A Crafters Christmas Tree, teehee!

 It's been a bit rushed...if you don't count the four years it's been a project in waiting! lol. But 2013 has finally been it's year. 

What is it? 

Well it's woolly, and it's round. It's tall and it's green. And it won't be to everyone's taste but it suites me down to the ground.

It has sparkly bits,

and big woolly pompoms.

It's my crafters Christmas Tree.

The family have been surprisingly complimentary about it, but then I suppose even a crochet Christmas tree is better than no tree at all. It still needs a few more pompoms but it'll be a lot easier to pack away than the usual type.

I cannibalised a small lampshade for the top so that I could pop it over our standard lamp base as I didn't want to hang it from the ceiling. When I take it off after Christmas it should collapse down nice a flat. Bish-bosh done!

Merry Christmas

love Fi x

Edited to add: I can't take any credit for the idea, it came from a picture I saw on the Internet. You can see the original picture of a much more magnificent crochet tree on my Pinterest board - Yarny Goodness.

Hexy Lovin hmmm!

Hmmm...what can I say, I'm just a little in love. 

The words crochet, granny and hexy's can only mean one thing...lots of yummyness.

 It started like this. Just a few crochet circles in juicy colours.

 Which soon and rather pleasurably multiplied. It's just a shame stitching in the 294 ends isn't quite as pleasurable. 

 I kind of designed this as I went along, crocheting a bit and frogging a bit to see what worked best. This technique was employed to it's utmost with the handles.

 I added a plain edging to keep any stretch to a minimum and just to finish them off neatly.

 I didn't want to just stitch the handles on, I wanted to do something a little bit different, lets call it a design feature. lol. Mind you... don't ask me what I did, I was just winging it at the time but it seemed to work out okay! I suppose that's what being creative is all about.

 I actually intended this bag for me. 

 So I totally indulged myself with the a beautiful lining fabric.

 I looks a bit Cath Kidston-ish. I even put a zip pocket in, my first ever YIPPETY-DO!

Unfortunately, needs must and all that, so my new 'baby' is sitting in the MarmaladeRose Etsy shop waiting for someone to love it as much as I do. sniff, sniff.

Oh well maybe I'll start another one for me while I'm away on holiday. Yes the H word! Excitement! 

There hasn't been the H word around here for quite a few years.

But Wonderful Man and I are having a little holiday to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary so if I don't manage to slip another post in before we go away you know why. 

Till next time

love Fi x

Crochet alteration.

Summer dress a little to short for ageing knees?

Crochet a simple edging around the bottom to give you that extra couple of inches length. Ta-daa!

PS I've also done this with T-shirts that were too short and sleeves on a shop bought knitted jacket. Works a treat!

Catchy-uppy!

Hello my lovelies. 

This is getting to be a bit of a bad habit, not blogging regularly enough and then having to have a catchy-uppy post and squish too many things in! Ah well, never mind, one day I'll find the culprit who keeps stealing days from me. 

Above is my beautiful crochet scarf that I finished a long time ago, but never blogged about. It is now being turned into a kind of shawly-tabbardy-thingy to wear when I'm chilly and just need that extra bit of warmth around my back. All will be explained when I actually get it completed and photograph it properly.

Next is something completely new! This is my version of a 'toothbrush rug'. So called because years ago toothbrushes had a hole in the handle which meant you could snap off the brush head, round off the end and use it as a large needle to make the rug, hey-ho a toothbrush rug! Unfortunately toothbrush manufacturers seem to have overlooked this important aspect of toothbrush design and now only make bulky, rubbery, ergonomically designed brushes, absolutely no good for rug making. What were they thinking! 

 So, much head scratching, and wearing of thinking caps ensued and after a quick rummage through THE DRAWER. You know the one! The one in the kitchen with all the odd keys, broken knobs, lifeless batteries and general crap. I came across a little plastic craft knife. Doing my best impression of Fagin finding a bulging wallet, I checked over my shoulder and around the kitchen door to make sure I'd not been seen, then as quick as a flash I snaffled the little knife up and whisked it away! Ha! It was mine! I snapped the blade off, rounded off the end with my emery board and heated the end of a metal meat skewer in a candle to melt an 'eye' in my new 'needle'. Voila!

And I must say rather smugly, it works a treat.

So one, 'past-it' single duvet cover, a small curtain and a piece of sheeting later I have a rug the size of a small bath mat. Reversible and washable and really quite addictive. It may grow a bit larger...I need to have another look in the linen cupboard ;)  

 Aaaaw... so cute! This is my 3rd pair of baby booties, can't resist em. These are a commission for a lovely friend.

 But they just needed something to make the gift extra special, so out came the paper and the scissors...

snip, snip and a beautiful gift box was made. Just a perfect size!

 Lastly and just in case I don't have enough to keep me occupied next week when I'm away on holiday, my lovely dad, arrived not only with this scrummy basket of granny squares he has made...for me to crochet together! But he has also made me a Swift for winding hanks of wool. What a total superstar he is. Thank you Dad. x

Argh, I need all those stolen days back and more. lol.

I'm away next week with Wonderful Man celebrating his special birthday in a pretty little cottage over looking the sea. Just him and me. Bliss! I think I've packed more craft projects than clothes! 

till next time

love Fi x

Hooky Ta-daa!

