twinkle twinkle little star

So yeah, the reason that i decided to take a month off from blogging is because superD and i are expecting a bambino/bambina ourselves. And i've been far too tired to be bothered pushing myself to do enough crafts - i've been taking lots of naps instead, and i'm still exhausted all the time. This baby so far is seriously sapping my craft mojo - hopefully not a sign of things to come!!

Anyway i thought i could just about manage something simple to craft while sitting watching italian films after my dinner each night, so i decided on a little baby hat...and even that took me about 3 weeks to finish!! nightmare!!
It was a little dull without the added gold star - one thing this baby will be is accessorised!!! The hat was a simple increasing circle, done in rows rather than in the round, and then i folded up the last 3 rows of double crochet just to make a nice fat brim. I'm working on a quilt now but going by how long this hat took it could be a while yet... so maybe next month!

newton's cradle

Another one of the quick and easy earring projects that we made at poog's house. I love this hoop and how simple it is. The balls are just free moving and it makes a nice clicking when you move which reminds me of the 80's executive toy Newton's Cradle - you know with the balls hung on the wires and the almost perpetual motion?
At least i think it was called Newton's cradle...i just know that i loved playing with it!

retro brown kaftan

So in one of the summer Burdastyle magazines they had a white kaftan. Made from two giant semi-circles of fabric, and slits cut and hemmed (front piece to back piece) to make sleeves and the rest just caught round the waist, leaving a nice pleated gathered skirt. I made it in this heavily patterned cotton. It looks kindof vintage-y because it's such an old fashioned print.
It risks to look a little frumpy so i always have to wear it with high sandals and nice earrings so that it is "intentionally" old-fashioned looking and not just frump-tastic, which was superD's initial reaction when he saw it!!
O well - can't please them all!

baby tux

So at the evening dinner of the wedding, Poog's date the dishy Daniel decided to up the stakes by putting on his secret weapon lucky outfit - the tux bib.

Well Danny's dad managed to make it to the dinner thus relieving Danny of his mum-sitting duties, rather than get offended at being jilted for his equally dashingly-dressed father, baby Danny settled down quite contentedly to have another nap.
All's well that ends well!

boardroom baby

So poog's 2 week old baby boy, Daniel, was taking her to a recent family wedding, you see her husband couldn't make it for the service so she needed a date. Well she planned to wear red so we had to arrange a little matching accessory for Danny to look suave and debonaire at his first formal function.

I decided on a red "power-tie" bib to make him feel confident and masterful as he accepted the admiration of the adoring millions.

He seemed to enjoy wearing it and spent the day flipping the tie up and down in the cutest way ever. I think i'm going to ask him to accompany me to my next formal function!

girl with the pearl earring

So a quiet day at poog's house ended by us making up some simple earrings. I love this one with the little hematite star and pearl. Thanks poog!!

yikes it's the 80s

I came across this t-shirt the other day and just had to laugh. I made it for superD to wear to an 80s night here in my local town, and had never posted it because it was so rare looking - but hey, i'm looking to get back to doing a little bit of freezer paper stenciling so i thought i really should post it to remind myself. You see this blog is really like a little craft diary for me and when i glance back over it, it always reminds me of things that i still want to do.

Pretty obvious steps - draw out stencil on freezer paper and cut out with a craft knife. Iron onto the t-shirt and stipple on the paint (in this case - white, neon pink and neon green)
Rip off stencil, cover with a cloth and iron on hot to set the paint. I didn't have any particularly fabulous pics of the t-shirt in action...this one's a little blurry - but you get the idea? And since lil'pil looks like she has some kindof weird birthmark across her face, or is wearing Hollywood Montrose sunglasses (any Mannequin fans??), i thought i'd post this one to make it clear what she really looked like. That's me in the fabulous aztec jumpsuit...I wish i could wear my hair like that every day. Crimping ROCKS!!!

cover that chair!

So a friend of mine got a couple of dining chairs at a furniture sale and wanted covers made from some cotton that she bought on a holiday to Sri Lanka.
The fabric is very lightweight so is not ideal for upholstery but is such a beautiful colour that she couldn't resist. I'd never made chair covers before so i ended up sortof draping them rather than making any patterns.
The fabric was then stapled up under to secure. Can't wait to see them in her house!

crochet converse cuties

So poog has had her gorgeous bambino and it's a boy - so i'm really glad that i went for blue sneakers! (I was pretty sure it was going to be a boy, even though i had no reason to). These are really cute little crochet converse sneakers made from the free pattern on ravelry.
They are very simple to make but a bit awkward as my stitches are pretty tight and there's a lot of crocheting into the loop-behind-the-back-loop which really does stress your fingers!
My favourite part was lacing them up.
And just to show how tiny they really are, here's one with a bit of perspective. Now just imagine with a chubby little leg sticking out of it!! CUTE!

faux fireplace

I'm back - a little on the late side i know...explanations to follow later!

So i used to have this horrible big glass and silver tv stand in the corner of my sun room. Well it wasn't that horrible but it certainly wasn't my style and didn't match the room decor. It was also huge and took up loads of space blocking the view outside. So basically, it had to go. I put it on the freecycle website and someone came by and adopted it for their new modern apartment (where no doubt it felt much more comfortable and at home). But what to put in its place?? I needed somewhere to put my tv and speakers...superD to the rescue!!
He made me a beautiful rustic (faux) fireplace over my radiator - i can see the little christmas stockings hanging from it already!!!! lol!! We looked at wood in a local DIY superstore and for warped micro-thin planking it was going to be about £200+ and even then it wouldn't be solid wood - just boxed pieces. But then my dad suggested we have a look for solid wood railway sleepers in a builders yard and they turned out so cheap that we bought 3 huge ones - they even gave us more discount! Yay bargains!!
SuperD, ever a slave to the detail, put a little edging strip round the mantel so that it wasn't so plain and rustic looking. O and the mantel piece? - garden decking. Solid wood on the cheap.
I absolutely love it and it's opened up that corner of the room so much more. However, i haven't quite got used to it being here yet...i thought i'd finish the post with the view of the fireplace that i got just seconds before i stood up from getting something out of my handbag that was sitting nearby and cracked my head HARD on the corner of the mantel - OUCH!!
I don't think the boxed planking option would've hurt so much - so i guess there's something to be said for it!! lol!