Catch-up :o)

Blimey it's been a while so there's lots of pictures to show you :o). My brother has wanted to be a tattoo artist for years, so now he's got his equipment I volunteered to be a guinea pig. This is what we managed saturday night. He's having trouble getting the transfer to stay which is why my fairy only has a face and a wing! ;o).

Haven't made a swiss roll for years so I whipped this up quick the other day for tea. Only took 25 mins start to finish. I wasn't particulary impressed though..to rubbery for me :o(.

The wonderful Attic24 had a very simple heart pattern the other day so I did a few. Very easy and very effective I think.

A bowl I'm not particularly happy with.

The scarf all finished with the beads. I'm really pleased with this as it's for my sister's birthday in June.

Some snakes. I'm going to fill these with wheat so they move about rather than laying stiffly.

,And finally, the crochet star bunting. I actually finished these last week but I've been so rubbish with the online blog/shop stuff I really must make more of an effort. Not going to sell anything if I don't put it in the shops I am?!

No housework to be done until next week?

See, those snowflakes up there? I made those....with a pattern....ALL by myself.....I read a crochet pattern!!!!!!!!!!! :o). They're from Attic24, such a wonderful blog, very easy to follow instructions, with pictures too. I'd seen some stars somewhere else so I thought I'd have a go at those too - no pattern, just looking at the pictures. Once all the yule crafting is finished there may be a minor snowflake flurry in the house.

These, along with a crochet snowflake (think I may have mentioned those all ready ;o) ) are my season swap. Don't know if the person I've sent them to reads this blog but I couldn't wait to show you.

On with the yule crafting then. Here we have the finished bath bags. So easy to make as they take minutes to put together. I made lavender ones and chamomile ones, so I just put a handful of oats and a handful of dried flowers into the middle of a square of muslin, then pick it up by the corners so you can make the bunch then fasten with ribbon. Easy peasy. The sugar scrub was even easier. 2 cups of soft brown sugar, 1/2 cup sunflower oil, 1/4 cup of jojoba oil and 1/4 cup of sweet almond oil, then 40 drops of essential oil of your choice. For this one (as my sister loves sweet smelling things) I've used cinnamon. Mix together in a bowl then put into your chosen container. When my shopping arrives I'm going to tie a couple of cinnamon sticks onto the jar as well. This smelt soooo good I nearly licked my fingers once I'd scrapped the last bits off the spoon!!!

On and off throughout the day I managed to make 12 more gift bags. These ones were super easy as I just cut a rectangle out of fabric, folded it over to make the bag the stitched all the way round. These will be fastened with ribbon tied on them or around them depending on what's in them. The two bundles at the front are the cocoa butter hearts wrapped in muslin.

I must tackle some of the washing today as I can't find the corner of my bathroom and the kids keep asking me for clean pants. I probably should clean the bathroom too, and maybe hoover the house at some point, as we also have a birthday in the house on Monday, which means guests will be in and out all day. Erm.....

Surprising myself

It's amazing the lack of confidence we have in our own abilities isn't it - I'm sure it's not just me. Well, I've surprised myself again by re-teaching myself how to crochet granny squares. My Mum taught me when I was in my teens, and thinking back it's probably 18 years since I last did any. She used to start me off and then pass it to me when there was 3 rounds - then I would just go round and round so it was a big square. Well, inspired by Claire, Becky, Joxy and Lucy, I got my hook out again on Tuesday. I've attempted this a couple of times already over the last few months but never mastered it - well, Tuesday was the night and I made 5 little squares using the bamboo wool that I got a few weeks ago. Amazing - I was so thrilled - my hubby knows I'm bonkers already but on Tuesday he was rolling his eyes ;-). Yesterday I sat and made another 22 and then this afternoon and this evening I've done another 3 (to finish the balls of wool) and then weaved all the ends in. Since this is my first go I'm going to do the blocking as well - might as well start as I mean to go on :-).