A change of direction

The welcome lull between Christmas and New Year has given me a chance to think and I realised that it's been a while since I've written a post.  This is mostly due to a change in direction in my creative energies.

Where I used to sit and wile away an hour or two cross stitching or embroidering, I now find myself more and more drawn to my sewing machine.  I love sewing and the (sometimes) instant gratification it brings after I've spent an hour or two at the machine and have a completed project to show for it.  I love being creative and letting my energy flow through whatever I'm working on and it often brings a sense of calm when my mind is in turmoil. One of my favourite aspects of sewing has been the connections I've made with friends (old and new) who have shared the same love of sewing and creating and also passing on that enthusiasm to my children who love to create.

Going forward, I will be using this space to share what I sew with you and I hope you will join me on my creative journey.

Best festive and New Year wishes

Zoe
x

February Cross Stitch Sale!

There is now a 20% sale throughout February on all cross stitch kits.  Head over to the website now to pick up a stitchy bargain!  www.wonkywitchneedlecraft.co.uk

Happy Stitching 

X

Upcycling Old Clothes!

I wish I'd been more organised, but the part of my sensible brain that was telling me to take a photo of the finished items forgot to tell me to take some photos of the creative journey along the way! (Major face palm)

The reason I'm telling you this is because I have been a fan of upcycling for a while and just recently I took one of Mr WW's jumpers as he was having a sort out and declared "don't throw that away; that would make a good cushion"!  

The same was said to little Miss WW when she grew out of her dressing gown! (Can you see a pattern forming here?)

So over a year later, I finally sat down one afternoon and started cutting out squares from Mr WW's old jumper and turned it into a cushion!  I should have taken photos to show you how it was done but sensible head was not engaged as I happily went about cutting and sewing! 

So here it is!  The front...

And then the back!   The buttons came from an old jumper of mine so it felt good to re-use them!

I also did the same with little Miss WW dressing gown!

Such a satisfying project to complete using old clothes to make something new!

Next time I will take more photo's of the process so there is more of a tutorial!

Happy Stitching/Sewing/Crafting

X

Craft Storage

I can't believe it was January when I last wrote a blog post!  All year I have had ideas for posts in the back of my mind, gently brewing away but none have surfaced... Until now!!

I love this time of year where the end of Summer gently melds into Autumn bringing with it the harvesting of fruit; trees magically changing into russets and golds and the air having that slight chill to it that hints "winter is coming"!

This season of change has seen my littlest child start school full time (can't believe it, where has the time gone?) and my days that were full of his bright chatter have now turned into something different. I have had more time to think and I have found myself trying to find the right balance of doing all the things I have wanted to get sorted, cleared, grown, learned and crafted for a while (sometimes even years) without attempting to do it all at once!!

One area I've wanted to tackle for a while was my crafting and sewing area!  I have a corner of the spare bedroom and whenever I wanted to sew, knit or craft I would have to rummage through boxes full of fabric, wool and other crafting essentials (and sometimes it wasn't that easy to get to!).  Not only that, whenever anyone came to stay I was really conscious of the wall of boxes that my guests were faced with!  A little bit overwhelming don't you think?

But now, thanks to the mighty muscle power and DIY skills of Mr WW; I have a brand new shelving unit  (from a well known Swedish store) to house all my crafting essentials!  I'm so excited about it, it makes me feel warm and fuzzy every time I see it! 

The great thing about doing this was that it made me edit what I wanted to keep and weed out items that I was hoarding; such a cathartic feeling!

Now I feel inspired to craft and I have loads of projects to crack on with I just can't wait!

Happy Crafting

X

Winter Magic

The joy of having two children peering out of the window this morning at the sparse splattering of snow we had overnight is indescribable.  We haven't had any proper snow here for a couple of years so their excitement levels were up through the roof.  I love seeing how much joy they take from day to day life and it makes me stop and appreciate everything I have even more.

The beauty of winter has always taken my breath away with its magical blanket of white.  With the children's infectious joy still resonating; I just had to go outside this morning to take some time to appreciate the season.

I love these seed heads...

The rustic chair that Mr Wonky Witch made a few years ago now covered in fungi and surrounded by leaves.... really must do some gardening!!

Celebrating and appreciating the seasons is one of my very favourite things to do!  Along with stitching, crafting, sewing, knitting that is....oh and spending time with my lovely family.

Hope you are able to take a moment to appreciate the season too!

Happy Stitching xxxxxx

Because you can never have enough threads...... right?

