H2only Challenge

At the moment I am taking part in the RNLI H2only challenge.  Which is exactly that...... H2o only!

Yup, only water for 10 days. No tea, no fizzy pop, no juice, no wine, just water.

Aghhhh, piece of cake....... I thought  :/

So I expected it to be difficult mentally, like talking myself out of a glass of wine on an evening, or when out for a meal, or breaking the habit of having two brews when I get up on a morning.  What I didn't prepare for was the pysical beating it would take on my body.

Day 1:
I felt grumpy.  In fact my first words were expletives as I walked down the stairs and Hubster offered me a glass of water.  I was ready, right then, to fail.  But I had hot water and grumped a little more.
In fact, I grumped all day.  I grumped at the poor nurse doing my well-women check up, I grumped at my daughter (who, incidentally, grumped back at me as we are doing it together), I grumped at Hubster then I went into work and grumped at my colleagues too, I even grumped on Facebook to anyone who would listen.

Day 2:
I was dying.  I had to get up to go and do a radio interview, I felt super grumpy, but plastered a smile and performed well (I think), but once home my head was splitting with the most excruciating pain.  I couldn't move my head a millimetre without it hurting.  I had loads to do - patterns to write, blogs to write, parcels of beads to pack, a blanket to finish and a birthday cake to make.  I couldn't do anything, so I went to bed to try and sleep it off.
I got up at 3.00pm, hurriedly iced the cake that I had luckily baked in the morning, had a quick wash and went to work to do the back-shift.  I got through that shift on two pro plus tablets (caffeine), two paracetamol and 2 ibuprofen.
It took the edge off it enough for me to work, but I was foggy, forgetful and having total blanks to performing tasks that I do all the time.

Day 3:
Didn't sleep well at all, not content with giving me a sleepless night, my brain decided to give me hallucinatory dreams in the rare times that I was asleep.  Thanks for that brain, most useful.  So I woke disoriented, foggier than yesterday and very tired.  But no headache!  Whoop!
The headache made it's appearance about 2.00pm, so at least I got the morning off.
Not feeling quite so bad today all-in-all.  I'm trying not to take any painkillers today as there doesn't seem a lot of point in giving up a drug (caffeine) to fill the space with other drugs, but they are not locked away just yet.

Only 7 days to go......

If you fancy sponsoring me, just the price of a cup of tea would be lovely, you can find my Just Giving page here.....https://www.justgiving.com/soozintheshed

The H2only Challenge

My daughter, Shona, and myself are setting ourselves up to take the H2only challenge to raise money for the RNLI.

For ten days  (2-12 June 2015) we will endeavour to only drink water - so, no juice (I can do that), fizzy pop (I can do that), wine (em.... I think I can do that) and tea (I am really not sure about this one!!)

The wine, although I love it, will be a small sacrifice - one I have made a few times before, and one I am not hugely worried about. I know I can do that for a good cause.

The tea though, the tea is another matter completely.

How do you like your tea Sooz?   Every hour, on the hour.  Black, two bags.  Ok.... sometimes green, but mainly black.  Oh no, I have the sweats already thinking about it.  No tea??  What am I doing??

So, if you are close to me, live with me, work with me, converse with me online, then be prepared for some very grumpy behaviour as I go through my tea withdrawals.  (I wonder if sucking on a dry tea bag counts as cheating?)

In the meantime, if you would like to sponsor me - just the price of a cup of coffee would be most appreciated and it all adds up, then you can find my JustGiving page here....

https://www.justgiving.com/Soozintheshed

The last challenge I did was "Live Below The Line" where I raised, with the help of good friends, a total of £144.00.

If you would like to read my blog posts and recipes from that challenge then you can find them HERE.

I will blog my journey, although it's pretty difficult to find decent recipes using water alone, but I will let you know how easy/difficult it is going  ;)

Now, I am just off for a nice strong brew - got to get them in before I don't get a choice  ;)

An Apron from a Shirt

Do you remember the Sewing Bee I made for the Hobbycraft 20th Birthday competition?  If not you can find it HERE.

Well, I just had to mention this..... the marvellous Lauren from Hobbycraft, Carlisle, modelling an apron she made from one of my very own Daddy L's shirts.  

It was for the same competition.  (She didn't win anything either!!)

The pattern was taken from my own book called The Shirt Off His Back, which is a fabulous book full of things to do with a man's shirt!  From chair-covers, to teddy bear nighties, it really is a bit of fun - if you can get someone to part with their shirts  ;)

Makes a great apron don't you think?

ps: The Amazon links I've scattered throughout the page are affiliated  if you click and buy I might get a few pennies.  

