Christmas is coming!

Apologies in advance, it's been a while since I blogged so have a feeling this could be a bit of a mammoth post! I hope you're sitting comfortably with a glass of something nice...

Well I've been promising it for ages now so better start with a little blanket update! Though actually not been doing much on it lately... a mixture of lack of time and a lack of motivation if I'm honest. When I started it, I was going great guns and within a couple of weeks it was about half the size it is now. At the moment I am lucky if I manage a stripe a day, but then that is OK - I'm at about 100 stripes now I think and I was only aiming for about 120 so not long to go! I kind of don't want to finish it, I have enjoyed making it so much, so maybe that is why I am eeking it out... At least I don't have the horrible sewing together bit with this one!!

Anyway so what do you think? This photo is just over 2/3 of it laid out...

It is so bright and cheerful, just as a granny blanket should be I think, and is lovely and warm to snuggle up under. As it is a work in progress, it is currently living on the sofa, so it's in easy reach in the evenings! I do love cosy evenings, with my dressing gown on and all the lamps lit. It's definitely one of my favourite things about these dark cold winter months.

Continuing on the crochet theme, a few weeks ago, I also started making some Christmassy red and white crochet bunting using Jacquie's fab pattern, though actually this is as far as I got! Karl was a bit mean about it - he can't see the point of any bunting and I think crocheted bunting was just a step too far for him to comprehend!!! I took it to heart and put my lonely triangle away in a drawer but at the weekend I dug it out and I've decided to finish it whether he likes it or not! What do men know about these things anyway?! The plan is to alternate the red and white combinations for each flag and then string them all onto some stripey string to finish. Hopefully it will look nice and festive!

So apart from the crochet, have been working hard on lots of Xmas orders coming in for various things - mainly mirrors and badges I have to say. I actually got a new 25mm die for my badge maker last week and so spent a day or so testing it out making some really teeny weeny badges. The Christmas ones I've got in my shops already...

I'm selling them in packs so they can be split up for stocking fillers and little gifts and so far have gone down really well! I also started making little floral and pretty patterned ones too, but not got around to photographing them yet, hopefully will do soon though :) Anyway so that was quite exciting last week - I do love the thrill of designing and making a new product, and these are just so cute, I totally love making them!!

Have also been on a pudding mission this week, making up more pudding badge cards and pudding magnets for my Not on the High Street and Etsy shops...

Thank you to all you lovely bloggers who have ordered things from me in the last few weeks by the way, I really truly appreciate it! I actually need to start my Christmas shopping soon - Christmas is creeping up so quickly this year as the weeks whizz by. I did have a little trip to Bath on Friday to meet up with a friend for a few hours but all I came back with were some little decorative bits for me! Not really the spirit of Christmas shopping but still... I did get some lovely things actually - especially from M&S, they have some gorgeous red and white decorations in, but I will save them for another post.

Anyway this week I've also been working on a spring magazine commission. It won't be published for months yet though the Christmas projects I did for Crafts Beautiful way back in the summer are finally in the current issues! First up from the November issue is a Christmas card project I designed which is great for using up all your little bits of ribbons...

I really enjoyed doing this one, and it actually turned out better than I had imagined. I love the photography shoot for this project, I think the styling shows them off really well.

The December issue is actually out now too and I have three different projects in this one!! One of them is for these little hanging decorations including a snowman, star, tree, stocking and gingerbread house. Do you like them? The gingerbread house was definitely my fave to make! It will be coming out to decorate my own tree in a couple weeks, can't wait!

For more crafting ideas go to www.crafts-beautiful.com

  

I think I'll save the other two projects from this issue for my next post too, so that's nearly it from me today! Oh just before I go actually, wanted to show you a bit of festive embroidery I did at the weekend... 

If you couldn't tell, it's a little pair of festive mittens! (Karl's first words when he saw it were 'Why've you done a pair of boxing gloves?' Cheeky thing! Trouble is,  am not entirely sure he was joking!) It was really simple to make, just a little felt and embroidery thread, framed in a little hoop. Don't look too closely at my stitching though, I was watching a film at the time and somehow the snowflakes ended up being kind of wonky... oh well, it's only for me so doesn't matter too much I guess!

