ahhhhhh limbo land

well i am no longer plugged into to the internet world of broadband

i have had an interesting two weeks entertaining my cousin and my little fairy in various locations in the shire and can report i am a lovely dark brown shade that is not wash off able lol

we have visted wollaton hall and sadly i am not fond of its new interior i preferred the dark old days before iteractive displays were the norm

we also visted our local swimming baths where we bumped into the guy off ho9llyoaks who played steff deans dad looooooool i was a bit star struck must admit

we have beeen enjoying the sunshine and trying to rescue our little grove from the weeds and te fairy lovs getting muddy

i made a little applique cushion for my cousin for his 3rd birthday and i am still knitting the cable sweater i have also re picked up the fairy's little green waistcoat

thats all really oooh and i have jopined in meridain areial's fairy tale swap my theme is cinderella so im a little stumped at the mo but i will get back to you all

searching for inspiration

wellits been all quiet on the sewing front as im getting rather absorbed with my knitting at the mo this cable pattern is so simple but all consuming i love it just wished i had thought it through and added some colour too it as i get very bored knitting in one colour

my to do list is as follows

sew up a duvet and a pillowcase for the fairy's bed

make a jewllery set for molly for her 16th

finish this cable sweater ready for september

and to make my self a long linen dress using my free prima pattern that came this morning woo hoo


with the six weeks beginning i am looking after my cousin off and on starting from tomorrow i think we will go for a walk in the local nature reserve and then do some painting in the afternoon as i know he likes abit of painitng other wise i will break out the baking stuff and make cup cakes woohoo

sorry for short post but not much to report and still waiting to up load lots of piccys

all play and no work

well since finishing the rose fairy's dress off have done no crafting apart from starting my cable sweater for my little madam, we spent thursday afternoon finger painting and decorated a box canvas for myuncle as he keeps bragging about his art he is collecting so we made him an abstract piece to go in his loo [ will add pics later]

friday was spent with my mum and auntie hunting down an unusual present for a 40 year old man so we headed off to our fair trade superstar and discovered many nice bits but the winner was a set of six small goblets made from white onyx from pakistan {these gorgeous things reminded me of a holiday to eygpt in 2005 where we vistid a little factory they are so beautiful}i also found a lovely vintage photocard of a burlequse dancer for his birthday card. http://www.fairlytrading.com they do a fab collection of sterling silver jewellery too.

We went to the always good value Wetherspoons for lunch where i had a gourmet burger mmmmmmm stilton sauce and beer battered onion rings apparently makes it gourmet but it was lovely.

i arrived home to a package from my sale catalouge so that threw the evenings outfit into disarray so i eneded up wearing my new anna scholz printed maxi dress and rose fairy looked gorgeous in her sundress.

Saturday was a lovely day we spent the day at my dads just sitting round chatting as the weather wasnt too good before heading off to my grandads where we all indulged in a nice kfc something quite funny in watching an 84 yr old man eating kfc chicken [ my nanan would be turning in her grave at us eating such common food] the fairy had lots of fun running round using my grandads various mobility aids much to her amusement and i reconnected with my nanans sewing box its still got my dads scout patches in it and her pin cushion and button box and all her crochet hooks in it i so hope im able to inherit just opening it made me feel 5 years old.

when we got home i sat and knitted a few rows of my cable sweater whilst catching up with goks fashion and the rest of hollyoaks.

well i have taken a deep breathe and signed up to a craft challenge on mumsnet on a sci fi topic so I'm thinking of doing either an abstract piece of jewellery or using my Swarovski crystal stash up or doing a mini quilt will keep you posted

well yesterday the rose fairy and i went to primarni {i had been previously and found a darling sjp type frilled dress in fuchsia which is one of my fave colours and it was my dress size but not my nork size and thought oooh I'll alter it only to be informed you have to take in not let out} it was obviously too much for her because she was asleep the whole time we were there which on one hand is a good thing as she can be a light fingered in the accessories department {last time coming home wit three bangles and a long beaded necklace hmmmm} and couldn't find my dress in a bigger size but found it in a bigger size in diff colour but wrong colour for me as i have had my colours done and no longer can stray from the path [sad] so have ended up with an all in one strappy pant suit in black with white stars on it which I'm debating in turning into a maxi dress as the excess fabric would cause it to drape beautifully.

I didn't get any crafting done in the grove at all as i ended up in the emergency department til 2.15 am with a cannula in and a wrist band but I'm OK now after a bit of a whinge

erm all my crafting seems to be dressmaking at the moment i have been upcycling old curtains and turning them into duvet covers for the rose fairy's toddler bed and using old clothes to make her reversible pinafore dresses. Whilst in primarni in the sale section YES primarni have a sale section i bought a gorgeous 50's sun dress for a fiver it's cream with pink polka dots which I'm making in to a dress for the rose fairy (hahahaha) for my uncles 40Th party on Friday she is defiantly a fashionista in the making she was oooohing and ahhhhhhing over it yesterday as i was marking it up for alterations, she really does have an eye for colour though which I'm proud of as she's not quite two ;-)

I have decided to start learning cable too in regards to my knitting so I'm going to start at the weekend making 10 cm squares of different designs from my how to knit book ( debbie bliss) circa 1990 judging by the design layout.

I had the pleasure of meeting Debbie Bliss at my local yarn shop (http://www.yarn-in-notts.co.uk/index.htm) in summer 2006 where she did a talk on design and methods and how to adapt patterns she is a lovely lady who signed my book and had lots of patience with my very earnest beginner questions(http://www.debbieblissonline.com)

welcome to the Rose Grove !!!!!!!!!!!!

hi ya all to the mumsnetters i am whoops/booby/pooh/dressedup nowhereto go {my word that quite a few pseudonyms} hi ya to everyone else.

i started crafting after my mum purchased a friends bead stash as a birthday present last year to give me something to do as i used to make jewellery years ago and she felt it would be sometyhing i enjoyed doing and would want to do again unfortunatley she unleashed something within me and now its all consuming my little rose grove is filled with bead stash's and fabric stash's and wool statsh's . i started knitting after many false starts in my pregnancy in 2006 as i was bored rigid and at the time i was married and felt i needed something to do whilst the hubby watched the footy.

As i said in my intro I'm a jem of all trades {lol} i love making jewellery using Swarovski Crystal and Hand made Glass and Sterling Silver when i can afford it.
i also love knitting and obsessed with all sorts of knitting but i am only two years into it so I'm steadily improving having just mastered intarsia and my next task is to start cabling, i tend to knit children's clothes and accessories my little rose fairy looking especially fab in my knitted stuff bless her.
I have recently been given a Jones sewing machine which is from the 30's which is refusing to work for me at the mo so she has been sent to naughty corner and a friend whom i love lots has donated her toyota to me so now my Tallulah is helping me make all sorts, at the mo mainly reversible pinafore dresses for the rose fairy but i have just purchased my first pattern so I'm very excited about starting that this week.

I am a big fan of various blogs inc 23 beech hill mee crafty nosh of love imagingermonkey chickadee cards hand of light and many others but at the mo im very into sewing blogs and anything which offers free patterns.

i do have a mumzmall shop through which i sell my jewellery or at least i try.

i will stop before i bore you all and will be back with pictures tomorrow as soon as i work out how to up load them

jem