A birthday cake...

My daughter was 17 yesterday and she wanted a car......so she got one!

I didn't even have a picture to copy!

My dilemma...

I do have an excuse for not posting for ages....honest! I have been making like fury but ALL my making has been presents and lots of the recipients look on here so I can't post them...obviously!
Last Monday I went to Burns cabin and we tried to do something Xmassy......

I was a good girl and finished mine but it was teeny tiny.....the strips are 1/4" wide and 2" long so the whole thing is just about 5" tall and was very fiddly!
We also exchanged pressies; I haven't had a chance to take a pic of what I recieved but I made these for Burn...

 ...they were something I pinned on Pinterest! See, people DO make what they pin!!

Remembrance Parade

I got up early today to walk the dogs. When I peeped out of the window it was a beautiful crisp, misty morning so I grabbed my camera to take with me...

Minnie in the mist...

Mist in the trees....

Dew and cobwebs in the tree...

Max in the leaves....

 

When we got to the Remembrance Day Parade Jasper and Eliza were both Standard bearers for the Guides and Scouts. I managed to get a quick snap of them together...looking particularly twinny!!

 

 

 

Another UFO!

Bit more finishing off. As we decorated Eliza's room over the summer holidays, (a dim memory as I type this in the gloom of November) I thought it was about time I finished her quilt.

For the first time I quilted other than in the ditch. After going around each block I decided to just run across the block diagonally. Still very basic quilting I know, but I need to sort out a free motion foot for my machine before I can go more ambitious!

That dreaded "C" word...

I took a break from finishing off bits this week and have tried to get organised for Christmas. I have started my shopping and also some making AND made my cakes.

All ready to go in the oven. I say "cakes" because I decided to make one for Jess to take back to Uni with her after Christmas!

 

And all cooked! On Monday I went to see Burn and Linda at the cabin and we made christmassy paper so I decided to start making my cards using that....

I'm not going to show you any closer otherwise they won't be a surprise when you get one will they? I still have to make a few more however so that is todays job.

A very exciting shopping moment!

On Monday I went to visit an art wholesalers. On the way home I needed to find a shop where I could buy a reel of thread to finish Eliza's quilt. I spotted one in Haywards Heath and managed to find a parking spot just outside. The window was full of net curtains, household linens and a bit of fabric so I entered with some trepidation. Once inside I quickly found my thread and then discovered that actually there were some other bits I needed. I bought a few buttons (for a present I am knitting) and also some fleece to line some hats that Eliza and Katy are knitting.
Ok boring tale so far but I am getting there......as I approached the counter I noticed that it was a glass one containing little drawers with ladies hankies, lacy items and girls white socks in, straight out of the 50s! Then after the lady had rung up my purchases she leant to one end of the counter and pulled off a large piece of brown paper. She wrapped my items and then tied the parcel with string, including a small loop as a carry handle!

Now I am a mere 44 years of age and NEVER have I EVER bought anything that was wrapped in brown paper! I positively skipped out of the shop and felt very special! I do remember one shop in Sevenoaks when I was VERY young that had a glass counter with those little wooden drawers.

And here are my unwrapped items! So much nicer than a plastic bag!

A bit more "scrap" knitting

I've been using up a bit more of my wool scraps. Aran wools this time. The Dogs Trust have a charity called Project Hope. They are calling for knitters to knit (or crochet) dog coats for them to donate to people who are homeless and have to sleep rough with their dogs.

 I have made three so far. The lilac one is too big for my cocker spaniel but too small for my Lab just to give you an idea of size!

  Minnie wasn't too chuffed about wearing it either! Let's hope the recipient dogs are a bit more greatful! If you would like to join in I think there is still time as they don't need them until the end of November. Visit their site for more details and a link to the pattern I used.

Finished quilt!

As I continue to show you my gradually finishing items, I am thinking it's a good thing I finished them off as my boiler has packed up! So no heating; luckily I can snuggle under several layers. So here is the finished quilt I made for our bed. Doesn't go with the current pink colour scheme so I think I will need to re-decorate....

 

Crochet Throw

To all you followers of my little blog-ette you will remember my endeavors a year ago as I learnt to crochet. And how I decided to make something that was very repetitive.....

TAH DAH!! I finally finished it; a single bed sized throw made up of over 200 little squares that I crocheted together. I have just laid it on my great big king size bed so you can see it all but it does make it look a bit small. It now sits rather nicely on the back of my brown leather sofa. Handy as my boiler has just packed up!

A little bit of crochet

So off we go with the show and tell of what I have been up to whilst Blogger has been awkward. One job I did do over the summer was clear out the loft and sort out all my wool into chunky, 4 ply and double knit. I then used lots of the double knit to knit hats for The Big Knit, a campaign by Innocent Smoothies to raise money for Age UK. These hats go on top of the smoothie bottles and are sold throughout November with 25p from each bottle going to Age UK. I made about 50, ranging from a basic striped one to dappy hats, a deerstalker and flower ones, but foolishly didn't photograph them and I have sent them all off now.

