Burtrum the bird

I have been somewhat consistently crocheting for the last few months. This has caused me some RSI so I've had to slow down a bit.
I don't usually get RSI crocheting any more, as I have a really nice big handle on my hooks. However for the last few projects I have been using a 1.75mm hook and I'm paying the price. It's not all the hooks fault though. I have been sitting in a different chair and not had much support for my elbows all this adds up to pain in my hands. This only adds to the feeling of getting old as I am now on the final weeks of my 20's BOOOOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!    
Anyway enough about that drama and on to Burtrum the Bird.

To make Burtrum, I used the same pattern I used to make the Duckie for Ellie. The Blue Bird of Happiness by Heidi Bears I made him using Anchor Pearl Cotton No 8 so the thread was quite fine hence the smaller hook. I'm really happy with the way he turned out.

Burtrum became Burtrum the Easter bird and was given to my aunt as a gift.

I was told off for not taking more professional pictures. So once he was finished I took some more "professional" pictures. 

He just looked like he had something missing and I didn't want to just hand him over and say happy Easter here's a bird. I rummaged through all my craft stuff and found a cool hat and some small fabric flowers. I got my trusty glue gun out and glued them on. Hmmmmm still not right you can see the glue what to do what to do? Ahhh all that random ribbon I bought yes I'll add some of that. 

Wonderful he looks great and a little like a pilgrim but never mind. 

  

I than packaged him up ready to go. 

So there you have Burtum the Easter Bird. 

Dukie for Ellie

So I completed my duckie for Ellie and sent it off. It was a bit bigger than I had intended, but it came out pretty nice I think.

I used the modified Heidi Bear 'Blue Bird of Happiness' Pattern. I enjoyed doing the African flowers as i hadn't got round to trying them out before. I had been thinking of using them in my granny square blanket but that project got away from me a little bit. Who knows next time I take on a blanket again I might use them.

So anyway here is the duck in question I left it for Ellie to name.

I made felt fairy wings, rather than duck wings to which I added some flower embellishments  

The Crown and beak are both felt. The crown was pre-decorated felt but I added the red stars. I cut a pair of false eyelashes and added them to make her look more feminine. I know it's pink and flowery already, but it still had a male feel to it.  So I also made a small necklace. 

She does have little felt feet also, but I forgot to take a picture of them. 

 This sort of shows you the scale, and that she is quite big.




Happy Crafting people 

The Little Yellow Duck Project

What a wonderful cause! If you are not familiar with The Little Yellow Duck project please click the link on the right hand side to find out more.

The reason I am writing about the project today, is because of a little girl named Ellie.
Ellie has been diagnosed with Leukemia for the 4th time in her very short 8 years on this planet.

Ellie is a big supporter of the project and loves it herself.  So the team at T.L.Y.D.P have asked us all to get creative and to duck bomb Ellie. To show her how many people are behind her, and willing her to fight and win against this horrible disease.

Ellie loves pink, red, fairies, princesses and Liverpool FC. I've made a start on my duck already, and I hope it's going to incorporate as much of her likes as possible. 

You can read about the request  Here and Follow Ellie's story Here

If you are able to get involved please do. Not just ducks for Ellie, but also by registering on your national organ donation register.

NHS Organ Donation Register


Some little duckies I found on Pinterest

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Happy crafting all! 

That Granny Square Blanket and other unblogged projects

So yeah I never really posted the finished Granny Square blanket from ummm two years ago did I?

OK well what can I say? I have nothing. I'll just show you the blanket, and whatever else I've forgotten and haven't posted. Then we can move on and be friends again.



So in no order of completion, I give you the unblogged..............

So this was before I put it together 

This is the finished product 

Next we have the too short bobble stitch blanket.

I made a Bobble/Popcorn/Berry Stitch blanket for my friend Leonora, which unfortunately turned out too small.

Very pretty but too small

That's with knees bent 

Next up we have the Starghan for my nieces birth-day gift. 

She's about to turn 1 in a few days so yeah this one was some time ago

So keeping with the niece theme, I will show you the Christmas present I then made for the little lady. It wasn't even that long ago so not too bad of me, though I did have them ready in October.

