Upcycling!

I love the ethos and mentality behind upcycling but it isn't something I have done all that much of.  Has anyone been watching Kirsty Allsopps 'Fill Your House for Free'?  I've only caught a few episodes (J thinks she sounds like she's telling people off!) and I wish she'd set up her free-stuff shop near me instead of in Scotland ;-)  I'd happily take some of that lovely furniture off her hands :)

I suppose I do a fair amount of charity shop shopping but despite my love of shopping I genuinely would like to reuse more of what I have and be more intune with the make do and mend culture...

 

Ok so I have to be honest, I didn't chop all of these buttons off of old clothes myself, but I suspect someone did though!  There were lots of brand names amongst this lot that which I picked up from my local craft shop for around £3/4. I love buttons, who doesn't love buttons, but oh my there are so many!! I love them so much I bought another pack in green, they're an absolutely bargain in my opinion.

♥

I had good fun dividing them up into sizes in my melamine Ikea bowls because I had a plan...

 

Way back in...  I can't remember when... but months ago our WI had a clothes swap and I bought this skirt for 50p, which I thought despite having lots of skirts would be okay for work.

(This is not the greatest of photographs).

 

It's not very exciting though is it...  And it was obviously meant for someone taller because it was far too long, which is why you can see the bottom is full of pins where I chopped a good few inches from the bottom.

I haven't taken a photo of the back yet but it's actually quite a nice shape so I thought there was surely something I could do to bring it to life and make it more me. 

Buttons....

Skirt....

Buttons...

Skirt....

Yep

 

Bingo!   I've sewn about 50% on so far and need to get some motivation to finish it.  J thinks it's a bit weird but he'll see.  I'm not going to do the same on both sides, I think maybe a small cluster on the bottom right to balance it out et voila!  A fairly work suitable skirt that doesn't say I work a 9-5 office job (if only that were true!)

So there you are.  Maybe not truely upcycled as I bought everything but surely a lot cheaper than buying a brand new skirt from a shop?  Someone elses junk = my treasure. As soon as I'm done sewing I'll get some proper photographs taken.

x x x x

Choosing colour

It's not working!!! :(  

I totally thought I had it, what other colour would sort out my blanket than....  

Purple!

So I hooked up these four squares and I was pretty excited until last night when I put them with the other colours & it just doesn't work for me.  Not one bit.

I tried it without the green, and it's better but I do like the green so I'm not sure now what to do.  I've decided the purple is too dark, it either needs a shade between to made it blend or it needs to go.  It's only four squares and they can be saved for another project.

I went back to my original colour palette with an even mix of colours but the problem with this is I've run out of Pomegranate, Wisteria and Meadow
so if I want an even mix this is as big as it can get!

I added in the grey, which I'm still happy with because it's not too far from the Wisteria / Lavender shades.

I might have run out of Stylecraft but I do have some lovely shades of pink sent to me by Nanita who if you remember ages ago I did a swap with? I posted about it here, two years ago!!

I haven't used all of the yarn so I'm going to see how more pink works out...  And then decide whether to go all pink or try to keep with a bit of green... This was supposed to be fun right?  ;)

x x x x

Adventures in Paperchase

Paperchase might possibly be my favourite shop...  I don't always find things I want, but when I do I DO!  They had a little sale on in my nearest shop.  I came back with a bunch of lovely things more a mere £10 :)

One of the whole points of buying a house is surely to end up with something you've created and love right?  I think so too, so I've a new scrapbook that I'm looking forward to filling with ideas & inspiration.

I also miss cassettes, no one makes mix tapes anymore :(

I've seen Washi tape all over the internet although I had no idea what it was, well apart from being tape that is.  Google it (or bing it, whatever you prefer!) there are some fabulous and I mean fabulous things decorated with it, my favourite being a Mac Book keyboard.  Possibly un-practical but lovely.

I'm not sure what I'll do with these yet, but they're quite nice.

Lastly my favourite and best bargain a pencil crochet hook case!  The knitting needle rolls I've sewn aren't really suitable for hooks, especially as mine all have handles but this is PeRfEcT!

 

It's got lovely little side pouches too for my hooks that haven't yet been introduced to Fimo :)

 

Too dark to photograph now, but during the week & at our WI Craft Club I started hooking a new colour for my blanket and I think it works!  This might just be the missing link...  

