By Helen

a celebration of 2012….

As 2012 comes to an end, I thought that I would share with you, and celebrate,  some of my highlights form 2012, what a busy year it has been…

In January I started my New Year’s resolution, to crochet a different flower each month – something I hope to continue in 2013.  

In February the weather turned cold: and it snowed and snowed and snowed.  I love snow; nothing else can change the appearance, sound, smell and feel of your surroundings quite so well as snow.

With March came the promise of Spring, with golden Daffodils cheering-up much of York.  I just had to crochet a Daffodil…

In April I celebrated my first Blogversary.  A whole year of sharing all of my crocheting and crafting with you.  Thank-you for sticking with me!

May was a busy crochet month.  Crocheting May blossom and festival hats for my little friend I.

June saw crochet to the rescue with a quick fix for my hair…

I was sooooo very proud of July’s crochet flower of the month; I had to share it with you again.  It still makes me smile of dull rainy days!  The crochet pattern for it is here!

In August I was in for a real treat, making beautiful faabric flowers.  I hope to make bunches of these next year…

September saw Si and I start to get the house ready for re-modelling.  It also saw me fall in love with the most perfect yarn for crocheting flower brooches.  And I introduced you all to my favourite yarn shop. 

Crochet in October was given over to going out, to let the builders get on with finishing our home.  I did manage to sneak in a bit of Halloween hooky time…

Christmas started really early, in November, as I crocheted lots and lots of samples for my Crochet for Christmas course.

In December I found the cutest Christmas trees to crochet, and hung them proudly in by nearly finished home…

Yep, it has been quite a year, all good!  See you in the New Year for lots more crocheting and crafting! 

merry Christmas, yuletide greetings and seasons greetings…

Merry Christmas, yuletide greetings and seasons greetings…

Joyeux Noël

Gelukkig kerstfeest

مواسم تحيات

Buon Natale

मौसम अभिवादन

Frohe Weihnachten

ברכות עונות

sezone čestitke

Karácsonyi üdvözlet

musim salam

სეზონის ულოცავენ

Wesołych Świąt

节日的祝贺

Καλά Χριστούγεννα

季節挨拶

veselé Vánoce a šťastný Nový Rok

mevsim selam

ทักทายฤดูกาล

Feliz Natal

Nadolig Llawen

сезона поздрав

сезоны приветствия

sezoane salutări

فصول سلام

Glædelig jul

God jul

계절 인사

temporadas, saludos

メリークリスマス

I really hope that I haven’t spelt your languages wrong, I have had to rely on Google Translate for this posting.  Or if I have missed you language – sorry.  I hope that you get the sentiment and have a wonderful time what-ever you do this holiday period…

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fabulous fabric fun…

I’ve take a little break from crochet.  Don’t worry it is not a long break: it’s just my little finger really hurts from crocheting too much over the last few weeks.  This break has given me the perfect excuse for indulging in fabric crafting.  I thought that I would make the holly wreath, which I bought at Harrogate, to get ready for Christmas.  After reading, re-reading and re-reading, the instructions I finally got started.  Please bear-in-mind that this is the first time I have ever crafted anything like this.  I managed to workout, with a little practice and advice from I, how to machine-stitch curves.  This really wasn’t as difficult as I imagined.  I was ready to go.  This is where I ‘ve got to…

I need to spend a happy few (lots) of hours hand stitching the detail onto the leaves, then join them together to make a wreath/garland.  I really think that they might be ready for Christmas.

While I had the fabric and sewing stuff out, I thought that I’d make the cute festive robin badge, which featured in Mollie Makes, issue twenty-one…

The fabulously talented Debbie Greenway, gave really great instructions and templates to make your life easier when making these.  I am quite chuffed with how mine turned out…

Though I do think I need to practice covering buttons, so that I get a smoother finish.  Tis a hard life!

Happy crafting! x

it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

I’m beginning to feel all Christmassy!  I have to admit it has taken a while this year: normally I am super excited in early November and by this point I am desperate to put the decorations up.  This hasn’t happened this year: I think that it is because I feel like I’ve lost a month to building work, so still have some catching-up to do.   Today, I am beginning to feel Christmas brewing-up inside me.  Christmas cards are made and posted.  Christmas presents have been bought: and will be wrapped at the weekend.  Christmas cakes were made in October (thanks to a strange family superstition which means Christmas cakes must be made before Halloween).  I am going to hear one of my favourite singers, Kate Rusby, singing Christmas songs.   And I have put up my first Christmas decorations.  Yes, it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas….

Last year I crocheted a Christmas tree, by stacking up Starflakes.  This year I found a really cute crochet pattern, on Ravelry, by the super talented Carol Bancroft…

The pattern is very easy to follow.  You can crochet a Christmas tree in less than twenty-minutes and in an afternoon you have tree bunting.  What’s not to love?

our nearly finished home…

Three months on, from starting re-modelling our home, it is very nearly finished!  We had an amazing team of builders to do most of the work: but decided that we would do the finishing off bits ourselves.  We did set the deadline of finishing for Christmas.  We now realise that this was a tad optimistic, so in the interests of not being tired and ratty all the time, we are now aiming to be as-finished-as-we-can by Christmas.  I thought I’d share, another, an update to show you where we are at, at the moment.   My favourite part of the re-modelling has to be the change we made to our old bath-room.  This room (known as the back room) is now the place where I’ll be posting  my blog to you.  It also serves as a dining-room and as a crafting-room.  Hope you love it as much as I do….

I love the seats: they double as storage, and the shelves for all my craft books and magazines.  Ok, you have to imagine the room with a small table in it.  And please don’t look too closely at the cushions: they are definitely not finished!!!!

Our old study, is now our main bath-room….

I love, loVE, LOVE the purple and teal together, a big thank-you to Si for letting me have the colours I wanted.  An even bigger thank-you for not admitting you still weren’t sure about the colours until it was too late (paint bought and walls painted).  And a BIGGER thank-you for agreeing that I can, from this time onwards, choose the colours for the home.  Yay!!

Finally, our guest bath-room…

Ok, bath-room may-be a bit of an exaggeration, technically there is only a basin and wc.  But just look at the great use of space George Clarke would be proud! 

fabric fat quarters, yarn and lots more goodies…

When I went to the Knitting and Stitching Show, at Harrogate, not only was there lots to be inspired by, there were also lots and lots and lots of lovely things to buy.  And buy is what I did.  I thought that I would share some of my purchases with you; you never know they might inspire you for Christmas presents, or for treating yourself…

Of course I bought yarn, but I also bought lots of fat-quarters, to make into fabric flower…

I love these Japanese prints, from Japan Crafts…

I loved how you use yarn and hooks to make amazing fabric pictures by Hooked by Design…

…I just hope I can remember the technique, when I start this project!  My guilty purchase was an embroidery kit from Rowandean…

 …guilty because I haven’t finished (or even started) the kit that I bought from them last year!  Ssshhhhhh!  Don’t tell Si!

A little something to make for Christmas (this Christmas)...

I finally found some flower yarn, which I had been looking for, for ages.  I can’t wait to crochet it, I think it will be turned into a scarf…

The rest of the yarn I bought will be crocheted into jumpers…

…I think that I will have enough yarn!  I think that I will have enough projects to keep me going until next year...