Friday 20 April 2012

Ollie the Octopus

Since taking up sewing again and crochet I always say that I'll make gifts for friends and family but somehow never do.  It was my husband's niece's birthday a couple of months ago.  I started on a poncho for her that got put aside after the design started to go awry and it looked like it would be another gift that never made it out of my head. Then I started looking through my old magazines and I found a supplement called "Creative Crochet" that came with an issue of Making Magazine, which had a pattern for a cute little octopus. Perfect!

I made the tentacles multi-coloured and gave it a yellow mop of hair instead of a hat, and Ollie was born.

And I'm happy to report that Ollie is no longer in my possession. Gift gifted!


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Monday 16 April 2012

Pretty Things - Embroidered Piano Stool

While we were on holiday in the New Forest I saw this needlework piano stool in a coffee shop.

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Thursday 5 April 2012

Thrify Thursday - Craft Books

Every now and again when I pass a charity shop, I like to pop in and see what craft books they have on offer.  So far I've spent about £10 on books and patterns, never spending more than £1 on a single item.  My latest find is "The Colour Library Book of Creative Needlecrafts".

It's an absolute treasure trove of techniques, stitches and designs covering Knitting, Crochet, Embroidery, Patchwork, Applique and Quilting, and all for only 50p!!!

I was especially interested in the Crochet and Embroidery sections, and those alone would have been worth the original price of £15.95.

While the clothes patterns are a very dated (it was published in 1987), the home projects and motifs are still relevant or could easily be adapted to be made more up-to-date.

There's enough in here to keep me busy for years!