Catching up

Wow, it’s been a long time! I’m not really sure why I ended up having such a long break from my blog but I suppose life just got in the way for a while and the longer the break went on, the harder it seemed to write that first post again. It’s been about 7 months since I last posted and i feel I should catch you up a little on what’s been happening in that time. Nothing major that should have stopped me from posting really but as i look back at the photos I’ve packed quite a lot in to this year, so it’s no wonder if not found the time to post!

If I was to tell you about everything that I’d done in the last 7 months I’d be here all night, so here is the condensed version with pictures.

There has been a lot of gardening. Our garden produced so much for us this Summer, I really am thankful! We had a huge amount of courgettes and green beans. We tried to use them as we went along but there were so many, our freezer is now full of zucchini soup and green beans. We also had plentiful tomatoes, raspberries and so many beautiful sunflowers.

There has been lots of running, including 3 half marathons and of course the all important bling!

There have been plentiful family times including a wonderful caravan holiday in the Summer where we were able to catch up with family and dear friends who we hadn’t seen for a while. Special memories were made and shall be cherished for a long time to come!

Alongside all the other goings on there has, of course been a lot of crafting. Never quite as much as I’d like but when I look back on the last 7 months I do wonder where on earth I’ve fit it all in. Over the Summer months I did a lot of embroidery for gifts as a number of friends sadly moved away. I forgot to take photos of all the finished embroidery but here’s a snapshot of what was made:

I have also done a fair bit of crochet but I haven’t got a lot to show for it as yet as it’s been for a couple of long term projects that still aren’t quite finished. I did however finish 3 children’s poncho’s recently (1 for little miss and 2 ready for Christmas gifts) and earlier in the year I made a baby blanket

I have a few ongoing wipes and lots of projects just waiting to be started.

current wips:

1. A bright squares rainbow 🌈 blanket for Little Miss:

I’m onto joining the rows and hopefully will have it finished in time for her birthday in a couple of weeks.

2. I have a stash of purple grey and white squares just waiting to be joined and made into a blanket. I plan to start joining them as soon as I’ve finished the blanket for Little Miss.

3. As if I needed another big project I felt the need a couple of weeks ago to start making large granny squares out of left over yarn and so a ‘happy scrappy’ blanket is now underway too.

Waiting in the wings to be started I have a bag full of  chunky yarn which I just couldn’t resist a few weeks ago. Im pretty sure that’s going to become a blanket in the near future too but hopefully this one won’t take to long to do as it’s super chunky yarn with a 20mm hook!

At the same time I found the chunky wool, I also found a beautiful bright variegated yarn which I also failed to resist (just when streamlining had been going so well!). I quite fancy making some sort of funky shrug with that but we’ll see.

Just in case all those projects weren’t enough I’ve also got 3 more zenbroidery pictures ready to start and the Autumn Box from craftpod which  hasn’t yet been touched, plus a hundred more ideas floating around in my brain, waiting to come to the forefront. If only there were more hours in the day…

Hopefully I’ll have some more finished projects to show you soon…watch this space!

Karen x x

 

 

4 blankets in 1

All the way back in May last year I began making a chunky ripple blanket for a good friend of mine. It was going great guns for a while…

Then, a hot summer, other projects and life got in the way but I did manage to finish it in time to give it to her as a combined belated birthday and  Christmas present.

I decided to opt for a simple border as the stripes are so striking I didn’t want to take away from that.

Thankfully the recipient absolutely loved her blanket and tells me that she cosies up with it every night when the weather is cold enough. What better praise than to know that somethings you have spent many hours on is being put to good use! It makes me so happy to bring someone else a little bit of happiness through my  crafting.

Invariably when you set out on a blanket making journey (especially when you’re adapting a pattern and using a different weight of yarn), you’re never sure exactly how much you will need and end up ordering a bit more yarn (several times in this case). So, after finishing the ripple blanket I found myself with a lot of left over yarn, some full balls, some half balls and some odds and ends. Little Miss helped me to wind all the left overs up into balls and I set about making a baby blanket for a friends granddaughter.

