Cake

This is my cake- vanilla sponge, then I whipped double cream and folded in cream cheese, some icing sugar and lemon zest, piled raspberries ,strawberries and blueberries in and filled the cake with that, then some of the plain cheesecake mix on the top and some raspberry decoration...except it is hard to get a shot before eatind half...and someone had been stealing raspberries!

 It was yummy and I have eaten far too much of it!

Metropolitan Cathedral Liverpool- house of colour!

 This is one of a number of panel's outside the Cathedral. Would you put those colours together? Not sure I would be as brave but they work don't they? I think there is something congruent about the shades.

 Just part of one of the stained glass windows, the colours in this building are amazing!

Aren't the colours just amazing?
I didn't realise til I just uploaded this ,that you can see the Cathedral through the panel! Ever take one of those reach your hand out and press the button shots that just captures the moment?

School holiday felty fun

 Making things seems to slide into making things with the kids on school holidays. So I drew some finger puppet template outlines and this is what the boys came up with.
I could tell the drawing on the left was a skeleton because his speech bubble says "I am dead"!!

 The rabbit was more obvious, we just added teeth and a little tail on the back.

I am pleased with how the "mad hair" came out- I got the idea from a book of 1950's cartoon strips of a mother instructing her daughter "Judy" on all the important things in a woman's life like how to make attractive party snacks from stale bread and a top from gentleman's handkerchiefs!
I wound yarn round some folded paper then crocheted the loops together along the bottom, then doubled it over and sewed to one side of the puppet, before sewing the 2 sides together( easier to position doing it this way)

Historical necklace?

I have a habit of making a necklace to match an outfit...on the morning of the outfit being worn! This took a bit longer but I still finished it off once already wearing the dress.

Not an easy dress to match jewellery with, so the old embroidery thread box came out. 

Why historical? Well, the circles themselves are the basis of  Dorset Buttons , the black cord is made on an ancient cord making tool- a  Lucet ( and if you fancy a go at Lucetting , then I can't recommend Ziggy enough- I happen to have met him too- fantastic man!), and the knots are Chinese Sliding Button Knots  ( again a recommendation - great book- especially if you want to make striking and unusual jewellery for people with metal allergies).

So a Victorian(?) Dorset, Mediaeval cord, Chinese knotted necklace...doesn't look old does it?? 

Oh and a bit of modern felt in between because a) it matched and b) I couldnt think how else to join the circles!

Zombies

I don't know what made me start drawing zombies

 Or why I thought it would make a good keyring- but here are the (pic heavy) results!

 Cut the bits out of your felt stash- I recent found a whole bag of felt I had ahem, "temporarily mislaid" including the hideous yellow with black on ( face colour) from a bargain bag.

 I embroidered the details and embroidered the face pieces on at the same time if that makes sense!

 As it is a keyring I added some cord and a split ring , then sewed most of the way round the front and back pieces of the head, then added a bit of stuffing.

If you want to do it exactly like me you should forget to add the cord and have to squeeze it in between the stitches- I wouldn't recommend this method!

 Then round the edges of the tunic/body and sewed the sleeves/arms leaving a gap/armhole- tell you why in the next pic! Oh I sewed some "rips" onto the tunic first!

 Stuffed the body, then got a bit of aluminium wire(which I had but I get it from wires.co.uk) folded over the ends and taped with electrical tape stolen from hubby- shh I used it all up, don't tell him!! 
I threaded the wire through the sleeves via the neck opening- just a bit less fiddly,then sewed up the arms.

 Then I sewed the head to the body- nothing neat but zombies aren't neat are they??

 TA DAAAArrrgghhh!

See why I wired the arms?? he he
I decided against having him eat brains( the red felt just visible at the bottom of the cut out pic!) I think it works without.

Mr Strong

Anyone know the Mr Men books by Roger Hargreaves? Well my youngest loves them( as I did as a child) so for World Book Day( they dress up as a book character for school) the only choice was Mr Strong!

 Mr Strong  is red and square and loves eggs!

 So I took the easy route and bought a red pillow case- a pair in fact(£4!) and got some felt and got sewing- couldn't resist a tiny bit of egg yolk padding!

 I think he liked it!

We won the best costume competition- £5 book token- bonus that it is more than I paid for the costume!

Life is a roller coaster!

I always said that I would rather my life be a roller coaster than a roundabout...fate has been granting my wish this past week; it turns out the car window was SHOT out by a local kid with an air rifle we think, he had another go ( and missed) at our front window on Tuesday night- got the frame and the attention of all our neighbours and the Police! This sort of thing is bound to provoke and emotional reaction ...but I was /am surprised how utterly angry I find myself- not really at the child( rumoured to be a local primary( 11 or under) aged kid)- what chance in life has that child got if his parents let him( or are unaware he is) out at 10 and 11pm with a gun?

