bee handmade

sunshine

Gosh sunshine - what can I say ... It makes such a difference. It's been a beautiful weekend and that welcome spring sunshine encourages your body to relax and your face wear a smile.

Some hipstamatic pictures of the first bbq of 2010

 

The ripple blanket is growing. It's quite meditative as the pattern is so easy - very handy as I can't be bothered with anything too taxing.

And finally a prototype pompom mobile. I'm not totally happy with the design. I need to rethink things and work out a way of giving the pompoms more room to breathe but I like the basic idea.

plodding

Well morning sickness certainly isn't conducive to productivity. I'm about 18 weeks pregnant and still feel sick and lethargic for the majority of the time. If anyone has any miracle cures please let me know. The enduring refrain in my house is as follows:

"Guess what? I still feel sick"

"Don't worry, it won't last forever ..."

At least one of us is able to be optimistic!

I really haven't been up to beavering away on my sewing machine but I have managed to start this ripple blanket. The good news is that it grows pretty quickly. I just need to actually muster the energy to get on with it.

We also had a week in Andalucia which was lovely. We stayed at the warm, welcoming and secluded Casa Olea and it was fabulous to see some sunshine.

This is a view from the hotel terrace. It was taken using the Hipstamatic app on my iphone. It's the best app I've downloaded so far and I'd really recommend it if you like retro looking pictures.

We were surrounded by olive strewn countryside. The oil and the olives themselves were delicious.

More pictures to come when I get my lomo films developed.

Oh, and I've just noticed that the ripple blanket accidentally echoes the colours of the picture below it. Serendipity!

ta daaa ...

It's finally finished, well aside from ironing, but I wanted to take some pictures before it got too dark. I hope the ironing will get rid of the slight crinkling in the border. It feels good to be able to think about other projects to start. Maybe a patchwork quilt or a ripple blanket.

 

 

The colours make me think of spring. Hopefully the brief moment of sun we had he other day was a portent of things to come. I've had enough of being cold - I'm ready for some sunshine and flowers.

Now I just have to decide where the blanket is going to live ...

make lounge

I spent a really enjoyable evening at The Make Lounge this week. I attended the zipper clinic and it was good fun, friendly and informative. I'd recommend going to one of their classes if you live or work near London.

I learned some useful techniques and also made this.

 

As I haven't had any formal sewing instruction since school it's good to learn the correct way to do things.

I've also been doing a little bit of crochet inspired by knitalatte. I just sort of made the pattern up as I went along. It has encouraged me to do fine lace, although I slightly hesitant to start yet another project as I haven't yet finished this or this blanket.

 

I have a much appreciated day off today so have done a little bit of gardening and now need to do something with these.

shades of white

Random pictures taken over the last week or so. The only theme being shades of white (slightly tenuous!)

The beginnings of a crochet lace blanket.

I came across this pattern on poppalina and was immediately drawn to how cobweb soft it looked.  I couldn't find any laceweight silk so am using soft crochet cotton. Once you get into the rhythm it's a nice pattern to work. I feel like I'm crocheting porridge, and I love porridge.  As poppalina says it's a handy size to carry around in a bag. After the multi colours of my hexagon blanket it's good to work with a soothing oatmeal shade.

Scented stocks. These flowers had a beautiful smell but unfortunately didn't last that long.

 

Fairy cakes made by my mum on a long awaited visit home.

Our first home-grown vegetable! It gracefully enhanced a potato salad.

The first home bbq of the year and some tasty organic chicken and sausages.

Zabaglione and langue de chat - using up eggs is such a trial ;-)

It was so nice to eat outside on a warm Sunday evening.

easter

It's been rainy and miserable outside.  Typical holiday weekend weather!  Nevermind, I've been sewing and cooking. I made chocolate and banana bread but we were so intent upon eating it that I forgot to take a picture.

Easter chickens courtesy of a tutorial by the extremely witty Molly Chicken.

Cheeky looking ladies aren't they?  Here's a picture of one of the baby chicks.

I've also been making more crochet hexagon progress.

My plan is to do some joining and sewing in of ends in stages so I'm not faced with embarking upon the most tedious bit in one fell swoop!

