Peace on Earth

Merry Christmas from Neet Designs.

Normal service will be resumed after the Holidays. See you soon.

Christmas is coming!!

Santa is on his way...........


I have got the tree..............


all the food from my "bible"..................



and a lovely little gift from my Little Neet!

Not much blogging but still busy

I haven't felt I have had the time to sit down and blog for a while, concious of the time it takes to do it properly (for me anyway) But today I have found the time to show off some things I have been doing. Halleluha.


A beautiful symbol of this season bathed in glorious winter sunshine


A bowl of hyacinths, planted up by myself, starting to poke their noses out and give up their gorgeous flowers in a little while.


I spend far too much time gazing out the window at these cheeky things (far TOO much time!)


I have been furiously busy making a whole pile of these cute little slippers for a project I have in mind



My first attempt at crafting some Christmassy decorations. These are made from a vintage, felted piece of blanket. They are 9cm tall


This little fella for is a present for some friends to welcome their much longed for little baby boy. I knitted it from some vintage, thrifted, unnamed yarn. He stands 29cms tall and also has a little bell in his belly so he jingles gently. I also made the card from scratch with a pretty little piece of decoupage topper (which was quite challenging to cut! but very pleasing to make.)

Embroidery

This week I have got my little sewing needles and floss out and have been doing some very relaxing (and sometimes challenging) embroidery. I have done a couple of other pictures also but what with winter light and a lack of any sunshine I took this to post on here.(It is probably with better detail if you click on it to see the close up - I don't know how that happens?). I will try to dig out my daylight lamp and have a serious attempt at taking some decent photos for this blog - promise!

Thirteen!

Lucky for some, unlucky for others For me it is the number of WIP's or UFO's that I have sitting around crying out for attention. What's your number?

Kitchen poetry #6/7

One down - five to go! This is my very first, ever egg that has been laid by one of my little Cuckoo Maran bantams. Go girl!!




There's nothing wrong with starting 'em young. This is Little Neet helping to prepare Sunday Dinner. He loves peeling carrots and potatoes and helping where he can with preparation. He can also 'put it away' once it's all cooked!

Have you ever tried filet crochet?

'Don't be frightened' is what I would say to you if you haven't been brave enough to get to grips with it. Yes, it is a little challenging, working with the fine thread and needle but ohhhh so satisfying as well. The white project is going to be a lavender bag and the black 'string' is the basis of a braid that will edge the bottom of a roller blind. Both will be quite contemporary, not at all old-fashioned or fuddy-duddy. I would go so far as to say I am totally 'hooked'!

Amigurumi should come with a warning!

These little critters ARE totally addictive. Great for stash busting and grabbing a quick 'creative fix'.

Kitchen poetry #4

Okay so I am British! Call me old-fashioned but I prefer to do the dishes by hand - whilst the dishwasher stands all shiny and............idle!

Kitchen Poetry #3

Enzo the Rottie much prefers the comfort of underfloor heating over a cold. draughty kennel, anyday!

Sunshine on a winter's day

Feeding the Troops! - kitchen poetry #2

This is the second photo of the Simplesparrow Kitchen Poetry Challenge. As you can see from the single, solitary, re-usuable bag in the picture that I didn't really plan on buying too much stuff - but you know how it goes!

Kitchen poetry #1

This photo shows my kitchen as it is whilst the evening meal is being prepared. Coats left as they are, laundry to be tidied away, school uniform waiting for the next day, and a nice warm, underheated floor makes the perfect place to sit and play a game. This is part of the challenge set by Toni of Simplesparrow.


This is the kitchen when the meal is done and the day has been tidied away waiting for it all to start again tomorrow!

No Batteries!!

Apparently to keep up a really worthwhile blog it helps if you can add photos to embellish the text and show your visitors the story, well.............my rechargeable batteries have just gone to pot and I don't have any regular ones as standby so I will have to do a 'photoless' blog (apart from any that appear in the links).
I thought I would show you some ongoing projects that I am tackling as and when the mood is right.

1. Hairclip embellishments. These are very cute, use up little scraps of fabric and concentrate your mind for an enjoyable ammount of time.

2. Very cute owl crochet. I did this for a bit of fun and it was super quick.

3. I am slowly making my way through this project. I enjoy embroidery when in a contemplative mood and know I can settle down to concentrate on the item

4. This was great fun if only for the effect. I am now hunting down a suitable frame for it to sit in. But I do really like it

5. I am going to make a couple of these little houses. this weekend. Check out the Pimp Stitch blog too, it's pretty cool and has some lovely links on it.

Anyhows...........once I get me some new batteries I will photo all these projects and pop them on here and I hope that you will take a peek at the links and have a go yourself.

I'm off now to tackle the other 20 odd projects and WIP's I have on the go still!! Speak to you soon.

Catching up

Life seems to get in the way at the moment with crafting, I can't see to find the right groove for anything. and yet, I keep seeing loads of inspiration out there on the Interweb.

But I have some pics of finds and a very special 'make'

I have made a couple of nice purchases from local charity/thrift shops. This one was a good haul for £3 - No. you don't need glasses, I was slightly out of focus - ooops!

I also topped up my needle collection. It is really frustrating to see a pattern that you want to start but don't have the right needles for the job. I already have a pretty good all round selection but I wanted to get the missing sizes. Well, I don't know if you are aware but here un the UK, charity/thrift shops aren't allowed to display knitting needles (dangerous weapons!) but a lot will have a box or collection in their sorting room if you ask. I did just that yesterday and spent a pleasant half hour rifling through a gazillion needles and came away with these for £5.


