More biscornu and Crafternoon

Hi Everyone,
How are you all this Sunday afternoon? It's a wet old day here and I've gotten wet twice already going back and forth to Church so now I'm home I'm all ready to craft. But what is the question..? Whilst I have a think I'll fill you in about the Biscornu exchange and also how I got on with my Crafternoon.

I had a beautiful biscornu through the post from Ivory and a lovely card too. It really brightens up my biscornu bowl. I love the way Ivory has used a clear button to show the stitching right up to the centre. Here's the top...

And the bottom.

Here is the one I made for Ivory, I remembered she liked purple so I used a pale lilac mottled aida and a dark purple thread to do this blackwork design from an old WOXS. The blackwork garden design library has become a bit of an old faithful and I've stitched a fair few of the designs from it. Here's the top...

And you've guessed it...the bottom! I beaded it in a mill Hill bead that I brought by accident ages ago hoping it would be a matt silver, but they are more of a pinky bronze colour. I knew they'd come in handy at some point!

And so to crafternoon. I was very, very nervous about how it would turn out but I was pleased with how it went. I was joined by 7 crafters doing a wide range of crafts, We had a Knitter, Card maker, 3 doing Decopatch, a lady doing a tapestry and me stitching. Everyone was very enthusiastic about it and we discussed what we wanted the group to be, about the future 'Crafternoons' and chatted at length about each others hobbies. I really want to try Decopatch now. 2 of the ladies had brought some of their finished work and I'd taken my biscornu collection and ATC's so we had a bit of a show and tell too.

Thanks for reading and leaving me comments. I love to read them and it really encourages me to carry on blogging. As for the what to craft question, I think I'll do a little something for Black Pear. xx

Biscornu madness

So here is the February biscornu in all it's glory. I finished it about 10.30 last night. All I can say good job it was a leap year other wise I'd have been late finishing it. It's been my work project for most of the month so I've only grabbed an hour or so a couple of times a week. It was a big design that I put together myself using motifs from Cross stitcher (top) and WOXS (bottom).

I took some photos before I stitched it up so here is the top. Each motif represents a family member born in that particular year - Hubby - Dragon, Me - Snake, Thomas - Rooster and Lottie -Tiger.



And the bottom. I decided to try just stitching the outlines of the Chinese symbols, I don't think it looks too bad. If WOXS are right it should say 'Happy New Year'.

And all stitched up and finished with a little Chinese charm.

And the bottom. I must say that I was worried about the amount of unstitched fabric on both sides but once it was made up and 'buttoned' I think it just keeps it simple.

So here it is with the 'family' in my biscornu bowl. As it's the biggest (62 x62 stitches), it's nestled at the bottom of the bowl along with the15 other residents of the bowl! We had a little visit from Percy Pocketbug too. I expect he'll pop back next week to see my new biscornu from Ivory when it arrives.

Lastly I just want to say a big welcome to my new followers, Thanks for stopping by to read my nonsense. I've decided to have another giveaway when I reach 100 posts so only 27 to go! I just need to decide what to make and get into gear as I'm guessing it'll be about May when I hit the 100.

Kerry. xxx



Getting organised

So here is how I spent my time crafting over the weekend. I don't have a huge amount to show you as I seemed to start a few things but not finish much. I spent alot of time debating what I could do and not alot of time making.  I did do some more on February's biscornu. That's coming along nicely now considering alot of it has been done whilst at work. I'm guessing just an hour and then the time to make up will see it done, good thing as I only have 3 days left in Feb. I've writen out my March to stitch list as we have Mothering Sunday and Mum's birthday too plus all the usuals - ATC swaps and my monthly biscornu. I've a fairly good idea what to do for each of them, even if I don't have the exact design sorted. Laura and I are having another ATC swap towards the end of March, but I'm not sure how I can top the Blackwork Fairy.

So here is the only completed make - a door hanger for a baby's room.

My stuff for Black Pear had started to take over the living room again so I had a bit of a tidy up. Mum brought me this little chest last year and I had taken alot of bits out of it when I sorted my fabrics out. Everything is now neat and tidy in it's new home and there is alot less clearing away at night now, oh and no more "have you seen an ice cream tub" shouts to the family. (followed by "no not that one, or that one")

So you can see all my threads and templates in the top row of draws. The middle two contain the bits I've made recently and a couple of half started bits the right hand one my button tin and some stuffing. (not Paxo I hasten to add!) the bottom one has a box of ribbons, cut felt, and a little tray with alsorts in (beads, buttons I've picked out for projects, sequins and a few findings.)

Well today is going to be a day of boring chores and job applications so best I get on. I've just done a little sketch of a design I quite fancy trying so the quicker I get done the quicker I can get started on this design. Have a fab week friends and thanks for stopping by. xxx

A stroll in the woods

Hi everyone,
No crafting but I thought I'd share a few pics from our afternoon at the local country park.

