Merry Christmas!

Christmas Wreath

A couple of years ago we got a Christmas Wreath from Freecycle...yep for free! It looked a little like this (this is the back cos I forgot to take a photo before I started)

Back of Wreath

Close up of Front

 Well the first year we got it I bought some, um, I'd like to say silk flowers as that sounds better than fake but I doubt they are silk and added them in just dotted around. Bought from the pound shop they cost about £4. Well this year I popped in the pound shop again and went a bit mad! Spent about £6 or £7. I looked at it and thought it might be better to start again and so I removed all the flowers and starting from the bottom middle I rebuilt my wreath.

First third completed

next third completed...It's looking good

Finished and in position!

All finished and isn't it looking lovely? Mum and I both love it and the total cost? Not more than £10 over 3 years! Bargain!

So Folks, have a look around see what you can find and how you can personalise it and without breaking the bank!

Christmas Window No. 2

I have finally got around to decorating the lounge window!

It's taken a while with all the making of cards and wrapping presents to get in the post.

I have had a lot of fun making these cards!

So now the parcels are all in the post (I hope they arrive in time with all the snow about) I could get on with doing the lounge window.

Now you know I love a bargain and that is a lot about what this blog is about. So these cottages are this years bargain! I went into the Heart Foundation charity shop and found some cute little cottages for the window for £1.50 each so I bought 2. Well when I got home I was having a look at them and found something a bit strange...A little rubber ring with a whole in the middle! It didn't take me long to realise that it was to put a christmas light in the back to light up the window of the cottages. So I went back into town to se if the other 2 cottages were still there and they were! I was very pleased! Don't they look lovely all lit up in the window?

It was really lovely doing the window while the snow was coming down. It felt very Christmassy. Here are the rest of the pictures...

and from the inside

and finally....

"How much is that doggy in the window?"

Dulcie not liking it that mummy has gone outside and is keeping a watchful eye on me :-)

I hope you have enjoyed seeing my Christmas window. I had a lot of fun doing it!

New Scarves

Encouraged by my success with my hat and scarf I am making some more scarves to enable me to learn new stitches. 2 of the scarves are gifts for my dad and newly adopted Granddad but I have started one that I may sell in my Rainbow Cottage shops.

Here are the early photo's

 This is for my Granddad. I do like the pattern and the wool is lovely and soft but it is quite slow growing and a bit tiring so it will be nice to have other scarves to swap to. I think this pattern would look lovely done the length of the scarf instead of the width. 

My Nan gave me this orange wool about 5 years ago. It is so not my colour so I have taken all this time to find a way of using it so it isn't overpowering! Mum thinks that it's looking good as a christmas banner or maybe even crocheted tinsel! what do you think?

This is what it will look like when I do the nest few rows.

I will add my dad's scarf when I've started it possibly tonight!

And Now My Hat Is Finished!

Woohoo I have finished my first ever hat and I have done so without a pattern so I could match the stitch to the one on my scarf.

It's not perfect but then it is my first go at it. I'm sure there are many things I would change if I made another one but it is all a learning process!

 This is what it looks like on...

Not a great picture! I'm sure I will hate to see my ugly mug on here! Thank goodness it won't be there long! What can I post about next? hehe

I hope you like what I have done and are inspired to try something new and adventurous! Despite my concerns about the way I have made this up I am very proud of my achievement! Thank goodness I don't have to look at myself in it every time I go out! 

Christmas Window No. 1

I have just had the fun of doing my first bit of Christmas decorating today! Having got back from a snowy walk with the dogs (see Dulcie Days) I was totally in the mood!

So I traipsed up to the spare room and brought down all our Christmas decorations and started playing! Due to our puppy hanging over my chair and barking madly at anything outside the window that moves we thought that the safest place for our ceramic Spanish nativity set would be the dining room window as she hardly ever goes over there!

So I gave the window a good clean (need to do the outside now!) lined the sill (because it's a bit stained) and set to work.

Here are the finished results...

These stickers were one of my bargains bought last year at £1 a sheet I have used one and a half sheets here.

and as our phone has to live on the windowsill it has had to be Christmas-fied too!

Hope you've enjoyed seeing my handywork! I am very pleased with it! I'm looking forward to getting our tree up now...maybe tomorrow!

Finished! My Scarf!

Woohoo! I have finished my scarf and I still really love the stitch I used. I had a mad rush last night determined to finish it before I went to bed! I would have finished a little bit quicker if I hadn't kept forgetting I had already done the double crochet row and started doing it again! I did that at least 3 times last night haha! So here it is...

I just love the colour

Here it is with my coat. Striking isn't it?

I love the scalloped edge!

Well I hope you like it too and maybe be inspired to try something new and creative. I do find that doing creative things makes me happy!

Blanket Finished, New Project Started

Woohoo I've finished my blanket! 

Doesn't it look great and just in time to keep me warm in this snowy weather!

So onto the next project also to keep me warm this winter. Last week I bought myself a new coat. Now when I say new I mean I scoured the charity shops and I found this really lovely red coat for £10 and what's more it still had it's tags :-) but bright pink doesn't go well with red so I need a new scarf, hat and gloves. Well scarves I can do and this is a good opportunity to have a go at making a hat but I don't think I'm up to making gloves so I was treated to a lovely pair from Accessorize to go with the wool I bought. So I have started on my scarf and here is how I chose the pattern and what it looks like so far. Check out my Project Diary regularly for updates on how it is going :-)

I have a folder of pretty crochet stitches so first I had a wander through that choosing the stitch I liked and thought I could do. This is the alternating fan stitch. If you like the stitch and would like to try it let me know and I'll type up the instructions.

It took me a bit to get the hang of the stitch. At first I managed to make my own up but as I was wanting to learn this one I undid it and started again! It didn't take too long before I had done this...

I really love this pattern! It's so pretty that I couldn't put it down and by the end of the evening it looked like this...

And I have done a few more rows this morning. I'm sure it won't be long 'til it's finished!

I hope you have enjoyed looking at my projects and maybe it will inspire you to try something new!