A lovely weekend

I've had a great weekend, I just wish it could go on for longer:

On saturday I collected my wedding dress! I'd post a picture but I'm keeping it a secret from the groom until the big day. I can't believe how close the wedding is suddenly - there's only 3 months to go. I really must post those invitations tomorrow.

Saturday evening involved board games, good company and the best shepherd's pie ever.

I received my partner for the Tiny House Swap on Craftster. I was expecting to be making a cute little pastel coloured cottage this week, so I was a little thrown when I got a partner who likes bright colours and doesn't want anything too cutesy. I have a great idea though, and what I like most about swaps is the challenge of using the information given by my parter to design something for them.

We've had some spectacular thunder storms, I don't even begrudge spending 10 minutes getting drenched chasing a rabbit who didn't want to go back into her hutch out of the rain!

And today I finally did something I've been wanting to do for ages, but haven't dared to do - I opened a shop on Etsy:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/RachelStitches

All there is there so far are some felt brooches and a fridge magnet, but I have plans for much much more. Here is my favourite item I listed today:

Nothing to report...

Something very strange has been happening lately, I’ve actually wanted to clean and tidy my house... does this mean I’m turning into an adult?

On the plus side getting the housework out of the way has given me a bit more crafting time lately.

But I have a terrible case of start-itis. I have several almost finished things but not the materials to finish them. Waiting till payday to go to town and stock up!

I'll hopefully have some pretty things to show you by the weekend. Until then here's a picture of a pie I made for dinner:

I love getting letters!

My swap partner in Australia received her felt badges yesterday, and I woke up today to find an airmail letter on the doormat...

...it had a cute little koala bear on the stamp, I'm cutting this out and keeping it!

And inside were 2 beautiful badges! We ended up choosing the same themes for each other.

This little elephant is adorable, I love the beading!

And this sewing themed badge is gorgeous, I love the colours and the embroidered detail makes it just perfect.

I'll be adding magnets to the backs of these and putting them on my fridge where I can admire them :)

My attempts to needle felt

I went to a beginners needle felting workshope this afternoon, since my previous attempts at needle felting resulted in shapeless blobs which resembled nothing in particular, I thought I should learn to do it properly! The tutor was briliant and over 3 hours we made 3 mini projects to learn different felting skills.

Firstly this cute little mouse to learn shaping (he has funny looking eyes but other than that I don't think he's too bad for a first attempt):

Then we made a pendant:

And lastly we learned to felt onto fabric:

I'll definitely be trying some more felting soon, I already have a foam block and some needles! 

Back to work :(

I’ had a great week off work and I’m really wishing I had a bit longer before I had to go back! It was my birthday on Wednesday, I spent it quietly this year and celebrated with a lovely Italian meal with Ben. The restaurant was gorgeous, I could almost have believed I was in Italy. I also received a set of interchangeable knitting needles from Ben, he knew I've been wanting a set for ages :)

Saturday was spent enjoying the unexpected sunshine – the weather forecast here is for rain for the whole of July, I am considering building an Ark! We went to a little bird of prey centre a few miles away, it was very interactive and we got opportunities to experience handling all of the birds. I’m very pleased with these photos I took, a grumpy looking falcon and a hawk who was watching us right back: 

I have had chance to do some crafting this week. I’ve been rediscovering my love of felt making these badges for Craftster’s felt badge swap, I can't wait to hear what my partner thinks of them:

 

 

Finally I have some sad news this week, we had to say goodbye to the gorgeous Kammi who we took to the vets for the last time on Friday. He was 2 years old and we adopted him a year ago. He introduced himself by sinking his teeth deep into Ben’s finger and refusing to let go. We had him neutered and with a little time and patience he became a gorgeous, cuddly, licky rat. We miss him a lot.

Hello from my new home

It’s been a month since I blogged, and I’ve spent most of that month in the process of moving house. We viewed several places and none of them were quite right. Then I phoned up one place I’d already scrolled past on the agency website, managed to get a viewing that day and it was perfect! We’ve been here nearly 2 weeks now and we love it. The second bedroom is going to be a computer/craft room and we’ve even got a garden with a vegetable patch:

It’s just a patch at the moment because we won’t be planting vegetables until spring but it’s still very exciting, and I plan on growing some herbs in the meantime.

My other exciting news is a new addition to our furry family:

 This is Misty, she was being rehomed by a lady who’d until recently been taking in unwanted rabbits. She’s very friendly and likes her jingle ball toy. She’s going to have a big run in the garden and eventually a bigger hutch and a bunny friend to play and snuggle with.

The rats also got a new home when we moved; it’s much easier to deal with than 2 separate cages:

We're lucky that our landlord loves animals and is more than happy for us to have 11 rats in the house!

I’ve been so busy that I haven’t quite unpacked my crafty things. I’ve got the next week off work though, so I’ll be unpacking them and using them over the next few days, so I’ll have some Finished Objects to show off next time I post.

Swapsies

Now that my first craft swap is over and my partner received the parcel, I can show you what I made – this pin cushion/tool holder/thread catcher combo was made following a pattern that can be found here (action shot testing it with my things).

I am incredibly proud of how well this turned out and amazed by how much my sewing has improved now I have a less temperamental sewing machine. By the time I finished this I was almost sad to send it away because I wanted one too, so imagine how pleased I was when I opened the parcel that arrived from France last week to find that my partner had made me one following the exact same pattern!

I also received this lovely sewing machine mat and a little pouch for sewing things on the go (although I might have to find a use for this so that I can carry it in my handbag. Card holder maybe?):

 

And this adorable rat which is far too cute to be used as a pin cushion!

The whole swap was such a positive experience, and the excitement of waiting to see what arrives in the post is fun. I’ve just signed up for a felt badge swap and I’m looking forward to being assigned a partner so I can start thinking of ideas.

I have to admit that I’ve been slacking on my knitting lately though, the baby hat is still not blocked and I haven’t even finished the back of the cardigan. Still, there’s nearly 5 months until the baby is due so I should get them finished in time!