Much love 

x x x x

We wanted to be the sky

Procrastinating
I have been very good at this lately & I can't quite put my finger on why.  I haven't written in weeks, I've got lots of things I've been meaning to sew but just don't 'feel' like doing them, I've been putting off sending emails, phoning friends or sending messages for 'another day', I haven't checked Feedly since before Glastonbury; I have 394 unread blog posts.  Crappity crap!

I've decided enough is enough!  This will not do...  No...  

I'm going to fix a skirt that I sewed up pretty badly later this evening and I am blogging as we speak!!  I've sent messages to a couple of friends that I'd been meaning to catch up with and I've read some of my fave blogs which has massively cheered me up - well, made me feel better, I have to say I'm pretty cheery as it happens, just a bit off balance maybe?  I do have a lot to catch up on though so here goes...

Crocheting

Today would be 'Tuesdays Tallies' if only I'd kept up, but hey I'm still going with this one right?  I ran out of a few colours which I mentioned in my last post so I've introduced some light grey.  Unfortunately it's just a cheap acrylic yarn & I've no idea where it came from or who it's made by but it's fairly soft, just not Stylecraft soft :(

 

I think it's working quite well but I've definitely got too much of the pale pink going on (I just have a lot more of this left!) I'm going to have to raid more of my yarn stash I think to find a new colour to add, but for now one thing is clear; I need to stop with the pink!

One of the reasons I have such a pathetic number of squares is I've been knitting up a super teddy bear from Knitted Toy Tales (which is my new favourite book)

She was originally intended for my friends baby (she's due in November!) but while sewing all the legs, arms, ears & patches on a little voice was saying "this might not be baby safe!" and another voice was saying "keep it!" and another voice said "I'll have it!" - that last one was my mum.  Ok, those weren't her exact words, it was something along the lines of 'maybe it should be for an older person' and a certain someones age might have been mentioned.

Well, bear who has not yet been named - or photographed even - went home with my mum & dad yesterday morning when they left ours after a lovely long weekend.  My mum is under a promise to take some lovely photos to share with you all.

House

   

I would quite like to own one of these (houses, not the vase because I own that, isn't it cute?) it would seem that luck isn't on our side.  We thought that the house had just been over-valued but actually it's much worse!  

It's worth bang-on what we've offered, if we get a full structural engineers survey done because the chimney breasts were removed & therefore the chimney isn't supported.  Oh, and if we get the wall built up in the loft so we can't climb into the neighbours house.  And if we get some cavity wall ties checked.  And have a damp, timber & electric check done.

HUH? When was I informed that house buying would be this complicated?!  Needless to say things have stalled to pretty much a halt.  Infact we've gone backwards in as far as we've started to look at other houses, just-in-case.  Bummer!

Everything else

Maybe everything else would be too much, probably best to be shared another time - like the promise of teddy bear photos, or the RHS Tatton Park Flower Show, or shopping bargains :)

x x x x

Back, of sorts :)

I'm not going to lie here, life post-Glastonbury is not good.  That's not because life isn't going well in itself but nothing will ever live up to being here

I tried two years ago and failed to explain it.  There's something about The  Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts (trying to do it justice) that is magic and unless you've been you can't understand it.

Being back home, back at work, away from the outdoors, the music, the atmosphere, the being-yourself; it just makes things seem so blank! If I could I would live, breathe and work this place.

So to answer my top questions I've had in the last week
- yes I saw the Stones (but only for an hour, then we went to have fun elsewhere)
- Chic were the highlight
- you had to be there ;-)

Anyway, apart from being dead melodramatic what else has been going on... Well, as we're being honest I haven't checked my Feedly (blog feed) since being back and I'm dreading it! I think I may follow too many blogs now and I know there's going to be too many to catch up on. Rather than it being a pleasure I've actually been worrying about it? Which is silly I know, so I've in turn buried my head like an ostrich in the sand, except I think they do that to keep cool.

It is hot here though isn't it?

Before I went away I decided to yarn bomb my bike lock to stop it clanging & chipping at my paintwork!

