My package arrived this morning all the way from New Zealand! I was cooking breakfast when it came and I nearly burnt my eggs because I couldn't wait to open it and ripped it open in the kitchen the second I had it in my hands

I apologise for my inpatience because I didn't get pictures before I dug in but everything was beautifully wrapped in pattern paper with lace and ribbon with little descriptions written on the back of gorgeous little picture cards. I've tried to include the wrapping after the fact in this group shot:



The package included: water bottle cover, head band, two gym towels, two sweat bands and a healthy food magazine! How lucky am I?




How cute are all the little hearts? I've been wearing the sweat bands all morning because they rock my world



Thanks so much monkey_girl! Everything is brilliant!

I got my package from Feline2001 today! She hinted that it might have home-made goodies in it so I left work early to get it from the post depot so all her hard work wouldn't go to waste in a humid warehouse!

This is everything!



1. Favourite craft supply - Purple DK Yarn with fancy little sequins. Purple is her favourite colour and she hoards yarn!
2. Favourite Animal - Cute little Chimp figurine and orangutan pin from Colchester Zoo.
3. Crafted item - Knit cross body bag made from lovely handspun yard that she received in the last MAF swap! She really loves the yarn because it reminds her of the sea.



4. Crafted item - Lavendar Bath bombs & bath creamers. She said she just recently started doing B&B stuff and I'm so impressed because they smell AMAZING and one of the bombs is successfully fizzing away in my waiting bath



5. Favoutie hobby - Cooking, which resulted in a huge tub full of coconut ice.



6. Favourite hobby - Reading & collecting and she sent a book about 1,001 uses for vinegar. Apparently bathing your feet in water and vinegar will keep them from stinking
7. Closer to home - Needle felted black cat paperweight since my partner adores her pets, including her long haired black cats.



8. Closer to home - Goodies from Colchester Zoo which is quite close and she and her partner visit often.

9. Extra - Little bag of sweets that Ive never heard of but can't wait to try because they're my partner's favourites!

I love everything...

First of all it is basically like she's psychic because I was just lamenting the fact that I didn't have a small, cross body bag to take on walks when I just want to store a few items like a camera, water bottle, etc.

Also, I nearly included some Lush bath bombs as a favourite of mine but decided against it and I'm glad I did because I'd have been embarassed to send store bought ones when her home-made ones are so awesome. Seriously, I can't begin to describe how amazing my house smells since I opened the box!

I could go on and on but I'll save that as a msg for my partner so as not to bore everyone Love everything though!

I received! Everything is brilliant!

Here is the whole lot: Cute pleated makeup bag, Makeup brush roll-up, a little ID pocket with key chain holder, and amazing chocolates! 



Close up of the makeup bag and ID pocket (currently holding my gym card):



The brush roll, both in use and rolled up:




Thanks so much, Sparkledust! Everything is fantastic. I will be using the makeup bag in with my gym kit because it is the perfect travel size and can hold the essentials. The brush roll will be so useful because my brushes have just been scattered across my desk, now I no longer have an excuse to be messy. And the chocs are amazing...I love coffee anything so mint coffee chocolate is heaven. Half is gone already   

I'm finishing up my small today and will send on Monday or Tuesday. I hope you like the package even a fraction as much as I like mine!

I have a pregnant friend who is due in about one month. A few weeks ago she asked me if I thought I could make a "crib tidy". I had never heard of them before so did some Googling and found that they're basically just pockets you can attach to the crib to keep diapers, wipes, etc. She said she really wanted one in order to make it easier to find diapers in the middle of the night but all the ones she found at stores were majorly expensive. So, I agreed to give it a try and I just finished it this afternoon.


(the straps look stretched because I've tested it out on a bunk bed but it should fit nicely on the crib)

I'm pretty happy with out it came out. I used a tan coloured gingham because she wanted simple browns/whites as the ultrasounds haven't been clear and they're not exactly sure what the sex is going to be so the nursery is going to be neutral. It was all pretty straight forward but I've posted a tute on my blog in case anyone wants to the details.

The idea seems so useful and practical that I think I'll be making a lot more of these as shower gifts in the future! 

I picked up my package today and it is AH-MAAAZING! littlebluegirl crafted two things straight from my wist and they're perfect and she also threw in the cutest little crochet scrubby as well! I'm super chuffed

Everything - colourful crochet pot holders, a Rainbow Brite zippered pouch and the bath scrubby.


Close ups:






I'm so super impressed. Thank you so much littlebluegirl! I love everything!! *happy dance*

[What you need:60m or 100g of a soft Super Chunky wool/yarn. I used Rico Design Fashion Tweed.Size 9mm needles (13 US)Large cable needle3 buttonsCast on 16 stitches using the cable cast on method.Row 1: K1, P1, K1, P1, K8, K1, P1, K1, P1Row 2: P1, K1, P1, K1, P8, P1, K1, P1, K1Row 3: K1, P1, K1, P1, K8, K1, P1, K1, P1Row 4: P1, K1, P1, K1, P8, P1, K1, P1, K1Row 5: K1, P1, K1, P1, K1, put next 3 stitches on cable needle and hold to the back, K3 stitches, place stitches on the cable needle back on the live needle and K these 3, K1, K1, P1, K1, P1Row 6: P1, K1, P1, K1, P8, P1, K1, P1, K1Repeat the set of rows 1-6 for 11 more times. For final set:Row 1: K1, P1, K1, P1, K8, K1, P1, K1, P1Row 2: P1, K1, P1, K1, P8, P1, K1, P1, K1Row 3: K1, P1, K1, P1, K8, K1, P1, K1, P1Row 4: P1, K1, P1, K1, P8, P1, K1, P1, K1Row 5: K1, P1, YO, K1, P1, K4, YO, K4, K1, P1, YO, K1, P1 (Button Hole Row)Row 6: P1, K1, P1, K1, P8, P1, K1, P1, K1]

For the Simple/Easy Crafts Swap I found a super cute cabled, button up cowl on my partner's wist. I had a look around Ravelry and couldn't find anything that was quite right so I had a go at making it up myself. Since my partner has received I thought I'd go ahead and post the pattern up here in case anyone was interested It is the first time I've ever written a pattern so if anyone has any suggestions on how to improve it please do say!




