More lovely swap goodies!

It all seems to be swaps and giveaways at the moment - normal service will resume shortly! BUT before it does I had to show you the amazing swap goodies that Wendy sent me. I've been reading Wendy's blog The Crafter's Apprentice for a while and loving all the different crafts she tries so I was very excited about this swap. And with good reason, look at all the lovely things she sent me! First up some gorgeous granny bunting:


I haven't decided where to put it - probably in my bedroom as I think it will look fab hanging above my bed.

Next, a gorgeous owl softie. Wendy knew how much I loved her bunnies in a similar style but if its possible I think I love the owls even more.


If you love them as much as me then you could head over her shop and snap one up yourself!

If that wasn't enough look at all the other goodies I got too:


Wendy sent me a lovely lavender filled heart (the package smelt amazing), a gorgeous pouch which I have already started using:


A really cute card with a mini quilt on:


And finally this beautiful bracelet:


Hehee - I am a lucky girl! Thanks so much Wendy - I love it all so much. Once again I feel that the package I sent is nowhere near as good as what I received!

Wendy told me she liked red and blue together and I think I went a bit mad on the theme. Here is what I sent:


One of my octomonsters! I never would have made one in these colours but I am really pleased with the results.


I know Wendy loves bunnies (she has FOUR!) so I included this cute little amigurumi rabbit.


And I put the two fused glass necklaces I was sending in this little pouch:


I've really enjoyed doing the two swaps I've done recently - what could be more exciting than receiving a package full or surprise goodies in the post? It is so fun! If anyone else fancies doing a swap then please feel free to get in touch (although I might need a little break to get on with all the other stuff I need to make!) and I'd love to arrange something :o)

Hope you all have a lovely week xx

PS. The bunny and pouch will be going up on ravelry soon so if you want to know where I got the patterns you should be able to find them on there!

Giveaway Reminder and Gorgeous Swap Goodies!

Firstly, just a reminder that my giveaway closes at midnight tonight. If you haven't entered all ready then head over to this post and leave a comment post haste! I will announce the winners tomorrow.

Now, onto the loveliness! A while ago the lovely Lori from Hippywitch crafts and I agreed to have a swap. It started when I asked if anyone wanted to have a swap from some of my fused glass goodies and went from there and this week I received a lovely package of goodies from her - so exciting! I told Lori I liked the sea and snorkelling and diving and look at these lovely amigurumi sea creatures she sent me:



I LOVE them - so cute. And such happy colours - really brightened up my dull Thursday afternoon! And if that wasn't enough (and it totally was!) Lori also included this beautiful cross stitch ornament in some of my favourite colours:


And this fab cow cross stitch card:


I told Lori that I seem to have been given a lot of cow things in the past (I try not to read too much into this!!) so it is very appropriate for me! Thank you so much for the goodies Lori - I love them so much! If you fancy seeing more loveliness like this then I suggest you pop over to Lori's blog or etsy shop!

I know Lori has received her package from me so I can show you what I sent her too. Firstly a couple of glass necklaces:


A cute little amigurumi cat (Lori told me she is a mad cat lady!):


A plush strawberry ornament / pin cushion:


And finally a little crochet bag in some of Lori's favourite colours to keep her necklaces safe:


I really enjoyed doing a swap and am definitely planning to do lots more in future! I hope you are all having a lovely weekend - staying warm and doing lots of crafting. I will be back tomorrow to announce the giveaway results.

xxx

GIVEAWAY!

As promised a little while ago I have finally got round to arranging a little giveaway on my blog! Yay! No particular reason really - I just see so many lovely giveaways on other blogs (I've even won a couple - thanks Laura and Zoe!) and wanted to get involved and say thank you for reading :o)

There are no rules and regulations - all you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post and I will do a random draw in 2 weeks time on Saturday 11th February. You are of course welcome to become a follower or tell your friends but there is no obligation to do so! Depending on how many entries I get I might split the prize and have two winners...

So, a closeup of the prizes:

A little amigurumi owl (pattern here)

A sparkly dichroic glass necklace on a silver chain.

A decorative plush felt cactus - I use mine as a pin cushion.

And last but not least a smiley amigurumi fried egg (more info on this pattern in my previous blog post)

I hope you all enter (please enter! I don't want a giveaway with no entries!). Thank you for all your support and lovely comments over the 6 months or so!

Have a lovely weekend xx

Amigurumi Fried Egg

I've been doing loads of crochet recently and as well as working on my blanket I've had a go at some smaller amigurumi projects. I've also started using ravelry properly (oooh - so addictive!) which has given me access to loads more patterns. Which is probably how I found myself at 1 a.m. on Sunday morning (after a night out!) trying to finish crocheting a fried egg for no reason at all! Here is the result:


The pattern is on ravelry here. Unfortunately it is in Japanese and I don't know about you but my Japanese isn't up to much!! Luckily there is also a charted pattern here and some speedy googling led me to a conversion chart so I could work out what the symbols meant. Once that was done the pattern came together very quickly - the only frustrating bit was adding the safety eyes (does everyone else find them an absolute pain to put on?! they drive me mad!). The pattern didn't call for a face but I do love a spot of anthropomorphism. And who couldn't love an egg with a smiley face :o)

Having sent the photo to a few people telling them they were a good egg (aaaah I love a lame pun!) I decided to make another one, this time with a sad face:


Apparently the egg is actually supposed to be a tawashi which is a traditional Japanese scrubbing brush. I won't be using mine as a scrubbing brush though (I'm not sure I could with the safety eyes in there!). I will be giving one away and keeping one to add to my collection of cute but ultimately pointless things (item #713).


(Sorry - I couldn't resist a pic of the eggs together in a frying pan!)

I'll post some of the other things I have been working on soon. In the meantime if anyone wants to find me on ravelry I am here with the username thedottyone. Although I have been on ravelry for a while I have only just started using it properly and I will be putting up my pictures and completed projects soon. Please free to add me as a friend if you are on there too - I'd love to see what you are up to and don't have many friends at the moment!! :o(

Happy crafting xx