A Basket of Bunnies!

Posted on 23 March, 2014 by patchworkfairy

I am having a mad week making all things Bunny! This is because I was reading Pillows-a-la-mode blog and was entranced by a pic of a basket of bunnies! Katherine, the blogger, gives the link to the pattern which is here and I couldn’t help myself – I just had to make some! So about an hour later …..

basket of fabric bunnies in red and white and green and white.

Basket O’ Bunnies!

I added some eyes to a couple of them although not on the pattern. They are very quick to make if you have pinking shears! They are now adorning my living room much to the amusement of visitors!

Next I made some bunny bunting!

Bunny Bunting!

Another very easy project – just bunny shapes cut from felt (my freehand drawing) and egg shapes (template cut from Craftseller mag) with little bows cut out of the scraps!

It’s so nice making things like this for fun, especially when it’s supposed to be Spring but it’s hailing and blowing a chilly wind!! I am part way through a mobile ‘phone case with guess what on the front? Yep, a Bunny!

I did do some ‘serious’ making as well this week 🙂 I added these lovely fragrant hanging hearts to my folksy shop!

hanging hearts in Liberty tana lawn fabric

Lavender Liberty Hearts

Hanging Heart in Liberty Fabric

I bought some lavender in bulk and have been stuffing things all week. You might wonder why the bunnies in the basket of basket look a little startled? Well wouldn’t you if you’d had dried lavender stuffed up your bum?!!!

Off to link up at Handmade Monday now!

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Craft Fair Anticipation!

Posted on 16 March, 2014 by patchworkfairy

This week I have been making lots of little things for when I attend another craft fair in the summer! Yes I am once again going to risk it in the hope that it may be successful! I love the anticipation of craft fairs; the excitement of setting up, the hopeful feeling when the first customers come through the door, the lovely glow from receiving admiring comments about the items, the satisfying exchange of money and item, the travelling home with an empty car and a big bag of money…….. oh wait, actually I dreamed that last one! 🙂 It all goes according to the above but it tends to peter out after a few spasmodic sales and turns into the sinking feeling of ‘how long have I spent here all day and have I even covered my table fee and petrol costs!’

And yet here I am again thinking of repeating the experience as I really do enjoy meeting other crafters and chatting to them as well as the customers. Well, we’ll see how it goes – I am sure it will form the subject matter for a future post!

I did do some crocheting with the grundl flower yarn again this week. This time I made a headband – good for keeping the ears warm when you don’t want to wear a whole hat! It is now for sale in my Patchwork Fairy in the Enchanted Wood Folksy shop

Flower Yarn Headband

The other thing I have completed this week is the tutorial about crocheting with the Kidsilk Creation Stripe Yarn. It’s easy to do once you understand what you’re doing so hopefully this might help a bit if anyone is stuck.

So here we are again – Sunday night Linkyness at Handmade Harbour! Now Dancing on Ice and Call the Midwife have both finished I might get round to commenting on the blogs a little earlier in the evening than recently!!

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Wool, Coffee and Cake, a dream day out!

Posted on 9 March, 2014 by patchworkfairy

Ooh I had a lovely outing this last week! Mum and I went for a drive in the countryside (well down the M53 amd M6, then the countryside!). We went to Black Sheep Wools Craft Barn in Culcheth! My dream day out! – it included wool, coffee and cake!! (and my mum 😉 )

Entrance to Black Sheep Craft Barn

The craft barn is set back off the road in a lovely countryside setting, but it’s even more lovely inside! As you step through the door you can see shelves of pretty, delicate spring coloured wools and cottons on one side, shelves of beautiful variegated purply pink yarns on the other and a central stand with crafty items and gifts!

craft items and gifts

coloured yarns

Noro Yarns. I love the variegated colours of these Japanese yarns!

view down shop

I was hard pressed to actually move through the shop as I kept getting distracted by yet another shelf of lovely yarns! They sell a wide variety: wool, mohair, cotton, silk, viscose, acrylic, bamboo and various mixes of these in plain and varigated colours. There is also a large section of Cross Stitch kits and threads, a wide selection of craft books and patterns and various notions to purchase.

Mum and I always suss out a coffee stop wherever we go and so thoroughly enjoyed the onsite cosy café serving light lunches and cakes. We had a very nice panini and a slice of Victoria Sandwich cake with fabulously strong coffee, just how I prefer it! I’m quite happy to travel to visit new craft places but I do like it when there is a café so I can stop and reflect on all the things I’ve been browsing through before I make my purchases, especially when I’ve driven a while to get there! It’s the sort of place you could enjoy visiting with friends or a knitting/crochet group.