 

And I had to use up bananas and eggs so they didn't waste, so I made a yummy banana cake :)

 

House hunting took a good turn up but we may have hit a snag!  We've found a lovely terrace, had an offer accepted, got a mortgage but then!  They valued it lower...  So we're just waiting to see what happens next :o

Over & out for now 

x x x x

Tuesdays Tallies 4

 

Ooops, I nearly forgot that it was Tuesday :)  It feels like a Wednesday which is a big disappointment when you realise it's still 3 days til the weekend...  We've been busy on the house hunting front (still no joy yet) so where I usually crochet at lunch I've been ringing up every estate agent in the area booking appointments!  I'm also getting very excited about a certain upcoming festival...

 All this together means I've only managed a mere five squares this week - & three of those were made today!

 

I'm totally out of Meadow now and just about to run out of Wisteria so I may become a little stuck with how much more I can do.  I don't want to buy more, so I might introduce new colours...

So on that note thank you for all your lovely responses about Pomegranate - I'm starting to think you were completely right.

These are the squares without, & although it's quite a calm looking blanket, which was originally what I was after, I can't help feeling like it's lacking something.

I'm not sure if it's because everything we have is so bright and I did want something a little less that, something that goes with our sofa and might look nice in our eventual new home...

...But look!

 

You guys are fab! ♥

I had a go at blocking the whole lot this evening.  I could do with getting some of those foam play mats, I've used our bath mat but it means taking the pins all out.  I measured them all out perfectly & everything!

I'm so excited with how they're looking now they're actually square :D  It makes such a difference though and it's saved me doing them all at the end.  Just a steam iron & NO touching the yarn :)

x x x x

So the de-stashing count begins!

Meadow 
Wisteria

Tuesdays Tallies 3

 

Just back from tonights WI so only a quick one to share this weeks crochet squares!

So not quite seven (not sure I've even truly been doing one a day) but I'm half way through seven so maybe if I finish it soon I can count it?

I've introduced a new colour this week, I'm not sure whether to stick with it or not really so I did two

Pomegranate is my favourite colour from the Stylecraft Special DK range so I guess that's probably why I added it!  My original plan though was a more subtle and quieter blanket so we'll see...  If anyone else is joining in with One-a-Day please let me know, I know Carole hasn't blogged since May so hoping all is well with her x

On the house hunting front, we made an offer on a nice terrace and then the seller decided not to sell!  So if any of you have any good house hunting vibes please send them my way, I really am desperate!

x x x x

Yarn bombing!

I've never yarnbombed anything myself but last week while I was having lunch I noticed this!

It excited me a lot, and then I saw this!

Brilliant stuff yes?

There was quite a bit around the Town Hall so I think it had something to do with Manchester Day, still fun to see though :)

I've still been busy crocheting more squares for my Rosie Elmer Blanket and I've finished a knitted piece of bunting for our WI which I'm probably going to add something too because it's not very exciting as it stands!

Lastly I would just like to thank the weather for being amazing this last week, it's like FINALLY we get some decent weather here in the UK, yesssss!!  My mum & dad popped over from Sheffield and went home this evening. 

We had a nice few days while they were here, and we took a trip out to where J and I are trying patiently...  to buy... a house!! :D  Watch this space...

x x x x

Tuesdays Tallies 2

 

Hello lovely people :)  I hope you're having as nice weather as we are here, it's just wonderful to have sunshine and warmth at last!  It's made cycling to work even more of a joy :)

♥

I've actually got a Tuesdays tallies for you, although maybe not as many squares as I'd imagined.  I'm calling this project my Rosie Elmer Blanket.  If Elmer the Elephant was rosie, maybe this is what she'd look like!

These are the squares I'd made by Saturday, or it might have been Sunday I forget

Then I had a go at blocking them, using a steam iron and hovering over (not touching!!) like Lucy over in the Attic at number 24 suggested.  Works a treat!

I could do with making a grid or something so they're all blocked the same but I doubt it matters that much

And lastly this is a very bad photo of how many I've got right now.  I need to start using our digital camera instead of my phone but I'm feeling really lazy today!

As always, click the One a Day banner to visit Carole and see the other One a Day projects

x x x x

Bits n Bobs

We spent the weekend over in Sheffield, a lovely drive over the Snake Pass (my favourite road ever!) & stayed with my Aunt & Uncle.  My Mum & Dad had come up from London too so it was nice to see everyone & to see them again :)

♥

I just wanted to share a couple of things I couldn't resist in Matalan, just incase J & I end up with a lovely house one day!

Completely unnecessary but totally lovely for the sum of £6 :)

x x x x