Progress on the blanket...

I like to name my makes, call me quirky but it makes them more a part of the family.

So far, touch wood, this blanket is moving along nicely the pile of squares is growing at a surprising pace...

but it has no name and that simply wont do.

It is taking up my spare moments.

I don't like to crochet outside the house, I've tried it a couple of times and people seem to assume I know what I'm doing...which in all honesty I don't feel I do.  

That or I feel they think I'm simply showing off...which I'm definitely NOT

Back to the blanket.

I am this time weaving the ends in as I go, I make 20 or so squares and weave those ends in.  I'm hoping it will make the final making up process more enjoyable.  

It makes the actual square making a tiny tad slower but it's also nice to take a break from the nifty crochet of making them!

Each square is measuring 4" x 4" so to make it a nice BIG comfy size I'm thinking I'll need between 180/200 in total..
90 down...90 to go!

Sunshine Suitcase...

So...

What seems like a long time ago I made the

Suitcase of Wonders

A thing of beauty: a vintage suitcase covered in gorgeous Amy Butler fabric.

*sigh*

Alas and is so often the way I found my brood and I in need of pennies more than we needed a suitcase of wonder...and off to market it went.

It left a pretty suitcase hole in my crafty little life.

Don't get me wrong I have a few old suitcases but non that were as wondersome the the suitcase of wonder!

So one sunny afternoon this summer I found myself at home with an old case and a couple of cans canary yellow paint!

Well one thing led to another and before I had time to think it through I had a bright and chirpy yellow suitcase...

{ black blob is on the camera lense :( }

but still I wasn't happy.

I know hard to please right!?

What it needed was that little extra zing

and how else but Pip Studios papers.

{OK I could have used something else but all I had were Pip Studio samples}

And here it is in all its sunny glory, not a suitcase of wonder but a suitcase full of the sunshine it was created in!

 It makes my little heart sing and a sneaky smile peeks out whenever I catch a glimpse of it.

Hello my luvvy's...

Oh how my nieces blanket has been a labour of 

LOVE

My first and nearly almost my last granny sqaure blanket...all those ends to sew in!!

150 squares each with 4 colours...

But it has all been worth the effort

for the finished blanket is hopefully going to be well loved and much used by my niece L's.

It has been a project on the go for almost a year, despite several pokes I struggled to get the mojo to keep on after I put what I had together December 13 and realised it wasn't as big as I wanted it to be.

 

So more wool was ordered and when I found out that L's was off to UNI then it was the push I needed!!

So I finished it just in time for her to take with her on her BIG adventure to UNI.
Big enough to snuggle under on the sofa and just right to lay over a single size bed!

But what's that I hear you say?
*has she gone mad there's no photo?*
No you're tight I didn't get a photo of it finished!
I know, I know, I totally suck at before and after photos...
I wish I didn't but I do so lets not say too much more about it and move on...
please!

Onwards and upwards then
I have been busy.

Baskets have been sprayed, furniture painted, a cloth doll or two has been made and I have started another blanket!

Slowly I need to work my way through my requests list for blankets, with 6 kiddos it may take some time though.

The new blanket is for my #3 Lolly.
Colour choice is hers

 to tie in with the colours in her room
the Ercol chair

standard lamp/shade

 pretty shelf

Inspiration for the squares from an amazing new to me blog 
Color and Cream

This time I will learn to sew the ends in as I go!

I think it may just be my new blog crush...

Birdcage Gardening...

Should be the next BIG thing...

If like me you have little and larger lads who insist on kicking a football around the garden like they're at Rio  then this is the way forward!

My birdcage planter is 

thriving from this pretty little thing

to

THIS

little beauty!

Literally overflowing with prettiness...

I can vouch that it has survived their best attempts to use it as a goalie and is just simply stunning!

Vintage Inspiration in the Garden...

I have a small, chicken ruined garden.  Last year I set about re-seeding it, which went ok-ish but it is still in need of a lot of love.

You will I hope see a theme in my crafty blog, of re-purposing old bits into new bits.  

Or re-jigging things to work.

Mainly painting stuff...it is a joke in the family that if it stands still long enough I will paint it.

Roll on a pot of wood stain later and we have progress on the patio

I've taken the chalk board down and re-housed that down to the grassy area and dumped the shelves that were in the corner as they had rotted.  Just need to re-paint that fence!

The ladder was lingering in the house for far too long, gathering dust and not being at all useful.  

It is now suited and booted, almost finished to hold some pretty plants.

The bench in the back is one of two, sturdy old school benches fished out of a skip a couple of years back.  

We don't have space a proper table and chairs out here so we tend to use the benches as a table or flexible seating if the teens have friends over.

The other one will I hope have tomato plants growing on it shortly {in preparation for chutney making later this year!}

The deckchair is also one of a pair, bought at a dump many years ago.  Stripped back awaiting a new cover {ooo you'll like it when you see it}

The boot rack bought last week at the booty for a wonderful £3, long on my wish list but not being prepared to pay retail I thought it would just stay on the wish list but lucky old me found one!

I got fed up of seeing the pink birdcage waiting for love so have lined it with moss and filled it with a selection of hanging basket flowers!  It looks lovely and is outside the window where I spend many hours washing up!

The strawberries are in old enamel bread bins, planted last year.

Fingers crossed I will beat my youngest kiddos to actually have more than the one strawberry this year!

And tadpoles!

Once again not really a craft but things that keep me busy!

All practical stuff.

Sewing and Such...

I could rather grandly call it 'my desk' but in reality it's the dining/craft table that lives in our dining/play room.

There is a theme with the table, I clear in preparation to work/craft at it and various kiddos will come along and fill said cleared space with their work/craft.

Space in a 3 bed house and 7 people is a thing of rarity!

Recently my eldest, Abba, has been as busy as a Bee, turning gorgeous Liberty fabric into even prettier cushions along with a whole host of other sewing projects!

In a recent break from her sewing I started a new project that has been in the wings for far too long!

My middle daughter, Lolly, has been after a standard lamp for her room for quite a while.  

I had the stand and shade 

{this one}

After a bit of a re-think she decided she would like it all white so I set to work on another stand and stripping the shade of washi tape and pom poms.

I have a selection of lovely linen table cloths and found one with a couple of minor imperfections and set about making her lampshade out of one of them

It was/is going well until we hit this week...

GCSE's start this week and Lolly has taken over the desk for her revision. 

So once again the desk is not mine to play with for a time

I am so very near finishing the shade, it has been a lot easier to make one second time around 

{despite not having the original shade pieces to use as a template}

The first one I did was a labour of love

which after not selling at the last fair is now hanging, 

albeit upside down, 

on my landing!!

And I have a plan for this lovely table cloth, I'll give you a clue...

think window

Vintage Plate Cake Stands...

Crafting has been occurring...not in an organised planned way but in a much more higgledy-piggledy way.

What and when has depended on the weather, space available and what tickles my fancy!

On a recent search for a lost pack of buttons I stumbled by happy accident across the bag of 'bits' needed to drill and convert plates into cake stands.

3 years in a cupboard, put away 'safely' 

So roll onto a chillier day and a little ta- da moment

A very pretty mix of pastel green fine porcelain

The makings of more

*sigh*

Very pretty!

Is it crafting?

I'm not sure I can really call it a craft but it has been keeping me happy!