Inspiration!

I have been visiting your lovely blogs in a vain effort to catch up on the last couple of months and you have all put me to shame, you have been so busy with your making and I have done pretty much nothing. But, in my defence, I have had little time or energy to be creative. I have thought about it lots, though, and bought many things to inspire me when I finally find the opportunity to make 'something'!
The first source of inspiration is this one...

a new book about felting by Gillian Harris. She offers some great new projects and ideas which I'm keen to try. It was Gillian's first book that really inspired me to start felting and this one is no disappointment.

She doesn't go into the basic techniques as much in this one, presumably because most people who buy this book will have already purchased her first book and have all the information there.

I love the way she has used the roses on this bag.

Sweet slippers!

I'd love one of these!

I have also replenished my supplies of merino wool tops and have bought a brightly coloured unit to keep it all in! Chances of me ever destashing are impossibly slim!

Finally, something I have coveted for quite some time...

a spinning wheel! I chose it for my birthday and my family all kindly contributed to it. It isn't new, but a secondhand wheel that I bought on ebay. It took me a while to find the right one that someone was willing to post and that another bidder didn't gazump me on! Can you believe that after looking for weeks, the day after I bought this one two were listed by a lady in Cornwall! The air was blue here for a while! However, this one (an Ashford Traveller) is in lovely condition having hardly been used and, after a clean, wax, oil and general bit of maintenance, is now sitting quietly in the corner of the lounge waiting for me to master it! Mmmmm, will take some time I think (and patience - must stop swearing at it!). Think of all the yummy yarns I can make and crochet and felt!

Next post - WIPS - this will either encourage me to finish them or depress me further!
Here's a little sneak preview of the first piece of felting I've done in months...

Becky x
P.S. Have you entered my giveaway yet?

Thank You Giveaway

A HUGE thank you for your many lovely comments on my last post. It has been a busy time, but Grandad is well and life is beginning to settle into a new pattern. Your warm wishes and kind words were so gratefully received and reminded me of what lovely people I have 'met' through blogging. Two particularly lovely people have sent messages hoping I'm well and enjoying my summer holiday, you know who you are!
So, to say a small thank you, I would like to do a giveaway. I have had this planned for a little while and now seems the perfect time to do it.
Here are the prizes:

Collection 1

'Cute and Easy Crochet' book by Nicki Trench, a set of cute teatowels, a felted sea-themed mobile case by me and some wooden butterfly buttons for your stash.

Collection 2

'25 Super Cute Animals to Crochet' by Anne Obaachan, a cute teapot cosy, a felted flower mobile case by me and some wooden butterfly buttons.

Rules to enter:
1. You must be a follower/become a follower of this blog to enter this giveaway.
2. Leave me a comment stating which collection you would prefer to win.
3. For an extra entry mention this giveaway on your blog and then leave another comment here letting me know you have done so.

That's it! Keeping it simple!
The giveaway closes at the end of Monday 27th August (bank holiday Monday) when I will draw the two winners.
I have made virtually nothing these past couple of months and feel like I've lost my craft mojo! However, fear not, for there has been a lot of thinking about it and numerous purchases of inspirational items! I'll share them all with you in my next post which I promise will be soon!

Good luck with the giveaway!
Becky x

Sad Times

Every now and then things happen that make you question the meaning of life. Three weeks ago my neighbour collapsed in the road from a bleed on the brain. She died 24 hours later. She was only 69, fitter than me and ate all the right things. Her husband has an enlarged heart and has not been well for many years and, in truth, we all thought he would go first.

Her funeral was last Monday. The night before her husband was in a very distressed state and my husband went in to try and calm him. We had a leaky washer in our toilet cystern and, as we are on a meter, I decided to fix it. When I went to turn the stop cock off water gushed out everywhere. This was shortly followed by a phone call from my Dad who was unable to get hold of my Grandad. It was one of those times when I felt completely out of control and wasn't sure which problem to deal with first. To make things worse, I couldn't get hold of my Mum to look after the children and in the past my lovely neighbour would have done this. 

After contacting Grandad's neighbour we found out he had fallen and been lying on the floor for 24 hours. He is 91. He was taken to A&E where they found he was dehydrated and confused. I somehow managed to fix the stop cock with some PFT tape, tracked down my Mum and we arrived at A&E at the same time as the ambulance.

We've been on an emotional roller coaster all week. Some days he has been a little better, others worse. Yesterday he seemed much better and we have asked him if he would like to come and live with us now which he has agreed to. For 91 he is amazingly healthy, we just need to make sure he drinks lots so he doesn't get dehydated again.

So, that's why I've been so quiet recently. I haven't lost my blogging mojo, I really miss it, and I will be popping in and out to see you all, but now I have a house to clear and a Grandad to move in so my visits may remain infrequent!

I hope the bank holiday finds you all well and brings you a little sunshine.

Becky x

PS. I included a few photos of the flowers in the garden, that I have been meaning to share with you a while, to try and brighten this post a little. x

Gifts and Toys!

Lucky me! I won the lovely giveaway by Maria of Dinky Dots!

The packages arrived all beautifully wrapped, but didn't stay like that for long! Little fingers were quicker than mine and claimed the best best prizes for themselves!

Little Mannie was delighted with these two!
And I was equally delighted with these two...

