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!

Over On Nayu's Reading Corner #34 Review Creative Embroidery and Beyond (Non-fiction, 8/10E)

 

 Hop on over to Nayu's Reading Corner see the full design of this embroidered planets and cup that I put onto a headscarf as part of an embroidery book review!

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 Craft Time #320 Crafting is happening!

A 4mm clover hook (don't think the photo is by me)

I feel rather bad that I have barely blogged here all year. I am sorry! I shouldn't neglect this blog for Twitter, where I do share all my news. I am making the effort to post more regularly - I get new followers each week and want content for you all to enjoy. I blame the weird way that 2020 has panned out. Certainly nothing any of us expected. And, in truth, I think it has changed life permanently. But that's pretty much all I'll say on the matter. I am high risk for covid, but I am alive which is a blessing.

Time to show you some craft work which I did not post on Twitter but I did do yesterday (Friday). Friday's are my time to work on a secret craft project involving a needle and thread. Unfortunately when the weather is really hot (which, for the record, my malfunctioning body lives for - being warm is a real joy! Not to need a blanket is a rare and precious occasion) I don't sew because thin needles feel too weird against my skin. I have always been like this which is why I haven't done much embroidery lately.

Crochet I can do because I don't really touch the metal part of the crochet hook. I dived back into working on a crochet blanket for a local cat charity, Cats Protection who always need blankets for each new arrival and have branches all over the country, so see what items yours is taking for donation and please help them out if you can. It is lovely to hear the blankets go with the cat on to their new home, so they have something familiar with them. I do not know when I will be able to give them the blanket, but I plan on making a few then donating them, which will be some time. I added 1 row which you can see here, created some more pink squares, and turned a skein of yarn into a proper ball.

I love crochet because I use the same stitches for the granny square, a few chain stitches and treble stitches (UK terms). I use the join by crochet method of attaching the squares together. They had been in alternate colours, but yesterday I got so engrossed watching the wonderful American Pioneer series Little House on the Prairie that I forgot to pay attention to which square I chose. Ordinarily I d unpick it, but because it is a patchwork blanket, and not all the squares will be the same colours I left the out of sequence square where it was. The cat who gets it won't care what it looks like, only that it is warm and cosy.

As much as I need the hot weather for my health, I do hope it gets cooler because I have so much fun embroidery to start! I will talk more on that in another post. Hope you all have at least one fun thing to enjoy this weekend, and I hope to post again in a few days. Side note: this is made using the new style of Blogger, which is certainly different to the old style, but it mostly makes sense. I will get used to it soon enough. I am less keen on the new Windows update, it seems I can only crop and reduce a photo, I can't simply remove a bit from the top or bottom, so I edited the blanket picture on my phone which does what I want it to.

I firmly believe this! Picture artist/photographer unknown.

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 #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 Feature Post #4 London Embroidery Exhibition 12th-13th July

This post is all about bags, so it seems fitting that I show you my main bag (I don't have many) - it's the lovely Gorjuss Ladybird girl! The other side is a little different, but this is the only picture I could find quickly online.

Note: Anything in black font is my own thoughts, anything in purple is taken from emails/websites, which I give the source where possible.

Company logo

This request came through on my book review blog, but since it's a craft themed event I thought I'd talk about it here! I didn't go, and as you can see from the post's title it is now over - this is the earliest I've been able to put the post together Here's the info from the email I received from Hand & Lock's agent (unsure of correct term to use in this instance. Might be publicist, but not quite sure). Hand & Lock explain themselves best on their website: 

Hand & Lock are London’s premier embroidery house providing embellishment services to the Royal Family, top European design houses, the Royal Armed Forces, Savile Row and members of the public. In our central London atelier we offer a range of services from hand monograms and bridal customisation to goldwork blazer badges and machine embroidered logos. Every commission we undertake receives the highest care and attention from our team of dedicated embroidery designers and expert embroiderers. Whether you are a top Italian designer or a new parent looking to monogram your daughter’s christening outfit the process the process is exactly the same.

This bag is by Aspinal of London Someone in my family loves poppies, which I believe these flowers are (no idea about what type the butterfly is - I can only identify a cabbage white!) The stitching is perfect, and  looks a sophisticated bag

Wow. That's quite an impressive list of clients, as well as being a long established business before the 21st century!  Even before seeing any of the pictures I knew the bags would be exquisite, and they are! I can pretty much guarantee none of them would be under £30 which is the most I've ever spent on a bag (I'm not a bag buying type of girl). 

