Update

Hello Friends,

Well I have been a busy crafty bunny on my week off. Its nice to start a new project and have the time to really make some headway in getting it done.

I've started working on a fusion blanket, The squares are from a moda charm pack that I have sewn together, I then did a blanket stitch around the edge then crocheted into the blanket stitch. Once I joined them all together I just crocheted around in a granny square style. I'm going to keep going until the yellow yarn runs out then possible add a few flowers:

This project is going to be for my mum's Christmas present, quite pleased that I am getting started on the Christmas craft already.

So with my time off I have been getting re-acquainted with my sewing machine. I have realised now that my machine is very sensitive so I have to change the needle regularly for different types of fabric, otherwise the tension goes all wrong and I get angry.

So in the process of getting re-acquainted I have been whipping up these super cute hand warmers:

I have made a whole bunch to sell on Maggie Makes Stuff they are £4 for a pair and are filled with wheat. All you have to do is pop them in the microwave for 30-45 seconds on full power and "bing!" you have toasty warms hands. They are small enough to keep inside your gloves and I have even made some in manly fabric so the guys can be toast warm too.

Take a browse, I hope you like them.

And on a final note, the Hexipuff total now stands at 45!

After laying them all out I have realised I will need at least 100 to make anything of use, but I'll keep at it and see where this takes me.

Well I hope you are all well, Thanks for reading and keep crafting :)

Weekly(ish) Update

Dear Friends,

 Sadly my updates will be intermittent for a while due to my poor laptop breaking so I will be updating when I get the chance to use other people’s computers.

I’m glad to be updating with good news, my sewing machine is finally back and running like a dream. I’m being extra careful with it now and making sure I change the needles for different types of fabric and I couldn’t be happier, I’m looking forward to whipping up a bunch of sewn goods for Maggie Makes Stuff.

I have a wedding coming up in a few days and I have just finished knitting a clutch bag for the big day. The yarn is very thick, and has a beautiful sheen to it. I always feel like a genius when I do cable work as it looks so complex when it’s finished. I lined it with green fabric to match my bridesmaid dress and I’m very please with the finished results.

You may remember just before my sewing machine broke I had made a re-usable sandwich wrap from oil cloth fabric. Well I was so excited when I got the sewing machine back that I whipped up this re-usable snack back to match. I think a few people might be getting matching lunch sets for Christmas.

As you can tell I have been busy with my beloved machine since I got it back and since the weather is turning I have been thinking of making a few hand warmers for Maggie Makes Stuff, they will be filled with wheat, you just pop them in the microwave for a minuet and Bing! Toasty warm hands. I'm planning to do them in sets of two so you can have one in each glove/pocket.

Well I hope I can get back to updating regularly soon. If you do miss me (lol) then follow me on twitter as my phone is working just fine J

Weekly Update

Greetings Friends,

Well this week has flown by. I went to visit some lady friends form university last weekend and had a great time catching up over fine food and cocktails. On the journey I managed to get a few hexipuffs made which brings the total up to 33!

I also picked up some sock yarn from an amazing crafty shop is Salisbury, it has so much fabric and yarn, it was awesome. I’m pleased to have more colours going into the hexipuff collection I think the next colour purchase needs to be some orange or yellow colours.

Well the sewing machine it still at the manufacturers getting fixed, I spoke to them on Tuesday and they said they are waiting for a new motor to put in it, sigh! I haven’t heard anything since Tuesday so I’m hoping some progress has been made. If the machine is not fixable I might request a refund and get a less complicated machine as it is easier to fix and maintain a simpler machine. Sob, I just miss having it so much. When I get it back I just won’t know what to do with myself as I’ve been without it for so long.

So the weather seems to be turning for the worse here so it’s time to think about this years winter hat. I seem to be leaning towards a cloche design, this is the short list so far is:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/slouchy-hat-with-picot-edge a slouchy hat with a lovely picot edge

This very cute cloche with crocheted cable http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/boutique-ribbed-cable-cloche---crochet-version

This very classy cloche with botany inspired detail http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/regina-2

I think I will also keep looking and maybe think about designing my own pattern as I would like to incorporate buttons into the design.

