lovely post today!

look LOOK what the postman brought me today!

my lovely friend Lisa knitted these for me

it was her first attempt at cable
isn't she clever?

i LOVE them!
i look like some old victorian granny
in a shawl and miser's mittens!!!
{but i am very happy!}

*******
my christmas wreath won the crafteroo advent calendar competition
and here's what i won

a book about stupid sock creatures!

it's great!

a scrapbooking calendar

and a Hotdog and me
http://www.folksy.com/shops/hotdogandme
sock creature set

it did come beautifully presented in this bag
this photo was after it was rescued
from the dogs jaws
she is getting really naughty in her old age :0(
no real harm done though :0)

*******

plus some new listings in my Folksy shop
just in time for Valentine's

hearts
http://www.folksy.com/items/232297-half-a-dozen-hearts-of-glass-vintage-buttons

bullets
http://www.folksy.com/items/232273-coral-bullet-buttons?shop=yes

Puff collar #2 - a work in progress

i love my purple collar but i really wanted
to make something bigger
so i bought a plain man's t-shirt to cut up and experiment with,
i bought a size M because they were out of XXL
but i've managed to get twenty-four
various sized puffs out of it!

here is the start of the collar pinned together

and here i am trying it out for size

this time i wanted to extend it to the shoulders and chest, so while i was still wearing it, i continued pinning on more puffs till i was happy with the shape

i still have a few puffs to add and a bit of fine tuning
to do before i start stitching it all together,
as this is all hand-sewn it is pretty time consuming and i'm having a break from it today!

i'm really happy with how this collar
has taken shape - it's kinda hard to know where to stop so it's good i've run out of fabric!

Suffolk puff scarf/collar

i started on this scarf before christmas
whilst in the height of my Suffolk Puff addiction!

i found a scarf in the charity shop
and really liked the colour
i made a whole bunch of puffs in various sizes
from 6" down to 1.5"
then i arranged them into a scarf and pinned them together

then i tried it on and decided i needed more puffs
but had run out of fabric
so the scarf went on the back burner

until i picked it up again the other day whilst

i was having a tidy up in my craftroom
i slightly rearranged the puffs and
suddenly i loved it!!!

the two largest puffs at the back

smaller ones filling the gaps

here it is all sewn up with a hook and eye fastening

trying to get a decent shot of myself
wearing the scarf was not easy!

getting distracted by my wall hanging storage!

i got the idea for the hanging storage from Craftzine, it is an old cot base - waste not want not!

this is the true colour{above}

best thing about it is it is SUPER warm!
and cost me about a pound to make!

snow stops crafting!

snow stops crafting!

daughter

son
{yes he is wearing a monkey scarf!}

cold enough for even me to wear a hat
{stolen from daughter!}

being attacked by the super mean close range snowball fiend

yeah yeah very funny son!!!

the last two pictures were taken today after it had snowed for about 4 hours - we were very disappointed with the lack of snow we've had and getting very bored with the scary ice.
My son's school hasn't shut for one single day and apparently never does {i did keep him home to play in the snow on wednesday though because it's so very rare for us to get proper snow here}
on the other hand my daughter got sent home on Tuesday and it's still closed tomorrow!{she is very happy as are her friends, they've all been having great fun playing and sledging in the snow}

*******
in crafting news

my wreath won the crafter...oo advent calendar competition
which i'm very happy about :0) thanks to anyone who voted for me
if you're not a member of Crafter...oo why not?!
go on join up it's fun
http://www.crafteroo.co.uk/smf/index.php

my wreath is also on the front page of Crafster as a featured project
which makes me super proud - last time i checked it had over 2500 views

http://www.craftster.org/blog/?p=6857

I hope i don't seem boasty here but i'm really proud
and a bit shocked at how well received it has been.

2009 - my favourite makes.

2009 - my favourite makes., originally uploaded by maximum RABBIT designs.

the wolf suit

ggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrr
{this is the polite version of what was muttered repeatedly during the making of this suit!}

well it was a real labour of love
but thanks to advice from crafter...oo and twitter friends and my partner gently pushing me along
i got the wished for wolf suit finished at midnight on Christmas eve!

i ended up making a wolf ears headband
rather than a hood
{but i will make a hood sometime}

the boy with his other wished for item
a laser gun {which is very annoying and loud}
the suit is a bit on the big side but it'll last a few years!
I'm really pleased that i made it
and got it finished in time
because he was so pleased with it :0)

a wolf's tale!

i've added a video too :0)
{excuse my mad dog killing a teletubby in the background!}

vintage haberdashery wreath

i decided to make a haberdashery themed wreath

with some of my "stash"

i got the idea for it when i was playing with
these stitch counters

i used an embroidery hoop as the base

the red buttons are large '60's coat buttons with a brass loop shank which i fastened between
the two hoops

i then wrapped the tinsel around the hoop and
threaded the large bakelite needles through the tinsel
and skewered the ball of wool

i made two tape measure rosettes which i tied on

and then wired on two pairs of vintage scissors

i wired the stitch markers threaded
onto a plastic crochet hook
to the top of the wreath and added a yarn loop.

i'm really pleased with it :0)