Whoops!

That was an unexpected break!

I really had no intention of taking a blogging break but life with the kids has just taken over really and in a nice way too.

Because of this I haven't even been crafting!

The sewing machine has got some dust on it, the hinges of my craft trunk are all squeaky and I'm at a loss as to what to do next.

Well I tell a small lie, I made a bracelet yesterday. A very quick smokey quartz and silver bead bracelet which was a retirement gift.

I am still crocheting too. I've been making lots of hexagons for blanket but typically I have run out of wool for the outer part of the hexagon and now I can't seem to source anymore!

It will just have to be a multicolour hexagon blanket instead.

I'll try and be a bit better on the blogging side of things again. I bet I have missed some good swaps and other crafty goodness, so I'll be checking in with all my favourite blogs over the next few days.

Bye for now!

I'm lucky I can type

Its been a while since I last posted but I have good excuses.
Too busy making stuff and thats the best excuse I think.

The crocheting has been coming on leaps and bounds. I've now made a small blanket for M's teddy, one for E's stinky bunny and one for a friends little girl.

Here

The one above was done in 3 days. My friend said I should make something for her little girl rather than buy, so in my stupid wisdom I thought I would do a blanket.

My wrists and fingers are now paying the price. They ache, as do my shoulders and neck. Don't get me wrong, I loved making it and I am really enjoying this whole crochet lark, its a great way to wind down at the end of the day but doing something like this in such a small timeframe makes it a hellish nightmare.

I do love it though.

Other than that its just been normal half term madness here and I am so ready for them to go back on Tuesday. Theres only so much entertaining you can do for 3 kids under 5!

I'm now starting on another blanket for M. She picked the colours she wanted, not only that, she picked the most expensive wool there was in the shop. Not happy with the DK selection at £1.09 a ball, no we had to have the £3 balls.

So the next blog post will hopefully be an update of how its going or even a completed blanket! Right I am going now because my hands can't type anymore.

Bye for now!

Mee on Etsy too!

Why mess about?

Next week I'll be taking over the world.

Mee has landed on Folksy

Finally

Mee is on Folksy!

These are all vintage pendants and you can find them here

http://www.folksy.com/shops/MeeCrafts

Coming along nicely

I've decided that I work much better actually being shown how to do something rather than reading about it.

I've also just realised why I probably did so badly at school.

Never mind.

I managed to do this flower just watching a youtube video.

It took me a few attempts. I got the general gist of it but there were a couple of bits where you couldn't see where you had to go next etc.

But I am pleased I've finally cracked it. Now I just want to know how to make a bigger version. I'd like to layer them and possibly make some brooches or corsages with them. I've tried doubling the amount of stitches but it doesn't seem to work out.

I will keep trying though!

I was very lucky to have been sent this crochet book (along with some Green and Blacks but I've no evidence of that anymore).

Its by Coats so there are some great little and big projects in there.

I'd like to have a go at the baby blanket but I can't get my head around the pattern instructions. I know the lingo and theres even a reference if I get stuck but its the amount of stitches that confuse me.

Is it possible to just be able to dive into a project like that as a new crocheter? I know the stitches now but even so, it doesnt make it any easier.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

I also have another trick up my sleeve. I'm awaiting the arrival of some lurrrvely brass vintage pendants and charms. The plan is to make a variety of necklaces, maybe even bracelets.

I've been wanting to do this for a while now but I've never got round to it, plus vintage pieces are so so popular its hard to get hold of them. Just have a look on ebay. Once upon a time you could grab a job lot of charms and pendants for next to nothing, now your lucky if yor paying under £50.

But I have sourced a marvellous website which has the most fantastic items. I spent ages looking through the whole shop! I didn't leave a page unturned. Its rather addictive.

If you have a look to the right hand side on my list of blogs, the shops blog is on there. They are called "My Vintage Charms".

