Crafty Mum - crochet pyjama cases

I've been teaching myself crochet for two or three years now, and this has been my most ambitions project yet.

In the Bumper Book of Crochet (from Dorling Kindersley - no affiliation) they have a pattern for a turtle back pack.  A couple of years ago my big sis (Seaside Belle blogs here) mentioned that her children might like a hand-made pyjama case for Christmas, but at the time I had a backlog of craft projects and not enough time.  I did remember though, so this year started to make the turtles,  I just left off the straps to make them pyjama cases and not backpacks.

I have to confess that this has taken me a very long time.  To begin with I started learning to make the first hexagons for the turtles back when I was on a pretty high dose of steroids, so I had terrible cramps in my hands and found any kind of craft work hard-going.  I decided to make one in fresh jungle type colours for my nephew (age 4), and one in Frozen colours (turquoise, pinks and purples) for my niece (age 6).  

I was making pretty good progress with the Frozen one, and had made the front of the turtle, the head, tail and all the legs, but somehow they didn't seem right.  It was only as I looked much more closely at the individual stitch instructions while completing the back of the turtle around the edge of the hexagons (away on holiday in August) that I realised I'd been using entirely the wrong stitch for all the other pieces - doing them in treble instead of double.  That was why they looked like cones instead of disks!  Once I realised this it didn't take me long to undo them and re-use the wool to crochet correctly.  I then had a plan to get them completed by the end of October, but failed because I hadn't ordered the zips.  I wasn't far behind though, and I think I can safely reveal them before I pop some pyjamas in them and wrap them up for Christmas ready for niece and nephew.

What's your latest project?  What's your next one?

My next one is to put some scenery on C's model railway which is looking sadly unloved and empty.  I've set myself an ambitious deadline of Christmas (ahem, that's not very far away!) to create a hillside, cliff, railway tunnel, cave for the dragon, and ruined castle.  I'll post again on here very soon and let you know how I'm getting on with that!

Crafty mum - seed bead jewellery

I first got inspired to try making seed-bead jewellery after a trip to Tanzania back in 2006.  The Masai women that we saw created and sold some incredible decorative jewellery.  As usual I wondered if I would be able to make something, and on the plane ride home started thinking about how it could work.

Photo from www.maasai-asssociation.org 

Seed beads are very inexpensive, and the materials and tools you need to make the jewellery is minimal.  Choose the colours you want, and get started.  I used my own designs and experimented with different techniques, which haven't all been successful, but I've just had a glance on Google and found loads of awesome designs and tutorials on the web if you prefer to have a go at something that's been tried and tested.

Over the last decade I've occasionally dipped into my seed-bead box to have a go at something new, or to make a personal gift for somebody, but I've got so many crafts on the go that I've not really dedicated much time to learning the art properly.

The example above is a poor one.  I made a bracelet and a necklace for my daughter and my two nieces for Christmas, and also painted a little jewel box to present them in.  Unfortunately, one of my nieces, aged 6, broke hers just minutes after she opened it.  I'd fastened it on for her, demonstrating the barrel clasp, but she immediately tugged it to take it off, assuming it was elastic, and it snapped.  I took it back from her, promising to fix it and send it back,  I finally got around to it two weeks ago, reworking it with double thread to make it a bit more robust.  It proves impossible to get four threads through some of the beads though, so the result is a little scruffier than it was before.

Have you made any seed bead creations?  Fancy sharing a link or a picture?

Christmas is coming!

Yesterday on Facebook I saw a post from a friend saying that his wife had the Christmas cake in the oven, and we get to the sudden realisation that Christmas must be coming. 

I remember as a child that Christmas was not allowed to begin (i.e. talking about it, shopping for it, getting excited about it) until after Dad's birthday (20th November), which held back the craziness nicely.  We have a similar rule here chez Inkspots - Hubby's birthday is the 29th November.

Not quite that easy though.  Here are the things that thrust Christmas earlier onto our conscience:

• THE SHOPS.  Yes, the Christmas things came out as soon as the Back to School things went away, shoulder to shoulder with Halloween delights.  Now that Halloween is out of the way they can go at Christmas with gusto!
• MAIL ORDER.  Many of us now do the bulk of our Christmas shopping on-line, preferring an evening with the laptop and a glass of wine to the hot shops/ cold outdoors crush of pre-Christmas shopping (except maybe as a one-off to buy a couple of things and smugly sample the Gluwein at a Christmas market while raising your eyebrows at the antics of the non-mail-order shoppers).
• CRAFTING.  Anybody who plans to make gifts for Christmas, table decorations, Advent calendars and so on will should already be well underway with their endeavours to have any hope of getting it all done in time.
• SCHOOL.  If you're a parent you may well be aware that the children are already practising Christmas songs (that's me doing that!) and the Christmas play - all that starts straight after half term.  If your school is one of the many that sells Christmas cards designed by the children themselves, then your child will have designed their card weeks ago and you'll probably already have had to submit your order.  Teachers are right now planning what Christmas delights they will be making to send home with the children so that they can squeeze it all in with the Christmas play, carol concerts and maybe even a bit of reading and writing. 
• FAMILY PLANS.  I've had the message from one sister asking for ideas for the children's gifts, to which I have duly responded, keeping a few ideas back for when my in-laws ask the same question nearer December, and one or two for me too.  We've made our plans of when we are visiting each part of the family over the Christmas period and where we'll be on Christmas Day, and have also got another invitation to reply to.

