Remember me?

Wow, what a long time since my last post! I've got a massive long list of excuses, erm I mean reasons, why it's been so long, but the main one is that my poor old 10 year old computer finally got to old and slow. It got to the point where it couldn't keep up with the modern world - and I got to the point of wanting to throw it out of the window cos it was so slow! When I realised I had more free space on my iPod than on my computer I realised it was time to say goodbye. I now have a lovely new laptop which behaves itself and does everything I tell it to. It's taken a while, but I finally have all my pics and other stuff on here and I'm back in the land of the blogging.

I've got so many makes that I haven't shared with you yet, but I'll just start with this one for now. I treated myself to the Cath Kidston Crochet book/kit at Christmas, and started making my very first Granny Squares. They really are addictive, can't believe I've only just found out!
I love the colours in the kit and I'm ever so chuffed with the way my little cushion turned out.
Even the back is rather sweet too!

I'm on a real crochet kick at the moment - wait til you see the cute Easter bunnies I'm making right now.......

Hooked!

I've been going through a major crochet phase lately - it must be a reaction to autumn and dark nights!

I made this sweet little pumpkin hat for Alfie's first Halloween.


These wristwarmers are made from Peruvian Alpaca wool - I've got a bit carried away making loads of these for Christmas pressies! They're ever so simple to make, I may even do a tutorial if anyone's interested?

And these are just for me! They were going to be a Christmas pressie but I fell in love with the colours and decided to keep them. The whole set was made from just one ball of wool, so I didn't have to keep changing colours or do anything complicated. I wear the wristwarmers to work most mornings - they cheer me up and I get loads of comments about them!

By the way, don't forget to watch Kirstie's Handmade Britain tomorrow night - it's the episode at the Great Yorkshire Show which I blogged about in the summer. You might even see me lurking in the background - I'm the one wearing a nasty cheap fleece jacket that I had to pay £20 for because I was turning blue with cold!

Grand News!

Sorry it's been a while since my last post - I've been ever so busy sewing and crocheting in the build up to Christmas (I know it's still ages away but the orders are coming in already!) But I've actually got the best possible reason for my absence - I became a Grandma 2 weeks ago! I feel incredibly ancient typing those words but it's OK, it's my stepdaughter who's given birth to a gorgeous baby boy, so I can experience all the joys of grannyhood while still pretending I'm only 27 :-)

I'd love to share a photo here but I've had a good long think and unfortunately I have reasons for not putting pics of my family on the internet - you'll just have to take my word for it that he's the most beautiful baby in the world!


Instead I'll show you this photo of the cross stitch afghan I made to welcome baby Alfie into the world. It's a rubbish pic because although I finished stitching it in plenty of time I forgot all about taking a photo so I had to take it in a rush before we wrapped it up to take to the hospital.


I'll also show you this second batch of baby hats which are now on their way to China. Of course I've made a few of these for Alfie too:) Within 30 minutes of him being born a midwife was making sure he had a hat on which made me realise how important these little hats are for the orphans in China.

I'll be back soon to show off some of my latest stitching projects - funnily enough quite a few of them are baby-related!

Happy Hats

I recently came across the Little Flower Project blog while surfing the web, and reading about all the Chinese orphans they help moved me to tears. They care for lots of babies and older children, specialising in those with complex medical needs and disabilities who cannot find help elsewhere. I can't find the right words to describe the lives of these children, but if you read the blog you can find out more - it's not all sad, there are plenty of tales of hope and joy too.


I wanted to do something to brighten up the lives of the children, so I contacted Little Flower and asked if they would like some handmade hats. They said 'Yes Please' so I started sewing!


These hats are so simple to make. I used a pattern from an old issue of Sew Hip magazine and managed to whip up a dozen in no time. I'm aiming to send 12 each month - the first batch are in the mail and I'm busy stitching some more. I'm only sending small packages because the Chinese Customs are very strict and if the parcel's worth too much they'll charge the charity a fortune to receive it.
Believe it or not I'm making the hats from upcycled T shirts! They're a great source of soft stretchy fabric and they're turning into some very cute little hats.

