If its in the house it MUST be pretty

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Cupboard craft

You may remember that I had a New Year clean out of the pantry cupboard, No? Well I did and threw away anything pre 1975 (or so it seemed) and now I have some pretty empty shelves that I am slowly restocking.

I removed and washed some storage jars as they were largely unused. I have since found a fab idea for their rejuvenation which I would like to share with you.

I also had some jars that I save for chutney and the like so this is a repurposing idea that is v. cheap.

Using only things scavenged from the garage, or man cave as I have been informed it is called, I made chalkboard labels for the jars so that I will know whats in’em. ( the union flag is there to provide a cover for the infamous pile of crap that always seems to be there, it is made up of things that have no home or are temporarily needed. No matter how often I clear it away, it returns.)

I masked out a rectangle with electricians tape and painted with 2 coats of blackboard paint. The repurposed jars have a painted lid to mask the writing on them.

I love these beauties and made them in between brekkie and a careers interview with T. I am fully aware that as they are glass you can see what's in the jars merely by looking but I think they look nice s’there.

I get my ideas from stumbleupon and hope to try something new most Fridays as that is my craft time that I set aside. I will start to put them in the sidebar if I remember how…….

Cheerio

Lx

Good heavens woman where have you been?

I thought I was doing better but it appears not. I have been up to things but just not showing them. Here is a round up

Made this which is needed now the frost has arrived this morning . It is knitted and went well I think. Its a lacy pattern which is something I wanted to have a go at, but it is just a scarf. There seems so much more to learn with knitting. For example I fancy having a go at this but it talks about wrapped short rows. There is a link but knitting at the computer is a bit hard. I need something like it ( no bow) for wintry running as I get earache.

Had a birthday (lets not go there) but yes lets because it meant that I was sent pressies, including one from far away.

My blog friend Louise sent me treasure of the utmost deliciousness. I don’t have many friends that would get me craft things for a present yet it is what I yearn for.

One of my friends is a paper crafter and she has encouraged me to dabble a bit in fact we made these at a class recently.

 

I made her this for her birthday and I love it so much I nearly didn’t give it. I will make myself one next week during half term. Details here

So you see its all go, I ‘m just not very organised and I am not famed for the written bits. More pictures and less writing is what I say. I will go and scrape the frost off the car and head to Harrogate, it would seem that Spanish weather is a distant memory now.

Happy days

First of all thank you all for your lovely comments and interest in my running. I really never thought it would be for me and to be honest I really do appreciate how lucky I am to be my age and still have relatively sound knees for running. I do have issues with one from an injury in 2005 but even that is being improved. I have repeated week 3 (run 90sec walk 90 sec run 3mins walk 3 mins times 2) because I just knew I would not be able to run for 5 mins which week 4 demands. I am also resting a day between runs which is sensible n’est pas?

The summer fair went ok and I sold a few of my wares, we had a natter. I made Alice flowers can you spot them?

 

This week I am mostly staying home while we have renovations to the house. We are spending a fortune on nasty plastic soffits and fascia's. Well I say nasty but it actually looks smart and dead right for the type of house we have. (Not listed or particularly old) So! The rotten and potentially leaking wood is gone and so is the bank account but hey!!

The only problem now is that the windows look tired.

Thanks also for the good words on the knitting. Maria says I am bi- stitchual!! I like that. I got cocky last night and attempted to cable a square that I thought I could send to Sue. Sorry Sue its not happening yet. I am off to you tube to find out where I am going wrong. I think the book I have bought is a bit pants. It couldn’t be me could it?

Been on you tube turns out I was not doing enough rows between cable stitches. Are you laughing at me?

That's how I learn. Do it wrong first then understand why the right way is the right way.

Pin cushion tutorial

I trawled  the internet the other day because I needed a new pin cushion, the old one is a bit worn.

Would you believe that I came across a picture for a booby pincushion and a uterus one! No I am not going to show the link (I cant remember it) just Google uterus pin cushion, I bet its there.

