My Birthday goodies

Hello me again! 

Thank you for all your lovely comments on my recent posts. I'm hoping to get round as many blogs as I can over the coming weeks. 

So I celebrated my birthday last week and received some lovely presents from friends. 

I had a boxful of wonder from Steph. 

So in the box was a set of pegs with days of the week on, some Christmas fabric and a huge bag of variegated threads. 

Steph sent me one of the finished pieces from when she stitched a travelling pattern recently. We're going to hang it in our bedroom. 

Steph made me an amazing needle book. Here you can see the front and back of it. 

Steph also made me two gorgeous brooches. I've worn the larger one already. 

Lastly Steph made me this gorgeous shall. The colours are very me and I wore it to work on Friday as it goes with my favourite jumper very well! 

So all of those wonderful goodies were from Steph. 

I also had lots of giraffe goodness from Laura who has been squirrelling away giraffe themed goodies all year! 

Laura made me a very cute little giraffe and giraffe granny squared bag stuffed full with goodies.

The gorgeous granny square bag contained giraffe print and a second piece with African animals on it. There were some gorgeous buttons and a fab wooden ruler which I absolutely love! There was a pretty embroidered giraffe too. Here's a bit of a close up. 

I had a lovely scarf from my best friend and some crochet hooks from hubby.  

I also had lots of chocolate, yellow roses and a cosy onesie. 

I'll be back later in the week with a bit of a bits and bobs kinda post. Have a good week :-)

Travelling Box makes round 3

Hello bloggerland,

I told you all about my picks from the travelling box in my last blog so here are my makes, they are all sat on a shopping bag I embellished. Some bits aren't in the other pictures, they are the scrappy cushion made by Thom with a little help and the 2 bookmarks, one is the hexagon one and the other is the stitched keep calm one.

Here are the jewellery makes, a crocheted bracelet with seed beads and chainmaille earrings made by me and earrings, bracelet, ring and also the stitch markers made by Thom, my 8 yr old

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I love this little saying and so true too! I've stitched it once before. Steph gave me an idea for something a bit different with it, so I might stitch it for me at some point. I had to do a biscornu too. Biscornulicious as Steph said!!!

A little biscornu kilt pin brooch. A mad idea that grew from the biscornu  jewellery I've made in the past. I must order some more pins to make myself one.

And lastly the bits and bobs - macrame by my hubby, feltie bear, nail file case and  crocheted corsage.

I don't expect the travelling box will be back until late spring now, but already the ideas are flowing! 

Next up the wonderful gifts I received for my birthday :-)

Thanks for reading :-) 

Travelling box picks round 3

Hello all,
So here is a mid week check in from me, 3 blogs in 5 days, I'm like waiting for the bus!!

The travelling box visited at the end of September and as usual was choc full of fabulous things as always. I really love being part of this swap that's so much fun to do.

So as you can see I was able to choose some fantastic things made by some very talented people. Steph O made the apple with the worm ami (which Thom claimed), biscornu in a pretty red vari thread, Cacti ami, and the beautiful hummingbird stitch. I chose the purple corsage and the pair of lovebirds and hubby claimed the tortoro all made by Joan. Laura made the crocheted hearts, granny square jewellery, note book cover, little gnome and the pretty covered pot. I'm planning to take the pot to work for my pens. Lastly I had the little free hug heart - Steph S made one for each of us taking part.

So next up are my makes for the box.Once again thanks for reading. All these blogs from me must be exhausting!! I'm half way to being caught up now!

Steph's visit and birthday

Howdy friends, me again!

The lovely Steph from Show and Tell came up to the Woo to visit me last month - On her birthday too. I made her a couple of little Autumn themed presents. So you can see the garland of felted leaves and a little collection of buttons and a magnet.

I stitched Steph a biscornu, with an oak leaf and acorn design. When I picked the recommended colours out of my thread box i thought they looked rather dull but I'm glad I persevered as I love the colours now they are stitched. I used an orangey coloured vari thread to do the border for a little colour and finished it with an oak leaf button.

I'm rather pleased with this little chap, He was a lovely little thing to make and fairly easy (now I know how to do it!) I'm hoping to do a couple of Santa versions too as Christmas fast approches.

Steph and I popped into town and had a Costa coffee and a mooch in the sewing shop. I came away with just a few buttons, Steph came away with a little more!! I must admit I was quite surprised by my restraint as was the lady in who knows me by name (and spending habits!)

We came back to mine after collecting my Lottie from pre-school and Steph taught me to crochet a granny square - Oh yes I can crochet a Granny - I was over the moon as this was one of the main reasons I wanted to learn how to crochet. I will crochet an ami soon, probably after I've seen Steph or Laura next time!

Here is the Granny after day 1, I had to restart after Lottie took a pair of scissors to it as I was saying goodbye to Steph. I recall a similar thing involving a pair of scissors and my Hexagon quilt when Laura started me on that!

