Cute coos

I think I've mentioned here before that when we have time for a quiet weekend at home Sunday has become my cross stitch day. Well when I say day that is a little bit of an exaggeration, I really mean that I try and grab an hour or two if I can.

If you have been kind enough to have been checking in on me regularly you'll know that my main project at the moment is a Dr Who piece. For reasons that I hope to get round to posting about sometime soon that project is on hold for a while. So in the meantime I've picked up a little something else.

I purchased this little bookmark kit from a charity shop a little while back for the princely sum of £1.  (Sorry about making you twist your head but am having a funny 5 and can't get blogger to do what I want it to right now and get this up the right way!!).

I'm a bit of a terror in that just as I can never stick with one crafty project at a time nor can I seem to read just one book at a time. (Especially at the moment living half the week at mine and half at James' I have to have at least one book on the go at each house).  Anyway multiple books need multiple bookmarks so this will get well used when it's done.

There is still a way to go and stitching time seems to be sparse at the moment but hopefully it'll come together before too long,

Fabric sale

Starting to have a really good spring clean. I have decided this year that I really want to pare back on the stuff I own. I just have too much. Clothes, books, craft stuff, everything really.

Now don't get me wrong I'm definitely never going to be a minimalist.  I love being surrounded by things.  Things make me feel cosy. But over the years and through various house moves I keep lugging round stuff that I just don't need any more. Books I know I'll never read again, clothes that don't fit properly or aren't to my taste, craft stuff that I don't have time to use anymore. Time to be ruthless, I need to simplify.

Starting with my fabric. Tucked away in my cupboard 5 totes of fabric. I wanted to try and half my collection, but wow was it tough to be ruthless.

In the end I have sorted out this little lot to try and rehome ..... boy there will be a lot of ebaying in my future!  Wish me luck (if any of my crafting friends are short of anything email me I might have it and be willing to strike up a deal or trade).

Fireworks in the bathroom

A while a go I painted my bathroom 'firework orange' (or at least one of its walls). 

I know orange isn't every one's cup of tea and a bright orange bathroom wouldn't be to every one's taste.  Even the guy at B&Q who mixed the paint for me raised an eyebrow when I asked for it.  But hey it's my bathroom, my favourite colour, I don't have anyone else to answer to and I love how it looks.

While I was having a root around in my yarn box last week I came across a ball or two of lovely bamboo cotton that I picked up from the bargain bin at a craft store a couple of years ago.

It looks pink in the picture above but you'll see a better representation of the lovely orange colour in the next shot.

I've been seeing lots of lovely hand made wash cloths everywhere recently and in need of some simple knitting to do whilst feeling ill last week I figured I'd give it a go and make some for myself.

I ended up with a small pile of four in the end.   In various stripe designs, from this book (also used recently for the ochre hat), although in all honesty no matter needed.  I do like how they turned out and think they look super piled up next to my bowl of lovely soaps by the handwash basin.

It feels good to have produced something pretty and practical in what was otherwise a bit of a wash out of a week (excuse the pun!).

Snapshots

It's been a bit of a miserable week here at the nest.  I've been suffering with a nasty bout of tonsillitis all week which has really knocked me out and had me feeling pretty low.  Then to top it off I had an allergic reaction to something on Friday which has left my face all red and blotchy. Nice!!

On a positive note as of yesterday I no longer feel as though I'm swallowing razor blades so hopefully I'm on the up again.  But as you can imagine I haven't been up to much this week so snapshots are a bit thin on the ground but still here they are......

Mostly you would have found me snuggled under my duvet on the sofa drinking various crushed ice concoctions and watching movies.

I also decided to drag out the yarn box and start thinking about options for my next hat from stuff I already have in my stash.

Rummaging through the yarn led to some simple knitting.  My brain couldn't cope with anything other than simple.

Hope you've all had better health than me.  Here's to a better week coming.

