Reasons to be cheerful

I'll admit that this week it's been tough to come up with the positive.  Myf hasn't been very well (I had to leave work early today to go and collect her from school which caused all kinds of problems as there was no one to cover me-managed to get it sorted but it took over 2 hours to be able to get to my daughter which was awful)  She's fine, tired and probably growing again, that tends to leave her vulnerable to bugs.

So, back to being cheerful!

The awful flooding going on has had me very worried for my family-spoke to Mum today who reassured me that she and Dad are fine (the Thames river is well reinforced where they are)  My heart goes out to everyone affected but I hope I'm not being selfish in saying that I'm so glad that my family are safe and well.
I often moan about the hill I live on but it's at times like this, with the winds howling and the rains swelling the rivers to bursting, that I'm so grateful to live up a hill!

Despite her not feeling well, Myf has been wonderful in the mornings-I've had TWO cups of tea in bed this week!

I finished off the poncho the other day-sadly, with all the bad weather, photos are pretty dreadful!  I've worked up a flower as well to attach to the neck tie (as usual, I've way overdone the length of the cord and the size of the flower!).  This is a belated Yule gift for a dear friend who is coming to visit this weekend.

The other gift I've been making has been a rune pendant for her birthday (it's her 30th).  Runes are used in divination but they are also associated with different points of the year, a little similar to a star sign-my friend is a rune reader and we have spent many evenings reading runes and tarot together :-) so I felt making a pendant with her birth rune, 'Berkano', would make a lovely gift.

I wanted to use my wood burning pen, but despite tearing the house apart looking, I've had no luck!  So instead, I've used a small chisel to carve the rune and a little woodstain to bring it out...

Crafting always makes me happy :-D

Lastly, there's this photo of Artemis that Myf took-Arti loves boxes!

Birthday presents for Mum

I was racking my brain trying to come up with an idea for Mum's birthday present and I turned to the copy of 'Cute and Easy Crochet' on my shelf.  It had a very simple pattern for a circular cushion cover and, as I happened to have a small circular cushion laying around, I decided to give it a go!  The pattern was basically a stripy circle, very easy to do and when I'd got it to the size I wanted, I thought it would be nice to add some embellishment to the front.  So I turned to my very much loved 'Crochet Bouquet' book for some compound leaves and simple flowers.  The leaves were perfect but halfway through making the flowers, I decided the shape was wrong so I improvised a more circular look.  Stitched everything on and crocheted the cushion pad in (it's non removable once it's done) and then thought hmmm...hope Mum's mind doesn't go to the same place that mine does!

They do NOT look like booby flowers, ok!?!

On the reverse...

Hope she likes it!

Myf has been working incredibly hard this weekend on presents for her 'Moogie' as well.  She has a few crafty books all her own and she wanted to knit her a little purse.  Unfortunately, the instructions were a little confusing and I can't knit at all (Myf used to know how but it's been a few years) so instead I crocheted a small strip for her and she stitched it together, added a button and then went to her new jewellery making book that an auntie gave her for her birthday.  She chose to make a bracelet with wire wrapped beads-aside from cutting the wire for her and making the fastening, she made the rest entirely herself.  She then made a silver one for me and a little one for herself that I'm going to take photos of to put up tomorrow as they're wonderful!

Back to another book to look at some card making techniques and she chose one involving stitching with wool-

And we're done!  Still got to finish up another project that despite its small size is taking forever!  My poor sister must be bursting with the suspense...:-( Sorry darling, I promise it'll be finished soon!

Blessed Imbolc!

Today's been beautiful weather-clear skies with lots of sunshine!  Perfect Imbolc weather-the Earth is starting to wake up and Spring is so, so close :-)

I was playing with wire and managed to form a Brid's Cross:

I've only got a handful of squares left to make for the 'Sweet Dreams' blanket-I'm no good at putting them together as I go, I enjoy laying them out and changing the order around too much!
I wanted to showcase a couple of special squares here.  Myf has been collaborating with me on the sweetie squares and one of her suggestions was to make a 'gingerbread man' square.  I said I wasn't sure if I could crochet something like that-and she suggested making a ginger-coloured square and using white chain stitching to describe the gingerbread man!  Isn't that clever?  So I made it and it came out really well so I took it further and made a gingerbread house sqaure as well :-)  Here they are!

I currently have piles of squares on the TV table-I love looking at the colours-so much potential loveliness!  I can visual the general look I'm going for but how the colours go together and what it will really look like when it's completed is still a mystery.  I'm hoping to get the last few squares done this weekend and next week I'll be putting it together :-)

Birthday Mum!

Mum celebrated her 70th birthday a couple of weeks ago so Myf and I were hard at work making her presents.  I found some really lovely merino wool in gorgeous dark green so I turned to the 'Happy Hooker' book for the shawl pattern I've done a few times now-

It makes such a difference working with a decent quality wool-wish I could afford it more regularly-but until then, folks will have to make do with acrylic...this shawl came out really beautifully.
I also crafted a small brooch using some of the wire techniques I've been practising:

These plus some home baked goodies and a photo album were the bulk of the gifts but Myf wanted to make her Moogi a special present so we decided on a simple herb pillow.  Using a n embroidery frame, Myf did some lovely work and this was the final result before we stitched and stuffed:

All together:

Mum was thrilled with all her presents and hopefully will have them for many years to come!

Sisters Gift Exchange!

I meant to post about this last week but it has been a little busy here so instead here's a huge post with lots of pictures!  The sisters gift exchange was so lovely-it really showcased some of our diverse talents as well as being such a treat to get happy post :-)
So from Thea I got:

She made a GORGEOUS book cover and teabags with beautiful cheer-you-up tags on, two sweet heart buttons, a chocolate biscuit and a mug-hug!  Which fits my favourite mug perfectly by the way :-)  Thanks Thea, I love them!

From Jessica there was :

She made a stunning bookmark with lace crochet and a card with lace crochet hearts, a cute biscuit box (complete with biscuits!) and a lovely night light hand glass-painted with hearts :-)  She also sent some seed for the growing season! Thanks Jess, they're really beautiful <3

My offerings look like this-
Thea:

Jess:

I've been getting into wood burning of late so I 'embellished' a couple of photo frames and I used my wire jewellery book to create the necklaces.  I crocheted a little bag for the necklaces with a few little crochet hearts to decorate and a couple of pretty flowers :-)  My offerings turned up a day late but hopefully I'll be more organised next time!  It was a lot of fun and hopefully my sisters liked them <3

Wire Jewellery

I had some vouchers for the local craft shop for my birthday so I decided to treat myself to this book.  My first craft-y love has always been making pendants and I've wanted for a while to learn more skills.  I'm really enjoying this book-I think it's not amazing in how it explains the techniques but I quite like improvising and the ideas in the book are beautiful :-)  So here are some of my first attempts...

The one on the left is crocheted with a fine gauge beading wire with little black beads-

Once I got the knack of trying to crochet with wire, this was a lot of fun to make!
The other bracelet is a handmade chain with some charm ideas-it'll probably never be worn as it's just for practice-

 

Lastly, I was asked recently to make a Fluorite Pendant for a friend so I used some of the ideas in the book for inspiration-

Sadly, my local Pagan shop has closed down so getting crystals is a little tricky now but I may be going to Glastonbury this weekend with some friends so I may find some more then :-)