Hello all. Things have been very busy here in the MarmaladeRose household lately. Wonderful Man and I have just returned from a lovely little break in the Cotswolds. (One of my favourite places) But more about that another time. Not only has child #1 found himself a full time job but he's also passed his 2 year diploma course and earned himself a place at his chosen university, HOORAH!

I've just had an email from a Portuguese interior design/craft magazine asking to use 3 of my crochet projects in its next issue! Friends and family are queueing up to come and visit over the next couple of weeks so it's not going to get any quieter around here for a while yet.

So today I thought we'd keep it simple and have a quiet meander through some crochet loveliness.
I've had these crochet circles multiplying in my in my woolly yarn corner (it's actually 3 shopping baskets stuffed at my end of the sofa in the sitting room) for months now with the idea of making them into a blanket. Only I seem to have misplaced the cream yarn that was to join them all together. Yes friends, somewhere in my attic there is a large bag with about 8 balls of cream yarn that I have carefully stashed away in a safe place for about the last 7 years. It even moved the 120miles with us when we moved house. Can I find it now though?
Nope! Not a chance.

Never mind. Lets do something else with them instead. Cushions!

Now I have to confess I'm not a lover of crochet cushions.

But I do love these! They've just grabbed me and given me a big warm squeezy hug! Mmmm...I'm really quite taken with them.
Beautiful soft double knitting yarn, a mix of easy care acrylic and warm soft wool... delicious.

I took a leaf out of Lucy's book over at Attic24 and used a woolly jumper to make the back of the cushion. Check out that neat hand stitching, I was a quite amazed how good it looked too, lol.

Plumply stuffed with brand new feather pads. Not bad for the side you never see.

All colourful and cuddly, I just need to stroke and caress them a couple more times....

Lovely!

A Mish-Mash of Catching Up and Other Stuff.

Hello my little friends, long time no see. All my fault of course, nothing to do with you diligent bloggers. As a result of my very lackadaisical posting today we have a bit of a mish-mash of happenings and makings from the last month or so. A bit like the sweeping-up of all the leftover bits on the floor.
This is my very untidy work table. I always seem to be working in about 6 inches of space while the rest of the very large table is chockablock full of stuff. Very important stuff you understand but never the less, absolutely piled up with... stuff. I do get things made though. In amongst the chaos. Brooches. I enjoyed a lovely day making felt flowers with my friend Anne.
At a Wendy Chan workshop in our local museum.

Not quite sure what do with them now though.

Domestic chores have been attended to.
Daily egg collection. This is a job no one tires of. It's like finding treasure every day. Whoohoo!

And here are four of our special girls, Fudge, Lady Gaga, Margery and Cluck bobbing down to get in front. I've made another dress.

I'd added a little bit of crochet to the belt just to jazz it up a bit.

Sorry, I didn't feel confident enough for a full frontal shot! Lol.
There have been a couple of lazy mornings in bed. Sipping tea, staring out of the bedroom window watching the hens on the bank and in the distance, tiny cars pootling up the hill.

My latest fad,

lined crochet purses.

These are inspired by my new crochet book Cute and Easy Crochet by Nicki Trench.
I say inspired because the pattern didn't work out for me so I did my own thing. The flowers are my own pattern.

So that's what has been happening in the MarmaladeRose household. Still trying to remember all of my favourites. It's really quite exciting discovering you all again!

love Fi x

Aaaah...Deep breath in...take in all that lovely fresh air...aaaah.

Hello, I'm stood in the middle of the most beautiful buttercup meadow.

I thought I'd better take a photo quick smart as it won't be long before the farmer comes along to cut the buttercups down, he'll need winter provisions for his animals.

Anyway lets go back to my house as I really am behind with my blog posts, I must have at least 4 or 5 projects that I want to show you. (not all today though, that really would be too much!)

Firstly a bit of colourful crochet.

Can you guess what it is yet? Scrummy isn't it?
I found a picture on the interweb-thingy and just had to have a go.

This is the blog I found the tea cosy on, it's quite simple. I had to do my own thing here and there as my teapot is a different shape, but I just made it up as I went along.
I enjoyed making this so much that when I noticed a friends 'naked' teapot on one of her blog posts I couldn't resist making another.

Next up, lavender hearts.

Twenty to be precise!

A very nice lady from our local posh hotel spotted one in the pretty shop whilst browsing for something else and asked if they could supply 20 to hang in the posh bedroom wardrobes. So with only two evenings to get them made I went into a frenzy of snipping and stitching shortly to be followed by a lavender induced headache. It's mighty powerful stuff in in large quantities over a prolonged time!

I have to tell you I had a bit of a panic when I realised that the fabric pen I use to draw the heart template wouldn't fade in time. There were huge purple heart outlines on every one of them. I had to bite the bullet and soak them all with water to get the ink out, leaving them all to air dry over night in the airing cupboard. This meant I had to fill, stitch up, trim and pack them up, all in an hour and a half early on the morning they were due to be delivered. It was a very close thing I can tell you!

But they did look lovely.

I know it would make me smile to open a wardrobe door and find a pretty, vintage, linen heart dangling inside.

Well thats two projects down, we still have a felt wall hanging to look at, new brooches, new greetings cards and some felted flowers to look at.

Oh! I nearly forgot, I've made some more bunnies too!

We're going to need a serious amount of tea and biscuits!

love Fi x