New Crochet Projects

I have so much that I am wanting to do at the moment, I can't seem to fit it all in! My head seems to be buzzing with ideas and as I browse the internet and sites like Pinterest I just see more and more that makes me think ohhhhhhh I could do that, isn't it lovely!

Last Friday night my darling husband was taking me out to a posh do so I decided to wear my lovely red dress, which looks quite good so long as I wear the shaper pants underneath to keep all my wobbly bits under control and I also wore a slinky black pashmina. There was just something missing though I looked a little like I was wearing a block of red and a block of black so, whilst Oliver was getting ready I thought that I would crochet a little red rose to go on the pashmina to glam it up a little bit and it worked it was just what the outfit was missing.

And here I am wearing the said rose, I got the pattern from Lucys blog and it was such a simple thing to do and so so quick I made it in minutes. If you would like to have a go the link is here have a go it is really gorgeous, in fact so gorgeous that the rose is no longer mine it was begged off me by my mum!

Saturday bought lots of ohhhhhs and ahhhhs as I went to see Bibelot's new haberdashery department and it is so lovely lots of colour and beautiful bits to buy!

I purchased some Rico baby wool and some Rico Merino wool along with some bias binding, pompom edging, which I intend to edge my Cath Kidston cushion with when I eventually get around to daring to start it, and some beautiful pink flowery cotton duck material that I just couldn't resist.

As you can see I am trying to gather a few bits of fabric together so that when the mood strikes me to do something a bit crafty in the sewing department I have a bit of choice. I am still on a mission to learn how to competently use a sewing machine and if I am very good I am hoping that my husband will buy me a nice one. He is an absolute expert on a sewing machine and when we had our camper van he made all of the curtains and piped box cushions. He may be a solicitor now but many years ago he went to college to do a fashion design course :)

Disaster happened later on in the week my favourite white china teapot developed a worrying crack and started to leak after I made the mistake of putting it into the dishwasher on a steam program. I am so upset it was a lovely pourer no dribbles or leaks but it is now in my bin.

After attempts to get my mum and dad to let me have the Grimwades Chintz teapot sitting in their display cabinet failed miserably, apparently it is part of my inheritance and they are not planning letting go of it yet :( I had to resort to my horrible old teapot that has a nasty habit of dribbling everywhere. In desperation I thought that I would cheer myself up and crochet a new cosy to cover up the ugliness of the pot and here it is I am delighted with the results.

I made it from the Rico wool I had bought from Bibelot earlier in the week and some Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino. I opted for a brown colour as I thought when the pot starts dribbling then it wouldn't be too noticeable.

I then thought that the cafetiere was now looking bit boring so out came the James Brett Kool Kotton and I whipped up a little cosy for that too.

Don't they just look lovely sat together on my table and just ready for this coming Saturday when I will be having friends and family over from France for afternoon tea.

 I have already started my next major project with the Debbie Bliss Andes wool I got in a sale  but first I had to make the hanks of wool into usable balls and what a flaming nightmare this has been! I don't think I will ever buy wool again that isn't already in a ball. I have never before had to do this and I got into such a mess!

My first thoughts were to lay it on the table to keep it flat and then wind it from there but as you can see from the pictures it just turned into one great big knot and this colour took me an age to unravel from this tangled mess.

Next I thought I would try and stretch it between my legs, which worked a little better but the wool is so silky that it just kept popping off

I then enlisted my middle son to help, which didn't last long before the words of "my arms are aching, do I have to do this" were ringing around the room

So in a last ditched attempt to do it on my own without bothering anyone else I placed a stool on the table and put it over the legs and this was a great success.

I won't let on yet until the next time that I blog as to what my latest project is, but I am very excited about it and as I couldn't find a pattern on the internet for it and as I can't read patterns in crochet books I have studies pictures of the article I am making and have made it up myself and have even done my very first tutorial!!!!!

Right I had better go and get on with my cake baking for Saturdays afternoon tea party.

So until next time.

Claire xx

Stripy Granny Finished At Last and a New Addition

At last my lovely colourful Stripy blanket has been finished, I spent all of Friday afternoon hooking like mad to get the border finished. I had been feeling rather guilty that my blanket had been sitting in its basket all forgotten about and with really so little to do on it to finish I thought 'get on with it girl' and so I can get on with other projects without any guilt.

So here if the first of my Tah Dah's of todays blog

It just looked soooooo gorgeous all folded up and waiting to be taken to my little grandson

The colours are just so right with each other, they make you feel happy just looking at them. I was unsure about using an acrylic yarn as I much prefer natural fibres but this Stylecraft yarn was a dream to crochet with, soft, no rubbing on my fingers and it drapes really nicely 

I haven't made a huge blanket as it is for a childs bed so I do have a little bit of yarn left to go back into my stash, so keep your eyes open for more projects

And here it is on the beanie bed sitting and waiting for a little boy to come and snuggle up in, I couldn't wait to get it on his bed and see how lovely it looked, it has bought a ray of sunshine into the room, my heart skipped a little beat as it went on, and I had a lovely feeling again that giving something that is homemade and has had love and thought put into it shows how much you care and makes others see that your child is loved and well cared for.

