2013 in 10 minutes...

My word! I am absolutely appalled at myself! 2013 was certainly a busy and difficult year, and I know I didn't get online as much as I should all round, but I had no idea it had been this long since I wrote a blog piece. Slap me now!

I'm not one for promises... as a kid as soon as I made one it got broken- it was a chronic compulsion to do so, so I shall not exactly make one now... BUT, I will say I will try my hardest to squeeze in at least 2 posts every week, and try to find time to add tutorials as I'm creating new projects.

I will post a few pics of some of the items I've made over the last 9 months...

That was a few rucksacks....

A few journal sets....

Lots of mitts in a huge array of colours...

Dreamcatchers and wreaths....

There is sooo much more, lots of commissions, but I'll get to them another time.

Have a wonderful week

A pinch and a punch... hopefully no returns!

  Happy Beltane, or Mayday, if you prefer. I cannot believe we are here already! I guess alot of it is because I now have a weekly routine of trundling to the Bluebirds Market on a Tuesday and everything else revolves around that lately. It's amazing how quickly a week goes by... 

  Always busy, I made 7 journals last month, and tried to finish my butterfly rucksack, but it has sat next to me on the sofa while I get on with other bits like embellishments for the journals.. it's been lovely, 4 of the journals were commissions, and have all safely arrived with their new owners who are very happy, which in turn makes me happy! Echoes sold yesterday too, so I shall have to make another creamy vintage journal soon.

  I've also managed to get some work in a handmade shop in Canterbury, Whitefriars Food and Craft Market so we'll see how that develops, Canterbury is very busy with lots of students and tourists, so fingers crossed. I just need to make a few extra bits to test run over there.. some larger dreamcatchers and a new textile accessory range, based around my collaged textile pieces. Where am I going to find the time?

  I shall finish the rucksack tomorrow, then I plan for a quilted messenger bag with some of the remnants. Then onto creating one of each of the expanded textile range, and creating the first wedding album cover... looking forward to that..

  So, busy, busy, watch this space- I can't promise I'll get time to post much, time gets less each week, which is great really, but I will be posting more fabric dying techniques, my monthly beading/ quilting block and all my swaps over in the Friends' Gallery, etc

 

Butterflies, butterflies

  I know, I know, too long again! I'm going to have to set certain times to write my blog otherwise I'm just not going to keep up enough. I have been busy, always my excuse! 

  For those of you that know me, aside from working in rainbows alot I also tend towards purple... and use butterflies as a theme regularly, well I've found out this week that I'm not on my own. I've had orders for my collage textile journals, both purple with butterflies- wonderful, as I know my stash is full of suitable goodies.

  Without giving away my trade secret for construction here's one of the finished journals, all sent off and happily received

I've started to add little art canvases of my work too, just as an extra dimension, I know they're each unique anyway, but this makes them more so- I love making these journals!

Here's another one, a small Moleskine I made at the same time for the fun of it, I've listed it on Etsy now.

Now I need to finish the latest order... hope I get my machine back soon, after 7 months it's gone stupid and gone back to the shop, darn! 

Rainbows and Dreamcatchers

My word, it's happened again- 2 weeks gone by without a post... shame on me! As a means of excuse I have been busy though, completing Etsy orders and a few from our Tuesday marketplace. Here's a few peeks at finished work as a catch up...

 

 A textile covered journal in my favourite colour combo wending it's way to the US as I type....

Another rainbow journal commissioned as a child's memory book... so sweet! 

I've enjoyed making a rainbow so much I think I'm going to make myself one for my Large Moleskine, yummy!

Isn't it funny how things run in groups? Two orders for rainbow coloued journals, and  two orders for two-tone dreamcatchers ...

Purple and silver, lots of amethyst, my favourite combo- not keen on the gold... This one was great fun to make as I played with the wire in a different way... no two are ever the same, that's what I love about making One Of A Kinds, no duplicates. I'm going to start adding wire names to my wedding dreamcatchers... I'm already doing names on my beaded flower memorial frames so why not...

and what about this cute little dreamcatcher for a girl's room... pink and green, with unakite, pink howlite and rose quartz

That's not all I've been up to, but I'll leave that for another post...

Mum's the word...

It's almost here... Mother's Day in the UK- isn't the US on a different date? Much as I love my mum she can be a pain to gift! She's an accomplished seamstress, has everything she wants, and has been given countless portraits, cases, books and accessories made by me over the years... every year gets harder to find something that will fit her needs and taste... nevertheless, I still would rather make something personal than buy a bunch of flowers!