On the downside of things, my mum was admitted to hospital yesterday. She has been unwell for over a year now, suffering terribly with Rhumetoid Arthritis. The last two days she has been having palpatations so as a result she is now laying in a smelly hospital on a monitor and is thoroughly miserable.

I feel bad because I'm stuck 30 miles away but I am hoping its nothing and just a case of them altering her medication.

Hopefully they will get the readings they need and she will be back at home by Monday with their mad cat.

In the meantime I am off to enjoy the sun and spend a mad evening with the mad mums from school.

Have a great weekend folks!

Other peoples tricks

My crochet blanket is here!

I have been sooooo looking forward to this, bearing in mind I trusted the colours with my dear old Nan. I asked for pinks and purples

and this is what I got.........

Oh

my

god

I have crochet envy

Can you believe that this was made by an 86 year old lady who suffers terribly with arthritis!Apparently crocheting actually helps her joints. So with any luck her making this for me has made her feel alot better!

I've had a visit from my mum aswell today and she has taught me something new

Look!

Better than a triangle isn't it! The only thing is that my mum started it off and I continued it once she showed me what I was doing. So I have to now try and start it myself and see if I can get the same result.

Just out of interest for those who crochet, do you do it loosely or quite tight? I'd not realised that I do mine pretty tight and if you look on the picture, you will see that my crocheting is more to the right side and my mums to the left. I was using a plastic hook and different wool so it might have something to do with that, but I had never even thought about how I was actually crocheting.

I'm off to experiment!

Owl swap

I can now show you what I sent for the Owl swap.

Silly arse over here forgot to take pictures but Hannah my swap buddy has recieved it and blogged it now so I've pinched the photo (hope you don't mind Hannah!)

I loved making that Owl. You know when you have an idea in your head but your not sure whether its going to come out as you intended? Well this did.

I'd like to make some more but with different colours.

Alex commented on my last post and asked how the crocheting was going.

Well I am still doing the chain stitch and turning but once again I have found what I thought was a straight piece, turning into another triangle! And whats worse is that I can't figure out what I am doing wrong. I need someone to show me in person what I am doing and how to rectify the mistakes. I decided then to try and have a go at making a flower. I have watched dozens of you tube clips and thought I had it pretty much sussed in my head. How wrong was I.

In the end I had something that could have been a finger part off a glove. I suppose I should be pleased with that but a flower it was not.

I have my mum coming on Thursday and hopefully she's going to show me some tricks and I might crack the triangle problem!

Something to keep your treats in

One for the boys that is.

I think boys get the short straw with alot of things.

I find that a huge percentage of the marketplace caters for girls rather than boys.

Maybe I notice it more having 2 of the creatures but I do find it an easy job finding and buying for M than I do for the boys.

Speaking of boy creatures, here is the youngest one on Pancake day.

Can you tell he liked the Cherries?

Its amazing how quickly that stuff sets!

Owl swap

Silly laptop and silly blogger.

Between them they had plotted and I could not upload any pictures. When I did all my desktop icons were stolen and I was left with an empty laptop!

Any ideas as to why something as annoying as that would happen?

Grrrrr

Anyway...

Owl swap

Last week I recieved my box of goodies from Hannah and was I looking forward to getting it. Just have a look at her blog and you will see why!

I was not disappointed.

Meet Margie

How cool is she!

And her hat comes off!

I love her. She now resides on a shelf watching the rest of the house and small children whinging and whining to get her down.

I can tell you now, it will not be happening!

Hannah also sent me these little goodies too

A lovely owl brooch which M has been wearing on her tops, some handmade owl buttons, some little white plastic owl buttons, crocheted flowers and a 5 pack of Bountys! I was very happy. Sadly the Bountys couldn't be photographed because....... well ahem... the dog ate them!

Honest guv, he did it.
;o)

So Hannah, thank you very much. I am very happy with my gifts. You were a great swap buddy.

Now usually I would show the gifts I had sent but silly arse over here forgot to take pictures. Doh!

