Wednesday, June 29, 2016

June Happenings

Hello!  Did you have a lovely June?  I think I did:  it felt busy and yet at times it felt like it was dragging along.  I think the waiting around we have been doing before our house move accounted for the dragging bit.  It's a bit difficult for a big homebody like me to be unable to feather her nest.  I'm in my current home, but now all my thoughts are already in the next one.  Soon the transition will happen and Home will consume me for a while with all its unpacking and putting away and feathering and nesting.  I have tried to use this quiet time for crafty pursuits, because I know for the next couple of weeks I won't get much opportunity.  I had so many plans for this time, but when faced with all the choices I didn't know what to do.  I decided to just pick up my cross stitching as that seemed the easiest.  Suffice it to say my Stitcher's Alphabet is growing:  I worked on three letters this month.  'P' for Pins;' Q' for Quilt and 'R' for Redwork.  I probably could have completed another one but the background for 'R' was so boring I kept putting it down.


Here we are to date:


I also made some progress on 'Vintage Christmas' by Country Cottage Needleworks.  


I have to frog the birds because they are supposed to be white.  That makes much more sense than pink, and at first I thought they were supposed to be pastel coloured cardinals!  I think I just did too much cross stitch that day and couldn't read the pattern correctly.  I decided I would like to work on Christmas designs only in July when I have the time, so hopefully I can get this completed and get to work on another larger seasonal design.

This next little design was a freebie with Cross Stitch Crazy magazine and I loved the colours of course!  I switched out the aida for evenweave and I thought it would be a perfect stitch for my new home.  I believe the designer is Emma Congden on this one.


Another cute magazine freebie came with The World of Cross Stitching magazine this month too.  There was a little booklet of cross stitch alphabets with two free skeins of Madeira floss in pink and blue.  As soon as I saw this Union Jack alphabet I knew just what I wanted to make:


I keep my loose tea tins in this basket and thought a little label would be so cute.

I made a few little accessories for my stitching as well.  I have seen a lot of needle minders on various You Tube stitching videos and was intrigued.  I have a beautiful one from Kelmscott, but it never occurred to me I could make my own!  This is proving to be quite addicting I tell you....


Some pretty autumnal coloured beads at the dollar store inspired me to make a scissor keep for Fall:


I saw these charms at the craft store and I think I actually squealed with delight.  (According to My Favourite Girl I did and that's why she ran the other way)  How cute are these?!  


You had better believe I scouted out a coupon tout de suite in order to buy these.  I attached the little charms with jump rings to one of those necklace extenders, then hooked it on to a larger lobster clasp.  Now it's a cutie-pie zipper pull for one of my project bags.

My crochet hook saw some action in June as well.  I first saw this corner to corner baby blanket on Becky's blog.  I am always finding projects there I want to make, and since I had half of the required yarn already in my stash I could get started right away.  This is called the 'Spring into Summer' blanket and it is a free pattern you can find HERE.  


This was nice to work on in the hotel room and car while on our house hunting trip.  The first half seems to take a while, but I noticed the second half just zipped by.  My issue is now this:  if you look in the top left corner you will see I ran out of yarn just as I was about to finish the main section.  The pattern says it takes three balls of this yarn to make the blanket with a border.  My crocheting must have been pretty relaxed because what you see here took three balls.  I went to two stores to get another ball and both are out of stock.  Talk about frustrating!  Now I have to wait until we move to our new town and hope I can track one more ball down there.  It would have been nice to have it all completed before I move, but I suppose there are worse things to do than having to source craft shops in a new city aren't there?

Now, I'm sure you will have a hard time believing this (!!), but sometimes I need a creative project I can really sink my teeth into.  Well, this time it was a sander, but you know what I mean!
Our current kitchen table will be too big to fit into our new kitchen, so I ended up buying a smaller one from a friend.  I spent an enjoyable day getting dusty and making lots of noise by sanding down and refinishing the table top.  I left the bottom alone because I like the painted part.  If there was such a thing as a craft nerd, I think I would definitely make the cut.... Moving in three weeks?  How about re-doing a table? 

