Crochet necklace

I am on the look out for more crochet class projects and I came across a beautiful button necklace on Ravelry by Alessandra Hayden which is a free download.

This is my version with beads instead of buttons. I still have some of those ceramic greek beads left over and my friend gave me a bag of beads for my birthday.

To use beads instead of buttons, I had to thread the 50 beads required onto the yarn before I started, then pull them up as I needed them. The pattern asks you to insert your hook through the button holes and add as you go but that becomes restrictive in what buttons you can use.

The yarn is Rico crochet number 10 and I used a 2mm hook. I also used a wire beading needle (a brilliant bit of kit)

I like wearing it and I liked making it in one Sunday evening. 
Jo xxxx

Over Thinking

Sometimes you can over think stuff. I have been hanging on to this last bit of guipure lace from White Tree fabrics. I have been thinking about adding it to a skirt hem, inserting it into the back of a blouse or using it for lace sleeves.

but in all honesty it never seemed to fit any of those ideas. Indeed the dreamed up garment in my head didn't even fit into my wardrobe.

However, my mum suggested, "Why don't you hem it and just make it into a scarf?"

She was soooo right.

A genius she is.

 Thanks for continuing to help me sew (useful) stuff mum.

Happy Mothering Sunday to all mums out there.

Jo xxx

Tilda Giveaway

We all wish we had more time, right? But sometimes we waste time. I waste endless time waiting for photos to upload to my blog posts or waiting for PDF patterns to print out in their multiple pages etc.

This week I did a little cutting out every time I was sat at the computer 'waiting' for it to do it's thing. It felt very productive.

I then had a selection of beautiful Tilda dolls to choose from every time I was 'waiting'. The two sheets were 10p each in a garden centre craft sale where some stock had been a bit damaged (hence no legs on this one!) 

Every download waiting session, I created a card.

Do you like them?

Would you like to choose one? I will send a blank one for you to use - you can choose by using the greeting message as an indicator when you leave a comment. I will draw a winner on the 20th March. Maybe today, Friday the 13th, will be your lucky day?

Summer is here, Enjoy your day, Hip Hip Hurray, With Love or Someone Special. 

Good Luck Everyone. Jo x

Pyjamas from pyjamas?

Big Sis has grown too tall for her Christmas pyjamas already. How did that happen?? I found some pyjama bottoms from a long time ago which are waaay too big for me... (postnatal I think) 

So I cut pyjamas from pyjamas...

I traced off two pattern pieces from one of my Ottobre children's magazines for the style below.

Then made two pairs of pyjama bottoms on the overlocker in no time. I even used the hem from the old trousers so that I didn't need to hem them.

A snail pair and a zebra pair.

...and she does...

I started tracing at 14:10 and folded them onto her bed at 15:15. I love my overlocker - How could I live without it?

Jo xxx

Making for friends

I wanted to make something for my best friend for her birthday but she has had enough woolly things from me to last a lifetime so I made her a picture. 

OK so I need to take the back off and get that bit of rubber off the branch!

It was a very difficult thing to photograph in all it's simplistic glory. 

I tried it with buttons but they were too big so I used up some ceramic greek beads which I used to edge a shawl many moons ago.

She liked it and I am not sure if she realised I had made it. Maybe she was just grateful it wasn't another scarf!

Jo xx

Colourful mistakes

Do you know Yoma shoes? I first saw them in a beautiful shop in Norwich on holiday last year. I did not have a job at the time and expensive shoe shopping was not on the agenda. I searched ebay when I returned but found no joy. Then last week I saw these yellow shoes and made a quick bid. I didn't really need yellow shoes but I knew them to be so comfy and well made that I made a hasty bid.

But what do you do if you then saw a green pair being sold by the same person five minutes later? I didn't see them at first and had already bid on the other ones... I bought them both - green is my favourite colour.

But then what if the shoes arrive, they are more beautiful and gorgeous than you imagined they were going to be and the seller says, "I have a blue pair as well if you want them?" Yes, you guessed it.. I had those too.

In total I bought three pairs of Yoma shoes for the price of one pair so I have all my colourful shoe needs covered for quite a while now.Yoma are a UK based company. Go and have a swoon. People who know me would say these are 'Jo shoes!'

Do you have more than one of the same thing because 
they are totally brilliant?

Happy, happy, happy

Jo x

Confidently pretty

I have had a few bad days at work: lost my ID badge, made some diary cock ups, sent the wrong exam papers to the wrong place etc.etc. and I felt like nothing was going right so I turned to the sewing machine to boost my confidence.

I have a collection of 'ladies' oddments in the front pocket of my work bag and last week they were all over the boot of my car as my bag tipped over. Why have I not got a make up bag???
 
  

So I made one in 45 minutes to attempt to feel successful at something and it worked. It gave me time to put things in perspective and feel a whole lot better.

I love this kind of Guerrilla patchwork. No measuring and perfection just joyful sewing in rows.

I didn't care that the front and the back didn't match, that was not the purpose of this kind of functional project. It was to solve a problem and feel positive.

I used Left over Liberty Wiltshire from White Tree Fabrics and left over patchwork quilt border fabric. It is a perfect fit in the front pocket of my bag, one less thing to go wrong....

Objective Achieved! Feeling like 'I can' again.

 Thanks for looking. Jo xx