Hannah has said she is going to take some though and if its ok with her I will upload them to Meridian Ariels Flickr group.

And a big thank you to Apryl for organising this swap. Its been great and I've really enjoyed doing it.

Todays offering is.....

That was the best pose I was going to get from her!

M modelling my little childrens tote bag.

The fabric is a lovely mix between linen and cotton and it was a steal from Laura Ashley. £3.50 for a meter!

Didn't I say this fabric would make a lining! It works really well. Far too thin to use it for anything else really.

Tonight I'm going to try and cook up a boys version. I have some lovely fabric in mind for it. As of tomorrow I will have to take a short break for a few days. L is off so we have plans to completely wear the kids out. I don't care if its letting them run around a field all day, so long as they burn some energy off! Then Thursday and Friday M has some of her friends coming to play.

So my attention will be spread all over! I will however continue with the crocheting. Its a fab little hobby to have, just to be able to get it out of the cupboard and sit and do a few lines while I'm waiting for the dinner to cook or half watching a tv show. Its great, I'm really enjoying it.

Next on the to do list is a doll or two and a couple of door stops.

I also sent my Owl swap gift yesterday but silly me forgot to take a picture of it so hopefully Hannah will show you all when it arrives.

Commision and crochet update

Cupcakes, done

I'm really pleased with them. The colours are great and I bought the felt from a different shop than I usually do and it feels alot softer which is nice.

Sooo this crocheting business. Thanks to the comments in my last post, I read them very slowly and I managed to rectify the decreasing of stitches.

I felt quite happy with the whole chain stitch and turning, so with alot of nagging from my daughter, I have started to make her a small blanket for her Wall-e and Eve toy.

I should say that I have had to start it 3 times because I did it too tight but I'm on a roll now, fingers crossed that the dreaded triangle doesn't appear again.

I'd like to have a go at making the little squares next. If any of you know of a good you tube tutorial, give me a shout.

A photo tag

Margy at Hmm Designs tagged me for a photo show off.

You have to show the 4th photo from your fourth folder on your computer.

So..... this is mine

My two hell raisers last summer.

Now I'm supposed to tag 4 other people but at the moment I have 3 children under 2 in my house so if your reading this, consider yourself tagged.

And I'm off!

I said I wanted to learn to Crochet.

Well.......

I did!

And all by myself... well just a little help required from some youtube videos.

So I now know how to start from my slip knot, do a chain stitch and turn back.

I was going to make a scarf. A nice simple start but as you can see from my picture, its getting shorter and shorter at the end. I don't know why thats happening. Can anyone shed any light?

But other than that I am very happy with my first shot at Crocheting.

I am awaiting an arrival of a huge crocheted blanket, courtesy of my Nan's 86 yr old friend! Shes a mean crocheter and works like nobodys business. I can't wait to get it and when I do I'll be showing it off on here.

A cupcake, an Owl and some fabric

As I mentioned in my last post, I have been asked to make some Cupcake decorations.
I'd done other cupcake stuff before but not hanging decorations.

So I thought I'd have a play around before doing the real thing and this is what I came up with

I'm quite pleased with it, especially for a first attempt. After I've done this order, I plan to make a few more of these.


Then on to the next big thing..... Owls!

He's looking a bit scrunched up due to being hugged to death by middle child. I quite like him too. I've started on a pink and purple one but I can't decide if it looks a bit urm..... odd shall we say.

Now I need to pick some bones with a certain lady.

Mrs Katy from I'm a Ginger Monkey. I wish she would stop linking fabric shops. My poor purse cannot take it anymore! I gave in to one of the links, a shop online called Fabric rehab (there really should be a fabric rehab) and I bought these little bits

I think this fabric will turn into doorstops. I love the pink and green combo.

This I have no idea what I'm going to do with but it was an absolute bargain. Its lovely because its quite thick.

