Shopping

I like having annual leave :) It meant I got to spend some time with my lovely boyfriend and part of that was going craft shopping.  There is a garden centre/cafe/craft place near his Nan's called 'Squires' which we visited.  I was very restrained and only bought a couple of scrapbook pages which I though I could use to brighten up my walls.  They're double sided which is a bonus and have glossy/glittery accents too.

I also bought some wrapping paper for a friend of mine who isn't feeling great; we tend to look after each other and I have a funny feeling that pictures of guinea pigs, wrapped up in wool and skiing, will be right up her street!!

 I saw a set of cardboard boxes, laid out like a printers tray as well and had a fisherprice moment ("oh the possibilities") as that would be a much cheaper and easier way to do one of the projects I have brewing in the back of my head.  There was also a house shape made of wood. 3D, with shelves or floors in.  It was only about 9" tall and I'm sure I could have found something to do with it but didn't feel like trying the patience of my slightly bored boyfriend any longer.

The cross stitch is most definitely underway - I started with a colour I was very confident I knew what it was and as this was only half cross stitch I've managed to get a fair bit done.  having started filling in my first couple of leaves tho I'm discovering that I may not have followed the pattern quite as closely as I should have done and I appear to be a couple of stitches or rows 'out' - but not consistently. Bizzare!  I shall 'careful construct my own interpretation of the pattern' and if you don't tell, no-one will ever know!!

WIN!!

As I said in my last post I have some very exciting news - and now there's even more!
I have The Miniature Garden (http://theminiaturegarden.blogspot.com/) saved in my bookmarks as one of the blogs I read (I haven't quite worked out how to follow blogs although if I went away and looked at it I'm sure I would suddenly find it very easy) and entered the giveaway that Georgie offered.  You can probably tell where this is going... and yes, I have won her giveaway!!!  I was so surprised as I can't ever remember having won something like this way.  It said that the winner was Miriam and I went and checked to see if there was another Miriam in the list - although it isn't a common name - before I emailed Georgie asking if it was really me.  I was so excited I forgot to tell her my details in the first email and had to send another.

This 1/12th scale shabby/beachy table and shutter is what I have won - and isn't it beautiful?!  I was amazed at all the lovely comments people had left congratulating me; they really touched me.  As soon as I go back to my parents or they come to visit me I will be taking photos and posting (something like this is too precious to try sending to hospital accommodation). So thank you Georgie, thank you so very very much, I am truly delighted - as you say I'll have to get that glass dome now!!

Secondly I logged on today to create this post and it told me I had a follower - my very first one!! Again, huge excitement and guess who it is? Yes. it's Georgie :) Thank you again, you've made me very happy allllll over again.

Thirdly, today is pay day and for the very first time I have paid off some of my student loan!  It may only be £10, I may be accruing interest because of this but it's a day that makes me feel proud.  I'm so thankful to have finished my degree and to have this job (for however long it lasts) and it makes me feel good to be able to see something that acknowledges how I'm getting on in the world (even if it is paying the government back).

There is no current craft news as work, sleep and migraines take priority but I shall get started on that cross-stitch ASAP.  Possibly even tonight......

I have moved...

Posts have been sadly lacking as last Friday I was offered a job by my agency.  This meant travelling approximately 175 miles across the country into hospital accommodation and I have now completed the first week of my new job.  It has gone well, which is good, and I'm here for up to 3 months - it's lovely to be working again and to have a little bit of work secured as well.

Obviously there has been less going on on the crafting front as I've been a little busy but here goes....

1) latch-hook rug/cushion: my older sister was going to find me out an old UFO cross-stitch but couldn't find it so instead presented me with a brand new but slightly dusty latch-hook kit of Eyeore (she likes him, i'm muuuuuch more of a Tigger person myself!!) I was super organised and remembered to pick up the special tool out of mum's sewing machine and have managed to do about half a row.  Sadly I have managed to bend the moving bit of the tool and so it doesn't really work properly and is pulling the wool to pieces.  Does that count as 1-0 to Tigger?

2) candytuft fairy cross stitch: however, my boyfriend's lovely mum had also unearthed a couple of unfinished cross stitch kits and offered them to me as I'd spent all that time completing my own UFO at her house so I have a very pretty 'flower fairy' project.  I spent about an hour this afternoon sorting through the threads and separating them by colour (it's about an a4 sized project and very tonal) and I think I have got them all correct.  The window in my room is kinda small and it's very difficult to distinguish between white/off-white/very pale flesh under artificial light.  My next job will be to work out which group of thread corresponds to which symbol on the chart before I can begin stitching.  Usually with a project this size I'd have an embroidery hoop but strangely this wasn't at the top of my list of things to take to Bournemouth with me - does anyone have any advice or know if I can get away without one?