Anyway, I hope you are having a good week whatever you have been doing... thanks for your lovely comments and for stopping by as always, and I will be back soon with some more festive makes! Jenny xxx

We have a winner!

 

Just popping into announce the winner of my giveaway... Thank you so much to everyone who took part,and hello to all the new faces - I will hopefully get some time soon to have a good nose around all your blogs too!

There were 112 entries in total, including a few from facebook added onto the end of the list where Blogger wouldn't leave comments... I was going to pop all the names into a hat and do it the old fashioned way, but seeing as there were so many entries, I've gone for the trusty magic number generator again! 

And the first number it landed on was..................................................

Number 4!

Which is Sue from The Krafty Cupcake! Congratulations Sue, I will be in touch soon about the sending of your prizes :)

Thanks again everyone who entered, sorry I can't send you all a little something! Anyway, hope you have had a good weekend - I actually managed some more of my blanket today (it has been somewhat neglected for the past fortnight) so off to do one more row before bed! Night xx

Mirrors, mirrors everywhere!!

That's kind of what it feels like at the moment. For the last few days at least I seem to have been surrounded by them! All because I decided to start selling plain fabric mirrors (by plain I mean not embroidered) alongside my stitched ones...

It started with these festive ones, but I then decided to make up some pretty floral ones too, which could be given as gifts or bought as a treat all year round...

My favourite 'Flower Sugar' fabric has been cut in to...

...as has some of the gorgeous fabric I bought in Bath last week! I do love them, so very girly and pretty!

So it's been a little like a production line here, ironing fabric, cutting out circles, cleaning the mirrors (the most annoying part of the process, but they come really filthy!) pressing them into mirrors and popping them in their little organza bags. Hundreds and hundreds of them... especially the Christmas ones which have been flying off the shelves! I don't think I'd make a very good factory worker though, I'm not very fast on the production line, and I'm also very picky... I would have been fine on the quality control section though!!

Anyways, they can be found individually or as jumbo packs of ten in both my Etsy and my NOTHS shops :)

I have also been doing a little mirror embroidery though too as I've just put my personalised badges and mirrors back on the website, so quite a few orders for these coming in again...

After the matching badges were in the NOTHS spring catalogue, I was so sick of making them, so suspended them whilst we moved house and went on holiday, but actually am really enjoying making them again. I seem to be much better at doing neater embroidery in the mornings though - by the afternoon I'm all over the place!! So I have to make them the first thing I do in the morning... very strange!

Anyway, so apart from all the mirror making going on, I also had a lovely weekend with my parents. It was a very spur of the minute decision for them to come and visit, but it was so nice to see them. It came about because on the Friday afternoon we had torrential rain! And I do mean torrential... only for about an hour, but it was absolutely heaving down... Maybe the title of this post should have been  'water, water everywhere...' that would have been more apt!

I was at home as normal working away when looking out of the kitchen window, the road seemed to be turning into a river. More and more water just came flooding down the road, until the road wasn't even visible. Cones, bins and building materials began to float down the road too...

We live on a newly built estate which isn't even quite finished yet, and the way they have built the road coming in, seemed to be channelling all the water from the main road down through the estate, straight past our house... Luckily for us, we are set back a bit from the road and it was literally just flowing past our house, but not so lucky for the people who live slightly further down the road - lots of people got badly flooded where the water all collected where the road dipped - some of them old people's homes, it was awful, so quick and so devastating.

Because the builders are all still on site finishing bits and pieces, hopefully they will have to do something about it and build some flood defences or better drainage or something, it can't be allowed to happen every time we get heavy rain! Just feel so sorry for all those affected, can't imagine how I would feel if it was our house with all our furniture and belongings ruined... Nature can be so scary sometimes, the force and the speed which it has is frightening.