New on the hook

I'm busy searching round trying to decide which hat I want to make next. There are so many out there that I would love to have a go at, and there are many new techniques that I want to explore, for instance in all the years I've been knitting I've never made anything in the round. I will force myself to make a decision soon, and as it's pay day this week I may even treat myself to some posh new yarn to give me some incentive.

In the meantime having lots of yarn left over from the ochre hat I decided to start hooking up a pair of matching wristlets.

The pattern is from an issue of Simply Crochet I think, I'll look it up when I get home and post the proper details next time.  But after a couple of hours hooky time I've got one glove made already.

It's a cute little design.  I didn't get the side ties exactly right, it was a dark evening and working with dark yarn was quite tricky, but my mistake doesn't really show so have decided to leave as is and call this one done.

Hopefully the other will be done soon.  I do a lot of driving for my day job and my hands are always cold on the steering wheel so I could really do with these to keep me warmer.

Fun with frames

You might remember seeing in my snapshots post a couple of weeks ago this picture of one corner of my living room looking like a bomb had hit it.

After repainting the little box frame for the Kiss Me stitchery I came across some other frames that I thought I'd repurpose.  I had these three pictures that I purchased many moons ago for the first house I owned. 

And while the prints are cute they don't really fit anywhere in my new place and I'd really gone off the wooden frames.  When I was decorating my lounge I'd bought a few tester pots of various grey paints to try out on the walls, and figured these frames would be the perfect way to use up the rest of the paint thereby clearing a bit more clutter from the tool/decorating cupboard.

I love how they turned out.  Two have already been refilled with new art and are ready to be hung on the wall when I get round to it.  And seeing this photo has made me wonder whether one of the other unframed cross stitches I have might fit in to the third......I'll have to have a play when I get home from work later :)

Inspiration strikes

Back in this post I was sharing some of my adventures in thrifting and mentioned that I'd picked up these lovely box frames.

Wow was that really back last March? Time really does disappear in the blink of an eye!  They caught my eye because of the lovely unusual shapes.  The dried flower art in them was a tad dated and while I'm all for a bit of kitsch nostalgia the displays were a bit ragged and had seen better days.  I knew as soon as I saw them I could repurpose them at some point.

Taking another trip down memory lane back in this post I mentioned I'd started a quick cross stitch project.  Well it did get stitched up pretty quickly but I forgot to post again to show you.  So here is the finished little stitchery.

I have blue on my bedroom wall so I always intended this piece to be hung there.  The other day while I was having a good sort out I came across some left over paint that the previous owners of my flat had left in the back of the cupboard.  My bedroom walls are Laura Ashley duck egg blue no less.

Anyway inspiration struck and it turns out the frame and the stitchery were a perfect fit so in a jiffy I finally had that new piece of wall art ready to hang.

I know the frame looks white here and I will try and get a better photo at some point but it really is a lovely shade of pale blue. 

I'm working on framing up some more forgotten treasures that I've recently rediscovered in my spring clean and am hoping to make myself a bit of a gallery wall in my bedroom before too long so if I can pull that off this piece will end up there but it is already hanging in my bedroom on a random nail that was already in the wall.  Happy days.

Cozy things

I just realised that I have one last Christmas make that I haven't shared with you yet. Is it just me or does Christmas feel like it was an age ago already?  A couple of weeks back to work and it feels as though I never had that two weeks off!

Back here I mentioned that I'd started work on a gift for my Gran.  If you pop back to that post the second photo probably gives the most accurate depiction of the beautiful lilac colour of the yarn.  You'll have to excuse the photos here they were taken on a rather dull day.

I'm really pleased with how it turned out.  It ended up being the perfect fit for a standard sized bottle.  The Debbie bliss yarn is really expensive but it's so soft and luxurious, perfect for a snuggly hot water bottle cover. 

My Gran really loved it.  As I pick up a bulk pack of this yarn on Ebay I have some left so am thinking I might make one of these for myself too.  I'm also exploring the possibility of making a hat for my 2014 challenge too.

The cable pattern toook my a couple of attempts to figure out but it was really quite easy once I got my head around it.  And I found the perfect buttons to finish it off already in my stash which was really handy.

