Phew!!

Well, it's been a busy few weeks!

I'm knitting more bears for the motherbear project and having finished work last Thursday (don't work Fridays - YAY!!) spent an entire day moving the fish tank and furniture around to try and make space for the Christmas tree.


Succeeded at last and all the decorations are now up.



To add to the chaos, we've recently acquired a new bird to help with the indoor avairy feel... here's "Floyd" and he's a handful....he's 7 months old and a maroon bellied conure and into everything!

She's finally finished!!

It's a leaving gift for the Biology teacher at work and another project started enthusiastically, but one which I began to doubt I'd finish!!

Hmmmmm, so what next, I wonder......

Knitted Bears!

Well, I'm pleased to say that at the beginning of this week, my mum kindly took my parcel of bears to the post office for me.

I wasn't terribly happy with my first attempt (the one with green trousers), and even my daughter commented on his wobbly legs!

My second attempt (the red bear) who recently accompanied us (whilst in progress!) to London on a long promised trip to the Natural History Museum. I'd taken my knitting to do on the train and was somewhat concerned when it was confiscated - fortunately only temporarily as we entered the Museum as it was deemed to be a security risk!

My favourite cake!

A fail safe recipe from my friend and ex-boss, even I can make this one with no problem athough I guess most people would've taken the picture BEFORE cutting the cake......

Here's the recipe if you'd like to try it:

Lemon Cake

4oz Soft Marg
6oz Caster sugar
6oz Self Raising flour
2 eggs
4 tablespoons of milk
grated rind of 1 lemon

Icing
4oz icing sugar
lemon juice

1. mix ingredients together – any method
2. Put into greased, lined 1lb loaf tin
3. Put in COLD oven, bring upto 160 C (350F) and cook for 50 mins
4. While cake is cooking, mix icing sugar and juice of the lemon together.
5. While cake is still hot, pierce holes all over the top with a skewer.
6. Pour icing over cake WHILST HOT so it soaks in well.

YUM!!

The scarf is finished!!

Hurrah!!

One of the best picutures taken of me in ages!

Well it certainly feels like it's going to be warm...... I tend to get cold much quicker than anyone else I've ever met, and having to take Stanley the squirrel chaser out for twice daily walks when the weather gets even colder than it is now, fills me with horror!

It's a slightly odd wool though, a bit prickly and seems to lose a bit of colour..... could be a fair chance that I go to work with a green tinge to my neck!!

I'm also considering making Stanley a new coat too, as he's far from being hairy......or brave....

I'm KNITTING!!!

Well, amongst all the other things I'm currently making, which include a set of 6 dangly festive insect/bug things that will be FAR too large for the tree (see, I'm still feeling festive!!) I'm also making a weeny pink bear, that I found (half finished - surprise! errr, not!) whilst sorting out the treasures from my haven.

I'm also knitting a scarf, it's very wide, and having unpicked it once, I'm not doing it again! I recon I need to do about another 6 feet to make it a useful length.

My daughter (age 7) was kind enough to agree to take this picture of me, but as it took absolutely ages for her to press the button, I'd lost the ability to retain a normal facial expression (and no, I'm not pregnant, for anyone kind enough to enquire - it's a rather unfortunate shadow on my top!!

I've also ordered a pattern to knit (hopefully more than one!) bear for the Mother bear project, which can be seen by following this link: http://www.motherbearproject.org/

Shed Update!!

Well, I've spent some time recently moving stuff from what seems like everywhere in the house, to what is now my central point.

I'm hoping (or worrying) that as I've stored lots of fabrics, they might get damp.... nothing ever did before, and everything is stored in plastic containers, so in theory should be ok.

The green one at the top is a picture of the shed BEFORE I repossed it and below is the latest shot.....Well, I certainly know which one I prefer!!

I found a LOT of unfinished projects whilst "sorting", and am determined to plough my way through them ALL before starting anything else.

Here's a little bear I finished last weekend, whilst sulking that a pair of dirty work boots, hard hat and tools, had suddenly appear in my haven.... I went on strike and refused to do anything but sew, until they were moved...

Morty's Made!!

Just finished making "Morty" from Kate Erbach's "Morty and Snerf" pattern.

I'm not too keen on his feet - I used doe suede and it may have been a bit too stretchy as they are VERY long!!

JINGLE BELLS!!

I'm a bit late this year with the festive feeling - it usually kicks in about mid July and is fully burnt out by November!!
This little family unit, was a project I finished earlier in the year and is currently residing, boxed up, in the cupboard under the stairs, waiting for a slightly more appropriate moment to go on display....I wanted to add the 3 Kings and a camel, some shepherds, an angel and a few cows until I realised that we'd need to move house in order to put them all out at one time!
Another thought I'd had was to use some of the images for Christmas cards, and might even get round to doing so (optimism is a wonderful thing!!).

Sue's Bears, dolls and ramblings......

2nd Place Winner!

Well, I thought a good picture to begin with would be this one!

I only heard today that she's won 2nd place in a Yahoo group Challenge competition and this being the first bear I've finished in a long time - no name, but at least a finished item!

CIRCLES...........................
I always seem to have so many things on the go at one time that I often feel I work in circles... begin something, then something else, find a new project before going back to the original, do a bit to the next project, before deciding to change direction and persue a totally new hobby and then back to the first!

Just now and again, and NOT very often, I find myself catching up and finally things are getting finished, almost at the same time!

I can then almost feel inspired to finish them all, before letting myself go and beginning the whole thing, all over again.

PHEW!!

I bought myself a book recently, with the rather ambitious title "Organizing your craft space" so far I have managed to generate (if possible!) even more chaos in my utterly disorganised life!

Here is a glimpse at my outdoor storage space, reclaimed from it's previous life as a household dumping ground.... I emptied it out, painted it mauve and added a brand new piece of off cut carpet (thanks mum!!) I'm in the process of moving all my crafty bits onto the shelves and storage boxes, may yet post a picture of the inside!!

Okay, I've just been told to make clear that it's the INSIDE that's mauve.... I KNOW the outside is blue!! Not that you can see the colour now the shelves and boxes are in place, but it FEELS mauve!! and calm (for a cramped garden shed!)

I don't work Fridays now, so I WILL attempt to take a picture of the inside then (or possibly before if the rain ever stops!!)