...Coldplay at Glastonbury saturday.....

....Enjoy........and dont forget to play it LOOOOOUD.....

Pixie xx

...A quick bit of nifty thriftyness...

....being thrifty is what its all about for me, i just love revamping..... unpicking.... restitching.... and making things new again from things that we no longer need....so today i wandered up to see my mum and to collect some old Amano jumpers that she was only to happy for me to take away so that she might have a bit more space in her cupboards...... i just couldn't wait to get started when i got back home, so here's what i did.........................................

........First i cut the sleeves of the jumper......

....then i decided that i wanted to keep the cutting to the absolute minimum, seeing as this was handmade and i didn't want it to come all unravelled, so i did a bit of nifty (that's were the nifty bit comes in) folding and tucking here and there, stuck some pins in here and there also to hold it all together..............then..

.....went aaaaall around the outside with a bit of crochet......

.....and then went aaaaall around the outside again this time adding a little picot bobble (my favourite)..

.....stuffed a cushion pad inside it...

.....and....

............TAH DAHHHHHHH.........

......i am in love with my new cushion, and to think i have two other jumpers to use as well.........

......Thanks mum.....

xx Pixie xx

....A first attempt at....

....paper mache.....................well, maybe not my very first attempt...i did make 'mary queen of scots', at infant school...........which my mum still has a photo off, and on reflection my skills as a paper mache artist were really quite bad...so...i think i can probably safely say that this is my first 'proper' attempt at something i have always kept away from, purely from my infant school failings..........
..Anyway...moving on......i want to introduce you to a very talented crafter...Ann Wood, she has very kindly given us a template to make one of her lovely...cups....heres my 'not very good' atttempt.....

...Firstly, get yourself an empty cereal packet and cut out the template......

.....then, fold it into cup shape, stick, and then paint.........as you can see my paper mache is a bit lumpy bumpy......

.....then, decorate as you like.......i like bugs and insects so i have gone for something mothy..... i have collaged on some cut out images and stuck them in place, this is as far as i have got with the cup so far, but i think i will hand paint on some flowers and leaves inbetween the bugs......

.....I have just been over to Anns site to get an image or two of her marvelous creations to show you, and since me making mine she has had some very upsetting information regarding another blogger stealing her creation and passing it off as there own, Ann very kindly shares these tutorials with us all to have a go and i just want to support her by getting other crafters to go and see her wonderful site.........and also......"thank you Ann for your very kind sharing and allowing us to join in with you"..kind regards Pixie  xx

....Hellooooooo.....

......Some new YUMMY YUMMY wool....
....Ooooooh, i do love new wool.....

....lovely 100% pima cotton DK in little ball sizes.....by the brilliant Rowan.....it was quite amusing actually,  i was wandering round the lovely wool shop were i live gazing longingly at all the lovely wool, when i actually caught myself  stroking these little balls of wool that were nuzzled against me like they were little baby chicks, the lovely lady who owns the shop said that wasn't the first time she'd seen a woman doing just that, and she quite understood.....she also went on to say that some women buy the wool just to sit on there coffee table as they look too lovely to undo and use......now this i can quite understand......they do look quite happy safely sealed in there little jackets.......

....oh dear my pictures are a bit blurred aren't they, don't know why, they looked ok when i took them, sorry.....anyway........I'm not really sure what to make with them yet, i have been so inspired lately by so many wonderful blog sites that i just cant decide what to do first...........probably should finish all the other half started things really.....but i just know i wont....xx.......

So..moving on to the next yummy thing....has everybody now got there copies of the new 'Mollie makes' magazine?, unfortunately for me i couldn't get the first edition as it sold out everywhere extremely quickly, but i did get the second one, and its just GREAT, its full of fabby things.....

....mmmmm, yes yummy......

....ooooooh, yes, definitely more yumminess.....

.....oh wow.....

.....yum yum yummy....

.......well, I'm off now to hug my new balls of wool, and then sit and sort through the ever growing mound of half started crochet......perhaps, i may just have a certain Japanese shawl to show you very soon......miracles have been known to happen......hugs to you all... Pixie xxx

....I won, won, won.....

....i have won a give away, and i am absolutely astounded, and thrilled,...i am astounded as i have NEVER won anything IN...MY....LIFE...., i kid you not, i really haven't, so when my first ever won item came today i was quite literally shaking with excitement......and ohhhh what a win, just take a look at this.....

