Nayu's Project Progress #45 Hachette Partworks Beatrix Potter Sampler (Spring)

 

Been a few months since I've done one of these. I will get back to my Hachette Partworks Disney Crochet project, been working on others I can't show online yet (or for a long time). However, most Fridays see me working on my cute Beatrix Potter Spring sampler. There will be 4 in total, one for each season, all from Hachette Partworks. I don't like all the characters so some I will skip out, but you can see in the photo above what all four samplers will look like from the front of the folder cover (that's wear I put each issue's pages, there are other patterns plus information about the famous author and illustrator.

 I'm currently working on finishing Timmy Tiptoes a squirrel plus his friend. My favourite so far is the mouse, Hunca Munca, but I adore bunnies and squirrels too. Hopefully the next time I do one of these posts I will have started the next character!

Nayu's Project Progress #44 Sunshine sock

 

Here in the UK we are currently having a little heatwave which is wonderful for me as I actually don't need my heated blanket during the day! It's nice not to be permanently cold. Making sure I have refreshing food and drink like chopped melon in pretty My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic cup to stay cool. Also got windows wide open to try and keep my beautiful guinea pigs from overheating. 

Craft wise not done loads recently but when I last had a day for craft I decided to get working on my sock knitting. 

Using 4 needles (3 to hold the stitches, one to knit with) isn't as complex as it looks, I promise. It's just like with 2 needles, only there are extras to go round on. 

You can see the final progress here, will be a slow burning project (which all mine are at the moment) but there is steady progress! Hope you all stay cool in the heat. 

Nayu's Project Progress #43 Coming soon!

 

I have done much more of this Attic24 Cupcake blanket! Will share updated pic soon

I'm sorry for not posting for so long! Life keeps happening, and it's irritating to me, trust me! But I've been busy working on various projects including a babIy blanket. 

Felt 2 towels for £12 was a bargain in this kit

Yesterday two fun new kits arrived. I found some sweet Hello Kitty cross stitch hand towels, and as I need more than one guest towel (I have Winx Club hand towel and thankfully don't have guests often so can easily wash it but I've wanted to have more cute ones) I took the offer which was 40% off. I think you can agree they are adorable! Unfortunately the adorable matching toilet roll holder is unavailable except for a hideously high price but I reckon I can figure out the design from the picture with graph paper so can still have that cuteness in my life as it's so adorable. 

 

Anyway....the other kit I got was what I call embroidery. I know cross stitch is embroidery too, but I mean all the other embroidery stitches. I wanted something nice, and saw this beautiful cushion. I adore African Violet flowers, and the colours really spoke to me. Felt so overwhelmed when I opened the kit as I've never done a large scale project, it looked quite complex and has stitches I've never done (long and short) and another I can't recall. The long and short is simple and effective way to create realistic looking petals, I hate not being uniform so I will copy the long and short from the picture so that I'm still working to something as I can see where they do the long and short stitches (If you do embroidery you'll understand what I'm talking about, if you don't, well, it's hard to explain). The other new stitch is absolutely gorgeous and makes up the white scroll effect. So this is a daunting project and it will take take me absolutely ages to finish but will be totally worth it and is exactly what I've wanted. 

 I will keep you updated on these and other projects very soon! 

Nayu's Project Progress #42 Gorjuss Winter Friend

 

Previous progress

It's been a long week and a bit of me still recovering from the cold that started 2 weekends ago. I haven't fully got rid of it, i cough throughout the day and I can tell the germs haven't left yet. So I am resting lots, mostly gaming but I have done some cross stitch and the polar bear now has an outline! 

 

It's coming along nicely and is going to look so cute when it's finished.

 

The weather is sunnier than it has been for a long time which is a mood lifter. Lately my rose bush has begun to bloom and i love opening my back door as I instantly smell the traditional rose scent which is just lovely and makes me smile. It's the little things which can make quite a difference. 

Nayu's Project Progress #40 Here be embroidery!

Colourful kitty project!

If you follow me on Twitter you'll already have seen the pictures in this post. It is more for those of you who don't follow me on Twitter - I don't want you missing out on seeing what I've been working on craft wise! 

