Stitching, actual stitching!

And here it is, there has been actual progress on Dragon Rider, I'm so happy! I meant to have the tail and above done, but didn't take in to account just how much those colours appeared further down the page as well, if it hadn't been for that I would have managed it. I had meant to have this page finished by the end of the month (there's a chance that I have a new start planned for July, ooops), but I don't think I'm going to manage that... however after several months of not stitching at all I'll take this much as something!

It's probably quite sad just how happy being able to do this made me my week... I forgot just how much stitching is my relaxation until I did some and was suddenly just so much happier again!

Second up, my Granny Starbursts, I wasn't going to post on this this week as I didn't really have much progress to show, however I went round to a friends to watch a film tonight and she was very understanding about me turning up with my crochet so I managed to get another 21 greens done and suddenly made my showing for this week much more respectable. My target for next week is to have all of the greens done and to be moving on to the purple, then before long I'll be trying to work out whether I'm doing the final rounds and then sewing together or if I'm going to try and master the join as I go method. 

And finally, I may have had another new start (and have another another new start planned), but I can justify this one and my another another one as well, these are both intended as presents for people, and I don't quite know what my deadline is on either of those so, wish me luck basically. I will still try and get some time in on my rotation pieces (as I am loving actually being able to stitch again), but these two and the blanket at the main focus pieces for a while, just because they are all time based gifts.

In other news, I'm planning on trying my hand at yarn dying in the next few weeks... I'm quite excited and quite nervous all at the same time... it'll probably be in a couple of weeks time, but I promise I'll put some pics up, no matter how successful or unsuccessful it is so that you can cheer me on or laugh hysterically!

Mini Moon type stuff

We decided to have a quite trip straight after the wedding so that we could sleep it off then we're going away on an exciting trip to Japan next year. So this is lots of pictures and barely any works.

Crafting (sort of)

The wedding's over, I said. I'll have all this free time, I said. I'll be able to craft again, I said. I forgot to factor in how much time I spend at work. Still, I'm eternally optimistic and I'll have more time this week instead (hahaha!).

Anyway, here is the little progress that I do have to show from this week (thank goodness for Craft Group). The blanket (which is currently 144 separate pieces) is progressing, but as per usual, I'm not quite sure if I'm going to get it done in time, but what's life without a little panic hey? Especially as I've not got another present planned as well... why do I do these things to myself?

Wedding stuff for those that are interested!

I tend not to post much personal stuff on my blog, but I'll put a little bit here.
I'll try to keep this vaguely crafty, but there will be a couple of gratuitous wedding pics as well... this was out guest book, everyone signed a heart and stuck it to the tree... actually Ben's discovery and so lovely.

This cake was made by one of our friends, and we're so grateful to her, she did an incredible job. The wedding was literary themed, and the colours were purple, so this was perfect.

Showing off my homemade bouquet, probably my biggest crafty project from the wedding... I couldn't believe how long all the flowers took me.

Gratuitous wedding pic. We haven't got our professional photos back yet, but he put this up as a sneak peak, and I love it.

Incredibly attractive selfie with my friends from back home, it's so unattractive, and I absolutely love this picture!

Other half loves this sweets, so we had to have a sweet table, and rather hiring someone to do it for us, we decided that we'd much rather do it ourselves, and we have so many sweets left over, so many sweets!

Gratuitous dress shot with a cute flower girl!

The things that my friends agree to do for me... this was some of the poor ladies from me hen do.

The wedding is over, the crafting can begin

The title says it, I am now married, I am now Mrs Grant, which means that I will (hopefully) have time to actually craft things other than for the wedding, and in theory my hours should be improving at work so I may be able to craft, and I may actually be able to show something on here, and actually post regularly again. If you have any interest in the wedding I will do a separate post,  so if you're not interested in it you no longer have to listen to me go one about it. So, in the spirit of not going on about it, here is something I worked on while Ben and I were away. It was a hot country and this is acrylic, so I couldn't do that much on it, but I started a new blanket (because that's what I need in my life, more projects), but I wanted something that was simple, repeating and that I didn't need to keep changing yarns on so didn't have to pack loads of balls, so this was perfect. The pattern is Blackberry Stripe, just without the colour changes, and the yarn is Ice Yarns.

Secondly, I've done a tiny bit on Dragon Rider, it doesn't look much different at the moment, but I'm just so excited to have him out and being worked on again. Every time I get this out to work on it I'm amazed by how metallic the parts of the bike look, it fascinates me every time.

Anyway, Dragon Rider its back, I do have some other projects to work on, and a couple of starts planned (only a couple, who am I kidding), but I am going to try and put a bit of a push on this, it's been a 'focus' piece for so long and it's not really progressing, so I need to start putting some serious effort in on it I think, besides, then I get the fun of choosing anew focus piece, and so on. In the mean time, I fall out with this quite regularly, but I always love it when I come back to it again, so I need to try and keep the love going this time. Wish me luck. I don't see a finish on this any time soon, but I hope that I'll at least be able to show some half decent progress by the end of the year and not miss my target quite as widely as I did last year. 

And finally, I can show off my Secret Project, as it's now been gifted and thankfully for his life and my sanity it seems to be appreciated as well.

This is the crochet blanket that I gave to Ben as a W present. It has been quite possibly the most difficult thing that I've made to date.There were about thirty balls of yarn attached to this at one point, and my sanity was seriously suffering because of it. There were times when I really wanted to throw it out of the window, but I am quite proud of the final result at least!