Art Journal Page

YAY

It came! Along with multiples of junk mail address to people on several different streets, my Hooked on Exchanging (Because it's Pink) package came through!!

My partner was Carol S and she stitched me Rosebuds and Pearls Fob by the Drawn Thread. She also sent scissors, lip glosses, some great charms, a bookmark, variegated pink embroidery floss and some lovely pink linens to stitch on in the future :)

The fob is now sitting with my other prides of joy on the windowsill :)

Thank you Carol!!

Sweetie Petite Blog Win

A while ago I left a comment on Lisa of theredthreads blog where she was doing a blog giveaway... and I was one of the lucky winners!!! Theres been a postal strike here in the UK and I received the package a few days ago (but I think it had been in the backlog judging by the postal date) so I hope Lisa hasn't been thinking I've been ignoring the package!

'Ginger' and her little bluebird friend were so quick and easy to make and I loved the whole set. I made a video so others thinking of buying their own sweetie petite could see the ease of the project and a the quality of the package and fabric (lovely)! Also those little notecards are so cute but I'll probably end up framing them as a set rather than using them as notes!

Binding a Quilt with Mitred Corners

I posted this video a while ago and it had a huge number of views early on - turns out someone posted it on a sewing forum where several people have it as a 'favourite' but no-one told me!!!!

Binding Quilt

I've started binding my blue and green quilt with some cream 70mm satin ribbon. YouTube tutorial to come :)

Mmmm Focaccia Bread

Ingredients:

350g Strong White Flour

Sachet Dried Yeast

Salt - both table and sea

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Rosemary

Warm Water

Sift Flour and 1/2 tsp table salt and add yeast then 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil and warm water, mix and knead dough for about ten minutes or until 'yeasty' smell and smooth ball.

Place in clean bowl with some more olive oil, coat the dough and leave in a warm place to rise for about an hour until double. Preheat oven to 190 degrees and leave a baking tray in the oven to heat up.

When dough has risen, cut into 4 and shape into slightly oval balls. Bring out the hot baking tray and melt some butter on the surface to stop the dough sticking. Place the four balls on the tray and coat with a little more olive oil, some sea salt and some (freshly cut if you can) rosemary. Put in the oven for about 15 mins until lovely and brown on the outside and sounding hollow when tapped.

I had one warm with poached eggs... then another on its own without even butter it was so yummy :)

Away for the weekend

Military 'do', Goodwood revival, interview outfit. Hopefully all will be well when I'm back!

Art Journal pages

I was pretty glad to use my Hardback Recycled Scraps Art Journal and see it worked fine :)

Craft Wardrobe

...that DB built :)

I added these additional shelves. Of course, its full now but I haven't yet taken a picture - you can see glimpses of it in the videos I've made recently though! I've also added a few little shelves to the doors since this photo.

Embroidery

I bought some hand dyed thread skeins from Sharon of Pin Tangle from her Art Fire Store. Since buying, I knew I wanted to use them for something that would eventually be on display/useable in some way. So I started an embroidered bag front with an image based on one of Alphonse Mucha's pictures: 'Woman with Poppies'

As I started I did this stitch which I love but I don't know what it is?!!! All I can come up with after looking at my (still borrowed!) copy of Batsford Encyclopedia of Embroidery Stitches is that its a sort-of-half 'Portugese border stitch'
Weave (not through fabric) beneath two foundation stitches,
Weave through the furthest one again, then repeat.

New Video - Hardback Art Journal.

I MADE THIS WITH NO COST - just recycling and some glue & thread :)

Second video - I made an art journal hardcover book following another YouTuber's tutorials with some modifications - see the video for how :)

YouTube Video

My first YouTube video, I decided to try to make crafts videos that are fast so that browsers can pick up the 'how to's, hints tips and ideas quickly without having to sit through real-time crafting. I have a few other video ideas in the pipeline - mostly recycling / upcycling ideas and ways to reduce costs with crafts that can get out of hand with the 'essential' kit list!

Creative Space

I've been reorganising to seperate crafts/work area and bedroom area. Reorganising through all my crafts thing spurred me on to make some hanging ornaments! The orange flowers are made using 'plarn' from plastic bags, the tiny puffy stars and the origami ball were made using tutorials from Folding Trees, the crepe flowers inspired by Martha Stewart Crafts Dept. The Union Jacks were the ones we waved at DBs pride parade.

Costume Making

I haven't bought any clothes since the start of 2009. None. Not even tights yet though I will HAVE to because I need them for my uniform. But I've made it a rule to not buy ANY clothing (apart from tights) for the whole year. Its been hard in some ways but actually hasn't caused me any problems.

Until specific fancy dress is needed. So in a combined time of about 4 hours I managed to make both mine and DBs 'emergency services' fancy dress costumes. Both leave a little to be desired, but I'm still proud!!!

I also managed to efficiently use my mannequin and love how much easier it is to construct a dress :)

Steiner Dolls

I started making two Steiner or Waldorf style dolls. Strictly speaking they aren't as they don't use the finest and purest ingredients of plain wool and cotton. In fact, so far they use child's elbow Tubigrip, old desert uniform t-shirt, shredded polyester quilters wadding and car-boot-sale wool!

This second head now sports a full ponytail of hair but the method I used means she has too much bald spots when you part her hair. I have a few ideas on how to improve and one day I'd like to do a tutorial on how I would do both male and female hair :)

Modifying DBs Hat

DB had a spare uniform hat that he had ripped apart to try to make it more floppy (this makes it look more old fashioned and 'cooler'). But of course putting it back together again requires sewing skills...