A Sewing Bee (Yep, really, a sewing BEE!!)

Last month I was working on a secret project that I couldn't share with you as it was to be judged in a competition.  The competition was held at Hobbycraft's 20 year birthday celebrations down in Bournemouth.   (I didn't go, I just made the entry ;) )

The brief was "make something in connection with the Sewing Bee".....  hmmm, what can I make, I wondered, when Hubster piped up "A Sewing Bee"

The man is a genuis!!

So, I set to work, making a Sewing Bee.

A quick sketch planned out what I wanted to create.

Before I started building him up.  With a cotton face and underbody, and a furry over body, he then got a tape measure for legs.

Netted wings held in place by mini scissors.  (you can see it but I was watching The Sewing Bee while making a Sewing Bee  ;)  )

Time for a closer look at all this bits and bobs  :)

So, we have mini scissors holding the netted wings in place, then a needle threader added to hide the stitches holding the scissors on  :)

Safety Pins for eyebrows, buttons for eyes, a plastic thimble for a nose.

A zip for a mouth, with a foil of pins and needles as a tongue  (glued in place for safety!)

Tape measure legs with a mini thread bobbin glued on the end of each one as little feet.

An un-picker for a stinger - although my son argued that it was in the wrong place.  My argument back was that he had buttons for eyes, a zip for a mouth, and scissors holding his wings on - he was never meant to be physically correct   :)

Ooooo, you could get a good sharp sting from that  :)

Then..... do you remember my Teeny Tiny Patchwork from the other day?  Well, it was to make a honeycomb style pin cushion.

Which I attached to the underside of the bee with velcro, so it is removable.

And Voilà!

The Sewing Bee was born   :)

He didn't win sadly,  he didn't even come close. But I enjoyed the challenge, and fun, of making him.

Crochet Christmas Decorations

At "Crochet & Craic", the bi-weekly crochet group I run at Hobbycraft in Carlisle, we have a monthly theme - all entries get entered into a draw to win a little prize.

This months theme was 'something to hang on a Christmas Tree', and these were the fabulous entries....

Let's have a look up close shall we?

First there is Nya's owl, gripping tightly onto a candy cane - so much fun!!

Then Karen made one of my Christmas Pudding baubles from a kit she purchased.

Next came Sandra's hangings - a cracker, and a sweetie.

Liz made a flat, glittery white bell.

And Vera made a 3D bell.

Pat made a Candy Cane to hang on her tree.

And last but not least were these lovely, almost Nordic like, decorations from Louise.

All names were entered in the draw and Louise won a Lindt chocolate bear for her efforts.

Well done all who entered, looking forward to seeing what you make next year.

Crochet & Craic is back on the 5th January, 5.30-7.30pm.  This year we will be having a monthly project, you can join in if you like, or just do your own thing.   January's project will be a crocheted and lined bag.

Feel free to pop along, no need to book.

Christmas Stocking competition

I thought it might be fun to throw a little competition out there for you all, and your offspring.

The challenge is to design your own Christmas Stocking.

This is the template you need to use....... print out out and get designing.

These are the stockings I will be using to place your design upon, so the stocking colour can be either red or green, your choice,

Simply email your designs to soozintheshed@gmail.com.  I will reply to say I have it, if I do not reply you can assume I have not got it, so please try again.

You can also pop them on my Facebook wall which you can find HERE. 

All entries must be received by Saturday 13th December 2014, UK time.  Anything received after this date will not be accepted.  Only one entry per person please.

All entries will go into a random generated draw and a number of entries will be picked at random.  The ones that are picked using this selection will then be put onto our Facebook page for the winner to be picked by our Facebook fans.

The winning stocking will then be made up, as per the design, and posted to you in time for Santa's visit.  (Overseas entries will be accepted, but we cannot guarantee Christmas delivery for this year - but you can pop it somewhere safe for next year should you win.

Ok, have I covered everything?

Off you go then, get colouring   :)

Sea Creatures challenge at "Crochet & Craic"

You might already know that I run a fortnightly Crochet & Craic  (gossip) group at Hobbycraft, in Carlisle.

Every  month we have a little challenge going, and last month it was "Sea Creatures".

We had two entries this time, a fabulous mermaid from Vera - made from her own head and without any pattern.

And a sea anemone from Pat, again without a pattern.

Aren't they just fab??

This month the theme is Halloween.  Join us if you like, the next one is on Monday 13th October, 5.30-7.30pm.  It is a tutored group which costs £5.00 - bring the project you need help with.

Hope to see you there   :)

"Wedding" challenge

The craft challenge for  July was "Something for a Wedding".  This was held on the Bead Buddies forum site, as well as two monthly groups held at Hobbycraft in Carlisle.

