Two Angels - angels & petals AND crafty angel

What a hoot

Saturday just wouldn't be Saturday without a workshop would it? So the morning began with Em popping in to cut her owl fabric out and then she had to take it home to finish off, as she was busy in the afternoon.

So, after lunch five more ladies came along and we began to make owls of their own.

Choosing fabric for features and buttons for eyes was the best part.

By tea time we had a full parliament.

Some big wise old owls

And some Little owls.

And then, just in time, Ems owl flew in too.

Some of them are enjoying the sunshine here this morning!

 

Haven't we had some wonderful sunsets this past week?

I took this one from the kitchen window on Friday evening. Lovely.

 

 

Not sure if I dare mention Christmas yet???
But the November/December workshop list is now available.
We've got everything from Advent boxes to Rustic Robins.
If you can't pick up a copy from the shop just email me [email protected] and I'll send you one.

Girls on tour

Well, not quite, but Emily & I did escape from deepest Devon on Saturday, taking a train to Ally Pally in  London to see the Knitting & Stitches show. And very good it was too. We laughed a lot, got lost a little and found lots of inspiration for projects to see us through the winter. There was a ton of gorgeous wool to squeeze, fabulous fabrics to coo over and heaps of buttons to fondle, not to mention the exhibitions and displays. My favourite of which has to be an old truck door which had been used as the canvas for a display of flowers, done in cross stitch.  Very cool. Watch out for Ford stealing that idea!

No train journey would be complete without a little crochet, so my Ally Pally Mitts were born. Made in Rico essential soft merino aran, from the shop and embellished with pretty Liberty fabric buttons bought at the show.

 

 

 

Time for tea.....

And a little bit of sympathy too. Followers of the blog will have met my dogs Floss & Rosie, as we rambled around the lanes and on here too! So it is with great sadness that I tell you, that following a stroke this week, Floss was put to sleep.

Lewie put on a brave face as he said goodbye to a lovely dog who has been in our lives for 13 years. A stray, found on the motorway, Floss was loyal, loving and a complete tart! She will be missed by all of us.

 

So, if we're in need of tea, we'd better make some lovely tea cosies to keep our comforting brew nice & hot. Armed with dyed blanket fabric, merino tops in a host of lovely shades and a sprinkling of insipration we set out to make some.

Now, which colours to choose?

Decision made, it was time to make a start.

Coming along nicely.

Soon the designs started to appear.


Front AND back

Add some wadding and a pretty lining and there you have it. Most certainly time to put the kettle on.

Okay, okay, a coffee for Sue please. There's always one!!

A few things to share

Above are a couple of cushions from the workshops held yesterday, to make Kirsty Allsop inspired hare cushions. You may remember she visited Cowslip Workshops near Launceston ( which is one of our favourite places too) to spend a day with Jo Colwill, who showed her how to do hand applique and make her cushion, in the TV series a year or two ago. Most of our cushions are yet to be finished, but I promise to post the final pictures soon.

 

As the days are getting more autumnal we've decided to hold a few simple workshops on Wednesday mornings, to lift our spirits a little!

Amongst those planned are rolled roses made from felt, for hair slides or brooches & beautiful corsages, which would look great on a winter coat or bag. (pictured above).

Looking a little further ahead, towards Halloween, we'll be making a paper garland, on a Wednesday and a felt bunting style garland on a Saturday..............

Also in October there is a chance to make an owl cushion similar to this one...

If you'd like any more information about our workshops, please call into the shop or email me at

angelsandpetals@btinternet.com

Finally I'd just like to show you a lap blanket made in some of the lovely colours of the new Rico yarns Nature range. This blanket cost just £15 to make which surely has to get the crochet for Christmas cogs moving!

This Sunday morning, 9th September, we are starting our regular scrapbook/journaling mornings. I will be at the shop from 10am - 12.30pm for you to come along and use all my stamps, inks, stains, ribbons etc. New watercolour paper journals will be available to buy for those who have never done this kind of thing before.
Scrapbooking & journaling are fun, easy and creative ways to keep your memories & thoughts.
If you'd like to join us - just come along and bring some photos, tickets, quotes etc, to give your first page a focus and get you started.

More free motion

A few more of us gathered together on Saturday to have another bash at free motion embriodery. Most of the ladies arrived a little rushed and flustered, having dashed around all morning doing their various multi-tasking but once again it was decided that this is such a great way to spend an afternoon.

Once the machines were set up it was time to have a little practise.

They soon relaxed and got into the swing of it.

Soon the ladies had produced something lovely. This was a great start from beginner Sarah.

A very pretty piece from Eileen.

Sarah's very pretty vintage style heart, soon to become a lavender bag.

And Gina's produced this beautiful chicken despite having never done anything like this before.

I think a new hobby has been found for these ladies!

Softie Saturday

It was time to dig out much loved, but worn out jumpers and T shirts on Saturday and turn them into softies to love forever.

First of all we cut out the shapes, pinned and sewed.

Then we stuffed.

Added ears and facial features.

Then we got ready to meet our new friend. The cashmere rabbit. She was soooo soft.

Rose bud the retired pj's rabbit with donated cashmere bits to her ears.

And Issac's new friend made from one of his favourite jumpers. Hope he likes his new pal just as much?!

Show & tell.

Last week I was on the sunny south coast recharging my batteries. The girls of knit & natter were not idle though. Oh no, far from it, they were exhibiting their finest selection of craftsmanship at the Chagford show. It was a clean sweep for the girls in the 'any other soft craft section', which allowed the hookers to show off their hooky talents to an appreciative judge. They also took various other prizes across the knitting and hard craft section, exhibiting work done at knit & natter and our various workshops. Well done girls.

There's Emily's Sea anemone blanket (my name for it because it's like looking into a rock pool with its beautiful colours and wavy edges!) on the left taking 2nd,

 Chrissie's Mexican wave blanket, in all its rich jewelled tones, in the middle with 1st prize,

Sue R's beautiful felted bag at the back with Highly commended and Sue T's very pretty hexagon blanket on the right which took 3rd prize. Marvellous.

 

Also, just before I was away, one of our members, the gorgeous Beverley had a serious operation and over the past couple of weeks many of us have been making squares for her recovery blanket. I'm delighted to report she is home now and doing splendidly getting around on her very jazzy purple crutches. So, early on Wednesday morning a bunch of us crawled bleary eyed into the shop and sewed all the squares together so that we could deliver the blanket to her yesterday.

We all hope that snuggling down underneath its soft cotton loveliness will speed up her recovery.

Free & easy

Today we held a workshop which saw us having a tentative go at free motion embroidery.

Feed dogs down, hoops in place it was time to get the feel of free motion sewing.

Merly soon picked it up.

Sue began adding fabric to hers.

Carefully planned out pictures began to emerge too.

Eileen went for a very attractive abstract approach.

Meryly made an excellent job of her floral with variegated threads.

Despite herself Claire was forced to admit she'd enjoyed making something 'girly'!

Top marks were awarded to Deb who mastered the art of writing.......

far better than I did!

We liked machine embroidery and will certainly be doing more.