Well this morning Claire, Hannah and I had planned to pop to Wollaton Park for a bit of fresh air and get away from work and the city. The past few days have been lovely, sunny and positively spring-like.

And then this happened outside my window…

Which makes it less of a Wollaton Park day and more of a hot tea and muffins, soup and catching up with your blog day!

So, 2010 has brought craftiness into my family. Last month I had a lovely day with my 3 nieces showing them how to crochet, embroider and do a spot of French knitting too! I wish I had some photos of the things they made. I was so proud to see them crocheting colourful granny squares and stitch pretty embroideries. They picked it up much quicker than I did and they tell me they’re now completely addicted!

I made some handmade family gifts too. A Frankenstein’s Monster cushion for my nephew, just to show him we didn’t forget about him on our girlie crafting day, and a felt brooch for my mum. For some reason I didn’t take photos of those either. What was I thinking?

I do, however, have photos of the gifts I made for my big sister for her birthday. Patchwork cushions to match her bedroom with dragonfly embroideries. Dragonflies are her favourite.

Bedroom slippers to match

And a case to keep them in

There’s nothing nicer than sharing your craft love. Who do you share yours with?

It’s almost a year to the day since I first set up this little blog. Back then it looked quite different and has undergone a few makeovers. If I tried to think about all of the other things that have happened in my life since then, I’m sure it would make my head spin! Although it’s been a roller coaster year going at full speed right up until the last minute I’m happy and thankful to say it seems to be drawing to an end peacefully.

I still have lots of good intentions for 2010, to keep learning techniques and finding out about textiles, colours and tools of the trade. Despite my hectic life this blog has been quiet recently, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t found time for some creativity.

Harrogate Knitting and Stitching Show

Back in November the Textile Workshop organised a trip to the Harrogate Knitting and Stitching Show. Of course the Stitched Up ladies were there and we had a great time admiring the stunning artwork.

I bought a few lovely things too, including some 1970s braid, vintage embroidery transfers, a few pieces of beautiful fabric (hopefully) destined to become skirts and not forgetting the amazing giant ric rac!

I’d never been to the Harrogate International Centre before so it was a surprise to stumble across its Royal Hall. A beautiful theatre built in 1903, still shining and glittering from floor to ceiling.

Discovering BurdaStyle

This was quite a biggie! The first thing I thought when I visited the BurdaStyle website was “why on earth haven’t I been here before?”. If like me you’re a bit slow off the mark and haven’t enjoyed BurdaStyle yet then go (www.burdastyle.com).

As they say, its ‘for people who sew‘. This site is for dressmakers and crafters of all abilities, where patterns are labelled from ‘novice’ to ‘amateur’. There’s way too much to say about BurdaStyle here so all I am going to say is that if you want to be inspired and whipped up into a sewing frenzy then that’s the place to go!

The Great Craft Room Clear Out

OK, so a clear out might not be strictly creative but it is absolutely necessary for me to have a clear brain. The craft room clear out was part of a bigger wave which started with us emptying the loft for new insulation and has carried on with a major tidy up of every room in the house. For me it’s better than therapy and along the way I found some things I’ll treasure for many more years to come.

My first (and very tiny) ballet slippers.

Birthday cards from when I was little and my very first ‘aunty’ card from my baby nephew.

Christmas Crafts

I have to admit I’m usually a bit grumpy at Christmas, this tends to be because I just don’t have the extra time it requires to fit everything in – but then who does?! This year though I decided I was going to make the effort to enjoy the build up, rather than treat it as a chore, by incorporating a little craft along the way.

For my close family I made little felt tree decoration Christmas cards. I was too rushed to take photos before I sent them but they were snowmen, gingerbread men and baby deer, a bit like this one.

A few prezzies were hand made too, including a cotton apron for my great aunty, a crochet scarf for the lovely Hannah and a zip up purse for a welcomed home friend. I even did a bit of baking, which is unheard of, for my Dad and Norman (a very special fella). Plus this giant granny square blanket for my husband’s Nana. I never knew I could crochet so fast!

I have to say that making these things didn’t ease the pressure of Christmas preparations at all but it did make it much mure fun.

