Dragonfly Peg making

Last week was my first week of the Kid's Club activities at Hobbycraft in Carlisle.

I tried to keep the prices as cheap as possible, not actually making myself any pennies, but hopefully providing activities and skills that kid's enjoy  (plus I dish out my business cards to the parents :)  ).

One of the classes was Peg Dragonfly making - an simple process, but each young person that made one seemed to enjoy themselves loads, and they produced some marvellous, colourful peg dragonflies to take home.

Here is Eilidh with her masterpiece.  How neatly coloured, and she took careful consideration into which colours should go where.

Then there was Jamie and Charlie, who concentrated hard and made a beautiful one each.

You can just feel the concentration, can't you?

Another couple were Keelia and Lakota, who again made some gorgeous little peg dragonflies to take home  :)

There was others too, sorry if I haven't included you but I forgot to get permission to use your photos, but you did great!

Next week's classes on offer are:-

Peg Dragonflies & Bangle Making - 12/08/14 (12.00pm-2.00pm) - £1.00 per Dragonfly / £2.00 per bangle.

French Dolly Knitting - 14/08/14 (2.00-4.00pm) - £6.00

Shrink Plastic Keyrings - 18/08/14 (10.30am-12.30pm) - £1.00 per keyring

Mini Rag Rug making - 19/08/14 (10.00-12.00) - £2.00

Paperclip Necklace - 19/08/14 (3.00-5.00pm) - £2.00 per necklace

Cross-Stitch Bookmark - 21/08/14 (11.00am-1.00pm) - £2.00 per bookmark

No need to book, just come along within those times and craft  :) 

Craft room on the move again....

Last April (2013) my son left home, leaving us to do some room jiggling so I could have a craft room inside. 

You can read all about that time HERE.

Fast Forward  18 months and my daughter has now taken it upon herself to fly the nest too, which now leaves me with an even bigger room to move all of my stuff into.   This also means I can have my sewing machine set up all the time without having to unpack it every time I want to use it.

At first we were going to move our own bedroom into this space as it is slightly bigger, but when we measured it we would only be gaining 10" in one direction, so thought it was hardly worth dismantling and re-building the wardrobes for that. 

And here is the room as Shona left it on Saturday night to go to her own new little pad.

As you can see, two nice big windows to throw in lots of natural light.  And it is front facing, so I can be a real nosy parker right across our cul-de-sac  :)

She left me an old sofa too, I was going to throw it out but Ruby seems to have taken a liking to sitting on it, so it might just stay - as a giant dog bed!

And her axolotls.  Actually, she hadn't left these at all, I am just baby-sitting them while she sets their tank up in her new home - it takes a week or so to stabilise the water so, for now, they are residing at 'Chez Mommas'.

So this is my room as of now  (actually, it really isn't that tidy any more)..... watch this space as I move into somewhere twice the size   :)

Aubergine Parmigiana

#ShareYourTeaTuesday last week was this...

An Aubergine Parmigiana.

It's so easy peasy to make and you can prepare it ahead of time and just bung it in the oven for 25 mins or so to heat and brown when needed.

What you need:

• An Aubergine
• Tin of Chopped Tomatoes
• Ball of Mozarella Cheese
• Few dried herbs
• Olive Oil

What you do:

• Cut up the aubergine into slices.

• Heat the oil in a non-stick pan and when hot, pop in the slices of aubergine.

• Cook until they soften and start to go a lovely golden brown.

• Pop a little tinned tomato in an over proof dish, then layer your aubergine on the top.  They can overlap a little.

• Put the rest of the tomatoes on, then drain and slice the mozzarella and arrange on the top.
• Sprinkle with a few herbs of your choice.  I used oregano.

• Bake at Gas 6 in the middle shelf for about 25 mins or until bubbling and brown.

• Serve with new potatoes, salad, garlic bread, veggies - whatever really.  (any leftovers can be bunged in the fridge and reheated for lunch the next day  :)  )

If you want to "Share Your Tea" on a Tuesday and be inspired by other people's recipes, then pop along to my Facebook page where it all goes on  :)

Lavender filled felt Poppy

I made a stuffed poppy yesterday.  It started out to be a pin-cushion, but due the amount of felt overlapping on the front it is rather stiff to get your pins into.   So I adapted it, stuffed a little bag of dried lavender in and made it a lavender scented puffy poppy instead!

