Christmas This Year

 Is it just me or are the years speeding by that much quicker? it doesn't seem five minutes since it was last Christmas and here we are again with just a few days left until the big day. I am hosting Christmas this year, I don't know how it happened but there you go, I haven't hosted Christmas since I moved into this tiny house of mine and I'm wondering how we are going to manage it, but all the family won't be present as son number two and family will be spending Christmas with his in-laws and son number three is at present in South Korea awaiting the birth of his first child! yes you heard right my baby son is going to be a Daddy, ok well not quite the baby anymore but hey they are always your babies aren't they?  Minju my beautiful daughter in law is due at the beginning of January and.... it's going to be a girl!!! my first granddaughter😊I wish they lived closer and I wish I could be there at the birth but there you go I'm just hoping all will go well and I can't wait to see pictures/video's of her.

So there will be six adults a child and a baby spending Christmas in my tiny abode, I'm trying to push things into the garage to make more space and I'm making a plan, a floor plan and an everything else plan so it should be ok, past Christmases haven't gone that well for me as you can read in this post written  8 years ago! but now I'm going to play the old lady/bad back card and hopefully everyone will be here on time and do their bit to help, wish me luck!

The lead up to Christmas has been filled with lots of festive crafting...

Baubles Galore.

One of the ladies in my crochet group came up with the brilliant idea of using plastic pool balls as a base for Christmas baubles since then there has been no let up and bauble mania has taken hold.  I honestly can't tell you have many we have made..

from these

to these

Once you get going you get hooked literally😆Why so many you may ask? well we have been giving the Marina some festive cheer...

and of course we wanted some for ourselves, they look great strung up with my Christmas pictures

and hanging on the tree, I like my tree to have traditional colours as you can see, I knit the little santa's when I was living in Syria, they must be over 40 years old! I taught my sisters in law how to knit them too and apparently they are still making them to this day. I love how tree ornaments bring back so many happy memories don't you? it seems like the modern trend is to change them each year with different colours to match the decor, each to their own but I think I'm now to old to change.

The baubles are easily made without a pattern but there are some lovely bauble patterns out there, I used the patterns from this website and there is a lot of choice.

Christmas Trees

These little trees seem to be very popular this year you can see them on all the social media sites and I'm not surprised because they are so easy! a christmas tree made out of a granny square, I have made lots of these as well, even small ones to hang onto gifts, the possibilities are endless, I did decorate some with beads and silver charms but forgot to take a photo. I popped them inside Christmas cards to give as a little gift.

Here they are hanging with trees of Christmases past.

You can find the how to here.

Remember the Penguin I mentioned in the last post? well here he is all ready to be gifted to grandson number three, little Louis, I have a feeling that after a quick cuddle he'll get thrown on the floor but I'm sure Louis's Mummy will rescue him and put him away and bring him out each Christmas.

I have been sewing too, a little Christmas tree embroidery hoop..

There is much more, the u3a crafting groups have been making all sorts of Christmas things to raise finds for charities but more about that later.

Have a great Sunday 😘😘

Meet Shamus and A Bit Of Embroidery

 I just love this little fella, my feelings were quite mixed as I started to crochet all the individual parts but once he was assembled I quite fell in love with him he has such a sweet face don't you think.😀

Shamus the seagull will join the rest of the sea creatures that we are creating to decorate our Mariner in early Summer. In the meantime he is sat on my stairs I may make a couple of friends to keep him company, time permitting.

You can find the paid pattern for Shamus here he is called Marvin in the pattern but he looked like a Shamus to me.😂

I have completed the month of February on the Year Of Doodles Stitchery

This is a lovely project, it's nice to pick it up and sew a few stitches now and then. I'm looking forward to starting March and picking out the colours is part of the fun. I'm thinking greens, yellows, purples and pinks probably similar to February, they are my favourite colours after all.

and I started the heart stitchery I showed you last week...

I'm enjoying this too, just taking it nice and slow, I'm going to enjoy sewing this this afternoon and the good news is days are getting longer and because we have more natural light there are more sewing hours to enjoy.

I hope you all have a peaceful Sunday and week ahead, see you next time.😘😘

Linking with..

Slow Sunday Stitching

Handmade Monday

The Solar System In Crochet

 When my daughter in law asked me if I would crochet the solar system for my grandson everything else was immediately put to one side.  She wanted to make a solar system Halloween outfit for him for the Halloween party at his nursery.

If you can remember back in this post Mikey loves the solar system, he knows all the planets and everything about them right down to the number of moons and rings they all have.

I immediately set about making little planets but wondered if anyone had done anything similar before.  Making small spheres is simple enough but the planets are all different sizes and colours and I thought it would be great if I could find a pattern to help me on my way. if I got anything wrong Mikey would soon point it out haha

I found one which seemed to fit the bill here however the designer stated that it had been published in a back issue of Simply Crochet so rather that just buy the pattern on Ravelry it seemed a better option to buy the magazine  and get a whole load of other patterns too. 

