Every once in a while I pick up a new hobby craft creative outlet addiction.

This one came about thanks to a bag of Bri Nylon wool. My Mum is often given odds and ends of yarn as she is known, amongst her friends, for knitting for charity. Anyway, Mum said she was going to donate this wool to a charity shop as it was horrible to knit with, and, in her opinion, not a very nice colour.

I hate to see anything go to waste, I took it saying perhaps I could knit some frogs or aliens... or something.

But when I felt the wool I understood my Mum's reticence to knit with it, it feels horrible. It's 100% Polyamide, and makes my hands feel odd after touching it. My thoughts of knitting with it went out the window, but I wasn't to be defeated, I was determined to do something with it.

An idle scroll through my Pinterest feed gave me the answer.

Pom pom wreaths!


I have pom pom makers and set about making some. I raided my wool stash for other colours and soon I had a pink and green wreath, of which I was delighted. It's mounted on a cardboard ring, but it was pretty flimsy (this one folds itself in half), so I knew I'd have to find a better way.


A bit of a scroll on Amazon and a one-click payment later, I had some 10 inch wire rings coming my way. Refusing to pay postage costs I had to wait patiently for them to arrive, all the while making pom poms of different sizes and colours.


The rings arrived on a Saturday morning and I immediately abandoned what I was doing to start my wreath production. A few hours passed without my noticing and it was only my rumbling tummy that brought me out of my woollen bubble. By this time I'd made three wreaths.


I'm going to sell them at a charity craft stall in September, and at another in November. My only problem is, and maybe you can help me out here, I don't know how much to sell them for, what do you think?

If you need me, you can find me under a pile of pom poms...

I've always wanted to learn to crochet. I tackled a few granny squares a while back but it fizzled out in favour of my patchwork quilt, I had every intention of returning to it and learning more.

I offered to make some mice for my niece's 4th birthday party and had intended to knit them. The idea was for each child to make a little bed or house for their mouse. But when I found the cutest crochet pattern on Pinterest and was adamant - ADAMANT - that I wanted to crochet these little critters.

Now, I can wrap my head around most things given enough time but time was in short supply. I find the easiest (and quickest!) way to learn is to sit next to someone and copy their actions. Queue an afternoon spent with Mother - ninja of all things wool - lots of tea, and plenty of me staring at her fingers asking her to slow down and do it again.

I was so chuffed to see my first little mouse (pictured right) start to take shape. Look at those little ears!


I had only a few days to make 20 of them, and interrupted my DIY to make sure I had them done in time.


By the end of the afternoon we'd made five mice, inbetween gossiping, tea drinking and unravelling my efforts because I'd gone horribly wrong, again. Mum offered to take some wool home to make some more and I set about making my first mouse unaccompanied!

They kept growing in number...

And in a few days we had 20 little mice for my little niece. Now, what to make next...?


The pattern is by Lucy Ravenscar and can be found here.

A year ago I'd sewn together 206 hexi flowers for my patchwork quilt.

Today I have sewn 308 of the little blighters together, I've added 67 so far this year which seems pretty good going considering for the whole of 2015 I only added 35. What can I say? I go in fits and starts.

Above is the beginning of 2016. I had to start moving the sofa out of the way so I could lay it out flat.

And here it is one month in to 2016.

It's really starting to feel like I'm on the home straight, but as I get closer to finishing it I'm getting nervous about the final stages of turning it in a quilt. What if I make a real balls up of the edging and ruin my efforts of the past two years?

I've seriously contemplated paying someone else to back it and edge it.

But I know if I do, I'll regret it, it would no longer be all my own work. I couldn't take full credit.

I'd always be saying, 'yes I made it but someone else finished it for me' and thinking 'because you where too much of a chicken to look the thing in the eye and sew on it's edging'.

I foresee some YouTube tutorials coming on.

It's time to put on my big girl pants and do this.

(Wish me luck)

Last year I was introduced to needle felting and was immediately hooked. I've put it to one side for the sake of my patchwork quilt for now, but I am itching to pick it up again.

I attended a course in October last year, where I made pumpkins, and ate cake. And then of course once I  returned home, I made some more.
Being almost Christmas I turned my attention to snowmen and Father Christmas.


And aliens.


And then Cacti.


And with much inspiration lurking on my Pinterest board I'm sure to be making more!

If you follow me on Instagram you'll probably already be aware that I have a new obsession. Needle felting.

I booked myself onto a course at Halfpenny Home at Alder Carr Farm, in Suffolk, after seeing it advertised during a trip there on my birthday.

One week I'm sleeping under the stars in the Sahara Desert, the next I'm sat with six other women stabbing at fleece. Life is nothing if not varied.

It's super simple this needle felting lark. You grab a handful of fleece and start stabbing (trying to avoid your fingers) with a special needle that knots the fleece as you do so.

And when you learn to do this at Halfpenny Home someone brings you tea, and chocolate and cherry cake (which takes you ages to eat because you don't want to stop stabbing).

After a while the stabbing starts to make a difference and you can start to shape your object (more stabbing).

