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

All the best

I will be back after the break but wanted to wish all the new friends that I have made a very happy Christmas and a peaceful new year.

 

I have just finished the clear up after a particularly nasty burst pipe in the loft. My nerves are shattered and I am badly in need of a bath. That nasty hum in Oz, NZ and the US is me, sorry folks. Quite a few of my neighbours are in the same boat due mainly to temperatures of –12 for a prolonged time. Please don’t tell me how you all cope at minus 97, I realise that brits are soft and I’m not in the mood quite yet. (give it time and 3 bottles of fizz)

 

I was cheered up by the fact that I received a swap parcel from a Christmas in July project that I took part in. The parcel has been on its way since 29th Nov… Wow.

 

I got this

 

I sent this

Pray for my pipes. Mr H is super lagging as we speak.

This has been the best year ever, no really, It has been my greatest honour to meet you all and I look forward to more shenanigans in the New year (dry ones only)

 

Much love

Lou ( I only let friends call me that)

Therapy

  Well my dear sweet friends, I had intended to blog this on Friday but I had a bit of a day, more of that later……

First off Hellooooooooo  to all the new people who are so kind as to swing by. You are so welcome here!!

This week I thought I’d show you the other nearest town to me and that's Harrogate. The Brits might know that Harrogate is posh ( I think it is) full of posh people in Aston Martins. Not me happily but I’m thinking you knew that already. It is rambling and you have to walk alot to get anywhere but there is much to see. 

My bestest favourite place to be is here. Betty's tearooms. Its huge but very English and proper. Yummy food and a deli/bakery shop. When you come to visit we will go there together!! or maybe a virtual visit sometime soon.

Ive not done the place justice but I was shopping and I am so rubbish at it so I was stressed.

On Friday I had planned a wonderful crafternoon and just like Jane I planned to clean madly in the a.m and then feel less guilty playing in the p.m. I volunteer for a charity as treasurer so I got the books up to date filing a return at companies house only to be attacked by the guy who runs the thing and all because I wanted to leave. He poured so much pressure on me to stay with such unpleasantness I felt as if I was being held hostage. So instead of staying until the end of October I am glad to say my hands are washed of the whole awful situation and I am no longer obligated to the man.

Sorry that was a rant, don’t read it!! anyway I felt physically sick (still do a bit) and so crafternoon was no more. I rallyed though and finished this.

 

Oh how I love the VW camper. This is styled on the 1967 split screen version or splitty as they a referred to sometimes. One day maybe.

I am feeling more like me now I have made some squares for SIBOL. My grandma always told me to count my blessings (she was Methodist) and thinking about others has definitely taken my mind off me!!

My lovely boy is sleeping over tonight so guess what me and Mr LouLou are doing? Minds out of sewers please, we are going out to eat!!! ALONE!! No DSi no comic books or endless conversations bout Hulk vs Ironman. Skippity skip weeeeeeeee. Have a lovely evening be it family or no, join me in a glass of wine maybe,

Cheers friends

Lou

xxxx

Mount youfoe

As requested my lovely friends, behold my shame………………..

Here are a selection of the latest ufo’s. My most spectacular ufo is as old as my son and I believe that the statute of limitations has passed on that one.

These are some finished christmassy things that just need to be put together into a thing or something.

This is a yarn  eater cardigan  made for a friends baby, a bit fussy maybe. Just needs finishing. The baby is 2 so it wouldn’t fit her. I did finish another jacket so don’t go thinking I let babies shiver.

 

A toddler shrug for my niece ( she starts school soon) It has sequins and beads and is gorgeous. Only needs a cuff, more beads and buttons. Embarrassed about that one.

This is some crewel work I did and want to make a cushion. I have the innards ready for it. Just need to do it. Hmmmmm…..

There is also the union flag blankie, granny jacket, socks (they're hard), wavy scarf (nearly done how's yours Louise?), wavy bag,baby blanket ((more chilly babies), 2 Christmas table runners and Wavy Davey the bedroom blankie that I will tah dah soon and feel better about myself as I feel pretty ashamed just now. I’m off to stand in the corner, look sad and say doh.

Thinking bout Christmas

I think about Christmas a lot and do try to get a head start on things but this takes every biscuit in the barrel. Anyway I came across this site that organised an event for the whole of July.

I paid what turned out to be £20 (sterling) $42 Aus. For that I get a new project EVERY DAY. There has not been a single one that I haven’t wanted to do. The projects are mostly sewing (it is a quilting shop after all) but they are making Christmassy things from non Christmassy fabrics which I love. I wake up every morning thinking “I wonder what I will get today” So far there has been gift bags, ornaments for the tree, a hanging, a stocking, a table runner, a wreath and a tablemat for Santa's cookies and milk. I will be sure and show you anything I make.