And with thinking about winter hats the Christmas make list creeps into the back of my mind…oh the horror!

Update

Greetings Friends,

Apologies for the not so weekly, weekly updates. I have had a series of busy weekends. Last weekend I was collecting my Granny form the airport. She is the amazing woman who planted the seed of crafts and nourished it with bits of fabric and scraps of wool to make the craft nut you know today. She is Awesome, she has super human bargain hunting skills, she presented me with a bag of 7 balls of sock yarn that she got from a charity shop (thrift store) that she paid 35p a ball for! The charity shops in Scotland are an untapped resource! I was so excited about showing her my crocheted jacket and she loved it so much I’ve had to lend her the book for the pattern. Anyway… I tried to explain hexipuffing to her over the phone and failed and managed to show her when she came to visit, I tried to teach my mum to hexipuff but I can’t say it was very successful.

I also went to Thorpe Park at the weekend. It’s the first theme park I’ve ever been to and it was amazing. I got a sore throat from screaming on all of the rides and ate far too much sugar.

Well back to the crafty stuff.

Hexipuffing current total is 24! I’m stepping it up a bit now as I have many weekends away and it’s an easy project to pick up and take with me and knit on the train/bus. Thanks to Granny’s kind gift I have loads more sock yarn to play with as well. Which reminds me, I have promised many pairs of socks to beloved, best get started soon.

It was my mum’s birthday this week. She has had many of my hand made projects inflicted upon her and it’s hard to think what I can make for her now. This year I made her a keyring:

Which I am quite pleased with and I gave her one of these awesome Tea Wallets. I got the idea from Craftster but I used it to keep handbag essential in like plasters and paracetamol etc. I think it will come in very handy.

It’s also my friend Ellie’s birthday at the end of the month and I’m going to visit her this weekend. I’m so excited as it’s going to be a little reunion of a few university friends. I made Ellie a crocheted clutch from the left over merino yarn from my jacket. I reinforced it with thick felt so it would be more stiff and lined it with pretty fabric. I didn’t write the pattern but if I make it again I’ll make sure I do J

I’ve added a new album to Maggie Makes Stuff called Gifts and Comissions where I can showcase things that I have made. Take a look, you might like it J

With being so busy my Ravellenic project is a bit further behind than I would like it to be. But thankfully this giant knitting does work up quickly. Now that my friends and family know that I am stash busting all of the horrible synthetic novelty yarn people have been donating more so that they can get it out of their lives. I feel this rug is becoming a community interests projects.

I’m so glad that I could make this post today, it almost didn’t happen. I accidentally spilt water on my laptop and now the keyboard won’t work. I was so worried that I’d have to go begging to the bank to get money to get a new one but thankfully I have been able to plug in a USB keyboard and it works perfectly. I just have to put up with this and save for Lappy 2.0

Weekly Update

Hello Friends,

Apologies for being missing in action last week. My weekend was filled with pounding the pavement for the St Luke's Midnight Walk I walked 13 miles in 3 hours 35 minuets and raised over £80 for the charity. It was such a buzz to finish.

So in the crafty news I am still working on that doily for my friends birthday, I forgot how long lace work takes, I think she'll be getting and IOU for 1 doily on her birthday.

As always I have been distracted by another new craft. I have recently been making Kanzashi flowers.

They are so pretty and addictive to make.There are a lot of good tutorials around to fold your perfect petal. My favorites are:
Little Birdie Secrets tutorial for the pointed petal
and
This one form cut out and keep for rounded petals.

See Easy Kanzashi Flower and 1000's of others - or share your own on Cut Out + Keep

I have put all of the flowers I have made so far on Maggie Makes Stuff along with some 5 strand braided head bands I made.