I am very happily getting to grips with embroidery. I have almost finished a kit which uses different stitches that I received as a gift from a family member. Look how cute the cat is! I started with the stitches I knew, backstitch, and learnt the other stitches when I reached them. I am forever grateful to a Youtuber who I can't remember, whose video about French knots explained them perfectly, and they are no longer a stitch I fear. As you can see I got to do a lot of them in the cat kit (small round dots on the tail). They are super fun to do and I look forward to using them, instead of dreading them and having to create my own version of the stitch. 

All finished!

At the same time as working on this kit I started new embroidery projects - I wanted something I could do with stitches I already knew, rather than having to learn new stitches when my brain fog makes me fuzzy headed. I transferred patterns from a book I will feature in a future post, using the iron on method of transfer. I use varigated thread (a thread which has a rainbow effect of colours dyed into it) and took great delight in practicing my lazy daisies, back stitch and straight stitch with a few french knots in this purple creation. 

On finishing that I changed colour to the other varigated thread I'd bought and started this now almost finished mandala. Think I prefer the colours and style more than the angled one. I am going to try all the patterns in the book before repeating them, but already have plans to tweak this pattern as well as work it with sepearate colours for each row/each type of stitch.  Not sure how I will frame them yet - I may even create a quilt like blanket from all of them! 

I hope you like these and stay tuned for more! I think embroidery is helping me stay as sane as I can in these crazy times, as is gaming, but embroidery helps me watch something pretty grow, which is important. 

Nayu's Project Progress #39 The blanket grows!

Tada!

As promised a few posts ago, it's time to show you what I'm working on at the moment! Making a cute blanket for myself with white and cream separating the colours. I tend to work on it a bit in the mornings as I wake up while watching something, as a gentle start to the day.

Zooming in...

Apart from the larger area of cream which I can't be bothered to undo, I am doing 2 rows of white/cream between every colour. So far my favourite colour in it is the pink yarn. What's yours? 

Nayu's Project Progress #38 Sparkly Minnie Mouse

It wasn't easy to photograph this, it is super sparkly!

I'm sorry it's been a while! Just been resting as the weather hasn't agreed with me. It has mostly been too cold, plus the rain = unhappy body. My cat has sometimes joined me, when she felt like it, and I've been having lots of hot water bottles and using my heated blanket in the evenings.

My winter essentials: cute hot water bottles and blankets

Admittedly I've mostly been gaming because it's very distracting and fun, I managed some reading and....I have done some craft! Feels like it's been ages since I've done any, but when I finally caught up with my craft friend (I'd had to reschedule our original meet in November to December because I wasn't well when I was due to see her). I knew from the previous session where I did less than 40 stitches in a cross stitch project due to focusing on talking that I needed something simpler. So I did this cool little project! 

This is when I was partway through. I'd done the black gems, the pink were the second colour.

I got it a few years ago (I'm slow in doing stuff, ok?), and it's not an official Disney Minnie Mouse, but since I love Minnie that's who this is! I didn't take many pictures of each stage, but basically it's a piece of card, with the stone area being sticky. I was amazed it still was sticky enough to put the gems on. There weren't many instructions, and I don't understand how the included white pencil was supposed to pick up each gem. I ended up using my fingers, which after a while did hurt but it was fun so I didn't mind much. They provided more than enough gems of each colour, so if/when any fall off I can replace them.

This is really bright!

I did it in 2 days, finishing the top half with my friend and the rest the following day. I like the cute flowers on the card which are done in ink. For some reason they made the easel to stand it on bright green....yeah, not the most stylish! It works for now, I may just stand it up on it's own or put it in a frame (I may have a suitable frame somewhere). Until then the easel will do just fine! 

Sorry for the quality, this is what the main puzzle looks like.

I am having my mega meds tomorrow, which is why I'm scheduling blog posts today. After that I plan to fit doing jigsaw puzzles in my schedule (I want to do them & have more than a few...) I would like to finish my Tsum Tsum puzzle by the end of the year but will wait and see how that pans out. 