So that was my day with Steph. Next up for the blog is my picks from the travelling box. Have a good week folks. 

Laura's visit

Dear Blogger friends

Thank you for sticking with me in my little blogger break. I'm back now and I shall get straight on with the things I made for Laura's visit.

Laura and her Hubby celebrated their 2nd wedding anniversary in September so I made them this biscornu in an Anchor Vari thread from a pattern I found on the web somewhere.

I also made them a Fox and Raccoon feltie from the Made in Felt magazine complete with their initials on it. I've made several things from the magazine now and it was well worth the money. I just hope they bring out another edition of it.

 I also made Laura a little Minion from Despicable Me. He was a fun little thing to stitch.

 

Laura came armed with some yummy cakes, which didn't last long, even though I'd made lemon cakes and choc chip cakes too. I was very very lucky to receive this amazing giraffe that stands almost 12" tall!!! He lives next to the ami basket as he's too big to in. I get so many lovely comments about him when we have visitors.

I had a lovely day with Laura, we had a coffee or in Laura's case a Hot choc in one of the cafes in town and then we had a mooch about in the craft shops, before coming back to my house where Laura showed me the progress on her quilt, and I must say it looks amazing, mine is still rather small!!! It doesn't stop me collecting fabric for it though!

So next up is my day with Steph. It's so lovely to be able to meet my lovely blogger friends.

Thanks for reading :-)

The 4th Winner...Eventually

Just a very very quick post to share the winner of the last giveaway.

So the prize was this...

And the lucky winner was Joan!!!! I've got your details, so I'll be in touch.

I'll be back soon to share makes for Laura's recent visit and my awesome giraffe.

Happy crafting. x

2nd Blogversary giveaway #4

Hi everyone

So the kids are back to school and my daughter starts pre school tomorrow. She's doing my work days so I won't have time to miss her or have a peaceful house. 

Autumn seems to be here and there is a distinct nip in the air in the morning. Time to get the woollies out. 

So here is the winner of giveaway #3 

Steph!!!!!

Congratulations to Steph and I'll be in touch.  

So on to the last of my 4 giveaways to celebrate my Blogversary. This one represents my quilt so is a little quilted bookmark, made with 2" hexagons and backed in felt with 2 little 1" hexi's hanging from the bottom and hand stitched with gold thread. Talk about trying to big up a bookmark! I'm also going to include a small charm pack of fabric and a bag of buttons and charms.

So the usual rules apply and I'll pick a winner after about a week. 

Thanks for reading

Kerry

2nd Blogversary Giveaway #3

Hi everyone.

A little later than planned but here is the winner of the Rhodes Butterfly biscornu.

Random name generating child picked a winner out of the pot and it is....(Drum roll please)

Kaisievic!!

Well done Kaye, I'll be in touch!!

So here is the third of the giveaways to celebrate my blogversary. I've had a look in my rather large box of kits and picked out 2 card kits and also a bookmark kit that isn't pictured as small child has hidden it! It is a pretty little Anchor kit with a pond and dragonfly.

So if you would like to win these kits just leave a comment in the post below and I'll put the random name generating child to good use again. It's a good thing there are only 4 giveaways otherwise he'll be demanding payment for his services. I'll close this one and launch the last giveaway in about a week.

Good luck.

2nd Blogversary giveaway #2

So time to draw the winner of the charm bracelet and to launch the second giveaway.

It was lovely to hear all your answers and I'm looking forward to making the bracelet and sending it to the lucky winner who is....

Christine

I've got your email addy so, I'll be in touch.

So on to the second prize...It wouldn't be right to have a giveaway on Ramblings of a Biscornu addict without giving away a biscornu.

I stitched this Kincavel Krosses design in my favourite thread Luna Park by Dinky Dyes, with a border of seed beads and a little silvered charm.

So to win the biscornu simply be a follower and comment on the post below.

Thank you so much for reading my blog over the last 2 years. All the lovely comments really mean a lot and keep me crafting. Thank you to for the friendships. I've made some very good friends through blogging who are so kind and generous in many ways.

Good luck everyone. xxx

Tusals and a 101 update.

Ok so the post I started writing for last months TUSAL didn't get finished, but I did take a picture so here are my June ORT's. Most of the colours are from things I made for Laura's birthday. Lots of silver bits from Dorothy's shoes, the red, blue, yellow and green from the biscornu and pinks from the piggy keyring.

So here you can see it with our lettuce crop - it's the only thing that is thriving in our garden other than the weeds. It actually ticks off one of my 101 too which was to grow something from seed.

So here is this months ort pile...

I had a bit of a tidy up in my craft corner - not that you'd notice now and that is a job for this afternoon as we have friends down tomorrow.
As I've already caused much excitement with my lettuce here is a bit more of a 101 update.

so we are now at 638 days to go with 27 goals in progress and 16 completed (15%)

The lettuce was a tick as it was the grow veggies from seed. It's been lovely to just go into the garden and pick some leaves for a salad or to pop in with a sandwich.