What you need:
60m or 100g of a soft Super Chunky wool/yarn. I used Rico Design Fashion Tweed.
Size 9mm needles (13 US)
Large cable needle
3 buttons


Cast on 16 stitches using the cable cast on method.
Row 1: K1, P1, K1, P1, K8, K1, P1, K1, P1
Row 2: P1, K1, P1, K1, P8, P1, K1, P1, K1
Row 3: K1, P1, K1, P1, K8, K1, P1, K1, P1
Row 4: P1, K1, P1, K1, P8, P1, K1, P1, K1
Row 5: K1, P1, K1, P1, K1, put next 3 stitches on cable needle and hold to the back, K3 stitches, place stitches on the cable needle back on the live needle and K these 3, K1, K1, P1, K1, P1
Row 6: P1, K1, P1, K1, P8, P1, K1, P1, K1

Repeat the set of rows 1-6 for 11 more times. For final set:
Row 1: K1, P1, K1, P1, K8, K1, P1, K1, P1
Row 2: P1, K1, P1, K1, P8, P1, K1, P1, K1
Row 3: K1, P1, K1, P1, K8, K1, P1, K1, P1
Row 4: P1, K1, P1, K1, P8, P1, K1, P1, K1
Row 5: K1, P1, YO, K1, P1, K4, YO, K4, K1, P1, YO, K1, P1 (Button Hole Row)
Row 6: P1, K1, P1, K1, P8, P1, K1, P1, K1

I came home to a red slip today! I'll be picking it up on Saturday...yay!

I'm currently participating in the simple/easy craft swap and my partner wanted a stencilled tshirt, however I had never done it before so wasn't really sure where to start. Thanks to the awesome tutorials all over this board I managed to cobble something together for my partner and ended up getting totally addicted in the process!

This is my second stencil project - a tshirt for myself! I generally never craft for myself so it is a nice little treat  I've got 100 stencil ideas running around in my head but to start I decided to go ahead with Nikola Tesla, the famous scientist/inventor. I don't have a printer so I had to sketch this by hand (whilst looking at my photoshop image) so it isn't perfect but I'm so happy with it!



I bought a very small pot of fabric paint thinking I was only going to use it for my swap and unfortunately it ran out while doing this shirt so I'm going to have to buy vast quantities now to satisfy this new addiction 

I finally made one of these! It took me longer than 30 minutes because I'm such a noob, but I'm happy with how it turned out (despite a bit of wonkiness and a non-perfect circle ).



I've had to try to coax Darwin into it with some pepper and she still seemed pretty unsure! But I'm hoping she'll use it to rest and sleep once she's used to it being there.

Hello everyone!

I don't think this idea is anything particularly groundbreaking but I thought I'd share it just in case anyone found it useful! 

It has been raining a lot this week and I was having a conversation with a colleague about how she loves using tote bags but all her stuff ends up soaking wet when it rains. So today I went to Poundland on my lunch hour (it's the British version of the Dollar store) and I was looking for some stuff to make some baby goodies, but instead I came across this really cute vinyl shower curtain!



I decided it would make a super cute, and most importantly rainproof, tote bag so I came home after work and got to work!

First I cut two pieces of the curtain - Mine were approximately 12 x 14 inches (I just eyeballed it) but any reasonable size should do.



Then I cut matching pieces from some cheap scrap fabric I had laying around; However, I cut this so that the length was about 4 inches longer than the vinyl (so 12 x 18 inches). I also made two straps using cut outs measuring 16 x 3 inches. I folded them in half and ironed, then opened the fold back up and folded each side in so the edges touched the middle, ironed again, then folded in half (on itself) and ironed again. Then sewed up the open edge to finish.



Now, you can probably skip this bit, but because I got a super cheap shower curtain from the pound store, it was very thin and seemed to stretch a lot and I was concerned that this would cause it to rip so I McGyvered it with some packing tape to reinforce it. When it was completely covered I just trimmed the excess. Do this to the wrong side of both pieces of vinyl.



Then place the two pieces of vinyl right sides together and sew around the sides and bottom, leaving the top open. Then turn inside out (so that the right side is now out).



Sew your lining fabric up in the same way. Now fold the top of your lining down approximately two inches and top stitch around the bottom of the fold.



Stick the lining inside of the vinyl bag and it should look like this



Fold the top of the lining down one more time, approximately another two inches, over the top of the vinyl bag.



Then place your handles where you want them to go and pin in place.



Take the lining out again and secure the handles in place.



Place the lining back in the bag. Adjust it to fit properly and smooth out the vinyl as much as you can. Pin the lining in place.



Top stitch around the top and the bottom of the lining roll to secure.



And voila... a super cute and rainproof tote bag