Wednesday WIP

Wednesday WIP (work in progress), a title borrowed from Kirst over at The Leopard Anchor because it fits the bill perfectly for this post.  I’ve been very infrequent with my blogging over the past month or so because I’ve been kept too busy!  What with gardening work, various craft projects, a last minute spot at Kensal Flea, and being told there’s a void under my lawn (don’t ask) I’ve not had much in the way of spare time.

So, what projects have I been working on?  Well the one with highest priority is a shawl I’ve been making for one of my aunts.  My mum’s going to visit her family again in Indonesia and she flies out in mid-October… so of course I have a deadline for this!  The good news is that I’m nearly finished (in fact I’m hoping to finish it by Friday), and as soon as it is finished I’ll blog about it properly.  In the meantime here’s a work in progress shot from last month .

Next on the list of ongoing projects are hats for The Big Knit.  I had hoped to make more but didn’t realise the deadline was 1st October, so I went and dropped off at Innocent HQ in Ladbroke Grove this morning as I’m going to be busy for the rest of the week.  My grand total?  60 hats!  I’m really pleased with that, and also chuffed that making them helped use up most of the scraps of yarn I had stashed away.  Stashbusting and something for charity, I wish all projects could be this rewarding   All the hats I managed to make are shown below.

Oh, and here’s a bonus photo of the inside of Fruit Towers – I was given a tour when I dropped the hats off (and a bag full of smoothies too!).

Hexipuffs… still a work in progress but I haven’t made any since I started the Innocent hats.  Looking forward to picking these up again next week.

Spinning… well, this has gone well and I actually finished spinning this roving into yarn a few weeks ago, but then it took me a couple of weeks to get round to soaking it to set the twist, and then it was another week before I got round to winding it into a ball.  Lazy, aren’t I?  Still, this is the finished product and I’ll have to try making a hexipuff with it soon!

I think the last project I have on the go is some Christmas cross stitch.  I think I’m going to make some baubles with these snowflakes, but we shall see.

More on those very soon I hope!

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Reminder… Crafty Photo Scavenger Hunt

Roll up, roll up!  Let’s be having you!  I’m guest-hosting the Crafty Photo Scavenger hunt again this month and would love to see more participants.  Everyone seems to be taking photographs these days, so why not use this as a way to help focus your photographic energies?

Full details of the topics for this month can be found by clicking here.

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Crafty Photo Scavenger Hunt: topics for May

If you’re new to the Scavenger Hunt then please visit Kirst’s blog to see how this all began.  I’m acting as guest host this month, and I hope you find everything to your liking!

This month’s topics are on a bit of a theme…

To learn more about the Scavenger Hunt, please click here.

If you’d like to take part then simply post a comment here and at the end of the month I’ll post my own entries together with links to all the other bloggers who are taking part.  I’ll also choose my own favourite from each category and post them here in a monthly round up a few days into May.

Get your thinking caps on folks, I’m looking forward to seeing all your photos!

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Crafty Photo Scavenger Hunt: April

If you’re new to the Scavenger Hunt then please visit Kirst’s blog to see how this all began. Jenna over at Timballoo is acting as guest host again this month, so if you somehow came here first then please do go and visit her blog to see who else is taking part!

I’ve been incredibly disorganised this month and completely forgot about the hunt, which led to me running around like a lunatic yesterday afternoon trying to find things to photograph at the last minute.  I managed all bar one photo…

Inspiration

If you’ve been following my work this month you’ll know that Beatrix Potter’s work has been a huge source of inspiration.

Something I Made

It’s been a productive month and I was a bit spoilt for choice, but in the end I opted for a quick snap of my needle felted doglets.  Look at their little faces!

Motifs: Symmetry

Major fail here.  In my last minute panic I didn’t manage to think of anything I could photograph for this category

 

Easter

As a result of leaving these photos to the last minute there was nothing specifically Easter-related in the house.  So I went for an arty shot of some eggs instead…

Re-purpose

I do a fair amount of recycling and repurposing, and my favourite new thing is to make bunting out of old book pages.

I’ll be hosting again this month so please check back on Tuesday 1st May to find out what the new topics are going to be!

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Wednesday work in progress

I’m a little tired this morning so I’m stealing borrowing today’s title from Kirst over at The Leopard Anchor, she regularly posts a Wednesday WIP and it’s a great idea.

I’ve got quite a lot on the go at the moment, inspiration is a lot like London buses – you wait ages for an idea and then three turn up at once.  The past few days have therefore been a flurry of activity and there really haven’t been enough hours in the day to get everything done.

I’ve been playing with old book pages and felt to make bunting…

… I’ll post more details on the bunting later this week.

I’ve got more vintage books to turn into notebooks…

…and I’m hoping to get some of these finished today.

I’ve taken up an interest in international mining…

…not really, but were you worried for a moment?  I’m working on a custom order for someone and she’s provided her own artwork for the cover, so she needed something to protect the artwork in the post.  What do you do when you haven’t got any stiff card?  Use a random magazine of course!

I’ve been playing with quilting again…

…and hopefully this will be turned into something very soon…

And finally I’m still happily working on the Beekeeper’s Quilt…

…and it’s going well.  I’m knitting in front of the telly most evenings and it’s wonderful watching my stash of hexipuffs growing.  I’ve now got 73 so I’m well on my way to my new quilt!