Bye bye, happy Easter.

plodding along

Handmade was the order of the day for mother's day cards. I was playing around with some scraps of lace and linen (very thrifty) and made two different designs. I wanted to keep them simple and light.

A chicken.

Some trees. The trunks are made of rick rack which I cut in half.

The pile of crochet hexagons is also growing gradually. Bee likes lying on them.

However I'm being distracted by re watching 'Wives and Daughters'. Love it.

I've also been naughty and purchased MORE craft books. This and this. I'm looking for inspiration for a full sized quilt for the bedrooom and would also like to make the kimono dress in the Heather Ross book. I've never made any clothes before (not counting those made for dolls when I was younger!) so am looking forward to experimenting.

the cat's whiskers

Is having a few days off work so being able to make time to do some crafting. First up a Lotta Jansdotter door stop from this book.

Bee was desperate to get in on the photography action. The door stop is fashioned out of Ikea fabric and feels nice and substantial. I used a large quantity of rice to fill it!

Next up some crochet corsages. Two made out of cotton and one of embroidery thread. The larger ones remind me of succulent plants.

I also did some decluttering and found a handkerchief that I edged when I was young. It was my first crochet project, taught by my grandmother. I'd forgotten all about it. Not just make do and mend but make do and enhance!

Time off also allows a different kind of lunch. Exit the canteen or packed lunch standards and enter a modest chorizo omlette. Nothing fancy, just makes a change.

Oh and not forgetting more indulgent pastries for breakfast.

The sun has been shining and the promise of spring is filling the air, which reminds me that I really need to finish this w.i.p.. The sunshine and lighter nights are also making me hanker after spring clothing. I've been spending too much time browsing here, here and here. The toast catalogue is beautiful, as many, many people have already mentioned! It also reminds me of my honeymoon in Greece. Happy days.

I really love this dress. If only it came in a different colour. My colouring can't cope with fuchia pink.

 

The final cat's whiskers is the fact that Bee's are curly!

a little crochet

I've been working on lots of little things lately. After finishing the baby quilt I didn't want to jump right into another 'commitment project'.

I rediscovered my Crochet Inspiration book the other day and made a couple of flowers.

Crochet pansy in Rowan Kidsilk Haze and ruffle flower in Debbie Bliss cotton

I prefer the way the pansy tuned out.  The ruffle may have been more successful if I'd used a softer yarn.

I've also spent the weekend working on a bit reorganisation of my crafting clutter, transferring everything from extremely over filled Muji drawers to a new Ikea Expedit unit. It was very cathartic. I can actually see what I own now and don't have to tip whole drawers of stuff out to find one thing. As I'm sure I've said before I LOVE tidying. P thinks it's an obsession but I prefer to think of it as endearing quirk!

One of my discoveries was some vintage thread that used to belong to my grandmother.

Why don't spools of thread look as appealing now? I much prefer the graphic design and more homely feel of older packaging. I'm one of those kinds of people who are horrified if the design of Marmite jars changes! As William Morris said “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful”. I strive to achieve this goal but unfortunately have to fight a tendency to accumulate and hoard. Onwards and upwards though :-)

w.i.p.

I generally have lots of projects on the go at once, mainly because I have a pretty eclectic approach to crafting. I sometimes think it would be nice to be a quilter or a knitter or an embroiderer ... In reality I get involved in and excited by an overwhelming range of disciplines. Jack of all trades and master of none!

I got this book a while ago and have adapted one of the patterns to make a bag for my current crochet w.i.p.

 

 

 

The learning curve for this one was that someone not great at maths shouldn't freestyle with measurements when scaling up a pattern! I ended up sheepishly trimming the central panel and zip.

The crochet project was something I've been meaning to start for ages. Ever since seeing this amazing blanket grow.  Here is the flickr group where you can see lots of hexagons and details of the book containing the pattern.

From baby cashmerino.

 

To the full set of colour combinations.

To the growing pile.

 

I've been doing a lot of sewing on my new machine lately which is great but not that sociable. I decided to start something which I could work on while sitting with P.  What a good wife!

Oh, one more thing. I have a whole bolt of the beautiful Kokka fabric and will be selling it on my ebay shop soon.