miss marie's miscellany

2010 retrospective

2010 seems to have sped by with great speed, and to be honest, some of the ride has been very bumpy. But despite that, when I looked back over my photos, there were lots of good recollections and happy moments.

The weather and seasons have been quite a feast for the eyes, sunsets and snow seem to be greatly featured in this collage.

I have carried on my love affair with crochet. It has kept me sane over some difficult times this year, and it makes me really happy to see how far I've travelled since I first picked up a hook early in 2009. And I made all of these! 

I've been on a few trips to places interesting and beautiful

And last but not least, the garden has been a wonderful source of inspiration and pleasure

Thanks to you all for reading and commenting, lovely blog friends; let's hope 2011 is full of adventures and new wonderful opportunities for us all!

Happy New Year  xxxxxxx

Christmas crochet

After all the excitement of Christmas, I had a day of total leisure on Monday; absolutely nothing to do but sit, relax and enjoy watching Pride and Prejudice and Upstairs Downstairs and crochet. I have been keeping some of this lovely wool, Brown Sheep Worsted, for a rainy day, and I ended up making these wristwarmers for me.

I used a beautiful green, Kiwi, for the hand part. I wanted a bit of texture to these so I plumped for moss stitch.

Then I edged the top and bottom with a deep pink, Fuschsia; at the top I did a row of double crochet stitches and then a row of crab stitch

and at the bottom I made a long strip of rows of double crochet, working each alternate row in the back loops only to give a ribbed effect.

They are very cosy as the wool is lovely and thick; very luxourious.

 They go very well with my new pink coat too! 

 

3 good things - day 3

1) Hmm, the first batch of mince pies; the house smells wonderful with the spice and fruit scenting the air. 

2) I meet my lovely friend M for coffee and chat; with all the hustle and bustle of getting shopping and presents bought, it's good to step back and make time to sit and catch up and wish each other a happy Christmas.

3) I made a crochet Christmas tree!

I've seen people do this kind of thing with all sorts of objects,Christmas cards and old polaroids to name a few; I used various crochet shapes I made for Christmas last year (stars, snowflakes, hearts and flowers) and fixed them on the wall in a tree shape.  I am quite taken with it, in fact next year I may do this on a grander scale! 

3 good things - day 2

1) Planning the Christmas dinner with my sister; all the party this year are all vegetarians, so we have much fun drooling over recipes and deciding what to eat. I think we are veering towards Chestnut and parsnip roulade with all the roasties to accompany and to follow ginger and white chocolate cheesecake. Yum.

2) One of my piano pupils get a great result for his first exam; I am delighted, so is he (although he tries to be super-cool about it!)and  his mum is relieved and very happy :-)

3) I got fed up sliding around in the snow and ice, so I ordered these snow boots which arrived today. They are a funky gold colour, fabulous and very festive, and they keep my feet cosy, warm and dry, in fact it's the first time for a month that my feet haven't been like 2 lumps of ice. Result!

Etsy shop and giveaways!

I have news, which I'm excited about; I have opened an Etsy shop.  I'm spending so much of my free time making things, and enjoying doing so, that it seems a good idea to try to sell some of them. I thought long and hard about taking this big step, it feels quite scary to put one's wares on show so publicly, but I have had lots of encouragement from family and friends, and it feels like a good time to take the plunge. My things did pretty well at the craft fair last week, which was a good way of gauging if I'm on the right track; I made about £85, and have been asked to make another 7 things on commission, which is very heartening. There is a link to my Etsy shop on the sidebar on the right, please come and have a look round and tell me what you think; there are some of my makings there which I've already revealed on here, and there will be some new ones too in the coming weeks. I would welcome your feedback and thoughts, and tell all your friends too!! 

To celebrate this I'm going to have a giveaway! Well, 2 giveaways , really........I have a star garland,

and a flower corsage in a lovely deep red colour

to give to 2 lucky winners. Just leave a comment after this post and say which of the two you would prefer to receive, stars or flower, and your name will be put into the hat. I will reveal the winners next week on Wednesday, 1st of December. Good luck :-)

 

 

Craft fair crochet

Well, tomorrow is the big day, my first attempt at selling my crochet wares at a small craft fair; unfortunately, I can't go as I'm working, but my lovingly crafted goods have been delivered to a trusted fellow seller, who I think may buy several items herself! I will let you have a peek at what I made; something someone said to me about gifts for Christmas inspired me to use a heart motif and to make a string of them which you could hang on the wall as I have, or on a door or even on the Christmas tree. I made some in bright red and dusky pink, both are good 'heart' colours :-)

I made some single hearts too, in either red or gold, perfect for the Christmas tree.

I've also tried some different combinations of star colours; green and red with a lone white star

and red and white; I think this is my favourite, it look so festive and cheery.

And here are all my flower corsages, looking pretty together

I finished these off with a nice crocheted backing and a proper brooch clasp, so they will stay put and look fresh.

I wish I had had a little more time to make a few more things, but I'm pleased with what has been sent to the fair, so cross your fingers for me for a few happy buyers.......I'll let you know how it goes :-)

Today I have.......

finished my stars and made them into a garland

What do you think? They have certainly cheered up this house on a wild stormy day.

I made a chain using all 3 colours with a 6mm hook, nice and chunky, and slipstitched the stars to it.

I will be making some more of these for the craft fair I'm selling my things at next week, and possibly one for me to keep too!

 

Today I am......

making Christmas decorations.

know it's only the 8th of November, but there's no time like the present for being ahead of oneself!

October collage

This month; autumn arrived with all its beautiful colours, plus its changeable weather; I crocheted with pink and blue and a touch of romance; I went to my friend's wedding; a garden project ( a little peek is in this collage for you to wonder about!); new friends; lots to be happy about and much to look forward to :-)

Hectic

There's just not enough hours in the day at the moment and I am neglecting this little space of mine. Sorry, I hope normal service will resume soon :-)

What have you been doing, I hear you cry.Well, I have been crocheting away like mad, making more of the flowers from my last post; they seem to have been a big hit as I have had requests for more and my fans will pay nice shiny money for them too which makes me very happy; it's a big compliment that people think what I make is beautiful and buyable. I have been thinking about selling online at Etsy, so it's good to have an opportunity to test the waters.

I also have a little boy blanket on the go; here is a sneak peek of some of the squares made so far.

 I took my inspiration from the colours I've used, red, green, mustard and lemon and lime twist; when I had the balls of wool lined up, I thought of traffic lights! More about this soon.

I have been working on something really exciting, down at the bottom of my garden,but it isn't quite ready yet for me to reveal all; but it won't be long till I can tell you about the culmination of a lot of hard work and the realisation of a dream.  Secretive, but it really will be worth the wait!