The Green Dragonfly Giveaway

Good Afternoon my friends!!! Just to let you know that one of my favourite blogs is having a giveaway!!
 The Green Dragonfly is giving away the prettiest crocheted shawl!! Entrants can be from anywhere in the world and all you have to do is like them on facebook, leave a comment etc.
Click here to go to the exact page, you have until Sunday 14th October (2012). I will also be entering, but good luck to all you out there!!

Drama!

Good evening my friends!! Goodness me, what a drama filled day I have had! I will start by something relaxing and pretty (although they were made in rather a hurry as I forgot about them)...

 

The theme, as you may have guessed, was Black and White!! I tried my hand at mini patchwork on my mini sewing machine, and then hand embroidered a mix of colonial and french knots.

I also cooked up some arty bugs this morning with shrinkles!! For those who don't know how to use this genius invention, you paint/ink/colour/draw your design onto the plastic sheet, cut them out, turn on the oven to about 175C, pop them into the oven on a foil lined baking tray, and watch as they begin to squirm and shrink. When the shrinkles have stopped moving and lie flat once more, take out of the oven and leave to cool. Fabulous!!

Before...

After...

See how much they shrink? To decorate mine, I painted one side with gouache paints and then traced my drawings on the other side with a sharpie (a permanent marker will do the same thing).

 

So yes, I have had a very busy day- woken very early by two eager handymen who came and fixed everything they could find. They had heard, you see, that we were having an exterminator in this morning as well to take care of a giant nest of wasps that had taken root in our attic somewhere. I do feel very sad about killing all those wasps, but they had started finding ways inside the house and one of the housemates is severely allergic to wasp stings so we couldn't risk it. I had sort of become the 'wasp rescuer' as well and kept being called into various rooms to rescue people from the wasps (who had no interest in the people at all!) at very odd times of the night and day.
By half past 10 (am), all the men had left the building and we could settle back into a normal routine...which was fine, until this evening, when a new member of the household casually mentioned on her way out that there was a 'small bubble in her ceiling'. We didn't really think anything of it as she wasn't at all concerned, but then curiosity got the better of us, so we wandered up to check and were greeted by...

 

I'm not sure if the photos give credit to the sense of panic that we suddenly all had (especially me, as my room is directly below this one and if the ceiling was going to fall down here...)

I came up with the idea of covering the floor in bin bags (in case the ceiling did go), and we called out the emergency handyman, who turned out to be one of the chaps at our house this morning!!

He came and, after the initial horror, decided that it was just the paper that was bulging down and nothing too serious, so he gave it a prod and poke and caught the water in a bucket.

It was a slight let down really! Huge anticlimax!
The water has been turned off and Mr Handy will return tomorrow morning to dig out the upstairs bathroom and find out where the leak is coming from.
So I've had a very exciting evening, hope you have enjoyed your own! x

Bugs Life

(First written beginning of September)

 

Hullo!!! I have been spending most of the week at the kitchen table watching Diagnosis Murder and drawing bugs for my university summer project.
My brother has been collecting bugs with a magazine for quite some time and has built up an impressive collection- handy when I'm doing a project on bugs!

 

 

Creepy huh? Some of them are quite pretty though, like the flower mantis (drawn above and below)

I have been trying out different techniques (although enjoy working mainly with black fine line pen), so here are my drawings so far!

 

 

 

The bottom image shows my drawing of a lantern bug. The drawings are actually all the same size although they don't look it in the photo. I have taken out all the pattern so they are just simple line drawings. However, I have put the different patterns into nice little boxes to compare them...

...I even found a paper that fitted in with the patterns and the colour scheme. The text is copied from the collection as well, although I'm not sure if I should use it in final designs or not yet.

I have been playing around with designs on the computer as well- its fabulous being able to use Photoshop!!

Still, there's quite a lot to do yet!! I have to start transferring some ideas onto fabric and get some techniques in I think. But I am pleased with it so far- bizarrely, I even enjoyed drawing the bugs!!

Catch Up!!

Hullo!!! I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to be gone for so long or so randomly, it just got very hectic after my last post, with packing for university and getting drawings into my sketchbook. Then, before I knew it, I was in Leicester!! With no Internet... So I apologise and hope you'll forgive me. (The above photo is what I discovered when repacking my bags from last year, I had stored some bits at my Grandmother's house and mice had nibbled into my cute little pot of piri piri flavouring!!!)
Anyway, I'm sure you are all dying to know what my new room looks like!! I spent hours and hours decorating it; bought two new bookcases (broke four screwdrivers...oh don't ask!), pinned lots of pictures and fabrics on the walls, hung up bunting, bought a gorgeous new rug and spent a while faffing around draping blankets artistically over my (double!!) bed.

So what do you think? It has a very handmade and personal feel to it which I really love- when my friends come to visit they wrap themselves up in my blankets and make themselves little nests with the cushions which always puts a smile on my face!! We sometimes even have to get the blankets down off the top of the wardrobe too!!
Speaking of blankets, I have just finished a new addition to my collection! You may remember that I started this project waaaaay back in July, when I bought a crochet book with my birthday money and was inspired!! I chose four different square patterns and made twelve of each, learning all sorts of new techniques and ways to bring texture to my blankets. Finally, at the beginning of this week I began to put them all together, I finished the edging yesterday, and.....voila!!!!

 

I had an inspired moment whilst doing the edge, put bobbles in the corners!!! I think it really ties the edge in with the rest of the blanket and adds some much needed texture to the outer section. I only have one quibble, and that is that because the different square patterns are not all the same size, I've had to squish and stretch in some areas which means the blanket doesn't lie flat. However, I have been assured by various people that this doesn't matter and adds to the general patchwork feel so I am happy with that!! So then, some details for you all:
Four different patterns of square, times 12 each, makes 48 squares. They are organised in a diagonal pattern across the blanket, and attached at the front with double crochet to make a ridge. Each 'line' of crochet is attached vertically, and then the individual squares in the line are attached horizontally- if that makes sense (you may have to zoom in on the photo to get a closer look).
The edge is made up of a random series of double and treble stitches, with 6 bobbles in each corner.
I started it in the end of July, so it has only taken me about two months to complete- possibly the quickest time ever!

Last university year, myself and housemate Lucy bought a 'grow your own herbs' kit from Wilkos, although we never actually got round to planting them until last week. Look how fast they have grown!!

We have basil, chives, coriander and parsley!!

 

Although these little plantlets are late bloomers!!

Before I left for university I was half way through a post about my sketchbook, so I will post that up after this one!! But for now, I think that is all!!! Ta Ta for now!! =D