 Onwards and upwards! I decided to organise my embroidery threads- I reused a box that I under-used for beads. I also cut up a couple of sheets of card I already had to make bobbins. IT TOOK AGES! This is 2 hours in!

 About 4 hours later I had finished- I do love rainbows - but goodness it is easier to find the colours I am after, and definitely worth spending the time on. And it looks pretty!Up moment.

 Yes I know, not quite right eh? The idea I like- little fabric Owl keyring, the fabric I like, but it looks sort of too small? odd shape? Down again!

 Ohhh use a thread you have just organised, the box called, so I found a fab colour, blanket stitched round then dc'ed round ( one in each blanket stitch) with a couple extra on the ear points to get round the corners properly. Up again!

 Lots of papery bits to bin- do they have a name I wonder?



Anyway , my roller coaster week is ending on a high at least!

Valentine's day

 Uncrafty post alert!

1015 last night and some local "darling" decided to smash our car window. Hubby was at work. My fab next door neighbours helped temporarily patch up the hole and swapped mobile numbers just in case. The police with call me back within 24 hours( saw nothing of who did it so not much they can do) . 
I texted Hubby afterwards( not much he could do while driving articulated lorry across the country), then went online( love mobile technology) to skype me and check I was ok.
Overpriced flowers or restaurants? Pah, skyping in the middle of the night- now that is romance!

Enjoy Valentines day if that is your thing!

Liverpool Cathedral inspiration

 I've been to Liverpool Cathedral with the kids, partly as a day out and partly for inspiration. So here are some pics I took before the camera batteries died!

 I love these carvings, I have never been very successful working with wood but if I could...

 These are floor tile patterns- all different ones throughout the Cathedral- wouldn't they make great quilting patterns?

 An action shot with my toes and crutch! Ha ha

 Aren't the patterns fab? Not that I can take credit from them, but I will be taking inspiration. My boots- I have been wearing them since autumn, they are brown/grey and seem to go with everything- love these boots!

 Obsessed with the floor patterns! Simple but lovely!

Me using the panoramic function of my camera but vertically. There is quite a Hogwarts(Harry Potter) vibe about these stairs- I think it every time we visit- and part of me expects them to move like Hogwarts stairs do!

Nearer to being finished!

 I "coloured in" the anchor...looks OK but I don't think I would sew it again...just not as appealing as the swallow   . 
Added light pink highlights onto the rose- cuckoo,    you were right about the pink!( cannot get this text next to the rose pic- I make things, excuse the techno idiocy!)

 Made some bracelets for my sister...well made the ones on the right for her birthday, and repaired the ones on the left cos she is rough with them!lol

 Carved beads- perhaps cinnabar beads- given to me (in a bag of broken bits and bobs) by a lovely neighbour. I needed a plain red necklace for wearing with red and navy clothes- I like it and that it is recycled.

 Rather a treat to have these fab softly faceted BIG tiger eye beads to reuse( given by my best friend) . I am not one for fussing with natural beauty, so a few frosted glass seed beads and I was done. Might wear it with a plain dark brown dress I have( £2.50 from a charity shop- result!)

More pearls for my pearl obsessed sister- just basic stringing but it was what she wanted...the customer is always right- especially when you are related!





I am working on some new ideas for potentially selling at a local shop- might go quiet until they are ready.TTFN

Wow busy busy

I love my volunteer roles, I really do...but sometimes there is a chunk of reading to do!

But there has been lots of crafting..in fact here is finished jewellery making, next to abandoned embroidery , and cards made into gift boxes!

Oh and cake of course! My new colours- they said to use 1g for a 1kg cake...how do you measure 1g of thick syrupy food colouring? Well clearly I didn't, but it is less than a blob on the handle of a teaspoon! ha ha

Stitched tattoos

I fancy a tattoo update- mine is 17odd years old and looking a bit tired, but finances can't justify it at the moment so what is a girl to do? STITCH ONE! OK on fabric, not me but still- this is ongoing but a peak now is called for I think.

 I am most pleased with the swallow- it did take most of the day though

I am going to add some white ...or maybe pink as highlights for the rose- what do you think?

Hyperbolic crochet

Sounds medical doesn't it? It is rather therapeutic! I am sure you will find it if you do a search but basically you do 2 (UK)dc's into every stitch after starting a crochet circle. I didn't understand the instructions- thought something was missed out- but watch how it grows!

This picture shows the crochet (straining to see/guess) about 4 rows in- just about starting to curl at the edges.

 These next ones are just one more row each- hard to believe and a tad hard on your fingers towards the end!

 I stopped there but you can stop where you like


.
I made a little brooch out of embroidery thread to go with an outfit- dark brown in the middle, and teal just on the last row.

I completely love it- I mean the technique not my own work!

PS my "h" key is sticking- sorry for any mistakes and how do I fix it??