Sharing....

.....these prayers and blessings with everyone :o). This lovely lady brought some back for me so they are now fluttering in the wind in the back garden. They look stunning. Thank you again Ruth.

It's my brother and sister's birthday today so here's the cards....

.....and a star hanger thingy for my sister. She also received the crochet scarf that I made at the beginning of the year. She thought it was a table runner but hey ho! :o).

Oh, and I just have to show you these. They are my first ever lasagnes! I've never eaten lasagne as I've never liked it, which meant that no-one else got to eat them either. Well today I was going out for dinner with my sister for her birthday so I thought I'd have a go at making one for the boys. I made that much that I have one for the freezer too...and even better...I tried a bit and I loved it!!!!! Think I shall be adding that to our menu then (and buying myself a proper lasagne dish).

Ouch!

Just spent an hour pinning all these stars on a towel for blocking so my fingers are very sore. Note to self: must get more pins with balls on the top. Sprayed with water then I just leave them to dry. I should have done this months ago as they've been sat there far too long but at least I'm doing it now, eh?!

I found this stick months and months ago and saved it so I could do some weaving with the kids that I'd seen on Sarah's blog. I got it out on wednesday but the kids weren't interested so I sat and did it myself. I've not done any weaving since I was at school and I quite enjoyed it...very therapeutic.

Don't forget to take a peek at the new forum.....we're a friendly bunch over there. Hope the sun is shining for you all.

Stars....

....lots and lots of stars. Using up loads of bits of wool for these, then I'm going to make them into bunting/garland type thing. As the wool for each is different, it makes the stars different sizes, and they are really quick to make so the piles are growing quite quickly. They are worked just like a granny square except you start with a chain of 5 instead of 4, then work 5 trebles for the first round (instead of the four as you would on the granny square), then continue on as many rounds as you like, then I just do 2 rounds of single crochet to finish them off. These definitely need blocking to make the points more pronouced. Apologies for the appalling explanation :o), but if you can do a granny square, you can do one of these. Have fun x

And breathe....

Thank you all so much for the comments on my previous post. The 27th was definitely the low point of christmas, but after playing with the kids and sitting on my butt an awful lot the past few days, I feel refreshed, renewed and ready for action! And Big mamma frog - I am definitely the weirdo/nutter in the family whether I handmake things or not ;o), I think the problem for me is that people just don't take a few minutes to think about who they are buying for, or what they are buying, so it just saddens me to think of the waste when just a small thought beforehand would have made such a difference. Don't know whether that makes any sense to anyone else but I hope you understand what I mean :o). Anyway, back to the last few days. Above is a couple more headbands with flowers. Really enjoying crochet at the minute as it's quick and can be put down to do something else without losing where you are.

This is a choker that I started late last night then decided after midnight that I really must go to bed. Will finish it later.

I'd done a few stars before christmas so I sat and made this the other evening too. The string inbetween the stars is too long to I think I'll have to change it.


I quite fancy a go at making a rag rug, or at least using the rag rug technique on something else - got loads of ideas whirling round my head at the minute!! I think I'm also going to make some of the felt moustaches for the shop too - they went down very well in this house, so maybe good for party bags.

My sister buys those stinky candles :0( which left loads of wax in the bottom of the jar, so I've re-melted it all and added some beeswax for her. It's in my new laundry room cooling as I can't stand the smell, just so artificial.

And to try and counter-act the other smell, I've made some beeswax hearts. These smell soooo good. I'm going to try and melt a hole in so I can hang them up with some ribbon.

Thank you again for your lovely thoughts, comments and care. I've just added a beautiful video from my favourite album of the year, so take a look if you can.

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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.....