I was very taken with a crochet designs book by Nikki Trench called, ‘Hooked on Noro’, Now although I like the look of Noro yarns some can feel a bit harsh and are quite pricey so this time I bought the book but chose an alternative yarn – Fusion Cotton – a soft, cotton and viscose mix yarn by Patons, very reasonably priced for the quality, with which to make the fingerless gloves from the book. Mum wanted to know why I would want to have fingerless gloves?! When I said they would be handy for texting, she just raised her eyes to the ceiling and said, “you could just pull off a normal glove!” – Eh? I don’t think so! I love the pair I’ve just made and actually so did Mum once she saw them finished!

Fingerless Gloves!

They are very comfy and soft to wear and the pattern in the book is easy to follow.

The final thing I bought was one skein of Rowan’s Kidsilk Creation Stripe. Now this is pricey, but absolutely gorgeous! It looks and feels like a high quality product. It’s actually mohair and silk mix and it already partly knitted into a long mesh, which can be stretched out widthways if desired. I noticed there was a pattern on the label to crochet a scarf with it but I couldn’t understand how you would do it! Luckily there are plenty of nice friendly staff to ask for help and one of the ladies explained I needed to crochet it up the long edge. However, I was completely flummoxed at first when I got home, but once I understood what to do it was very easy to make up in about three quarters of an hour! It ends up as a twirly, twisty floaty pretty scarf! I’ve taken some pics and will post a tutorial about how to work with this yarn as it’s certainly worth it! I chose a pinky purply mix and the finished item has now been posted to my very stylish Aunty for her 70th birthday!

the kidsilk creation stripe yarn before crocheting

Purple and pink mohair and silk crochetd scarf.

Scarf in Kidsilk Creation Stripe

So all in all we were there just over two hours – it was long enough for Mum who by now was trying to nudge me to the exit! It’s the sort of place where you could keep going round and round oohing and aaahing and patting large balls of pink and purple wool!

Well I’m off for another visit now – over to Handmade Monday to visit some lovely blogs! If anyone lives near Black Sheep Wools Craft Barn and fancies meeting for a coffee n’ cake I’m always up for another trip!! 🙂

Are magazines redundant?

Posted on 6 March, 2014 by patchworkfairy

Do you still enjoy magazines? I subscribe to three at the moment and I really enjoy getting them each month. However, with my own, and pass-ons from my mum, I am building up quite a pile in my bedroom which I thought I would enjoy as bedtime reading and whenever I was poorly. In reality I haven’t read the magazines nearly as much as I anticipated – what happens is quite often I end up reading online articles and blogs instead and playing Candy Crush 🙂

So are magazines redundant? Will we all be reading everything on iphones and ipads soon? It seems that smart technology is affecting our lives in all sorts of ways from communication to heating our homes. At least digitally downloading a copy of a magazine is under our own control though, whereas receiving printed copies through the post is not. I didn’t receive the last copy of my Craftseller magazine and they were not very concerned when I contacted them and I though I would end up missing a month 🙁 (Edit: The April edition arrived today with a copy of last month’s so they came through in the end!).

So how much longer will people generally carry on buying or subscribing to printed reading matter? I think I might cut down on some of my spending on printed copies but I can’t envisage giving them up entirely! There is something irreplaceable about hearing the magazine land in the porch and sitting with a cup of tea or coffee and turning over the glossy pages and smelling the print! – it’s definitely one of my guilty pleasures! It just isn’t the same sitting down with an electronic pad – and anyway, having a magazine stash works on the same principal as having a fabric or yarn stash – it doesn’t matter how much you have at home, you carry on buying new! So no hope for me!!

I’m linking up with the small blog meet at Lily’s Quilts!

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Spring Feelings, Tea and Well-Being!

Posted on 2 March, 2014 by patchworkfairy

Ok well it’s now March and we can definitely say we’re entering Spring season! (not today though as it’s very cold and rainy and very disappointing!). This last week however, has been noticeably warmer, and I was able to have the first mid morning cuppa in the garden! Woo hoo! Ok, I did have my warm jacket and boots on, but it was very pleasant when the sun was shining! I love this time of year when I can get outside for a quiet cup of tea or coffee as it evokes the wonderful happy feeling I had when I first went part time at work at the beginning of April a few years back. I remember sitting outside on a Wednesday morning and feeling so weird to be there on a work day, but with this creeping sense of peace and well-being. Even though I am now full time at home and no longer going out to work I haven’t lost the excitement of the first few warm weekdays at this time of year.

Of course I wish my health was better and I hadn’t had to give up in the way I did, or have the three lots of surgery, and still be in pain almost every day. But – there is no point in dwelling on ‘what ifs’ – the only way forward is ‘what may be’ – to relish the good things about being at home and to recognise that in the eyes of other people, especially creative crafters, it must seem to be a dream come true to have weekdays in which to sew, knit, crochet, etc and never have that sinking feeling on a Sunday evening knowing it’s going to days before you can get back to your hobby. Obviously it would be even better to make a living out of crafting, but that’s not so easy and so not going out to work also means not bringing in the associated salary!!