 Yes please!!!


Well my friends, I am finally at the end.  I have said a lot of goodbyes this past month, and in the next week there will be many more.  This is likely the last update I will post before moving, so next time you hear from me I will have a new base for my Crafty World.  Thank you so much for visiting, and I look forward to seeing what you are up to in the next few weeks.  Have a wonderful summer!!

xo Jenn





6 comments:

Brigitte said...

Oh my, Jenn, what a delightful post full of goodies to look at. And you certainly were busy. That's the best way to fill the waiting time until you can finally move.

Your Stitcher's Alphabet is coming along great. You are past the halfway point and can always squeeze a new letter in. Also nice progress on Vintage Christmas. I love the pastel colours in it, they make it so soft in some way. Home Sweet Home is perfect for your new home. I once saw it on someone else's blog and she had substituted the words Home by the words Craft. Looks nice, too. What you made with the Union Jack letters is just gorgeous, a very creative idea for your little tea basket.

I also got to know this variety of needle minders through Floss Tube, I knew that Kelmscott made them but hadn't known about how to use them. Nice that you are making your own needle minders now. And I would have bought the little tea cup charms as well, they are sooooooo cute.

What a burden it will be to check out the craft stores in your new town, when you go yarn hunting, LOL. But you might find another ball of that yarn, or maybe something very similar so that you can finis the blanket.

I wish you all the best for your move, I hope everything goes smoothly. And I'm already looking forward to reading your first post from your new house.

Becki said...

Jenn, what a sweet mention of my blog and projects. I admire your creations so much I was truly humbled that anything on my blog inspires you to want to make it. I must say, if I haven't before, your blog makes me want to cross-stitch like nothing else does. And on that note I have to say... I'm not much of a tea drinker, but yesterday had lunch with a friend at a local tea house and I ended up buying some Tiger Eye tea to bring home. Oh my... it is delicious. And I think, just like that, I've now become a tea drinker! And today I see your your cross-stitched British tea basket "label" and it is totally calling out to me! And that little tea set zipper pull. sigh. I love all the pretties you make.

I wish you well as you finish packing and moving, and continue to create in the busyness of all that. I look forward to seeing all the lovely things you create in your new home.

Robin in Virginia said...

Good to see your latest post, Jenn! I had been thinking about you and wondering how the move was going. You certainly have been very crafty during this month. Way to go on your table re-do! It looks fabulous as do all your projects. I really like your bird needleminders that you created. Thinking of you!

Carol said...

Wow, Jenn! I am amazed at all you have accomplished while packing up your house for your impending move! Do you ever sleep :)

Love your new needleminders and the pretty beaded fob. The Home Sweet Home piece has such lovely colors--perfect for your new place. Your crochet blanket is lovely and your new table top is absolutely gleaming!

I wish you all the luck in the world for your move--may nothing be broken or scratched. Before you know it, you'll have your very own crafting space--lucky you!

mrs. smythe said...

Wow! So much great stuff! Your Stitcher's Alphabet is looking beautiful - I really like the redwork square - though I can imagine all that white was dull to do. (It really turned out cute, though). Maybe I like it so much because I'm a fan of redwork, myself. I love the Home Sweet Home - so cute and that blue is one of my favorite colors. And the colors in that baby blanket are gorgeous. I love that yarn! I like that pattern, too, and will have to earmark it. I just had several "fails" with crocheted baby blankets. This looks so much better than anything I was turning out. Maybe this will be my next crocheted baby blanket so I can get my confidence back up. And that table - wow! I'm so impressed. Everything, really, is just super. Looking forward to hearing about the move - I wish you all the best.

Justine said...

As always I love everything you have been doing! But especially the tea label and that gorgeous blanket. I have Vintage Christmas in my stash, the colours are just so pretty.
Best of luck with your move, hope it all goes smoothly.

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