So far I've got as far as: 

• preparing the Christmas songs to inflict on the children at school, 
• contributed to the ideas for the Christmas production at school, 
• planning the school PTA Christmas fair,
• making a list of what I am going to gift each member of my family, highlighting things that need making,
• planning our Christmas, including trying to work out when the best time will be to go to the supermarket... too early and the food will go off while we're away visiting the in-laws, leave it until we get back and it's OMG CHRISTMAS EVE AT THE SUPERMARKET!

I still need to:

• plan what and when I'm going to cook or bake,
• actually do something to help with the Christmas fair.
• Sing the Christmas songs with the children at school so that we don't deafen the old folks at the residential home we are visiting at the beginning of December.
• make stuff on my list,
• buy stuff on my list,
• write Christmas cards, and oh... everything else.... jingle, jingle... Christmas is a-coming!
  

Pencil cases - Monday Make

This week I've made nine pencil cases.  Eight are to sell through Sunbow Designs - either Etsy or Folksy (see links on the right) or directly.  The ninth isn't in this picture, I personalised the embroidery and made it as a birthday present for Bug's friend.

They are all lined, and I decided to make half of them with the patterned fabric on the outside and plain turquoise lining, and the other half with the turquoise on the outside, embellished with applique and embroidery, and the patterned fabric to line.

This fabric comes with blue, pink and cream backgrounds.  I've made reusable washable snack-packs and sandwich wraps with the bird-love blue background, and I've sold all of them.  I was looking for some butterfly fabric for these pencil cases, but couldn't find any on this visit to my favourite fabric shop, so decided to go with a fabric that has proven popular on my Etsy and Folksy shop so far.  Maybe I'll even get some repeat custom from people who've already bought a sandwich wrap?

The making process for these is pretty straightforward once you've done it a few times, and especially if you're making several at once.  Next time I make pencil cases I'll remember to take step-by-step photographs and will include a tutorial.

What have you been making this week?

Handmade felt baby mobile - Monday Make

I thought that each Monday I'd share something I've made recently - Monday Make.
Sometimes I'll have made it for my home, sometimes to sell at Sunbow Designs, sometimes for a gift, and sometimes it'll be something that the children have made.  Sometimes I'll do a tutorial, and other times I'll just post a picture and a brief description.

I'm going to start off with this handmade felt baby mobile.

A friend recently adopted a baby, and to congratulate the new family, the toddler group in the village decided to put together a hamper for them.  I opted to source a mobile for baby's bedroom.

A quick scoot on pinterest for some ideas, a quick trip to Hobbycraft for the materials and a couple of hours sewing over half term and we have a moon and stars mobile.  I helped make some Christmas decorations for the school Christmas fair, and they were sewn with blanket stitch in gold metallic thread, which I thought looked really special, so for this mobile I used silver metallic thread... I think it adds a certain Je ne sais quoi.  It turns out I didn't attach the stars terribly well, the thread un-knotted and slipped through a couple of times, but my friend says that she's sorted it.  I love the effect, but if I was going to do it again I'd probably add another cross at the top so that there were eight strands of stars.  Or I'd hang them from a ring so that I could put as many strands of stars on as I'd like.

Now I have to get my thinking cap on for a suitable "welcome to the world" gift for my next nephew or niece, who is due at the end of March, so could make an appearance at any time now!

Latest crafting... Santa needed some help...

So, I had a message from Santa.  It seems that Mrs Christmas' arthritis has been causing her problems with her knitting this year, so he asked me to lend a hand with a couple of items for my children's Christmas stockings.

Of course I told him that would be no problem, and thanks for letting me know in plenty of time, and got busy.  The patterns are from "Knitted Toys" by Jean Greenhowe.  

The one with the purple hat is for C, as purple is currently his favourite colour, and the one with the green hat and scarf is for Bug, as though she has no favourite colour yet, her eyes are green.

I'm trying out photographing with a light box, as I don't feel that my photos really do justice to how I want this blog to look... what do you think?  Less cluttered or too empty?  The pencil is there to show the scale of the penguins.

"Let's Make it Together" - a birthday present for Mummy.

I had a birthday back at the beginning of September (it seems to happen every year, not sure how I manage it!).  This year C bought me a boat.  Just a little one.  One that we could make together.  It's gorgeous.

It's from "The Little Experience" and is a "build it sailing boat kit", available here from The Ethical Superstore.  It even comes with a snazzy little suitcase, as well as everything you will need to make it.

The main hull and keel of the boat is already as one piece, but you put in the mast, paint it, attach the sails and varnish it so that it will actually float on the water.

C has helped me with every step in the process.  We've painted together - this has been a real lesson in patience, as I've only allowed one bit, in one colour to be painted at a time and then left to dry before painting the next bit.  He chose the name for the boat "Cup of Tea" (I think I was drinking one at the time when I asked him to suggest a name).  He helped me use the transfers (I bought these separately) for the name lettering.  He glued in the mast.  And he varnished the boat all by himself (can you tell?).  Now we just have to wait for the varnish to dry and attach the sails, and then we'll be trying it out on the baby bath in the garden.  I can't wait!  

What a fabulous present idea, as something that we made together it's definitely something that I'm going to treasure.

This post is not sponsored in any way by "The Little Experience" company and is entirely my own views on the product.