.....Billy no mates no more.....

......My little gnome needle holder now has a mate..............meet.....


............................................Geoff................................................

.....only one small problem......

.....Geoffs too short....

.....so Geoffs in charge of crochet hooks.....

......two down, about another six to make......

....now...

.....moving on to the new thingy....

.....I have found some new wool to play with....actually 'billy and Geoff ' are knitted out of it.....

....it is...'Jamesons shetland spindrift' yarn.......quite quite different from what i would usually go for in yarn, but i do like to try out new textures and ideas and i have to say when i first got it and tried it out i absolutely hated it.....very thin, quite fibrousey (not sure if that's a word), breaks easily and generally had me quite annoyed a lot of the time.....but then......all of a sudden......i fell in love with it.....and have been having a good ol' time with it...........so after making gnomes and trying it out for socks and hexipuffs ( see tiny owl knits if your curious about that one)........ i have retrieved my crochet hook from the bottom of my bag and have started on a new blanket with it................

.......i am really enjoying crocheting these squares......it feels good to be making a new blanket again, with a much lighter weighted yarn, plus there are absolutely hundreds of shades...........so i shall keep you up to speed when i can with its progress...........

....Oh yes.....a lovely little pile of crocheted squares........yummy....

......Plus also........thank you everyone for sharing in my deflatedness with the cancelled Julie Arkell workshop........I'm OK now...Mr Pixie and i still got up early yesterday morning and drove up to London anyway for a bit of vintage shopping and people watching at the brilliant 'Spittlefields market', so all was not lost..........shall i show what i bought...............

.....Two lovely little handmade butterfly badges....

.....and a handmade bag....

.....i love bags.......can't ever have enough bags.....yet another passion of mine, but thats a whole differant post for another day, ay...

.....See you all soon... Pixie...xxxx

....Julie Arkell.....

........now i bet that's grabbed your attention, hasn't it.............................................

.........tomorrow is the day that i have been longing for since May, ....the Julie Arkel workshop in London...........since the weekend i have been slowly filling my basket with the essentials that an obsessive crafter like myself  needs to take on such a trip to get her through the day.....


.........................Number one....take receipt and print out email of confirmation...generally one wouldn't do this but being me it would be just my luck to turn up and they have no recollection of who i am.

........................Number two.....take crochet hooks and various knitting needles, just in case.........just in case of what i don't know.......but just in case!

........................Number three.....take a small carton of soya milk for cups of tea as where ever i go i always take my own soya milk as most people look at you blank when you say....."yes' i would love a cup of tea...do you have any soya milk."?......and then you get the look.......so, to avoid 'the look' i take my own milk.

........................Number four.....take various bits of favourite materials and sewing stuff......also, just in case.

........................And number five......my camera.....most very essential.


......................Then......i had a phone call  to say that the workshop was cancelled, as poor Julie Arkell can't make it due to unfortunate family troubles..........the workshop is now in March.


..............................................................................Oh.......................................................................




................Of course my thoughts were with Julie and hoped that nothing too awful was wrong with her family.....but i couldn't help feeling rather deflated.....................but these things happen...........so i wont be bringing you all wondrous photos of my day in London after all............it shall have to wait till spring.............................................


........................so instead, for now, i shall show you what i have been up to lately...............

.....have you seen this over at Stephanies site.....at Tiny owl knits......

......well.....

.......now i have a gnome too.....

.....he's a bit of a 'billy no mates' at the moment.....but I'm working on it.....

......great fun to make and really quite easy, i have never done wet felting before and now i think i want to felt everything......and i also now have somewhere to keep all my double pointed needles.......well......one set anyway.....for now.

.....I shall be back on Monday to show something else that i have in progress, using some very new yarn.

.....Bye for now...

Pixie x

.....Memories......

.....I was rooting through my attic a few weeks ago, just really to see if there was anything up there that i could perhaps take to a charity shop to try and ease the ever growing collection of stuff that a hoarder like myself  doesn't really need,  and as i was unknotting various sized bin bags i found a bag of my old toys,   i took the bag downstairs and emptied it out and decided there and then that some things are just too precious to bury in the roof so i now have one or two ( the most precious ones ) on a shelf in my sons old bedroom, which is now my work room/office, ......after all.... these toys were so incredibly special to me as a child and i have so many memories of happy times playing with them that i feel that now my toys and i shall continue this journey of mine together, seeing as they were there to shape it in the first place...........................

.............this has been inspired by a couple of lovely blogger friends who have also shared some precious toys on there blog sites, and after seeing there's i was quite excited to share mine..........