So what to do with the chunky wool? One evening I just picked up 4 balls that went well, a large hook and set off on a Granny square....

 ....just going round and round 'til I ran out. The children love it for going over knees or shoulders whilst watching TV and it's been christened a "snuggle".

It was such fun to crochet and so cosy that I made a second one, this time using the double knit; more rows, more retro and 70's in style but just as snuggly!

A few flowers

Now that my blog seems to be behaving itself I feel more inclined to post! I have been busy recently with "stuff" which I will gradually add. Some things I didn't take pictures of and I have also been doing a lot of finishing off  so you will see things again that I showed you when they were works in progress. As I haven't yet sorted out my pictures here are a few photos that I took in my garden the other day.

 I think the dew on this rose looks like glitter.

 More like dew here....

This is an old fashioned rose called Kathryn Morely that I bought when I had my second daughter, Katy. I guess this means Autumn is here.

Art Journal CJ continues....

....and we are nearly there with it, despite a few sticky moments and delays. This CJ was "Nursery Rhymes" and belongs to my friend Helly who is a CJ virgin. I had a few ideas but as I know her quite well I decided to go with a blackbird pie!!

 I hand drew the pie and use a bit of a bird stamp I have to stamp the blackbird peeping out. The background is watercolour crayons washed over and then I hand wrote the first line of the rhyme...

Inside are my four and twenty blackbirds; a feat of multiple masking! All was coloured in with watercolour pencil or crayon before attaching the pie lid with a brad. It has turned out rather similiar to my Berkeley Square hasn't it?

Normal service resumed....

It's official....I LOVE Pinterest!! And, I guess like lots of other people, I pin stuff on there with all good intentions and then forget about it! Well as part of the Learn Something New Every Day class by Shimelle we were challenged to actually learn a new technique that we may have pinned there for future reference!

 I'm sure this is a pin many of you will recognise but in the complete absence of ANY creative muse this is what I went with. Step one was to draw everything then colour in all the squares using oil pastels. Then scratch into the pastel...

 .. wash over with watercolour in a browny colour until you get the right amount of grungy.

 Next paint in the tree trunk using acrylics and add the concentric circles, mine are a bit wobbly!

Lastly add gold highlights and circles. Great fun to do and something I may expand upon in the future.

I don't know if I am the only person having difficulties with Blogger at the moment? When I try to create a new page I have no little boxy bits to click on tho do all the functions that I could previously! Like insert a picture etc. I also used to upload from Picasa quite often too but that seems to have also removed the "load to blog" button! Can anyone help? In the mean while I will see what happens as I try to show my next altered art CJ entry.

Art Journal CJ

I have had neither the time or the inclination to be creative for some time now. But this CJ continues....just about and this month's entry was "Now is the Time". Well considering that this is meant to be Summer and all we seem to have had in the main is rain, that was my somewhat obvious inspiration! THis is a slightly different rendition of something I did previously in my own Art Journal that I rather liked.
So let's hope this CJ can get back on track as it all seems a little de-railed right now

The arrival!

I said I would show you the last pictures of Prom night! Just as the Mini got to the school it broke down. Everyone jumped out and the Head of Year was saying "No girls, get back in". When the girls explained they had to push the teacher said "OK everyone, stand back, good photo opportunity"!

Apparently it was the entry of the evening! Katy had a lovely time with her friends.

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

Another week, another hunt. First of all here is Minnie's "Funny Face". Don't you love her white eyebrows? No idea why it is the wrong way round again!

Promise this will be the last Prom dress one. Here it is "Hanging Around" before the night.

We went to harvest vegs at my Dad's house as he is away in America at the moment. As you can see thee is not much "Space" between the rows of peas!

Self explanatory "Sunset" My hubby took this when he went out shooting the other night

Last of all some lovely "Sweet" strawberries.

Ta-Dah!

She did it!

She was so pleased with it.

Jess felt rather proud too

So they set off in just the BEST car

More tomorrow.....

Art Journal CJ No 4

The next Art Journal CJ had the theme "Places". There were entries on Paris, Egypt to name a couple but really home is my favourite place so I set off to do something for that using fabric. I began by spraying some plain fabric with Glimmer mists...

...next I added a home,

...and a sun (which my daughter says look like a cobweb!)

...and a few flowers

before finishing with a quote and fixing into the CJ.

No, I don't know why it has turned round! It's all the correct way on my PC so I think Blogger is having a moment....

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

Goodness me these were even tougher than last weeks! A cushion provided me with "Concentric Circles". I was trying to do something with watch parts for "Gear" but in the end I went out to the car.... My husband and I are reaching that age now. I have worn glasses since I was 7 years old but he has always been very proud of his 20/20 vision. He kept saying to me that he won't read at night because "the light in this room is terrible isn't it?" or "Ooo the print in my book is very small". Eventually he bought himself some reading glasses and now we are both "Glazed"! Love marbles! We have lots in our house; this "Marble" is a "Two-er", remember them? And lastly a bit of fun with my webcam! I "Warped" my face....honest...I don't really look like this!