New Friends

Last month, just a few days after Christmas, I received a parcel
 in the post that came all the way from Canada. It was sent by Virna,
a lovely new friend I've met through blogging. Virna and her friends
 Aimee, Bebsy and Irma are amazingly talented and creative ladies.
They make so many beautiful things which you can read about
in their blog Craftmates.

Inside the parcel was a letter from Virna and a mug rug made
with vintage fabrics that she stitched herself. There's also a beautiful
bird's nest pendant crafted by Aimee and a pretty card made by Irma,
plus a piece of vintage fabric with all the colours I love.
It was like Christmas Day all over again!

Thank you Virna and friends! They're the loveliest handmade
goodies any crafty girl could receive. I feel very lucky to know
such clever and talented group of friends. Hoping to return this
 very kind gesture very soon!

For beautiful and inspiring projects do visit their blog.
You'll be spoilt for choice.


Thanks to everyone for stopping by!
Wishing you all a lovely weekend!

Light and Shade

A few years ago I bought a very nice wooden lamp base
from a church table top sale for about a pound. It was old but in very
good condition and I remember wanting to skip with joy
on my way home over this lucky purchase (I was heavily pregnant
with my older daughter at that time). I just added a simple lampshade
and it's been happily lighting up our living room eversince.

We still love our old lamp but lately I thought maybe it
can do with a bit of an update. A more colourful lampshade will make it
look better and liven up the corner where it usually sits.
I didn't want to buy a whole new shade though, so decided
to just cover the old one with fabric. I found a helpful video in
You Tube that showed an easy way to do this and last Wednesday,
armed with fabric, paper, glue, ruler, pencil and a pair of scissors,
I set about my first ever lampshade restyle job.

And here's the result: a more colourful, cheerful lamp.

Hooray!

It certainly looks so much nicer and I am very happy. So happy
 in fact that now I want to give the other lampshades in our house
 a little update too. Keep an eye out for more colourful lampshades soon.



Thanks for reading!

Christening Gift

This is the christening present I made for our niece
who was christened last Saturday.

It's a personalised embroidery hoop picture
with baby shoes appliques inspired by a sweet little pair
that was my younger daughter's.

I embroidered her name and date of birth underneath
the appliques

and finished off the picture with pink gingham ribbons.

The christening was a happy affair with friends and family and
 it was lovely to have been a part of it especially as my husband was
one of the godparents. It's lovely too to make her this gift.
Eventhough my hand embroidery is not perfect I'm hoping she
won't mind it too much when she's older and this picture
will become a keepsake she'll like as well as treasure.




Thanks for reading!

Have a great week!

Nice and Happy Things

Just a few of the things making me happy lately....

....baking on a cold, dark Sunday afternoon.

It's enjoyable and comforting, and at the end of it

we have our favourite lemon cake to enjoy.

....a little bit of crochet.

I made these for a new friend and hopefully she'll like them.

....lovely fresh flowers on the mantlepiece with

our Bjorn Wiinblad plate and little dish- one of my favourite
presents last Christmas.



....these old tins which I found in a junk shop.

They've been scrubbed clean and now we have some interesting
tins for storing our pens and other things.



.....finding the time to do some crafting.

It is my 'me time' when I can relax and be creative
and very much appreciated on busy, tiring days
( which is nearly everyday!)




Thanks for reading!!

Hope you're having a lovely week!!

Yarn Tales

I love crafting in my spare time and 

this week I've enjoyed crocheting and knitting using some lovely yarn.

I used cotton ones for this crochet project

and these super chunky wool (with super big knitting needles)

to make myself a snood (or is it a cowl?)

I've enjoyed working with these yarns and it's been fun getting

my knitting needles out again. It's actually been ages since

I've done any knitting and my knitting skills are the same

as my crochet ones--still at beginner's level, still learning.

Even with the simple stocking stitch I still made mistakes and

had to unravel a row or two every now and again.

I do envy those who can easily knit up a garment in an evening.

 I got there eventually and I'm very happy with my snood.
It's nice and soft, much warmer than I've expected.
I'll hopefully stay toasty wearing this when the colder weather
comes next week.

Just before the new year I treated myself to a copy of Simply Crochet
and a couple of old magazines. They're all full of beautiful and inspiring
projects and I have enjoyed looking through them with many
cups of tea and some treats.

There are clothes and home accessories in these copies
of stitchcraft that won't look out of date if worn or used today.
I've found this particularly interesting, how trends and styles
keep coming back.

There's a particular project in one of these magazines that
I'm very keen to make. I have all the needed yarn and I'm really
looking forward to getting started. Hope to be back soon
 with more happy yarny tales and makes.


Thanks for reading!

Have a lovely weekend!

Hello 2014

Happy New Year!

I hope you're all having a good start to 2014.
We took down all our Christmas decorations today.
It was a bit sad but the holiday season is now over and it's time
 to look forward to whatever this new year has in store for us.
I hope I'll be able to do more sewing and making for our home
and for us this year. At the moment I'm knitting myself a snood
and doing some crochet. I've also done a bit of embroidery with this
little cross stitch picture I made for my mother-in-law.

The motifs were copied from The Cross Stitch House
by Melinda Coss.

This was going to be part of her Christmas presents
but unfortunately I wasn't able to finish it on time. It turned out
to be a very late Christmas present, more like a New Year's gift,
which I'm glad to say, she was happy to receive.

I'm hoping to finish my knitting and crochet projects soon.
There's a christening present to make and more crochet.
Lots of fun crafting to look forward to!



Thank you for reading. Stay safe, warm and dry.

See you soon!