Craft group goodness

For the last week I've been busy doing a lot of hand sewing, both at my usual Mum's craft group and also at a new craft group that I've just joined. Crafting in the evening with a group of other like minded women is really good fun - especially when there is tea and yummy cake to be had!

Though I'm a little shy with starting out meeting new people I think I'm going to fit in well at this new group - we're starting the year with a 6 week hand sewing course and I've already made this very sweet little felt elephant (the free pattern is available from here) as well a very lovable little felt scotty dog (from another free pattern which is available here).

Working with felt is always so soothing (at least once you've finished cutting out all the piece and can figure out how on earth you start blanket stitching) and I love how pretty a contrasting thread colour looks on felt.

I'm so tempted after all this felt goodness to go and spend a large amount of money at paper and string for even more felt... Before I do that though I should probably make a bit of headway through a few of the lovely felt kits that I won late last year - hopefully I'll have something to show you from them soon!

My other weekly craft group is also going well, with more hand sewing to show off from there. We've all been making sewing mice which double as a pin cushion and a thread reel holder. However, in my enthusiasm to finish my mouse I took him home and sewed his ears on flat, completely forgetting that I was supposed to sew the ears on with a kink that would make them stand up. So while I'm pretty happy with how he turned out I'm going to be doing some remedial ear surgery on him soon in an attempt to make him even cuter.

We are now moving on making to felt fairy cakes in a variety of pastel colours, they are pretty quick to make, you need two circles of felt (one slightly larger for the cake case, the other will be the main cake piece) and a smaller piece to add on top for the icing. You sew the icing to the top of the cake with any extra beads that you want to add as sprinkles, then you sew the two circles together with a running stitch that you pull tight to get a puckered edge, remembering to add some stuffing before you close it off completely.

Friday book review

"Yummi 'Gurumi: Over 60 gourmet crochet treats to make" by Christen Haden & Mariarosa Sala
ISBN: 9780740792601

US crochet terms

Last week my copy of this tasty looking book arrived all the way from America and I sat up with it gazing at all the yummy looking treats inside. My favourites to look at were the pretty looking cakes in the last section, that was until I read that they were all made with crochet thread and so would probably take quite a bit of work (as well as a whole stash of crochet thread in a large number of colours) to recreate.

Slightly disappointed I decided to give some of the fruit a try - starting with strawberries. Apart from there being a confusing error in the pattern I was very pleased with how mine turned out and before long I had four juicy looking strawberries so I started on some of the other tropical fruit on offer. I tried to keep to some of the more recognisable fruits as these were destined to be play food for little ones (there were also patterns for a persimmon slice, peach slice and pineapple slice) and after a few issues with a couple of the patterns I ended up with a lovely collection of tasty looking fruit.


Because I wanted my fruits to be easily recognisable I had to alter some of the patterns a little, my orange segments have a white pith and an orange rind - which though a little more of a fuss does mean they look more like orange slices. I also made the white centre in my kiwi slices a little larger and I embroidered far more black seeds in mine to try and make them look more real.

After all this healthy food I decided to give a sandwich a go, and because I loved the look of the tomato slices shown in the book I decided to make up a BLT. Again I found a problem with one of the patterns, the instructions for the lettuce were slightly wrong and were quite hard to figure out how to fix. After reworking it a couple of times I really loved how it looks and think that the design is lovely, but the instructions need rewriting. My bacon got real crochet streaks of fat as I felt that the running stitch shown in the book looked a little naff. And because I ran out of time I didn't make up the slices of bread and just used some of the bread I had made previously that was tucked in my son's play food box.

This book was sadly not as good as I was hoping it would be. There are a number of errors in the patterns that would make it very confusing for a beginner to use - which is such a shame as more pattern testing would have highlighted all of these. The patterns all look lovely, though because this focuses more on adult food tastes like sushi and a fun looking cheese board, there is little that I would end up actually making. I just don't know anyone who could use a crochet bottle of wine or a crochet stir fry.

Loving hearts

After trying diligently to get through some of my more tricky UFOs I've succumbed to doing some fun crochet as I'm rubbish at working through projects when the going starts to get tough.

What tempted me away was a free pattern by June Gilbank called 'Love Hearts' which gives you detailed instructions for how to make these very cute hearts.

On the left are the three different sizes worked in crochet thread - they are so tiny and very cute... I used them on my husband's date-a-versary card and they look so good I may have a go at doing some more in thread.

Seeing as the thread hearts only took an hour to hook up I thought I would try making some with my DK wool, and this time I went with making the puffy hearts. They look so cute and squishy with a little stuffing in and I got pretty carried away with using up scraps of DK wool that after a couple of evenings of crochet I found I had made this pretty garland!

This is a lovely quick and easy pattern and makes some really lovely heart motifs. What would you use them for?

More cards to show

My lovely card making course is now drawing to a close so I thought this would be a good time to show you a selection of the different cards that I've made.

