my creative space - January!

Pheeeeeew, I'm back to Blog-land after a whole month's absence - my extended office working hours have come to an end and I'm back to my normal two days - so more crafting time on the horizon, but I'll have to get down to some hard graft too and get my little creative business up and running again in a commercial sense. More on that later :)

January came and went with little time for crafting but I was forced out of crafty hibernation by a work colleague who was looking for a tweedie sleeve for her daughter's new Kindle (the one without the keyboard) - I made this one to be a snug fit for the new, smaller Kindle and I was quite pleased with it - it was a perfect fit, hooray! Now that I've got the dimensions right, I hope I'll get a little batch of these done in different colours - that's the plan anyway!

That's about the sum of my January crafting, but it's a good start to get some commerical crafting under my belt so I'm quite happy with that :) I decided to treat myself to some little jewellery boxes for my 'wee croft house' brooches, so they might get listed online soon - thought they deserved a snug little home - they're a perfect fit with a little cosy cotton wadding on the base . . .

. . . I think we could all do with a little cosy cotton wadding here today - it's freezing, the cold snap has definitely hit the Hebrides, brrrrrrrr!!

I'm trying to remember what else I got up to crafty-wise this month - I did go the library and picked up some crochet books to get me back into the mood, and I picked up my one and only copy of Mollie-Makes (I've resisted it so far), it had some crochet wrist-warmers on the front which must have lured me in, hehe :) (Sorry for the poor pic - ooops!) . . .

On the baking front (did I mention I got a new oven, it's very pretty!) I had a glut of over-ripe bananas this week so for once I decided to get round to making a banana loaf with them as 'Little S' has pestered me in the past to make one - it was a bit of a 'hit and miss' affair . . .

Hit - because it looked pretty good when it came out of the oven . . .

Miss - because it was a little bit soggy in the middle . . .

. . . but we ate it anyway, waste not want not, and all that, hehe!

Well, that's what I've been up to this month. Hopefully I'll be back to regular crafting/posting now, but I guess I'll have to get that craft area sorted out first . . . . . euuuuugh!, wish me luck with that one!

Teenage Son is supposed to be studying for his exams today so I'd better go and ply him with cups of tea and biscuits . . . a mother's job and all that!

Back soon with more crafty updates - Cheerio an Drasda :)

Alison x

Packages, Pressies and Plans for 2012

Hi Peeps - a Happy New Year to all in Blogland and beyond! We had a lovely, peaceful and restful break, pity about the awful weather but we've no control over that one unfortunately :/

Our 'postie' brought me a lovely package today all the way from Oz - it really cheered me up on a grey January afternoon - thanks so much Claire! I've been following Claire's blog all of this year - she always comes up with great new ideas and her blog is so lively and entertaining. I hope we'll meet up for lots of virtual 'tea and cake' this year Claire :D Here's the lovely package I received . . .

Just look at that cute 'chook' brooch - 'Little S' was eyeing it up but I was having none of it, hehe :) . . .

Sorry about the dark pics - they don't do Claire's work justice!

'Santa' was quite good to me this year and brought me Kirstie Allsopp's book - 'Craft'. She's not everyone's cup of tea but I can't help but be caught up in her sheer enthusiasm for everything 'crafty'! I think she gets a little bit of bad press for being a bit too 'jolly hockey sticks' but this book is a fantastic little compendium of a whole load of crafts from handmade paper to creating natural plant-dyes - I'm dying to get stuck into some of these projects. Thumbs up from me Kirstie! (jolly hockey sticks or not, hehe :))

I'm a little disappointed that I can't quite launch into an impressive list of my crafty plans for this year as my office working hours are still in a state of dissaray. I was very good in the hols though and tidied up my cashbook and did my online tax return (such as it was after very little 'business' activity in the last part of the year!). Anyhow, I'm now in a position just to wait and see what happens workwise and just enjoy my crafting for the sake of it - perhaps that's a good enough goal for 2012?

Will keep you posted once I'm 'tweedying' again - in the meantime I might make some handmade-paper just for fun (thanks Kirstie!)

Byeeee :)

Alison x

Seasons Greetings!

Some 'makes' and inspirations from 2011 - not as well documented as I'd like but a little snippet! So much enjoyment and experimentation - not all commercial successes (little time for that these last few months!), but a lovely journey all the same :)

I'll be continuing extra office duties in the first month of the New Year, and then back to 'normal' crafty hours - pheeeeeew! Thanks for bearing with me these last few months where commercial work had to take a back seat, but on the plus side I learned to crochet - way hay!!!! There's always a silver lining to every story - I hope you have a wonderful festive season, I will 'see' you at some point in the New Year when I will be back on 'crafty' duty :)

Time for a lovely family break now - which I will be very thankful for :D

Nollaig Chridheil agus Bliadhna Mhath Ur bho Tweed Delights!

(Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Tweed Delights!)

Alison x

Better Late than . . .

Sorry, much later than anticipated I'm revealing my bunting - all FIVE flags! (it's very short bunting and would be more suited for hanging along a mantlepiece) - I'm pleased how it turned out, but that gold lurex thread still irks me and it's yet to be hung permanently. I hung it here for the sake of taking a photo, against the backdrop of one of my brother's pastel drawings which hangs over my mantlepiece . . .

