Monday 9 December 2013

2/52

Woooo!!! That's a record for the year!!! 2 runs in 2 weeks!! Time for a mice pie and a cuppa!!



Friday 6 December 2013

Crafting deadlines

Christmas is fast approaching and there I have a multitude of crafting deadlines to try and hit. So I have been busy. The hard part of this crafting marathon is I can’t share any of it!!

Potential recipients may be lurking!!!

I’ll give you a sneak peak though….

         Sneak Peak Sneak Peak Sneak Peak Sneak Peak Sneak Peak

Wednesday 4 December 2013

Hello Hello

My little critter is off ill for a few days so I thought I’d use nap time to catch up! Did you see my last post??
Yes that's right I went running!! (I say running but really it could probably be called a Jaunty Walk….but hey it all counts!!!)
Are you curious as to what sparked it all off? A couple of things really.
Last year in November I completed a 5k run. I’m surprised I didn’t blog about it as it was a huge achievement for me. After about 5 months of early starts, forcing myself to train at 6.00 am three times a week with a 6 month old to look after during the day I completed the south Manchester park run in 44.41 minutes. Yes I was 193rd out of 194 people….and yes it was the other persons job to come last to check we were all finished on the course…but I did it!
We then went to afternoon tea. After all this crazy plan of doing a 5k was planned over an afternoon tea so it seemed fitting to celebrate with one!!
Well its now a full year since that day and after all the effort I put in I’ve been running Once !
It seems like such a shame.
Whilst realising this I read Frugal Queens post on her Warts’an’all’run and it reminded me that towards the end I did actually enjoy the running. I did actually feel better for it!!.
So with another afternoon tea booked and munched I set my new running goal. I want to to do 52 runs in 52 weeks!!Sounds like such an easy goal don’t you think!! I use a running app on my Iphone called run keeper and it lets you set a cumulative distance goal. I’ve assumed 5k for each workout so it relies on me getting better towards the end of the year!! That is 260km over the year.
This time I’m going to blog about it to keep me going Smile
So that's where the new post category’s come from 52 runs in 52 weeks!
I haven’t decided on the last race…either a charity run or maybe another park run but there will definitely be an afternoon tea planned to celebrate!
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Sunday 1 December 2013

1/52

Run one Of 52 done!!!! 

Woooooo!!!


Friday 20 September 2013

Nero

On of my office colleagues has no less that four computer monitors. Its like Baron Greenback from Dangermouse.So he was obviously in need of a Nero, a villainous Caterpillar.
I crocheted this freeform from scraps using an image from the internet as a guide.
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Cheerio!

Monday 16 September 2013

Cushions!

I did warn you there would be some more cushions. I bought this fabric as fat quarters from the Aberdashery in Aberystwyth. It is a lovely woodland fabric and I actually took the time to choose some complimentary backing fabric.
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The lighting doesn’t do the colours justice. The first has a cream/linen coloured background and the second is the same fabric but with a subtle mauve/brown hue. They look lovely next to each other. I loved the fabric so much I decided the cushions should be a simple as possible on the front to showcase it. The envelope backings allowed a little bit of design (and fudging!).
The first cushion was backed by a grey flower fabric with outlines of yellow and red.
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I highlighted the envelope closure with a yellow ribbon sewn with red thread on the end seam. This cover lacked some precision with the measuring and came out a touch baggy. This gave me ample opportunity to try out the buttonhole stitch on my sewing machine and the self covered buttons make it look like it was an intentional design rather than a last minute fixer.
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The second cover came out tighter as i used the first cover as a template and adjusted the width a little. The tighter cover didn’t need buttons but I still wanted it to tie into the other cover.P1100381
I still had some yellow ribbon left over from the first cushion so attached a length to the edge of the seam and added some piping. The first piping I have ever attempted so I am super proud of this. I think in hindsight fabric piping would have been easier than sewing the ribbon as I find it hard to get the tension right with these ribbons but I loved the shade of yellow with the cushions so I persevered.
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If you like the woodland fabric it is Wildflower Wood by Lynette Anderson.
Cheerio!

