Blogtoberfest Day #7 - Crochet Baby Blanket - FINISHED!

Yay!

It's finished!

Super happy with this, my first ever crochet project! Other than the fact I ran out of wool just this weekend, I got off my bum and bought some more today to finish it, and it's DONE!

It's definitely smaller than I had thought it would be, but it is just for a moses basket, which will do just fine.

So, remember; even if you have never done a certain craft before - You can with determination (and a lot of youtube videos) figure out how to do something.

HERE is the link for actually HOW I learnt how to do a granny square
HERE is the link for how I learnt how to join the squares together.
HERE is the pinterest pin of where I got the idea of how to edge the blanket.

If you're curious as to what wool and how much wool it took to make it etc ... check out my RAVELRY PROJECT PAGE :)

Blogtoberfest Day #6 - Lazy Sunday Times

Hello everyone! Hope you are well :)
Sunday again, I swear the weeks go so fast for me.

Not much is happening today, it's completely relaxed. My son is happy bouncing round on his belly around the lounge. Playing with balls and stacking cups plus chasing the cat. My husband is happy watching a film whilst I surf the net, catch up loads of blogtoberfest posts from other bloggers and eat cake... Tasty German cheesecake. The slice was so big it's taken me over an hour to eat it!

Regarding anything crafty... I have done lots today. I've started on the table runner... And I've continued with the crochet baby blanket.

The table runner will hopefully get finished tonight. It's all pinned up and ready for the sewing machine. I'll get to the hobby room after my bubs is in bed.

The baby blanket would have been finished today... But I've ran out of white wool. *groan* the squares are done, they are pieces together and I've started the edging. I will have to pop out to the mall tomorrow to get enough to finish it plus some wool for my next project! Well tell you all about that sometime this week.

Hope you're having a nice relaxing weekend.
x

Blogtoberfest Day #5 - Something for me ... !

It's rare that I make something for me. Normally the jewellery I wear is the jewellery that my husband has bought for me (I'm a Swarovski addict!) or jewellery that I make for the sake of making, and then it ends up with me. I never, purposefully go into my bead stash, and think "right, well - what do I want for me?" and being unrestrictive with the materials.

Well, I had to change that! I collected some of my favourite beads (which was a task in itself) and I ended up with these ...

 

Turquoise coins, ceramic bird (and beads), handmade lampwork and green agate.

I just wanted that 'pebbly' look, the beads work so well together!

 

Teamed with sterling silver of course!

 

 

Have you made anything for yourself recently?

Blogtoberfest Day #4 - What's going on... ?

I have never ever before fancied picking up a crochet needle until recently. It's that darn pinterest again... So many tutorials and amazing projects to see.

When I was younger, I was too impatient with knitting and was happier with a needle and thread. So even though I've been in awe of many handmade crochet goodies, I've just looked on with admire and respect.

So, what on earth happened to get me to pick up a hook and get creating? A new niece, that's what!

My new niece is due in January, and I want make something for her. Since I have a beautiful sewing machine, I seriously thought about making a quilt. I received a handmade quilt for my little man when he was born earlier this year (made collectively by the peeps at Craft Pimp ) and it's so treasured, really precious to me. But I don't really have enough time to be downstairs in the hobby room. I wanted something that I could do in the evenings after the dude is in bed. After many YouTube videos and scouring pinterest for tutorials, I managed to make some granny squares successfully. In cute green and lilac, edged with white, it's going to be a baby blanket that they can use in the Moses basket.

It's not quite finished yet... But will be soon!
Here's a sneak peek.

Blogtoberfest Day #3 - It's a nice day for a beer ... or two!

As I mentioned the other day, we have visitors! My mother and father in law are here visiting, which is lovely. We've not seen them for a few months (excluding Skype of course!) so we have been looking forward to seeing them.

Today was a national holiday here in Germany. It's the anniversary of the Berlin wall coming down, so now there's a national holiday to celebrate it. All the shops close here on national holidays, so the best thing to do is go out and eat and drink!

We are lucky though at the moment, the Canstatter Volksfest is on! Heard of Oktoberfest? Yeah of course you must have, well, this is Oktoberfest but in Stuttgart. Which means it's not as busy - but just as enjoyable.

Big beer tents, live music (German schlager music! urgh! but who cares when you're full of several litres of beer!) dancing on tables, great food, fairground rides, lots of people dressed up in Dirndls and lederhosen! It's wonderful, it really is.

Surprisingly, the in-laws have never been. So we had to go and show them.
Here are a few photos to show you how our day has been!

Litres and Litres

Fairground rides

 

 

Sweets

 

Busy Busy day!

 



 

It's been great!
Have you been up to anything interesting today?

Blogtoberfest Day #2 - It all started with a pin ...

Are you addicted to Pinterest? I think I have an unhealthy obsession with it.
It's full of inspiration, too much inspiration! Lots of links to tutorials. I'm addicted to the DIY and crafts section and I pin and pin away inspirational projects and things that I think my followers would like.

It helped me earlier in the year when I was still nursing my baby throughout the nights, and I needed something to stop myself from falling asleep whilst he lay on me. It doesn't take too much concentration. Pinterest has helped me get though many early mornings and broken sleeps whilst my newborn was new in the world.

This piece of blackwork embroidery that I did, is a result of seeing something inspirational and wanting to do it too!

Many months before this was finished, was a little birdie in my news feed ...

I love it! I do love embroidery, but the fact that it was black and white was really striking. "Blackwork Wren" so I searched in pinterest for more blackwork, and soon my eyes were opened to some beautiful patterns.

A friend of mine does cross stitch, so she was lovely enough to give to me some aida fabric and having found the pattern I wanted to do ... I was away! If you'd like the pattern, please feel free to find it on my pinterest board, or just follow me anyway!

Blogtoberfest Day #1 - Stash-a-holic!

Hi, I'm Nicola and I'm a stash-a-holic!

Guilty purchase of the day ... an offcut of material from IKEA.

It's cute, lovely china blue flowers on a white background. It's a gorgeous thick upholstery fabric and the offcut (150x80cms) was only 2.40€ ... I couldn't resist!

Now, the key really is to use it soon. I find that once I buy something, that if it doesn't get used soon, it goes into the stash and it could be there years!

I bought it not knowing what I'm going to use it for, luckily when I put it on the dining room table - an idea came along. We have a lovely new wooden dining room table, and what we don't have is a table runner. My husband did mention that I should get one, and I have looked - but nothing has stood out. However, I think this could work! I best get the scissors and pins out tonight so I can mark up where to sew!

It'd be really nice to get it finished asap, I have visitors coming tomorrow for a few days, so I'm going to out this on the to-do list for next week! Will show you pictures I promise!

Take Care
Nicola
x