Top 5 Tuesdays - Travel Charts

I thought I'd join in with Kate's Top 5 Tuesday series. The theme this week was travel charts and I have all of the following in my stash waiting to be started one day.

1. La Rochelle - which unfortunately looks like it is no longer available.

As you may have noticed, I love the place! We try to go at least once a year as we have family there. Now I just need to find a similar chart for Nazaré.

2. Serengeti

I'm hoping to slowly kit this up during sales as it is an expensive yet beautiful piece. This would be a nice reminder of my trip to South Africa which I now realise I completely forgot to blog about - apologies!

3. Travel Memories

Well it's someone writing about their tavels so I'm including it ;)

4. Pretty Little New York

I have this in my stash to stitch for a friend as she loved her trip to New York.

5. Maple Leaf Silhouette 

I've never been to Canada but would love to go so I'm including a maple leaf design too!

Make sure to check out the others who are participating as well!

Goodies and a new start!

I have done well for crafty goodies this Christmas - I wonder if next Christmas time could be gifted to make a dent in my stash?

From my other half I received this beauty that I had my eye on for a while and was going to buy it for myself as a graduation present.

The kit was so well put together - absolutely gorgeous. It didn't take me long before I started it, unfortunately as I've decided it will be stitched two handed I couldn't take it with me on my trip.

Gamer Nouveau - 28.12.16

From my parents

From other family and friends

Here's what I bought whilst in France

I've decided that I'd like to do more crochet now that I'm getting the hang of it. I bought some yarn about a month ago for a virus shawl which hasn't grown much and I've got half of the yarn needed for an Outlander shawl.

So many crafts, so little time!

Nordic Reindeer

I managed to squeeze in one last finish for 2016!

It's Nordic Reindeer by Mouseloft. This was gifted to me a couple of Christmas' ago and was perfect for my train journey.

That brings my total finishes for 2016 to 6 - not as much as last year or the year before but I'm not complaining.

I'm not going to be planning 15 finishes for 2017 as I usually fail and tend to avoid the projects I'm determined to have done. The plan for this year is to finish at least 3 projects that were gifted to me. I'm not bothered about the size - some are a similar size to the reindeer. Here's a photo of most of the kits I have received as gifts. There are charts but most were digital so take up less room.

The next 6 months will be busy as I will be finishing my degree which seems so surreal.

I will be back soon with the lovely goodies I received for Christmas and what I bought during my New Year away.

An attempt at crochet

I have a large box of wool for someone that doesn't knit or crochet so decided it was time to use some of it so here is my first attempt at the African flower. 

Sorry the colours are off (that centre colour is meant to be blue). I used this video to guide me through it but next time I'm going to attempt it with a friend that crochets as I get lost at the start at the repeats of motifs. I always end up with more stitches!

I've been working on the barn owls cross stitch every now and then. Unfortunately, I don't think it'll be finished in time.

Aside from uni taking up time, I have been distracted by gaming. I had a few attempts at Battlefield 1 but I have been sucked into playing Dead by Daylight. It's so easy to say oh just one more game. I have also started Ori and the blindforest - well what can I say? I was crying like a baby in the first 10 mins. The music is beautiful though.

I'll try and be back soon with another update or at least the exchange I'm hoping to send out soon!

The Retreat Bag 2.0 by Emmaline Bags

Hello there! You may recall my post a couple of weeks ago (I think) about my friend asking for a purse made out of batman fabric. As a fat quarter would have been just on the small side, I got half a meter and gave her the option of having the left over fabric as she's learning to sew or I could make a washbag. So off I went to make a washbag. I decided to use The Retreat Bag 2.0 by Emmaline Bags but left out the frame.

It was quite quick to put together and the fusible fleece really gives it some body. I didn't need to pad it out with items to get it to stand by itself. I'd be tempted to use fusible fleece or that sew in foam for bags to give them structure as well. I'm planning to make at least another two of these in the future but I must get some cross stitch done!

I loved the messages I got once she opened the package, they really made my day!

The Mini NCW - Batman version

After posting a photo of my Batman purse, a friend asked me to make her a smaller version in the same fabric so here it is...

I used the add on for the regular NCW which tells you how to make a smaller version. I made some changes to the materials. As I've used my purse more, I realised that it's not as sturdy as I'd like it to be so used a very stiff interfacing (almost like cardboard) for the flap and a firm interfacing for the rest including the zip pocket. For now it seems much sturdier than mine. 

My friend wanted a black lining rather than yellow and of course, it works well. I used a different brand for the turn lock as I was really disappointed that mine didn't quite fit together. This is one is much better and think I'll stick with Prym for them.

I will be making a matching washbag once the frames arrive and then I have another two mini NCWs waiting to be put together. Uni has started up again so I'm trying to find a good balance between crafting and working!

ABC Collection - Sac "ceinture" fleurs roses

I received this kit last Christmas and I decided it was time to put it together. My other half very kindly translated the pattern for me but in true fashion some of it didn't make sense once translated. Did you know that the call a french seam, "couture anglaise"?
So, I had to guess a little but I think it turned out well.

The biggest issue I had with this bag was the belt loops, the folded ends often slipped out of place even with wonder tape holding it in place. 

I'll be back soon with a post about my field trip.