A little while later, someone asks you what you'd like for lunch and you chose butternut squash and sage soup (very seasonal) with homemade bread from the menu.

In the afternoon you have time to make another one, while someone shows you a method for wet felting (less stabbing, more shaking).

And when you get home, you can make some more (because of course you can buy fleece from Halfpenny Home at the end of the lesson).

And then you can make some more.

After that it's a good idea to set up a Pinterest board...

Today we've have been married for five months, which doesn't seem possible. In some ways it feels like it didn't really happen - like it was all a dream. But in other ways it feels so vivid it could've been only yesterday.

We still have the bunting, that was put on the back of our car, on display in the dining room, and we even still have some wedding cards up - although every time I have to move them to dust, I put back fewer than before.

We have the ivy swag, that sat above the fireplace at the wedding venue, wound up our banisters but all of these things will eventually be taken down.

In all honesty the swag should've gone ages ago, as all it does now is drop leaves at the merest touch, but I can't bring myself to do it. It'll be like the day you have to take down the Christmas tree. And nobody likes that day.

I decided to make a permanent reminder of our day using all of the little mementos we have. It's much nicer than keeping them in a box somewhere don't you think?

I found this deep box frame in The Range for £12.99 and wasted no time in gathering together bits and pieces to go into it.

I made myself a cuppa and set to work, I had a hunch I was going to enjoy this.


I included our invitation, ribbon, dried flowers from my bouquet, Andy's buttonhole, our Thank You card, our place names (written by our five year old nephew), and the song request card that came to be our wedding dance.


I'd ordered some photo strips using an app called Cheerz depicting a few of our favourite moments of the day. I paid £9.40 (£2.95 of which was postage) for five strips of four photos, they turned up within three days, which I was rather pleased with.

I played around with different layouts until I found one I was happy with, in the end I cut some of the strips into individual photos for a better fit.


Then I set about pinning everything into place. I thought about using glue or double sided tape but I know from past experience that eventually the glue or tape would show through, especially on the photographs, so I used the pins supplied with the frame.

It currently sits on our mantelpiece until we can decide on a more permanent home for it. I'm so pleased with how it turned out.

What have you done with your wedding memorabilia?

(Day 5 of blogging everyday for 40 days)

I really wanted to get my patchwork quilt finished before March (because I started it on March 1st 2014 and wanted to finish within a year). But I'm not going to. This was made all to obvious to me when I placed it over the top of a king size quilt and saw how much more I need to do. I'm about half way there and that's taken me 11 months, albeit with some lengthy gaps when life got too busy to stitch.


It's not a great photo, I had to stand on a chair in the doorway, holding my camera above my head to get it all in. Apologies for Socks choosing that particular moment to wash his, erm, tail.

I've estimated that I need another 225 hexi flowers to complete the job. I can manage about 4 in an evening but this can leave me sore fingered so I couldn't (and wouldn't have the time) to do it every day. If I could manage every day it would still be 56 days to completion. I'm kinda disappointed but I'm enjoying it and I want to continue to do so. Perhaps a king size quilt was a little ambitious for a first project but I'm a 'go big or go home' kinda gal.

If I'm honest I am looking forward to picking up my knitting sticks again or doing some cross stitch, I have been resisting as I've been trying to focus on one project at a time but I think it could be time for a change. That said, I'm contemplating an 18 month deadline. Gotta love a deadline...






What projects do you have on the go?

Yesterday I took part in A Photo An Hour with Louisa at Duck in a Dress, it was a rather uneventful day really. I had planned to go wedding dress shopping with my bridesmaid but I found my dress when shopping with Mum a last week (eeeeep!). It would've made for a much more interesting post, but it's just as well as I woke up with a stinker of a headache (an actual headache not a hangover).


6.45am
So I made myself a cuppa and went back to bed.

7.45am
I stayed there a while as I had the cutest of company.

8.45am
Once I was reluctantly out of bed and feeling a little better I hopped in the bath for some soaking and a hydrating face mask. Seriously, this weather is not doing my face any favours at all!

9.45am
I then decided to try some new make up products. I went a little bonkers in Boots last week and have loads of new things to try. I got two of the Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet lip stains. They're lovely (and currently on offer - buy one, get one half price) and they totally live up to the hype. Above I'm wearing 02 Frambourjoise, a lovely pinky daytime red. I picked up 07 Nude-ist too but it's way more pink than nude but still very pretty.


10.45am
In an attempt to spend the morning 'unplugged', on account of the headache, I sorted through some clothes for a carboot sale that I'll have at some unknown point in the future (probably). Tink decided it needed thorough investigation. Open a draw they want in, open a magazine they'll sit on it, open a suitcase and they're there in a flash. Give them a cat bed - not in the slightest bit interested.

11.45am
An hour later I found her in a sun spot and irritated her by taking way too many photos.

