Handmade Gift

I finished another little crochet project last week but I have to say parts of it were pulled apart and redone about three times as the sizes of parts didn't work out!  I got the pattern from a link on pinterest but first of all everything came out ludicrously small,  then ok but the wings were the wrong size, (it's a penguin by the way) so more unravelling.  Well I know it could be me that did it wrong but after checking and redoing I gave up on the pattern and made it up as I went. I winged it.  (ha really bad I know)  So I did get there in the end and I'm quite attached to the little guy now, he is part of a themed gift for my friend's baby boy.

I have also made a little hooded jacket that I have appliqued penguins to the front and back, with mismatched buttons in pale blue and turquoise.  I really enjoyed making this and can think of a whole range of wildlife themed children's clothes I want to make, but steady on let's see if that fits him first.  As it is a surprise I couldn't ask for clothing to check against so I just did his age but a bit bigger.  Finally I ordered a nice picture book off amazon to go with the items.

I think adults are often hard to buy gifts for but there are so many lovely little things you can do for children.  My boys are not little any more but I used to love making them dressing up outfits as that was something they loved to do.  I also made toys from felt to go with characters from favourite books a few times.  

Here a few more pictures, sorry bad lighting time of year again!

 Here is the back of the jacket, I had to do the penguin low so the hood didn't cover him.

I decided on buttons because I thought a zip might a bit scratchy near his face.

The eyes are just stitched from wool, the original instructions (that I threw away) said use sew on eyes but I thought that may be dangerous,  so best to sew the effect of eyes instead.  My friend has been told not to peek at the blog as she sometimes reads it.  I hope it is all ok for him.  What gifts have you all been making?  I always love to read your comments.

Etsy Shop

Sparkly Top for Mum

This last  week I made a gift for my mum using the fabric that was sent to me by Minerva Crafts I have only just forwarded their post so here is a quick peak.

Very shiny and right up her street as she loves a bit of sparkle, she has had the top now as I had a feeling she would want to wear it at Christmas and I was right. It hangs better on her as my mannequin is not at the right size in terms of shoulders.  I will share more when it is featured as the original post has photographs of her wearing it.

I am glad she likes it and now she likes that style she may be brave enough to choose some fabric for herself.  I have told her to do this but she always says 'oh but you are so busy'  no it's ok I say, have a look!

I have started a new little crochet project, something small so it is almost done, it would have been finished but today has been a catch up day.  Friday I was sick I had been up in the night being ill and we were supposed to go to the theatre Friday night!  Fortunately the show had a couple of seats left for Saturday so they let me transfer the tickets at a small cost as they were better seats.  So glad they did as we had this booked since March, the show was Rock of Ages and it was brilliant, if you like eighties rock with a comic twist you should try and get to see it.  So that is two weekends running I have been ill on Friday how rubbish is that?

The little project will be shared at a later date but I would quite like to make something wearable in the chunky yarn, I am keen to try out a larger hook. If anyone can direct me to a simple top in a chunky style that would be great.

Last week I finished reading Uprooted by Naomi Novik I really enjoyed this as it was another book of total escape.  In the theme of a grown up fairy tale style so completely out of the ordinary, I will not give too much away but the story follows Agnieska and her village by an enchanted forest, the Dragon is a wizard who must be served by a village girl for ten years. It is total fantasy so if you like to read about every day life then this is not for you, but for me a change in genre is good sometimes.
This week I have just started A Skinful of Shadows, this one is a YA novel but that doesn't bother me I have read some really good stories aimed at that audience.

We have just finished watching The Last Kingdom, I really enjoyed it though I did have to look away in parts (it is a bit blood thirsty) now I am on the look out for another series to watch.

Juliette Blouse and a Few Frugal Bits

My make for this week was the Juliette Blouse from simple sew pattern I was gifted by a friend.  I originally looked at this and thought the shape looked too basic for it to hang very well, however I was wrong.  Very pleasantly surprised when I tried this on after completing it and now I think this pattern will get much use. It is easy to make up so perfect for any beginners and comes together with the ties so no too much to worry about in terms of fitting.

No pictures of me in it I'm afraid as it is cold and I don't want to go and change, get the tripod etc. So you will have to make do with my model here doing the work for me. I think I will layer this for this season with a long sleeved t-shirt underneath, I do that a lot!

It is quite a floaty feel to it so I would imagine there a re lots of suitable fabrics for this style, I think it would look nice in a linen.

So that is three of the free patterns that I have made up to now and I have been happy with all of them, feeling pleased my friend thought of me before her trip to the charity shop.

This morning I have double lined a curtain that I have hanging at the back door, my intention is to thermal line all my curtains as the lining on them is quite thin apart from the ones I made myself which are good and heavy.  When I moved in at this house we had such a large floor to ceiling window in the back room I just bought inexpensive curtains as it was cheaper than buying fabric. Also the window takes two pairs of curtains, they do the job but I am currently out to make every window as insulated as possible in the evenings, what with rising costs.  

 I have noticed that Dunelm Mill do ready made thermal linings which are inexpensive, so I am off tomorrow to go and have a look at those.  In the meantime today I found a large, lined cream curtain in a cupboard, so I took down my curtain at the door in my sewing area and pinned then stitched it to it.  I needed to take it up a little and I gathered it in to the pleats, now it is good and heavy and that is one curtain done for free!  

We have had a couple of leaks about the house this last couple of weeks, fortunately my husband is quite handy and managed to sort them without the need for outside trades people.  One of the leaks persisted and we then watched a YouTube video that highlighted one little thing that had been missed, the part was bought and now that issue is resolved.  So watch videos before splashing out on repairs even if you still have to call someone, at least you may be aware of the simplicity of the problem so that you don't get charged a fortune for a reasonably simple job. 

My next job is I have a blouse to cut out for my mum as this will be  a gift for her, then a couple of little gifts.  The trouble with that is I won't be able to share the little gifts until later due to spoilers!  I will share my mum's blouse though as she knows about it and will want to wear it over Christmas.  

Another little frugal discovery I have made is a pot of foundation I found in my cupboard, the colour was all wrong when I bought it but I didn't get rid of it as I hate waste. I got it out this morning and mixed a little with my usual plus some moisturiser to make a sort of tinted moisturiser, it works!  That will make my usual stuff last twice as long, I would love to go bare faced and to be honest I probably don't look much different but I know so that's the thing.  I was researching natural ingredients to use instead this week, coconut for moisturiser and so on.  The trouble is some sources say it can cause acne so we don't want that do we? Shea butter and argan oil were  also mentioned, plus the use of some spices to make blusher and so on, if anyone has any experience of trying these natural cosmetics please share.