. . . I prefer the uninterrupted view of my landscape picture so the bunting hasn't yet found a permanent home! Very enjoyable to make though, and I'm looking forward to making more along the same lines - I really like the traditional plaid effect against the tweed (minus the gold thread of course!!!) . . .

It's been a bit hectic here between a coughy, spluttery husband and other events which seemed intent on scuppering my Christmas preparation plans, but I think I'm on track now - too late to panic now in any case! I have one last gift to make, if I'm lucky I'll make it today. My crochet cushion was finished off, but I cheated and used cream tweed for the backing - I'd still quite like to add a lace crochet border but time is running out . . .

I really wished I'd been able to make more of my own decs, and other handcrafted goodies, but other events have taken over - I bought these cute ones at work, which were made by students with learning needs. They had a lovely stall and had oranges decorated with cloves and ribbon, but I kept mine on my desk at work - to remind me of what I could be doing if I was at home!

Never mind, soon be Christmas - later-gaters! :)

Kitsch . . . and even more kitsch

I'm always trying to capture the little robin redbreasts that seem to pop about our garden (all year round it seems!) - but to no avail. I eventually resorted to 'stealing' one of Little S's Xmas decs from the tree, just to get the effect you understand, hehe:) . . .

Here is our little fluffy friend in his 'natural' glittery habitat (he also 'tweets' a little tune when you squeeze him - just thought you'd like to know that!!)

Leading on from kitsch Christmas decs, my 'festive' binding arrived yesterday, and is more 'kitsch' than I had hoped for - it has a gold lurex thread through the tartan which is NOT what I wanted - ah, well it looks like the 'kitsch' theme is following me whether I want it or not! Here it is . . .

. . . never mind, I'm going to enjoy using it for some festive bunting - hope to show you the results later in the week!

Bye for Now :)

my creative space . . . playing around

I'm a little late with My Creative Space today . . . in fact I didn't even think I'd be participating, but severe weather warnings kept me at home - I made the most of it of course :)

I'd ordered some bias binding from E-bay at the weekend, to get me going with some bunting-making - the 'festive' bunting hasn't yet arrived but a lovely, pretty daisy print one came yesterday and I couldn't resist playing around with it, just a little bit, hehe! . . .

. . . I'm not actually using the tweed I initially intended here, I just grabbed the first thing I saw - you know how it is, you get a notion to do something and all sense of reason goes out of your head! I sort of like really zany mixes though - colourful plaids and delicate prints - nothing is sacred here!!

I was so keen to get going with my bias binding I just leapt in with Size 10 feet (I don't acually have size 10 feet - don't worry!!!) - cut out a cardboard template and had a little play around . . .

. . . I might actually find some use for some woven labels I ordered recently - they're FAR too long for my usual 'makes' - I thought the 'handmade in the Hebrides' would be in itsy-bitsy size text but alas, not! In the back of my mind I thought I'll have to come up with some 'elongated' makes . . . and then 'bunting' came on the scene - sometimes I really think there's some divine intervention going on :D

Well, I hope the weather abates a little by the morning, otherwise I'll be out of a job and be labeled as an unfit mother to boot (the boys stayed at home today too) - I wouldn't have sent a dog out in the rain and gales that lashed against our kitchen door today!! More creative 'tails' here :)

P.S. Claire over at Sweet Birdy Love is having a fab 'too-whit-too-whoooooo!!' giveaway right now - she's been such an inspiration to me this year - her creativity seems to be boundless! Go give her a visit, she's very welcoming hehe :)

P.P.S. Unfortunately I've been having some unsavoury 'spammy' issues over the last two days and have had to enable 'comment moderation' - something I did NOT enjoy doing - I hope this won't deter comments, it's merely to keep the nasty 'spammy' peeps at bay till I figure it all out!! Apologies for that - bye for now! x

Snowy scenes . . . and polka dots

We woke up to some beautiful snowy scenery this morning . . .

Let's hope it stays like this for Christmas - finger's crossed! :)

Sorry I've been a little absent of late - busy finishing off a couple of Christmas gifts - any left to make will be done at leisure now as they're for local family relatives, I'll be crocheting on Christmas Eve at this rate, hehe :) So many things I want to make at the moment - some will have to wait until after the festive season is over, when I'll be back to my usual office work schedule.

This weekend, I've been thinking about bunting, bunting and more bunting, after purchasing this little book from Amazon. A very cute little publication which has got me really inspired to make some of my own - I'm imagining my house covered in the stuff - great fun! To me, bunting sounds like Christmas decorations that you never have to take down - way hay!! :)

I've just sat down on the kitchen floor as I was going to take a pic of my shiny new oven to show you (strangely two days after I'd been on my work trip our old one died!!!???) However, I noticed that I was wearing my new polka dot socks with ribbons on them - I think they're probably more interesting than my new oven (much as I love it!!!) - socks aren't usually something I get excited about but . . .

. . . if you have to wear socks, I think you should make a statement, no??

As with EVERYTHING at the moment, I'm thinking I would love to CROCHET a pair of socks!!

Right now I'm 'dreaming of a white Christmas' . . . and some more crafting time!

Have a Happy Monday :)