However I am ever hopeful that one day I will make something so fabulous that everyone will just have to have one – likely? who knows, but it’s so much fun trying! And with that I will show you my latest creations, because as well as doing a bit more on the twine bag I have been making spring themed crochet items for a garland!

Flower Baskets and Snails!

Twine basket with two rows of Star stitch completed

It’s really hard to make Star stitch in twine so it’s taking a long time to make!

Over to Handmade Monday now for a catch up on the crafty adventures of others! Hope you are all enjoying some pleasant weather wherever you live.

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Flowery hat making!

Posted on 23 February, 2014 by patchworkfairy

It’s been half term this week so my OH has been home. I don’t seem to get as much crafting done when we’re both here as we have been out doing things. One day we had a lovely trip to Llyn Brenig. It’s a reservoir with a very peaceful stillness about it and a beautiful place for a walk across the reservoir or in the surrounding forests. Until this occasion it was also the place where I had my second best ever piece of Victoria Sandwich cake, however they have redone the café and I think they might be trying to recoup the expense through the catering. Suffice to say this is no longer somewhere I have fond memories of afternoon tea, although the atmosphere for walking is still wonderful!

I have managed this week to do just a little bit of the ripple blanket and more of the same mitred squares – neither is worth posting a picture about – but I have managed to complete a new flowery hat! I bought some amazing new wool online last month and it arrived this week – it’s called’ Flower Colour Wool’ by Grundl and is very pretty. Here is what it looks like crocheted into the base circle for a hat.

right side of crocheted hat base

and here is the reverse side which is also very pretty as you can see the colours more:

reverse side of treble crochet

It’s a mixture of treble crochet and back post stitch and easy to do once you get the hang of working round the little curly bits which form the ‘flowers’.

Here is the finished hat – I love it but it’s quite an eccentric hat my daughter said so I haven’t been out in public in it yet!

Flower Wool Crochet Hat

And here is the reverse side:

back of hat showing the flower effect

So what do you think?

Linking up with Handmade Monday again! And with Lily’s Quilts Thank you for all the comments – please do leave them – the name and site box do record your text even though it doesn’t appear. Also if you uncheck a box called ‘authenticate’ on some browsers it makes it work. Thank you – I hate missing out on all the conversation.

Warm Walks – it’s nearly Spring!

Posted on 16 February, 2014 by patchworkfairy

Burton Mere 1st pic

I love this time of year when a hint of Spring is in the air! After the torrential rain of the last few days it was so uplifting to see sunshine this morning. We are lucky though, that we don’t live in a flooded area and I feel very sorry for all the families who do, it must be very miserable.

As it was so bright we went for a walk today to enjoy the air. The two photos here were taken about 40 minutes apart and show how quickly the light deteriorates in February, and with it the warmth as it went from comfy to chilly as well! It was beautiful at Burton Mere though, it has a very quiet and peaceful atmosphere.

Burton Mere 2nd pic

I haven’t done as much of my ripple blanket (Attic 24) as I hoped as I have also started another blanket which is a pattern of mitred squares based on the pattern (here) – which I will then make up into my own pattern for the blanket.

Mitred Squares

I can’t seem to stop the beginning corners curling up so I will have to steam block them before I join them all up I think. I must make the foundation chains too tight, but I can’t seem to not do it!

Lastly here is the Ripple! I bought some more wool as I felt I needed more pinky, raspberry shades!

ripple blanket in multi coloured acrylic yarn

ripple-blanket-week-7

I do like colourful blanket-making when it’s cold and rainy but don’t think it will be as much fun when it’s warm when you are a menopausal hot flush machine!! – so I need to get cracking while it’s still only Spring!!

As usual I am linking up with Handmade Monday!

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Yarn, Wool and Twine Week

Posted on 9 February, 2014 by patchworkfairy

Another week of enforced ‘resting’ waiting to have stitches out has been quite pleasant really! No housework and no driving has meant a lot of yarn, wool and twine crochet and watching TV! Of course I can’t just do one project, oh no, I have to have a couple on the go to switch between every so often!

I’ve kept on with the ripple blanket and the woolly Beanie but not as fast as if I hadn’t started 2 other projects at the same time I suppose! I love choosing the colours as I work but it was taking too long because I really didn’t have enough choice. One late night perusal of Wool Warehouse website led to a fat chunky parcel on the doormat 2 days later!! They are brilliant, not only are they cheaper than other online shops but they send the goods very quickly too!

Stylecraft premium Acrylic in pinky purple colours

new colours of Stylecraft Special DK

I just didn’t have enough pinky, purply colours!!

