Bower Bird

Hello.......... On Sunday afternoon the rain was lashing down and the wind was starting to blow a hoolie as storm Angus barrelled through our little corner of the world.

So it was the perfect time to settle down under a blanket with yarn, hook and a cuppa and get my Hygge on

and what could be more perfect than this little Bower bird kit for that, it came with a issue of Simply Crochet magazine, probably around this time last year.  The kit contained everything you needed to make the birdie, other than a hook.

 The pattern is one of Lucy's from over at Attic24 and you can find the tutorial for this make here if you'd like to make one too.

In no time at all I was making my birdie

Which is another make to go on the craft clubs handmade tree in the local library.

Now the kit came with a written pattern and at first I was following along well, but for the trickier bits of making the bird I hopped over to Attic 24 and used the photo tutorial which is great, for pattern phobics like me.  

Then it was birdie assembly time, I got a bit carried away at this point and forgot to take any pics. Opps  any road.......... (just imagine lots of sewing and stuffing going on.)

I did add a little decoration to my bird using you guessed it some sparkle yarn.

I added some to the wings too instead of the buttons that came in the kit.

Ta-Dah

One Scandi style Christmas birdie

Who is spending some time hanging out with the twinkle lights until it's time to go to the library and nest in the Christmas tree.

This week I've also hooked up this red sparkly bauble for the tree, with hopefully more to come energy permitting.

Ta-dah

Happy Crafting

Clare xxx

A huge thank you to Lucy for sharing her wonderful patterns she really is a crochet star.

This and That

Hello........... I thought I'd pop my head out and give you all a little wave from the summerhouse, I'm still struggling with my energy levels so not a whole lot has been going on around here.  

Little bits and bobs of crafting, nothing really worthy of it's own post so I thought I'd do a crafty this and that post instead

Life has been filled lately with rainbow pompoms, I was thinking about decorations for the local libraries handmade tree and I wondered what a pompom made from rainbow wool would be like so I just had to find out and the answer is super cute.  I'm a little bit in love with there rainbow goodness ........

I think they make the perfect handmade alternative to baubles, what do you think?

Some not so good news with my hand warmers I've had to frog the second one again, silly brain fog is really effecting my concentration so annoying as I made the first without a problem hey ho I'll get there.

In other pompom news I've also made this mini snowball garland threading mini pompoms onto twine, another make for the handmade tree, I'm hoping this garland will work as a alternative to tinsel.

In fact I may well make one for my blossom tree, I think it will look like a lovely wintry flurry of snow around my little tree.

I also had fun making this fellow, each member of the craft club has been given one to decorate for a gingerbread bunting, bless him look how boss eyed he is in this pic.

I've been doing a bit of beading too.....

Oh and last but not least I managed to take a pic of one of the summerhouse's garden visitors, I was so pleased to discover that we have two visiting squirrels this year and so far they are behaving themselves by eating the nuts from the little dish and not the feeders.

Well that's about it

Happy Crafting

Clare xx

Patchwork October

Hello.............. October was a month of slowly moving forwards here at the Summerhouse.

Thankfully my energy levels have slowly been improving, after a year of full on relapse, there is just the tiny hint of a little more energy.  Restarting my herbal medicine with the addition of some Ginseng and going back on the antibitoics seem to have really helped, it's slow going though and this last relapse has left me so much weaker.  I'm still mostly resting as the slightest thing finds me exhausted. 

Sorry I've not been about too much in blogland these past months, I've really missed catching up on you're lives and crafty antics.

October did see a couple of Ta-dahs and some new crafts I even managed to write a song, new songs have been few and far between this year.

Out in the Summerhouse garden there was still lots of lovely colour to be found.

October saw my complete one of these long term projects, as for November I hoping to get my hand warmers finished asap as it's getting really cold now and my hands are freezing.  I'm also hoping to get on with some blanket making.

Happy Crafting

Clare xx

Lately

Hello......... It's been quite some time since I joined in with Amy's Five on a Friday link up, so today I thought I'd do a bit of a catch up post of Summerhouse happening.

Here at the Summerhouse lately we have had some wonderful sun rises and sunsets, but which is which? this one was amazing a beautiful pink sky with a double rainbow, just wow.

This time of years seems to produce the most beautiful skies, maybe it's a pay off to balance out the shorter darker days.

As crafters we seem to have to start thinking about Christmas earlier than most people, in fact our craft club library group is in a bit of a panic at the moment after being asked with very short notice to make enough handmade decorations for the Library's eight foot tree which is going up at the end of the month eek.

The decorations have to be handmade and not too expensive in case any of them should go walkies off the tree, so I just couldn't resist making some cupcake case angels to hang on the tree.

