Two Angels - angels & petals AND crafty angel

..............and relax

What better way to end a stressful week than with some needle felting. Oh, the rhythm of stabbing small particles of fibre cannot be beaten. Add to that a handful or two of lavender and you have the perfect afternoon. So that is just what we did on Saturday afternoon.

The sun streamed in through the window as work began on choosing colours & designs.

 

Perfect lavender for a lavender bag

The start of beautiful poppies,

And stunning delphiniums,

 
  A pretty & delicate start from Freya,

 

MMMM, that barbed needle does hurt doesn't ?

 

And the first lavender heart of the day was finished.We all loved the little bee.

 

The finished delphs were beautiful

 

Pretty lavender

The finished sunflower and no trace of the blood!

 

Loving the little felted flower on this one

And we even had a ladybird,

Last but by no means least we had a chicken.

Two ladies had to leave early, but we are looking forward to seeing your photos when they're finished, please!
 

There will be another chance to have a go at needle felting at our Flower Power workshop

 Saturday 16th Ocotober.
  

 
   

 
  

 

Knit your own pet

Brand new out and such fun is this book, Knit & Purl Pets

Designed to be knitted for children who constantly ask for a pet, these little chaps will be loved by children and adults alike.

Bamber the labrador pup - less messy than the real thing.

Cute kitty, knitted in the round & very easy.

'can I have a rabbit mum'

'yes of course darling, I'll have it ready by morning!'

 You might need until the weekend to knock up this one.

How lovely is Zoom? I want one of these.

Also included are patterns for a snake, tortoise, guinea pig, mouse, rats, pony, hens, birds and even a stegosaurus - covering all possible requests!

Bag Ladies Unite

Our decorated Bags session yesterday proved to be a haven for creativity. People had really thought about what it was they wanted to depict and how best to do that. Emily, our artist in residence,did an excellent job of transferring thoughts and scribbles onto the canvas for those who required it.

Just the dog to draw now.

Journals are a great way to keep your thoughts & ideas.

The fun bit begins.

Laying out the designs.

Beginning to stitch.

Embroidery begins on  this 'Ladies who Lunch' design.

Some brought embellishments from home, like these lovely knitted flowers.

 A famous Logo's themed bag was striking in black.
 

Jungle flowers. This bag will always make you smile.

Gradually some of the bags were finished and ready to take home.

Others took a little longer.

Some were going home to be embellished further.

And completed ready for 'show & tell' on Tuesday evening!!

Which incidentally is Book Club Tuesday - perhaps it's a good job it's a Bank Holiday tomorrow eh???
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 

Bathroom Bliss

Hatherleigh smelt rather lovely yesterday afternoon as we embarked on a fragrant journey through our bathroom bliss workshop.

 
All set up & ready to go.

We began making making bath bomb hearts, either with fragrant oils, or essential oils. Some people opted for foot fizzers using tired feet soothing combinations of oils, bliss! Christina is seen blending her ingredients.

We left them to harden off up and down the stairs, with gentle breeze blowing in through the door.

And it worked! We were blessed with a warm dry afternoon, which helped.

Then we moved onto soap making. A gardeners soap was made using essential oils & poppy seeds for exfoliation. Also a more girly soap, with Rose Geranium essential oil proving a popular choice.
 

 
 
After a much needed cup of tea we began combining out ingredients for a salt scrub. Some people chose to add calandula petals, which looked very pretty once they were packed in jars.

 
 
 and finally a massage oils most of the soaps had hardened off sufficiently to be unmoulded and the packaging began,

Ready to take it home

Bathroom Bliss was a very enjoyable & productive afternoon & I have been asked to do a Christmas one. I am aiming for 12th December, but will confirm this and let you have details soon.
 
 
 
 

Cotton Pickin'

Recently we all seem to have fallen in love with cotton yarn. It is so lovely to work with and makes fabulous throws which are warm and cosy, without being too heavy.

So I was very pleased when these new colours from Sirdar arrived in their Calico range.

Ice cream colours - yum yum! 

Rippin n' stickin

I cant think of a much better way to spend a leisurely couple of hours - than ripping & sticking.

And that is exactly what we did on Saturday afternoon at Crafty Angel. Decopatch to be exact, but it is essentially ripping & sticking! Here is a little montage of what we made.

Ok, so I seem to have cut the noses off the cats & rabbits, but you get the idea!

Anyway, it was very pleasant, and if you fancy having a go, all supplies are available from the shop.

Magnetic humour

I just couldn't pretend any more that my 'thought for the day' on Sunday was my own work!

