Thriftiness of 2010

Hello my friends. Well it is the last day of 2010 and I am wondering where the time has gone. It seems that as you get older the years start to pass more quickly. 

I would like thank all of the people who have followed this blog. When I restarted it I wasn't sure how it would go but I have thoroughly enjoyed it and have loved 'meeting' new friends and discovering so many fabulous blogs out there.

So for my final blog post of the year I would like to share with you some of favourite thrifty finds. I only started thrifting this year and have found and rescued so many wonderful things that it is hard to pick just one favourite.

I would like to wish you all a wonderful New Year and much love, health and happiness in 2011.

x

Craftiness of 2010

Hello my dears, I hope that you are well and that you had a fabulous Christmas. Now it is time to look forward to a shiny New Year and all that it brings. 

I thought I would share with you today a mosaic of some of my favourite makes from this year as I look forward to much more craftiness in 2011.....

2010

Can you guess what my favourite colours are?

Much love x

Wishing you...

Wishing you a wonderful Christmas from our house to yours!

Much love, Emma.

x

Quick Catch Up

Hello my lovelies. I hope that you are well. Sorry for the lack of posts, we have all been rather poorly. Various viruses and colds have bombarded us all over the past few weeks. Not great timing with so much to do before Christmas, can you believe that it is now less than a week? Blimey, it comes round quickly. I'm still not ready, various gifts are stuck around the country thanks to that white stuff so I have no idea if they will arrive on time. Are you all ready? I hope so.

Anyway whilst I have been laid up on the sofa I have been able to do a wee bit of crochet. I finally managed to get round to making a new cushion for the sofa.....

Just simple Granny squares with a white border.

I have also been making lots of mistletoe and mini wreaths to put on gifts. These were for the girls teachers...

The gift tags can be found here....

And finally I managed to finish the handmade present for my friend. She asked for a butterfly picture like one that I made from wallpaper. Due to the fact that she loves to travel I hunted down a vintage AA road map and cut the butterflies from parts of the country that she loves the most.

I only have one decent picture because I wrapped it up before checking that the pictures were ok. This is the only one that isn't blurred.

I also made an extra one that has bunting. This is cut from the part of the map that shows the area around where she lives. I wonder if she will notice?

Well, that's all for today. Hopefully I will get chance to post again before Christmas. If not I would like to wish you all a Truly Lovely Christmas.

x

Wordless Wednesday

John Lennon, 1940-1980

x

Gorgeous Wreath and a Messy Creative Space

Hello my dears and Happy December. That snook up and bit me on the bum. I usually have all of my Christmas shopping done by the end of October but not this year. Here we are in December and I am nowhere near done, oh the panic!

This morning it was like Christmas had come early for me. As some of you will already know I was the ever-so-lucky winner of Bunny Mummy's gorgeous wreath giveaway. Jacquie ever so bravely went out in the very deep snow and near Siberian temperatures to post it yesterday and by some miracle it arrived today. It's fabulous and was put up immediately.....

Isn't it fabulous? 

Here's a closer look...

I love it, especially the crochet star in the middle. Thank you so much Jacquie!!!

In other news I have a rather messy creative space this week. My friend has asked me to make her and her hubby's Christmas gift this year. As they do quite a lot of travelling I have decided to use maps of their favourite places. I can't show you the finished piece just yet but here is peek at our dining table looking rather messy...

For more creative spaces take a peek at kootoyoo.

Thanks for stopping by. Take care and stay warm

x

Wordless Wednesday - The White Stuff

Take care and stay warm

x

Amazing Christmas Tree!

Hello my lovies. Sorry about the lack of blog posts lately, I seem to be in a bit of a fug. I wanted to pop in today to share something that I saw last night on our local news. I am not a knitter but I love many things that are knitted and this is no exception.

The  congregation and community of Saint Johns Church, Meols on the Wirral got together to knit the pieces of this HUGE tree to help raise money for Help For Heroes.

It is fantastic.

Once the tree has been taken down the pieces will be sewn together to make blankets for the homeless so two great causes will be helped by this fab creation. You can go to see it if you are in the area between today and Sunday. For more info clicky here.

I will be back soon with some creativeness of my own. If you are in the UK I hope that you are not snowed in. If you are in the USA I would like to wish you a VERY HAPPY THANKSGIVING.

x

It Took A While...

A few weeks ago the oh so lovely Loo of jumblesandpompoms passed the Versatile Blogger Award on to me. Thank you so much lovely Loo, I really, truly appreciate it.