Technically this isn't the actual gift. I made this one boot and ran out of yarn. I then bought a totally different yarn and made a new pair for her.

Which would be these little fellas. I was rather annoyed that after I finished the first foot, I made sure to start the second foot at the same colour point at the first. Only to find the yarn didn't veriegate in the same way anyway. So I ended up with odd booties. As the recipient was only 9 months I don't suppose she cared.  

Please excuse the hazy picture 

Lets see, lets keep the baby gift theme going. I made a Star burst blanket which looks like this. 

So I think that's all I've really done, in the last year or so. Now we are all up to date and all friends again. 

Patterns:

The Granny square was not really from a pattern as such, I looked at other people blankets and just kind of made one.

The bobble stitch blanket again was not from a pattern, I googled how to do the stitch and again just did it. Which is probably why its too small!

The Star blanket pattern can be found here Starghan

The Starburst pattern can be found here Starburst

The Crocodile Stitch Booties here crocodile stitch booties

Happy Crafting see you next year.....................

Just kidding! 

Upcycling, Ikea Hacking, space saving money spending and stress making!

Oh looks who's back......... Yes its me oops haven't blogged in forever sorry.

In the last few weeks months (I started this post a while ago and didn't finish it) Mark and I have been working on making the best use of the space we have which is not a lot! (watching "George Clerks amazing spaces" has nothing to do with this cough cough). 
So, new wardrobe for storage and getting rid of old stuff and clothes and what not.

We now have two shelving units in the living room and we have bought storage boxes from Ikea to go on them. However they didn't fit, so now we have storage boxes waiting for a use. We then went and got a different style of box which do fit. Although its not very attractive to look at, so we started coming up with ideas to cover the fronts of the units.

The Shelving Unit

Lots of ideas came and went, we could maybe put doors on but that will end up costing the same as a new unit so decided against that idea. So in the end we thought fabric would be good.
So may be just curtain style, or perhaps stuck on with velcro but after doing some research and thinking, I didn't like any of those ideas.

I decided on making small frame doors wrapped in fabric for each section so thats 6 doors per unit. Simple right? I made a projector screen a few weeks ago, same principle just smaller and add some hinges piece of cake.......................


WRONG!!!


So I go back to what I said a few posts ago don't get ahead of yourself.
Plan!!! Then plan again!! 
Measure 350 times cut once!!
learn how different types of hinges work for your project.
Don't staple your fabric on (multiple times) unless you are sure the frame is right first!!!! 

So we made an early start on Saturday morning bought our supplies (which worked out the same price as new units) 

Fabric and Hinges 

Hinges and wooden battens from B&Q (we were 4 short so had to go back on Sunday) 

Fabric- Wow has the price of fabric gone up since I last bought some. Although I've never tried to buy fabric in a St Albans fabric shop before, so I don't know if those were just St Albans prices.  Then went on to Dunelm I would of course prefer to support the independent business over the massive chain shop but I was on budget and they just weren't fitting in.
Well Dunelm isn't much of a money saver either. After what felt like years of our lives we settled on a fabric we both liked and bought what we needed. 

We measured and got to work, first frame cut and constructed in a few short minutes. Wow this look good and that was quick and easy this will be a breeze. We should use a staple gun for everything!   

                 

  I then began stapling the fabric onto the frame it looked great. Now to attach the "flush" hinges. Again no problem there attach to the shelves ahhh here's the problem the door won't close all the way, it seems to be being stopped, perhaps the fabric has bunched up too much in the corners so its obstructing the door? I'll unpick that bit, and cut off any excess fabric and we'll try again nope that wasn't it.
Here we come to a problem, as we made these units back in September and I didn't write this all up straight away, I've forgotten what else happened. Now  I know it was a nightmare and the doors wouldn't close and then they wouldn't meet and it was horribly long winded. We wished we had just bought new cabinets and eventually it all came together but unfortunately I can't tell you how. I never was any good and doing my homework on time. 

So I will just Show you the finished-ish product we haven't got round to putting handle on and probably never will.