Category Archives: Uncategorized

Crochet Baby Comforters

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At Bury Show the other week I had some very positive comments to the crochet comforter that I entered into the craft competition, so I decided I should maybe look at making some more. I posted the picture on my facebook page and had even more comments which has sealed the deal and I have been working on a couple more of them, one for an order and one to look at some different colour combinations.

My original blankie was yellow with alternate blue and pink shapes in the granny squares and edging.

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My first order for one, is for a baby girl, so it’s in yellow again, but this time with two shades of pink for the shapes and edging.

Baby blankie 2

I’m currently working on a pink blanket and rabbit, with darker pink shapes on the granny squares. I love the flower motifs best and I think I will try one with just flowers on.

I would really love some feedback on these, just leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Happy crafting
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End of Term

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I can’t believe how fast this year has gone. My daughter is almost at the end of her Reception year at primary school and it doesn’t seem like five minutes since she was starting nursery. She is very much looking forward to going into year one in September, but we have the long six week summer holidays to fill before that.

We have a couple of weeks of the school term left and my mind has turned to the end of year gift for her teacher. I have decided to work through this school with knitted apple keyrings for the teachers. I wanted to have something personal and not chocolatey! Every year the teachers seem to be bombarded with chocolates and biscuits. Although some handmade biscuits could also be a good idea, I may need to work on that one, maybe apple shaped cookies?

Anyway, I’m going with the little knitted apple again. It’s so cute and with a split ring, it makes a great keyring (or handbag) charm. I have one on my keys as it makes them very easy to find when I’m rooting through my handbag.

Apple keyring

Apple keyring

I’m also working on some paper-pieced and drawn apple thank you cards. I shall post a picture when they are finished. I’d love to know what you think. You can message me on facebook or e-mail me to place an order too.

Happy crafting
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Summer Harvest

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With all the lovely weather recently, plenty of sunshine and some rain, my garden has been a hive of activity and growth. So this weekend I’ve been in the garden again to do some tidying up and making some space for some later flowering plants.

A couple of years ago I moved our gooseberry bush from a pot on the patio into the garden as it was being eaten by caterpillars. I decided it could go to the more wildlife area and the caterpillars could have it. It would seem that the caterpillars aren’t quite as fond of the new spot and I have harvested almost 2 kilos of fruit from this one bush. I am covered in scratches from the thorns, but it was definitely worth it.

I’ve also planted up an old pot with strawberry plants and harvested a bowl full, so we’ve had a lovely fruit salad for our tea tonight. And there are more yet to ripen, mmmmm.

Fingers crossed this weather continues, I’m waiting for my spring onions and rocket to harvest in the next week or two.

Happy gardening
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Bury Show Results

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Well I can’t quite believe it, here are my entries in the show tent before judging.

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There were more entries than last year. I didn’t place with my crochet comforter. I’m a bit disappointed with that. First prize was a knitted pink blanket, Second was a little knitted jacket, and third was the Humpty. Maybe I should have made a full blanket….

But aside from that I did much better with my card. It was given first place. I can’t quite believe it, as it was so very different from all the other entries.

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Woo hoo. Time to start thinking about an entry for next year.

Happy crafting
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Bury Show Entries…..

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Well, I’ve been busy making for the 71st Bury Show tomorrow. I’m going to enter two categories this year, the handmade greeting card, and the knitted or crochet item for a baby or toddler.

I enjoyed making the handbag card so much the other day that I thought I’d make another for my entry.

Bury Show Card Entry

I thought I’d try something a bit different with the knitted or crochet item. I didn’t have time to make a full blanket, so I made four different granny squares in yellow acrylic baby yarn with blue and pink shapes in the centres. I joined them together and then crocheted a border using alternate rows of yellow, blue and pink, followed by a frilly edge. It was the perfect size to make into a blankie / comforter, so I added a crocheted rabbit to the centre.

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I hope to do better than the two third places from last year.

Happy crafting
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Handbag Cards

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I haven’t made any handbag cards for a while. I was asked to make a card for a 40th birthday, for a lady that likes pink! That was my only clue, so I thought I’d make a handbag, but do things a little differently than I have in the past. I decided to hunt out some nice bright papers and have two different patterns together.

