Wednesday 24 July 2013

The Big Knit - Little Hats

After years of only just finding out in time about the The Big Knit with Innocent drinks, this year I am actually in plenty of time!
Click here for more details and the all important sheet of ideas and instructions.  There is a wacky sheep pattern this year which I shall have to figure out but the finished picture did make me smile.
Now , I have taken part in this on several occasions but finding the pictures could be a bit tricky.............
I made the above hats back in 2009! Where has the time gone.  I did send off another bigger batch last year but did not take any pictures.  Tut tut...such a bad blogger!

This could be just the little project that I could take on holiday at the end of this week.  Small needles and some scrap wool.  I could make the pom poms when I get home again.
If you  have some time, scrap wool and would like to knit for Charity then do pop over HERE and see what you need to do.  The deadline is the 1st October.
I think tomorrow i shall be packing and selecting a few bits of wool, could be very relaxing a bit of knitting in the sun.
After our lovely cruise at Christmas Hubby and I have managed to sign up for another now that Hubby's job has now been made permanent.
I shall take plenty of pictures to go in a book I am making.
Oh........I do not think I have shown you the journal I made at Christmas...have I ?  I really must start to write down some of these blog post ideas.
Have fun, the garden is having a much needed bit of rain this evening and hopefully the water butt is not quite so empty.
xx
PS Bunting PDF template is in the pipeline.

Sunday 21 July 2013

Summer Bunting - OPAM July

Last week we held a Summer Fete at school so I decided that during tutor time in the mornings my group could help to make some nice bright bunting that we could use again.
I went to the scrap store and found quite a bit of red ripstop Nylon and then added some scraps that we had left over from making some windsocks.
For over a week each morning for 20 mins we drew round a template and cut out loads of triangles.  Ripstop Nylon is not the easiest of fabrics to cut but they kept going with just a few grumbles here and there.  I offered to do the cutting if they marked out the shapes but they said no they would do the cutting!
We then worked out a colour order and due to them still at the early learning stage of using a sewing machine I stitched the triangles on to white cotton tape using Zigzag stitch.  We ended up with way more then we expected and on the day it looked brilliant.  It is now stored away until next time and to add to our bunting I thought next time we could make some flags with the tutor group name on it.
I will draw out the template and ask hubby to make it into a printable PDF.  It is not very big so you should get quite a few triangles out of any fabric you wish to use.  You could just use cotton fabric and pining shears so that it can be one layer of fabric thick.  If they are going outside then double thickness might withstand windy days better.
I hope that the weather here in the UK holds a bit longer as I bought some oil cloth last summer to make some bunting for the garden but it rained the whole summer so I never bothered to go any.
Enjoy the rest of the weekend.
x

Friday 19 July 2013

Harry Potter Studios - Part Two

I seem to have gotten a little behind with my posts of late but seeing as I have broken up for the summer holidays today hopefully I will be able to post a bit more regularly for a few weeks.


We shall start by going through some of the bigger props and set pieces from some of the films.
Sophie is stood in front of the Hogwarts gates and it was rather difficult to get this in the picture.  The blue light is where the camera has picked up the light and distorted it slighlty.
 This is the roof section of the great hall which is used in some of the scenes and is in fact much smaller than you think to get the feeling of height.
Hogwarts sign.

Due to it being half term we were lucky enough to see some of the animal actors including the cat, rat and owl in the films.  Due to rats not having a very long life the rat shown was in fact rat number three.
This cage stored many of the massive props which looked so life like and many were enormous!
This was one of my favourite bits, Snapes potion classroom.
It was not as big as it looked in the films.  The cauldron with the green glow had a wand which was actually moving as it stirred the potion.  Sophie liked that bit.
Some science labs in schools have stools that look just like those shown in this picture!
So much attention to detail.
Plus all of the ingredients needed to make all of those potions and spells.
Then off to Dumbledore's office and try8ing to get your bearings in terms of size and what you have seen in the films is hard.  It suggests in the film that it goes back much further than it actually does but it is extremely high!.....................
Sorry but I have just been told that my BBQ tea is ready to I shall have to sign off and finish this later.
Sorry!
xx

Sunday 14 July 2013

The Watering Hole - Perranporth Beach

Image from Google.
Due to the lovely weather and Henry was not going to his radio control car race club, we decided to go out for tea and somewhere near the sea.  I have been to The Watering Hole before, but not for some time and this venue suddenly popped into my head.
So, once we had got home from school etc we had a little wash and off we went to Perranporth Beach.
We ordered some food, which, when it arrived was way to much to actually eat!  It was glorious weather and was just on the comfortable side of very hot.
image from Google
After the meal we went for a walk along the beach and paddled a little in the water which was very cold but pleasant after a hot day on your feet all day.
Sophie of course took this one stage further.  She paddled a bit and then gradually ended up in the water and absolutely soaked!  She loved every minute of it.  Loves the water does my Sophie and she ended up going home wearing my spare top and sitting on hubby's work overalls.
It was a nice little trip to go on just after work and a change from just sitting in on a Friday night.
We have promised Sophie that we will go again next week but better prepared for example take a towel!!
Hope you have had a lovely weekend, off to a friends house for a BBQ tea this afternoon. Finished and posted my mini swap so some work for the day job is next.
Only a week to go before the holidays!!!