With a nice shiny black button in the centre  :)

Shown on the hand to show you scale.

....and turned around to show you depth.

And finally a back view, with the leaf waiting to be stitched into place.

A rather nice, scented addition for any room, don't you think?

I might make these up into kits  :)

A lavender scented poppy, does that make it a hybrid?

September 2014 Classes

September Classes

Why not come along and learn a new hobby... or two?

Crochet & Craic - 01/09/14 (5.30-7.30pm) - £5.00  (BOP) Use a Sewing Machine-02/09/13 (11.00-12.00pm) - £5.00 Bead & Banter - 02/09/14 (5.30-7.30pm) - £5.00  (BOP) Beginners Patchwork-03/09/13 (12.00-2.00pm) - £10.00 Spirograph Embroidery - 04/09/14 (5.30-7.30pm) - £10.00  Beginners Jewellery - 05/09/13 (10.00-12.00pm) - £10.00 Learn To Knit - 08/09/14 (2.00-4.00pm) - £10.00  Fimo Beads - 10/09/13 (2.00-4.00pm) - £10.00 Learn To Crochet - 11/09/14 (5.30-7.30pm) - £10.00  Crochet & Craic - 15/09/14 (5.30-7.30pm) - £5.00  (BOP) French Knitting - 16/09/13 (4.00-6.00pm) - £10.00 Crochet Flowers - 18/09/14 (2.00-4.00pm) - £10.00  Illusion Necklace - 22/09/13 (1.00-3.00pm) - £10.00 Peyote Chain - 24/09/14 (4.00-6.00pm) - £10.00  Drop Stitch Scarf - 25/09/13 (5.30-7.30pm) - £12.00 Decopatch Box - 26/09/14 (10.00-12.00pm) - £10.00  Crochet & Craic - 29/09/14 (5.30-7.30pm) - £5.00  (BOP) BOP = Bring your own project. Hobbycraft, Carlisle. Call 01228 812362 to book or visit www.soozintheshed.co.uk/store.

50% non refundable deposit required on booking.  Places are limited booking is advisable www.soozintheshed.co.uk

Mandala Cushion Crochet-Along entries

If you joined in with the Crochet Along for the Mandala cushion, then you might be interested to hear that the first entries are rolling in.  

The two photos below is both sides of the cushion made by my Mum Vera, who has been joining in with every round.  It was a stash-buster and the colours look great, don't you think?

The next two photos are from Margret, don't these colours just pop?  Another stash-buster and it looks fabulous.

Are you joining in too?  Entries need to be in by the end of August for you to be in with a chance of going in the draw to win this fabulous crochet hook set in a case.

Right then, if you have joined in with this crochet along - whether you have done the two single pieces or the cushion cover, send me a photograph - either to my email,soozintheshed@gmail.com, or by adding a message to my Facebook page Sooz In The Shed.

You have until the end of August 2014 to complete the project and all photos that are sent in will be entered into a random name generator and a single winner picked.  They will win the set of crochet hooks as detailed below.

It's not too late to join in  :)

Loom Bands on a French Knitting Doll

I presume you have come across this craze that is sweeping the country, if not the world!  Loom bands.

If not, where have you been?  I even walk past dis-guarded bands in the street on my dog walks.  Everyone seems to be wearing them regardless of age, gender or social standing.

So, not wanting to miss the bandwagon as it rumbled on by, I jumped on it and made a loom band bracelet   :)

Not owning a loom though, and only even been shown by my niece how to do it on two fingers  (which made my fingers ache and go a funny colour) I decided to try and French Knit them on my Dolly bobbin.

It worked perfectly well surprisingly.

But, goodness, it was so addictive.  "Just another band" at 1.00am when I was making my third and really telling myself that it was time to climb the wooden stairs to bed.

But I did make three cutey bracelets   :)

I have written a tutorial for how to make these bracelets on a knitting spool, and you can download it HERE for free   :)

If you don't have a Knitting Doll already you can purchase one HERE or in kit form with a pack of loom bands HERE.

