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I have decided to name the crochet Greek Tortoise, "Pericles" after the Ancient Greek who built the Parthenon. Here he is making friends with some of the other Timmies (tortoises) in my collection...
I would definitely recommend the Pattern by Roman Sock.
The Greek Tortoise (pattern by Roman Sock) is finished. I really enjoyed crocheting this cute Timmy :}
I was a bit nervous to see how all the 6 shell pieces would sew together, but it came out fine...
I decided to do a green underbelly & the wrong side of the crochet looked better...
I sewed a small oval shaped piece of pink felt in his mouth... (although I later 'shaped' his mouth to be less wide & broad)...
The pattern said to put pipe-cleaners in his legs & neck to make him posable. I pushed a small ball of stuffing down to his toes, then wrapped some some stuffing around the folded pipe-cleaners and put them into his legs.
The final stage was sewing on his underbelly...
Tiger-girl was keen to hold him...
...and Smurf liked him too...
I like how he is posable and looks inquisative.
Just got to name him now.
The head was fun to crochet as the tortoise's mouth can open, so the pattern taught me something new... which is always great. I have completed the 6 shell pieces and sewed in all the (annoying) ends on the back of each one...
Also, this is my first time using proper 'eyes' with little safety backs. I like the character they add to the face (but still love buttons too!) Pattern by ROMAN SOCK (great pattern). Just got to crochet a circular underbelly and get to grips with some pipecleaners then stuffing... oh & sew some felt in his mouth too. Happy days.
Friends & family know that I love Timmies (tortoises) so I decided it was time to crochet one! There are lots of great patterns out there on the web, but I chose this pattern of a Greek Tortoise by Roman Sock as I love how the little mouth opens and the shell detail is so brilliant. It's still early days... but here's a sneek peek at the first stage, (four legs & a bit of the shell) ...
I had made a bit of shell and rejected it...mainly because it felt too loose and the colours were not that yum. I swapped 'treble' for 'half-treble' stitch and it came out much tighter & more of the pentagonal shape I was aiming for. I must say Brigitte Read's pattern is very clear & it's free & available as a pdf file.
Below, the better shell bit is on the right...
I'm really enjoying being part of the crochet forum at Crochetville... here's a link to the TOYS page.
I've had fun making a brightly coloured scrapbook LO about Smurf and his crochet (Amigurumi) monster I made him.
There's a TAB to PULL...
...which is his original sketch...
My fave part is the stitching over the title letters...
Oh... and I've joined an online crochet community called 'Crochetville'. You can link to my thread here ... the comments have been really encouraging :}
It was my Birthday yesterday & I am now officially less than a decade to fifty. However, like fine wine I'm not afraid to age. I had some lovely cards (see a few below). The pic also shows my two new 'Timmies' (tortoises) which I collect...
Roman bought me the bigger one from a NT House called Dudmaston Estate, and Tiger -girl bought me the smaller one from 'Bygones' Museum in Devon. Love them. At the last count I've got about 40 something Timmies :)
I had some beautiful flowers from my brother & sister-in-law...
I bought a big pink stash storage bag with some spends from my Gran...
It was full of scrummy scrapbooking/cardmaking supplies from Husb & the chidlers...
Some earings with 'bling' from my sister & brother in law and a jewellery making workshop day too... SO excited...can't wait! AND I had spends from my folks & Husbs folks. Blessed my socks off by all the lovely gifts & thoughts.
I decided to take the children out to a couple of National Trust Houses yesterday as a treat. Roman & I read the NT Handbook & chose two places to visit. The first was some rock houses at Kinver Edge...
We were impressed that the homes were actually IN the rock. Unfortunately you can only go inside at week-ends (Grrrr). Then we went to Dudmaston Estate...
...which I was quite excited about due to there being a collection of modern art to see. But the House wasn't open on Mondays (GGgrrrRR) so we had a quick look at the gardens, dodging the rainy showers. We had a very nice lunch out (which the children loved) and the waitress complemented the children on their lovely manners... beam :{}
I didn't mention that Husb also surprised me with a Wii FIT (!) Seriously... which has been a big hit with the chidlers...
I did have a 'go' yesterday at some 'Step' and some jogging. Gasp is an understatement :<>
No photographic evidence thankfully sadly! Oh, and last Saturday we went to see the new Star Trek film. One word. AWESOME!!!! GO & see it if you haven't already. Seriously.
I made a Scrapbook Layout about going on the beach at Easter. The design was different to my usual style but I'm pleased with how it turned out...
I used a circle punch on the photo grid, then stamped ' a day to remember' onto the background cardstock, then added a white 'gromet' from Making Memories and glued a piece of patterned paper behind the gromet hole.
Perhaps not the typical beachy colours but it was Easter time!
Last week, in his spare time, Smurf wrote a Play. He roped in his brothers & sister to be in it. It was all very Top Secret so I had no idea what to expect, especially as I'd not read the script and they'd rehearsed yesterday when I'd gone shopping. It was HILARIOUS!!! Husb & I sat on the settee as the audience and chuckled our way through the whole thing. I got the actors to pose for these pics after we'd watched the play because I didn't want to be a distraction.
The main character was a boy called Charlie who was obsessed with playing marbles (played by Chef), and his (odd-looking, short-sighted Texan)... Dad & his Mum...
The Mum does a bit of lecturing at Charlie regarding too much marble playing...
Then the wierd looking Dad arranges a marble competition for Charlie...
Then the Mum goes & supports Charlie at the marble playing competition, where Smurf plays Charlie's opponent...
Things then turn a bit violent when Charlie wins & the opponent has to be restrained by the Marble Judge Guy (whose goatee looks a bit like Husbs!)...
The cast have an encore to lots of serious clapping...
Yep... when you've got no T.V. you make your own entertainment.
Hee Hee. :)
We had such a fun time last week-end in Devon with our family. We were amazed when Smurf & my nephew SWAM IN THE SEA!! Not just a paddle either!
Roman & Chef also braved the waves...
Smurf & his cousin were practically inseperable for the whole week-end.
The beach had loads of lovely shells which kept littlest niece very happy...
And there was lots of digging in the sand & building sandcastles with long troughs leading to the waves...
Smurf & my nephew had a very successful trough which brought water all around their castle.
My niece got very excited when she found some teeny round jelly-fish (the size of marbles)...
Then next day we went to a museum called 'Bygones' and it was full of interesting treasures.
I thought it was funny to see Smurf pretending to boost his cousin onto the 'Penny Farthing'... (pair of scamps!)
The boys went karting in the afternoon and girls went on some fun rides. In the evening we hung out together and enjoyed each others' company.
On our final day there was a long swim in the pool, then we went to 'House of Marbles'. The chidlers are all posing/sitting on by the biggest marbles in the world (apparently).
Tiger-girl & her Auntie.
Interesting to see the glassworker in action.
How much excitement can you pack into a long week-end in Devon!?!
AND I didn't mention that Husb went up on stage in the club to be a 'volunteer' and had MANY tennis racquets hurtling past him in a crazy juggling act. Seriously. {But I don't know who volunteered him!} OK... I MAY have had something a to do with it... but he loved all the attention!
It was so great to spend time getting to know each other. Yay. :)
