Corsage cuteness

Hi everyone!

I have really got the crochet bug pretty badly at the moment, I just cant seem to put that hook down!!

One of my recent making sprees has resulted in a variety of different corsages:

I just loved the button, looks like a sweet I think!

Although the next corsage looks beautifully simple, in fact its quite hard work as I had to put double crochet and trebles (9!!) into the same double crochet - quite tough for the fingers, but well worth the work when you see the result:

This one is made in rows and then sewn into place:

with a few seed beads in the centre for added sparkle.

Here is my collection of crochet corsages - Im not sure which is my favourite...

Which one do you like best?

Helenxx

Woodland magic

Good evening everyone - hope you have enjoyed the lovely weather we have been having today - looks like we are having an Indian Summer!

This weekend I was fortunate enough to go walking with DH in our local outwoods.  It is an amazing place, I have always loved it since I was a child.

Lovely magical vistas...

Amazing glimpses through ancient branches..



Eye popping colour - usually these beech trees dont turn this golden hue until November...

I used to go on fungi foraging trips with my dad to these woods - he was very skillful at knowing what was dangerous and what was edible - this was a definite DONT TOUCH OR EAT toadstool..

But a real treat to see nonetheless.  And after all that wandering around the woods, what better than a little treat when arriving back home...

coffee and handmade caramel fudge!  Thats the life...

Helenxx

Welcome Autumn - season of mists and mellow fruitfulness...and news of a giveaway!

Hello everyone thanks so much for dropping by on this, the first day of Autumn...

I love, love, love autumn - it has always been my favourite time of year ever since I can remember.  A lot of people used to say "as you grow older Helen you will prefer the spring instead" but, as Im now the "other side of 50" I think that they must have been wrong as I love it more than ever!  I think it is the brilliance of the colours of the leaves (and how fleeting that beauty is), the wonderful fruitfulness that abounds everywhere (including pumpkins!), woodsmoke from bonfires in gardens and on allotments, darker evenings, melancholy misty weather - I adore it all.  I love the fact that I can get the slowcooker out and make yummy vegetable soups.   And make bonfire toffee.  And bake yummy pumpkin pies which are laced with cinammon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves.  And there are some very enjoyable events where I get together with dear friends thrown in as well for good measure!

As I said in my last post I am feeling very crafty - every autumn I find that I feel like this.  So I am making lots of corsages at the moment, Im busy filling up a big box for presents and gifts that will be needed over the coming months.

This is my latest - a real autumn corsage:

Just loved the autumn themed fabric!

Have a wonderful first day of Autumn, whatever it is you get up to!!

Helenxx

PS please check out Sue's autumn giveaway - photo and link in my sidebar!!

Crochet and autumnal musings....

Good morning, hope the sun is shining wherever you are - it is here at the moment, with a lovely blue sky and fluffy white clouds - better get the washing out on the line while it lasts....

As my regular readers will know, Im really into crochet at the moment.  With the chillier evenings now it is lovely to cosy up with some yarn.  I have had some bigger projects on the go (blankets) but I also love to have something that I can finish in an evening as well.

I have lots of crafty bits that I love - I have a real "thing" for buttons, always have had.  My darling mum is a trained tailor and used to have her own home dressmaking business, making everything from Victorian-style wedding dresses (months of the living room being covered in plastic so that the white satin didnt get dirty) to hand puppets.  She has a lovely tin of buttons - it was a free tin from Tide washing powder I seem to remember, each tin had a painting of a London park or square on on it.  The buttons she has date back to her grandmothers time and as my mum is now 85 and her mum didnt get married and have children until her late thirties you can imagine how old some of these buttons are.  My daughter loves to go through this tin with me and my mum - its just so wonderful to see how these interests are passed from mother to daughter to grandaughter.

My buttons are kept in old Bonne Maman jam jars - I love their cheery gingham style lids

so, we have definitely established that I love buttons!

But I love fabric too, and the two together blend very nicely into making Suffolk Puffs (or yo-yo's)

But then again there is that yarn obsession, so I decided to crochet a large flower then put the whole lot together:

I was really pleased with the combination and the results and will be making many more I think as the evenings draw in.

My colour palette is usually quite muted, as with the colours I have chose for the corsage. But although I have used green wool, to me the colour is not the green we associate with spring but more with the gradual slide into autumn.....a colleague at work bought a pumpkin in for me from their allotment

And what is a pumpkin other than a sign of autumn?  So for me these shades of green are autumnal greens...

Im really loving the autumn colours creeping into to my garden and the local countryside...hopefully I will soon be able to pop up to the local outwoods to photograph some of the astonishingly beautiful - and weird- fungi that appear at this time of year.  

What are the things that remind you that autumn is on its way?

Have a lovely weekend, Helenxxx

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside...

Hi everyone!

I do love all things to do with the seaside which is why I jumped at the chance to be involved in the seaside swap!  I was paired up with the lovely Julie from  A Tale from Toadstool House (to see what she sent me please take a peek at my post from 8/9/11).

Here is what I made for her:

A little fishy needlecase:

A nautical heart:

And a few other bits and bobs to go with them:

I had such fun putting this together, as I love anything to do with the sea! 