On a good old root through all my paper stash I discovered a set of birthday papers from Papermania. It’s a lovely bright bold set of 12 x 12 papers in a variety of designs and text.

New 40th Birthday handbag

It was great fun looking through the set of papers and choosing which ones to use together for the main ‘bag’ and the flap. I love the birthday paper, and had just enough to make the bag and the lining.

Inside Handbag card

I wanted to do something different rather than just adding gems to this one, and I found my little flower punch.  using a trick I saw on Create and Craft, I shaped each flower to give it some shape.  I then added a flat flower to the base to look like older open petals or leaves.  I used topsy-turvy cardstock for the flowers and the insert message space.  It makes lovely flowers that hold their shape quite well.  I thought adding them to the inside as well would break up the stark lines.  To finish the flowers I added some multi-colour gems.  I then used an x-cut die set to make the large flower ‘button’ from all the papers I’d used in the card.  To finish I made a small spring from topsy-turvy cardstock and  added a final little flower and some adhesive numbers.

I might be making some more of these from the other papers in the set.  It’s so lovely to use. As always, your comments are gratefully received. I’d love to know what you think of this.

Happy crafting
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More crochet…..

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I’ve really got hooked (no pun intended, honest) on crochet.  It’s so much easier to transport about than knitting.  In particular I  love making granny squares.  It’s mad really as I make them and then don’t know what I’m going to make with them.  So I’ve found making the baby blankets quite a useful way of combining my love of granny squares and also then having something to make with them.

Over recent weeks I’ve been making two blankets, one for an order and another just for fun.

Close up of flower square

I’ve also trialled a frilly edge to the combined squares.

Blanket edge

I’m experimenting with treble crochet, to make the frill. I quite like the effect using 6 treble crochet in each space. I’ve also used a seven stitch ‘frill’ with 1 double crochet, 1 half-treble, 3 treble, 1 half-treble and 1 double crochet. I can’t make up my mind which I like best.

My next blanket is sat in a pile of blue and white squares at the moment, so I need to get sewing them together and then working on a edge. I might try the other frill edge this time.

Happy crafting
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Bury Show 2014

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The 71st Bury Show is to be held on Sunday 29th June. So with less than two weeks to go, I thought I’d better start thinking about what I’m going to enter into the craft classes. I am hoping to do better than last years, two third places.

This year there are a couple of changes in the classes. I was thinking about making a granny square drawstring bag for the knitting and crochet section, however, the remit is now to make something for a baby or toddler. As I’m making a number of crochet blankets at the moment, I thought I might enter one of those, so it’s time to put all my squares together and finish off my blue and white blanket. I managed to make a small white flower in the car and I plan to put that in the centre of a square for the middle of the blanket. Hopefully I will have enough time to make a bag too and I could enter that into the ‘all other crafts’ section.

I will also aim to enter a handmade card as well. Learning from last years entries, parchment craft goes down well, so I shall be thinking about how I can add a different skill to my entry this year.

Happy Summer Crafting
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Father’s Day

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A Happy Father’s Day for all the Dads out there.

I visited my Dad with his handmade card and a bottle of wine today. Something to drown his sorrows over the England World Cup result last night.

Golfing Card

We then went on a family day trip to the seaside, some good Daddy – daughter time for my little family.

Happy Father’s Day
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Card Candi

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I’ve had a bag of Craftwork Cards, Card-candi for ages now and hardly used it at all. I think the only thing I’ve used it for is to add occasional details on the corners or edges of cards. It’s great for that, but I though I should maybe try something new with it.

Having seen a number of the shows on Create and Craft TV, I was inspired to try making some simple flowers from the card candi. As my daughter has a couple of school friend birthday parties coming up, it seemed like the ideal opportunity to use some pink and make some little flowers.

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This card candi is a really different product and comes in all sorts of colours and designs. I think I will be investing in more in the future. It’s great to use with the kids too as you can make all types of designs with it. My daughter likes making patterns and caterpillars with it. My next project is to do some experimenting and investigating you tube for more ideas.

What do you make with yours?

Happy crafting
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