So I've ripped out the structural element and sewn it back together again, but then added a nice dark blue satin lining with his surname embroidered in too (obviously smudged out for good reasons).

I also tacked down the edges to give it a head start in getting the best 'droopy' look.

Lost Dollz :(

When I was at Uni I discovered an online art that was 'dollz'. Spelling with a 'z' seemed to mean searching was easier and took away conventional doll results. Dollz are pixel art figures, you start with a 'base' which is an image of a figure with no clothes and no hair. You then digitally draw on hair and clothing to create the finished doll. In my time 'dolling' I had a website showcasing my dollz and entered several contests where I won a few prizes. I must have spent hours and hours dolling. But I neglected my dollz and site occasionally as my crafting took me in other directions and now I realise my dollz site lapsed without me realising. In the meantime I changed computer and my old computer died. So I've lost all that work :(

I remembered I uploaded once to an online image storage site and managed to find the doll above. I can't remember which 'doller' created the base - I really should be mentioning and linking them to give them due credit. I remember I originally made this for a 'geisha' contest. She wasn't my best and I really wish I could get my dollz back to showcase again :(

I might stumble upon a file now and then to display but I think most are lost forever!

More Crochet

After declaring that I wasn't inclined to make full size clothing and granny squares with crochet, I went ahead and started to make... granny squares... then started a cardigan. I figured I'd try to follow a load of tutorials to learn the basic crochet stitches and realised granny squares could be like the crochet 'sampler'. I'm doing them all in these colours:

...which I feel look like a heather/woodland mix. You can see the ones I've made so far, as well as the start of 1st an abandoned cardigan pattern then at the bottom of the picture the start of the one I'm in the middle of now.
The cardigan is going to be a holey (quick) crochet stitched tie-wrap number and I'm measuring and deciding on shape as I go.

I also sewed some odd buttons onto my amigurumi egg and fuzz-ball :)

Headset covers

In work we all have these ugly headsets and a lot of people have customised 'knickers' which are the earpiece covers. One new girl turned up with an amazing 'Sully' from Monsters Inc headset cover and told us how at her last base a girl was making all sorts of themed covers for her colleagues for a token cost for the fabrics. I thought I'd have a go to see how expensive and quick they were to make. This was the first and I did a lot of experimenting to get the right sizes, stretchiness for the 'knickers', shape and attaching of the ears and horns and the positions of the poppers that close the headpiece around the top of the headset. All in all it took me around 3 hours but I think I could get it to two :)

Beanbag

I made this beanbag for DB's sister and her husband. They have a cream living room with brown acents, this is just the beanbag - I forgot to take a picture of the cover in my haste to get there for the weekend. The cover is constructed the same way except there is brown piping along the seams, a small circle to cover the joins edged with brown thread to pick up the piping colour, and the bottom is covered with another larger circle that has a large velcro fastening down the centre so it can be removed washed or maybe replaced if they change colour scheme.

I can crochet!!!

I've been following June's 'Planet June' blog for a while and really admire her crochet patterns - she actually made me wish I could crochet whereas granny square quilts and full size clothing don't! After following her tutorials and several on youtube when I got stuck, I've managed these three using a bag of wool I picked up at a car boot which handily had some needles in...

They are left to right: Basic Rose (donation ware) | Amigurumi Acorn (freebie) made just as an amigurumi egg | Mini Fuzzball (freebie)

This is what the yarn I used for the fuzzball looks like - it was very fiddly but the only 'fuzzy' stuff I had!!

I'm pretty happy I actually managed to crochet something let alone three 'somethings' :D

Right, I'm off to go make a donation after using the rose pattern :)

Balldress

I made this dress to wear to the ball last week, I had one day and didn't want to spend any money hence no zip and I used several co-ordinating fabrics. It was quite simple - large patched 'tube' gathered with covered elastic at the waist then the top half is a simple rectangle, darted slightly at the bust, neckline cut out and the sash tie makes the edge.

Bias Binding

In an attempt to work out how to make and use piping, I made some multi-coloured scraps to make binding :)

Notice the complete lack of ironing!

Then I made a pot holder, I quite like it actually :)

I grew these!

I'm pretty excited that I actually grew the green part of a meal for Steve and I from seed! Everyone else on the planet probably did this by the time they were five, but I'm still really pleased :)

I've been doing lots of crafts stuff recently but will blog in different updates over the next few days :)

In June...

A pencil roll as per You Go Girl's blog :D

I've had my eyes lazered! This is me after the preliminary checks where they relax your eye muscles to check the prescription... so HUGE pupils!

I waved a flag and cheered as DB paraded

I've been doing lots of fitness classes in BRIGHT clothing

I've been growing in pots.

and taken photos as I talk to them.. heres a morning glory all pretty and rolled up

heres one of the roses from last years bushes

heres some yellowness from a bush I don't know that has always been in this garden since I moved in

More bits and bobs

First attempt at a fabric bird... I looked at lots of tutorials on the internet and am sure I'll try other shapes but this one was made by looking at this pdf from spoolsewing.com. It isn't yet finished but its sitting on the cake stand until I return to it.

Next up are a return to sketching inspired by andrea joseph's sketch blog and lots are challenges from the series 'Every Day Matters' from DannyGregory.com.


Lastly my babies are growing fast, soon I'll put them outside with lots of protection from birds and snails :)