Project Progress #37 Girl Picking Pears part 1

Want to guess what this could be?

I've had various people visiting, had my birthday recently (no date being revealed for privacy reasons) which meant I did take a few days to just relax and work on my own project for once. Started a new one, even though I've another unfinished I just wanted to start one I'd got recently. I think you'll agree this is a cute one! 

I had to unpick and redo the first part I sewed in the middle, the start the girl's right sleeve (the one on the left, just to confuse you) (white/cream) because I'd made a monumental mistake. It wasn't putting one stitch the wrong colour, it was missing an entire row! I was more frustrated at the fabric being made weaker than any time 'wasted' (maybe that's just my style of unpicking with a stitch unpicker). Anyway, I got past that, started a brown and am just doing whatever colour I feel like once I finish a section. 

I will shortly be back to crochet and sewing for others, with occasional sewing projects for me (maybe 1 week a month, I'll see). See you next time!

Nayu's Craft Time #286 Just Chilling

This is nice and peaceful!

Hi all! As I said in the latest filler post, I've been not blogging a little due to being under the weather, but also busy with life stuff. Had some younger members of the family visit for a couple of days which was fun. I got to play with lego! Well, I was told specifically not to play with the lego so it wouldn't get mucked up, and while I didn't touch that lego I did retrieve every single lego person (I missed one...) and sat them all in a happy circle! It didn't matter that limbs/hair was missing from some, or that some were animals (and possibly not lego), they were together and said younger family members liked my surprise upon their return. Sadly I didn't take a photo of the lego peace circle, but you can see the fine house and tree house which got made that day. 

I'd like to eat here!

I've just bought a lego pizzeria which I will put together for the younger family members - someone has to make sure all the pieces are there! I'll take a photo once that is constructed. 

I've had family over, a friend over, and been mostly resting in between. I've seen some pretty wildlife, including a hummingbird...

This is a red herring! (No I haven't lost the plot)

...no, including a dragonfly. For some reason I thought of hummingbird instead of dragonfly Let's try again!

Sorry if you don't like insects, this one from my Google search is beautiful!

While I was in the kitchen the other day I saw my first ever dragonfly! We are close to a river (unfortunately because I'm not keen on bodies of water larger than a bath) and it must have come in. I'd never seen one, I knew it wasn't a usual insect because of it's sound, and glimpses I caught looked like a hummingbird dragonfly! They are pretty little creatures with a nice sound. 

Along with resting I've gamed a lot (post coming soon from on Nayu's Reading Corner), and sewed a lot too which you can see in the next post. I'm having my mega strong meds tonight so will be out of commission for the best part of a week BUT I'm pre-scheduling you some posts so rest assured these blog pages will be updated every few days! 

Nayu's Project Progress #37 Girl Power!

I've been chillin'!

Morning all! Apologies for the slightly long lapse in posts - life got busy, plus family got a cold and my body threw a wobbly, then I simply had a few days R&R to myself. All recharaged (minus stupid cold weather spell that body is hating) and back blogging! Here's what I've started this week, a cute mobile phone case using cross stitch embroidery. 

The title is because girls are cool and I love being a girl! Plus this is a cute girl ^u^

 I got it from a friend ages ago, and it's actually the perfect size for my non-smart non-touchscreen phone. I didn't tweet about it because I'm not 100% sure how well I can replicate the backstitch which will make the girl look like a cute anime girl, but I'll do my best! What do you think? I'd love to hear if you're working on a sewing project at the moment! It's very engrossing, great to do when catching up with TV. 

Creativity has endless possibilities, it's not just sewing!

Nayu's Project Progress #36 Random blankets

I've been busy!

As promised in my last post this one is all about what I'm working on craft wise at the moment! When I'm up for crochet I'm putting together this very small pet blanket for someone. There will be a second one made of smaller squares, but I'm using oddments to attach the squares using the join as you go method - Google it to find the info. It's a super easy method that saves so much time and removes the need for lots of sewing. I always use this method now, and you can see the blanket increase in size here. 

Almost there! Sorry it's fuzzy

Tada! All finished!

