Christmas Crochet for Handmade Monday

I sincerely apologise to those of you who find it hard to think about Christmas in September, but I’m afraid those of us who hand craft seasonal bits and pieces have to start early or we run out of time! I could really do with an extra pair of hands, as I haven’t yet worked out a way of crocheting whilst needlefelting! I’m back with the crochet hook at the moment because I have just had a new delivery of Planet Penny Cotton Club yarn, and this time I have just a few packs with Christmas crochet in mind, lovely Snowdrop.

It’s perfect for the Crochet Christmas Bunting in the tutorial here, which is featured in a magazine published in a few days time, Simply Crochet.

I’ve been experimenting with my own ball of ‘Snowdrop’ to come up with a couple more patterns to use this lovely yarn. Would you like to see? There are crochet snow flakes…

…and crochet Hearts…

and Snowflakes and Hearts…

Christmas Crochet Packs of yarn, crochet hook, buttons and patterns will be available in the next few days in the Etsy shop…

Re-assuming my needlefelting hat, I discovered a fragment of old lace in a box the other day (you see how I’ve benefited from all that boring tidying up I’ve been doing?) and combined it with a new twig heart. I had been a little wary of it, because the wire shaping was so noticeable, (I presume it was made with florists in mind) but I’d raided my Mother-of-Pearl button box and it made all the difference…

And there was still that last dyed top to transform…Remember this?

A rather uninspiring blue/grey… But then I remembered some beautiful binding I bought in France over two years ago…

(… it was lovely to revisit the occasion on Planet Penny via this post – blogging is a wonderful thing!) and with some matching buttons came up with something which I am very happy to have in my wardrobe…

(The camera is lying about the blueness of the dye, BTW!)

There will be a short ‘break in transmission’ over the next week or so as I’m going to be away. Excitingly, I’ve been invited to a book launch in London on Wednesday for Buttonbag’s new craft book, closely followed by a trip to the South Coast to visit the family so there will be lots to tell you about when I’m here again (note to self: charge the camera battery!)

I’ll leave you now with the usual link to Handmade Monday over on Wendy’s Handmade Harbour. Have a lovely week and I’ll be back before long…

Silent Sunday

Back in the Dye Bath…

D’you remember the fun I had couple of weeks customising my bargain tunic top from Cotton Traders in this post? Well I bought a couple more and I’ve been back in the dye bath with those packets of Dylon dye again.

I have to admit to initially being a teensy bit disappointed with the results, I rather thought I was going to get a deep lavender colour and a dark blue, and what I got was a pastel lavender and a rather grey blue…

…and as you know I do like my saturated colours! But rather than buying yet more dye and trying again I decided to go with the flow and see what I could do to make them more ‘me’.

Before I emptied my entire button collection out of the big (very!) box where they are stashed I remembered a little collection dating back several years from a little handmade dress shop in Norwich which unfortunately closed down. I knew one day I’d have the project which needed a selection of tiny fabric buttons and I only had to wait about 10 years for that moment to come!

I think I bought 300, well I’ve used 11 of them now, 289 to go!

As well as changing the original buttons, I’ve also stitch an extra one in between each of the functioning buttons and I really like the effect…

(looking at this next photo it’s actually just the colour I was hoping for…ho hum! )

The dark one? Well I have a cunning plan, but haven’t quite executed it yet so watch this space!

It’s all been rather lovely here the past couple of days. It always seems to happen when the children go back to school doesn’t it?

I’m going to try and take Higgins out for a walk in few minutes. It all went very wrong yesterday when we set out a good pace, got about 200 yards from the house and someone fired a gun several fields away. Without flinching. or breaking stride Higgins wheeled round and headed back home at a brisk trot…and that was that! Hopeless gun dog!

Back soon….x

Dolly Peg Dolls for Handmade Monday Revisited

If you’ve been visiting Planet Penny for a while you may remember that last year I had some fun with Dolly Peg Dolls and Dolly Peg Angels, and there is a ‘how-to’ in pictures in the Tutorial section of Planet Penny. Well now it’s all in print, as I made this little lady…

for a tutorial in the October issue of The Dolls’ House Magazine! And it’s out now!

Please excuse the fact that I’m very excited…

I think I’m going to have to make some more. In fact we are having and Angels and Light Festival in our local church in the run up to Christmas, so I anticipate making several little Dolly Peg Doll Angels for that occasion. There also some little ladies for sale over on Etsy!

The robins have been breeding well over the last week, it must be the weather…

…and some more little robin wreaths are available on Etsy now…

I’m gradually getting into the swing of things after all my sorting out. I’m so tidy and organised now it makes all the difference being able to find the bits and pieces I want, long may it last! Anyway, for now I’m going to leave you with a link to Handmade Monday over on Handmade Harbour, and take my poor neglected little dog out for a walk now the sun has come out at last. I’m getting that ‘look’!

See you soon….x