Crafty day with Dottie Angel and Ted & Agnes

I've been asked by Daisy to blog about the crafty day I spent with Tif and Rachelle (aka dottie angel and Ted and Agnes) last July.  Quite happy to ramble on about it to anyone who cares to still listen so here goes my take on that day....

Once upon a time the lovely Louise of Hope and Elvis sent an email out to say she would be running a crafty day with the two most lovely crafty blogging people ever; much giddiness occured in this household and many others over the country as we awaited the day when we were able to book online.  At 7:30 precisly on a dull Monday morning that time arrived and we all logged on to our computers to try to book one of the 30 available places.  At this time, my hubby's pc decided to crash on me, so with a very sad face I tweeted Rachelle to tell her that I would not be one of the lucky few to see her that day.  Imagine my surprise later that day when I had a confirmation email from Louise to say that I was going!  The email had sent before the pc crashed! (Little known to me but I was actually the 32nd person to email at the same point in time so Louise, most wisely, decided that she had to have 16 people on each session instead of 15).  The crafty gods were most definitely shining upon me that day!

Now this email should have sent me into much delight, however now it opened a can of worms - what fabric did I have that I could take to turn into a perfect pinny, would they like me and most importantly of all, what on earth do you wear when faced with such beautiful granny frocks as always adorned by Tif and Rachelle.

I decided to make a dress, as you do, and set about snipping and sewing wildly in the hope to have something to wear on that glorious day.  I must point out here that I have no dressmaking skills whatsoever and have never made a dress in my life.  Was that to stop me?  No siree it was not!  The first attempt looked okay but didn't fit when I tried it on!

so with a bit of snipping down the middle and some additional fabric and a handy dandy placed doiley it worked, more or less.

 Sunday 1st July rolled around (eventually) and I made my way full of butterflies to Louise's beautiful studio in Worksop. 

 Tif and Rachelle (and Louise) are all divinely lovely which made me feel so pleased and I met lots of other adorable crafters all in awe of a bit of Granny Chic.  The plan for the day was to make a perfect pinny and a what-not to hang in our homes.  We all set about gathering fabric, lace and bits and pieces from Louise's wonderful collection and the day whizzed by with the sound of machines stitching and grannies gossiping.



beavering away





my pinny creation



All too soon it was over though and we had to say our goodbyes.  Many of us had brought our Dottie Angel books for Tif to sign, and she did so most graciously.  The lovely Louise got us all to write down out email/blog/facebook pages so we could keep in touch and reminise about our pinny making time together.

Some of my fellow crafters, who would love a follow no doubt, are:

Inverleith

daisy moon

invisible animals

chicken and custard

Louise runs lots of workshops all year round so if you fancy a wonderful crafty day, do check out her website.

It really was a memorable day and I feel so lucky to have taken part in a touch of granny craftyness.

G x



sharing a laugh



Hey Foxy Lady

On Friday, Lazy Daisy Jones set herself a twitter challenge: to find, make and blog a crafty item in a day.  Fantastic, I thought, I'll have a go at that.  Only problem was it was 3:00 in the afternoon, the school run and ballet class loomed along with cooking tea and putting small children to bed.  But I'll have a go I decided.

First a quick perusal of my collection of Mollie Makes magazines - issue 2 invited me to make a foxy lady and how was I to resist?

By the end of Friday I had cut out the felt and assembled her tail!  By Saturday afternoon, in between the daily chores, she had a face, and by Sunday, after finishing the ironing, she was stuffed and complete!



Hi, I'm CiCi the fox



Not quite a choose, make and blog in a day kind of challenge, but almost...almost!

G x

Our Vintage Home

Three years ago we purchased our current home, a run-down bungalow built in 1905.  With no double glazing, kitchen or heating, living in it with two small children was always going to be a challenge.  Moving in in January 2010 when the snow had fallen and temperatures had dropped to the worst in a long time, proved to be terribly tough.  We went to bed in our clothes and wore hats, scarves and gloves indoors to try to keep warm.

We still don't have any heating but our four room house has taken on a completely new look with the building work that my hubby has done, and soon we will have more space than we have had in quite a while. 

Before the rennovations are finished and the interior of the house looks nothing like it did when we moved in, I thought I would share some photos of what it does look like now:

 Our beautiful hall carpet!

Fake wood pannelling paper on the ceiling!





Check out our cheeseplant paper!

Until the next time, G x

Learning to crochet

At the start of the year I listed a number of things I wanted to achieve this year, one was to set up a blog (tick) and another was to learn to crochet.

Now I've had a number of attempts at this crafty craft - I've ordered books from the library - fail.  I've bought books recommended by people who can crochet - fail.  I attended a session at Toft Alpaca - fail.  I had a one-on-one session at the Knitting & Stitching Show in Harrogate - sort of worked, though she did tell me that not everyone is able to crochet!!!

Yesterday I was planning on meeting my friend Lottie who had promised to teach me to crochet.  At the last minute she came down with a migraine (was it that frightening?) and had to cancel.  With the whole day free, I was determined to achieve something.

With the help of You Tube and Melanie at Iheartstitching I began....

It didn't look quite like the one on the screen but I continued and some time later I had managed to make this one....

By now my confidence was growing and it wasn't quite as hard as at the beginning, in fact now it was getting quite addictive....

I'm loving this.  I may not be an expert yet but I am determined to continue with my new-found skill and, who knows, maybe I will learn to crochet in a straight line and not just in a circle!

G x



I have arrived!

Blimey I have a blog! Only a few weeks ago I was discussing this online with Daisy on her blog and now she has set one up for me! Now I can waffle away about crafting and reading to my hearts content!

G x