Happy New Year

A Very Happy and Healthy New Year to you all.

I'd like to share just a few of the Christmas gifts I received this year.

Thank you to Barb for the lovely felted robin and holly wreath, to Karan for the pretty violet hand dyed evenweave, and to Clare for the Christmas print fabric and DMC threads.

Thank you to Julie for the very useful folding mat/bag, and to Robbin for the gorgeous hand-loomed scarf and handy travelling scissors.
And here are just a couple of the things I got from my girls

My Little Cthulhu!!!!!! Isn't he adorable? Look at his little tentacles!
They also made me a calendar. This is the cover.

You might be forgiven for thinking it was both up-lifting and life-affirming.
Until you open it and see January

I'll share the other months throughout the year.
And finally, my round up of 2019. The final total was 73 finishes, 41 books read, and 12 pairs of shoes bought, and the nearest guess was Clare with 74, 47 and 11. I'll get some sort of little prize in the post to you in the next few weeks Clare.
I've reset the counter, so if anyone wants to try and guess at the 2020 total just pop your answer in a comment on this post.

February's GG

Here is my February post for Gifted Gorgeousness - Jo's Blog Hop, where we get a chance to show off our gift related crafting every month.
I've got a few things this month. First is the Valentine's Exchange at Needlecraft Haven. We had to send a stitched card, a skein of thread and some sweet treats to our partners.
Here are the goodies I received from Gill

I love the card, and will have to figure out a way to frame it so it can stay on display
And here is the card I sent to Julie.

The stitched section detaches to form an ornament. The design was one I found online, but I've forgotten where. I also forgot to take a picture of the other bits, but I sent a skein of  WDW "Ladybug" and some chocolate ladybirds/
Next is a little "plant" I made from buttons for Barb's birthday

And here is the prize I made for Jo, for winning my guess the number of finishes/books/shoes competition last year.

It says "Mae Govannen", which is Sindarin for "Well met". It's stitched in a Kate's Kloths overdyed green floss on Crafty Kitten's 32 ct Murano in Faded Olive
And finally, not stitch or craft related at all unless you count cooking, but I won  a caption competition on Ainsley Harriott's Instagram, and got this fantatsic goody-box with one of every Ainsly Foods product (there's a load more than you can see in the picture) and  best of all, a signed photo of the man himself (which is up on the kitchen wall now)

Rounding Up 2018, A Winner, and a Tree Explained

Happy New Year!

Here is my annual round-up post. The official total for 2018 stands at:-

Finishes - 78
Including these two last minute ones.

The tattoo heart brooch cover kit from the January 2019 issue of Cross Stitcher, which I couldn't resist starting when the magazine popped through my door 3 or 4 days ago. It is now gracing Naomi's new laptop bag
And this little chap.

I bought a whole book to get this pattern (It was only a small book, but still)
As you can imagine the really tough part was eating the two choc-ices to get the sticks for his skis. I am a martyr to my crafting.

Books read - 46
A bit down on previous years, but in my defence some of them were pretty long books

Shoes bought - 8
Yes, I was very restrained this year wasn't I?

So, that makes a total of 132, and the closest with a guess of 73, 54 and 12, was, for the 2nd year running

Jo!

Well done Jo, a prize will be on it's way. 

Please comment  on this post with your guesses for 2019 if you want to be in the competition next year.

Finally a tree explained. In my last post I showed you my Geekmas Tree - I've got so many geeky decorations that we decided they merited a tree of their own and so the concept of the Geekmas Tree was born. (we also have a much more traditional tree in the living room). I challenged you to spot the fandoms and other geekiness represented. It would have been hard to get them all as they aren't all clearly visible in the photo, but here goes.

