Just For You card

I've been having a papercrafting moment today. It's been a while but I really enjoyed it. Firstly I spent some time doing a scrapbook page. Whilst I was putting it away, I realised it was probably more than two years since I did an actual page. I've done a couple of mini books in the meantime, but no actual pages. The main 'ingredients' for the page have been sat on my desk for a while but it was finding the time to actually put it together. But now it's done. I really must try and do some more!

Once I was done with that, I thought I'd make a card...

I got the idea for this card from one of Shimelle's classes, 'Pretty Paper Party' that she ran last year. It's all made out of scraps, which is even better. I hope you like it.

If you took the class, and have made a version of this card, I'd love to see it!

Upside Down!

Just a quick note to apologise for the lack of postings on here lately. Life has been a bit of a rollercoaster lately, to put it mildly. We've also been doing some more work on the house, and as I'm sure you all know, when you start work on one room, all the others tend to get in a mess and fill up with stuff! Consequently, my craft stuff, sewing machine and other goodies are all pretty much buried at the moment.

I've also been concentrating on my writing for a couple of competitions. One is pretty much ready for submission now, and I'm hoping to get the other one done before the closing date. We shall see.

I certainly have plenty of ideas for craft and cooking, so I'm really hoping to get the chance to dive into them before too long and start sharing.

Patchwork

I am the first to admit that I am not the most patient of crafters. I like to see things come together quite quickly. Instant gratification is pleasing to me :)

It is with the utmost respect then that I look at those who do intricate cross stitch and patchwork and know that I am unlikely to ever have either the skills or patience to do either, and make sure a wonderful job of it as they do. With that in mind, please don't judge me too harshly on my latest endeavour.

A little while ago I got a new sewing machine, but to date I've not had the chance to use it much thanks to catching pretty much every bug going since the New Year. It's a little more techy than my previous model and not generally being all that good with technology, I have to say I'm a little intimidated. I do know that the best way to learn and lose that fear is just to plunge in.

So, with this in mind, I went rummaging when I had some spare time and found a bunch of pre cut patchwork squares I'd got off Ebay a couple of years ago. I fiddled about, laying them out into a pleasing arrangement and started sewing.

I did my best to keep the edges together but it seems that some still went a bit askew. I think this is due to a bit of fraying having taken place on some of the squares which made them a bit smaller, but I'm sure a little is also down to me too.

All, in all though, I'm fairly happy with how it turned out. I like the pattern certainly. I haven't decided exactly what to do with it yet. There is a possibility of building on it with other fabric, and making it into a quilt or something, but I'm not sure where I'd put it right now, or perhaps a cushion front. The other idea that came to me this morning was making it into some oven gloves by cutting the shapes out of the made up fabric but I'm not sure there's going to be enough, certainly not for both sides but I could do one side plain. That would give me a chance to do some freehand quilting (bearing in mind my lines are straight enough to do plain quilting!). I'm not sure yet.

If anyone else has any ideas, I'd love to hear them!

I haven't forgotten you!

Sorry I haven't posted for a while. It's just been (and is) one of those times lately. I haven't even got to crafting at all, unless you count sorting out my sewing patterns which I have pretty much done. I've photographed all the covers now and have printed some out. But now we're out of ink so I can't do the rest yet. Then I'll have my own little catalogue. Ideally, I'd like to make a list of the pattern numbers I have too but whether I'll actually get to that, I'm not sure.

I have picked out what I'm hoping to make next, which is from this book

It's call the 'Flouncy Bag'. I was looking at the instructions last night and I noticed that it asks for fabric that's non directional. The piece of stash I had in mind is an Amy Butler bit I got on sale ages ago but looking at it this morning, it does have a direction really. I'm wondering if anyone else has made this bag, and if so, how important the direction statement is in this case. From the cutting layout, it didn't really look like it would matter too much.

I'd love to hear your feedback if you've made it, and what you thought.

Thanks and look forward to hearing from you!

Vintage Liberty

One of my plans this year is to sew a lot more. Included in those plans is to find something to make out of these fabrics. 

Fabrics!