While at the Bluebird Market this Tuesday I took some aida to start working on... drew "Mum" on it and began working in cross stitch. Once I got going it opened up the possibilities to how I'd complete it... the rectangle could be framed and the square could be turned into a heart.

So today I finished them both...

The question is which one do I give her? 

I decided Saturday morning when I wrapped the heart... thought it the better piece... so what shall I do with the other?

B & CQ JP Butterfly- March block

It's March 1st, where's time gone? Woosh...

I'd been looking forward to making this month's block and I made the base up ready last night... January and February's blocks are reds and orange, this month is orange and yellow so that the whole piece will eventually be rainbow coloured.

I've used a wide range of fabrics, including the sample piece that Spoonflower send, well, it fitted the theme!

For the full pic and an ongoing summary visit the B & CJ JP page .

Woo-hoot! What a pair...

Aww... they really are quite quick to make... here's girly...

And what a pair they make! Don't forget the pattern is over in the PATTERNS section, let me know if you have any trouble with it so I can adjust it.x

Have fun!!

What a Hoot..y!

I spent yesterday at the Bluebird Indoor Market in Dover, and while we weren't selling we were chatting away... one lady, who makes gorgeous plush fabric doorstops was crocheting an owl from a magazine pattern and having a bit of trouble making sense of it... some just don't make sense! Anyway, it piqued my interest so this morning I decided to make my own... and try to write an easy pattern to go with... so here's the first one, wasn't too hard to plan and he looks great! The instructions are over in my PATTERNS section.

  

What do you think? Sweet or not? I'm going to do a girly version now which I'll probably get finished in the morning...

Why not gather some wool up, it doesn't take very much and you can use scraps for a funky version, pop over to the tute and have a go, promise you'll get hooked and want to do more! 

PYRAMIDS IN MY STUDIO...

Continuing on from mum's pressies, I got out some denim that I'd had kicking around and set about creating a few pincushions for Etsy. I wanted something original but useful, so I tried a cube, but felt it was too ordinary and bulky, and the pockets just didn't seem right... so I played with some other shapes and finally settled on a pyramid.

The pyramid gives me a chance to add a pocket using my collaged textiles which match the needlecases on one side, a ribbon on another to keep scissors, and a 3rd side for pins, needles etc. I get to decorate each side in a different way, but still keeping in style and colour. Each has a loop for carrying- you know how you always end up carrying too much at once when setting up for a project! I finish with one of my cute multi-coloured crocheted flowers.

Here's a few completed, they are so sweet I'm going to have to make one for myself, probably in the purple textile I collaged at the weekend while hiding from my kitchen ceiling! (Long messy story...)

Yellow, I keep set colours of textile in stock, but take orders for special combos

Each side in detail- ribbon strap, pin-side and textile pocket

 I shall be making more with the denim- I usually use coloured hessian, but I like the contrast! I feel some sewing sets coming on for Christmas- perfect gifts for crafty friends and relatives. I'm also going to start taking orders for personalised colours and detailing, adding an embroidered name to the ribbon, so if you're stuck for ideas then shoot over to Etsy and email me with your requirements... 

COTTON AND COLLAGE

I have carried on creating my flower embellishments this week, but changed medium... to cotton. A while back I was crocheting wool flowers and butterflies, but as I had just bought some white pearl cotton thread I thought I'd see if it would work small scale.

The lustred cotton is about the same thickness as embroidery skeined thread, and after a few trials with different sized needles I settled on a 2mm. I ended up spending 3 days playing and making a selection of flowers and butterflies... I've just started on hearts. It seems that a wool crochet pattern will translate nicely into a dinky cotton equivalent- great for journals, hats, jewellery, blankets... so many uses!

I chose white because I want to start colouring as required, rather than have to buy a supply of every colour I like  in a wide variety of material... I've done the same for satin ribbon, bulk white in several widths- it's so easy to colour as you need it.

Here are a few of the flowers and butterflies...

A few variations in stitch and pattern will give you a huge range of petals and designs. I'll put a pattern over in the pattern tutorials section

The basic pattern is several rounds worked from a circle of 4 or 5 chains. Any stitch can be used in any combination...that's the fun of it! 

The next thing is to find a use for all your wonderful mini creations.... as it happens I had a project that could use a handful of flowers... see the following post for the finished project. A hearty project...

This white thread is pearlised, mercerised, which means it has been chemically treated and takes dye really well! You can dye with Procion dyes or similar, but I also use something much quicker and just as effective for crafting- alcohol markers such as Sharpies or Promarkers. The colour will naturally run along the fibres so a small amount is recommended to begin with, and you can always spray with neat alcohol or surgical spirit to dilute and blend the colours... have fun experimenting!