The other tick was make ice cream from scratch. I was at my Mum's last week and the kids were watching the cbeebies program I can cook. Katy the host made strawberry meringue ice cream. It looked very easy so we made it at home.

Here it is just before we froze it. I forgot to take an after picture but it didn't look a whole lot different. It was very yummy though!

Thank you to Steph, Laura, Christine and Sarah  for sending me lots of postcards. I'm up to 43 out of 101 so well on my way now.

Sarah also sent me a lovely biscornu, some cross stitch charts, maderia threads as well a the postcards.

The biscornu was blue on the other side. Sarah had said she would send me a postcard to help with my 101 but I didn't expect a lovely parcel like this. Thanks again Sarah!

I mentioned in my summer swap post about the postcards Steph sent me so here they are...

So apologies that once again this is a bit late, I seem to be full of good blogging intentions. Don't forget to enter my blog giveaways - I'm running 4 over the coming 4 weeks so lots of chances to win.

Have a great weekend!

2nd Blogversary Giveaway #1

Hi everyone,

Today is my 2nd blogversary and to celebrate this I'm having a series of giveaways each with a different prize.

I've made a few charm bracelets recently and I really love making them. Jewellery was one of the first real hobbies I had and I still like to dabble. Taking part in the travelling box has renewed my enthusiasm for it as it isn't so time consuming but you can create some beautiful things.

The first prize is a charm bracelet in my blogversary extraganza. Here are some ones I've made recently so you can get an idea of what you can win.

It will be a made especially for you and feature a couple of charms that make it personal to you. To win the bracelet please comment on this post with the following:

• Favourite colour
• Favourite animal(s)
• Main craft hobbies - (crochet, stitching etc)
• Any other hobbies - (reading, baking etc)

This giveaway will run for a week and close at midnight (GMT) on 16th August I will use the random number generating child to pick a winner.

Please feel free to share this on your blog if you wish.

Good luck everyone

Kids Life Ministries

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all your lovely comment on the swap Steph and I did. I hope you are all keeping well. I thought I'd just drop by and share a little update from my friend in Thailand who lives and works at a childrens home there.

Jennie came home to visit last month and I had a lovely evening with friends catching up with her and hearing all what the children have been up to there. Jennie brought back with her some of the earrings and cross stitch the children have been doing, in the hope she could sell a few and earn a little money for the girls.

As you can see there was an awful lot to choose from. I got a pair of earrings each for Steph and Laura as they had both been very generous and sent lots of beads and charms for the girls last year.

I sent the lilac ones to Steph and Laura and the green star ones were for me. They were all packaged really nicely with the name of the girl who had made them on the back. Mine were made by Nok.

Some of the girls had also been cross stitching and made little keyrings. Here is mine. This was stitched by New. 

Part of the reason the girls learn cross stitch is that it is often featured on traditional Thai clothing, so it is important that they learn traditional skills. Some of the older girls also learn a type of Thai loom work to make bags and other things. Because the girls (and boys) come from a childrens home they are heavily discriminated against by most of society so by learning these skills and also the English language they get a a better chance at work and education.  

I must finish sorting out some fabric and threads for them as another friend is going out next week and she can take them to Jennie for the girls. I love to hear what they've been up to and hope my lovely blogger friends didn't mind me sharing this with you all.

Look out next week for the start of my blogversary giveaways!

Summer swap part 2

Hello again,

 So I showed you all the marvelous goodies that Steph sent me in our summer swap. As I mentioned we each chose colours and Steph chose yellow and purple. I had great fun crafting for this and here are my makes...

So I made a biscornu from a recent pattern in a WOXS chartbook. It's the same design stitched with the colours reversed for the base with different thicknesses of threads.

And then the biscornu's got a little smaller...the one on the necklace is about an inch or so big and the small one is about 3/4". It had been ages since i made really small ones so these worked well with the fabric scraps from the biscornu.

I made a 'Steph' charm bracelet and matching earrings.

I hadn't made any felties for a while so when I brought the made in felt mag I fell in love with the mermaid and little bear so made both of them for Steph, changing the colours to fit our swap. I added some angelina fibres to the mermaid body for some shimmer.

I also made a little pansy bookmark, nailfile cover and a friendly plastic brooch.

I also popped in some fabric, beads, buttons, ribbon and charms along with some wool.

and a jelly belly candle, tissues and 2 handmade soap I picked up at a craft fayre a while back. My son also made Steph a bracelet. He chose all the beads himself ans put it together, just needing a little help with the findings.

The second part of the swap were summer themed ATC's. It's been about 12 months since I made any but I had a couple I'd stitched already and I made the friendly plastic beach hut and needle felted the ice cream.

This swap wa so much fun to do and I think Steph liked her presents.