I love Loo's blog to bits so it was a great honour that she passed this onto me.

As part of the award I am to tell you 7 things that you don't know about me. Now, being the shy kind of person that I am, I have been pondering this for a while. I hope that I don't bore you all to death, here goes....

I am allergic to excercise, I have been for as long as I can remember and don't like any sports. When I was at school I used to avoid P.E. by constantly having my period. Having said that I am utterly obsessed by Formula 1. I love it and have been a close follower for the past 5 years.

Despite living in Spain for 2 1/2 years I cannot speak Spanish. My husband is Spanish but he will not teach me because it makes him feel awkward. For some reason the words will not stay in my head and I cannot get my mouth around the pronuncation. I would love to be able to speak a foreign language but my brain will not cooperate.   

I learnt to crochet by watching a video on You Tube. I wish that I could find the video as I would love to thank the lady that made it. I had been desperate to learn for a few years but knew nobody that could teach me, the video taught me how to make a granny square and my love of crochet grew from there.

                                                                                                                                          
 I think that Chris Martin is the most beautiful man in the world.

I have never watched E.T. I was told that it was really sad and upsetting and that was enough. For that same reason I have also never seen Bambi or Watership Down. I have also never watched Star Wars but have no idea why.

Our house is a bit like noahs ark. No, we don't live on a boat unfortunately but we do tend to come in two's. Two adults, two children, two cats and two dogs. Maude, a.k.a. the little brown dog, was actually born on my stomach. We had got Penny (Mum of Maude) the day before from someone that needed to rehome her due to moving abroad. The woman that we bought her from had told us that she was overweight because she ate too many biscuits and chocolates (not a good thing for dogs). I suspected differenetly but fell in love with her as she is such a lovely, gentle little dog and she's great with the girls. 

The next night she was lay next me on the sofa but wouldn't settle. My husband and I were getting ready to go up to bed when he noticed that I had what he thought was rat on top me! Of course when he announced this I jumped off the sofa, launching the said rat onto the floor and that is when we discovered that she had given birth to Maude.  She then went on to have 3 more gorgeous pups who have all since gone on to great owners.

Maude has never been right after being dropped on her head but we love her and  her mum so much. We couldn't believe that someone could sell a pregnant dog and not tell us but it all worked out well in the end.

I hope that you are still awake. I would now like to pass this award on to the following fabby bloggers....

The lovely and super talented Karen at Contemporary Embroidery.

The sweet and inspiring Jane at Teawagon Tales.

The charming and creative Teje and co. of Nero's Post and Patch.

Thanks again Loo!

x

Angels

Hello my dearies. I hope that you are well?

I don't have any thriftiness to share with you this week because I haven't left the house for over a week! I think I may be becoming a hermit or perhaps I am hibernating. I also have no completed crochet as I am still waiting for new wool to arrive so that things can be finished. 

I would however like to share a different project that I have been working on. In our house we have a bit of soft spot for angels, after all that is our surname. We like to believe that the angels take care of those that are no longer with us. It helps us to cope. 

So in honour of my two little angels (ha ha!) I made them some Christmas angels, complete with bobble hats so that they can keep warm as the temperatures drop. 

As you can see one has blonde hair and the other brown, just like my little ones. They haven't seen them yet so I hope they will like them.

x

My Creative Space - Things

Hello my lovelies. 

At the minute I have numerous projects on the go. So many things are on my to do list and instead of finishing one and moving onto another I am working on a few at a time. All the while the list is growing and my projects are taking over the house.

In the dining room I am painting furniture.....

In the bedroom and lounge there are bits of crochet projects in various states of completion. Some are nearly finished and others are just begun...

There are things being blocked, things waiting for new yarn so that they can be finished and things that are waiting for a dry day so that they can be photographed. There are also things waiting for drawings to be finished so that they can be put together. 

I do have a studio but it's separate from the house and it's cold out there because there is no heating. So I'm hunkering down in the house surrounded by too many things. 

What's going on in your creative space? Why not share it on Kootoyoo?

x

How Could I Resist?

Hello my dears. Thank you so much for all of your kind and lovely comments on the Christmas trees. I can say the word now that it's November. Crikey this year has gone fast!

I can only share a few of my thrifty finds this week because the sun will not come out to play and we all know that lack of light makes terrible pics. I found some lovelies this week in charity shops and at the car boot sale. 

I am particularly loving this table cloth, still new in its packaging....

How could I resist those mushrooms?

So sweet.

Also sweet is this little dish with duck on it...