Aren't they cute I've made a whole host.

I've also had a bit of a epic craft fail, for some reason I know not why I decided to pick up my long forgot knitting last week and well it all went horribly wrong.  You see there was a reason I stopped knitting when I discovered crochet, I'm just no good at it.

Just a couple of rows in I'd mess it up and I just can't get my head around picking up stitches, so that was that I had to frog the lot, I ripped it all out but not to worry, I have plans already for the yarn instead of this lovely leaf cushion, I'm going to crochet one, as I just love the concept and the yarn colours but lets face it I just can't knit.......

So back to happier yarniness it was time to put the decorations back up for Halloween, you see I can't do basic knitting but I can crochet a sparkly skull!!

I was also pleased to see that the salt dough decorations we made last year, had also survive, you can read a bit more about these makes here and here.

So one more thing to go until we have five. So I thought I'd share some pictures of my crystals, each week I select some Crystal to work with, mostly because they are lovely to have around, they make me happy, they are just so beautiful, mother nature never fails to amaze and  I love to learn about them.

Well that my five, wishing you a wonderful weekend

Happy Crafting

 Clare xx

First Impressions

Hello............ Today's post is going to be part of my 'something new thread'  This make was something we tried at craft club a couple of weeks ago.

We started off with some modelling clay 

Into which we made some impressions, you can use fossils, shell's anything you like really, me I couldn't resist bringing something along from the summerhouse garden, so I opted for a fern leaf and fossil. 

Gentle pressing them into the modelling clay, for this task I improvised a tool by using the end of one of my crochet hooks, (they come in handy for everything !!)

I also added a few beads hoping they would set into the Plaster of Paris.

 We then used some plastic to make a little tube to pour the wet Plaster of Paris into.

Then it was mixing time adding water to the Plaster of Paris and stirring and stirring till we had a pourable paste, which we simply poured onto the modelling clay giving it a few taps to knock any larger air bubbles out.

We left them to dry in the sun for about a hour before it was time for the big reveal.

Thankfully the larger beads set well and I loved how the pretty leaves turned out.

The seed beads however did not fair so well, never mind I had a idea so all was not lost.

Next up it was time to rub on some metallic's, I opted for a green and silver as the fossil pressing really reminded me of the moon.

and a pretty autumnal copper for the leaf one.

I also added a bit of sparkle to cover the holes that the seed beads had left so it all turned out OK in the end.

Ta-Dah

I'm still deciding what I'm going to do with my little ceramic disks. I'm either going to add a hanging ribbon or a magnet to the back, I just love how naturalised and rustic looking they turned out.

Happy Crafting

Clare xx

Sparkly Flower Cowl Ta-Dah

Hello........... exciting stuff here today I have a Ta-dah moment to share with you and this make harks back all the way to the summer of 2014 'here' , yes it's a oldie but hopefully a goodie.

It all began when I fell in love with this yarn, the colour the sparkle it was just perfect, the only problem was I had no idea what to make with it, you know one of those impulse buys I confess I came down with a case of the wanties.

I then discovered Emma's  pretty flat flower pattern, I knew it was just the thing.

So the flower making began, in the beginning I was thinking scarf or shawl, but in the end I decided to go for a cowl. Once all the flowers were make it was time to start assembly

and the slow process of stitching all the flowers together began, despite all the sparkle and the yummy colours this took some time and for months this make just sat in my craft basket waiting for me to get around to finishing it off.

So over the last couple of months this has been my mobile make, it's been to craft club and also to a  craft group run at the local pub.  It's been the perfect thing to take along, plus chatting with friends seemed to make all the sewing together so much easier.

I fell back in love with the yarn again, how I love the pretty colours and well you know me and sparkle....

I finished it yesterday at craft group.

Ta-Dah

Just in time for cold weather.....

Happy Crafting

Clare xx

That's one WIP ticked off the list ..........

Patchwork September

Hello............. It's patchwork time again,  sorry I've been a little absent from my blog these past few months, I've been struggling with my health, so there has not really been that much of note to tell plus I have to confess with low energy levels instagram has been distracting me a little, so if you like you can follow the blogs page over on Instagram.

September was a month of crochet, art, crystals music oh and a giant ice cream yes a local farm has opened a ice cream parlour just down the road, so it would have been rude not to go and check it out.  As for the crochet I've been working on some WIP's so hopefully I will have a Ta-Dah post to share soon.

Out in the garden Summer was still going strong, we had such lovely warm sunny days in September such a lovely end to summer.

So for October I'm already behind with this but I hoping to try and post once a week.

Happy Crafting

Clare xx