3) pop up card:  whilst looking through my pictures folder (which always makes me happy - so many pretty, crafty things) I rediscovered a template that was free on someone's website to make a pop-up St. Pauls cathedral.  I'm going to go with "disastrous" as my adjective here.  Firstly it would have been better to have used card rather than paper and printed the template out rather than tracing it off the computer screen.  Scissors - however sharp they may be - are also no real substitute for a cutting mat, craft knife and good solid ruler.....

To round this post off I'm going to present you with a few pictures of my successful mini-making instead.  I managed to get these off my camera finally but a camera was not on my list of things to pack either so we will continue to have problems!

That's all for the time being but I should be back very soon as I have more exciting news :)

UFOs

Well it's been a long time since I posted.... I've had a sickness bug and my very first Band 5 interview!!!
Finally finished the knitting for my 'Souffle' cuddly duck toy and am starting to sew it together (translation: mum is doing it and I'm helping) but the head looks very cute. 

Also dug out a half-finished cross-stitch and have completed that too - what a busy bee I've been.  Yesterday I bought a frame and so I just need to iron the fabric and set it in, not entirely sure what to do with it now as I don't really want it, don't know anyone who might and don't have anywhere to sell it either.  Oh well...........

The cross-stitch is in this style only with the letter 'M' - and my camera is still broken.....

Shed

My shed is nearly finished, although with a little hiccup.  I had to put some extra wood behind the top part to provide extra stability.  The door hinges are made with wire and were a little tricky to do but I'm really pleased with them.  All that is left to do is find a spare piece of roofing felt to cover the top in and work out something to use as a bolt for the top of the door.
The bean poles are also progressing as I started playing with a pack of air drying clay I bought from the range.  Effectively it was a 'free' purchase as I returned the bag of unopened rabbit food that I bought two days before Charlie's untimely end.  There are a bunch of different sized and shaped runner beans sitting next to me, their green paint drying.  I made some cake and macaroon components too and will make them look pretty later.
I spend a lot of my time struggling with headaches at the moment, they really are getting in the way, and it makes me miss Charlie too as I used to go to him to help.  I feel deeply sad, mourning how everything changes and nothing is permanent even though I don't want things to stay the same anyway.  It seems that life moves on and I stay still, disconnected from it and I want to be that loving and vital person I know is part of me.  It seems so distant from me tho when I sit and stare.  Making miniatures is supposed to be my 'sparkly' time and it truly is, along with my lovely engineer and so many other things.  Life is full of the pretty and lovely and I celebrate these things and twirl for the joy of it.  Yet it always comes back to sitting quietly, by myself and feeling so so sad.

Ravenwood Fair

Unemployment sucks.... really sucks...

This is another reason for making miniatures - to keep me occupied - however it has been less of a focus over the last few days as I have been to a wedding and on my first ever Ikea visit (my boyfriend even volunteered the suggestion that we go?!?).  However I have nearly completed a little tool shed to store the tools in as well as some stakes for ?runner beans? to grow up.

Perhaps of more concern is the amount of time I have recently dedicated to playing my new 'favourite' game, on facebook, that of Ravenwood Fair.  In my defense, at least I don't view the world in tetris shapes because of this!!  I am reasonably proud of my little fair and will continue to use it (and my other strateies) from going stir crazy whilst I search for another job

So many things

I've been away for the weekend which has been lovely and involved conversation about the penguins from 'Madagascar'.  Did you know they were in a 'short' all by themselves? It is well worth (an)other watch and has got me thinking about penguins - from those I saw at the zoo last summer with a friend, to google pictures, to the polymer clay penguin I made my boyfriend as part of his advent calendar last year (it really is there in the middle of the third picture, between a cracker and a Christmas tree).

I'm really not very confident with polymer clay yet want to make some miniature cakes as I have two birthdays and a wedding this week - what to use instead?  I have seen quilled giant 3D cupcakes, quilled slices of cake and quilled tiered cakes as well so am planning to have a bit of a go with those.  I wondered whether foam might be a decent alternative but only have very thin sheets which would make such a teeny-tiny cake as to not be worth it (have started making macaroons out of these with my experiment-y bits instead) and have come to the conclusion that making a mold for miniature cupcakes, and their paper cases, may well be the best way forward.  I shall continue playing and hopefully have something nice, and well-made, by the end of the week!