Well bugger it anyway!
I’ve had a bit of a flare up over the past few days and the hands, feet, elbows and knees have been annoyingly sore. The pain is aggravating enough in itself, but it’s the tiredness that does it for me. Stubborn to the last, I just hate to give in. Which I know probably makes it worse, but your a long time dead. I know it’s bad though, when I start looking for shoes in the hope that my feet will hurt less. Short of being able to purchase a nice pair of strap on clouds, I’m not sure there actually is a dream pair for me.
As they say, “this to will pass” and whilst I might be a little slower at the moment, it could be a lot bloody worse.
The hubby came home from the UK for a couple of days and as expected, he brought with him The Big Comic Relief Crafternoon Magazine, from Mollie Makes to cheer me up. Like a lot of us (I’m sure), I’m a bit of a magazine junkie, although I’ve seriously curbed my enthusiasm now I no longer have the shop. I even read the bulk of them via the library on Zino now, but there’s nothing like being able to dip in and out of a ‘real’ mag is there? Often it will take me a good week to read a magazine from cover to cover and if it’s a crafty one it can be much longer.
Emma Freud is the director of Red Nose Day and her introduction to the second edition of the magazine is lovely. Red Nose Day is an incredible event and it’s great to see how much good the money raised can do, both across the UK and abroad. Despite living in Ireland, I still watch quite a bit of the night’s entertainment and we always make a donation. (Although I do wish they’d have an international number for expats to be able to text in). Understandably, the first couple of pages are given over to highlighting the campaign and where your money goes, but from page eleven on, it’s all about the craft.
There are upwards of thirty six different projects in this special edition, generously contributed by many well known people in the crafting world. The projects range from the ridiculous, but funny Pompom Beard from Lauren O’Farrell aka @deadlyknitshade, to the delicate Paper Peonies by Lia Griffith. As with all issues of Mollie Makes, there are also several sheets of pretty papers, prints to colour, quotes to inspire and templates to complete your projects.
I’m still enjoying my copy, but wanted to share a few of my favourite projects with you, as it’s still available to download in digital format from Amazon, Zino and Google Play. When I checked the prices, Zino was the cheapest, but it’s worth looking again to make sure.
I opened the magazine on this adorable sewing hack tutorial, from Great British Sewing Bee winner Charlotte Newland. The sewing hack is one of my favourite parts of the program, I love to see what the contestants come up with. Charlotte’s tutorial is detailed and easy to understand and I’m eager to give it a go, but I’m not too sure where I find a mini person to gift it too?
(Fingers crossed the Sewing Bee returns as it’s produced by the same company as the Bake Off and we all know what’s happened there. Radio times article here.)
These Mini Cacti from Afsaneh Tajvidi from joojoo.me are one of eight Speedy Makes, perfect to create in a Crafternoon. Made from polymer clay, there’s no way I could possibly kill them off.
Hand’s up, I’m a little bit too curvaceous to feel comfortable wearing this great jersey dress designed by Lisa Comfort. Fortunately there’s a shorter top version, which has certainly tempted me to get the stretch fabric sewing machine needles out. In all seriousness though, it might be better to avoid the horizontal stripes.
Last up, because I’m hoping you’re feeling tempted to purchase your own copy, are these delightful little crochet birds. The design has been created by Clare Trowbridge and in the magazine there is a yellow version, which is perfect for Easter. (Sadly it wouldn’t photograph too well) They are the cutest of little birds and wouldn’t take too long to make. Even better you stuff them as you go – perfect.
Some of the other projects to have caught my eye, are the Botanical Block Stamps by Kathy Hutton, the Indigo Scarf by Francesca Stone and the Felt Dachshund by Jodie Carleton. There’s also great look at creating a Flatlay grouping to photograph, from Instagram star Phillipa Stanton aka @5ftinf
It’s well worth the money, especially as there’s a guaranteed £5 from the sale of every copy going to Comic Relief and to keep it local, you could always arrange a sale of crafty makes in your area.
I need to run and try and get to the supermarket before they sell out of everything, but before I go…….ta-dah!
I cat off my second version of the Marshmallow Hot Chocolate shawl, designed by Ruth McKeon of Knitterarium, which is available in the latest issue of Olann and. There’s still plenty of time to join the knitalong and both Deirdre and I, are thoroughly enjoying chatting to everyone about it. The kal runs until Sunday May 14th, so if you fancy joining us, please do. I’ll be sad when it’s over and am already thinking of ways to keep everyone on our Ravelry Board chatting.
You know what that means?
I can cast on something new ♥ ♥ ♥
Happy Making
Confessions of a Fibre Strumpet 