.............so.......if i haven't bored you to bits yet and are still interested to see my fellow life partners......
....................................here they are................................................


..............................................................My Sasha dolls...............................................................

......The best things that ever happened to me as a child were my beloved Sasha dolls........i played with them every single day, the bigger one , the girl, was my first and i had her for Christmas when i was seven, i can remember not being able to eat or sleep for weeks and weeks before getting her, the excitement was just unbearable at times and when i finally got her Christmas morning she and i stayed glued to the hip, for as long as i can remember......................she still has the original outfit on that she came in, i had heaps of clothes for them all but i always liked to keep them in there original outfits.

................next most wonderful toy that i loved to pieces ( probably quite literally as he is practically falling apart at the seams is )....................

................Great uncle Bulgaria..........

......though he doesn't look much like the uncle Bulgaria that we all know and love due to much much cuddling ....

.....poor old thing.....lost his shawl.....lost his hat......lost his glasses......

at least he still has his slippers......

.....and finally.....a toy that wasn't ever really a favourite he was just always there......in fact he's been there since i was about three maybe four..............i just sort of inherited him.............

...here's the thing...

....... my mum to me will always be the ultimate 'make.do and mender', and amazing crafter......as a child my memories of my mum are of her constantly either 'sewing..knitting...darning...revamping...mending...baking' and just about any other craft i can think off.........and i know that most of it wasn't done with joy or with a passion it was the necessity...the need for our family...........she was always knitting either fishing jumpers for my dad and brother or even toys for myself and my sister.....she made clothes...curtains....bedding....pelmets....you name it she made it..............so now i want to show you the one remaining toy that she made that i inherited

......i give you....

.....Eeyore....

.....he's even still got his button on tale.....after alll these years....

......So now i think i want to turn this post into a dedication to my old mum....

....Thank you mum....even though i know that most of the time all that 'make, do and mending' was for all our benefit so that none of us went without...... your amazing skills as a crafter and the ability to make just about anything....and i mean just about anything.........i thank you most muchly for introducing me to all the wonders of crafting and for being my true inspiration....

.....Thank you mum.xx

.....Pixie.....

x

....So many thank you's......

.....I just have to say to you all, how truly grateful i am for having so many lovely bloggy followers and friends......so many of you have left such lovely comments on my blog and for that i am most grateful to you all...............everyone has such kind words to say and so encouraging too........you are all very special to me and you all make my days brighter.........

...............................Thank you to everyone.....................................



.........................plus......just look what Mary from Art spirit sent me all the way from Santa Barbara............

.....such wonderful treasures....

......Thank you Mary for all the lovely bits and bobs.....

.....Pixie....

xxx

PS....I think i can feel a give away coming on, so watch this space...

......See you all soon lovely people...xx

....A fox came for tea and crumpets.....

........and then he stayed a while....................................................

......Pattern Tiny owl knits.....

.....Pixie....

x

.....My old chair....

.....Hello all, and welcome also to anyone else who may of stumbled across my little 'crafte nook' by the sea....

.....Yes, this is a post about my old chair.........i know its a bit odd but i thought i would show you all some piccies that i took way back at the start of the year of my mothers arm chair that she gave to me at least twelve years ago...........i absolutely love this chair and its been in our family for at least thirty years, and back at the beginning of the year i felt it was really looking quite shoddy and dated with its tapestry upholstery that i felt it was time for a change................daunting i can tell you.. as Mr Pixie and i have never reupholstered anything ever, so this was gonna be a massive challenge.........my chair has made various appearances through out  my posts and people have very kindly commented on what a lovely chair it is........so here it is.......................

.....How to reupholster a chair ( with no skills what so ever ).........


1...Remove vile, dated tapestry pattern upholstery.....

2....After (carefully ) removing vile cover use as a template to cut out new pieces.......

3..With a lot of pulling and tugging and stapling

 secure new fresh yummy material in place.....

( note..pictures are a bit naff as took all these with my phone )

4...Hammer...staple....pull....tug.....hammer....staple.....pull.....tug.

5....Hammer in some fancy brass tacks.......remembering always that hammers hurt like hell if you don't get your fingers out of the way in time...........ow

6...Finish off by covering the seat pad.....

.....And there you have it.....my old mums chair all lovely and new again.....

.....Also.........just take a look at this.........

...A crocheted chair.........how inspiring is that.....

.....and also this....

.....Don't you just love Pinterest......

Bye for now and have fun, whatever you are doing this weekend

...Pixie...

x

....Kindness....

......The kindness of friends.....

....Thank you Kazzy for your beautiful gift.....

Pixie

x