Christmas Goodies! And a Christmas Miracle…

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! I had a great couple of days off work where I spent time with my family and ate far too much food! Since then I’ve been back at work so this is the first chance I have had to share my presents with you! Here is just a quick look at some of the goodies that I got! Please excuse the poor quality photos, they were taken rather hastily on my phone on Christmas morning!

 

First of all, James got me a Sizzix Big Shot Die Cutter! I have had a quick play with it already but I am looking forward to experimenting with it some more yet! I also ordered some dies in the Hobbycraft January sale which are due to arrive any time now!

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Busy CAL-ing Away!

Wow, where have the weeks gone??? Time seems to have flown by since I last updated you on my CAL progress! I can’t believe I have just completed week 9! The CAL is moving along so quickly…I’m having so much fun taking part 🙂

The blanket is growing so much quicker than I had imagined, here is what I have so far:

 

Look how huge it is! Not only is it growing longer, but it wasn’t until I laid the blanket out for this photo that I realised just how wide the blanket will be! As proof of the size, here is a photo of me laid on the blanket:

Keeping Busy!

In all of the excitement about London, I haven’t had chance to share the progress on my craft projects with you. I have been busy keeping up to date with Hannah’s CAL and this is what I have done so far:

What I was busy doing in my break

So, I know that my blog was neglected for a while when I was revising for my exams and writing essays but fortunately my crafting wasn’t! I have been really busy improving my sewing skills and working on several cross stitch pieces!

Before I show you those though, here is an update on my Not Your Average Crochet CAL:

 

Week three is done! I spent Saturday quickly finishing my Dad’s Father’s Day card ready for Sunday morning, so I had completely forgotten about the CAL. It made a really nice surprise to find it as I was browsing through my reader, so I spent Sunday evening after work busily stitching the next few rows…I’m really impressed with how quickly it is growing! I can’t wait to get the next set of instructions tomorrow.

Now, here are some of the projects that I have been working on recently:

The first sewing project that I completed was my set of three fabric baskets. One holds my pattern envelopes, one is great for my stash of fat quarters and the third holds my post supplies! 

Not Your Average Crochet CAL

A while ago I showed you the yarn that I had started collecting for Hannah from Not Your Average Crochet‘s CAL. At the beginning of June we finally made a start on our stripy blankets and so far I have been storming through the rows!

At the end of the first week, I had completed the first rows:

 

These rows were really quick to do and, even fitting them round a busy schedule, I still completed them in two days.

Serious Stash-Busting!

Over the last couple of weeks I have been working on a few small projects that have been counting towards my stash busting! The first of these was the beanie that I made to send to Cupcake Mummy as part of her drive to collect beanies for cancer patients…It is on it’s way via Airmail now! Here is the finished beanie:

It went a little wonky because I was stitching in a rush and I miscounted but luckily the handle of my Avon trolley is beanie shaped! I popped it on here over night to straighten it a bit but, as you can see, when it is being worn the wonky-ness isn’t visible luckily!

I have also been busy making some things for a friend of mine who asked me to crochet her two jammy dodgers and a Zingy!

My Week in Pictures #10

 

1. Back to uni! This week sees another Fresher’s week! Busy, busy, busy.

2. STILL yet to finish The Mysteries of Udolpho…why is it soooo long???

3. Catching up with the CAL…slowly slipping behind…

CAL Square #6

 

Over the weekend I managed to squeeze in time to complete the sixth square in the 200 Blocks CAL. I am really pleased with this design, as it looks really pretty and it was nice and quick to do!

Bobbling Along…

Yesterday I finally caught up with this week’s squares for Rachell’s Crochet Along. I love the Bobble Diamond square (number 4) which was surprisingly easy to do!

My Bobble Square!

As well as this square, I also manage to complete the fifth square: 

Crochet Along Squares Two and Three!

Earlier this week I dedicated a day to the second and third squares in Rachell’s CAL. I’m very happy with how these turned out, and they were a lot less painful than attempting the first square!

Here is square number two:

 

This square was really easy but it took a while to grow! It was definitely worth it though, I love the design and it would be really easy to adapt into a baby blanket…must note that one for the future…

And the third square: