Welcome to the Dark Side

I got a wonderful treat in the post this week. Look what Jo made for me as my prize for being her "Most Commenty Commenter"
Look at the cute little Sith Lord, couldn't you just hug him?
And his dear little Death Star.
Squee!
And he really did have cookies too, yummy Marks and Spencer cookies! Thank you Jo I love it!

I also won some floss from The Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe. The picture hasn't quite got the colour right, it's more beige than that. It's gorgeous, and I will have to pick a special project to do it justice.

I found myself with some unexpected free time yesterday, so I decided to make myself one of those bib necklaces that are all over Pinterest at the moment. (I know, I shouldn't look!)
I was feeling very springlike so I went for fresh zesty citrus colours and I love how it turned out.
Do you want a quick "How to"? Of course you do. You'll need some coloured felt, ribbon, buttons and beads.
I followed the basic method described by Michele at The Scrap Shopppe using a mixture of buttons including some yummy spots and stripes, rather than all the same colour, and adding in some sweet little polka dot bows and three felt flowers, and stitching in  grosgrain ribbon instead of chain to hang it by. I'm linking this up to Think Pink Sundays at Flamingo Toes

Aha, but how do you make the flowers I hear you cry! Nothing simpler.

Start with a strip of felt. These ones were cut to the very precise and technical measurement of the length of the felt square by the width of my ruler ;D

Fold it in half and catch the long edges together with a running stitch very near the edge (try to take a tiny stitch on one side and a long one on the other so the stitches won't show on the finished flower.

Snip it into a fringe, being careful not to cut the row of stitching. The closer together your snips are the narrower your petals will be. I cur at approx 1/8 inch intervals for the yellow flower and 1/4 inch for the orange flowers.

Roll it up tightly catching it in place with tiny stitches as you go,  until you think it is big enough, cut off the excess fringe, flip it over and tada!
The leaves on the orange flowers were just made by adding a final ring of green fringe.
Want a bigger flower? Cut a bigger strip.
Feeling confident? There are variations.

Start with a trapezoidal strip of felt, this one used a piece about 12 inches long, 4 inches wide at one end tapering to about 2 inches at the other, and cut the fringe wider at the narrow end gradually making it narrower as the folded strip gets wider to give this chrysanthemum like flower.
Phew! This seems to have got a bit long, so I'll save my garden pics for next time!

They say a new broom sweeps clean...

...but I like my old one. 
I grew it from a cutting from one in my Mum's garden.


Also in the garden this week:-

bluebells

and a bleeding heart

and just to prove it isn't always wet and grey at the beach like in the previous post, these were taken on Tuesday

Birthdays and gifts

OK, so when did I get old enough to have an 18 year old daughter?
She's only about this big right?

Apparently she's this big. When did that happen? Did I blink?
This is our (semi) local pub,  not nice enough to sit out on the terrace and watch the sea on Sunday though.

It's been a good couple of weeks post-wise. I was lucky enough to win a follower of the month giveaway from Beverley at  Flamingo Toes (if you aren't familiar with Flamingo Toes, I definitely recommend a visit) and here are all my wonderful gifts. A pearl, leather and lace bracelet ( I absolutely love this, it's so me), a pink ribbon rose ring,  gorgeous swarowski crystal earrings in shades of turquoise and white opal, an elegant black ribbon bookmark with dangling keys

and this beautiful appliqued tea towel which is now hanging on my oven door with the family fully aware that it is for decorative purposes only and anyone who even looks as if they are thinking about drying an actual dish with it will be sleeping in the shed!

Finally, here is some vintage French style bunting I made for my friend's birthday.

I cut some flag shapes from red stripe ticking, using pinking shears, and added vintage French typographic images which I got from The Graphics Fairy, using iron on transfer paper (these ones are old adverts for coffee and chocolate, but she has tons of them to choose from). I made some more flags from toning polka dot and fleur de lis patterned fabric, and added some vintage crochet doilies, stitching larger ones to some of  the flags, and placing smaller ones in clusters of three between the flags.

This picture is not so clear, but shows the whole string.
I'm linking this post up to Think Pink Sundays on Flamingo Toes and Brag Monday at The Graphics Fairy

You would think frogs would be afraid of dragons...

