripe blanket using left-over wool from my fish hat.

It's coming along nicely so far and growing really quickly. You never know I might even be able to make another one at some point as they're so quick. If anyone else fancies making a little blanket for some tiny babies then let me know and I will post the details so that you can start making. You could always post the blankets to me if you are from quite a way away or let me have them next time I see you and I will pass them on to the relevant people. Happy knitting/crocheting!

Happy Henlow and Happy Kate

Woohoo! I did my exam today so I am back to the world of normality and non-stress-headed-ness. Yey! I think it went ok this time although I am not too sure but I don't get the results for about 6 weeks from now so I can at least forget about it for a while. This should hopefully mean that I have a little more time to think about crafting.

I know I said I was going to update you all on everything that has been happening last week but with Henlow being poorly I haven't really had a chance. We have been nursing him every night, giving him his antibiotics (which he has finished now - yey!) and trying to get him to eat. He started off not being at all interested last week but when all else fails and the little buggers won't eat then what better else to try than junk food! That wins most people round and apparently works on tortoises too. Check it out.

 He's eating and the thing is about the same size as him!!

It looked for a while like he might have been a little confused - maybe it was the antibiotics - you're not a dog with a toy Henlow.

That's about it from me for today - one happy Henlow and one happy Kate - can't be too bad a day. I even have had a little bit of time this afternoon/evening to make a few cards for people. Not quite all finished yet and I can't show you them until they are received by their intended recipients but they should be here soon.