My second Tah Dah is my finished Cath Kidston tapestry purse, it really took only a few days to make and finish so I am very pleased.

As it is a Diamond Jubilee year I thought that it would be a nice touch to stitch my initials and the year on the back of the purse so that if it survives a few years my children may look back and think of me.

My hand needlecraft has a lot to be desired so I first maked it all out with pencil on the back on my cut up Sainsburys tea towel and then just did little back stitches in red and blue

Here are all the bits just waiting to be put together

and here it is all lined in a lovely red and white polka dot cotton and with a zip!!!

 Now to be honest the zip has let the final project down a little, I really really struggled to get it in and with it pinned into place and pins sticking into me and after much cursing I did get it in but its not quite how I would have wished it to be

The finished purse is lovely I so enjoyed doing this it was really quick to do and gave a sense of virtually instant gratification. I don't know what I am going to use it for yet but no doubt I will soon find a useful purpose.

This weeks cake was a devine Carrot and Pineapple cake and it has stayed moist all week and I am glad that I tried something a little different, I topped it with a lovely sweet cream cheese topping.

So here is the recipe:-

300g plain flour

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1tsp baking powder

2tsp cinnamon

4 eggs

250ml oil (I used sunflower oil)

200g soft brown sugar

the zest of an orange and a lemon

200g of grated carrot

150g chopped walnuts

227g of chopped tinned pineapple pieces

Pre heat the oven to 140c that is in my fan oven so a little hotter if yours is not a fan and line a 20cm cake tin, make sure that it is quite a deep tin as you don't want your mixture escaping the top!

Right first sift the flour baking powder, bicarb and cinnamon together and then add in the sugar.

Whisk together the eggs, zests and oil and add this to the flour and sugar. 

Stir in the grated carrots and then fold in the walnut (I actually didn't have any walnut so I used pecans) and then fold the pineapple pieces in, if you don't like pineapples then you could actually leave them out.

Put all this mixture into your tin, give it quick smooth over and pop into the oven for about 1 hour 20 minutes, give it a little test with a skewer and if it comes out clean with not mixture sticking to it then its ready.

While the cake is cooking, you can get on with the frosting, which is:-

125g of soft butter

250g cream cheese

50g icing sugar

The topping is so easy to make all you do is mix all the ingredients together, it is a good idea to make sure that the butter is soft and that the cream cheese is a room temperature so that is comes out lovely and silky smooth. Don't be tempted to put this frosting onto the cake before it is completely cold or it will just melt it and make it run off.

I make my cake look a little prettier by adding some little threads of orange zest just to give it a little colour. I will definitely be making this again, as you can see it was cut into and tested before I could even get my camera out!!

On a different note we now have a new addition to our family :) Her name is Tiddles, chosen by my youngest son Caleb. She is 7 weeks old and here she is with her little brother, isn't she just adorable!!!!!!

After the initial shock of discovering that we have a dog and a few hisses later I think that she has settled into our home quite nicely. Well she looks contented enough wouldn't you say?

I will soon be giving you an update on my next project which I am quite excited about!

Claire xx

My Latest Projects and Yummy Cake

I have been inspired yet again by my lovely Cath Kidston book 'Stitch' there are just so many projects that I would love to do.

To make a change from my usual crochet I thought that I may tart up an old khaki coloured bag that I have and make some of the little embroidered badges that just leaped out of the page at me! There are 3 in total and I have already embroidered two of them, I hadn't got the exact colours that Cath suggests but from my stash of embroidery silks, I picked what I think is quite a good match, so I just have the Stanley Dog badge to do

And so on to the next Cath Kidston project, which is a gorgeous Union Jack purse, I started this and it is coming on so quickly, I can hardly believe it, well in fact I can, my finger and thumb are feeling rather bruised from pulling tapestry wool through my canvas, my eyes have gone squiffy from counting little squares and after a couple of glasses of wine last night I had to give it a rest.

My dread is actually when I have finished it, as I then have to line it, back it and put in a zip, a zip!!! I will have no idea where to start with this! and as I have only just learnt how to thread a sewing machine, the may prove difficult, in fact I have a very, very basic machine just to do seams with but it is proving to be my nemesis!

I have also finished the last few stitches on my Electric Flower cushion and this now needs a back and piping! OHHH heck, I just hope that my machine skills won't let down all the hard work I have put into the tapestries!

I have a beautiful pink wool cardigan that no longer fits me and I have thought of cutting this up to back the flower cushion, but I am still undecided as to what I should pipe it in, Bibelot have some lovely little bobble edging but I'm not sure.