This beautifully coloured bag is by Jill Haber. I find the eye creepy, but ignoring that (a bit hard...) I love the turquoise and gold flower (except I'm sure it's meant to be a hand), with the stars accenting the corners. Not entirely sold on what looks like a bellpull, but overall it's a pretty creation.

Anyway, from the original email I was told that Hand and Lock is hosting the London Embroidery Exhibition featuring lots of amazing collaborations they’ve worked on over the years including pieces straight from the Vivienne Westwood AW17 runway and Mary Katrantzou.  Among these gems, we also have the ‘Embellished Bags’ – a project where Hand & Lock have teamed up with the following iconic hand bag designers to create an exclusive limited edition collection: Aspinal of London, Jill Harber, Vivienne Westwood, Alfie Douglas, House of Holland, Lost Property of London, BVS Design, Asprey, The Cambridge Satchel Company, Lulu Guiness, Globe-Trotter, Patrick Cox and Agnes B. 

This understated yet elegan Fleur de Lys bag is by Patrick Cox. I love the contrast between the plain white/cream and the heavily patterned symbol.

I've heard of Vivienne Westood, but that's about the only designer I recognise - I'm not really into bags at all, but knowing designers has nothing to do with admiring these works of fine craftmanship! I've saved my favourite until last, a modern design which while I'm not overly fond of red things (I know my bag is red, but it depends what type of red) this is the bag that grabbed my eye the most, and is by Henry Holland. I like the swirly bits and the way the colours both stand out and compliment each other.

A Hentry Holland bag

I hope you've enjoyed this feature post - hopefully there will be more exhibitions like this in the future that I can share with you!

Nayu's Craft Time #234 Hospital visit

Most of these are happy!

I love how today's post is in numerical order ^o^ It's the small things that make me/us smile!

Anyway...thank you for being patient in waiting for a new post. Over the weekend & really until Thursday I was recovering from my mega meds which send me to Lala Land & then some, and Thursday was another annual trip to the hospital. 

I go here! Not for homeopathic treatment, the rooms get rented out to other hospital clinics (I think)

It wasn't until the afternoon, but I like being there in plenty of time, and my family like to go shopping (I like company for travelling as I can get a little confused when tired). My original plan was to wait in the cafe for a few hours then head up to where I needed to be and start waiting for my 3.30pm appointment. However the cafe chairs were rock hard, discouraging any prolonged stay (I need quite soft chairs). So I got busy with an audiobook and did all this while I waited for lunch time! 

It's a cute cross stitch kit, nice and colourful with, as you can see, lots of pink. Sewing is calming - I find these days I can never settle with a book while waiting for medical appointments. Gaming happened later. 

Anyway, so I went up 1.15. Got called in at 2pm which was super early (yay!)...but wasn't able to think about going home from London until 4pm. I was in with the doctor for about an hour, going through various stuff. I don't see the same doctor every time, but I don't mind because in the more specialised clinics I know for certain the doctors all speak to each other, so I feel safe and confident whoever I am with. 

 There's almost always someone else sitting in on the appointment - I do always get asked permission and I never mind. UCL is a teaching hospital, and my specialist clinic is one of a kind, the more people can learn the better. Thursday's extra body was the specialist physiotherapist. We did boring neurological tests (once you do them once you know what's coming at every appointment. Then my balance got tested. 

I couldn't stand on point in ballet - standing on 1 leg is tricky let alone on the tips of my toes!

I'm not that coordinated, and my balance is a bit to be desired (it's not like I need to be able to walk in a straight line heel to toe in my everyday life...) so the physio asked if I'd like a few exercises to help with that. I said yes, so after I finished with the consultant I went with the physio. She gave me the exercises which are fun on the early level, and a bit tricky on the harder level. Yes I'm not being sarcastic when I use the word fun - they are fun! Again, it's the small things that amuse me. 

I only had a few pieces of paper to fill in, thankfully!

After the physio, I was with a researcher who wanted to do a few tests too. These were predominantly mental rather than physical. It was late afternoon, I was tired, but I still believe in helping out where I can so I said yes to them. I aced the word test of saying 2 long lists of words out loud within 2 minutes! Not sure about all the rest, but it's not a pass/fail test, more a benchmark of where my abilities are. 