From the top left in a clockwise direction we have:

1. Sunflower card - made using an embossing machine (a Cuttlebug)

2. Spirelli card - winding thread round pre-cut card

3. Cat card - stamp embossing

4. Thank you card - done with the Iris folding technique


5. Recycled paper card - made with paper punches

6. Black & white card - embossed and then lightly inked to show the image

7. Paper pricking card - hand paper pricked and spirelli added to the centre

8. Candle card - candles embossed on to card and cut out

Centre:

9. Tulip card - made with a sticky outline which is then painted with watered down inks and mounted

I've really enjoyed doing some paper craft for a change, it's so nice to do something different from crochet and sewing occasionally and I'll definitely be giving some of the techniques another go in any future cards I make. The other half of the course is about how to run your own small business which is giving me lots of grand ideas - perhaps 2011 will be the year I give that a go?

Christmas goodies

Before we get too far into 2011 I wanted to share with you some of the beautiful craft related goodness that I was given for Christmas.

I'm really lucky to have some very talented craft people in my family, my sister (check out her beautiful blog here) who has only be crocheting for 4 years seems to be a pro already - check out this beautiful tea cosy with matching mat that she made me for Christmas. It is so beautiful that when I first got it I couldn't stop admiring it. So I've gone from no tea cosy to having 2, what a great start to the year!

Next up we got this fantastic door stop from my sister in law who is always coming up with cool sewing and crochet projects. I love the fabric she has used (I really should have included a back shot of him too as you can see more of the design... oh well) and with the addition of buttons to his felt eyes he has lots of personallity. I'm really going to have to make 2011 the year of the sewing machine so that I get a bit more confidence and perhaps even do a few fun projects like this.

My little boy has taken quite a shine to him and keeps removing him from the kitchen door (which Mr. Owl is responsible for keeping open) and taking him for rides on his wheely bug. In fact he is sitting on the computer desk with me right now as he has had his morning ride and has been brought over to me to keep me company.

Next up I was given this cool Christmas tree bunting from a local crafty friend of mine (she has an Etsy shop called Bunting and beads - but it seems to be sold out at the moment). I can't wait to get it on the tree next year and I'll try to remember to take a photo of it for you all to see in it's full glory then.

Lastly I was given another whole year subscription to Inside Crochet as well as this box which is choc full of fantastic card making supplies all from my very generous Mum in law :-) I just love the pretty snowflake stamps she's included and there are even some tea cup card decorations that suit me so well!

Friday magazine reviews

Just thought I would put up a couple of magazine reviews this Friday as I've been getting a bit behind with doing them and they aren't much use if you get them 3 or 4 months late!

"Inside Crochet" issue 13
January 2011
UK crochet terms

This issue of Inside Crochet starts the New Year on the right foot with a good collection of patterns including the beautiful 'Esmee cardigan' by Sarah Francis which I am definitely making for myself one day. There are also patterns for some cute kids stripy jumpers, a very pretty 'Lily shawl' and a lovely 'Henna rug' which would look so pretty on our wooden floor.

As well as having plenty of good patterns this month there are also some great articles covering topics like customising your clothes, doing freeform crochet (which has intrigued me for a while and I may well have a try myself soon...), and some interviews with a couple of London based ethical craft shops which look fantastic (Fabrications and  Prick your finger).

"Inside Crochet" issue 14
February 2011
UK crochet terms

I really enjoyed reading through this issue of Inside Crochet too. There are some lovely patterns in here with my favourite being the 'Bloom blanket' by Rebecca Velasquez which looks so very bright and cheerful that it would be perfect for bringing Spring into your home nice and early. I also really like the 'Valentine settings' place mats, the pretty bobbily 'Artichoke hat' and the cosy looking 'Cherry wrap', so lots to keep you busy this month.

The articles also make a good read with a feature about filet crochet, some impressive fashion crochet pieces and a fantastic interview with Emma Lamb who makes some very beautiful crochet banners, cushions and pot holders that are bursting with colour.

Finishing off - continued

So far I seem to be doing quite well with my resolution to finish off some of my long forgotten projects. I've finally gotten round to putting the last touches on my patchwork - all that was needed was a lining adding and then it was done.

Did any of you manage to guess what it is?

Top marks for anyone out there shouting "it's a tea cosy!" go and make yourself a cuppa right now as a reward for your good sense.

For a girl who loves her tea as much as I do it seems crazy that I've never had one of these, so when we were given the option to try making one at my local mum's craft group I jumped at the chance. Now I just need to invite some friends round for tea and cake and show it off to the world.

I've also finished off some more squares for the SIBOL project which got sent out a few days ago. Sue who runs the project has already written a blog post about them (she is so very organised!) which you can find here. So much granny square goodness over there, even though I've just finished up a pile of squares it gets me itching to make a few more.

So now I'm off to sort through some more of my neglected projects, but perhaps I'll have a cup of tea first to get me in the mood...