July's decoration: Mini crochet stars

Just finished up a batch of these cute granny style Christmas stars up using crochet thread. I just need to find my gold crochet thread to make hanging loops for them and then they too can go in the Christmas box.

The pattern is very simple and includes a great photo tutorial so well worth having a go at if you are stuck for a last minute Christmas present. I think these would also look great strung together as a Christmas garland... I may even give that a go too!

The pattern is by Michelle Kludas and you can find it on her blog here - Grandma Twinkle pattern

July's craft - Machine sewing

In my on-going quest to tame the sewing machine I went to one of the 'crafternoon' sessions being held locally at Traders outlet. The session was to make reversible handbags - a simple pattern but involving sewing in curves so quite tricky for a novice like me.

Being able to sit and concentrate on some craft for a whole afternoon was a real treat - Rich took the two little ones out for the morning while I got to indulge my crafty side as well as eating up some very tasty home made muffins.

These are the two bags that I made up - they need a quick iron but I'm really happy with how they turned out. They don't need any buttons or zips to close, all you have to do is thread the longer strap through the shorter strap and it hands around your wrist.  To give them a finishing touch I think I'll just make up some crochet flowers and then into the Christmas box they will go!

I'm going to be teaching a crochet crafternoon some time in September so if you are local then do get in touch and I'll send you the details.

Thanks to my mother-in-law for paying for this as one of my presents - I had a lovely time!

Hot glue magic

There has been so much crafting here in Tea towers that I hardly know what to show you first... so I thought I would quickly share with you a photo of my newest piece of craft equipment - this cute little pink hot glue gun :-)

I've recently had my Birthday so I have quite a pile of new craft books to read through and drool over as well as tons of chocolate and a few beautifully made presents from my lovely sisters, so when I get a chance I'll be posting about them.

Squares for SIBOL

Though you might not think it from my recent lack of posting I have been doing quite a lot of crochet recently.

These two squares are for the SIBOL group - a lovely group of ladies organised by the fantastic Mrs Twins (Sue) who takes in all our squares and then with a little magic and a huge amount of work turns them into lap blankets for the elderly in care.

She was also asking for some extra butterflies so using my recent butterfly pattern I've made her up a small stack in some of my favourite blues - I hope she likes them, and I can't wait to see what she does with my two squares :-)