And as for this, well it seems most people with a fabric problem has caved and bought this fabric. It is gorgeous. The only problem is that its rather thin and see through, so I'm not entirely sure what I will do with it. I guess it would make a good lining for a bag but then it seems a bit wrong to hide it that way.

I'm sure I'll find some use for it!

I'm going to post my Owl Swap gifts next week so I'll be able to show my little creation when its arrived at its destination!

Just a teensy weency look and a PIF

I was very excited last night.

The children were in bed by 6:15pm, I wanted to tidy up and be ready for 9pm.

I wanted peace, I wanted chocolate and more importantly I wanted a good view of the tele.

Why?

LOST of course!

Yes, this mad but brilliant show is back after a long year off. And I have been looking forward to it so much.

I don't think I've enjoyed any tv show as much as this. The actors are fantastic and even when you tell a non Lost watcher about the story line and it sounds a bit far fetched and silly, it really isn't.

I don't know what I'll do when it finishes. All these other American tv shows like 24, CSI, Bones, House and the likes just don't do it for me.

I'll just have to pray they bring Friends back ;)

So

what I actually came here for

Here's a sneaky look at my owl swap gift. I thought last night that I would make a start on it but to my suprise, I actually finished it! Not like me at all. I absolutely love it and I'm going to make some more for Folksy I think, but not until my swap partner receives this.

I've also been commisioned (I never like using that word) to make some Cupcake hanging decorations. I swear, the world is going cupcake crazy. They are everywhere. Them and Owls!

I'd originally left this post here but I completely forgot about the PIF I have signed up for!

Anna from Sew What has started a PIF that I have put my name down for. Now I have to admit I was a bit dim about PIF's. I didn't really know what they were about but after a couple of emails with Anna, I now know what I'm doing.

So basically, in PIF style I need to PIF 3 other people and in turn, so do they. I think Anna is PIFing 9 people in all, 3 in Singapore, 3 in Austrailia and 3 internationally (I think thats right, Anna if your reading and its wrong please let me know). Now I am not going to do that, purely because I just don't have the time. But I will PIF 3 other people. I will do it like Anna, so one in the UK, someone else in Europe (not UK though) and the last anywhere else in the world.

We have 365 days to PIF so lots and lots of time but the condition is that you PIF too, oh and also you have a blog. Anna made this point in her PIF and I think its a good one.

So if you'd like to sign up to the PIF, email me on MeeCrafts at googlemail dot com. I have also pinched Anna's PIF badge. I haven't a clue how to do it as a button so if anyone could enlighten me I'd really appreciate it!

I think thats it for now. Happy PIF ing!

Snow report

I thought I would share some of L and M's holiday pictures and at the end I'll show a sneak peek of my Folksy stock.

This is part (for goodness sake) of the 50ft cliff L fell from. When describing it, he said he was hanging from a young tree at one point, a'la Indiana Jones and the tree snapped. I'm not surpised holding his weight!

Here is M all kitted out

And a view shot. Not bad is it?

They both enjoyed it, depsite the drama of the "scary mountain" (named by M) and other events.

Did I mention that M lost her first tooth while they were there too. Well the first night actually! She has a nice little gap right at the bottom now.

So, onto the Folksy stuff. I'm not as far on as I'd like to be at this point, but I've made a start and thats given me some motivation to keep going. You know what its like when you lose a bit of crafting mojo.

This is one of the hanging decorations I'll be selling. I have some other hearts, all different, animals and other decorations.

I have plans to do some door stops and little softies, although I'm still a little unsure about selling softies. The issues that are happening in the US with handmade items are worrying me a little. Until it is dealt with, like other handmade sellers, I will unfortunately not be able to sell those kind of things to US peeps. Its very sad. There are so many unbelievably talented crafters out there.

I'll stop going on now. You all know about it.

I have no idea when I will get this Folksy shop up and running, but I hope it is very soon. I've been talking about it for far too long now and not doing anything about it.

