Crazy Patchwork WIP

Our sofa is looking a bit worse for wear at the moment, and in the interests of saving money I decided to update it with a throw.  I’m determined not to spend any money on this throw, so I took the giant box of scraps that usually lives under my work desk


and began to take out the scraps and iron them flat.  Once I had a big pile I started to sew them together.


This is as far as I’ve got so far.  A completely crazy mix of fabrics and shapes.  This type of patchwork suits me better than the usual way of cutting regular shapes, as I love the complete freedom to just grab a couple of odd pieces of fabric and sew them together.
I’ve got a long way to go yet, but once its finished and thrown on the sofa, I’ll post another photo.
Sally
xxx

Crocheted Snowball Pattern

I thought I’d share more things I’ve made from Decembers Crafty Creatives box

Firstly here are the bath bombs that were made from the kit.  I decided to double the amount of mix to make 2 at the same time, but I think I may’ve misjudged slightly as I managed to make 3.  The red star is a cookie cutter I had in my cupboard, and I just packed it tightly into that too and found it worked really well.

I can also report that they fizz beautifully around the bath, and smell divine!  A big thumbs up from me for this kit, easy to use it works.

I have also been crocheting with the eyelash wool.  Snowballs!!!!

I found the wool a bit tricky to crochet with at first as it’s quite hard to see the stitches in-between all of the fluffy wool, however I persevered and am really pleased with the results.

For those who want their own snowballs, here is the pattern (UK notation):

Row 1:  Ch2

Row 2: 6DC in 2nd Chain from hook

Row 3: 2DC in each stitch

Row 4: *1DC, 2DC in next stitch* repeat to end

Row 5: *1DC, 1DC, 2DC * repeat to end

Row 6-8: DC in each stitch

Row 9: *1DC, 1DC, DC decrease* repeat to end

Row 10: *1DC, DC decrease* repeat to end

Fill with stuffing

Row 11: DC decrease 3 times

Leave a long thread, cast off and then sew through the remaining stitches and pull tight.  Sew a long loop for hanging on the tree.

They’re pretty quick to make, so you’ve got plenty of time to whip up a few before Christmas Day. 

Sally

xxx

Crafty Creatives Box

I’d seen reviews of Crafty Creatives boxes on other blogs and had to see for myself if it was as good as they had said – the answer is YES!  I received my box yesterday, eagerly ripped off the packaging and this is what I found:

Wow, lots of things to play with.

I couldn’t wait to dig in, and with the help of my daughter we started on the bath bomb making.  Daisy and I are completely obsessed by the shop Lush, and so to make our own bath bombs was a great treat.  The bath bombs are currently in their moulds – photos to follow.

I also decided that as the string of beads was so pretty, I had to make a simple necklace by just threading the beads onto some stretchy jewellery string.

I had enough beads left over to make Daisy a bracelet too.

There were a couple of glass heart nuggets in the box:

I had plans for these – firstly I found a couple of photos I liked (one of me & one of my hubby) , and printed them off quite small.  I placed a glass heart on top of each photo and drew around it, next step was to glue the photos to the back of the hearts with decoupage glue, and then when it was dry, I gave it another coat of glue to seal the back.

Sorry not a great photo, we both look a bit lopsided – the difficulties of taking photos through shaped glass! 

I think my hubby may get these for Christmas, beautifully wrapped in the lovely organza bag that they came in. 

Right I think that’s enough for now.  I’ll be back soon with how the bath bombs turned out & what I’ve made with the rest of the lovely box of goodies.

Sally

xxx

Wire Christmas Tree Decoration

Just thought I’d share a decoration I made for my Christmas tree

I used a wire-jig to create the base of the tree in 0.6mm silver plated wire and then used a thinner wire to wrap around the outside of the tree, adding small jingle bells as I went.  I really love the silver wire against the green of my tree.

Each year I try to make at least one decoration for the tree.  My aim is to one year have the whole tree decorated in homemade things.  Just for fun, here are a few of the handmade things already on my tree.

And a couple made by my children when they were younger:

Anyone already got a completely homemade tree?

Sally

xxx

Out of my window

I thought I’d share a photo of the sunrise that greeted me yesterday when I opened my bedroom curtains.

No computer trickery involved, a genuine sight to lift the soul.

Sally

xxx

Brrrr, a bit of chilly crochet–Snowman

I’ve spent the last couple of evenings crocheting snowmen

Sadly I can’t lay claim to creating this pattern, I found it here.  It took me a couple of tries to get the pattern right, and I still think I have a bit of work to do to make the nose the right size and shape, but I’m really pleased with how they’ve come out.

The pattern also includes varying scarves and hats, plus mittens, but I didn’t want my snowmen to have arms, so I left out the mittens.

I think the hat and scarf look a bit Harry Potter-ish here – ooh there’s an idea for after Christmas!

The snowman with the hat and scarf has found a new home with my young nephews and the unadorned snowman is sitting on my windowsill just hoping that I’ll finish his hat and scarf before the cold weather truly sets in!

Sally

xxx