Monday Makes

So, after a few months of this:

And this:

I am finally back to feeling like myself again :) Ready to get back into the swing of things and kick start my blogging again!
(I may explain things in a later post, but today is just about all the lovely makes I've made whilst AWOL).

Where to start.....? I guess I'll start with how I'm doing on the Summer Stitching Club (yep, still haven't finished it and we've had the Autumn one AND now the Winter one has started.....).
My last post featured the ice lolly design, so here's what I've done so far:

All the hexagons have now been joined together and I'm just finishing off the last few instructions before it's done! My sister bought me a mini sewing machine for my birthday in November - I can't wait to use it for this!

I've also been busy making presents for other people. This (excuse the poor stitching, my first attempt!) for my nephew:

And got a little further with my nieces cross stitch:

And this for my awesome Wiggy wifey's birthday (pattern from Wild Olive's Friendship Week post):

And earrings for le momma. My aunty got her this gorgeous bracelet for her birthday back in March and she hadn't been able to find earrings to match. So after a lot of searching, I finally found beads to match (metallic petroleum blue is not as common as you'd think apparently). Then I hit Hobbycraft for some supplies and this is what I made. Not bad for a first attempt and possibly a new hobby:

And more recently, I made Xmas lucky pants badges for my Slay Belles Intraleague team (pattern taken from Bugs and Fishes Blog):

Whilst on the Xmas theme, I attempted my very first blanket stitch......:

And lastly, something that I look at every day, to remind me (pattern from Wild Olive's Let Go Of Your Kite post):

Monday Makes

Following on from the last Monday Makes, here's my progress on the Summer Stitching Club:

Almost guess correctly on this pattern - I said it might be a drink xD

And this cute little guy is the last pattern in the food theme.  He also finishes off another row!  And here's what it looks like so far:

I've also been on the perler bead trail, this time making a Hello Kitty for birthday girl Maxx:

I got the pattern here - Kandi Patterns.  This is a great site for perler beads.

Feeling creative after pay day, I popped down to HobbyCraft and decided to make the nephew a shield and sword (he loves Mike The Knight!):

Not the best stitching job I've ever done, but I've put that down to my blunt needles, which I've only really used for cross stitch and some embroidery.  I made a template out of card for both the shield and sword, then I cut the felt out about half an inch around bigger than the template (so I had room to stuff the felt).  I completely forgot to pick up something to stuff the felt with, so I used some wool I had lying around that I probably won't ever use again.  I hope he likes them!

Monday Makes

What a hectic few weeks I've had!  With getting organised for the boy coming over to visit, the blog has been neglected, but I'm back now :)

I'm still plodding along with the Summer Stitching Club.  I love how easy it is to catch up when I "miss" a week.  Here's what I've done so far:

With the first four patterns completed, I stitched the hexagons into rows, ready for the next row of four patterns.  I still have to join them vertically, which I'm slighty panicking about - I always get like this when I do something I've never tried before.  Hopefully I won't mess it up!

The next pattern was this cute picnic basket.  I'm not sure that mine looks right compared to some of the others that have been shared.  But I still like it.

And last Monday's pattern, the snow cone.  I think this might be one of my favourites!

So, with that pattern done, I am now officially half way through the project!  We get another pattern today, with only a hint that it's going to be food related.  Food, summer, beach....hmmmm, maybe a glass of some kind of summery drink?

Monday Makes

It's been a very productive week for me! :D
Firstly, I missed the derby trip to McDonalds after training (stupid shifts....), so I lost out to getting my very own minion from Despicable Me 2, sad Moogle :(  So I decided to make my own!

Which did me until the lovely Tiny Tearaway surprised me with two of my very own from another McDonalds that hadn't sold out :D

We have a few crafty/fundraising things coming up with both Fierce Valley Roller Girls and the Cubs, so I've been trying to think of things I can make to contribute.  I came up with this:

I hope it looks like a skate!  I'm thinking I can make it into a fridge magnet or possibly keyring.  It might be too big for a necklace.  We'll see.

I've also been catching up on the Summer Stitching Club.

I'm quite happy with how this one came out.  I've done a little better on this one compared to the sunglasses from the last Monday Makes.  The stitches are closer and I've managed a circle!

The swimsuit was a little trickier, but I'm happy with this one too :)

The sunhat....was probably the most difficult for me.  I don't think I traced the image well enough onto the linen and for some reason, I completely messed up my french knots for the eyes.  I just lost it :(

And here is the progress so far which I posted up on Wild Olive's Flickr group.

I'm hoping to get the blue fabric tomorrow to finish off the hexies (I finally decided on a pattern!).  Then I can start joining them together.

Monday Makes

I finally got started on the Wild Olive Summer Stitching Club last week!  Like I've previously said, this is going to be a every-2nd-week kind of thing due to my shifts, but I am making progress :)

I started by making the patterned hexagons.  Remember the "footprints in the sand" fabric I bought? (from my "In My Shopping Bag" post).  After buying that, I knew I wanted a beach themed project - it goes well with the patterns we're receiving from Mollie and my room is slowly becoming beach/sea themed.  So, I found another sandy themed fabric from the same company, Makower, and ta da!  My very first hexagon was made!  (I can't believe how nervous I was doing this first one!).

Once I got the hang of it, I was unstoppable, and finished quite quickly!

I still have to chose a fabric for the blue hexagons on the outside (see here for some fellow Summer Stitchers amazing projects! "Summer Stitching Club progress"), there are too many to chose from!
I then moved on to embroidering my first pattern.  I've never embroidered before, but thanks to all the cross stitching I've been doing lately, back stitch wasn't an issue for me and I felt a bit more confident about the whole thing.  I also did my very first french knot!

Once the excitement of completing my very first embroidery pattern wore off, I realised I'd stitched the hexagon the wrong way up.....

Which I quickly fixed!
Then it was time to join some hexagons!

And this is how far I got.  I'm quite pleased with my progress, although for the next pattern, my back stitches will have less gaps between them!