I'm wide awake at 6am as I'm typing this which is unheard of for me I'm a night owl these days but am having a few sleep issues at the moment.   I could really do with something snuggly like this right now to coax me back to bed.

My week in snapshots

Wow I think I blinked and missed the week, where did it go?  In a blur of long work days and busy evenings at home I think.  I managed a trip to the movies too. My tip if you go and see The Railway Man take a hanky there will be tears.

I've been in the mood to have a really good sort out at home.  My flat is in chaos now with piles of things that need to be listed on Ebay and things that need donating. 

This week I've been tired but happy.  Haven't taken many photos but just enough to justify a quick snapshots post.

Cooking dinner at my place for my true love.

 Starting a new cross stitch project.

 Basking in moonlight

Hope you have enjoyed your week.  Brightest blessings for the week to come x

Thrifty Finds

It's been a while since I've had the opportunity to get out and scour the local second hand shops for treasure.  With everywhere being so busy in the pre-Christmas madness I neither had the time or inclination.  And thanks to an unexpected bill for the last couple of weeks I've been scraping by on a few pounds a week.  But on Saturday I had an unexpected windfall arrive in the mail so I decided to treat myself to an hours shopping time.  Armed with a £10 note I went out for a wander to see what treasure I could unearth.

One of the advantages of living in the centre of town is that you don't have to carve out a whole morning of free time for a shopping trip.  I literally step out of my front door on to a High Street and have 4 charity shops within a five minute walk.(The picture above was taken this time last year, we haven't had any snow yet this winter, and shows a couple of the cute little shops that can be found on my doorstep)

Anyway I'm waffling a bit let's get to the nitty gritty.....what did I find?  First up this ball of yarn for £1.  I don't really need any more yarn but I love the colour (this would have been perfect for my ochre hat if only I'd not started and finished it!) and figured I might be able to use it as part of my hat challenge at some point.

Next in to my shopping bag went this 'as new' cookbook.  Hardback, and I have to admit to having a bit of a soft spot for our Jamie.  And at the bargain price of £1 I couldn't let this stay on the shelf.

I also managed to pick up a couple of other items for the kitchen.  A lovely cheesecake dish, cheesecake is my all time favourite.  The dish looks to be in a similar style to the soup bowls I collected a while ago that reminded me of my childhood.  And a small wooden pestle and mortar which was just too cute to leave on the shelf. £3.50 spent

Next up a gorgeous decorative plate.  A woodland theme.  Hand painted in Portugal it says on the back, perhaps it was a holiday souvenir that someone grew tired off.  Lucky for me

It's now found a home pride of place on my little dresser. £2 paid

And last but no means least an original art work.  I swear my heart positively skipped a beat when I saw this on the shelf.

Seriously how pretty is this little snow scene?  I almost passed out when I saw it had a price tag of only £1.50.  To think of all of the hours that must have gone in to the painting of this.  It hasn't been hung yet but I think it'll likely find a home in my hallway or bedroom haven't quite made up my mind.

All this and I came home with £1 in my pocket.  Now that's what I call a happy hour at the shops :)

2014 the year of the hat

Anyone read the lovely Liesl Made blog? Liesl has recently been doing a self challenge to make 12 hats. Anyone who visits here regularly will know that I am a big fan of the hat. I haven't set myself any real crafty goals for this year but I thought giving myslef a hat challenge would be just the thing.

So I am officially declaring 2014 the year of the hat.  I think 12 hats might be a bit ambitious so I've decided to give myself a target of 6. One every couple of months I think should be doable and if I manage more then all the better.

I'm happy to say that my challenge is already off to a flyer.  Two weeks in to the new year and I've already finished my first hat woohoo.

I picked out some yarn from my stash.  I purchased this way back in summer 2012 on my first trip to Yorkshire with plans to make something else that never quite came to fruition so I figured it was time for it to get used.