Again I felt a delicate border was needed.

Still I had more yarn left and so I made a smaller baby blanket, suitable for a car seat or pram, with a slightly chunkier border…

AND I managed to squeeze out a dolly blanket for Little Miss with all the little odds and ends…

I think they look nice and cosy under there. I just hope baby Eadie likes her 2 new blankets too.

As my main crafty aim this year is to use up crafty resources that I already have, I’m pretty pleased that there has been almost no wastage and absolutely no adding to my stash from making these blankets. Now to work my way through all the yarn I already had in my stash…this could take me some time!

 

Karen xx

Streamlining update and a crafty challenge

As I mentioned in my last post I decided that this was going to be the year of streamlining for me, not a new years resolution as such but more of a long term goal to get things in order to make my life easier. The first thing to be streamlined was my clothes. Now, I’m not one to massively hoard things (except maybe craft stuff but we’ll get to that!) and my drawers and wardrobe weren’t over flowing but things were stuffed into drawers and weren’t as organised as I would have liked. The last few days of the holidays before going back to work were spent sorting and arranging and I am sooo pleased with the result.

This is my new and improved t-shirt drawer and I love it! No more rummaging through a pile of t-shirts to find the one I want. All of my clothes drawers have had the same treatment and all of the shelves in my wardrobe too. It makes life so much simpler choosing clothes in the mornings. Little Miss saw me sorting and arranging my drawers and declared that she wanted hers doing too. She helped me to fold and arrange all of her clothes in her drawers and proudly showed her big brother when he came around to visit. Mr O has since followed suit and rearranged all his drawers too. It really does make me happy seeing things so neat and easy to access.

After the clothes came all of the cupboards and drawers,in the living room, kitchen and hallway. In each of these places we had a sh*t drawer, you know the ones, the ‘open up and shove it in there if you’re not sure where it should belong’ drawers. Well, we no longer have such drawers. All drawers are sorted and organised. I do, however, still have a large carrier bag of bits from said drawers that I still haven’t got round to finding homes for but one things for certain, it will not be going back in those drawers.

Next on the agenda was the craft room. As my stepson moved out a little while ago, Mr O kindly suggested that I could move my craft room from the craft/spare room up into the very spacious loft room upstairs! To say I jumped at the chance was an understatement! Mr O spent a couple of his precious holidays days painting the room and assembling furniture for me and I began the dreaded sorting and moving of craft stuff. Now, I knew I had a lot of craft stuff but pulling it all out of its various hidey holes and moving it all up into the attic room did open up my eyes as to just how much stuff I’ve actually got. I underestimated how much storage furniture I would need and so will need to make another trip to Ikea in the next couple of weeks (much to Mr O’s delight!) before I can completely finish and share pictures of it.

Upon realising just how much stuff I do have and locating wips that I’d almost forgotten about, I decided to set myself a crafty challenge to make no craft purchases for the whole of 2019. That means no wool, no material, no card making supplies. The only things I will allow myself to buy are bias binding for any bunting that I make as I don’t keep any of that in, and sewing machine thread. It really shouldn’t be too difficult as I do have a lot of stuff to keep me going:

3 zenbroidery pictures I was given at Christmas

My huge stash of embroidery threads (I kept finding these in various boxes and really didn’t realise how much I had until I put it all together in my new (for Christmas) sewing box.

This isn’t even half of the material I have, which I’ve been intending to make into bags or bunting for such a long time.

These wool kits had been sat in a trunk for a good few years, patiently waiting to be unearthed and used to create something beautiful.

These photos are just the tip of the iceberg. Once the craft room (or should I say studio!) is finished I will show more photos but already my mind is feeling so much clearer from sorting through it all, seeing exactly what I do have and having it all much more easily accessible.

I’m really excited about seeing what beautiful things I can make out of the resources that I already have, not to mention having a dedicated room in which to do it. This year is going to be very a exciting one for me craft wise, I can feel it!

Karen x x