After that I had to go to a different hospital for the blood test (my clinic uses the Homeopathic Hospital as their base for appointments). My family thought I'd fainted because I took so long for it to be done: I'm not an easy person to get blood from, and the first person couldn't do it so handed over to a more senior colleague. They advised eating & drinking before I have blood taken - I hadn't known beforehand that I was going to have any taken, so maybe next time I'll remember. Once that was done I was free! However...

None of this!!!!

...Costa annoying sold out of ice at Waterloo station. That made me grumpy as I rely on their chocolate milkshake to keep me going on the train home, but I had a brainwave and managed to get chocolate milk from M&S. Then home & lots of rest until today. 

It's still really cold so I've slow body, taking it easy where I can. I did a bit of crochet which I don't have a picture of, ditto a pic of a present I'm getting closer to finishing! The recipients know which is why I can show you in another post - I couldn't finish in time for the deadline. No more London appointments until May which makes me happy as 2 in under 2 weeks isn't fun, as it takes several days to recover from them. But it's over, I did it & that's it until next year (when they will probably be close together again).

I genuinely somehow thought it was Monday, so this is for tomorrow!

Nayu's Craft Time #161 My mini vacation

A novel way of reusing a suitcase - make it into a pet bed! Sadly not my cat...

Hi all! I'm back ^o^ Had a super time with a friend in Bristol. Had traffic issues on Friday, so it took me a good 4 hours to get there. On the way home it took about 2 hours, that was including nearly ending up in Wales (which borders England).

Definitely was going the wrong way by going into Wales!!!

Yes, roads with more than 3 lanes are confusing, especially when sat nav takes time to tell me which lane to get into, so by the time I need to keep right I'm in a left lane and can't switch. Nearly ended up at a toll bridge but thankfully managed to turn off and go back the way I was meant to. Was so glad to be home on Saturday!

Possibly the toll bridge I nearly ended up on. I'm not a bridge person so I'm glad I didn't have to cross it!

We chatted a lot, visited a horse my friend helps look after, and watched almost all of the opening ceremony to the Rio Olympics.

I'm not a sport person, but for the first time I did watch some of the Olympics: gymnastics...
and shooting (two rather different disciplines). I'm hoping to watch some of the synchronised swimming too.

Rio Olympic pool!

Not being a sport enthusiastic I'd had my fill after about 20 minutes, but that was enough to keep me happy. Hope to watch a bit more today - I want to, and the Olympics only happens every 4 years (Winter Olympics in 2 years - can't wait as I adore ice skating and will be watching it for the first time ^o^)

So pretty!

I'm resting lots as the trip took a lot out of me (which I expected). Hence only the blog post today - hope to catch up over on Nayu's Reading Corner blog posts tomorrow. I've caught up with all my emails (I think).

My phone looks like this (only in black)

I've had an amusing 40 minutes with EE trying to sort a phone issues. Mine will only send 1 page of texts at a time, not the 3-7 page long texts it usually does. I'm getting a callback tomorrow to see if some updates have worked. I hope so as I send long texts to a friend several times a day, so having to send lots of short ones. Will keep you posted on the result of that incident.

Managed a little bit of crochet, but not enough to show you yet (as in I did 2 rows, which doesn't sound much but the blanket is growing larger). I may do some more later today, I don't know. Need a rest now ^o^

Not literally true, but I hope to have a smidge more energy by resting lots - I love this sewing! Not mine, sadly.

Nayu's Project Progress #22 Cute Baby sampler update!

I'd love a sewing basket like this one, full of spring colours and a lot of pink!

I'm actually popping in to my local craft club today as I haven't been for months and want to catch up with everyone. Don't know if I'll go regularly yet, but will try and pop in more than once a year. Soar today's post is a short catch up on my sewing progress! The previous update was this picture. 

I'm still finishing off the multiple shades of white in the animals, but hopefully you can see the difference here. 

That was about 6 hours of sewing - yes, apparently 6 hours of anything isn't a good idea for me. Worth it though! My body doesn't want to repeat it so I won't. I will sew in much smaller time segments. Have you done a marathon of anything crafty/non-crafty recently?

Spotted this cute, girly, dainty clock online!