Hallowe'en Trick or Treat Blog Hop 2017

Hello and welcome to my blog

This is a post for the 2017 Hallowe'en Trick or Treat Blog Hop 

For more details on the Blog Hop please visit our fearless leader Jo at Serendipitous Stitching

First of all some spooky eye candy for you

A stitched leather brooch I made

Who is your favourite pop-culture vampire?

I rather like this one

Aiden Turner as Mitchell in Being Human

Now for the real reason you're all here. Your letter is:-

Please visit 

http://chaosatlanta.blogspot.co.uk/

for your next letter

                        

Not Very Seasonal

After knitting away half the summer I finally finished off my lightweight cotton jumper just exactly the week the first of the autumn storms arrived.
Typical really.
The pattern is Rocky Pond from Classic Elite yarns which I found here at LoveKnitting, though I knit mine using Paintbox Cotton DK in Washed Teal.

Following on from the upcycled t-shirt skirts I made for the girls, I decided I needed one of my own, and here it is:-

The Deep Purple skirt. 

Because you're never too old to rock.

Gifted Gorgeousness for October

Gifted Gorgeousness day has rolled round again (Gifted Gorgeousness is a monthly blog hop organised by Jo from Serendipitous Stitching, where we show off our gift related crafts and craft related gifts)
Once again this will be a cross stitch free posting, (those of you who come here looking for a cross stitch blog must be getting pretty fed up by now, I promise I'll try harder next time)
This month I have made each of my daughters a skirt from an upcycled t-shirt. This one is Naomi's

And this one is Eloise's (completed on a rather damper day, hence the somewhat less attractive location for the photoshoot)

Also I don't think I've shown you this before, it is a woodburned piece that Naomi made for me in the summer using an offcut of the wood her dad had used to build himself a set of speakers. (I sew things, he builds speakers...)

As you can see she knows how to appeal to my inner geek.

Trying New Things

Because, obviously, I don't have enough hobbies to be getting on with.
Lino Cutting - something I've always liked the finished look of but never tried, so I treated myself to a little starter kit and had a play

And jewellery making. I've done quite a bit of "threading things onto other things" type jewellery making, but last week I went to a fabulous workshop run by Sarah Drew Jewellery where we cut, hammered, stamped and soldered brass and silver to make our own earrings.
I made these three pairs.

So pleased with how they came out. I'm now trying to justify buying all the kit to do it at home...

Sew On and Sew Forth

When October's edition of Sew magazine plopped though the letter box I was rather taken with the free pattern - New Look 6471.
I freely admit I may have got a bit carried away

Still I won't need to buy any new tops for a while.
Note: I said I won't need to. Didn't say I wouldn't...

Gifted Gorgeousness for September

The day for Gifted Gorgeousness has rolled around again, Gifted Gorgeousness being the blog hop organised by Jo of Serendipitous Stitching where we show our gift related crafting.
Three things to show this month. First is the Holiday Exchange from Needlecraft Haven. This was an exchange in two parts. We selected and kitted up a small free chart to send to our partners earlier in the year, and for this part we reveal what we stitched from the gift we received.
I received a sweet little snowflake design from Dusty, and here is the ornament I stitched it up into.

Thank you Dusty, it was a fun stitch.
Second up is this bag I made for Naomi using a gorgeous remnant of sloth print fabric I got from the sale at Sugar Bowl Crafts

Thirdly a t-shirt upcycle, also for Naomi. I took this t-shirt

and added a faux leather corsetting detail at the neckline.

She made me cut her head off the picture because "I haven't done my eyebrows Mum"
I also made a project bag for Clare for her birthday but I totally forgot to get a picture before I sent it out!

The Village Show

It was the annual village show last weekend, and I thought you might like to see some pictures.
Prize winning vegetables:-

Not that I can claim credit for any of those, other than the very tiny cherry tomatoes in the centre and a bundle of rhubarb

There were some lovely flowers as well (again none of these are mine)

We did rather better in the Art and Handicrafts section though, winning lots of classes between us as well as three Best in Shows

Mr Penguin, who I've shown on here before won Best in Show - Handicraft

and I got a 1st with this floral arrangement in the class called "Beachcombing"

Eloise got a second place with this life drawing:-

Naomi won the class for Celebration Cake

 and got 1st and 2nd with her pastels (you can see her winning one. of ballet shoes.in this picture)

The large watercolour painting of silver birch trees in mad colours is mine and took Best in Show - Art. I suppose I ought to buy a frame for it...