Less sweet but very pretty, I found my second piece of Cartlon Ware!

And my favourite find of the week is this oh so sweet knitted Humpty from the 1950's....

How could I resist him?

For more thrifty delights please see Apron Thrift Girls blog.

Thank you for dropping by.

x

What Became of the Pompoms?

Hello, my dears. How are you today?

I have been meaning to show you what I was making with the pompoms but the weather had other plans. This morning though the sun was shining and so I was finally able to take the pics. 

So without any further waffle, I announce The That Time of Year Trees (I refuse to say Christmas until at least November).....

Now I realise that these are a little unusual and I nearly didn't share them because my mother laughed herself silly at them but if I thought what the heck, no harm in making people laugh is there?

x

Two Teapots and I Don't Drink Tea

Hello my dearies, I hope that this day finds you well.

Thank you again for all your lovely comments wishing my little one better. She is now fully recovered and back to driving us mad!

My thrifty finds yet again feature my old friend Meakin, I seem to be quite lucky when it comes to finding their ceramics. 

This time I found a pink utility ware teapot....

A 1980 Springwood teapot....

and a casserole dish....

I also found this lovely jug that has no back stamp or markings whatsoever but is a lovely colour and great pattern...

and finally my 1st ever piece of Cartlon Ware! 

My mother came this morning and asked if she could have it, she was most disappointed when the answer was no! I was so chuffed when I found it that I couldn't just give it away could I?

Have you found any great finds recently? Please share if you have I love to see what other peeps have found. 

I hope you have a great week. If you would like to see more thrifty finds please see Apron Thrift Girl, she has found a great bike!

x

My Creative Space - Wool and Pompoms

Hello my lovelies. Thank you so much for all your well wishes for my littlest one, she is now thankfully feeling better but it was very nasty bug that got her.

This week in my creative space I am playing with pompoms and wool. I'm working on something for 'that time of the year' and I hope to be able to show you soon.

For more creative spaces click here.

Take care.

x

A Few Sweet Things

Hello my dearies, I hope you are having a great weekend.

I don't have many things to share with you this week because my littlest one is poorly with a nasty virus so not much thrifting has taken place. I do have a few sweet things to share though so lets begin....

A very cute vintage cutlery set that looks like it has never been used...

A handkerchief box complete with (thankfully) unused vintage hankies, I really love this box...

And a lovely little tin, I love the colours!

I hope that you have a great week and enjoy the rest of the weekend.

x

For more lovely finds go and see Sophie and Apron Thrift Girl.

Crochet Bunting and a Thank You

Hello, I hope that this day finds you well. First I would like to thank all of my lovely followers and all of the people who take the time to leave lovely comments. It is very much appreciated and really makes my day. You have all been so kind and welcoming.

This week I have had four projects on the go. I know not why I have done this as all I am doing is confusing myself. I used to start a project and then see it through to end before starting another but I appear to have turned into a bit of a fidget. In an effort to control myself I made myself finish one project, so now I am down to three.

The finished project has been influenced by many people around the blogosphere who have been making bunting. I already have three sets of crochet bunting and various types of crocheted garlands but decided that I really did need another. 

My main influences for this granny style bunting have been Michelle at The Royal Sisters, Jacquie at Bunny Mummy and Alice at Crochet With Raymond. Thank you so much ladies!!!!

One thing that I don't remember anybody mentioning is that it is sooooooooo difficult to take photos of bunting.  Perhaps it's just me but unless you have tons and tons of space then is nigh impossible to take decent pics. 

I'm now hoping to finish the other projects so that I can share those soon.

I hope that you have a good day.

x

Meakin and Other Thrifty Bits

Hello there, how are you? I hope you have had a great weekend. For once we have had a dry weekend here, yay I managed to do all of my washing. 

Now that it is Monday again I thought I would share some more of my thrifty finds. I had been trying steer clear of thrifting in an effort to save some pennies but it seems that cold turkey didn't work and so last week I had a little slip, oooops. I didn't spend too much really but I spent more than I should have. I will have to try harder this week.

Last weeks finds include this beautiful Meakin bowl

Another Meakin bowl (I love a bit of Meakin)

A Meakin jug, I told you I love Meakin

A Woods Ware bowl

Some lovely Pyrex dishes

A Hornsea dog and turtle that I couldn't resist

And last but by no means least an unused Barratts of Staffordshire tea set.

Have been lucky in your thrifting adventures?

To see what other lucky peeps have found go and see Sophie or Apron Thrift Girl.

x