More Cloths!

I had to try out my bargain buy immediately, the warm colours were just irresistible!

I've made two cloths with this pattern so far, it's the Textured Bluebells from Jan Eaton's book "200 crochet blocks for blankets, throws and afghans". It has a lovely thick texture, and it looks very pretty, too, I think.

I'm working on cloth #5 at the moment, just a simple knitted one, because I wanted to see how the yarn knits up in good old plain stocking stitch. Will post as soon as it's ready :)

Unfortunately, I've not had an awful lot of crafty time the last few days, first the school concert on Wednesday night (brilliant, all the kids did so well, it was such a joy to watch!), then an unexpected visit to the kennel from where we're hoping to get a puppy in a couple of months time (much excitement all round!) and finally yesterday, a long-overdue date with my hubby - a meal, then the cinema. Busy days, but all definitely good :) However, if tomorrow turns out a little quieter, I will not complain!

Thanks for stopping by, I will now go and see what manner of cloths everybody else in the knit-a-long has been making.

A Card (for a change)

Here's a card I made for middle daughter's best friend's birthday. Need I say anything about the colours? Hope you're not getting bored ;-)

I'm also loving this little Gorjuss Girl at the moment, and she's coloured with watercolour pencils, as usual. I did get myself some Copics recently, but we're still not really on very friendly terms, so I'll be practicing a lot more before I show anything on here!

Thanks for stopping by - wash/dishcloth update to follow :)

More Yarn Stuff

A few posts ago I mentioned how I was getting back into crochet big time, so when I saw Melissa Goodsell's invitation to a dishcloth/washcloth knit-and-crochet-along, I thought I'd give it a go. Well, to be honest, I was probably equally attracted by the idea of making something along with people from the other side of the world :) Anyway, over the next two weeks, around 20 of us will dig out our cotton yarns and knitting needles and/or crochet hooks and hopefully create a lovely little pile of dish- or washcloths. I made a few a Christmas time to put in with teacher presents, and kept a couple for me, but have not really had the courage to use them, they're just too nice! To have a little stash to hand, maybe for some last-minute gifts (with a nice bar of soap!), seems like a good idea.

So far, I have made two (I cheated a little - I started on Sunday...), faithfully using my rather plentiful stash of leftover cotton yarn:

Then today, I was doing a spot of shopping (at Lidl, no less!) and came across this:

Lovely, variegated cotton yarn goodness, and at under 70p a ball too good to pass up. Okay, I had to buy 6 balls per pack, but hey, it's still a bargain, and I'm going to make good use of these goodies :) So, keep your eyes peeled for more cloths, and the next ones are definitely going to be of the crochet variety!

Thanks for stopping by!

Cards Galore

So I'm sticking to my crafting resolutions quite well, helped along by our SBS group challenges and activities, but blogging seems to be another matter. So this is a catch-up post with quite a few pictures :)

12 Months of Christmas card


January Sketch Swap card


"Just Because" cards

Kiddie Birthday card

You can probably tell that I'm fed up with winter - I'm very much gravitating towards bright colours at the moment :) Thanks for stopping by!

Candy Alert

Check this out! My SBS26 sister Gina has some lovely blog candy on offer - pop on over and pay her a visit! She makes lovely cards, too :)

SBS stuff

Priscilla from our SBS group has set up a ton of activities for us, and I've made a couple of things for challenges - it's been fun! :)

First up, a chipboard coaster calendar (as seen on SCS):

I covered a couple of beermats with kraft card, which I had stamped with Polka Dot Basics background stamps from PTI, using Chocolate Chip ink. Put in a photo of the girls (of which I printed far too many, so there will be more calendars coming...), a calendar tab, put number and letter stickers on the front, plus chipboard brackets. Hubby now has a lovely, albeit very seasonal, calendar on his desk at work ;-)

Then there was a scrabook layout sketch challenge:

This is going to help me with my plan/resolution/hope to scrapbook more this year, I should at least manage one layout a month. For January, of course, I had to document all the snow we had. I used papers and diecuts from a My Mind's Eye kit that I'd just ordered and cut some extra snowflakes with a Cuttlebug die.

And, lastly, here IS another calendar (got to use up those photos!), this time an easel card:

This uses kraft and Old Olive card, plus some Bazzill red, PTI background stamp and Stampin' Up! number stamps. I'll be popping this in an envelope for my mum to put on her desk at home. Probably should make one for my dad, too, or he'll get jealous ;-)

Thanks for stopping by!

Hats!

With hubby working from home lots last week and my craft table needing a major tidy, I ended up giving the study/craftroom a wide berth and got crocheting again. Unfortunately, the cushion cover from last summer is still awaiting completion, but I think you'll agree that the current weather situation did actually call for some hats to be made, while home decor really has no particular season ;-) I started off with a pale green hat for myself, and rather nice it turned out, too! Which then prompted all three girls to put in requests for their own hats. Thankfully, the colours that I'd previously purchased found favour with them, and now they each have their own crochet beanie, adorned with a matching flower! :)

Now I just need to make a flower for mine - I'm starting to think it really needs one :)

I'm really really getting back into crochet big style, and I've just taken delivery of a box of wool, so I can finally make that throw I've been wanting to make since the summer - off to open said box now! Thanks for stopping by, "regular" craft projects to be posted again soon :)