Another Christmas and crochet post!

 

I can't quite believe it is Monday morning again! Time seems to be absolutely whizzing by at the moment... We had quite a lazy and relaxed weekend here, which was nice as my week had been quite busy with various things. 

Had a lovely trip to Bath on Monday for a spot of fabric shopping (my favourite kind of shopping) and a general wander round the shops. It was the last day of the beautiful weather and wearing a t-shirt and flip flops it felt like July rather than October... just gorgeous! Sadly it is now cold, grey and miserable here, Summer has definitely gone for this year!

I do like shopping by myself. I can spend as long as I want pondering over fabric choices, umming and ahhing to my hearts content, no one looking bored or chivveying me along. I stocked up on lots of basic colours, some fabric for a new commission, and some lovely Christmassy fabrics too (more about those in a bit).

I then had a quick trip to the indoor market to the haberdashery stall - where I bought up a load more of their Christmas red and white twisted cord....

It's not the same as normal baker's twine, it is thicker and made of a man-made fiber but it is so very festive I love it. I'd bought a small amount a few weeks ago and was really relieved they still had some left. Not sure what exactly it will be used for but it will be fab for Christmas decorations and garlands I'm sure!

I also treated myself to my first Christmas decoration of the year... I really wasn't intending to, but Rossiter's already had their Christmas shop open and I couldn't resist this little one...

a cute little Gingerbread House for the tree...

...these tins also found themselves a new home too :) I can never have enough tins, especially such pretty ones!

Lastly these bargain paper chains also came home with me...

I'd seen them here before but at £6.95 plus delivery they were a bit pricey. So when I saw them for only £3 at the market, I snapped them up!! Going to have lots of fun making these up in a couple of months, I remember doing them with my brother when we were small!

So apart from shopping, I also was working hard last week on more Christmas products using some of the new festive fabrics I got in Bath... 

 Little fabric covered buttons for all those Christmas sewing projects! They come in sets of two like so...

and are £2.95 plus delivery per set, or £8.00 for all three sets. You can find them here :)

Also, matching handbag mirrors! How cute is the reindeer fabric? I am in love!

They are sold individually for £2.75 each, or both for £5.00 :) Find them here... I loved making these - so hopefully they will be popular over the next couple of months!

I'll be doing a couple more designs too similar to these very soon - just waiting on some more fabric to arrive in the post! Ordered it last Monday so I'm really hoping it hasn't got lost somewhere, I'm impatient to get going on them.

Gosh this is turning into a super long post isn't it??!! Last thing to tell you, I promise... is that I also started blanket number 2 on Friday evening. I'd put it off all week, one as I had lots of work to concentrate on, but also, I was dreading the first couple of tricky rows of my granny stripe. I was following Lucy of Attic 24's pattern, and taking her advice, did attempt a little practise piece at first. Glad I did as something just wasn't clicking... I couldn't understand why I didn't have enough stitches, when I know I made my starting chain the right length! Frustration and lots of it occurred, but then suddenly, it all became clear (somehow)! After only two rows of my tiny practise piece though I became impatient and decided just to go for it.

Miraculously, it seemed to work, the count was right and my new blanket was born :) All weekend I worked away on it, stripe upon stripe, ignoring all my other work and household chores completely! I am well and truly loving this blanket already, even more so than my granny squares. It seems much simpler for a start. Less ends to weave in, and I like the way there is no joining needed, you can get a feel of what the blanket will be from the start. It is very quick. Each double stripe takes me just under an hour so it will definitely be a faster project than my last.

Sadly though, I have to limit it to a weekend/evening only project even though I would love to work on it all the time. Still I am really surprised how quick I managed to do what I have so far... 16 stripes in total, love love love it! :)

Anyway, that's about all from me for today, though just before I go, I must mention a couple of wonderful giveaways that are going on at the moment. Firstly is Heather's from The Patchwork Heart who is holding a scraps giveaway - what a great idea, I could do with doing a similar one myself!!! If you would like to be in with a chance of winning a parcel of fabric scraps and sewing bits and bobs, pop over to her blog to read more :)

Also, Andrea from Fin and Gabs is holding a wonderful Halloween giveaway... a set of three fab handmade decorations to decorate your home this Halloween so make sure you also pop across to her lovely blog and enter too!

OK, right I'm definitely off now to get on with something useful... have a lovely week all of you, thanks for visiting as always - and for making it to the end of this super long post - back soon xx

p.s apologies for some of the rubbishy pictures in this post, the light today is awful!