Spring

As usual its far too long between blog posts and I'm have far to much to write about so I may split this into a couple of post.

First big new my little sister had her second little boy on Easter Sunday. He is absolutely beautiful.

Me playing the role of Aunty Liz with little Hector at 5 days old.

This photo is from left to right my older sister Jen, my younger sister Kat, her sons Hector and Lucas, me (squinting) and my mum.

I missed out on going to harrogate flower show this spring but instead I went to the Good food show. It was great but very, very busy, there were crowds of people everywhere and getting anywhere near stalls took ages. The main reason it was so busy was that the headline celebrity chief for the day was Mary Berry.

 She did a half hour live cooking show which was interesting and very funny. She forgot to put the pesto in the salmon dish she was making but like the pro she is took it all in her stride and made a running joke of it.

She also did a signing and while I didn't get a book signed as the queue was so long but it was nice to she her a bit closer up.

I also managed to catch a glimpse of Dave from the Hairy bikers, Brian Turner and the guy who won last season great British break off. I got to try lots of different cheeses, meats and some wonderful artisan gins. I came home with a bottle of sole gin, a massive white chocolate - raspberry cupcake and very sore feet.

It was lovely to have a proper day off and spend time with my family.

In work news I have been working on my amigurumi hair tutorial and have two new patterns that are now available in my esty shop.

 Spring fairy and the bride.

 I'm quite pleased with this bride pattern there are some wonderful fun techniques in it. Curling the hair for this pretty up-do makes for a very different style of amigurumi hair but its really very simple to make. I've given her peach and apricot flowers which may not be everyone's favorite colour but I love it and I'm on a campaign to bring back peach :)

In magazine news I have two patterns in this months inside crochet magazine

 Lucy bunny

 and my bead earrings.

 Many thanks to Inside crochet for sending me these wonderful photos they are stunning as always.

They also sent me this badge for my blog which is just lovely and I will be putting it up very soon.

I love you to Inside crochet magazine. Even before I started working for them I was an avid reader and got some many good hints. They have so many beautiful original patterns very month its truly inspiring for any crocheter.

More magazines - my Scottie dog that I made for Craftseller magazine are in a brand new crochet magazine all about knitted and crocheted toys. More about that later as I can't find any photos from the mag just the one I tok before I posted them off.

 Finally I got a lovely surprise when Craftsellers facebook page released a photo of their newest magazine.

Thats my mermaid, octopus and crabs on the cover. I never know if the projects I do for this magazine will make the cover but I was so happy with this finished group that I was really hopeful they would make it to be cover stars and I'm really please they did.

I don't have my copy of the magazine yet its not in the shops till Friday so I'll tell you more about how this odd underwater family came together in my next post.

I'll leave it there for now as I want to relax with a glass of wine and catch up with all the other lovely craft blogs over at handmade Monday