I picked a nice simple pattern from this lovely book.  A recent thrifty find at the bargain price of £2.  It never ceases to amaze me all of the good quality things that people give away.

A couple of lovely relaxing knitting and reading sessions over the Christmas break later and .......

....... voila one brand spanking new hat. And my first crafty finish of the new year.

Now don't get me wrong I like how it turned out and love the effect of the simple panels of alternating stocking stitch but I don't love it.  In the book the pattern is called 'ochre hat' and is made with a lovely ochre shade of yarn.  I just can't get over how lovely the one in the book looks and how for me, mine doesn't quite live up to that.  And it's nothing to do with the dreamy yarn I used I loved every minute of working with it.

I'm sure the hat will grow on me.  I'm not giving up on it and have worn it out a couple of times already so despite not falling for it yet it won't get shoved to the back of the cupboard forgotten and unloved.  After all I've never met a hat I didn't like .........

My week in snapshots

It's been a bit of a tough week at the Crow's nest this week, trying to get back in to the routine of work after almost two weeks off has been a struggle. I had to work a few hours Saturday morning too which made it a really long one. I've been pretty tired and grumpy and had a migraine and sore throat at various points in the week which hasn't helped improve my mood. All in all I'm glad this one is over and am hoping for better things next week.

Still I surprised myself by finding the motivation to take some snapshots and there were some glimmers of fun pepper potted amongst all the negative stuff I've just moaned about.  So this week if you had been spying on me you would have seen me......

Drinking delicious homemade smoothies from a wine glass ..... just because I can

Starting a new hooky project

The view from the nest got a little misted over at times this week

Making a mess

Baking,  Anyone for a slice of cake?

At least the week ended with cake :)  Hope you all had a better week than I did.  Here's hoping the coming week is much much better.  x

Autumn Mist

Time for another 'gifts I made for christmas' post.

Back here I started work on something that I planned for my brother and his lovely wife to be.  I'm pleased to reported that I managed to jump ahead of my self imposed schedule for working up the rows on this and had it finished and wrapped ready for giving by mid December.

Once I had the right tools for the job and got in to the rhythm of working the rows it was a pleasure to hook up.

I didn't get the best photos as trying to get decent light at this time of the year when you're generally at work in daylight hours is pretty tricky.

Please excuse the messy bedroom which forms the backdrop :)

I'm pleased to say that this was one gift that was well received.

I still have a bunch of this yarn left to so am thinking of hooking up another.  The weathermen keeping threatening us with a cold snap so this will be the perfect thing to work on as it will keep me warm as it grows.

My week in snapshots

I've had such a lovely week.  I'm sure you can tell just by the fact that I've been posting here every day that I've been off work.  It's been a total recharge the batteries week and boy has it been most welcome.

Time off when you are a full time worker is very precious and there always seems to be immense pressure to make the most of it by cramming every minute full of something.  This year, in large part due to James starting a new job back in the summer and not wanting to take too much time off, I reached the end of the year with a fair amount of leave to take.

It's felt like pure indulgence to be off work for the week and to not have anything planned in.  No travel, no DIY, no appointments just a week of free time, heaven (and my Dad came to visit us for a couple of days too which was lovely).  So this week aside from blogging, at various points you could have found me..........

Gaming.........a total Final Fantasy overdose

 Arranging ........ prettying up a corner of the bathroom with some of the treats I received from family and friends at Christmas

 Reading ..... plenty of it.  Pure luxury to run a warm bubble bath mid afternoon and lose yourself in the pages of a book for a while.

Eating......still plenty of this going on.  New year guilt hasn't kicked in yet, I suspect that will be next week when I'm back in 'routine'.  I'm a total night owl when I'm off work, going to bed in the wee hours means getting up late means breakfast at 2pm....what could be better than that especially when someone else cooks it for you.

And finally lots of planning.... James and I have spent some time talking, thinking, dreaming and planning for the year ahead.  2013 was good we're hoping to make 2014 awesome :)

Thanks for dropping by to check out my week, hope you guys have all had a good one too xx