The angel on the top is Castiel from Supernatural and then reading from the top of the tree down we have:-

An ornament made from Scrabble tiles

A Golden Snitch (Harry Potter)

An ornament made from Lego bricks

A stitched penguin wearing a Jayne Cobb hat (Firefly)

Winnie the Pooh

Iron Man 

Batman

A Chemistry bauble with an organic molecule on it (the one that gives Christmas trees their smell)

Thor

Deadpool

Donald Duck

A bauble that says "Shiny" (Serenity/Firefly quote)

A glass Dalek (Doctor Who)

A stitched Hello Kitty

Ghostbusters

Tigger

A Winchester Brothers bauble (Supernatural)

Captain America

A stitched Lieutenant Worf (Star Trek TNG)

A glass TARDIS (Doctor Who) also a gingerbread TARDIS and a stitched TARDIS

A stitched Jean-Luc Picard (Star Trek TNG)

The Incredible Hulk

and an undead fairy

Gifted Gorgeousness February Edit

Welcome to February's Gifted Gorgeousness - the place where we show our gift related crafting and/or craft related gifts. Full details on Jo's blog here
Lots to show this month. Firstly, yesterday was opening day on the Needlecraft Haven Friendship Exchange. The idea with this exchange was that we send a Friendship card and gift, along with two skeins of thread and a friendship themed chart.
I didn't remember to photograph the chart and threads I sent, but this is the gift I sent to Justine - an illustrated handbag mirror for which I made a little felt cosy

And here is the lovely hand made quilted mug rug, beautiful card and threads I received from Mary

It's been rather chilly lately so I knitted each of my daughters one of these warm and snuggly interlaced Celtic scarves.

Pattern on LoveKnitting.com here
Finally you may remember Jo won my Shoes/Books/Finishes Competition at the end of last year, and here is the prize I made for her.

It is stitched using Gentle Arts Simply Shaker threads in Schoolhouse Red and Wrought Iron, a lovely dark blue-black shade reminiscent of  old ink which I thought was ideal for the look of a hand drawn map, and finished with dark blue faux leather and a tiny loop of Hobbit ribbon that I found on EvilBay. The Lonely Mountain cross stitch pattern I used is available on Etsy here

Happy New Year! Last Finish of 2017 and First Finish of 2018 and a Competition

The title says it all really.

And here are the last and first finishes

The kit for the embroidered hoop was a cover gift with Mollie Makes magazine. I realised after I'd started it that I'd accidentally pulled the wrong thread bundle out of my bag o' cover kits but I decided to just go with it at that point, so the colours aren't as intended but I kind of like them.

The snuggly cowl was knitted from a single ball of cake style self striping yarn (Paintbox Chunky Pots in "Making Hay").

As usual last year I kept a running total of the numbers of my crafting finishes, books read and shoes bought throughout 2017 and offered a prize to the nearest guess.

For 2017 the final total was 85 finishes, 55 books and 11 pairs of shoes, making a total of 151, and the best guess with 76,60,12 giving a very close total of 148 was:-

Jo

Drop me an email Jo, and remind me of your address and I'll sort out a little prize for you

I've reset the counters, so if you want to play along for 2018 leave a comment on this post.

Gifted Gorgeousness for February

Gifted Gorgeousness, for those who haven't come across it before, is a blog hop organised by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching, where we show off anything even remotely gift related that we think we can lever into the post stitching and crafting gifts we have sent or received.
To kick off this month we have the Valentines Exchange at Needlecraft Haven. . The idea was to exchange Valentine themed sock and matching thread.
Here are the wonderful snuggly and oh so pink socks I received from Justine.

Thank you Justine, I love them!
I sent to Julie, but forgot to get a picture before I sent them out.
In other gift related news, I made a little something for Kerry who won my imaginatively titled "Guess how many finishes I'll have this year" competition for 2016.

Yes, you can cross stitch on a tea strainer. Who knew? Anyway, I'm pleased to say that Kerry loved it.
And for dear Barb's birthday I made and sent this quilted patchwork zippered pouch, incorporating various vintage and contemporary fabric scraps including a piece with a lovely metallic sheep print, because as we know, Barb is rather fond of sheep.

Well, that's it for this month. Off to hop the blogs and see what everyone else has been up to now.

First and Last (and a Competion and Prize)

Happy New Year!

Here is Naomi modelling my last finish of 2016, a Black Widow print skater skirt, (pattern adapted from the pinafore pattern in this post)  and my first finish of 2017, a rib swatch cowl in Rowan Fine Art Aran.

If you've been following my blog for a while you'll know that I offer a small prize to the person who most closely guesses my year end tally of finishes, books read and shoes bought.
For 2016 the totals were:-

Finishes  ~ 78
Books ~ 54
Shoes ~ 10.