Due to a troll invasion; dragon sighting and goblin fight in the woods; not much sewing has been done this week!!!  Oh ok... That didn't really happen but it sounds far more exciting than just saying I've been ill and the children have had various bugs and not much has been done!

We have all had a quiet day today winding bobbins; building a camp; spending time chatting with each other; making plans and mostly just winding down into our Easter break. 

I have had a wiggly jumble of DMC threads that I have been wanting to sort out for ages and with the children's "help"; we are slowly getting them sorted.

Small sample of my DMC thread collection!

It was such a nice way to spend the day in my new craft corner/room winding up threads as we were all winding down.

I didn't realise until I started this project how many threads I actually had stashed away but I never thrown any away... after all; you can never have enough thread, right? :)

 

Happy Stitching/Sewing/Crafting

Zoe xx

Mother's Day Gift

In the few precious hours I had to myself last week whilst my little boy was at nursery; I decided to make my lovely Mum a Mother's Day gift.  I only had a small amount of time so it needed to be something little.  I flicked through one of the craft books I've just borrowed from the library (I love flicking through free crafty books at the library!!) and discovered this little lavender satchet cunningly disguised as a tea bag and Ta Dah... My Mother's Day gift idea was born!

I bought the little mug to go with it and stuffed it full of chocolates to finish it off.

Fingers crossed she likes it! :)

Happy Mother's Day to all you lovely mummies out there!

Zoe xx

Spring has sprung!

One of the things I love about living in Norfolk are the big skies and when it's sunny; believe me they are glorious! 

I love spring with it's abundance of potential summer loveliness creeping through the ground; the song of the birds in the trees and the ducks arriving on our doorstep ready to be fed.  One of my favourite spring time activities is sowing seeds ready for the veggie patch.  We've already started some beans and we have now bought some seed potatoes to chit ready for planting.


seed potatoes being chitted.

After winter time, spring is always a welcome relief and with it heralds the return of my sewing mojo.  You can't beat sewing when the sunlight is streaming through the (not quite so grubby as I did attempt to clean them) windows.

One of the projects that I've long been meaning to do and finally got around to doing was sewing some chair cushions for the children's seats at the kitchen table.  The table is just a little bit too tall for our little one's and they have struggled a bit to reach their tea on occasions.  The children both chose the fabric from my stash and I made a simple envelope cushion (so I can put it in the wash whenever needed) with ties.

My daughter's cushion for her kitchen chair

I didn't use foam padding as you would traditionally use for kitchen chairs as I needed the height from the cushion pad.

My little boy's cushion.... I love this fabric

It feels good to have completed this project and now I feel inspired to finish some more.

Hope you are feeling the same way too.

Happy stitching
x



Happy times with Tom and Jerry

There's nothing I like more than hearing the children giggle.  The sound of their laughter brightens up my day (and is infinitely better than when they fight) and brings a smile to my face.

The children are currently chortling and dare I say it; laughing out loud (lolling) to a good old fashioned episode of Tom and Jerry.  It amazes me that something that was thought of so many years ago makes the children laugh with glee and I guess it's the comedy slap stick element that keeps them laughing.

My sister very kindly donated some more Tom and Jerry DVD's to the children so hopefully that will keep the children "lolling" for some time to come! :)



Tom and Jerry - still making us laugh!

Such happy memories for me to treasure and made even more special as my sister and I used to laugh in the same way when we were young.
 

Happy Stitching

X

Half Term Happiness

Yipppeeeeee.  How I love having my munchkins at home over the half term week. There have been smiles and hugs all round as we mooch around in our jim jams not having to be anywhere in particular.  This week we have;

coloured and painted;

 

crafted;

 

baked yummy raisin and apricot flapjacks;

bought and worn our sparkly shoes;

and generally had fun.  My 5 year old daughter even wanted to watch the Great British Sewing Bee which then inspired her to do some more sewing the next day!  Ahhhh what bliss!

So much half term happiness; I want to do it all again this week!

Happy Stitching

x

Bertie Badger!

So here we are; another week has shot by and unlike some parts of the UK we have been fortunate to have some lovely sunny winter weather.  It makes the heart sing to see such beautiful sunshine beaming in through the windows (and then sink again when I realise how grubby the windows are!!!).

I've been looking after a poorly munchkin today and in between snuggles on the sofa and Tom and Jerry cartoons; this little fellow appeared!

His name is Bertie Badger and he is usually quite a shy chap so it's very nice he's come to say hello.  Along with Mr Fox; Bertie is available to download as a PDF cross stitch chart from our website.

