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

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.

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)

Sun, fur and lego

We've had some beautiful clear mornings here in the last week. I thought you might like to see this view from our back bedroom of the sun rising over Bodmin Moor.

In creative news, I set forth yesterday armed with Issue 9 of Mollie Makes (yes I know issue 10 is out now, I've got plans for that one too...), a cheap and cheerful Asda cardigan, half a yard of faux fur fabric and my trusty sewing machine (which I secretly suspect is smarter than I am). 

I had to re-draft the pattern as the one in the magazine was cut for a cardigan with a higher neckline, but here is the result, a little bit of retro chic, plus enough of the fur left over to make a snuggly cushion at a later date.
I've been playing with washers and hex nuts again too, I might have something new to show soon.

And the lego, you ask. Well, I bought Eloise this book for Christmas, and she has been inspired.

Look at this necklace she created from Lego. 
Very Harley Quinn. 
(Note for Linda, it goes really well with a certain pair of jeans)

Fuzzy Felt, Even More Felt, and a Surprise

Do you remember Fuzzy Felt? I used to love playing with that when I was young.

Having seen some amazing felt creations while browsing around on-line I was prompted to ask my friend if her Cuttlebug machine could cut through felt, and, on finding that it did, without further ado I hurried round there with my gargantuan stack of felt. An enjoyable afternoon later I found myself with a whole new pile of fuzzy felt pieces, and this is what I did with them.

Its official. I now NEED a Cuttlebug!

If you want to see where I got my inspiration, and swoon over some much much nicer examples, check out Beedeebabee's blog.

Even more felty goodness with the arrival from Amazon, hot off the presses, of this wonderful book. Felt Friends from Japan: 86 Super-cute Toys and Accessories to Make Yourself

The little felt animals in here (and they are little, most would sit neatly in the palm of your hand) are so completely retro, and so utterly adorable I could almost squeal with delight. No, thats not quite true. I actually DID squeal with delight. The family think I've gone mad!

Isn't that Babycham style deer the most kitschy fabulous felty thing you've ever seen? I am definitely going to make me one of those.

Last, but not least, a fabulous surprise in the post today when Karan sent me a present of a gorgeous chart, Dandy Dreams by Silver Creek Samplers, and this gorgeous stitched card.

Thank you Karan,  I'm touched by your kindness.

A finish, a lovely gift and a spooky book

So I finally finished the September Monthly Challenge from Stitch and Stash. Only 4 weeks late. And can I just say here and now that even though I love how it looks now its finished, I have hated very last stinking rotten stitch of it! The chart gave me migraines, two symbols were so close I couldn't distinguish them and there were so many colour changes I felt like I was stopping and starting more than I was stitching. Still its done now.
I used it to cover the lid of a small box, bravely resisting the urge to make it up into a pincushion, even though I really, really wanted to stick pins in it.

Big pins.
Big sharp pins.

Anway, enough of that. I got this lovely gift in the post from Dusty

I'd sent Dusty some overdyed thread to finish one of my designs because she'd had trouble finding it where she lived, and she sent me this in return. Isn't it beautiful? Thank you Dusty!
(Editted 26/10/10 to include address for Dusty's blog, thanks Clare)

I got some other great post this week as well, I bought myself this wonderfully weird book from Amazon Zombie Felties: How to Raise 16 Gruesome Felt Creatures from the Undead I just love this! The little felties are so gross yet so utterly adorable, there is a classic zombie, a zombie pirate, a zombie bride, zombie vampires, bunnies, kitties and puppies and even a teeny tiny zombie undertaker with bony fingers and a top hat on top of his exposed brains (made from pink sequins). Watch this space for macabre makes from this book, the girls (ghouls?) have already given me a wish list!