Miss Aine

Not much crafting done the last few days. I started knitting a scarf Saturday knit but haven't took a picture yet. Its perfect knitting for when I'm tired at the end of the day. Smem was sick yesterday for the first time in her now 13 months (I know, I'm very lucky to have made it this long without any real problems). I went in to here after her nap in the evening to find her sitting in a pool of vomit. The poor thing was so distressed - she had now idea what was going on. We spent the rest of the afternoon on the couch watching a Barney movie! She perked up a bit before going to bed - just in time to enjoy a spot of kiddie knitting!

Last night I realised that I hadn't mentioned that the third issue of Irish Quilting had come out. I got my copy on the Monday before I headed down to Wexford and had been so busy since then that I just forgot. Smem got her modelling career started in this mag - she's in the reader's letters section! I also had my bib pattern included. Smem didn't get to model for this one. They used a younger baby. It turned out quite well.

After making the fabric pleated bag for C's mother I decided to try to make a knitted bag - I'm back into a bag-making buzz at the moment obviously! I had some lovely circular handles so they begat: The Moss Stitch Bag Materials: About 100g aran weight yarn. I used Stylecraft Aran in baby blue but any make would be fine. 5mm straight needles 5"/13cm diameter circular handles. Piece of lining material, approx 15.5" x 14.5 / 40cm x 37cm (plus a little extra if you want to make a matching flower pin) Sewing thread and sewing needle and darning needle Saftey pin White felt Gauge: 5 sts to 6 rows to 1 inch of stocking stitch Moss Stitch: Row 1: (K1,P1) to end Row 2: (P1, K1) to end How To: Cast on 30 sts. Stocking stitch 11 rows. Next row: Increase knit-wise into every stitch - 60sts. Next work in moss stitch, starting with row 1 and repeating these two rows until the moss stitch part of the bag measures 14.5"/37cm, ending with row 2. K 1 row. Next row: (K2tog) to en...

We've another birthday party to go to on Saturday so I needed to make a present asap. I decided to make a sleeping doll and thought one that was in a gro-bag would be cute - it wasn't! It just looks odd. The arms are too low and I sewed the seams for the body too large so the body looks too skinny. C likes how odd it looks though so I think its going to end up in his room! Take 2 is better: Sleepy Isabella

Once again, thanks to everyone who took part in the giveaway (Jennifer, I can't get your email through your profile so please send me an email with it. Thanks!) It was a good weekend for me to have the giveaway as I was quite ill so it was good not to feel under pressure to post a new blog every day - there is no written rule about this, I just put the pressure on myself! I did get a chance to do a little bit of sewing. I'd bought some bag handles from U-Handbag a few months ago for making bags for my bridesmaids for the wedding. I got 3 in total so I decided to make the pattern from their blog that goes with that particular bag handle. It turned out quite nice in the end but was a bit difficult to sew. Not difficult in terms of technicality but just in thickness. I would imagine that the fabric I used was a good bit thicker than the one they use and I managed to break one needle in my sewing maching and one hand-sewing needle - not good! I'm also not so much in love ...

The random number generator came up with 21,2 and 19 so the winners are: Ariel Margie Wood Jennifer Congratulations to the winners (you should get an email from me today but if not send me one so I can send on the pattern to you) and better luck next time to everyone else. Thank you to everyone for taking part.

*** This Giveaway is now closed *** Spring is here! - or at least is was. Its all cold and rainy at the moment - boo! The April Pattern Giveaway is now open. Up for grabs is a pdf knitting pattern for Spring Sheep and Lamb. Leave a comment before Monday 20th and be in with a chance to win. Three lucky winners will be chosen at random. Good Luck!

Smem got her MMR shot today at the doctors. She didn't seem to mind the actual injection, just the man-handling by the doctor to get her into position! I think tooth no.11 is almost through - we're on to the lovely molars at the moment. Oh the fun and games! So today I wanted to share two blogs that I discovered this week. First is up is Leanne in Australia who left a message on the blog (and has done before and I never followed it up - bad me!). Some lovely knitting, and an obsession with smurfs - lots of fun! Second up is Jennifer . I found her blog through someone else's (can't remember whose now!). Its got loads of lovely sewing and made me want to make lots of pretty dresses for Smem. Very inspiring!

I had a pretty good day yesterday. C took Smem out shopping for a few hours to give me a break. It gave me plenty of time to clean our spare bedroom, where I keep all my craft stuff. I stuck all the ATCs I received from Kate's swap onto a large picture frame that we weren't using as the glass had broken. I've stuck this up in my work space so that I can use it for inspiration. Then I did some tidying. This is a picture of the wardrobe where I keep my wool and papercrafts boxes. It really needs shelves but I can't afford any at the moment so it will have to stay as it is. Its not too bad though. Behind the blue sheet is my wedding dress - can't show it in case C reads this! I also cleaned around my desk which has recently been lost under a sea of project bags! Yesterday I also realised that it was much further into April than I thought and that I needed to make some more ATCs and get them out in the post. I flicked through a few books for inspiration and settl...

While in Wexford last week I knit this scrubbie and washcloth set for Smem. Her natural sponge had disintegrated after she took a bite out of it one night and the washcloths we have in the house were just too big to handle when washing her. The little scrubbie is a perfect size as it fits into my hand just right. I've a feeling I may use this pattern again for presents for people. I may try to alter the pattern though to make the scrubbie slightly larger. Its perfect for washing Smem but I'd want a slightly bigger one for myself.

Apologies to those who read my blog (of which there are 3 official followers!) for the lack of posts this week. Myself and Smem headed down to Wexford to see my parents on Tuesday and only got back Thursday evening. We had a lovely time. The weather was great on Wednesday and we had a lovely time outside. Smem enjoyed crawling around - so much so that she forgot that her hood was up and left it there the whole time! She also spent her time trying to steal the cat's food. We put it up on a window ledge but that didn't stop her trying to get it. You'd think she never got fed!

I made this little card for the party we went to today, to match the toy elephant. Its so cute I wanted to share it. I used a pre-made card 14.5cm x 10.5cm. I cut out the elephant shape, making sure that the dotted line was place at the fold in the card! I cut the ear from contrast/patterned paper. This was folded on the dotted line, and the narrow part glued to the body. Super quick and easy to do!

Materials: white and green felt, pink pencil, emboirdery thread in black, pink, yellow, purple and orange, polyester stuffing. Step 1: Print off pattern pieces below onto an A4 size piece of paper and cut out all pieces. Step 2: Cut 2 bodies from green felt. Cut 2 heads, one tail and 12 appendages from white felt. Step 3: Use purple and orange embroidery thread to work a few daisy flowers on the front of one of the body pieces. Use yellow embroidery thread to work a few stitches in the centre of each flower. Step 4: Sew the tail to the back body. Step 5: Using black embroidery thread work straight stitches for the eyes and mouth. Use pink to work a few stitches for the nose. Use a pink pencil to lightly circle the cheeks. Step 6: Sew each of the appendages together in twos using small running stitches around all edges. Step 7: Position the arms and legs to the front of the body and baste in position. Sew front and back of body together with small running stitches around the edge, ...

Free pattern to follow - once I figure out how to upload it so that everyone can download it!