The closest guess was Kerry with 64, 53, 11
Drop me an email with your postal address Kerry and I'll pop a little something in the post for you.

The counter has now been reset, so if you'd like to have a guess this year just pop a comment on this post

Gifted Gorgeousness - Valentine's Edition

It's the fifteenth of the month, the day for Gifted Gorgeousness, the SAL run by Jo of Serendipitous Stitching, where we celebrate the crafty gifts we have sent, received or made.
This month I am sharing these two heart shaped oven mitts that I made for my daughters. (I also made one as a birthday gift for someone, but forgot to take a picture before I posted it)

And, while I had some insulated wadding to hand I also made this heatproof mat for Kerry, who won my blog competition last month.

And finally a gift to me, from me. We were lucky enough to win the pub quiz a couple of weeks back, giving me some unexpected extra spending money when I went to the Craft for Crafters show in Exeter with my friend. We watched a workshop on fusing fabric by Margaret Beal, and I was inspired to buy a "starter pack" of a soldering iron, some shaped metal templates and a back of organza squares, and this is the result of my first little play:-

2015 Round Up and the First Finish of 2016

The final tally for 2015 stands at 46 books read, 57 finishes and 9 pairs of shoes bought. A bit down on previous years but the books included quite a few mammoth 1000 page plus ones so I don't feel too bad at falling below one a week.
The nearest guess was Kerry with a total of 146, so if you send me your address Kerry, I'll pop some sort of small prize in the post. I've reset the counter so you are welcome to make a guess on this year's totals by commenting on this post.
I can show some of the things I'd made for Christmas gifts now. The big tada moment is for the vintage vertical stripe CAL blanket I made for Naomi.

This took ages! Come to think of it, it's probably why the finish count was down too. Eagle eyed readers will spot a colour shift at one side. I ran out of the original wools before it was wide enough, so I went back to the on-line shop I'd bought them from and just repeated the same shopping cart from my history. Now I know that different dye lots can have an effect, but to go from the hot pink on one side of the blanket to the magenta on the other seems excessive. Good job I was going for a loud multi coloured effect.
For my December Gifted Gorgeousness post I shamelessly posted a picture of a ball of wool, and said it was going to be a Christmas gift. Well, it made it. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture (well I was a bit short of time to get it wrapped up and delivered), but I did actually make three of them in the end the brown one from the wool I showed and a duck egg blue one as gifts for friends, and this one for myself.

The pattern is by Kalurah Hudson and you can find it on Ravelry here
Also on Ravelry was this pattern which I used to make these cunning hairclips for the girls

Girl walks down the road in that hairclip, people know she's not afraid of anything

And Ravelry again (anyone detecting a theme here?) for the pattern for this knitted choker.

And finally the first finish of 2016. Possibly the weirdest thing I've ever knitted.

Eloise asked me to knit her a beard as a birthday gift for a friend. (Don't ask, I didn't). The pattern for this came from Mollie Makes, and the inset picture shows Eloise modelling it because the picture of it just lying there is more roadkill than facial hair

Rounding Up Last Year

The final tally for last year turned out to be (drum roll please)

58 books read, 75 crafty finishes and 15 pairs of shoes.

No one got any of them spot on, but if you total all three items together you get 148, and via a slightly different combination of individual figures Wendy who blogs at The Crafter's Apprentice, also arrived at a total of 148, so I'm declaring her the winner. Wendy, if you send me your snail mail I'll pop a small prize in the post.
I've reset the counters so if anyone wants to make a guess for 2015 and win a mystery prize, just add a comment to this post (I'll accept entries up until the end of the month).

I'm shamefully late posting my Christmas thank yous (hangs head) but I did get some wonderful presents from on-line friends, including:-

A pretty notebook from Karan (matches the pen she sent for my birthday)

A diary, bath petals and chocolate from Clare

Cosy socks and a pair of  beautiful twinkly glass snowflakes (made by her DH) from Barb

A French style motif sampler and fabric in the Advent Exchange, which turned out to be from Polly

This gorgeous folded fabric tree decoration from Julie

Thank you all so much.

The other crafty gift I got was this hank of beautiful hand dyed sock wool from Eloise. 

The company is rather brilliantly named "Yorkshire's to Dye for" and can be found on Facebook here. It is already well on it's way to being a scarf. 