And last but not least I have cast on my Ravellenic project today, for the synchronised stash busting event. I have a big bag full of all my nasty synthetic novelty yarn and I'm using the giant knitting needles to make it into a rug. Its looking pretty good so far as all the colours are complementing each other and it's really fluffy.

I'm knitting with about 11 strands of yarn and one it's done my nieces' will be playing with it.

TTFN friends, keep crafting

Weekly Update

Hello Friends,

Well the Fox is now very well dressed with evening gown, cardigan, skirt and two pairs of shoes and off to it’s new loving owner. That little fox was very popular with the ladies at stitch and bitch, may have caused a bit of brooding.

Progress has halted on the hexagon patchwork due to inconsiderate people having birthdays, lol, but I hope to get some more of this done soon.

Hexipuffs: My begging for left over sock yarn has paid off. One of the lovely ladies at stitch and bitch gave me some sock yarn which has spurred me to get hexipuffing again. So far the total is up to 14. I'm going to take them away with me on a trip in August so I'll get loads more done then.

Crochet doily: I’m currently working on a doily in a rich purple crochet cotton. It is intended to be a Birthday present for a friend, I wasn't sure if she would like it though so ended up telling her what I was up to. Turns out she loves doilies. So glad I asked, saved me worrying about it. The pattern is from ravelry coffee table topper by Agnes Russell.

I mentioned ages ago working on a slouch hat with hearts on it, I think I am going to frog this one as I havn’t worked on it in ages and I’m sure the moths are having a feast on it so it’s best it gets ripped out and sealed in the yarn stash.

Journaling: I still currently have two pages for my creative journal but with being a busy bunny I have not had the time to make further pages though I have been pinning lots of beautiful pages for inspiration and making notes of ideas for the next pages.

So much craft, so little time. There are so many things on my crafty wish list at the moment;

Weaving, after my failed attempt at weaving a rug I have decided not to give up entirely on weaving, there have been a few tutorials on pintrest and cut out and keep for weaving with newspaper or magazines to make bowels etc and also an interesting technique for weaving a quilt out of flat strips of fabric, of course I cant try that until my god damn sewing machine gets fixed. I like this tutorial because of the unusual shape of the bowl it's made:

I have been wanting to do some fabric covered books or a while, I have a craft encyclopaedia that would look awesome covered and I could cover some diaries and note books and put them on Maggie makes stuff as matching sets with pretty button and ribbon details :)

Needle felting, for some reason I really want to try needle felting now. There are some really good beginner’s kits online like ebay and Blooming Felt which look great and not to expensive. There are lots of cool things to do like making 2D pictures or 3D objects like animals etc, you can felt directly onto clothing and use things like cookie cutters to make nice neat shapes. I feel I may be buying a kit soon to add to the many crafts that I already do.

Anyway I hope you enjoyed this weeks crafty rant.

see ya'll soon

Weekly Update

Hi Friends,

Well it's been a crafty week. I have been busy making lots of presents for people. The fern cowl turned out really well.

As I was using a chunky wool I stopped half way in the lace pattern so that it wouldn't be to long, I was worried when I finished it as it wasn't sitting very nicely but after blocking it's perfect. I am going to give it to the birthday girl today. Very excited.

I have also been working on my niece's birthday present. I was looking for a doll that I could make clothes for so she could play dress up but couldn't find a doll that wasn't hideously expensive or hideously ugly so I got a stuffed animal instead.

So far this cute fox has an evening dress (blue and sparkly one) a cardigan, a skirt and a shoe. I am yet to make the other shoe. I'm pleased with the cardigan as I have been looking for a project to use this cute rainbow yarn in for ages.

I have lots more to make over the next few weeks as I have two more birthdays to make for, Busy busy busy.

Another thing I have been working on this week is my new facebook page Maggie Makes Stuff. I've had all my stock from craft fairs just sitting at home not doing anything so I decided to put them all on a facebook page so everyone can see what I have. I'm looking forward to making a few other bit's and pieces so I'll keep you updated on what's new. Go on take a look, have a browse and don't forget to click like :)