I thought that I had plenty of time to make these right up till the end of the month in fact but for some strange reason the Nursery had their Halloween party yesterday, so in the end it was a mad rush to get them finished. 

As you can see my daughter in law has made a great job of attaching them it looks as if Saturn's rings have become a bit wobbly in the process 😂 but Mikey is delighted and sent me a thank you video, I can't wait to hear all about his party.

It was so much fun making these and there are lots of space related patterns in the magazine so I may be making a rocket and a star cushion too.

I hope you all have a great weekend 😘😘

Click here to see the parties I will be linking to this week.

Meet Laurence a Yummy cake and a Strange flower

When I saw the Crochet Llama-no-drama advertised as a stitch along I fell in love.  I'm not usually fond of amigurumi because it's tedious and fiddly but who could resist this cute Llama and as a bonus it has video tutorials, I'm great fan of Mikey from The Crochet Crowd  so I was quite literally hooked on the idea.

I had a home for him too he was to be placed in the Library's Easter raffle along with other lovely makes from the Library knitting and crochet group, the proceeds were to go to the local air ambulance service.

I followed the stitch along but was rather slow compared to others, some of the participants not only completed their Llama's way ahead of the finish line but had made more than one, I could see beautifully completed llama's all over the Facebook page when I hadn't even started on the legs!

Anyway it didn't really matter I had him all finished in plenty of time but then Lock-down happened and the Library's were closed.  So I have Laurence here with me until things get back to normal again.  I have grown quite attached to him and will be quite sad when he eventually leaves home but I won't think of that just yet.

You can find all details about the Llama No-Drama here the video's are still available and take it from me, making him is really worth the effort.

I made this yummy chocolate cake yesterday....

Never Fail Chocolate Cake

1¼ cup SR Flour
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
½ cup cocoa
125 grams softened butter
¾ cup caster sugar
pinch salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Cream the butter and sugar,  in a seperate bowl sift all dry ingredients together, beat wet ingredients together in another bowl  then add alternatively to creamed mixture. Beat well then place in a 23 cm cake tin and bake for 180°C for 50 minutes 

When the cake has cooled top with melted chocolate or chocolate icing,  sprinkle pieces of broken chocolate over the top.  The cake is delicious sandwiched with fresh cream for a special occasion.

The picture on the mug says it all really a whole cake for just me!😂 Can you see Jeremy in the background?

Unfortunately the weather has been awful this past week so  I haven't been in my garden much but look! 

I think it looks very strange, this Cordyline flowered for the first time last year 

I didn't think it would flower again so soon but this year it has only one flowering spike last year it had two.  The flowers have a very distinctive smell not that pleasant and quite overpowering you can smell their scent all over the garden but the bees love them.

Have a great weekend 😘😘


See all the great parties I will be linking to in my right side bar.

Stash-buster Sunshine Baby Blanket

Although my stash has shrunk considerably since I began stash-busting in earnest back in 2013 I still have more than 20,000 grams of yarn to get through before I reach zero and let me tell you that will never happen, for that to become reality one would have to refrain from buying yarn completely and although my yarn purchasing has been reigned in these past 7 years I simply cannot deprive myself of the pleasure of  buying yarn completely.

I have learnt a lot I must say and now I can look around a yarn store and walk out without making a single purchase, however sometimes I do need to buy the odd ball to complete a project and if I see something that I really must make and I don't have the correct yarn then I will buy it knowing that it will get completely used up with the project I'm making.  However I do seem to end up with lots of small odd balls which is how this bright and cheerful baby blanket came into being.

A very quick and easy project made with V stitch and a starting chain of 111 and lots of odd balls of Dk yarn.
When I work V stitch for baby blankets I don't put a chain between the two trebles and it gives a closer texture.

Isn't that bunny cute! I was going to make several of these and give them as gifts for Easter but Lockdown happened and I only made the one maybe next year 😊
You can find the cute bunny pattern here

I kept working on the blanket until it measured 30 inches in length and I busted a very satisfying 300 grams of scrap yarn. I even enjoyed weaving in the ends which I did every few rows. Then I finished it off with a very simple htr border making the final round crab stitch.

The Indiana Blanket is coming on well I'm really enjoying making this, however it is challenging trying to figure what colour yarn to use when you have to depend on your stash when its mainly single balls of each colour....now what colour next red or green?

Have a great weekend and stay safe.😘

See all the great parties I'll be linking with in right side bar.

Puppets and Monsters

Last year Knit for Nowt sent out an appeal for therapy puppets and monsters which are desperately needed for children who have suffered physical and  psychological trauma.  These puppets are used by Social workers throughout the UK  to help a traumatised child to communicate through a puppet or monster.

I think it's heartbreaking to think that there is always a desperate need for these and supply can't meet demand, you can read all about Knit for Nowt here

I have never really enjoyed making fiddly things but this cause really tugged at my heart and I knew that I had to try to help in anyway that I could. 

Out came the sewing machine I had to dust off a few cobwebs I can tell you but I was determined to give this a go and this was the result....

I know they aren't great but I was quite proud that I had actually managed to produce something that could be used, the worst part for me was sewing the faces. 

