Lazy Sunday Crafternoon

I hope you all had a good weekend! First off, I'd like to congratulate the wonderful Kate on her 100th blog post and the lovely Lucy on the safe arrival of Bump24 (now Teeny Man!). If you like colourful hooky goodness, please visit their delicious blogs: Kate (The Garden Bell) hooks up scrumptious blankets like no-one's business and also dyes her own yarn while Lucy at Attic 24 has inspired many a hooker (behave!) with her fab and colourful projects and easy peasy to follow tutorials.

Yesterday I had a lovely crafternoon with my friend Sarah. She visited to borrow my sewing machine and to have a crochet lesson. She brought over some yummy weight watchers chocolate brownie squares to share (good girl!) and I plied her with coffee and herbal tea while she worked on an applique cushion.

After experimenting on some scrap fabric with different stitches - Sarah decided to stick with a straight stitch.

The pictures are a bit fuzzy because I felt a bit silly taking photos of her while she was sewing "Ohh, hang on, stop there, let me get a pic of you sewing....no, no we'll have to switch the machine off so the light isn't on it" etc. I think it must be very annoying to try to sew something (especially fiddly sewing) with someone doing that, but she didn't seem to mind at all. This is the result:

Again, the pic doesn't do it justice. It's a cushion cover with the name "Maya" appliqued on in a gorgeous gingham crepey cotton. This material was also made into a curtain for the kitchen. Much chatting and drinking and eating of chocolatey things went on and time quite ran away with us, so no crochet this time round. It was fun though, definitely something to do again!

Crafty shopping

Hello! I've recovered from my mega shopping trip in London yesterday. Like I said in my earlier post, I ended up spending waaaaay too much money! But then, I knew I would, heehee. That said, after uploading the photos it doesn't seem a lot. But ohhhh what fun it will be to play with these. I also made my first mosaic - hope you like it.

 So....what do we have? (Don't forget that you can click on the images for a better look!)

Working left to right along the top row - I got myself some new tools that I've been wanting for a while.

Two Clover soft touch crochet hooks (4.5mm & 5mm); a yarn cutter pendant - also by Clover; a silver coloured scissor chatelaine (for embroidery) and some AB beads for an unfinished project (more about that in another post).

Then there are some new buttons

(now living in my Cath Kidston button tin).

Then we have three new stitchy projects with everything included in the packs.

First off is a little boxy zipped bag kit - I thought this would be good to keep projects on the go in. Then, the most gorgeous seahorse silverwork embroidery kit. It doesn't show up well in the picture (theirs or mine!) but they had a sample on display and it was truly beautiful! When I get started I'll post pics as I go. Then there's a crewel work kit of a pink rose. All three of these projects will introduce me to a new thing - inserting zips, silverwork and crewel work.

Along the bottom row is - a stack of colourful felt squares fron Blooming Felt.

These are pure wool and approximately 4mm thick. I've been wanting to do something with felt for a while now - but aren't they just pretty to look at stacked like that with a bow around them?

Then quite a little hoard of buttons from the button company.

The two little bags were pic n mix, then there are some lovely coconut buttons (top left), cute little gingham printed buttons, pastel shades of a larger button and colourful flower shaped buttons. Irresistable!  

So it will be porridge and beans on toast for me now until Christmas; but that's alright because I've got plenty to do!