....isn't it just stunning....its called 'The twisted tree', by 'Little wren', aka Michelle

and i just love love love it,....so.....Thank you so so muchly Michelle for my beautiful print, i am going to hang it up in my little kitchen so i can see it everyday. x x x

....I am in awe....

....at the amazingly talented 'Pauline Laurence', at la'telier de marie, i am so inspired by her, her crochet talents take my breath away, in fact, it was her stunning Japanese flower design that inspired me to have a go. So my friends i have some beautiful pictures to share with you of her work and i encourage you all to go and take a gander at her very lovely lovely  blog site.....enjoy......take it away Pauline.......

....and of course the most beautiful Japanese flower shawl....it just puts mine to shame.....

....Amazing...

Pixie xx

....just things....

....nothing very exciting to share with you all today, just some random things from the weekend....

....so, thing number one....

eclectic gipsyland, etsy

....definitely gonna have to have a go at making one of these....

...thing number two...

....naughty squirrel in the rubbish bin in the park, clearly up to no good....

....here's another one i got of him about to take a lunge at the bin...

....thing number three...

....Grandparent duties for the afternoon, drawing round our hands and colouring, this was after the trip to the beach, getting sand in all the wrong places followed by a trip to the park to whizz down the slide (including ninny)and trying not to get wedged at the top, then back home for colouring....

....and thing number four...

....remember this...

....its now looking like this...

...a bit bigger...

....i think i have decided after a lot (and i mean a lot) of pondering on what to do with this, that its best that i keep it to something simple, like a shawl, you can't really go wrong with a shawl can you, and actually, after draping it of my shoulder and looking at it in various posses in front of the mirror it did look quite good, just need some extra hours in a day to get all this crafting stuff finished....

....i have one or two other interesting things that i have been working on to show you but that's for another day, i hope you have all had a lovely weekend too and hopefully in my next post i shall be able to show you my latest venture, (i really must try and finish all the other things that i start first, but you know what its like, i just keep finding things that i want to make)....

....Anyhoo, bye bye for now Pixie xx

 

....A beautiful day....

....off work....
.....no work today, as its my birthday...well...its what we call my unbirthday...you see, my real actual birthday is in January, a week after Christmas actually, and i decided that after 43 birthdays of being in the dead off winter that i wanted to change it....so i did....to June., much better for me and much better for everybody else, so today i have enjoyed a lovely restful morning outside in my little crafte court yard doing some knitting and some crochet, just sitting in the sun enjoying a large slice of birthday black forest gateau bought by my beloved and opening my prezzies and cards.......complete...and utter.....blissss.

....as you can see i am still hooking away at the Japanese flower thingy, i do enjoy making these little flowers there very therapeutic, and i wanted to say to everyone who gave some really good suggestions for what to turn this piece of crochet into, a big 'thank you', i will show you its progress soon.....anyway...as i was sitting doing my flowers i kept feeling small pieces of something landing in my hair, as i brushed my hand over my head i noticed it was bits of cherry innards, so i looked up to see who or what was chucking cherry stuff at me and it was this.....

....he's very well camouflaged isn't he?...it took me a while to spot him, he's a 'Ringed neck parakeet', we get a huge amount of these round our way and i know they have a bit off a thing for this cherry tree as i am always finding half eaten cherry bits outside the back door, and they do make a lot of noise, there very squarky....but ever so pretty....anyway, after snatching a photo of my friend in the tree the postman turned up and handed me this.....i knew what this was, and i am soooo unbelievably excited you have no idea.....

....i treated myself, as a birthday gift to me....this.....

....can you see whats written on my receipt....

....JULIE ARKEL WORKSHOP....YAAAAAAY...

....not until November, but this is going to be GREAT....

....oh my goodness i cant contain myself..i am such a fan of 'Julies', always have been, and if you haven't seen any off her work please please go and have a look through 'google images' theres lots of her work to be seen, unfortunately she doesn't have a website or blog, but do go and have a look.

....So, that's all from me for today, Mr Pixie is cooking me dinner later and then where going to snuggle up on the sofa and watch a film, I'm going to leave you with a couple of Julie Arkel pictures, enjoy....bye for now Pixie..