Tuesday, April 13, 2010

The Good, the Bad and the UGLY.

I have been converted. I have crossed over. I am going to have to set up a new blog. I never thought it would happen to me. But it has. I am addicted to.......

CROCHET!!

It began about a year ago when I learnt how to make a granny square from that guy Mike off Youtube. Remember I asked for any scrap donations of wool as I wanted to make my dd a big blanket?? Well, I have finished it... but more about that later.

This passion really began with this lovely lady's photos:

ElizabethCat

Please take a moment and see how inspiring this girl's work is! Truely breathtaking.

So this then lead to me getting some of this:

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and with lots of help from the aforesaid lady, I was able to make my first African flower motif:

first african flower

Not quite sharp enough at the edges but a great first attempt.

This lead to this:

next blanket

which will go towards making a nice little blanket me thinks.

But back to the aforesaid granny blanket. This is definitely the "Ugly" in the title post but my dd loves it and I learned a lot through doing it. I even learned how to "join as you go" to join the squares up. Now I have some ideas about colour and organisation and so the next one will be oh so much better.

Granny blanket finished April 10

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I remember having a similar crochet blanket when I was a child and I used to do so much with it. I used it to play on. I used it as a tent between mine and my sister's beds. I used to comfort myself with it and use it to dress up as a queen! I hope my dd will get a lot of pleasure from it.

Sally, Barb, Tracy and I believe Lesleyanne and I are doing the At Home with Jane Austen by The Sampler Girl SAL which was in the Gift of Stitching magazine a year or so ago. I have made a measly start. This is the "bad" in my title. :( However, a start is a start and it is an enjoyable stitch too. Just wish I had all the threads doh!

At Home with Jane Austen

Here's the good. The very good in fact. I thought I'd save the best till last. My friend and I have been working on big big big baps (you know - the one my dad is now working on :S). Well, my friend, after many years of toil has finally finished her masterpiece. She didn't work on any other project in the 5 or 6 years that it has taken her to finish this. She says she is now going to hang up her needle! It truely is a work of art. Amazing. The design is from Golden Kite and contains lots of blends. I should know the title of this art piece but for the moment it escapes me. We had champagne to celebrate her putting in her last stitch. So without further ado....

Ta Daaaaaaaa!!

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Congratulations Michelle!

Thanks for all the lovely emails for the RAKs. I'll be getting on with a few of those soon. Thanks for your kindness and friendship.xx



Tuesday, April 06, 2010

OPW and RAK anyone???

Okay, here's my official progress for this weekend:

April Progress

I never touched the Ink Circles!!! Arghhhh. However, I did get 3 bands finished on the Just Nan. Yay! I really like working on this design. I really like this last band although I did make a couple of mistakes on it - don't know how :S

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RAKs (Random Acts of Kindness)

Now I was recently reading Sharon's blog and she has decided to offer out some raks for anyone that is interested and I really liked her approach so much that I have decided to copy her idea and put a similar thing on my own blog. One thing I like to do is surprise people with a little trinket, a trifle of stitching sweetness or other such gift now and again but it can be really hard to surprise people when you have to email them and ask for their snail mail address!!!! Sooooooo..... if you would like to be considered for something surprising in the future (and I really would love everyone who reads or is vaguely interested in my blog to do this) then please could you email me your real name and your address and your blog link. I have a folder ready to place all my RAK email addresses in. No promises, no guarantees, but it is there ready for me when the moment takes me. Does that sound fair? Then one day you just might get a little surprise through the post from me. Might not be big, might not be small. Just a "something". Interested??? My email can be found in my profile. Sharon was worried no one would email her - can you imagine?? I really hope people email me. Please put RAK as the email title.

So a new month. I am currently working on another pair of socks but will hopefully have a post next time. What will get stitched this month I wonder? Hope you all have a good month. I am very happy as dh is arriving home from Japan tomorrow. It has been such a long time (nearly 3 months in total) and I will be more than pleased to see him home for good.

Monday, April 05, 2010

P4260125ac The Saint Cross Symbol of Christianity

Have a blessed Easter!

Friday, April 02, 2010

Official Progress Weekend (OPW)

Tonight is the start of our first "Official Progress Weekend" or OPW as I am going to call them. Tracy and I have decided to work on our Ink Circles and Just Nan SALs and see what progress we can make this weekend. Here is my before shots:

Ink Circles:

March 10 progress

Just Nan:

March wip

I will post again on Monday to show progress. I hope to have many more of these OPWs.

Hope everyone has a lovely Easter Weekend. I am spending mine with friends seeing as my dh is away.

Don't eat too much chocolate!

PS Thank you for all your encouraging comments regarding blog reading. I am so glad I am not alone.