12.45pm
Lunch. Bit of a random lunch. I had planned for scrambled eggs and smoked salmon but the kitchen was to flippin' cold to be standing about in it. I opted for salmon on bread with olives and grapes. I have a weird thing with salmon in that I can't eat it in and sandwich. I have to put salmon on bread and then eat it with a knife and fork. Can't eat it any other way. Also I get to a point were I simply can't eat another bite of it. It doesn't happen with any other food (unless I've eaten waaaay too much of it). I got about a third of the way through the second slice of bread and just though 'no, that's enough'. Do you have any weird food habits? I can't eat a pork pie unless it's cut into pieces and I can only eat bananas if they're at room temperature. Human beings are odd.

1.45pm
I discovered that the new Next catalogue had been delivered. So, with another cuppa in hand I spent some time mentally picking out an outfit for my Mum's wedding. Did I mention that she got engaged just before Christmas? No? Well, she did. She has been with her fella for 10 years now and he's been proposing for the last seven of them (how different her life is from mine!), this time she relented and said yes. They're planning a June wedding (having insisted that we set our date first). So exciting!


2.45pm
I updated my Shopping of 2015 spreadsheet after succumbing to the lure of the sales during the week, got some great bargains though - the boots were £19.50, how could I not?? Having read about Char's year long spending ban I'd wondered if I could do the same. Apparently not.

3.45pm
I'm still slowly adding to my patchwork quilt and spent a good chunk of time on it yesterday. I don't think I'm going to get it finished before March 1st but I have to try. I might surprise myself...

4.45pm
More patchwork. One of my favourite things is working out which material to use next, I'm a bit obsessed with not having the same material too close together and I have to have an even spread of colour and pattern, light and dark.

5.45pm
Fire. Cats. Blanket. Happy.


6.45pm
Wine o'clock. Not one of my best ideas, as it seems to trigger another headache (I hope this isn't a permanent thing!!)

7.45pm
More fire, more cats and lots of wedding talk with Andy. We've got a guest list sorted and now I need to get a wriggle on and design the invitations.

8.45pm
The return of the headache sent me to my bed early to be stalked by a boy cat.

9.45pm
Having been entertained by Socks I turned in. How rock and roll was my Saturday night?

What did you get up to?

When it comes to resolutions I find that by mid February I've pretty much forgotten all about them, but I always make them none-the-less, hoping that this year will be the year they stick.

Last year I tried to do different things to the normal eat better / move more type of thing. I think they were more successful but this could have everything to do with the fact that they were about enjoying things rather than eating celery.

Do something cultural once a month
I was inspired by Harriet for this resolution and I think I did pretty well, although I didn't manage it every month. My most memorable are as follows...

In February I spent an age gazing at a photographic exhibition 1,000 Faces and went with a car full of bloggers to the Harry Potter Studio Tour. I think this could've been my favourite trip of them all, I'm hoping to go back very soon!

I had a very enjoyable time at The Eden Project in September (my friends got married there but we did have some time to explore the next day) and took to the skies on the SkyWire.

In October saw two exhibitions at the V&A - Horst: Photographer of Style and Wedding Dress 1775 - 2014. Photography wasn't permitted in the wedding dress exhibition and I was too much of a chicken to try and take a sneaky one but it was really lovely. Horst was great too - proof that it's possible to take a stunning photograph without all the retouching!

In early November Andy and I hopped on a train for a flying visit to see the poppies. It was beautiful and thought provoking and very humbling.

My last cultural excursion was to see The Play That Goes Wrong with Andy at The Duchess Theatre, London. Very funny, especially when you run out of time for food and go straight to the bar instead!

Make more of an effort
This idea came from Jenny (I had no original resolution ideas of my own last year). I'd like to say that I did this everyday but sometimes I just wanted to pull on a pair of jeans, pop my hair in a ponytail and go bare faced. So that's exactly what I did. However, thanks to a mild beauty obsession over the summer I found that I was trying more products and wearing make up more often, which I kinda liked, I feel so much better when I don't look in the mirror and think 'urgh!'.

Do nice things
This was about doing something once a month that took me away from everyday stuff, if only for a few hours.

First up I decided to take myself off to the cinema one afternoon to see Philomena. I also spent a morning painting pots, spent a number of afternoons crafting with Mum and we went on a little girlie road trip to the NEC to go to the Craft Show.

I've found this one a little hard to record as anything from lunch and a movie with a friend to spending an afternoon pottering I see as a 'nice thing'.

Don't just pin, do
This was to put to good use some of the hundreds of pins I've amassed on Pinterest. I think I did pretty well.




Learn a new skill
Early on in the year I took a short course in patchwork quilting and I'm still working on a king size quilt.

And what of 2015?
I already have my Wonderful Winter list of things to do and a list of things I want to do before my next birthday so I'm not going to make many new resolutions. I would like to get fit (and there's nothing like an upcoming wedding to get you motivated!), see more of my friends and family and do something every month to improve the house, even if it's just something simple like hang a mirror.

I'd like to learn a new skill, try something I've never done before and cook from scratch more often. And I'm going to try not to become a wedding bore, but I do spend an awful lot of time thinking about it, doing research and just generally day dreaming... slap me if it all gets a bit much.