Being a thrifty mum

After a clear out of the kids wardrobes I have come to the conclusion that Daisy is a lot harder on her clothes than Robyn was at that age, probably due to the fact she is a very messy eater and loves mud and rolling around on the grass. A lot of hers ended up in the throw in bin pile due to being stained, faded and ripped. After recovering from the heartbreak of many of my favourite tops and dresses going into that pile I decided all was not lost as I could chop some of it up for little sewing projects like heart garlands and birds etc

2 of her tops that were part of a set and a little green dress have already become a cute little mum sign.

The only problem is that I discovered too late that I'd cut the second M out the wrong way so that the heart pattern was facing sideways not down and there's not enough material left to redo it but hey I'm not worried, it's little mistakes like that that just make it more "me" ha ha. I enjoyed sewing them up and it only took 2 evenings in front of the tv

ouch

all done


sitting pretty on my bed

Well the blanket is finally finished and looks lovely on my bed. I am now working on both my girls blankets at the same time, 3 ripples of one then over to do 3 ripples on the other and so on just to make sure they both get finished at the same time so there's no arguments.

war wounds from the pins

I picked up Homestyle Sewing magazine when Robyn had to go to the dentist as I loved the look of the freebie bag kit on it and decided it would be great for all the wool I had to get for 2 kids blankets. I needed to seperate the wool for both kids as they gave me seperate colour lists so didnt want to get mixed up

I'm not the worlds best sewer and like to sew things by hand as its lovely and relaxing ...ok I admit my ex gave me a lovely old sewing machine but I have no idea how to thread it so for now I'm still hand sewing. I want to make everything in the mag. The bag itself was pretty straightforward but it took 3 attempts to sew the handles on as I've never done those round handles before. I also lined the bag and added a wee pocket for my crochet hooks. I also found out the hard way that sewing something with lots of pins in on my lap wearing just a nightie on is pretty damn sore when the pins attack bare legs. The finished result is great though, a lovely roomy bag

lined with a little pocket added

finished bag

fulfilling it's destiny

nearly there

woohoo after 3 months of almost non stop rippling I have just 2 ripples to go and then the edging and my first ever ripple blanket will be finished.

I did have a little rest here and there to make a pretty wreath from Attic 24's blog and a pretty spring hairband for Robyn as it was sprung on me at the last minute that she was meant to be wearing spring colours to school on their last day of term and most of her clothes are pink or Hannah Montana/High School Musical so that pretty much compensated for it, I did a pretty butterfly too but decided it was too much to put it on the hairband so now I need to think of something to do with it

hooked

well I have finally managed a granny square thanks to a cute little book called Crochet Unravelled which has clear step by step instructions, I think I will have a go at a granny square cushion cover before going for a big blanket especially as my girls have just put in their colour lists for ripple blankets after my pink one is finished so I will be working on 2 blankets at once (cant have fighting over whose is made first with a 3 or 4 month wait for the next one now can I)

Ive also had fun attempting hearts and flowers and over at Attic 24 Lucy put a tutorial up for the most amazing little flower wreath and I am so excited that I managed to make one.

I'm definitely hooked on my new hobby and still cant believe that 3 months ago I couldnt do a single stitch and all crochet patterns may as well be written in japanese as I couldnt understand a word

Feb already

Wow I am seriously going to have to make a late new years resolution to keep this blog updated. I have some catch up to do.
The new years resolution that I did make and keep (for once) was to learn how to crochet and thanks to a new magazine called The Art of Crochet and a wonderful blog http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/ I have managed to learn the basics so far and I have made a start using a brilliant step by step tutorial from Attic24 herehttp://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/neat-ripple-pattern.html I am using pinks and cream to make mine and so far it's going well although I underestimated the amount of wool I'd need so will have to stock up on saturday.
I've also been trying to go a bit further with my knitting than just scarves and hats and have made wrist warmers and leg warmers as well as a bag that I am so very proud of. Maybe this year I will learn to use double pointed needles and try socks.

I havent done any scrapping this year yet, i'm not sure if its because the crochet and knitting bug has taken over or if it's just that I havent found any challenges that have jumped out at me yet, hopefully i'll get back into it again soo as I finally got my prize from IACW that I won back in May but due to postal strikes Ice and snow and the fact it was coming from America it took a while getting here but it was worth it, It's a kit from Scraproom and everything in the kit is just beautiful and it even came with a sachet of fancy filter cofee which I posted to my sister as I'm not a coffee drinker but she is.

Twirly scarf, kids scarfs and a cushion

Been a very busy girl this past 2weeks. After seeing this on IACW I went straight out and bought some perfect pink wool to give it a go. I am a complete beginner at knitting but this pattern was so straightforward. It took a week to knit but I did have a few distractions (6 hours on phone over weekend to sobbing friend in meltdown :( ) but I am so pleased with the results.

Of course the girls decided they HAD to have scarfs too but didn't want twirlys so another trip to the wool shop saw me coming home with velvet touch wool in pink, yellow and a rainbow mix. After knitting just 3 inches I had fallen madly in love with this wool it is the softest wool I've ever felt. I am completely addicted and just have to go back and buy more just incase I find something to use it for lol

The cushion was fun to make I'd seen a few on other blogs and just had to have a go especially as I'd kept the straps of a wee dress of Daisy's that was cut up for other projects, I knew they'd be useful one day. I think it's my favourite cushion so far

SLYMI weeks 33-38

Oops I have been forgetting to post here so now have a few weeks to catch up with

Week 38 - Scrap a lesson learned, I scrapped the many photos of my girls after discovering how hard it is to get the 2 of them to sit still long enough to get just one nice photo. The title is one long sentence but with 3 words picked out based on the fabulous line uttered by Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight - "why so serious"

Week 37 - Scrap with metal

I used the metal word Love and some brads for this

Week 36 - Scrap something magical

well this was just my 2 looking like princesses at my friends wedding

Week 35 - Scrap a bank holiday weekend

We very rarely have bank hols in Scotland so had to pick the easter holiday

Week 34 - Scrap from the sketch

Week 33 - Scrap a square within a square