We're very fortunate to have a lovely local wood and with it being such a beautiful spring day we went for a walk. When we got there they were having a Woodlands Alive! event where they had traditional woodland crafts and skills such as willow crafts and coppicing. The RSPB were there and Thomas made a bird feeder fat ball thing. The picture above shows one of the many carvings in the wood and here is Percy Pocketbug having a rest with the Owl.

My favourite of the carvings is this one below, He's slightly off the main track so we had to hunt for him a bit. He's somewhat 'loved' now but still a worthy photo.

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend, I'm off to finish a little pillow design I've been working on. Thanks for stopping by and reading. xx

My new little friend

Hey folks,

Well it's glorious day here which is so uplifting and adding a little crafty parcel popping through the letter box, the day doesn't get much better, (oh except the phone call from Mum to say she has brought cakes from our favourite patisserie for when we visit later) The down side is that my 22 month old daughter has chicken pox. I'll just have to make the best of the extra time at home and craft like mad.

Laura and I had an ATC swap and our swaps arrived today. Here is the ATC, I love floral designs so this cheerful design made me smile. On the back Laura has stamped 'If friends were flowers, I'd pick you.'

There was a liitle surprise in the parcel of this little Pocket Bug, So called as He is so sweet and called Percy (well until number 1 son changes it). So keep your eyes peeled for Percy's adventures over the coming weeks.

Here is the ATC I sent Laura. I was flicking through some old mags looking for designs for some other projects when I stumbled on this blackwork fairy alphabet. I've stitched from it before but I knew it would be perfect for Laura. I changed the gold to a lilac metallic and lilac seed beads as I know Laura is a bit of a purple person. I think it's my favourite ATC I've stitched so far.

Lastly a few more makes for Black Pear makes. Max the dog, Ruby the Elephant, and a little car keyring.

Thanks for stopping by and reading, Have a lovely weekend where ever you are. xx

ATC's, seaside exchange and Union Jacks

Hi Everyone,

I hope today finds you all well my friends. My Postie has been busy bringing me more lovely crafty post. I recieved my February ATC's from the two Bubble groups. Heather's group had an open theme as usual and I recieved the floral one and the fish from that. Lorraine's Group was an open theme for 2 cards and Luck of the Irish for the single card. So here they are, more welcome additions to my box. It'll soon be time to do the March ones and I'm thinking there will be several Easter ones.

I showed you the Lighthouse I made for the seaside exchange. Here is the gorgeous Lavender filled sachet I recieved from my partner Alison. It's fabulous and I LOVE beach huts. I will be hanging up today without fail.

I persuaded hubby to take me to Hobbycraft on Tuesday and had a little stock up. I picked up some ribbon, felt and a few buttons. We had a look round Webbs which is the Garden Centre that HC is in. they had some lovely gift ideas so I got a bit of inspiration thrown in too.

Once I got back from HC I worked on a couple of ideas for Black Pear I'd been designing. I love some of the Union Jack stuff that is about at the moment so here is my take on it - a hanging decoration and a keyring.

I've been coming up with lots more ideas so I'm going to have a day of experiments and making templates for the new ideas. Hopefully I'll have something to show you soon.
thanks for stopping by to read. xx

The launch...

Oh my do I have exciting things to share with you or what!!!

So firstly remember the lighthouse from my last post - well here it is all made up and ready to head off to it's new owner. Turned out quite well and with my love of lighthouses, I quite want to keep it for myself. It'd go rather nicely in my cloakroom...NO  must send it on it's way.

Right and on to my exciting news.

Black Pear Crafts is open for business!!! I decided it was high time that I gave selling a shot the other 11 months of the year. Yesterday saw me launch my facebook page and start building an Etsy shop, or rather Hubby did the computer stuff, I made shopping lists. He even designed a logo for my friend Kayla for her Facebook page. Today he gets the task of uploading the first 5 items to my shop. He might have to retake the photos if the light gets better and as my hands were a bit shaky.

The name Black Pear comes from an ancient pear variety grown locally for maybe up to 1000 years. It is featured on the City's Coat of Arms and Hubby and I came up with it whilst brainstorming names last week. Here's the logo he designed.

So here are yesterdays makes. Most were experiments on my hearts theme. The colours were chosen by my sister in law who may well be my first customer!

I love the pink and white heart, I think it's my favourite of all of them. I've felt cut for 3 more so I'll be trying more ideas out later. I'm trying to persuade hubby that a trip to Hobbycraft later is essential business research!

Well I'm off to add these pic's to FB, I'll add links in another post when I've got stuff in my Etsy shop. Thanks for reading and enjoy those pancakes today everyone. We've invited ourselves to Mum's as she makes great ones. xx