Sunderland Glass Centre

Last weekend we popped along the the Sunderland Airshow.  We usually attend Fairford Air Tattoo, but this year decided to try Sunderland as it is only an hour or so away from home (compared to 4 ish for Fairford) and it is free to attend, (compared to £40 a day for Fairford)

In a nut-shell, the event was ok, but next year we plan to return to Fairford  :)

However, while we were there, in Sunderland, it would have been most rude not to pop along to the National Glass Centre.   I have been a couple of times before and thoroughly enjoyed my visit.  But sadly this time the university has taken over some of the centre and rooms that you could visit previously, such as the artists work areas and a scientific glass part, are now closed off to the public.  :(

Still, it was free entry, so we didn't feel to robbed, just a bit disappointed.

You can walk on the glass roof, and look down into reception - if you dare.

There was a lovely exhibition however by the de la Torre Brothers, I have never come across their work before - but unusual is an understatement!

It is funky with a capital EEEEEEEE (at the end!)  They work in glass and resin and produce some strange, but enjoyable sculptures.

Ticking watches in a resin bunny.

We then wandered through the wonderful galleries.

I just love this huge glass wheel, with some many colours and textures,  it was impossible to capture how magnificent it really is.  Of course photographing it from the wrong angle with the light behind it doesn't help, so let's go round to the other side and try again.

That's better  :)

Then watched a demo on working on a lathe with glass tubing - I WANT A LATHE NOW!

We didn't spend a lot of time there as we were rushing off to catch The Bodies exhibition at the Life Centre, but nip over to the glass centre website and take a virtual tour - it's very interesting.

Tesco Mini Chopper - review

You know I have been using my Kenwood Smoothie maker to chop up things in recipes?  Well, I decided it was high time I had a proper chopper, so when I saw this Mini Chopper in Tesco for just £15.00 I was tempted to get it.

As it happens, the Hubster was treating himself to some new t-shirts off the sale rails (this is a very rare occurrence) and he was carrying a basket with them in, so I carefully slid the box into the basket without him seeing  (or feeling the additional weight).   He trotted off to pay for it, put it on the conveyor-belt and packed it in a bag while I stood at the end of the checkout, looking at the ceiling and whistling innocently.

Job done!  Chopper for Sooz, for free   :)

I had picked some more rosehips to make my Mum a bottle of syrup, so I had the perfect excuse to try it out.

The first thing that struck me was what a neat little gadget it was.  A nice, small, but adequate 1 litre bowl and a cute little motor to put on the top for when you 'chop'.

The cord is actually wound up inside the motor part, under my fingers in the photo, making it very neat to store.  You just pull out as little or as much cord as you need to reach your power socket.  I like this feature.

Onto the actual chopping, you put the blade on a spike inside the bowl, then pop the lid on. At this point the blade is not actually connected to anything to make it start spinning, so unless you decide to run your fingers down the sharp edge you should not cut yourself.

Once the lid is in place, you slot the motor part onto the top and make a slight twist to lock it into position, then you simple press down and - BLITZ !

Perfectly chopped Rose Hips in a matter of seconds.  You can chop all sorts in it, except ice and frozen stuff.  Nuts and fruits and veggies are all fine. It even does breadcrumbs beautifully.

To clean you lift out the blade and scoop out the contents of the bowl, leaving just a small bowl, a lid and the blade to wash.

The bowl also comes with a storage lid - now personally, I am not sure about storing things in the fridge with a metal spike in the bottom of the bowl  (the bit the blade sits on).  That metal part may react with certain products and make it taste funny, I don't know, just a thought.   So, in my opinion the lid is not necessary as I would transfer the contents to a different dish for storage anyway.

I love this little chopper, it is perfect for what I need and at such a great price too.  It is definitely going on my 'Favourite Gadgets Shelf'.

If you fancy one, you can buy them online HERE, or pop along to your local Tesco store and sneak it into someone else's basket  ;)


Disclaimer:   I was not sent this product by Tesco, nor asked to do a review. I purchased it myself.  The opinions are my own and for guidance only.