The end of the summer holidays!

It only seems like a few days ago that the school year finished and the 'long' summer holiday began. Now it is drawing to a close and teachers, children and parents are getting ready for the start of the new school year. 
The summer has been a very productive crafty time, and taking photos of my projects has made me realise how much time I have spent doing what I love! Some of the projects aren't yet finished but I thought that I would do some 'work in progress' pictures of these so I can monitor how they are going and, in the case of one, how much closer it is to being finished!

The pictures above are of an adaptation of the bead merchant Alston cuff pattern that I made earlier in the year. The only difference is that the clasp is a loop and embellished rivoli rather that a buckle. The box was covered in decopatch paper, and put together made a perfect gift! 

During June I stayed away from home for a week or so and decided to make a crochet blanket. It started off as a small project, but took considerably longer than I anticipated!! I was intending to use up scraps of wool that I had, and also raided my Mum's stash, as I decided to make a v stitch centre and then add some granny squares around the edge. After several weeks of hooky, it finally got finished and is surprisingly warm. Despite it only being the start of September it has already had some use!

As the end of the summer term rapidly approached, attention turned to end of year presents for the lovely ladies in my team at school. The homemakery has a blog which happened to have a pattern using lace zips which was very easy to follow so, after making a prototype for my Mum's birthday (sorry Mum) sewing commenced! Once finished chocolate bars were added - always welcome at the end of the school year!












The photo on the left is a special request present of a draw string bag. Very useful in the classroom!!

At the end of the school year I was lucky enough to be made a lovely loom band bear, and attached was the most beautiful glass handmade apple bead. Luckily enough the name of the maker of the glass bead was included with the gift and it didn't take very long for me to investigate her wares. Glittering prize makes stunning beads and other glass bits and pieces and, with another birthday gift needed, I managed to find some suitable beads in her etsy shop. I was so pleased with the end results that I ordered some more beads to make another one for myself. Well it would have been rude not to!!

Another supplier of glass beads is Jo, who sells directly from her website. She also has a facebook group which is for people who buy beads from her. As part of the group she runs themed competitions and the winning piece wins £5 to spend in her shop. The theme for the competition for July was animals and the one for August was yellow. 

Surprisingly my entry for July (the right hand photo) won and I used the winnings to buy the yellow beads for August. 

Yellow really isn't my colour and I made and re-made this bracelet for ages before I was happy with it. The little bird is hand made and sold at bead me up buttercup and the fabulous sixpence clasp is also hand made by the wonderful bits of NikNats. I love the way she has taken old coins and recycled them into something unique. 

Numerous purchases and oddments from my stash have been used to make other bits and pieces. Most of the components are from bead me up buttercup and smitten beads. Both companies make and sell packs of colour co-ordinated beads and findings, which is a great start if you are struggling to put colours together. 

The most ambitious project of the summer was the construction of an evening outfit for an event in the autumn. I had forgotten how long it takes to cut out all the pieces, let alone put them together!! It is almost finished, apart from the hem of the skirt and the removal of the last of the tacking. I love the colour and it fits beautifully. I can't wait to wear it. The fabric was purchased online at cheap fabrics and cost less than £35. Much cheaper that buying something off the peg. The pearl necklace is a Gatsby inspired pattern from beads direct, which was quick and easy to make but, being made with swarovski pearls, wasn't the most economical cost wise. It will look stunning against the dark blue. 

I have also finished a few kits over the last couple of weeks. These include the caterpillar bracelet from the bead merchant and the Casablanca and Marrakech kits from Spellbound. There is also an Oak tree crafts kit that I've made but, as it's in preparation for Christmas, it will have to stay secret for now!!

Caterpillar bracelet

Finally a huge, long term work in progress. This cross stitch has been on the go for an age and every now and again it comes out and I do a little bit more. I think the time has come to get it finished and I am hoping that it will be done by this time next year (did say it was a long term one!) 

Having spent a week of my summer creating a small crafting work area I am hoping that I manage to get cracking on some Christmas bits over the next couple of weeks and also finish off another Bead merchant kit, the baubles bracelet, which I snapped up in the sale for £12!! Bargain!! Wish me luck!!!!

After! I've forgotten to take a picture of the sewing machine cover I ran up!!

Before