Friday 28 December 2012

A Visual Christmas


Coffee + Croissants to start the day!


Santa Claus is coming to town...





Mid-morning drinkies...

Parcel time...





Festive tunes...


Festive nibbles...

Our Lucky Dip bag...



I got the wooden spoon!

Lucky dip goodies...







Big bird..

Pop, whizz, bang

Stuffing time!

Cheeky bird!


Toasty toes...





Chop, chop!

Cosy clothes...

Oh goodie its game time!



Its a 'skull' christmas


Time to monkey around...



Wine time!


Going "crackers"


Evening munchies...


Cakie...


Its all too much!

The big clean up!

Sunday 9 December 2012

twitknit club

So this weeks crafts. The main project i've been working on is top secret as it's for a pressie, but that doesnt make a very exciting post!, so instead I will mention TwitKnitClub.!
I originally signed up to twitter to promote my etsy makes, but it has turned in to so much more!
There is a whole huge craft world out there and twitter is a great means to communicate. Whether its sharing tips, showing off makes, giving encouragement, its great to know there is a great support network out there, for what potentially can be a lonely past-time.
Once on twitter I became aware of a group called twitknitclub, this was founded by Scarlett Curtis back in May 2011. Every few months a project a is arranged and all members make something as a contribution to this project, everything from basic squares, to toys, valentines, and even charity knits for sport relief.
I am relatively new to this and have only taken part in one previously.
That was the last Knit Relief assignment, for which I actually crocheted a couple of my 'granny birdies'



Then the public were invited to bid on our items and the money was donated to charity - a brilliant idea!!

So back to the  current project! This time we were split in to groups as there was so much interest. We were then to knit a square for each member in our team. Once all the various squares have been sent out then we get to sew them all together and create our very own unique scarves. How exciting to get a little package in the post and not know what it will look like, what colour or stitches or what yarn will have been used!
I've been a bit slow to get started but i've finally got my first square completed.
I decided to do a large Granny square! I chose a yarn that was not only soft and fluffy but sparkly too!


I must crack on and get the next square completed, well ok started! I think i may actually knit the next one as I haven't knitted for a while and I need to get it finished quick!

Sunday 2 December 2012

Needle-felting course

When I read through my monthly indulgance of Craftseller magazine, I was excited to actually find a place that was fairly local that did craft courses. This was great news for me as I feel like a live in a place that is completely devoid of craftiness! I scoured the site with glee, and was seeing what various things I could try out! I was pleased to find that they had needle-felting course, it was something that I always wanted to try and I already owned a little starter kit, but hadnt been brave enough to actually start!

So my first and  obvious choice was the needle-felting course. I was at a disadvantage not being able to drive as it is in a bit of a remote location, but I wasn't going to let that put me off, I got there by train and taxi.

It was set in The Medicine Garden, which was a derelict victorian Walled garden, which has been restored.

In a beautiful setting, are now a haven of workshops and studios, which include the Garden shop, The Hot house cafe and the Make Me workshop, where I was heading.


The studio was a lovely, small, homely, cosy workroom. So jealous, what a lovely little workspace! Neatly laid out, showing various makes, representing all the different crafts they teach.


It was a nice intimate class, with all the materials provided. We were told we were going to make a flat landscape piece. Our tutor Margaret demonstrated the basics, and gave us a book of inspiration, which incuded images of various felted pieces, and works by monet.

We were given a 6"x6" piece of part-felted material which was going to be our base to work on.
We had a large amount of various coloured merino wool, to choose from, to work with.


We pulled tufts of this wool off and laid them across our square, for the background of our landscape.


Then we could start stabbing the wool, with the specialist needles provided, which binds the fibres together.
Then it was time to add some layers and definition to our fabric pictures.


We had a bundle of yarn oddments that we could choose from to add texture.


Once our images were starting to form, we were then able to add 3D componants to finish off.



I had a huge glass jar of buttons that I could delve into and various beads which I sewed on for definition.



It was an extremely relaxing and tranquil few hours where I could indulge myself in pure crafting.

At the end of it, we were proud of our finished works of art!...


And were given a box frame to finish our work off completely.
I will definately be going back again. In fact i've already decided what my next craft course will be! Decopatch
I'll have to wait till next year to indulge though, as I work in retail the month ahead will be very hectic and I won't have any chance to play!