Sunday 7 July 2013

A generous gift from Ali Bee......................

A month or two back Ali over at Ali Bee Creations posted about some cute crochet kittens that she had been making.  I left a comment about how lovely they were, (my crochet skills are still quite limited) and Ali very kindly offered to make one for Sophie.
Then due to BT messing up my Internet connection, holidays and hip and back issues for us both it was a while before I was able to get back to Ali to ask if a purple one was possible.
Then on Friday a cylinder shaped parcel was delivered.  Once the brown paper was removed Sophie found a lovely paper covering the cardboard cylinder.  Brilliant idea for sending things in.
Sophie spent ages looking at this!
Once the lid was off lovely summery yellow tissue paper peeped out.
The tissue paper then revealed the cutest purple and lilac crochet kitten!!  Now Sophie knew nothing about this at all and when she opened it her face just lit up and then a barrage of questions of where, why, how etc.
I want to introduce you to Ruffles the kitten.  We went out for the day yesterday and Ruffles came too.  Whenever you saw Sophie Ruffles was in her hand, bag or on the seat next to her in the car.
Thank you soooooooo much Ali for making this cute little kitten, If only you could have seen the look on Sophie's little face, it was a picture.
Blogger's are a very generous community, which I enjoy being a part of.
Your return item is in production and will be winging its way asap.
Have a good Sunday everyone!
xx

Friday 5 July 2013

Monster Softie Making - OPAM July

It is that time of year when I run my Monster Making Workshop at school.  So I had 17 year 9 students for a whole day whereby they designed and made their own custom made monster.
The above is my effort which I finished off last night.  
We used mainly fleece with some fur and felt. 
The monster that I made last year had been sitting quite happily on a shelf in my room for over a year and then three weeks ago.........
It was taken from my room.
In 18 years I have only had three things taken and sadly this was one of them.  Pity and many students were appalled by this and were not impressed but despite a reward offer for its return my monster is still missing.
I had promised this for Sophie at the end of this school year.  I did make my own pattern so I might try and make another one.
Anyway.............below shows the efforts of my Monster making group.  Which is your favourite?
Bright green fur!!
Of course some bright pink fur as well.
Hello!

Even white fur.

Orange fleece and stitched on the outside for this design.
Spotty fun.
Smile please!!

Hi !
Yet more green...was definitely the most popular colour.
Hello Monster fans.
Love the grin on this chap!
Pink heart monster
And finally....
The Monster Bunch.
It was a very busy day and here is the gang all together.
All over for another year!
Take care all
xx

Wednesday 3 July 2013

Harry Potter Studios - Part 1

Sorry that this post is several weeks late but I have BT and Open each to thank as they were fixing one problem but the cut off our land line and Internet trying.R
Anyway, is back as it should be so here it is and due to its size I may need to do 2 posts on this.
Whilst you are queueing up to go into the main studios there are things to see such as the cupboard under the stairs which is where we first sight Harry Potter in film one.
After moving into a room which explains where the idea for the books and films came from we then moved into a small cinema room and watched a film of the three main characters going into some detail about the skills and time taken to make everything in the films so real.  Right down to actually making and printing the newspaper The Daily Prophet.
We were then taken here.....

The Great Hall is the oldest set from film one and was used in every film.  After the last film it was moved piece by piece to the Evesden studios.  The flag stones are real to put up with amount of usage over the years.  Not sure why it is blue....odd lighting and the camera made it even odder!  We had a guided tour of this section giving us information that we did not know.  Very interesting.
It is quite odd to actually walk along it but you can imagine the 400 youngsters that they managed to fill it with quite easily.
They had costumes for each of the four houses.
This is Griffindor house along with Neville's cardigan.
Plus those of the teachers...
We the moved into the main part of the studio tour which you were able to go around by yourself and boy, is there a lot to see.
Costumes and hair.
Clothes from the Yule Ball, for Hermione, Harry and Cho Chang.

Huge model to look like a ice sculpture.
Ron's Ball robe, and yes it is just as bad in real life as they are on the film!

Did you know that many of the characters were in fact wearing wigs much of the time?
This section was fascinating and the amount of time that went into these was incredible.
I recognised many of these from various scenes in the films.
We then moved on to some of the scenery and props
 which I think I will save for the next post.  I am being a bit selective in what I put here because if you are thinking of visiting I do not want to give too much away.
Best wishes


Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...