They are all vintage Liberty fabrics. My nan was a seamstress and these were some of hers. My favourite is the white and blue and I think it will make a pretty skirt. I'm thinking perhaps a dress for the flowery one on the left as there's quite a lot of that.

My main thing is that I don't want to muck up! The fabrics are obviously special not just because they are Liberty (something I couldn't ordinarily afford!) but because they came from my Nan who got me into the whole sewing thing in the first place.

Have you ever had fabric that you are too worried to actually cut into? And if so, what did you do? (or is it still sat in your stash getting stroked every now and then?)

I'm on a bit of an organisation kick at the moment, which when I get to that bit, will include sorting out my patterns. I'm taking photos of the envelopes and am going to make up my own 'catalogue'. It's a fairly large job but I think it will be useful. Especially as I came home with the same blouse pattern as one I already had last year! I suppose at least it shows I was right to buy it in the first place, as I then bought it again later!

In the meantime, I've been finishing up my Journal Your Christmas album, which is finally nearly done. I've learnt a lot of things from this one that I would put into action if I did it again and which would hopefully mean I wasn't still doing it in the middle of January! Once I put the final touches on, I'll share some piccies.

I've also been sorting out my scrapbook layouts. Years ago I bought some American Crafts 12x12 ring binder style albums. I have just this morning got around to putting my layouts into them, having taken them from the post bound albums they were living in. Of course, I don't have enough page protectors, so they're not all in there quite yet, but that's the plan.

I'm putting everything into date order of when the photo was taken. I know some people don't like to do that because it means that obvious scrapping style changes show up as you flick through but I'm ok with that. It doesn't bother me. I'd rather have the photos in a more chronological order because I think it becomes more of a life story that way. But that's just my preference. It just would have been helpful if all the original page protectors from the other albums had fitted the new ones, but that would be too easy wouldn't it?

Get ahead, Get a Hat!

I'm quite a 'hat' person. I don't own loads but I do like them. I'd been looking about at the 'Baker Boy' style caps around as I like the style but they're not cheap, especially for something you're not exactly going to get a tonne of wear out of. So, I pondered on making my own, found a pattern and here's the result.

I don't have a 'head dummy' to show it on but managed to find a very patient model instead :)  The pattern came from a magazine and was pretty good, apart from at the end when it told you that if you wanted to put elastic at the back (to make it a little smaller), it's supposed to be put on before you turn the band lining in. At least that's how it seems. I'm just going to see how it feels when I wear it. If I want to make it a bit smaller then, I'll just have to put a bit of elastic on the inside of the band at the back. No-one will see it when it's on my head anyway.

The fabric I used is a thin denim, recycled from a pair of jeans that I made into shorts for my friend. I had the extra leg bits left and it was just enough to make the hat from.

I had to make a self cover button which was a first but I don't think it went too badly, considering. I did try it with other buttons I had to see how a contrast would look but nothing suited it so I stuck with the suggestion for a self covered one.

The lining is some cotton from a remnant someone gave me a couple of years ago. I thought that it went with the whole 'vintage-y' feel of the cap's style.

So all in all, the make didn't cost me very much at all; a bit of tie back interfacing was the only thing I actually had to get for it, the rest was just stuff I had in my stash!

Hope you like it! Please feel free to leave a comment :)

Happy New Year!

2012 indeed! I don't know about you but the last year has gone so fast. I'm sure the last time I looked it was only June!

I'm not really one for resolutions - I have an allergy to planning - but there are things I'd like to do, if I can in the craft department. Mainly these are to improve my skills. I'm especially keen to regain some of the knowledge I've lost of sewing, or perhaps that should be confidence I've lost in sewing. I think when you don't do something for a long time, you lose your belief that you can do it a bit, don't you? So I'm trying to get that back. I know it will take time but hopefully I'll get there. A case of trial and error, although it would be nice if there aren't too many errors!

I also have plans to set up an Etsy shop too, just to see. I've got a Folksy one but I thought I'd go global :)

I'd love to hear what plans you have for your crafting, so please feel free to leave a comment below.

Happy Crafting New Year!