Anyway, as this was all going on, I was relating it to my parents over the phone and they just randomly decided they would come visit for the weekend. They hadn't seen our new house yet and they've only been down here once or twice very briefly before so it was nice to show them a little around the area too... we went to Castle Cary for a potter about on the Saturday afternoon, then out to eat at a lovely pub called The Three Horseshoes in Batcombe in the evening. Karl was away for the weekend so it was just me and them but so lovely to catch up! I do wish they lived a little closer, it is still a 3-4 hour journey up to where they live now and we don't get to see them very often at all, but I guess it beats the 7 hour journey to their old North Yorkshire house.

Well the day seems to be whizzing by, so I best go and get on. I've got a little list I want to get through by the end of today, starting with... yep, you guessed it, some more of these!

Isn't this fabric pretty? I've not got much of it, so these ones will be a limited edition range! It's an old ('vintage') Laura Ashley fabric from the 1980's I think - mum gave me the fabric, which was an offcut from their old sofa which we had when I was growing up, so quite nostalgic for me really. Kind of feel sad cutting it up, but it is an odd shaped piece and I'm not sure what else I would do with it really, except keep it in my stash for years and years... whereas at least I am putting it to good use now... plus the little posies of flowers are just the perfect size for the mirrors, so maybe it is meant to be! You can find them here for now.

Anyway, really better go now... but hopefully you are all having a lovely week and keeping cosy and dry! Oh, don't forget to enter my Christmas giveaway too which is still open for a few more days! Back soon xxx

Giveaway time!

Well I've been promising a giveaway for what seems like months now... so here it is - at last! I thought a festive themed prize was in order now that we are in November, which in my mind at least, means we are officially on the run up to Christmas now - eeek! Anyway, here's what I will be including in the little festive package of goodies...

...some festive pudding buttons...

... a six pack of my printed bauble cards...

... a little stocking pin badge...

...a stocking decoration for the tree...

...and lastly one of my little snowflake handbag mirrors (can't believe how many of these I've sold already and we're only just out of October!)

So a real mix of Christmassy bits and bobs, but hopefully a nice mix!

This giveaway is really a big thank you to all my readers, followers and fans on here, as well as on my facebook and twitter pages! I'm made up to have over 300 blog followers, over 1000 fb likers and nearly the same on my twitter page - thank you so much for popping in every now and again to catch up on what I've been up to! I've really loved getting to know so many other crafty and talented people this last year too!

Anyway, so you're probably wondering what do you have to do to be in with a chance of winning?? 

Well I've tried to keep it nice and simple! Yesterday I opened an Etsy shop, so I thought it should be something linked to that! (Plus it's looking a little lonely over there so would like some more visitors!) 

So for one entry, all you need to do is... favourite my Etsy shop, then come back here and leave me a comment telling me you've done so! Easy peasy :)

Now I know not everyone's on Etsy, so for a second entry, you just need to follow my blog, preferably by GFC, then leave me a comment letting me know that you follow.

So to recap... you can enter by:

♥ Favouriting my Etsy shop

♥ Following my Blog

Please remember to leave me two separate comments if you are entering twice!

All the goodies will go to one lucky person... the giveaway is open internationally, so wherever you are in the world, you're welcome to enter! The giveaway will end next Sunday - so the 13th November, at 7.00pm English time and the winner will be picked probably by the magic number generator!

Thanks again for all your support, friendships and lovely comments this year and very good luck with my giveaway! I will be back soon with some new things I've been working on, plus a blanket update too! Have a happy rest of the week, Jenny x

p.s If you are kind enough to blog, tweet, sing and shout about my giveaway, I would be so very grateful - the more the merrier! Thanks lovelies xx

Feeling Festive!

Hello, hope you are well on this chilly Friday! With the weather turning colder, I'm definitely feeling quite Christmassy at the moment... I've said before, I'm not a huge fan of the Autumnal months, although I do appreciate the beautiful colours that Autumn brings. But really I would quite happily skip from September straight to the beginning of December and the run up to Christmas, which is one of my favourite times of the year!

Despite my festive mood, I have refrained from actually putting up any xmas decorations you'll be glad to hear, (won't do that until beginning of December) but I did buy the Prima Christmas Makes magazine this week. I'd seen it blogged about several times and a few of the projects, these sweet little mice in particular, seemed right up my street. 