Monday 9 September 2013

N Er Dy



Nerdy? Bit of a Geek?? I’m afraid I am guilty as charged!!
So when a fellow scientist announced a new baby was on the way then we put our thinking caps on. We needed a project that people could contribute to keeping in mind time and ability levels. These play blocks were Just the thing and between 5 of us the project soon took shape.
We crocheted or knitted 10cm x 10cm squares. Each was embroidered with a letter or had a felt letter sewn on. We whip stitched them together around a foam cube and voila Periodic Element Playing Blocks!
It was a genuine collaborative effort and utilised lots of scraps but I think the finished blocks are brilliant and would love to have the stamina to make a set for my own son!
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Apologies for the photo backgrounds. Many of these pictures were taken at work on the camera phone. If anyone is looking for foam blocks or indeed any shape of foam I can highly recommend twfoam. They cut foam to any specification, were reasonable and fast!
Cheerio!

Thursday 5 September 2013

Make it so!

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Your eyes do not deceive you. A captain Jean-Luc Picard Baby rattle courtesy of this pattern here. The future mum is a fan and hopefully she will like this version with mini communications badge and a cat ball stuffed into the oversized head to add the rattle element.

Cheerio!

Sunday 1 September 2013

Checks to dots

Do you remember one of my first nursery makes? A V-shaped cushion cover. You can read about it Here. The fabric was upcycled from a duvet cover found in a local charity shop.

   

It cost less than 50p to make and at the time I was really happy with it. Well 18 months later my little boy is not so little and the cushion cover has been well worn! An untimely cocoa spill sealed its fate and with its change in use from general baby support to comfy sofa friend warranted a bit of a re-vamp. This time I chose some lovely blue fabric with bright lollipop dots.

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I used the same steps as in the original post using the cover as a template. The original cover utilised existing poppers from the duvet so I cut the backing section into overlapping segments to create an envelope closure. A generous overlap meant no buttons were necessary to maintain the nice lines.

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I like the simplicity of envelope closures (when I get them right!) but I am a big fan of turning them into a feature. It helps to find them and adds a little interest and sewing challenges. For this v-shaped cushion I added a strip of the fabric at a different orientation and hid the seam with some blue ribbon. Spare polka dot binding in turquoise came to hand and I bound the end seam with it. I think it adds a nice bit of interest and contrasts nicely with the fabric.

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There are a few more cushion covers to showcase soon.

Cheerio!

Tuesday 13 August 2013

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside….Dippity Doo Dah!

Unfortunately I am not near the big blue sea but we do have a little smattering of seaside at home to celebrate…There are gulls, boats and Beach huts and even water!

Would you like to know more? pretend you’re digging your toes in sand and read on folks…..read on!

Our downstairs toilet (Hah!!….Suckers!!! you thought it was about the seaside but its about our toilet!!! I did say there was water!!!!)…..anyway….our downstairs toilet needed a makeover. It was dingy when we moved in. Then my husband painted it terracotta to go with some existing tiles and to be honest I’ve hated it ever since. It felt like a dark dingy orange cupboard.

We tested out a few tester pots on the wall. If you look carefully you can see the original orange colour in the background.

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We decided to go with the Crown Classic Duck Egg as a feature wall and the rest was destined to be white. All Painting and DIY credit needs to go to my husband for this!

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The colour is a shade darker in real life. The photos are a mixture of camera and phone and neither capture the colour truly. We Had a mirror with shutters that we bought to help bounce a bit of light about and allow people to primp and preen. The shutter doors are a nice seaside blue. The pine shelf gives us some space to store a spare loo roll and provides the boats and beach hut element of the seaside that I promised you. The spare loo roll provided an opportunity to get crafting as we could either a) use the existing dolly cover we had (present from granny) b) leave it bare or c) get Crafty. Options a and b looked like this:

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I did several trial runs trying to make a free standing cover for the loo roll then opted for a simpler wrap around design of quilted fabric, bound in blue and trimmed with seaside ribbons. I secured it with a blue button and think it looks a treat!

 

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I gave the existing towel and tissue holder a quick coat of the duck egg wall paint and another coat of varnish and they spruced up quite nicely and saved us about £15 for a new set. Bathroom Makeover (10)Bathroom Makeover (26)

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The remaining walls were painted white. The floor updated from pine laminate to a tile effect slate version. Properly fitted and neatly trimmed out. You really appreciate those two details after living with other peoples poor handiwork! The splash back which used to feature terracotta seahorses was swapped for some mosaic glass tiles (our first tiling attempt. All in all it looks pretty Swish!

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So we’ve had water, boats and beach huts….anything missing???

Ah Yes!! The Gulls!!

Well one seagull. He hangs out on the newly stencilled door so there’s no confusion over where you’re heading!!

I hoped you enjoyed stopping by! Cheerio.

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