 Originally I was doing one big blanket, but for some unknown reason I did both big and little squares which actually couldn't be put together, hence it becoming pet blankets. I have since done an extra row, which I'll show you with the small square blanket another time, which I know it will be well received, and I'm extremely excited about the project I'll start once this one is finished!

Nayu's Project Progress #35 Chocolate themed blankets

I wonder how many of you will have some chocolate by the end of this post!

 It's been far too long since I've done one of these (no I'm not telling you how many months...) but I want to share what I've been up to lately. I've been doing a bit of craft, some on a blanket which I'll show in another post that's already for someone, but the blankets featured in this post will be for sale soon (start of April for the finished one) when I reopen my shop (it needs a bit of tweaking after my mega meds which I'm currently recovering from). 

Here's a peek at what one looks like, with cream and two shades of brown.

Most people like chocolate, and it's all I've been thinking of while making these blankets - the yarn looks like all three types - white, milk, and dark chocolate! 

Here it is!

 I love making what are often called 'granny' squares and putting them together using a seamless method called 'join as you go'. They are easy, require no pattern, and it's fun watching the blanket grow over time. 

I thought you might like a comparison picture for the chocolate ^u^ I wanted a smaller blanket, so I started another using the same colours but this time in a different pattern. 

Now this one looks more like those chocolate buttons...

Going round and round has it's own charm, just like 'granny' squares (or medalians as some call them). Both are relaxing in their own way. I didn't sew in the ends of the previous blanket until the end, when I had loads to do. This time I'm doing the sewing in every 4 rows, so I get a bit of rhythm with the crochet, not stop-start at every row. 

I hope this inspires you to get creative - it doesn't have to be with yarn, it can be sewing, colouring in, gardening - whatever you love have fun!

Nayu's Project Progress #34 Dipping into Ink Stamping!

Like this blog post!

It's been waaay too long since I've had one of these posts, and it's a quick one but I really need to head out and get groceries so I'm not super late in eating lunch. As the title suggests, this week I've been trying out ink stamping! It's something I've wanted to do but haven't had many materials for - my family were going to get rid of some of theirs so kindly gave them to me when I showed my interest. Here's what I managed to do in my first session: 

I still need to work on sensing the correct amount of ink on the stamp, and making sure I press firmly all the way round so the entire image is whole. I seem to press more lightly on the top right side of the stamp, so that's my 'homework' for the next session. It's super fun, especially with my favourite Gorjuss girls as subjects ^o^ They are my favourite brand for bags and stationary: my other blog, Nayu's Reading Corner, has a Gorjuss girl as part of the design. It was taken at a time the artist gave blog templates for free, so a friend of mind worked her magic to make fit it into my design.

 I'd love to hear if you enjoy stamping! 

Nayu's Project Progress #32 Coffee and Cream Dreams Complete!

Sneek peek time!

As promised in a previous post, it's time to show you to the complete Coffee and Cream Dreams blanket! 

Tada!

It is very roomy, can almost wrap myself once in it, it sits rather nicely on the end of my bed (if only I was keeping it), and I'm really excited to have finished it. I'll try and put it up for sale by the end of next week (allowing for several days of a stubborn body being unable to work on the laptop, and maybe 1 day of the internet not working properly too), it will be perfect for snuggling up on this now distinctly cold Autumn slash Winter (I never know when the seasons are 'supposed' to start).

I had great fun making it, especially coming to the end because I used a border I found in a crochet book I have. I wish I could say that, but the border in the book didn't look like the book's picture, even though I followed the instructions fully. I then looked online for easy borders, and was then able to create the book's border with a slight adjustment to the pattern. It looks pretty, is super easy so I didn't need to keep reading the instructions after a few pattern repeats, and it was super exciting to finish. Simple can be best, this two colour blanket will look perfect in pretty much any room that needs a blanket. 

It looks great folded up too, with my phone as a size reference. Although I can't remember how many times I folded it, so can't say this is a quarter because it isn't. Oh well!

I do have another project I've started, which I'll show you in a couple of days once I take some photos and do a bit more on it.