I've still got to make time and have a proper sit down read of it, but I have been dipping in and out all week, gazing at all the lovely pictures. I think I want to try and do a red and white Christmas theme this year - I love this Christmas tree!! I've definitely been seduced by all the Nordic inspired decorations around at the moment...

It also has lots of Christmas gift ideas which are great. I particularly love this little pop up nativity set by Roger la Borde, but can't find anywhere that stocks it... just think it is so sweet!

Anyway, it is a lovely mag all in all.

Continuing on the festive theme, these Christmas projects of mine were in last month's Xmas Special Crafts Beautiful magazine. It is lovely to see them in print at last, as I did them months ago in early Summer, before we had even moved house and been on holiday! Seems like a very long time ago really!

 

For more crafting ideas go to www.crafts-beautiful.com

I really enjoyed doing these projects, especially the cards. I don't do much card making for myself anymore, just never seem to have the time or inspiration so it is nice to work on card commissions instead!

This week, I've also been putting together a Christmassy trade order for Andrea of Andrea Willis Designs - you'll probably know her blog and lovely design work already. Andrea has a lovely shop in Scarborough, selling her own work alongside some of other designers too. 

It looks so inviting, doesn't it, I love the colour of the shop front! I did live in North Yorkshire for much of my childhood, but now I've moved to Somerset, it's a little bit too far for me to visit unfortunately. If you are ever up in Scarborough though, make sure you pay her a visit! Anyway, Andrea's been stocking my work since the beginning of the year, and I've just packaged up some  more festive goodies that will be on the way to her soon :)

Thanks for all the lovely comments you left on my last post by the way - they really cheered me up! Luckily, I left the Monday blues behind and the rest of the week has gone past OK - a little bit quiet but I've been busy working on bits and pieces so it has gone reasonably quickly in the end. One thing I have actually been doing this week is finally sorting out a Folksy shop and adding some bits to it including some of my new Christmas buttons...

Christmas pud buttons

Holly buttons 

Christmas tree buttons

It's been on my 'to-do' list for ages, but it's always seemed too big a job and one of those things that I've just been putting off! Anyway, finally got it up and running this week at last! Do pop over and let me know what you think :) Hopefully will be adding more to it soon, it is looking a little sparse at the moment.

I do also want to open an Etsy shop too. My NOTHS shop does well for me, but I guess it can't hurt having more outlets for my work, so hopefully will get around to that sometime soon too. If anyone has any advice/opinions on either Folksy or Etsy by the way, I'd be really interested to hear it. I did pose the question on my facebook page recently and got some interesting and helpful feedback on both sites... feel free to add to it!!!

Anyway, that's about all for today, but hope you are staying warm and have a lovely weekend! I'm looking forward to Karl getting home later and hopefully working on my blanket a little bit more too, perfect! Oh, I do promise I will have my giveaway next week too - sorry, have just been slow on the organising front this week! Back soon xxx

Monday blues...

I've been feeling a bit down today. Karl has had to go away for work this week so am home alone. I do usually spend a lot of time by myself and normally I'm pretty good with my own company but somehow it's different when you know that there is no one coming home at the end of the day!

Anyway, I wanted to get out and get a bit of fresh air this morning so got bundled up in my winter coat and gloves (it's got really cold!) and took a little walk to town with my weekend orders, passing Bruton's one little charity shop on the High street as I went. I had a little glance in the window as I always do and what did I see looking back at me... a lovely retro looking enamel bread bin... oooh I thought, that's nice! Not that I need another bread bin, I have a perfectly lovely one already... I couldn't see the price tag through the window but I knew it would probably be expensive. So off to the post office I went, but on my way back, I just couldn't resist popping in to check the price. I told myself that if it was anymore than £10, it wasn't meant to be. It was £12.00. I picked it up, walked about with it a bit, put it down again, picked it back up...

