Wednesday 15 October 2014

Swapping christmas

Helloooo
I know I have mentioned the 'C' word again but I have just signed up for a crafty swap here:


http://creativechaosnz.blogspot.co.nz/2014/10/send-us-christmas-swap.html?showComment=1413186692838#c5751965465079624918


I have put my name down for swaps in the UK, there seem to be a few people over here with the majority being in the UK, I really like the idea of fitting as much as you can into a tub....I like the challenge!

Anyone fancy joining me?

Wednesday 8 October 2014

Starting Christmas

I'm probably a little late starting christmas presents in October but I think I'll be fine, we hve such a small family and an even smaller number who will appreciate handmade gifts.

I have made a quite plain granny shawl for an aunt of D's-she is very unwell and I am planning on giving it her soon. She is in hospital at the moment, as she was 2 weeks ago (she has been home in between but was readmitted yesterday). The last time she was in she was struggling with being cold and as she had a 'drip' in her arm it was very awkward to get a dressing gown on without dislodging it. Another relative said to her while I was there that what she needed was a shawl. I thought I may have had some wool at home that I could use but it turned out I didn't have enough of any one wool. So I bought a couple of balls of James C Bretts 'Marble' chunky-I love this wool it's so cozy and is also sold in 200g balls which makes it a very good buy at under £5 a ball. I haven't taken any pictures of it but this is the colour I chose-D asked me to try and get a wool with blues and purples if possible so I went for this one, it's actually a bit darker than it looks on the pic and is kind of peacock shades. It didn't take very long at all and I am really hoping she will like it.
http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/a3/4a/c6/a34ac6df3d20a55ef5f96652354e15a4.jpg


The other Christmas gift I have now finished is for D's mum. She collects blue and white pottery and has a huge collection on a beautiful dresser. I was looking on Pinterest recently and found a lovely picture of a crochet cushion cover in blue and white. When I showed it to D he straight away said how it's 'Just like my mums pottery!' So, I tried and tried to find a pattern that exactly matched the one we had seen but I struck out. So I went to an old favourite and made some squares using Patricia Hewitt's 'Sunburst' pattern. I used three shades of cotton 'wool' and made the border to each square in a white yarn.





 I am really pleased with it but just hope his mum is too..only time will tell!