The magnets are beautiful and so professionally packaged. Inside the lovely little tin are some pretty ribbons. I must admit that I did reclaim my prizes and failed to share the chocolate!
Thank you, Maria, for organising such a lovely giveaway. We were all very pleased to win!

So that's the gifts, now to the toys!
I have wanted one of these for some time...

It's a crop-a-dile big bite and you use it to punch holes in card, fabric, felt, leather and even thin wood. You can then set an eyelet or gromlet (love that word!) into the hole. I also bought this incredible collection on ebay to use with it.

I'm planning to use them with my felt projects. They will make great closures on bags, purses and cases.

I have a 'little' project to show you that I have been working on, a garden post that is long in the making and a giveaway to announce. Hopefully I'll be back at the weekend to update you all!
Until then, enjoy your week.
Becky x

Crochet Wire

I have finished one of the felt flowers I have been working on. I did a little experimenting with wire and crocheted a layer of petals to lie on top of the felt petals.


This was easier than I remembered. I don't know why but it just clicked this time and was made in a flash! Last time I got into a real mess with knots, messy loops and tangled hooks! Perhaps I'm just a little more confident with crochet itself and so found working with wire easier this time.

I used the shell button for the centre of this brooch and added blue and green glass beads. I love the yellow, turquoise and lime green combination.

                                                            This crochet wire is still in the experimental stage! It sticks out quite far but is quite pretty. I think I need to use a contrasting colour of wire to the felt. It gets a little lost against such a similar colour.



I have also felted another pair of baby shoes.

This pair are royal blue inside and lime green outside. I used a multi-coloured yarn and overstitched along the edge. Then I crocheted a strap to go across the foot. They are nearly finished, just need to sew the buttons on for the straps, but I was too impatient to save them for my next post!
With each pair I am learning something new about the process and slowly perfecting it. I cut the opening for this pair a little large and as I continued to full the felt (second stage in the felting process) the opening just kept getting larger!
I don't feel any of them so far are quite good enough to sell, but I'm hoping the next pair might just make it to my Folksy shop!


I am trying to pull together a post about the garden in all it's spring colour, but getting photos in reasonable light is proving a bit challenging at the moment - if you are reading this and live in the UK you'll know exactly what I mean! I can't help but smile when someone mentions a drought - I emptied a leaking waterbutt 2 weeks ago to reseal the tap connector and it's already full!

Hoping for some sunshine this weekend (ever the optimist!),
Becky x

PS A huge hello to my readers in Russia (almost as many as here in the UK according to blogger stats!). Can anyone tell me why my blog is attracting so many readers from Russia? I'm just a little curious!

Spring Felt Flowers

I wanted to show you my latest little bit of felting.

I made some felt samplers a few weeks ago, playing around with surface texture and colour.

From these 3 pieces I cut some daisy shaped felt flowers. They need finishing yet, with buttons or glass beads and maybe some coloured wire.

I managed to get some really great pictures of them during a short spell of sunshine we had yesterday afternoon, so this post may be a bit photo heavy!

Can you see the silk fibre and sari silk waste glinting in the sun?
I haven't quite decided what to use them for yet. I might make them into brooches or use them to decorate a bag.

 

I can't decide whether I prefer the shell buttons or the glass heart beads in the centres. Which do you like?

I was really sad to read that Clara Luna of The Rainbow Room won't be selling her felt packs anymore. She is moving to sunny Ibiza for 6 months so has decided to stop stocking the felt in her Folksy and Etsy shops. It is of course great news for her and I took advantage of a bargain when she reduced her last few packs down to half price!

All this for only £25.00 (inc' p+p) - bargain! That should kep be going for a little while.
I have also finished (well, very almost) the little blue felted boots I made some time ago.

I just need to sew the wooden buttons on and they're done (I carefully balanced them in place for the photo!).

I have gathered 2 items for a giveaway that I'm hoping to have soon! I won't show them to you just yet, but they are good ones!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend. The sun is shining here and my sinusitis is a little better today so I might just get out in the garden - next post will be all about our green-fingered projects!
Becky x

Easter Explorations!

Sorry, another chunk of time has elapsed between my posts, but there has been little to write about. To be honest, work has been busy, the garden has needed it's springtime tidy and when I have had a little time to craft I just haven't had any enthusiasm.
I have been planning to have a giveaway for a while (my first blogging anniversary came and went) and still a lack of interest prevailed. I thought the Easter hols would revitalise me, but no, instead a nasty cold has taken hold and so the first week of the hols has passed in a fluffy of tissues and olbas oil!

 I did find the motivation to put the Easter tree up, I can't believe it was 12 months ago when I felted these eggs. The buds on the hazel twigs have opened in the warmth of our home and I'm hoping I might be able to get these branches to root.

We were fortunate to have it dry on Easter Sunday and so were able to do our egg hunt in the garden. A card from the Easter Bunny gave us our instructions before we set off on our search...

So off they went, hand-in-hand, buckets at the ready.

Two trips round the garden were needed, plus a few warmer/colder clues, before we completed our search!

The chickens watched on inquisitively (we're down to three as one sadly died a couple of weeks ago).

Buckets full and search completed, we head back inside. But, what is this? Do we have mice?

No, just a cheeky chappy helping himself! But look what was inside!

How sweet!

Two posts are planned for this week; one about a little bit of felting and a second about the garden, in which I have been far more productive.

Wet and miserable here today. I hope you have all had better weather for your bank holiday than we have had here in grey, drizzly Cornwall!

Becky x