It came from one of these ever popular fridge magnets which seem to tickle so many women who read them in the shop.

Don't forget - you can pop in for a giggle & a cup of tea any time.

We certainly had a few giggles last night at our full - to - capacity' Knit & Natter. Perhaps not as many as last week when we thought a Strip-a-gram had arrived!! But that's another story!

Those who have taken up the blanket challenge are doing stirling work, and there are some lovely colour combinations being prepared for our exhibition, 24th October. (More details later).

We have a full programme of workshops and craft sessions planned for the summer, so do call in and pick up a leaflet.

Sock it to them!

When I was away recently visiting my dad who is in his 90's I took it upon myself to change his bedding. Underneath his pillow I found various hankies, a very heavy torch, a map, some fisherman friends and a pen knife! All very useful stuff (though quite why you might need half of them beats me), for a man sleeping alone. However, nestled in amongst this 'manly' collection, was, what I later discovered was Mr Button. Mr Button was a sock creature. Pale blue with arms & legs and 2 huge button eyes. On further enquiry I discovered Mr Button had been made by my nephew Hamish, now 10, when my mum had died almost 3 years ago, to keep Granddad company. What touched me was that not only was this a lovely gesture but one that had obviously been really appreciated. Dad is not the soppy kind, he will cope admirably with whatever life throws at him, which can actually make it difficult to 'touch' him and where my sister and I may have struggled to let dad know we are concerned for him, Mr Button had indeed hit the button.

So, that got me thinking about sock creatures and wondering what there was in the way of books out there for ideas. I can tell you there are quite a few, of varying degrees of interest and enthusiasm. The one that struck a cord with me was this one

 
The main draw for me was the opening paragraph which reads: Forgive me if I stare at your ankles. forgive me if I hand you a business card and ask you to give me your socks'. Author and avid sock creature creator John Murphy has not only a talent for turning socks into amazing creatures, but also a very warm style of writing. With clear instructions and useful tips throughout he makes you want to go and pluck some socks off the washing line and start straight away.

 

 
Each creature comes with it's own personal introduction, warning you of any strange traits!

Lots of helpful tips & hints are scattered throughout the book.

 
 
 
A great book for a wet afternoon's crafting, but definitely too good to wait for rain, so perfect for making sat in the garden with a Pimms!

Perhaps you know someone who'd appreciate a 'Mr Button'.
 

A True Taste of Summer

A a hay fever sufferer I can honestly say that the months of May & June have been a bit of a struggle. But there is an annual up side. Every year we become hunter gatherers and collect Elderflower heads to make our own cordial. It is dead easy & delicious. So if you've never tried it before here is my Jamie Oliver style slap dash recipe - guaranteed to have you wanting more.

I should point out that I made double the quantity I am giving you because we have a lot of thirsty teenagers passing through! but the quantity I have given you will make approx 2 litres.

Send out a willing child to collect 15 large Elderflower heads.

In a large pan dissolve 3lbs granulated sugar in 3 pints of water over a medium heat.

Let the liquid cool & add 2 tablespoon white wine vinegar & 2 oz Citric acid (available from chemists) Stir to dissolve.

Cut up 2 lemons (I made double this quantity so that's why I've 4!)

Put unwashed flowers and lemons into large clean bowl or bucket

Pour the sugar/water syrup over them. Cover loosely and leave for 24 hours.

Remove the flower heads & lemons (I used mine for pancakes which had a lovely elderflower & lemon taste).

Strain the liquid through a jelly bag or piece of muslin (a pair of tights at a push) into a large jug.

 
 Bottle and enjoy! Keep refrigerated.

Incidentally the rather lovely bottle contained Samford Courteney Cider, which we can also recommend!
 
 
 

 
  
 

Con -fusing?

Whilst the class were busy making their dragonflies on Saturday  Nikki introduced me to a very natty little device.

The Microwave Glass Fusing Kiln.

This little kiln can fuse small amounts of glass in minutes. I made 2 small piles of blue glass with a hint of pink, and popped it all in the microwave for 5 minutes. When removed the kiln is red hot, and needs to be left for half an hour, then you can take a peep.

Inside, instead of the piles of tiny glass pieces were 2, almost the same, beautiful glass nuggets. When you put the glass in you have little idea of how it will fuse, which is all part of the excitement. I was however very pleased with my results and they were pretty close to how I had imagined.

We washed the nuggets, which removed the white powder and voila................

A pair of (slightly out of focus!) earrings.

What fun! I think I might have to invest in one of these little kilns. Nothing confusing here at all, very straight forward and exciting.