When I was browsing around Sainsburys the other day I saw some fabulous tea towels they are in a lovely thick cotton and my first thought was that I could use them as pillow shams and crochet on to one end some fancy type of edging,I have never done this before, but I am sure with a quick scoot around Google I will find a tutorial somewhere. 

Looking at them again, I think that the middle blue one would be great cut up and used as a back for my little union jack purse!!!???

In between all of this crafting I have been doing, there was a call from the boys "We have no cake!!" So if cake was asked for, cake will be provided!

 

I decided to do a Chocca Mocca Caramel cake that I had seen in one of my 'Good Food' magazines, the recipe can be found here it is really yummy, the receipt says caramel bars, so my interpretation of this is a good old Mars Bar, they also said put on some little chocolate eggs which I didn't have so I replaced it with little fudge pieces and here it is in all its glory tadah!!

I would love to learn how to cook little colourful macaroons, I have looked at how to do it and it looks really time consuming, but plan to make some in the very near future. For now I have done something that I never really do, I bought cake just to satisfy my craving don't they just look scrummy sitting there in the box, I may just keep them at the back of the fridge as my own little secret stash away from little ones fingers!

Bye bye for now

Claire xx

A Bit of a Tah Dah Moment

Not a great lot to Blog about this week Im afraid as I have been busy with my crochet as I have finally decided to try selling a few of my things in my favourite shop in Leek, Bibelot!!!

I called in the other day to see Liz and Sophie and the knit and natter group of lovely ladies all sat around a table upstairs drinking tea and eating the most wonderful looking cake, I must say though there seemed rather more natter going on than knit! It is just such a lovely environment and they also have lots of other craft workshops that they run.

So my kitchen table has been a mass of pins, needles, felt, buttons and threads

Whilst I sat and made lovely things I couldn't help feeling that it is so nice to think that my little hobby may make me a few pennies :) and fund the things that I like to make for myself

I just feel so excited that things I have made are in such a gorgeous shop, sitting amongst the likes of Cath Kidston!!

Everything I take in is on a sale or return basis, so fingers crossed I won't be having too much returned. Liz and Sophie the lovely ladies that run the shop have made such a lovely display of everything I am sure that they will catch someones eye.

I took an age to decide how to label my little goodies up and in the end decided that just a simple brown luggage label with my name and blog on would do just nicely.

 A lovely little summer wreath crocheted out of Rowan Handknit cotton, although I have to say when I took the photograph it was anything like a summers day

I also made a few little girlie bags, these were in James Brett Kool Kotton, which is a lovely soft mix of cotton and acrylic and gives a lovely smooth texture, I then embellished them with some little Rowan Hand knit cotton Russian Dolls.

In fact unfortunately James Brett is stopping his range of Kool Kotton so, I have just stocked up on some before it becomes impossible to get hold of!

Aren't these wonderful, little daisy brooches again done in my favourite Rowan cotton, I do two sizes a Large which looks great pinned onto a bag or coat 

and smaller ones for those who wish to be a little less flamboyant! I think that I have done really well with these little Daisies it is one of the first flowers I haven't used a pattern for and did in on a wing and a prayer and I think that they have come out really well.

Don't they are look lovely with there little tags on!

I really can't imagine the thrill I will have if I ever see anyone walking around wearing something that I have made, I think that I might just burst!

My delivery of DMC tapestry wool has just arrived so that I can finish off the Cath Kidston flower cushion I started and then ended up running out of wool with just a few stitches left. I also ordered a few more skeins as I have another project in mind from the same Cath Kidston book

The other part of my weekend was taken up by the local village auction, I went along with my daughter and middle son and we sat with mugs of hot tea and bacon sandwiches watching the bidding.

I was warned by my husband before I went that we had enough of our own rubbish without buying and bringing home someone else's, so with that in mind, I didn't buy anything, my son got himself a fish tank that he wanted and my daughter managed to sell a few of my grandsons things. Now remembering the warning that I was given about bringing home things we don't have room for my husband had called in at the sale after we had left and purchased the item in the picture below. I am going to put a warning on at this point, please do not scroll down if you are at all squeamish! 

This was his purchase a stuffed and mounted fox!

It now sits in my tower room  window and will I hope be taken to his work where It can accompany the stuffed bulls head he got from a previous auction!

 There was a suggestion that I should perhaps sit it in the garden to warn away the foxes from eating my chickens, I should perhaps sit it by the hen house with a little sign saying eat my chickens and you too could be stuffed and mounted!!!

 Talking of which I am now definitely down to one chicken and one cockerel and as little Annie2 is a point of lay I have no eggs, so my good friend Helen gave me some of her ducks eggs for my cakes and they look so lovely sitting all big and greeny blue in the egg box

Have a nice week and I will keep you all updated

Claire xx