Birds, beads, bells, buttons, bag and brooch

Thank you everyone for your encouraging and kind thoughts about my knackered knee. A part of me is relieved at the knowledge of the actual injury and a part of me is scared witless!! Never mind, the next step (sic) is my pre-op appointment but until then.......

What a miserable and soggy weekend? Did you have one of those too? I felt sorry for the boys - it was their last-weekend-before-going-back-to-sshhhhhh (school) and it was pretty low key and wet. Eldest's laptop joined in the misery and had to be carted off to the computer shop - he is bereft! 

So...what to do, what to do..... crafting of course (silly me).

Did you in your past ever have those fabric birds on a cord with bells and beads?

Remember the type? Mine must be about 20 years old, a faded reminder of a semi-feral youth living in a static caravan on a farm in Devon. Surrounded by 300 year old woodland and within walking distance of the sea. These birds have travelled with me from home to home, between the UK and Africa and back again. Now the birds, like me, are showing their age, the beads and bells however are still fine. 

Well - I hate throwing things away when I can recycle them and I have a crochet hook and am not afraid to use it! 

I had happy hooky-time and made 6 birds. It was wonderful fettling through my buttons collection (I was lucky lucky lucky to receive some beautiful buttons for chrimblymas pressies) for the bird's eyes and the boys 'helped' as did the kittlings (sigh) to make the cord for the birds to hang from.

They are now hanging up and I smile each time I see them - I wonder if they will still be around for the next twenty years? *probably not - the kittlings have just noticed them and are trying to leap up and catch them...........grrrrrrrr

Remember I posted about receiving some lovely string as a gift? I was given two gifts of beautiful garden twine. I must have had my crafting head on rather than my gardening one coz I instantly though of a bag!

Ooh it was tough stuff to work with, my left thumb felt like it had been through a mangle after a crafting session, but I persisted coz I could see what was coming off the hook and I was so in  L*O*V*E with it!

Again, with the boys and kittlings' help, I made the twisted rope handles. I had to use forceps (a relic from my veterinary nursing days) to stitch the handles on.

All that is left to do is to line the bag, think it needs a pretty flowery fabric.

Then, fairly late last night, I had an urge - a crafting one! So started a button brooch for someone who is off to hospital today and I want give it to her before she goes - so better finish it and stop waffling! 

Hope you all had a lovely weekend 

and wishing you all a Happy Monday!