Happy Stitching
x

Procrastination Of The Creative Kind!

I've had a domestically blissful week this week and have been merrily sorting and tidying in between bursts of fireside snuggling and playing with my little boy.  Even though it's winter we have had some spring time cheer from our lovely narcissi daffodils and the children have even started planting some beans for summer time picking in the veggie patch. 

Pretty spring time cheer

Dwarf beans, runner beans & broad beans all underway

The reason for the tidy house is due to creative procrastination on my part!  My head is swimming with ideas of things I want to make but this week I can't seem to pull myself out of the creative funk and either finish something or start something new.  I have a list as long as my arm of projects I should finish and a list even longer than my arm of projects I want to start. 

To aid me in this process I've dug out a few of my crafty type books as this usually gets me fired up again and wanting to make and create.  Also, on the first Tuesday of every month; my best friend and I get together to do some sewing and she always inspires and encourages me so I'm very lucky on that score.

Hopefully next time I will have something finished or started to show you but for now I shall enjoy the tidy house (whilst it lasts) and carry on dreaming.

Happy Stitching/Sewing/Knitting
xxx

Flitting Knitting

This week the foggy weather has descended!  Doing the school run in all this gloomy weather at this time of year is never fun but with little munchkins asking so many interesting questions on the journey; (today's question was "if we are going forwards then the other way is backwards but if we go the way that is backwards isn't that going forwards"?); I soon forget about it.  :)

With this cold spell lingering, I've very much felt the need to cosy up by the fire with a hot water bottle warming my feet and my knitting to hand. Knitting for me, is definitely a winter sport!

Unfortunately I have the attention span of a fish and I am flitting from knitting project to knitting project in the vague hope that one of them might actually get finished! 

Nordic Style reindeer cushion

I'm really excited by this Nordic reindeer cushion as it is the first time I've attempted to knit something that had a mix of colour and pattern to it.  The pattern came from a book called Nordic Knits by Martin Storey and is full of wonderful Nordic patterns for socks, shawls, cushions etc.

Sparkly purple snood

This next project is my second attempt at working with circular needles and I love the wool for this one as my eldest munchkin chose it herself and asked me to knit her a snood for the winter time... She meant this winter but I suspect it may be NEXT winter before it's finished!!!  

Knitted heart

My TA DAH moment is that I did actually finish something... and then got so excited I decided to make a mini version which I haven't quite finished!  This little knitted heart has been a lovely, simple project to make and the best thing about it is that I've learnt so much about knitting and what some of the abbreviations mean that I feel excited to have progressed beyond squares.

So I did actually finish one.... still have a lot more to do and then there's the sewing and cross stitch projects to complete.... not that I flit from project to project or anything!!! (ahem!)

Happy Knitting/Sewing/Stitching
x

Say Hello to Mr Fox!

The Christmas tree and decorations are firmly packed away (always a sad day when they come down); the children are back at school already counting down until next Christmas and the house is back to "normal".  As much as I adore Christmas; it does take up a lot of my brain space so it's lovely to be able to think freely and enjoy being creative again.

One of the most recent creations from the Wonky Witch farmhouse has been the lovely Mr Fox cross stitch chart which is now available to download as a PDF from our website;

Mr Fox Cross Stitch Chart

I have to admit I'm very much in love with Mr Fox (ssssh, don't tell Mr Wonky Witch) with his bright orange fur and twinkly eyes... I'm sure he would be able to charm his way into any hen house!

Happy Stitching

x

Christmas Whizzery

Well Christmas whizzed by in a crazy whirl and I was still frantically sewing stockings right up to the last minute! As a family we all had different enjoyment from these little advent stockings that I would never even have dreamed of.

The children have delighted in finding another chocolate stuffed stocking in the morning when they wake up.  Sometimes at night, the excitement would be too much for my littlest munchkin and he would wake up to check if the elves had been... Which did result on more than one occasion, in a chocolate covered child/duvet/teddy as he fell back to sleep with magic elf chocolate dreamily squirrelled away in his hand which of course had melted by morning.

Mr Wonky Witch loved sneaking into their rooms, desperately trying not to make any noise as he tripped over various toys strategically placed to catch him out.

I have loved sewing them using materials given to me by lovely friends and family and I have loved the idea that we can use them again next year...and the year after that!

Not bad for an idea that came to me whilst standing next to the cheese counter at the supermarket one foggy November morning!  I wonder what it is they put in those cheeses anyway?

Happy New Year Stitching

xx