Having lovely, thoughtful friends and family I was lucky enough to receive some truly beautiful handmade and crafty gifts:

This absolutely gorgeous patchwork quilt made from vintage 1970s fabric by the very talented Claire was such a fantastic surprise! Claire is one very busy lady and so I’m even more grateful that she found the time to make this for me.

Hannah knows me very well, spoiling me with more wonderful vintage goodies, including crafty books, the cutest bunny jelly mould and this adorable hand mirror which I love (I’ve been drooling over vintage hand mirrors for ages). It’s a bit like she read my mind too with the vintage Christmas card holders!

My youngest neice gave me the sweetest sewing box which will be ideal for taking to sewing class and craft group and my in-laws treated me to books on dress making techniques and patterns, exactly what I need.

I know I’m a very fortunate girl indeed and I don’t take that lightly! Thank you everyone!!!!

How about you? What have you been doing these past couple of snowy months?

Nottingham Contemporary is going to be one of the largest contemporary art spaces in the UK, opening on 14th November. How lucky we are to have it in our Midlands city!

Nottingham Contemporary have been working with artist Lisa Anne Auerbach who uses knitwear as a way of provoking good-humoured political discussion. She has created a line of knitwear called ‘Take This Knitting Machine and Shove It‘ for Nottingham Contemporary showing various slogans, song lyrics and sayings.

Following on from this Nottingham Contemporary are planning to exhibit the ‘Blanket of Ideas‘, a huge red and black patchwork blanket with squares knitted and crocheted by Nottingham people, expressing their own political messages. Of course I couldn’t not get involved in this. My square is crocheted in shell stitch which represents a concern for the damage we’re doing to the world’s oceans through over fishing, climate change and pollution.

I loved the shell stitch so much I decided to make something with it that I could keep, so here’s the beginnings of a new winter scarf. It’s getting pretty chilly here now so I’d best get cracking, I’ll need it very soon.

I was going to post a link to a ‘how to crochet shell stitch’ resource but when I started looking I realised that there are many different ways to create a shell stitch. Do a search on Google or YouTube and you’ll see what I mean!

I’ve just posted a little article over at my other blog, Green Girls Global, on 5 tips for crafting green.

I’m sure more experienced crafters will have lots more gems on how to recycle and cut down waste when making, so please do share them. If you send me your green crafting tips (either here or at GGG) I’ll compile another list and publish it, with your tip credited to you of course :)

Back in May when it was warm and sunny I taught myself how to make granny squares. Since then I’ve just been hooked!

Well now its October, its cold and rainy and just in time for winter I’ve made a granny square blanket out of my little summer obsession.

I sewed the squares together with black yarn in whip stitch but I think next time I shall either make one giant square the size of a blanket or crochet the small squares together as I go. In total it must have easily taken about 20 hours to sew it together and I was up until 4am this morning determined to get it finished. I think it was well worth it though :)

Have you ever been so consumed by a craft project that you just cannot turn your attention, or your hand, to anything else? Since I learned how to make granny squares this has precisely been my problem.

It started quite innocently. My thinking was that since I enjoy crochet as much as I do I should master the staple skill of the granny square. It was quite easy to pick up (from my trusty Happy Hooker book) and once I got it, one square became two, became ten, became twelve… Continue Reading »

Guest editor Caley Walsh has written a really interesting article about eco yarns on my other blog Green Girls Global.

She describes the different types of yarns and gives links on where to buy. Most of the links are to US based shops but for those of us outside the US the info is still very useful and we should be able to find alternatives closer to home.

Check out the article  ‘Eco-Friendly Yarns by Caley Walsh‘.

I was first taught to crochet by my good friend Claire, of Pinky and Boo fame, about a year and a half ago. I’d seen her create lots of beautiful blankets, flowers and other lovely items in such an effortless way that I wanted her to show me how to do it too.

I guess I could have picked up just about any beginners’ crochet book and had a go at teaching myself but convinced that I don’t learn properly that way I wanted a master to show me. I gave Claire a few headaches at first I’m sure because I just wasn’t ‘getting it’ but after lots of false starts it finally sunk in. Continue Reading »