I then approached my U3A Patchwork and embroidery group and asked them if they would like to make some too, I even made a couple more and do you know what, apart from the faces I really enjoyed making them, this is what we made between us....

As you know crochet is my forte and although I did enjoy sewing some I was itching to make some crocheted ones too, apparently although all types of puppets are needed and used a MOJO  monster is the most useful as several facial flaps are used one for each facial expression. I found a knitted and sewn pattern on the website but none for crochet so I fiddled about a bit and came up with a very simple pattern of my own, made a few puppets then sent photo's to Clare from Knit for nowt to see if they were acceptable......

Here they are all sat on the windowsill in my conservatory which I had just had built, my next door neighbour was having an extension built at the same time which meant that her workmen spent a great deal of time working from my garden. When I took a photo of these little guys I was actually in my pyjamas and kept moving them around darting back and forth and yes talking to myself too as I do😳 I then turned and looked out of the windows at the side only to find next doors workmen sat on the new extension roof watching me and looking very amused indeed.  To say I felt embarrassed is an understatement.😆 

Anyway I'm very pleased to say that Clare was delighted with the puppets and asked me if I would share the pattern with diagrams so that it could be added to the website.

I do hope that this will inspire some of you to make some puppets, I know that I will continue to make them whenever I can. There is loads of information on the website and patterns of all types for you to try. I have added some links below for easy access.

CROCHET MOJO WORRY MONSTER 

CROCHET TEDDY HAND PUPPET PATTERN

WORRY PUPPET AND MONSTER PATTERNS (WEBSITE)

HAND AND FINGER PUPPETS ( WEBSITE)

SEWN PUPPETS AND MONSTERS (WEBSITE)

The Final Countdown!

Will they do it! the Teddy Challenge for Operation Christmas Child is nearly coming to an end but there's still time to help them reach their target, Teddy Puppets have to reach Julia by the 18th September.  

Their total so far is an amazing 11,756 so close! each and every Ted is important so if you can manage even one it would be gratefully recieved.

These are our Teddy Puppets ready and waiting for more friends to join them.  You can read more about the challenge, find patterns and see where to send them here, or leave me a comment and your email address and I will send the address to you. 

Have a great Teddy making week. :) 

Great stash-busters too! linking with....
  

                                                          

Cooking and crafting with J&J

Something For The Weekend

Just the thing for the warmer weather, these cute little puppets are light, quick and easy to make and all for a great cause too...

I have challenged myself to make at least two of these a month and these are my June puppets.  OCC Barton upon Humber  need lots more to meet their target, the latest total is 5413 bears.

Why don't you all join in and and make a bear or two you can read all about the appeal, find the patterns and the address to send them here.

I hope you all have a great sunshiny weekend. xxx

February Review

So where did February go? these months seem to speed by but at least by setting myself some targets each month I can see that I haven't been wasting my time and there has been something constructive going on, because February was a short month and I've been decorating I really didn't think that I would manage to complete everything I planned so I have to look back to see what I actually hoped to achieve...

Make two Teddy Puppets a month for Operation Christmas Child

February Teds

These little puppets are such fun to make, I have to stop myself from making more so that I can get on with other things.  Great stash-busters too you can find the pattern here

I have challenged myself to make a sweater a month for the boys...

February Sweater

Complete the second front of my cardigan..

I managed to do that too and now I have only the sleeves to do

Make a preemie item...

Made with a few grams of stash yarn so simple and so sweet one of Marianna's lovely patterns you can find it here

start some socks

I have forced myself to stop at this point I was only going to do the rib but honestly I really love making socks and could quite happily make those and nothing else and that would never do now would it.

start some mittens

Well as you know not only did I start them but I finished them too and let me tell you I'm enjoying wearing them, these are designed by Christine and you can find the pattern here.

Finish The Cheerful Child Blanket..

I loved making this blanket and may make another in the future but strangely for the first time in a long time I'm not following a single CAL!

Although I challenge myself with certain tasks each month sometimes these have to be put to one side because something crops up and I have to devote myself to that project, either to make something for a child in desperate need or in fact in this case for a much sadder reason.  Last month a member of Loving Hands passed away, she was such a lovely selfless person and always kept us entertained with her lively personality on the Loving Hands forum. When one of our members pass away we all contribute a square which are sewn into a comfort blanket for the family.  In Maureen case we will be making one for each of her two grandchildren and one for her husband. 

These were mine...

Block 55 Centred Square 

Block 99 Baby Bow

Block 89 Spinner

All made from the book 200 Crochet Blocks by Jan Eaton

To do list for March...

1. March boy sweater.
2. Two Teddy Puppets.
3. Complete a sock and cast on another.
4. Make a Preemie item.
5. Work on my totally scrappy blanket.

I hope everyone is having a great week. :) 

Linking with...



Snickerdoodle Sunday
Hookin on hump day
Cooking and crafting with J&J
Handmade Monday
Lunamon Design
Scrapability Saturday

Link and Share Wednesdays