This week I shall aim to blog another item for the shop. That will give me something to work against and I have to make a start on the Meridian Ariels Owl swap! I'm looking forward to this one. I have so many ideas in my head, I just don't know which one to pick.

Actually, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth

although you would think so.

Our disc drive went kapput on the laptop so its had to have a trip back to Sony to be repaired.

BUT

not before a system restore which meant backing up everything.

Enviromental issues must all come from our house. That great big gap in the ozone layer, well we probably doubled the size of it last week.

Backing everything up took 3 solid days. Yes thats right folks thats 72 hours of the laptop being on, day and night.

I actually thought the laptop would melt at one point it was that hot.

Anyway it is back now and all is well and I have internet connection.

Hurrah!

I've also spent a few days in York at my parents with the boys as L and M jetted off to a very cold Austria again for fun and frolics in the snow.

We had drama the week before when I trapped M's finger in our gate, resulting in a trip to A&E, a suspected small break and bandaged fingers, a day of vomiting, missing school and thats not to

mention middle child losing his beloved stinky bunny.

And just when we thought all had calmed for L and M's trip I get a phone call from L the first night they were there to say that he had fallen 50ft off a cliff.

We like to be boring in this family. Can you tell.

By some miracle he hasn't managed to break a single bone and only came out of it with a brusied shin but he was stuck at the bottom of this cliff for almost 2 hours. Not even the rescue team could find him. They were just about to send out the helicopters to come and find him when some shouted that they could see him and alerted the rescue people.

Nightmare.

Oh and I have just had a phone call to say that they have landed, all the bags have been collected but another drama unfolded today on the slopes. M had her rental skis stolen so L has had to cough up almost £80. Thats a nice end to your holiday isnt it.

So I have had what you may call an eventful fortnight. However this will end now and life will resume its normal dullness.

I will also resume sewing at some point as I'm not really on track with my Folksy plan (suprise suprise).

I would like to ask you a little favour though.

I could really do with an excellent tutorial on binding.

Now when I say excellent what I actually mean is simple with big pictures and clear instructions. Theres too much fluff in my head to deal with fiddly, long tutes.

I've been doing a bit of binding and to be quite honest its not very good.

Well in all honesty its utter crap. I should think my dog could do a better job.

So thats my favour.

If you know of a good tute, throw me a link over and I will be forever grateful.

I'll hopefully post again on Wednesday with some dramatic photography of the 50ft cliff and some other bits and bats.

The giveaway prize

I forgot to show you what I sent to Jill for winning my giveaway.

There was also a runner up prize but that hasn't been sent yet so I'll show that one later. So if your reading Jennyflower, its on its way very soon. I haven't forgot about you!

I made a smaller more square version of the soft storage box. They are so useful.

Then a little (well its not that little actually) felt corsage. Now I found a link to the pattern for this on Whip Up but at the moment I cannot for the life of me remember the name of the blog (apologies blog and pattern owner) and Whip Up isnt working either.

And finally I also sent some nice shiny metallicy coloured thread. I know Jill likes her silks and shiny things.

Ok, I'm off to get some work done.

New Year, new look

Happy new year to you all.

Heres to fantastic 2009!

Did you celebrate, have a party or just a quiet night in?

Living next to the local pub, we had to endure 5 hours of a not so great singer belting out some cheesy tunes and killing some very great tunes.

She successfully woke up middle child with her screeching so it was nearing 2am when we finally got to sleep.

At least I saw the new year in. Personally I'd have prefered to see it in watching the back of my eyelids, but never mind.

So, any resolutions?

I never make them and if I did they would be broke in no time. Just call me Mrs zero willpower!

I am however going to be stocking up ready to open up a Folksy shop.

I will do this. Last year was too hectic but hopefully with middle child increasing his preschool days and small fry getting a bit bigger, I will have more time to get things done.

Thats the plan anyway.

Oh and thats not to mention a possible mum and toddler group that I may be opening with another mum!

Gluten

for

punishment.

Happy new year!