I'm up to something....

...or at least that's what must go through Mr T's mind when ever he see's me grinning from ear to ear and clutching yet another paper bag filled with new crafty-stash goodness. In fairness, he's very supportive of my creative hobbies, even if it does mean he has to learn to ignore the piles of various crafting paraphernalia that amounts in various corners of the house....this week the lounge is full of huge balls of wool as I've cast on another crochet project - just a quick one this time I hope!! I wanted to do some rippling, and was inspired by a lovely crochet pattern book my sister got for my birthday so I thought I'd make a cushion cover. The wool has been here for ages, I'd intended to make a ripple throw for the sofa but it was such a large project that I soon lost motivation!

Mr T often wanders (read "clambers over the boxes of paper stash, stamps, inks, paint, sewing machine, bags of wool, die cutting machine etc until a small space big enough to settle just one foot while the other hovers in mid air, conveniently next to the chair which will aid your balance - see, I'm helpful with my "set up" like that!) into the spare bedroom (aka Craft Zone Central chez nous) and stares wistfully into space and mutters various almost inaudible phrases under his breath such as "this would make a lovely music/guitar room"......"we could have fitted a pool table in here"......"this could have been a perfect man den"....."a home brewery would be perfect in here", before looking around at the scene with a forlorn look on his face, shaking his head, and wandering off whispering about needing a bigger garden with a shed. Bless.

I guess the sight of my ikea-dining-table-come-desk does look a bit chaotic to the untrained eye.....

...but those of us in the know will recognise that this is obviously a hub of creativity in full flow! *ahem - please not I decided not to show you the surrounding floors and shelving unit!!*
Any true creative genius will know that no matter how big your work surface, you always end up with just a12x12 working area, clearly marked out by a cutting mat!!! However, this doesn't mean we don't need the rest of the surrounding space (or room) to fill up with stash! Oh no!! Being surrounded by stash soooooothes and inspires the creative brain. Oh yes!!

So anyway, imagine Mr T's sheer delight when I come home and announce that I have a new hobby in mind and have acquired this little load of chintzy booty to help me achieve it:

Let me hear you say
oooooh

laaaaaa

laaaaaaaaa!!

Oui oui?!!

Check out the bounty of embroidery thread! It was actually my grans, I took some when we cleared things from her house, but only about half of all the thread she had!! She was the queen of cross stitch, and lots of craft in general to be honest. My love of making things really must be genetic! I sorted them into colour families last night (to cries of "OCD" from Mr T), with a view to storing them in take-away plastic containers....but there's no way they will fit so i guess a new storage purchase of some kind is on the cards ;)

I felt the photos needed a little scale to show you just how many threads were there, so I popped my mobile phone into the shots:

So pretty :) Can't wait to get cracking with my ideas for that lot! I shall keep you posted :)

I began the post talking about crochet and wool, so I'll share my last layout with the February Sarah's Cards Kit, as it is about my Sunburst Granny. I created a sort of "notebook page" to document my strategy to get it done in manageable chunks that I talked about here. A bit different in style for me to have so much journalling on a page, but I wanted it to serve a purpose.

As always, click for larger images!

Thanks for stopping by as always, will be back soon xxx