This is where you can help - I'm on the scrounge for unwanted T shirts and vests now I've finished cutting up all the spare ones I could find in our house! If any of you can donate one just let me know and I'll pass on my address. Also if you want to make a hat I can add it to one of my parcels - it can be sewn, knitted, crocheted, any style or size. I've made some tiny premature baby hats as well as larger baby sizes and I'm planning on making some fleece ones for the older kids soon. Serena at the orphanage has told me they'll be happy to receive any hats I can send, and if I ever reach a point where they have more than they can use they'll pass them on to other local orphanages. If any of you can help spread the word about this that would be great too - thanks:)

Strawberry Tea Total

Our Strawberry Tea in aid of Breast Cancer Care was the most amazing success! Once people started to arrive they never stopped, it was wonderful to receive so much support from the local community.

You can see some of the handmade items we had on the gift stall. The ladies in our local Sheltered Housing complexes really got into the spirit of things and produced all sorts of hand knitted strawberries. I made some strawberry themed coasters, tea bag wallets and head bands to go with the tea cosy and felt strawberries that I'd already made, and some other local ladies were kind enough to donate their handmade gifts too.


A lovely lady called Liz who runs a business called Vintage China Hire, based in Rothwell, very kindly approached us and offered to lend us some of her beautiful crockery to make our tea extra special - don't the tables look gorgeous with their mis-matched tea sets?


The biggest queues of the day were at the cake stall - it was absolutely manic! Everyone received a cupcake along with their cup of tea when they arrived and they all wanted to buy some to take home too. I made three dozen cupcakes just to do my bit but all the best ones were made by a couple of my colleagues and one of our residents who's the queen of cupcakes. They looked stunning and tasted just as good!


On this last pic you can just see a bit of the bunting I made to brighten up the room. It's made from magazine pages stapled onto lengths of string - cheap but surprisingly effective.


We were chuffed to bits when we got round to counting the money we made on the day - £484.50 donated to Breast Cancer Care!!! That's way more than we hoped for. I'm so grateful to everyone who helped us with this event in every way - a lot of people put a lot of work into the day but it was definitely worth it:)

Kirstie Allsop and the Great Yorkshire Show

We had a fabulous day out at the Great Yorkshire Show last Tuesday. The weather wasn't so great - we actually had to buy coats halfway through the day because we were so freezing - but it stayed dry and we had a fun time looking at all the animals and crafts.

I didn't find out until it was too late to enter, but there was a needlecraft contest at the show. Kirstie Allsop was entering a piece anonymously to see how she compares with the needlewomen of Yorkshire and Channel 4 were filming it for her next crafty programme.


I managed to see part of the filming and grab a quick pic of Kirstie being interviewed - her cushion won first prize!


Here's a closer pic of the cushion - it's very sweet and rustic. There were some amazing entries but I couldn't get any decent photos because the tent was so packed. It looked as though they were interviewing the other winners too, so I'm looking forward to seeing it on TV some time soon.


Of course, the real stars of any agricultural show are the animals! My favourite cows are Highland Cattle and this little chap was gorgeous.


These two little pigs looked so snug snoozing in the hay.


And these two goats couldn't stop gazing into each others eyes!


This is the cutest sheep ever, even though it can't see where it's going.


Even the vegetables were looking their best for the show - this display must have taken ages to set up.

Thanks for the strawberry suggestions by the way - our Strawberry Tea's next Tuesday and I'm really looking forward to it:)

Happy Days and Strawberries

Yet again, it's been a long, long time since my last post. I've got a good excuse this time - I've been off on my hols! We had a wonderful week in Majorca in the beautiful resort of Cala D'Or. Lots of lounging about on the beach with a bit of exploring in between, all washed down with a nice cold beer.

Then when we got back, we popped over to Waddington Air Show last Sunday. It was a scorching hot day so we got to top up our tans a bit more. Mr Felt took this amazing pic of the Red Arrows, who were awesome as always.


On a completely different subject, you may remember I mentioned an upcoming charity project. At a Sheltered Housing complex where I work we're holding a Strawberry Tea to raise money for Breast Cancer Care.

The staff and residents are baking cakes, and some of our ladies are busy knitting strawberries to sell on the gift stall. I've made this batch of felt strawberries and I've just finished a tea cosy made from strawberry fabric. I'm now looking for more ideas of strawberry or tea themed things to make - the party's in 2 weeks so I need simple inexpensive ideas. I could also do with a few suggestions about decorating the room to make this a party to remember!
If any of you are in West Yorkshire and free on 26 July you're very welcome to come along to our party - just give me a shout and I'll let you know all the details:) You can read more about the charity here and maybe even get inspired to hold your own Strawberry Tea.