I don't DO socks. 

I knitted a sock once, 

One sock. 

Once. 

Enough said.

Presents - Part 2, An Old Year Round-Up (With a Winner) and A New Year Finish

Christine's Blog proudly presents Christmas Presents Part 2 (The Makes). These are some of the things I couldn't show before Christmas in case of sneaky blog peaking.

Here Eloise is modelling the Harley Quinn Dress, (adapted from Simplicity 3833 by cutting the upper bodice as two pieces and adding applique diamonds to the skirt)

And here is Naomi in the Supernatural Dress (New look 6208, as pattern except cut much shorter, fabric with a pattern of salt, holy water, enochian symbols and assorted weaponry from Spoonflower here) Note: I will never ever make a dress with piping in curved seams again.

And here is a rear view

Still on the sewing front, a pinny I made for my friend using a combination of vintage and retro fabrics and buttons. Not a great picture I'm afraid.

I made the girls one of these Supernatural charm bracelets each. Why yes, that is real salt in the little bottle.

The Sam, Dean and Cas charms are made by gluing tiny photos onto frame shaped blanks and covering with copious quantities of varnish.

For those of you unfamiliar with the show (it isn't big in the UK) here is a link to the IMDb page and, for your edification and the further beautification of my blog, here are Sam, Dean and Castiel.

I also made the girls a magnetic chalkboard each for their rooms. They are made from MDF, painted with three layers of magnetic primer, followed by a couple of layers of balckboard paint, then the slogan is just painted on in white acrylic. The button magnets are from No More Lost Needles. This is Eloise's. Naomi's says "Plans for World Domination".

Last January I started keeping a tally of how many projects I completed, books I read, and pairs of shoes I bought during the year. The final tally was 57 books, 73 finishes and 17 pairs of shoes. I offered a prize for the nearest guess. You were all way out on the books, but Kerry was the closest to the mark on the finishes with a guess of  76.  I think I've got your address Kerry, so watch the post for a small prize coming your way soon.. I've reset the count for this year now, so if you want to win a prize this time next year just pop your guess for the 2014 totals in the comments.

And finally the first finish of 2014. Inspired by this necklace on Flamingo Toes, I made this assymmetric necklace from a a couple of broken vintage pieces and some new beads. (Shhh, dont tell anyone, but the tiny teardrop shaped dangly rhinestone charm came off an old bra)

Invasion of The Daleks!

I don't think this one is much good at exterminating things though. Naomi modelling the Dalek skirt I made her for Christmas. Fabric is, of course, from Spoonflower.
All I did was make a tube of the dalek fabris, and two slightly longer ones out of tulle (remember to leave 6" or so open at the top for getting in and out of it), tack them together then gather them into a waistband and add poppers for fastening. easy huh?
I made a Batman one for Eloise as well but she's taken it back to Leeds and I didn't get a picture before she went.

My New Year's resolutions such as they are, are to buy more shoes make more time for stitching, crafting and reading. (It wouldn't hurt to lose a few pounds either), I aim to try and do something creative, and to spend at least a few minutes reading, each day. Lets see if it makes any difference to how much I can achieve, last year I read 27 books and finished 73 assorted stitching, knitting, sewing and/or crafting projects (not including repeats and multiples).
I know, have a guess what 2013's totals will be and at the end of the year I'll give a little prize to the person who is closest!

Anyway in the spirit of these resolutions I bought some shoes made a little pretty to fill a bare spot where the Christmas decorations have come down. Want to see?

 Here you go. Backlash from Poetic Licence
Naomi says they are my "Joker" shoes. David hates them. I am at a total loss to understand why.
Green leather.
With tweed,
and purple ric rac,
and purple satin ribbon laces.
What's not to love?

Oh, you meant you wanted to see the pretty?  The little wooden bird came completely plain, like this one for the princely sum of 69p from Trago.

I just stuck on a load of buttons (a few are vintage, but mostly newer) and bows in shades of turquoise and apricot using good old PVA. Sweet and simple, (linked up to Think Pink Sunday at Flamingo Toes) haven't decided whether to do the same with the other one or hang on and make soemthing a bit more Eastery yet.
So, anyone else made any resolutions?