Roman Day at Pontypridd Museum

Our local museum had a 'Roman Day' over the weekend and Myf and I spent a few hours there-she has a real love for history and archaeology.  We both had fun making our own versions of Roman pottery (sadly they didn't have clay, only plasticine) and Myf made these two lovely pieces

She filled her little bowl with her first tries at Flymo clay modeling (she got a set from her lovely auntie for her birthday) but I think her jug is very impressive!

I spent quite a while on mine...

I marked the outside pattern with a stylus but it didn't stand out enough for me so I found some blue beading wire in my bag and cut some small pieces to curve into the pattern.  Inside is a solar piece pressed into the bowl :-) I really wish these were in clay-I have no idea how to preserve plasticine.

Myf also made a 'Bulla' which is a type of charm pouch that Roman children would wear-they'd place special items inside (coins for wealth, good luck items, etc) and wear it until they reached adulthood.  Myf took part in a competition as well-to draw two pictures from a set of descriptions about what a Celtic Warrior and a Roman Centurion looked like and she won!  She got a little set of imitation Roman coins that she put into her Bulla :-)  I'm thinking of making Bulla pouches with the kids at one of our Sowing Circle Moots-it's great fun!
She also had to try and put Roman Numerals onto a clock face in the right order and made a little mosaic (she chose to draw hers rather than use tiles) and we both had a lovely time!  As soon as we got home, she disappeared upstairs and put together her own Roman costume...

Now for a lot of pictures-Myf is away with her father until August 6th and I'm missing her terribly.  I tend to get very depressed when she's away so I'm trying to keep myself busy with the blankets and getting onto top of the house work.  So here's some pictures of my Roman baby :-)

Right back to the granny squares, lots to make!

Attempting to make a Teddy Bear....

Last Christmas, one of my lovely sisters bought me this book-

I admit to being a little nervous about trying it as I'm not very confident following patterns but one of my nieces has been very unwell and now that she's home and recovering, I wanted to make her a little present.  So I used the pattern for one of the teddies on the front cover and managed to make this...

Sadly, I didn't stuff the head enough and it came out a bit wonky :-(  As a first attempt I think it's not too bad although I'd love to know how exactly you can stitch these things together without going completely mental!  The book is lovely but I found it difficult to follow-it presumes a lot of knowledge but I do like how the patterns are laid out.  I think I need a lot of practise-maybe I'll be brave enough to attempt another amigurumi toy for my nephew or one of my niece's next birthdays.

Crafting Myf!

My beautiful little (big!) girl has always loved making and creating things.  From intricate pictures to interesting sculptures made from straws and pom-poms, she really delights in being crafty.
Her class this year did quite a lot of crafts-from Batic to Cross stitch so for my Dad's birthday, she made a little bookmark.

Then she worked on making one for my birthday-

The XXXII at the bottom is my age..in Roman Numerals...my daughter is very cool (and sometimes a little scary!)

Isn't it lovely?

The last one she just finished tonight to give to her teacher as a thankyou present-

The word she's stitched down the centre is 'Diolch' which simply is Welsh for thankyou :-)

There's a slight difference in these two bookmarks-as I said in my previous post, I'm not great at hemming and it did cause problems for Myf while she tried to get it finished so for her teacher's one, after I cut the shape out, I painted the edges with clear nail varnish and let it dry before Myf started stitching.  It looks much better than my hemming attempts!

Myf is going to take a little break from all that cross stitch but I really loved watching her work :-)  Especially as she would sit and stitch while I crocheted...aren't we a crafty pair!

Dad's birthday

Lots of posting at the moment-I have some catching up to do!

My Dad's birthday was a few days ago and Myf and I made a couple of special items.  I got hold of a wooden blank keyring to embellish with some pyrography-here's some before and after shots!
(when I have some disposable funds, I'm thinking of upgrading my pyrography pen-it's very basic and I can't do more than thick lines with it)

Myf has been doing a little cross stitching at school and decided she wanted to make her Grumpy a bookmark.  I tried to find some mesh material for her but it was a bit on the pricey side so instead we bought a mesh style baby blanket from a pound shop, cut it down and hemmed it (my hemming skills are a bit pants!) and Myf made up her own design!  She worked really hard on it and it's beautiful.

I was positive I'd taken a close up pic but this is the only one I have :-(  Myf has been making a couple of other bookmarks so next post, I'll be showcasing her crafty-ness!

We also had to do some improvising on the birthday cards as we apparently have no card in the house aside from the recycling so we cut up some cereal boxes, liberally glued some colourful scraps of paper over them and Myf practised some calligraphy-

Dad really liked his presents and hopefully had a great birthday!

Crochet food...

Myf loves to play restaurants and kitchens, even as a big girl of 9!  She asked me to make her some fake food for her kitchen so I gave it a try...

The pictures are a bit rubbish (I need to work on my angles!) but I made a burger, pizza, some cookies (including a little 'Oreo' one that you can take the top of off like in the advert...), fried egg and bacon, a very wonky cake and some bread/toast.  Myf is very sweet and likes them a lot but I am a very lucky girl and my lovely sister Thea got me this book-

for my birthday!  It got opened a little early-but now my birthday has passed, I'm looking forward to trying out some of the patterns!  Especially the sushi...

Happy Birthday Big Sis!

My lovely sister Jess is now 2 years older than me!  Happy birthday Jess :-)

I sent her a little starter kit for pyrography (wood burning) which I think she'll be amazing at and I also finally finished a little crocheted bunting banner I've been working on for ages....the pattern is from this lovely blog and I'm planning to do a couple more as Christmas banners,  The blog has many really beautiful crochet ideas so you should have a look!

Here's the little banner for Jess-

Her home is nicknamed 'Tea Towers' and hopefully her new banner will find a nice spot to hang in :-)

Hope you're having a fantastic birthday Jess xx

Teddy bear waistcoats and blankets :-)

My little niece turned 6 last week and her mum asked me to make a granny square teddy bear waistcoat!  Along with it, I also made a crochet crown but sadly I have no pictures as I couldn't find my camera phone anywhere!  I have now invested in a little digital camera so here are a couple of pictures of teddy bear waistcoats that Myf insisted on once she saw what I was making her cousin :-)

The one on the left was the practise one I made so I could figure out the size and how to put it together.  The one on the right has buttons and edging and looks pretty snazzy :-)

My last post showed a blanket I'd made for my friend Catrina-her boyfriend's aunt has seen them and really wants three which is very exciting so I'm working on those too.  The wool store where I get a lot of my stash asked me to make a little lap blanket/baby blanket to display there-it may drum up some interest and give me some idea of whether there's any chance of doing this semi-professionally.

I've been working on a couple of other projects as well but I'll save that for another post!