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A visit to… The Leopard Anchor

A few weeks ago I went to see the lovely Kirst, of The Leopard Anchor.  If you’re not familiar with Kirst’s blog then you really ought to go and take a look, and one of the things you’ll discover is that she’s about to move to Canada.

Moving to another country involves a lot of things: paperwork, getting your dog neutered (poor Milo)… and whittling down your possessions to the bare minimum.  Which is what led to me visiting Kirst’s studio – to raid it for goodies, thus furnishing myself with some bits and pieces, and adding to her travelling fund at the same time.

The main thing I had my eye on was her gocco printing set.  I’ve been curious about gocco for a while but it’s always seemed like a pretty expensive craft to try out as the inital outlay is pretty steep.  Since Kirst was getting rid of hers (and for a bargain price) I thought this was too good an opportunity to turn down, and so gocco printing is now on my list of things to learn this year.

I couldn’t help myself and ended up buying lots of other things too…

And… (drumroll please)…

A gorgeous vintage typewriter!  I love love love this and am looking forward to using it for, well, anything I can find an excuse for really.

It was lovely to finally meet Kirst (we’ve known each other online for quite a few years now), and the flufftastic Milo of course, and I hope I get a chance to see her again before she makes her move overseas.

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Crafty Photo Scavenger Hunt: March

If you’re new to the Scavenger Hunt then please visit Kirst’s blog to see how this all began.  I’m acting as guest host again this month, and I hope you find everything to your liking!

I’ll start off with a list of those people who are taking part – please do visit their blogs and have a look at their entries for this month.  If they haven’t posted their photographs yet then please be patient and check again on the 31st!

• Rachel at The Awesome Lady
• Jeneveve at Timballoo
• Ruth at The Goldhawk Project
• Margot at Tulsi Crafts

Inspiration

I’ve been poring over magazines again this month, as well as books, and especially CrossStitcher which is my new favourite thing…

Something I Made

I’m ridiculously proud of this piece of cross stitch

Motifs: Retro

Perhaps more vintage than retro, but it’s the thought that counts, yes?

Sunlight

Sunlight on a wooden floor which really caught my eye.

Books

You’d think I’d be spoiled for choice for this category, but I actually really struggled!  In the end I took a slightly different view of things…

 

Clearly I had a bit of a yen for the sepia filter this month…

In a few days, once I’ve had a chance to view all the entries for this month, I’ll put up my favourites – please do pop back to have a look!  In the meantime Jeneveve over at Timballoo will be guest-hosting for April (it’s my birthday next month so I figured I’d have a break!), so please pop along to her blog on Monday 2nd April to see what topics she’s chosen

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Project 365 – Day 77

17th March 2012 – “What’re you looking at?”

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Crafty Photo Scavenger Hunt: topics for March

If you’re new to the Scavenger Hunt then please visit Kirst’s blog to see how this all began.  I’m acting as guest host this month, and I hope you find everything to your liking!

This month’s topics are…

To learn more about the Scavenger Hunt, please click here.

If you’d like to take part then simply post a comment here and at the end of the month I’ll post my own entries together with links to all the other bloggers who are taking part.  I’ll also choose my own favourite from each category and post them here in a monthly round up a few days into March.

Get your thinking caps on folks, I’m looking forward to seeing all your photos!

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Crafty Photo Scavenger Hunt: December

If you’re new to the Scavenger Hunt then please visit Kirst’s blog to see how this all began.  I’m acting as guest host again this month, and I hope you find everything to your liking!

I’ll start off with a list of those people who are taking part – please do visit their blogs and have a look at their entries for this month.  If they haven’t posted their photographs yet then please be patient and check again on the 31st!

• Rachel at The Awesome Lady
• Sally at Diario
• Jeneveve at Timballoo
• Jennifer at Architette Studios – away until 14th Jan, please check back then!
• Tamsin at Penguinous
• Nicole at I Can. You Can. We Can.
• Magie at Teacups & Bunting
• Sara at Starla Dear
• Helen at Autistic Inner Space

Inspiration

I’ve definitely taken inspiration from some of the things I’ve seen in craft magazines this month, though not really in the way they originally intended…

Something I Made

We saw chains of origami stars at a craft fair recently and I ended up making my own.  We received a Christmas card in a very pretty (and huge) envelope, so I recycled the envelope and turned it into stars.  Add some sparkly red embroidery thread and voila, one simple garland.

Motifs: Geometric

An abstract shot of the Times Eureka Chelsea Garden at Kew Gardens.  It’s a beautiful garden and you can read more about it here.

Colour

A friend had these embroidery threads out when I went to visit and I thought they were so vibrant and cheerful.

Festive

I’m not one for Christmas trees really, but my fella wanted one so I found something I could live with.  I think this wooden tree with built in LED lights is perfect: simple but still festive.

In a few days, once I’ve had a chance to view all the entries for this month, I’ll put up my favourites – please do pop back to have a look!  In the meantime Rachel over at The Awesome Lady will be guest-hosting for January, so please pop along to her blog to see what topics she’s chosen

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