Multi-coloured riple blanket from a pattern by Attic 24

Ripple Blanket Week 6

I couldn’t just do my blanket as each row is very long and I need more of a quick results experience so I started on little hearts and flowers to make a spring garland! Most of these are Attic 24 patterns and some are my own random crochet! Here are some of the first ones I completed in the Stylecraft acrylic yarn again.

hearts and flowers!

I’m planning on completing this for Oestara, the Spring Equinox.

Anyway, despite being quite content with my crochet I was reading my Facebook newsfeed and fell instantly in love with a picture of a tote bag crocheted using twine. It was posted by The Chunky Hooker as they sell the twine. Oh, wow! I couldn’t help myself when I saw the green twine! Such a lovely colour! I bought a ball of the natural twine and the green and decided to make a bag in each using the suggested pattern

As soon as I started to work with the natural twine I realised I wouldn’t be making it very quickly and probably wouldn’t make 2 bags as it’s quite hard work and is also ‘raspy’ on my skin. I did wear a thin gardening glove on one had most of the time and this does help (it was suggested by someone commenting on the bag post, not my bright idea!). It was hard to see all the stitches clearly and I think I interpreted some of the pattern wrongly as I didn’t end up with the correct number of stitches for the bag base and it was wonky! It’s far too much effort doing it to face unpicking so I decided to carry on anyway and just accept it will probably be a little lop sided in the end!

base of tote bag in natural twine

The pattern is much easier to follow for making the sides – I love the star stitch which forms the pattern. In the next picture I have just completed on row of stars, there are 5 to do and I will alternate with the green twine I think.

Tote bag crocheted in natural twine and green twine

Tote bag sides with star Stitch

I really do enjoy making this but I have to do it in stages, letting my hands rest for a day as it is really quite hard to manipulate. The green twine feels much softer and I think it will hook much more smoothly. The Chunky Hooker is another great online shop – the parcel arrived in a couple of days with a note asking to see a picture when I’ve finished the bag!

So that was my yarny, woolly twiny week! I really am neglecting my sewing though and need to get back in the craft room before I become addicted to slumping on the settee with my crochet watching This Morning and old DVD box sets. My knee stitches ‘unpicked’ easily and I have my post-op clinic visit next Tuesday so no excuses after that. I am ‘hooking’ up with Handmade Monday as usual and looking forward to reading about everyone’s crafty lives. 🙂

My comment box is still not working for everyone – Free spirit unchecked a box to enable it to work or if you type your name etc in the boxes even though it doesn’t show when you type it does actually record it. I am missing all the lovely comments!!

Not a disappearing nine patch!……

Posted on 2 February, 2014 by patchworkfairy

Just a short post today as I have been in hospital for another knee op and so not been up to much sewing. However, just before I went I made myself a very quick patchwork cushion for my bathroom chair as I thought it would cheer me up when I was hobbling around in there! Well it sort of did – if I hadn’t had a forgetful spell whilst making it that is! Can you guess what happened ?

NOT a ‘Disappearing Nine Patch’ patchwork cushion!

I completed it fairly quickly, added a purple zip to the back piece and was admiring it in the bathroom when I thought – ‘the centre looks so plain’ – then BOOM the brain rebooted and I remembered I had been intending to make a disappearing nine patch pattern! This looks best if the centre square is plain as you cut up the finished 9 square block to end up with four large squares comprised of a big floral square, two floral rectangles and a small solid colour square at the centre corner of each of the four new squares. Then by rotating these new squares you can achieve pleasing results which are a bit more interesting than the above cushion!!

As this occurred the day before my op I cannot excuse the brain on grounds of post anaesthesia confusion either! Oh well – will have to make another one as soon as I can get back in the sewing room!

Luckily I can still blog-hop even with a poorly knee so am off to Handmade Monday for the weekly linky party!

[Sorry if my comments box seems to work for some and not for others as it seems it allows all comments but won’t let some people add their name and link, I am waiting for my web guru to fix it :)]

London Journey = Crochet Time!

Posted on 26 January, 2014 by patchworkfairy

Four hours in the car to London and then back again – great opportunity for some cosy crochet time! Shame I had to offer to share the driving but good that OH likes driving so does the main bulk of our journeys!! I started a new beanie which hopefully will be completed tomorrow! I took my wool and hooks away in a lovely little project bag I made to sell but decided I couldn’t part with as it’s so useful! It has 3 compartments so I can keep 2 different coloured wool balls separated and keep the hooks/scissors in the other pocket.

The fabric has old fashioned sewing machines on it so is perfect for sewing related projects. I saw it for sale at Minerva Crafts this week and so have now uploaded a picture of the bag to their Look what I’ve Made project sharing site. It’s a really interesting site and easy to use – you join and upload your projects and can have fun looking at other people’s too!

3 pocket sewing project bag

and here is latest ripply-progress!

Week 4!

Well I am very tired after trip to London so signing off now to go for a stroll round the blogs at Handmade Monday!