Helenxx

Sugar and spice and all things nice...

Thats what little girls are made of!!

I made this blanket recently for one of my relatives who is expecting a little baby girl any day now:

I loved working on it, the yarn, called Snowdrop,was so soft and snuggly

The pattern is really like a giant granny square

I have just bought some autumnal coloured yarn to make a throw in the same pattern for our sofa, so watch this space!

Loved making something for a baby, something I hadnt done since mine were tiny.

Helenxx

WIP finally completed!

Hi everyone!

Do you ever have a WIP that just seems to get overlooked - well that was the case with this piece of crochet

And yet, after just one hour of assembling it's fellow squares, this is what I ended up with:

It is so comfy and cosy, just the ticket for snuggling up with when doing some crafting sitting in my favourite arm chair!

Im so pleased I found it in my stash bag.  I had forgotten just how much I loved the colours.

Just lurving crochet at the minute - I think its the darker evenings and autumn creeping in.

Helenxx

lovely giveaway goodies!

Hi everyone hope you are looking forward to a fun and craft-filled weekend!

I was lucky recently and won the giveaway hosted by the lovely Pink Fluffy Warrior - just look what I got!!!!

Am I a lucky lady or what?!  Thanks so very much for all of these lovely goodies, Im thrilled!

My daughter, R, is constantly amazed and delighted by all the bloggy love out there - she is my blogging secretary, helping with choosing and wrapping swaps being posted from Moonstruck HQ as well as helping to unpack those goodies arriving to us!

She cant wait to start a blog of her own, but 13 is a bit too young yet!

In the meantime I will leave you with a pic of one of her cookery moments...

she made this for one of her 3 brothers  - of course it all got eaten up very very quickly!

Helenxx

Seaside Swap!

Evening all!

Today, yet again, I have been bowled over by the kindness of a fellow blogger - this time its Julie at A Tale from Toadstool House.

Prepare, dear friends, to be amazed - here we go!!

First up some lovely themed stationery supplies:

These next two treasures are hanging proudly in my kitchen:

Inspired by the sea, beautiful candle holders:

and jewellery...

An perfectly sweet lighthouse - now proudly gracing my bedroom windowsill..

And even in the land-locked Midlands I can now hear the sea...

Here is everything together with a beautiful hand-made card, chocolate (now gone!!) and two lovely red hearts - these not in a seaside theme but Julie made them because she knows how much I love hearts!

What a haul of treasure!!  Thanks so so much Julie for being such a fabulous swap partner - hope you like the bits and pieces I sent you too...will post these on another day as it has taken over 2 hours to do this post as blogger is being a bit of a rascal today!

Helenxx

And the winner is.....

Hi everyone!

Thanks so much to those of you who joined in my little competion/giveaway!

So where in the world have I been?

the answer is......

The beautiful country of Jordan!!

Congratulations to the winner - Fruitful Fusion!

Please email me at moonstruckcreations@hotmail.co.uk and tell me what colour you would like your handmade heart to be, and where you would like me to post it to.

(photo courtesy of Visit Jordan Website)

Helenxx

Giveaway reminder!

Morning everyone, hope your week has got off to a great start!

Just a quick reminder that the Where in The World giveaway/competion closes at midnight tonight.

Please check out my 31st August post for full details!  Hope that you will join in!

Here are a few of the hearts I made over the summer:

I just love making them, not least because of the soothing scent of the lavendar I use to pop inside them - and anything calming is great for me as Im a teacher so really I get a double dose of stress-busting when I making them!

Im thinking of starting an etsy or folksy shop soon to try and sell a few as we head towards the Festive Season - do you think people would buy them?  And if so, what would be a fair price?

Helenxx

A Very Happy Un-birthday (swap) to Me!!!!

Hello again!

Well, Im back with details of yet another super swap I was lucky enough to be involved in, the Unbirthday Swap, organised by the lovely Helen, the Undomesticated Scientist.  We were involved in a three-way swap, where Helen sent her parcel to me, I sent mine to Bibbitybob, who sent her parcel to Helen.

Well, was I spoiled on my un-birthday or what?! This is what Helen sent to me:

First out the wraps, a delicious box of Lush - my trusty swap-parcel opening assistant (my 13 year old daughter) has got her eyes on this as she is a Lush addict, so have hid this somewhere safe (I hope!!)

Next was some lovely local goodies, how convenient that Helen lives in the city of Cadbury Chocolate...

BTW the little goody in the centre of the pic is a tape measure!

Helen has me sussed well and truly as the block of chocolate above was not the only edible treat:

There was some fabric loveliness:

Doesnt the blue fabric look like bundles of corn?  Ideal for some late summer hearts methinks...

Just look at this fantastic bag made by Helen - and the lovely unusual packing materials:

A tin of very handy and pretty crafty supplies:

I have always wanted something by Emma Bridgewater, and now my dream has come true:

Here is a pic of all these amazing goodies together:

Thank you so so much Helen for all of these fantastic goodies, once again I have been truly spoiled!

Here is what I sent to Bibbitybob:

Have a great day!

Helenxx