50 Things Challenge - my first 10

I've decided to take part in the 50 Things Challenge that I've read about in the excellent Eat, Drink and Be Crafty blog. The Challenge is to list and make 50 things during the year - it doesn't sound that much I guess, but then you realise it's a project a week!!! And as I've got rotten back ache at the moment as a result of picking up a large child yesterday so it doesn't feel like I'm ever going to do any crafting again... hopefully it isn't too ambitious a plan. I'm going to include the things I've already finished or started this year to give me a bit of a head start. I am also just going to do 10 at a time because what I need to make and feel inspired to make can change so much over the months. So here goes with my 1st 10:

1) 1 pair blue fabric hairclips for sale on Etsy. Done and dusted, listed on Etsy and pictured left. They are very pretty!
2) 1 neckwarmer/scarflet in RYC soft tweed, see post below & listed for sale on Etsy
3) 1 pair pink dog rose hairclips for sale on Etsy. Done!
4) 1 large black tweed corsage. Now for sale on Etsy
5) 1 baby gift for my friend's new baby Elsie (but not going to say what it is until it's done!)
6) 1 pair of daisy hairclips for my friend's daughter Molly
7) 1 slouch bag with huge floral pattern in brown & turquoise for sale on Etsy
8) 1 slouch bag in gorgeous rich gold fabric for sale on Etsy
9) 1 fabric/crochet/knitted (haven't decided yet) hair band to keep my hair out of the way when gardening (what, something for me?!)
10) 1 lily pad felt needle book for sale on Etsy

There's also a Flickr Group for the 50 Things Challenge so take a look and see what people have been up to.

Wow - so busy!!

A lovely fellow forumite (I Want My Mum - the progressive parenting site) liked the brooches I had on sale in my Etsy shop and wanted a variety in different colours, so I have been working hard to get them finished. Choosing the yarn was great fun - it was lovely to familiarise myself more with various collections - I have used Rowan & Debbie Bliss. I love the Rowan tweed yarns - the colours & the texture. I also encountered the Debbie Bliss Rialto range for the 1st time I am extremely impressed with the beautiful range of colours available - it's also very nice to crochet with. I am very lucky to have the real life shop outlet of the online shop Cucumberpatch on my doorstep so I have been familiarising myself with their stock, lol. Gorgeous shop - good job it is only open once a week at the moment.

Swaps Progress
I've now finished and posted the goodies for the Mee Crafty Kiddy Swap. I've taken pictures of the things I made for Nature Girl and I am keen to post them, but wont until I know when they have been received - I don't want to spoil any surprises.

I've also started on my next swap - A Fairy Tale Swap - being organised by Apryl over at Meridan Ariel. I am sorry to say that I have absolutely no inspiration for it at the moment, and my swap partner Lottie is putting on the pressure on by telling me that she has already started my gift. Eek!!

My Shop
I am most excited that I have had my second ever order from someone I don't know. This is not to say that I am not EXTREMELY pleased that friends & acquaintances buy from my shop - it is just quite nice to get an order from someone who doesn't know I really *need* the beer money. So to celebrate, here's a picture of the parcel all gift wrapped & ready to go. I really really need to get some more stuff in the blooming shop - things have been going a bit too well recently. What am I complaining about?

My latest creations & works in progress

I have no idea how I am getting anything finished at the moment - there is so much to organise with our house & garden. Of course, work in the garden has to be a bit of a priority at this time of the year - we want to have some veg to harvest come the end of July. And because it's the end of the month I've also been busy catching up the hours I work for Any Questions Answered - an entirely marvellous text answering service. Now I can rest easy that I'll get paid this month!

In spite of all this I have managed to get a couple more things listed in my Etsy shop - a new bag made out of some marvellous retro-style fabric & a little sun hat for a toddler. What pleases me most about these is that they are my own patterns which I developed myself & have worked through by trial & error. I have never been that great at thinking ahead (chess is a mystery to me..) & so I feel pretty chuffed that I have been able to plan out patterns that haven't left me with huge holes or strange lumps in the finished items!

I have various works-in-progress at the moment. I've cut out some fabric for a couple more hats - this time in navy stripes which I hope will look rather dapper. I am trying to resist buying more Kaffe Fassett fabric so I can make MORE hats until I have finished the current ones. An incentive if ever there was one. Soon as I have them done I will be off to the Cotton Patch...

I am contemplating entering the crochet challenge on Craftster - which is rather brave of me because I have never even posted on there before. The theme is 'Summer Crochet' & I have a good idea that I am working on. It's a bit make it up as you go along but I like what is happening so far... What I love about crochet is that I feel confident enough with it to just start on something with just an idea in my head. I don't feel that about knitting at all... but maybe that's just because I haven't had quite as much practice with knitting.

I also have another bag design on the go. The idea is to create a bag large enough to get in a whole load of supermarket/farmers' market shopping in it whilst still looking reasonably stylish. I have my prototype underway - it's at the part sewn up stage. One of my reasons to create a bag like this is my own annoyance with 'bag for life' style shopping bags that fill up so quickly. I also have some gorgeous fabric with a huge pattern on it that would look great as an enormous bag... but, of course, I also need to avoid it looking like a big sack. I think that's the trouble at this stage!