2012 Craftiness: January - June

These round-ups of what I've been making during the year are one of those things that I think maybe no-one but me cares about... but I so enjoy looking back over the year and at past years' round-ups that I'm gonna keep on writing them anyway, ha ha. (If you do like these posts & fancy a blast from the past, you can check out my "review" posts from 2011, 2010, 2009 and 2008 if you like)

I've taken quite a bit of time off this year thanks to family stuff & a nasty patch of creative block, but looking back over the year I still seem to have squeezed in quite a lot of craftiness. I remember reading somewhere that it's a good idea to keep a "done" list as well as a "to do" list so you get to see how much you achieve instead of always feeling like there are so many things still to do. My blog is my own personal "done" list, I guess!

In January I blogged about my Less 365 Project (any of you folks give that a go this year?). I dug out a whole bunch of old projects, including some knitted cushion covers and a quilt I'd started when I was at University...

... I started my sky blanket....

.... and I shared some crafty projects for Valentine's day including a garland of love notes and an owl-themed Valentine's card.

The Valentine's Day craftiness continued in February, with a cross stitch heart brooch and an embroidered heart hoop. I also had a couple of Making Days dedicated to just, well, making things instead of being distracted by emails and admin and all the other other necessary-but-not-exactly-creative tasks that usually dominate my schedule.

I made new primrose & auricula brooches, owl masks, and cherry blossom & forget-me-not brooches...

... and I organised my embroidery threads, winding them onto bobbins and arranging them in a rainbow.

In March I stitched lots of spring flowers...

... and shared a few tutorials, including how tos for making simple flower and four-leaf clover cards. I also updated my shop packaging, blogged about lots of lovely things my customers have been making, and I made tea-themed rosettes:

I was also delighted to have my bird brooches featured in Mollie Makes, and to be able to tell you guys about a new book called Heart-Felt Holidays which includes 6 projects designed by me. The pirate parrot is probably my favourite :)

In April I shared tutorials for making butterfly brooches, and a cute raincloud mobile...

... and reviewed lots of crafty books during Book Week.

And I blogged about my sky blanket, which was up to day 106 and was starting to actually look like a blanket!

My bad patch of creative block began in May, which wasn't much fun!

I blogged about a lovely surprise parcel, and I did some baking...

... and I made a fun collage of photos to celebrate the approach of my 30th birthday:

I also set up a brand new shop over at Big Cartel, which is something that'd been on my to do list for ages. I'm very glad I got round to it as I'm really pleased with the new shop, I find it very easy to manage and hopefully my customers find it easier to use as well.

The creative block continued in June, but so did work on my sky blanket which was now almost halfway to being finished:

I resolved to pay more attention to my neglected Facebook page, knitted lots of small blanket squares out of leftover yarn...

... and miraculously managed a teeny bit of sewing too, working on some of the things in my "in progress" pile.

... the rest of 2012 continues tomorrow! :)