 

This plus a few other distractions have meant not much hooky. I made the union flag as a paper pieced quilting exercise. I had never done it before but its quite effective if you can get your head around it. I want to make a cushion. You know the decorative kind and not one that you let your husband lounge on. After that I knocked up a frock (as we say up here in the North) because I couldn’t get one to fit my substantial bosom. Sorry, too much information but its a real problem. I am hoping that as I lose weight they might shrink. Sorry no pics yet but I will try to show you. I have not done dressmaking for  ages but needs must.

 

This is my so far granny jacket that I mentioned here. I cant decide weather I love it or hate it yet. I need to persevere with it. You start with a hexagon and both me and my friend Louise  could not for the life of us work out how the heck it folded into that shape. It just does, you just have to make it and it will. Unfortunately the outer rows take more than a 50g ball so I will have to get more yarn even though I bought enough . I will show you as I progress further .

Today I mopped until  I could mop no more then I hoovered and ironed so this afternoon I played. I have made a new project bag. I used a Sainsbury carrier for my pattern. The idea came from this site and was easy to follow  although the pocket for containing the bag is no good. My fabric is too bulky. I think I will crochet a pouch for it. Watch this space

Shameless

I have to say that the inspiration for this blog entry has been shamelessly lifted from another. Namely Lucy. She’s a super young woman with many a talent that I suspect does not stop with her craft abilities.  Her blog this week featured some cracking cross stitch and I thought I might emulate this. Honestly I am so new to this that I really need all the help I can get. I didn’t go to art to art college nor am I a goddess of the vintage (sense my envy much?) They say that copying is the most sincerest form of flattery so I hope no one minds.

I did these when we lived in Southport. I went to embroidery classes every week and I was never so happy. Nothing like that here sadly. The cross stitch was done mainly at home. Embroiderers can be a bit sniffy when it comes to cross stitch but I love it. I have to limit myself to small projects mind as I am not a good finisher and have many lovely items in limbo upstairs (there's a blog post if ever I saw one). One of which I started to celebrate the birth of my sons (another story) Thomas is 12 now and the cross stitch? unfinished………

 

The embroideries were done in the class. I had goooood teachers (all called Jean) hope you like. These are stump work and gold work.

You notice how they are all framed. Well blood sweat and tears went into them. The framing is all wrong, it never seemed to work out right even though they all cost in the region of £60 ( I was working then so thought it ok)

 

I finished the return to teaching course today and I sometimes think I could even go back to school and do it. Time will tell. No doubt you will know about it.

Hooking marvellous

We all went to the lovely and Historic city of York on Saturday. We lived there for many years back when it was just me and Paul. So we always feel like we are going home even though we've had a few other homes in between. Some happy some not. Anyway as I am always with my camera I happened to snap this in the market
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Don't you just want to dive in?
       
Its a lovely city. I would recommend it to anyone who fancies a weekend away or indeed a longer break. I have noticed that many of my visitors are American and York is popular with travellers from over the pond. Come on over, us Northern folk are reet friendly!!
I don’t know if I have ever mentioned it before but, although undiagnosed, I believe that I suffer from a form of craft mania. I craft and craft without stopping for months on end, during which I start a new project every week and finish nowt. I am in such a phase right now with loads of UFO’s in the workroom. I know what comes next and that is complete can’t be botheredness. I will get over this and I’ll be off again. Posts might be a bit lean then though. Here are a collection of the latest Ufo’s
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One of them is a lovely bag that is mostly finished and only needs a handle. Any ideas for how I might make one?

This is the latest, I've been wanting to start for ages and got the yarn last week. Its a lot like waves on the sea and is to go in the bedroom. I got the pattern from a wonderfully generous lady on Ravelry (where else) you can see it along with my other projects here.
Well if I finish the bag I will blog it to you later this week.
Cheerio chums.
Lou

Make it Friday

Fridays were always my me day and I used to make and do in the afternoons. I called them crafternoons. However the afternoon has streched to all day today oh FUN. I started with a little paper hankie holder I think it looksFrench / Nautical/ Patriotic. They only take an hour and scraps. Maybe I'll do a tutorial. Anyway see what you think.

Anyway after that I went on to make a lavender pillow similar to the one I made Mum, from the same book in fact. However changes had to be made because I find it hard to come by the lovely vintagey colours of felt that they seem to use so much in the US. Here it is being made ... I used silk for the central pannal

and here all done.

I am very pleased to say the least. Beads are the glitter of the sewing world. I hope you like it.
Thanks to all those people finding the time to check out my blog, its a reall boost to see that others like and then send supportive comments about my doings. Cheers and Happy Friday.

A huge boob

Oh no its not what you think my friends. Although it did make you sit up and listen, admit it. The boob of which I speak is a mistake or a nearly one. I blogged the following pictures and then thought " what if she (Mum) sees them?" so I pulled them only to repost today because I am pleased with the results.

Its Mums birthday and she loves Cath Kidston so I sprinkled a little lou-lou magic over a wee scrap o' duck. I like it so much I will make another for me

This rapidly followed from a new book that I got recently, Quilt a Gift: 25 Heartfelt Projects from Quick to Heirloom Barri Sue Gaudet

Mum loved her presents. Score