I think it was the mood I was in but I found myself reasoning with myself as to why I deserved a little treat in the shape of an enamel vintage looking bread bin! I knew that it was one of those things that if I walked away it would be gone tomorrow. The little tag on it said it had only been put out today and since it was only just gone 10, then it can't have been there very long. Also, there is a very nice antique/junk/vintage shop right opposite and I know the ladies who run that would have snapped it up in an instant if they had seen it first. I didn't want to regret it if I had gone home without it, so home with me it came :)

 

Now that I have it home, I'm not entirely sure if I will use it for bread or not! As I said already, I have a perfectly good bread bin, which also matches some of my other kitchen tins so I don't want to replace that one. And our work surface isn't really big enough to have it on display. It was 100% an impulse purchase, (most unlike me, I am normally super careful with money!)... BUT I am sure it will come in handy, and in the meantime, it is looking nice on top of the fridge! It is a really good size and a really good heavy weight too. Actually, it also has this on the bottom...

So I assume it can be used for cooking bread too?? Does anybody know anything about making bread in something like this? My breadmaker and I aren't really the best of friends, and I can usually never be bothered to make it by hand so I don't tend to bake bread much anymore. But I do love bread, so it might be worth an experimental go if anyone has any advice or knowledge on the subject? :)

Anyway, enough on the bread bin for now! As I knew Karl was going to be away this week, I told myself that I really shouldn't spend the weekend working away upstairs in my studio but instead, should spend it lazily on the sofa working on my new blanket! This was a good plan in theory, and we did have a really nice weekend, but I did also feel horribly guilty at times for spending so long on it. I'm not very good at taking time off from thinking about my work and commissions (though I am getting better). As my 'work' is essentially my hobby too, if I don't have another project to concentrate on, I do tend to be thinking about it and working on things all the time. Because I work from home, 'work' life and 'home' life aren't really separated for me as they are for a lot of people with normal 9-5 jobs. It does have a lot of bonuses too, but I am trying to keep them a little more separate at the moment and have proper time off in the evenings and weekends, to relax and work on projects just for me....

Anyway so back to the blanket, it is growing so fast I can hardly believe it!! So many stripes... but I can't tell you how much I am enjoying this one. I originally was going to make it the same size as my other one (approx 100cm x 150cm), but now I think it is going to be slightly larger, one for snuggling in bed! It isn't quite big enough to go over the whole bed, as since I planned for it to be smaller, my initial chain wasn't really long enough - but this is probably OK... I am the only one who really gets cold in bed, so it will be fine for just covering my side!

 Isn't it pretty?

Ahhhhhh.... it does make me happy to see it all lovely and colourful laid out like that. Every time I catch a glimpse of it, it makes me smile! I like the fact that it's bright but not garish, just nice and rich and warm and cosy. Though it kind of reminds me of the seaside for some reason - think I am thinking of sticks of rock! I am quite relieved actually that I've decided to make it bigger than originally planned, as I really don't want to finish it! As I've worked on it pretty much solidly for two whole weekends now, it has really grown, and I need to eek it out a bit more I think! I think from looking at it, I must be a third of the way there though on the stripe front. I must order some more yarn soon!

On a different note, earlier in the week, before my blanket become all consuming, my new Christmas fabrics eventually arrived, so I did a little more festive mirror making!

I also completed a new magazine commission and did some Thanksgiving  invitation Pingg designs too (see I do actually do some work, I don't just crochet all the time, though it may seem like that if you read my blog!)

I found these Thanksgiving designs quite challenging actually. Maybe it's because we don't celebrate it over here, and also the Autumnal colourway is really not my cup of tea. I just found it hard to come up with ideas, and equally hard to execute them, but in the end I am happy with the few designs I did manage to do! 

Anyway, so that was pretty much my week! Oh, I also reached 1000 likers on my facebook page over the weekend... a good reason for a giveaway I think!! Actually I've been promising a giveaway since I reached 300 blog followers a while ago too, so hopefully I will get myself organised this week and there will be a giveaway post coming shortly!

Thanks for popping into my little bit of blog space as always, I love reading all your comments, they really do cheer me up if I am feeling a little low! Back soon xxx

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!