An idea that did come up was for a handy ring pin cushion. Not only that but its an up cycled bottle top.

Here is how I made it

Punch 2 holes. I had a tool but a hot nail would do it. Be sure and hold it with pliers.

Put a bit of elastic through and knot it inside the top.

I cut out a3 inch circle of felt, gathered it with a running stitch, stuffed it with toy stuffing and tied it tightly.

I covered the top with ribbon, filled the top with hot glue and put the cake on the bottle top, decorated with a few more ribbons (cheeky CK ribbon)

A wooden bead and some coloured pins finish it off. This is a seriously handy pin cushion, its right where you want it while crocheting and so cute to wear. If you have a go let me see!!

A riot of colour

New project preview. An alternative to nasty Noro.

Taking advantage of the sun to show the spot blanket progress.

Summer shawl is all done and being blocked upstairs. Its acrylic so I used steam to “kill” the fibre. I could actually see it move as it died!!! uuurrgh. It is undoubtedly nasty yarn but soft and it looks pretty. I know some people that are like that!!

Finally, what do you do when you are 13 and your muscles have yet to “kick in”. Well you get your mother to paint a six pack on a t shirt for red nose day so you can be the incredible hulk at the school monster theme day.

A grand weekend to you all and if you are one of those people who had green beer last night, then I really hope that you are starting to feel better.

Love

Lou

Fab Friday

A while ago I looked around for new blogs to add to my reading list. One of the ones I found was In the sky. Lucy’s blog is so creative and I have truely enjoyed investigating her blog. I was especially glad that I found her blog when I won her ----tieth birthday giveaway!!!

Wow Lucy thank you. Afternoon tea will be an occasion. I am going to wash my hair and put on a frock!! Fingers are my ultimate, I could and probably will eat the entire box.

I am also grateful to Lucy's blog as it has enabled me to finish a UFO and that was one of my resolutions this year. I had made this colourful coffee cosy but had no idea how to attach it so it stayed on. Lucy drew my attention to Kumihimo-Japanese Braiding . It is such fun, so quick and the result is amazing. I used acrylic yarn but the finished product has (I think) a cotton texture to it. Great stuff thanks.

Other things I have been doing (between gradual spring clean of the glory holes and extreme dust bunnies)

More baby boots for my Aunts friends daughter, free pattern here

A knitting project because I am actually ashamed of how badly I knit. These are to cover creme eggs but they take me ages. They are Jean Greenhowe creatins and are also free Go get some!!

Finally I found this on tinternet  here its a great tutorial and quite easy to make. Its up to you how to decorate.

The best bit is the handle detail, I LOVE this. I have already made several to fill with easter yummies and give to lovely friends

 

I can feel that I am in a manic phase of crafts as I have just spotted a new crochet blankie idea, it calls for Noro silk garden and Kureyon. I bought some silk garden a while ago (£12 what was I thinking) Its awful!! So I am looking for an alternative (cheaper version) It is going to be a Riot of colour. I will share this with you just as soon as I have had it sanctioned by the reigning in police. Have a smashing weekend, I am off to crochet, what else!!

The mail MUST get through

Saturday we had snow, sorry no pictures as it came and went so quickly but was enough to delay postie till well after lunch. Did she not know I WAS WAITING FOR A PARCEL!!! None to patiently either. My dear blog sister Louise and I have exchanged handmade items for the aroung Valentines time of year.

 

Look at these goodies. I am in awe. Louise you are such a needlewoman. Far better than me. Your hand stitching is so neat, precise and wonderful.  You see this was the reason for this activity, we would both appreciate the work and love that goes into such gifts. Not everyone does. Plus this is such fun.

My fave is the quilt that depicts her house…

  

 

 

 

 

 

and mine

I call it Louise street

 

 

The scarf was a near identical match for what I was wearing at the time of receiving it.

 

 

The felted purse!!!! OMG (as the kids say)

 

Lovely Louise, Thank you, from the bottom of my heart and please start checking your home e-mail at weekends cos I wanted to chat!!! No worries I will bother you at work. Ha ha