This one must not have had the juices of inspiration flowing as we only had one entry from the crochet class. - Actually, there would have been two but one lady didn't think she would make it to the class, ended up being able to, but forgot her challenge piece, which was a shame.

The crochet class entry was from Pat who made this very cute ring cushion from a textured yarn.  I love it! 

The forum entries were fab, pop over HERE and place your vote for one of them.

As for mine.... it is still very much a work in progress.  I have been working on it most days now and I just didn't realise how much work I had given myself.   It will hopefully be finished very soon and then I will show it to you  :)

The next challenge is "Curls & Swirls", take part if you like :)

"Something useful for your holidays" challenge

June's challenge that I lay out to all my groups was "something useful for your holidays"

Over on the Bead Buddies forum, Gail won the challenge with her beautiful bag.  This challenge was judged by the fellow bead buddies casting a vote.

At "crochet & craic" last monday evening, there were three entries.  Another amazing bag from Vera.  Crocheted in cotton, fully lined with adorning flowers.

A 'campsite' by Stacey, which kind of missed the 'something useful' guidelines, but so much effort had been put in that it simply had to be included.

And an 'itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini' by Pat - isn't this fun? 

And the winner was chosen by putting the name of all who entered into a hat and randomly picking one out.  The winner was Stacey, who won a little bottle of wine   :)

The next challenge, should you wish to take part is "Something for a Wedding", you can enter via any of the monthly classes I run at Hobbycraft  (Bead & Banter and Crochet & Craic) or by joining in at the Bead Buddies forum where you will find all the rules   :)

"Something for the bathroom" challenge

Over on the Bead Buddies Forum, the monthly challenge for April was "Something for the bathroom".

You may remember I made this Toilet Roll, Toilet Roll cover for it.

I also took the challenge out to my regular groups at Hobbycraft in Carlisle.  

The Crochet & Craic group came up with some fabulous things.  Which I really should have taken separate photographs of.  I'm quite annoyed with myself for not doing that now.   But I will try and explain them as best I can.

From the right at the back there is a cute little bathroom set, made entirely from crochet.  I can show you a closer photo of this one as I can steal it from the maker, Vera's, Facebook wall   :)

Cute huh?

Back to the main photo  (posted again to save you scrolling back up)  there are two white crocheted facecloths, also by Vera, a lovely crochet facecloth in white with blue by Louise, a supercute little crochet holder with 6 little crocheted cotton face pads by Ann (such a great idea!).  Two toilet toll covers, one mine and one, again by Vera, in cream with flowers.  Last but not least is the blue bath mat at the front by Stacey.

All the names were put into a hat and one was pulled out.  Stacey won some choccies.

The Bead & Banter monthly meet was the week after (last night in fact) and we got these entries.

Hahaha, got to laugh at Elizabeth's sense of humour with this one, when you open the card you can see the chap's backside!

And Karen made this amazing wirework toothbrush stand - just look at the curls and swirls in that!!

Janet make a gorgeous heart willow wreath, adorned with shells and beads.  This would look great hanging in anyone's bathroom.

Joan decorated a candle with beaded memory wire and hand coiled wires.

All the names were popped into a hat and Janet won some choccies this time.

Next time I will try to remember better photos at both groups!

If you come to either group, the next theme is Africa, you can use the colours, animals, landscape, culture - as long as it fits you can enter it   :)

Crocheted toilet roll, toiler roll cover

That's a mouthful isnt it?  A crocheted toilet roll, toilet roll cover.  But that is exactly what it is  :)

As part of the Bead Buddies monthly challenge for April  (Something for the Bathroom)  I came up with the idea of a toilet roll cover.   But what?  I did think of one of those 1970's style fashion dolls with a large crocheted crinoline skirt.  I'm hanging onto that thought for a later date.

Instead I took inspiration from Marie from Nim & Num who jokingly said - crochet a toilet roll.  So I did.

I did each sheet separately when whipped stitched them together.   

The base I did as a round with a rustic beige cotton in the centre to look like cardboard, then I sewed them both together.

Just hope no one accidentally uses it !!

Pom Pom bunting

Do you remember that the challenge last month on the Bead Buddies forum was Bob Marley?

Well, this month is is Bunting.  The brief is you can enter up to three times, three different piece of bunting using different mediums.

My first entry is pom-pom bunting  :)

Perfect for a child's bedroom window don't you think?   

Cute and fluffy.

Everyone loves a pom-pom.

Oh, if you want to enter yourself, why not pop along and make yourself a profile and join in?  :)

http://www.beadbuddies.co.uk/forum