Apparently not.
I've had more frogs in this project than I care to think about, but it is finally finished.
Here is the Year of the Dragon "Dragon Ball Ornament"  (pattern from Yasuko at Y's Small Gallery.)

The tassel is from a box of chocolates

Recently both Debbie and Katherine have been kind enough to award me the Leibster Blog award.
Liebster is a German word meaning favorite, dearest, or beloved and the Liebster is awarded to new bloggers with less than 200 followers.
The award asks that you pass it on to five further bloggers. I am flattered and overwhelmed that anyone would think my blog was worthy of an award, but I hope neither Debbie or Katherine will be offended if I don't pass the award on in the traditional sense, as I never know who to choose or, more to the point, who to miss out. If I read or comment on your blog then I think you are a winner, so consider yourselves all nominated.
The award also asks you to reveal 5 random things people might not know about you which is a bit easier to do so here goes:-
1) I have tiny feet (size 3) and sometimes buy children's shoes to avoid the VAT
2) I adore football (soccer, not that strange rugby-like game they play in the US), I used to have a season ticket at Roker Park when I lived nearer, and I've been to matches at most of the major cities in England, plus a couple of places abroad
3) I've got a PhD in Physical Chemistry (specifically NMR Studies on Biological Macromolecules)
4) My favourite TV comedy is The Big Bang Theory. It is frighteningly accurate (see item 4 above)
5) I share a birthday with my husband. Someone once asked, on discovering that fact, "Gosh, what are the odds of that?" Ermm, 1 in 365. (Well assuming it isn't 29th Feb)
In other crafting news the girls have been busy this week making these. They call them ear cuffs. I call them Bajoran earrings because I am a geek trekkie discerning science fiction afficionado (see item 4 above again).
Whatever.
I'm making myself one.
Just call me Ensign Ro.

Happy Easter and a Treasure Hunt

A very Happy Easter to you all!


Jo at Serendipitous Stitching is running a blog Easter Treasure Hunt.
The participating bloggers will be showing a picture of an Easter themed stitched project, and revealing a mystery letter, which, when read in order will give an Easter related message.
 I don't have any Easter themed stiching that I haven't already shown, but I do have some little wire and bead bird's nest pendants I made. I hope Jo will forgive my slight deviation from the theme.
So, without further ado:-
Your letter is

Please visit Anna at The Stitch Bitch for your next clue.

Daffodils, bunnies and chicks

Spring continues apace. My orchid flowering daffodils have opened and the blackthorn hedge is in flower.

Yesterday was opening day in the Needlecraft Haven Spring Exchange. Here is the beautiful pillow I received from Gillie. It is a Brightneedle design. Thank you Gillie, I just love it.

Here are the needlebook and ornament I made for Rachael. The ornament is a  complimentary design from Sub Rosa here, stitched on hand dyed linen in Vireo from Sparklies using GAST in Poppy, Avocado and Maple Syrup, and finished with some hairy string for a rustic look ("Are you a rustic hanger?" "No, I'm a frayed knot")

I used my rinky-dinky Cuttlebug to die-cut the felt pieces for the needlebook.

I've also stitched up a few of these fun little applique chick ornaments using a design from Shiny Happy World.

A little sad news as well, we came home yesterday to find our cat, Spike, had died while we were out. He was only 11 and hadn't been ill at all, so we wonder if he had managed to get into something poisonous in someone's shed. RIP Spike, we'll miss you.

Beach, Birdhouse and Blooms

We've had a few days of glorious spring weather here. Here are a couple of pictures I took at Trebarwith earlier.

Meanwhile in the back garden the oxslips are in flower

the first dwarf tulips are opening

and we have made the birds a shiny new bird table

Speaking of birds, I made this Mockingjay hairclip for Eloise to wear when we went to see The Hunger Games on Friday (excellent movie by the way, very close to the book). It was going to be a pin, but I'd run out of brooch backs so I stitched it to a barrette clip. I found the pattern here after seeing a post on Pinterest.

And here is a corsage pin I've made for a friend's birthday.
I have, however, completely failed to complete the Monthly Challenge. Oh the shame! Off to crawl under a rock and promise to do better next month...