You will all have heard the phrase 'Reduce, re-use, recycle'. Well I did just that this week, in all it's intended glory. It was my birthday on Monday and OH asked what present I would like as I am of that age that I have mostly everything I want and ain't too fussed with 'having to have' if you know what I mean. My response to is question was 'Chickens!'. I have been hankering for some all summer and haven't got motivated to organising it. Then I suggested 'what if we have a go at making a chicken ark?' So I browsed the Interweb for design inspiration, sourced 3 'new' pallets (4 x 8) and we set about 'making'. We used the pallets to perfection and even recycled the nails. The only extra thing we had to buy was the wire mesh (£23), everything else - screws, woodstain and bits was hanging around in the shed. So here is the finished item


These 4 cheeky things are my very special birthday present. We went to a local poultry auction and came away with these. 1 cockerel and 3 hens which are point of lay, so eggs anytime soon. They all have names Rodney and Milly, Molly, Mandy. I have room for another 4. So watch this space for the new additions.

Thanks Margy

Here is the beautiful piece of work from Margy of Hmmdesigns that she has made for my 7 year old Little Neet as part of the Kids Toy Swap that we were partnered for. She also sent along other little boy 'interests' in the parcel but it was ripped open at with such speed and enthusiasm that I haven't got to photo them in their pristine glory. Now to find an appropriate home for the gorgeous little mini quilt. Thanks again Margy.

Aaaargh....Ripping, ripping and more ripping!

I seem to have lost my knitting and crochet mojo. The last couple of weeks or so have been really frustrating. Everytime I try to tackle a project of some kind, I keep finding myself unhappy with the look or the feel of it and so I keeping ripping them all back to start again. Has this ever happened to you?
But looking on the bright side at least it gives my fingers something to do and keeps me out of mischief.

I can't believe it has been so long! (long post)

Well that summer has flew by so quickly. I have been wanting to blog for a little while but either my head wasn't into it or timing wasn't great. So I have now managed to slide some space aside seeing as things are pretty much back to normal with school routine and daily chores.

I haven't had idle hands whilst taking my blog vacation, I have been busy creating these cushions.

The pattern and inspiration was taken from this book

I wanted something different, I scoured the internet and retail stores and nothing was right so I knew I had to get creative to get it right. They are made with colours that are featured in my lounge and are just perfect.

Also I have done one of these (hat). I had some spare navy blue Aran weight yarn and it was ideal. OH loves it and I am now going to do a smaller version for Little Neet.

I have been assessing all the WIPs that I have in various stages of formation. There are seams to be sewn, afghans to complete, embroidery to catch up with and little tiddly bits to tidy up. I have made a pledge to myself that I am going to clear these before embarking on other projects and ideas.

I came across this blog the other day whilst researching something for my tomato glut. (Am I the only grower in the UK that has not suffered with blight this year?) Please DO NOT look if you are hungry or trying to resist temptation. I thought it was fresh and different and jam-packed with ideas.

Righty-oh. Off to do some more 'creating' so that I may have something more to blog again soon.

Toy swap

Now that Margy of Hmmdesigns has received and blogged about her gifts, here are my photos of the little toys I made for Baby Ruben.

For the swap organised by Chloe of MeeCrafts, Margy told me her baby was due about the same as the swap was organised. She had decorated her nursery and had a preference for red/ white and perhaps toadstool items. So........ I crocheted a little baby cushion with the letter R, a toadstool rattler and a little bunny companion. Hopefully I got the colour combination right for Margy?

School crafts

I don't know if I emntioned before I help out with the 'arty-crafty' sessions at my sons' school. Well for the last few weeks his teacher and I have been helping the kids to create 'travel cushions'.

For this they first of all drew a design with fabric pens/crayons onto the top sheet, this was ironed to set the design. Next wadding was attached and they stitched around parts of their design - it helps to remember they are 7 year olds- in colours of their choice = lots of threading of needles!
I then had the pleasure of bringing them home to turn them into cushions with the help of the trusty sewing machine. I attached a bright backing fabric, cut them to tidy up the shape and stitched all around bar about three inches.
The children are going to do the final sewing up of the seam.
The look very cute - sort of naive in design. I love them!

My matryoshkas

After seeing lots of these cute little dolls around the blogging world, I thought I'd have a go at creating a couple.

A word of warning ..............they can beome quite addictive as you can let your imagination for the detail run riot.

So many projects........

So, so little time. But somehow, somewhere I will just have to find it.


ISBN4-07-246385-X

I saw this pop up on a few blogs that I read and had to order it for myself just for the front cover! But inside, although it is in Japanese, the diagrams and instructions are pretty easy to follow.





These three are a must have for any crafters book collection. The makes inside are all adorable and could be created in so many different ways.



ISBN-10: 1-58008-858-9/ISBN-13: 978-1-5808-858-9

This book is hot off the presses and I knew as soon as I saw a write up on it that it had to be mine. All I can say is WOW! The projects in this are the sort that make you go all tingly just looking at the photos. The author has used natural fibers for these makes - raffia, jute, kitchen string, sisal leather cord and felted jumpers. There are contemporary looking vases, fabulous crocheted bags and crocheted/felted bags! All simply scrumptious.