I made a bag

 Ta daaa! I made a bag and I am so happy with it. You know how you make something and it doesn't turn out quite how you wanted it but you think "oh, it's fine, it'll do". Well, that is how most stuff turns out when I make things, partly down to my abilities (or inabilities and lack of patience) and partly down to making do with what fabrics I have in the house at the time. This time, I had an idea of what I wanted to do, I searched out the right bits and pieces that I needed, and I made the exact bag that I was hoping to make. Remember those buttons that I bought at the Knitting and Stitching Show a few months ago? I had always intended these buttons to go on a bag and I wanted to embroider tails onto them. I used some Ikea placemats (!) to make the main part of the bag and I lined it with an old retro sheet. A little bit of embroidery around the top and voila.

 My bag is already full of wool, ready to take to Crochet Group tonight. I have started on a blanket to go over the back of the sofa (basically to cover the claw marks left by our cat - poor Jack, we had to have him put down last October due to kidney failure. RIP He was a lovely cat, apart from when he clawed the sofa!)

Can you tell that I'm really pleased with my new bag?!

At the weekend we went to a granite/marble supplier to look at fireplace options. After looking for tiles for quite a while, we have decided that we just aren't going to find what we are looking for (read that as I am looking for). So we are thinking of having some kind of simple marble fireplace with matching hearth. We're still thinking...