Scraptacular

Finally, after many months of cutting and piecing, cutting and piecing....



I have a quilt top!





I am super nervous about quilting and binding it (this being my first quilt and all).
Note to self....



You can find the pattern (yes there is a pattern - as higgledy piggledy as it is) HERE.

Every little scrap counts

Things to do on an Autumn day

Head Outside....



Find an oak tree....



Collect some acorn cups, yes, just the cups!



Roll some felt balls...



and pop them in the cups!
We have these hanging all over the house, and boy do kids like to make felt balls.
If you have a minute, collect some sticks too, any sticks will do, and voila, no plastic bobbins required.






To Make Felt Acorns, you will need:

100g of roving wool (any colours)
Acorn Cups
PVA glue
Soap
Water
Lots of little hands

1/ Pull the wool apart and gather a small amount, roll it gently between your palms until it forms a loose ball.
2/ Dip the ball in warm water and gently squeeze off the excess, then add a tiny bit of soap to the palm of your hand, and roll, and roll and roll. Gently at first, you will see the soapy felt ball coming together nicely, as it gets firmer you can apply a little more pressure to your rolling.
3/ Set the balls aside to dry. Once dry, paint a little PVA glue to one end and push into the acorn cup, leave to dry.
4/ Dangle them hither and thither from every hook and cranny, make a sweet garland or attach little paper labels to make perfectly prettyfull name settings (we like this one best - a perfect Sunday Dinner special).

To Make the bobbins, take one stick, some floss, and wind.... easy peasy.

Reconnecting

Oh my! It has been a while... is anyone still here?

I have been tentatively thinking about returning to my wee blog for a while, for despite the lack of blog posts the crafting has continued, and life too, as it does. So I have much to share over the coming weeks.
I got a little bogged down with projects and swaps before. I have decided I am a terrible swapper and will not be partaking in anymore swaps, my life is simply too topsy turvey to be committing to such endevours, as I invariably end up flaking out and letting someone down.

Also, I realised that though I have been "making" for sometime, so few of the things I have made stay with me. So I am focussing right now on finishing up a swap I am very late with and completing a couple of gifts that will be flying to their new homes soon.
Moving forward, I am working on much slower projects, projects with no deadline (for the most part), so I can enjoy the process of making, no rush, just taking my time. I feel quite relieved now that I have made this decision and slowed down. Life is full of deadlines, I think that creating should be seperate from that, at least for now.

Anyways, my blog looks a little different and for this I must thank the very lovely Clare Owen who kindly designed my new banner and buttons, aren't they sweet? I am delighted with the result of her handiwork, what a talented bunny she is! You can see more of her work here and she sells her lovely artwork HERE.

I haven't picked up my camera since my last blog post, so the summer was missed, via the lens at least. I am marvelling at the fresh burst of colour that Autumn has brought, nature is clever that way, just as the weather turns and the chill in the air forces us to pull on extra layers, nature turns with a brilliant show of warm hues, cosy oranges and deep reds, crisp leaves turned brown, dancing in the wind, the last dance, before winter.

I am enjoying Autumn this year, normally I grieve for Spring and Summer, this time I am embracing it. I am liking leaves right now, alot.



I feel better and more alive, the rest was good, it's good to be back.

TaTa for Now

Life has been totally upside down crazy for us lately, and on that note, I am going to be taking a blog break. I may or may not return.

Thank you all for the support and for the amazing friendship many of you have extended to me.

Big love and Best Wishes to you All XxXxX

Grandad Bob 12th September 1926 - 14th June 2011

When I was 18, I discovered you were not my biological grandfather.

It would be easy to imagine that I might have felt upset, or sad. In fact, I felt nothing but gratitude. Gratitude for the knowing and understanding that blood isn't always thicker than water. Gratitude for having learned that under whatever circumstances you came to be my grandfather, you had never treated me any different from my cousins, that you had loved me whoeheartedly.

For the last 32 years I have felt cherished and adored by you, not a day has passed that you have not called, written me a letter, sent packages of sweets for the children, sleepsuits for the baby or your favourite - random useful gifts, wooden spoons and clothes pegs, a tube of No Nails or whatever random object you deemed I may need. I have always felt touched by the throughtfulness you have shown, those small gifts meant so much to me.

My life has been so much richer for you having been a part of it. My childhood is peppered with sweet memories of our time together, I will never forget all that you were and all that you mean to me, all that you had done and all that you gave. All that I have learned from your wisdom and that which I have yet to learn from your passing.

Whilst I feel desperately sad in you leaving us, I am grateful that you got your wish, that you are no longer in pain and can join Nana Ann, finally, it's what you wanted.
Your final words to me will forever resound in my ears like a beating heart, I am so glad we had that chance, and that you left me with those sweet words for all eternity.

Thank you for the gift of love, for showing me that our hearts can weigh heavy with the same joy and affection normally reserved for those born from our own. You were everything a grandad could be, to me you were perfect.



Loving you forever XxX

Brit Quilt Swap & Temporary Drunkeness

I am back from my blogging hiatus, phew!
What a crazy couple of weeks it has been!
Between work, my army of children and a boozy weekend away with the girls (more about that soon) there has been very little time for creative stuffs



It seems somewhat inappropiate that the first photo of myself to be featured on my blog is one in which I am completely hammered, but never mind that.

I have been working on my woven cloth here and there, the scrappy quilt is taking shape and I rather naively joined The Brit Quilt Swap - The old phrase 'To bite off more than one can chew' springs to mind. I am feeling quite overwhelmed by this new project, being as my entire experience of quilt making lies in several wonky donkey blocks that are yet to be stitched together and quilted.

There seems to be so much to learn about this quilting lark and I am trying desperately to educate myself sufficiently to be able to complete one of the damn things. The mere thought of mitred corners makes me feel nauseous. Apparently there is a special tool for this but I took one look at it and made no sense of how you are supposed to use it.

I have made a start by planning (somewhat haphazardly) a design and the fabric line up. This was made so much easier by the recent arrival of a stack of Jennifer Paganelli's Honey Child Fabric (oh joy!) and a bundle of 12 Kona solids which I won in Katy's Blog giveaway (thank you so much!)





So... back to the sewing table I go... see you soon :)