A busy month of knitting and crochet

Oh dear! It's been rather a long time since my last post - I don't know where the time has gone!

So what have I been up to? Well, after my little foray into felting I bought some needlefelting equipment and have had a little play around - and made these little felt hearts as a starter project. They are lovely and squishy, but I'm not really sure they have much use!!

Little needlefelted hearts

Perhaps I'll hang on to them until Valentines Day and they can be used as little table decorations - or can you think of any uses for them?

I also knitted and then felted a little table mat for my daughter, then decorated it with some needlefelted flowers and twirly bits - it was a bit of an experiment (as always!) but she loves it, and it really brightens up her bedside table.

Daughter's bright colourful felted mat!

I've been busy with lots of orders for crocheted baby bootees too!

I have them listed in my Giftwrapped and Gorgeous online store, from which I get a steady flow of orders. I also went along to a couple of local 'Babysensory' classes to set up a display of my goodies (both my handmade bits and my baby castings) and got LOADS of orders from there!

I created a little owl hat to go with some boots too - here you go!

Crocheted baby owl hat and bootees

Next on the list is going to be a little hat with teddy bear ears I think - they still seem to be popular this autumn.

I've also made myself a cowl - it's not often I get time to make something just for me! Luckily, it's made in such a way that you can do it piece by piece so it was a case of doing little and often - I love the way the colours blend from one to another.

The new project for me (or rather our home) is going to be a crocheted throw! The pattern is out of a magazine I bought a while back, and I'm hoping it's going to be a good way to use up all my odds and ends of wool. Here's an idea of what I hope it will look like and here are the few squares I've done so far.

5 down, 94 to go!!

Finally, I also got round to using up some of my ever-growing stash of yarn - I made a second monster! If you missed the first one, you can read about him here.
This one is really cuddly and soft, and made from hand-dyed wool which has sat in my wool-bag for about a year. Here it is :)

The greeny coloured one is still in progress by the way - just one more arm to go!

Well, that's enought rambling from me - don't forget to check out the other blogs taking part in Handmade Monday.

See you next time - I will try and post something sooner rather than later! xx

Handmade Monday No.13

This week's post is going to be short and sweet - mainly because I've been out today at a craft fair and it's getting late!

Firstly, many thanks again to Wendy at 1st Unique Gifts for hosting this again - do have a look at the other entries, there is always something lovely to look at :)

Today I've been at a local craft fair at Aston Marina which is a lovely place for a short walk and nice meal or coffee. They had a small craft marquee and I was lucky enough to be given a spot in one of their 'cedar huts' - so here's my little setup.

It's not a great photo - just a quick one that I grabbed while no-one was in the way! It was a lovely, sunny day and it was nice to hear peoples' comments and feedback.

Here is the cushion that I ordered from Made By Emma for my parents' Ruby Anniversary - I took the children down to Bedford to see them on Easter Saturday and we gave them the cushion (better late than never because I didn't order it until after their anniversary!!). They were thrilled with it!

I've also been busy crocheting - I made these little baby 'pumps', and then Emma (as in 'Made By Emma') promptly bought them for a friend before I could take a decent photo - so I grabbed them back and quickly snapped them on my phone. They are so sweet and made from a cotton/acrylic mix yarn, so nice and cool but also washable. I will get some listed on my website or Folksy shop when I get the chance!

Crochet baby pumps

I also had an order for these cute bootees from my Giftwrapped & Gorgeous store which was an unexpected surprise since it's been rather neglected lately!

Finally, I have made a start on the sock monster I mentioned last time - I took the children to a wool shop and they chose some wool each. I'm amazed they agreed to come along since I can spend literally hours in there! My son chose some lovely bright, colourful wool - and here's his monster so far....

I know it looks like a big, baggy sock at the moment but I will try and photo it as it progresses, so you can see it take shape. My son is very excited, and keeps asking me when it will be finished - as if I need an excuse to knit!

That's it for now - definitely past my bedtime! Hope you've all had a lovely Easter x

Handmade Monday: Lots of variety!

Here we are - Handmade Monday again! Thanks to Wendy at 1st Unique Gifts for hosting this - it's really helping to keep me motivated to blog regularly and share my creations! I originally planned to blog twice a week, but hey - once a week is better than nothing isn't it?!

It's been a very varied week - a combination of baby impressions and other handmade bits & bobs. Just the way I like it - I love the variety of working from home and choosing what to work on each day.

Here are some baby casts that I finished - so sweet! It does have a little foot on the right hand side, but it didn't fit into the photo without catching reflections off the window! Still, you get the idea...

Baby hand cast with a sweet poem

On the knitting/crochet front, I made a knitted letter 'B' for my daughter - what do you think? I've also started making an 'L' and 'O' - probably to make 'LOVE' but maybe 'LOL' if I'm feeling lazy!

Knitted Letter for my daughter

I also started (but haven't finished) some crochet 'granny' bunting - I want to finish this off before the weekend when I'm at my monthly craft market near home. Nothing like a deadline to keep me focused! There are going to be some other colour combos in it, I'll try and photograph it when it's all done.

Crochet bunting

Finally, I sent off one of my photo frames to be professionally photographed for my Giftwrapped & Gorgeous boutique, and I received the files back. I was really thrilled at how well they came out - much better than I could ever manage. Now I just need to sell lots of them!





I started making these last year, but recently changed the style and size of the writing to make it look like it's written by a child - actually it was really difficult to write like that! My natural instinct was to try and be neat rather than the opposite. The little shapes in the corners are made from polymer clay, with the images stamped into it before baking. By the way, the cheeky little boy is actually my son (not called Harry!) - the photo is quite old now but he is still just as cheeky!!

I hope you enjoyed this week's post - now you've read this, please visit 1st Unique Gifts and have a look at the other bloggers and their lovely creations! See you next week (if not before...) xx