Challenge Accepted & Completed

In response to one of my many grumbles about being on maternity leave without Baby B having made an appearance yet, David challenged me to complete my latch-hook rug project before he or she arrived. At that stage I’d completed just a touch more than this in almost three years…

A pitiful effort I know. Sometimes I need David to appeal to my competitive nature and set me a challenge to spur me on with these things. So, I have spent many hours in the last 10 days sat like this...



… attaching almost 9,000 pieces of wool to the canvas, somehow avoiding RSI, until I finally finished my second latch-hook rug at nine o’clock this evening – Baby B’s due date and two hours into my labour! A job well done I feel.

Crochet 2, Suzanne 0

Two days I’ve spent trying to learn how to crochet but I just can’t get my head around it. This is an unfamiliar and unpleasant feeling. I’m going to persevere for the rest of this evening (apart from completing a set of marking for Year 12). After that, if I am still (as I suspect) unsuccessful and mastering any more than the initial chain of stitches I will wait to be taught by my dear sister-in-law who mastered the skill some time ago.

Between my frustrating attempts to master this new craft I have done a couple of things this weekend. On Saturday, I made a (horribly sweet) strawberry and apple tiramisu that we took round to Alex and Laurence’s place last night, which David is polishing off as I type. I then mounted some old pieces of curved stitching to go up in my classroom tomorrow (snow allowing).

Today I have finally got around to making an engagement card for Rhiannon and Simon who got engaged in Paris a few weeks ago. I designed the stitched card, which was inspired by the photograph of her ring that she put on facebook. After stitching the design I painted the sapphires and diamonds and mounted the pieces…

During the nail-biting but thoroughly enjoyable Wales-Ireland rugby match I went back to the trusty latch-hook rug. I’ve completed 13 rows from the 104 now! Each row takes me about half an hour to complete so I have a long way to go.

 

Ok, off I go to watch some tutorials on YouTube. crochet hook at the ready, one way or another I will crack this…

Fresh new look for Blog

I’ve decided that it’s about time that I took this blogging lark seriously and tried to actually get some followers. It’s almost two years since I set this up and I saw it as a way to show off my work and maybe one day think about selling some of my creations online. Two years on I don’t think I’ve really shared my passion for crafting and now I intend to try harder.

Each piece that I create takes a long time and by only posting the finished articles on here I do not do them or myself any justice. To give you an insight into how I work as a crafter and just how much time and energy my projects take I’ll show you exactly what I’m working on at the moment…

1. Cross-stitch Red Kite

My husband bought me this kit for Christmas this year from X-stitch birds. I was a little overwhelmed by the size of this project and decided to time myself. You’re looking at 24 hours and 30 minutes worth of stitching. I’m not even going to begin to estimate how long the whole thing’s going to take! If I was only working on this project I think I’d go mad so…

2. Latch-hook Rug

This is my own piece. I had the canvas and acrylic wools from Tracy’s Craft Shop as a present from my parents in-law for my birthday this year. I painstakingly designed the rug before beginning and then hooked the first column as my guide. The colours were chosen to match a set of canvases that I painted for our lounge when we first moved into our current flat. Unfortunately, rug-making really makes my fingers ache so I definitely need more…

3. Naming Ceremony Gift

I usually have something more immediate (and for someone else) on the go. At the moment I’m working on my idea of a birth sampler for the very special Ena who celebrates her second birthday this week and is having a Naming Ceremony next weekend. So, how do I make these stitched creations? Step 1 – Design the layout and writing on the computer and print it out. Step 2 – carefully prick each hole that I will need to stitch the design. I do this using a large pin and felt mat. Step 3 – Start stitching! This one will probably have taken about three hours by the time it’s complete.

I suppose one of the reasons that I have to have lots of things on the go at any one time is another symptom of my fidgety-ness. I’m just a multi-tasker at heart!

Some of my one-offs

These are some examples of some of the crafts that I've dabbled with but only really done once...

I made this latch-hook rug during my last year at university and finished it off during a 5 week trip to the Outer Hebrides.
Yikes - that was 6 years ago!
It's a great craft but incredibly time consuming.



Another one that takes some real commitment. I used to attempt a lot of scrapefoils when I was little but this was the first (and at the moment only) one I've ever done properly. It seems that patience comes with age.

This one has pride of place on Dad's wall!




Some flowers painted for Mum and Dad's bathroom. These are watercolour and clearly show that although I may have the attention to detail and patience to produce pleasing pieces of craftwork my artist talents leave a lot to be desired.

We all have our flaws!






Another weird one. You'll see more of my stitching on future posts but this was an experiment to see if I could design my own patterns. It was a bit ambitious for a first attempt but I had fun doing it.