Zakka Style SAL week 5 - Pencil Case

I almost forgot to post!  I was so busy yesterday afternoon, ironing, oh the joy, that I forgot to post and I also forgot to upload my photos, so you're missing the final photo here! 

Once again I joined in the Zakka Style Sew Along.  You can find the linky here and this week's host Kerry is here.

This week's challenge is a little pencil case.  I liked the look of this and I really do need a pencil case for my bag as I carry a huge bucket of a bag and things just disappear into its cavernous depths.  There's no hope for a skinny little pen.  Once again, I used some grey linen and my precious scraps of Bliss and Ruby, though I think these are all Bliss.

The pattern was great, really easy to follow and it works so well.  But I have a major, major gripe (don't I always).  

See how lovely it looks when it's done up?  Well guess what, if you put pencils in it, or even some pens, you can't do it up!

It's not big enough!  And what good is a pencil case you can't put pencils in?? 

So, once again, I'm going to have to make another one!  I'm going for a different style though, so watch this space!  I'm going to use this little baby for my crochet hooks on the go as I really do think it's sweet.  And that's the photo I forgot!

Right, I'm off to calculate prices for various weights and dimensions of polymers now, I know, exciting isn't it?  I did a load of sewing this weekend so I'll be back soon, unless I forget of course.  My apologies to my non-sewing readers, I haven't been doing much else recently and I know it must be getting boring for you, but I'll be taking weeks 7 and 8 of the SAL off, so I'll try and cram some crochet or embroidery or something in then.


  

Poor, lonely, homeless baby bear hats

Morning ladies.  It's raining.  It's been raining for weeks.  My poor bunnies have swimming pools in their runs, though Ellis rather likes it, she's a bit odd like that. 

Now, I'm really sorry Dotty, I don't have any pictures of my glass course which started on Wednesday evening.  I made a piece to be fused, but completely neglected to take some photos.  I will next week, if I can.  I get a bit shy about taking photos in front of people, but I do intend to write a post about the course so I'm going to have to get my camera out at some point!

The other weekend, when I went to visit my new baby nephew, I took some crocheting for the car.  The baby bear hat (pattern by Alli Crafts) is perfect.  I've done it before so I pretty much know it and it's easy so it's great for someone like me that gets car sick and can't look down for long.  I got 5 done in the journey there and back, save the sewing on of ears.

This one above is actually a variation on the pattern.  I decided to try to make a mouse hat.  I'm not convinced it was successful but I do like this thick, chunky grey yarn for the hats.

Here's the mouse next to a slightly drunk bear.  It's OK, the hats are for babies but they are over 18.

I also used up the rest of my brown chunky yarn to make the three above.

I was going to put these hats in my Folksy shop as I've sold out, but considering that Folksy are now shafting their sellers, I'm not going to.  I've left the shop open until the listings expire, so if you do want to buy something, now is the chance (go here).  These bear hats are also for sale, just leave me a comment and I'll email you.  Thanks for your suggestions on my last post about different on-line market places, I'm going to investigate Big Cartel as soon as I get a chance.

A peek at my stash

Wow.  I was planning this post for tomorrow, but I just had to post today.  I subscribe to the Folksy blog - for those that don't know, Folksy is the UK version of Etsy, just smaller and, until now, more interested in it's sellers.  They posted this morning saying they're putting listing fees down from 20p to 15p BUT instead of listing 5 items for that 15p, you now have to pay for each and every item.  That stacks up to a 75p listing instead of a 20p listing.  They've also increased the commission and shortened listings to 4 months!  I wrote a comment on the blog saying how unfair I thought it was and they DELETED IT.  That's it, I'm done with Folksy.  I'm closing my shop and moving.  Any suggestions as to where?

I'm going to carry on seething as I write the rest of this post, I think I might seeth all week about this!  But let's not dwell on it, let's get on with this post.  It all began when I was looking for a beading needle on Saturday.  It wasn't where I thought it should be and so I had to go from place to place looking for it.  I was a little shocked how much my crafting stash has grown and thought I'd take some pictures.

What you have to bear in mind throughout this post is that I have A LARGE DOUBLE BEDROOM UPSTAIRS FULL OF CRAFTING GOODIES.  This little gallery of shame is just downstairs...

Frst up is this little bookcase in my dining room.  It's home to my growing bead and jewellery making collections.  The covered folders (using leftovers from the wallpaper so they match) contain cross stitch, embroidery, knitting, crochet and jewellery making magazines.  See the vase on top full of little balls of yarn oddments?  Love that!  Next to the vase is my wet felted universe.

My other main stash is in the living room, next to the sofa where I always sit.  If you squint you can see some craft magazines on the sofa with the TV remote - I really should have tidied up!

So let's take a closer look at this stash.  One drawer contains Aida, Hardanger fabric and evenweave, the other two contain yarn.

The top left drawer has my stash of felt, both wool felt and acrylic.  None of it is neon orange despite looking that way.  The top right drawer has more yarn and the middle drawer contains various items that have no other home - pompom makers, tapestry wool, that kind of thing.

Then there's a basket on top.  You can see my knitting needle roll, 2 of my three embroidery thread boxes, assorted hoops (used for framing, not stitching in), an embroidery frame, my lightbox (which has stopped working), and a couple of kits.

Then we have the small basket containing my Ort jar, my notebook, tape measures, scissors, needles, crochet hooks, pens and tooth picks - all the handwork essentials.  Behind the basket is my daylight lamp and my tissue box along with the label from a ball of yarn (why??), some mini post-its for marking book or magazine patterns and my lovely needlebook from Katherine.

Next to my chest of drawers is my large crochet bag, currently containing my stalled giant granny blanket.  It sits on top of my sewing box.  This sewing box used to contain all the sewing equipment and supplies I owned.  All of it, including the fabric.  And that was less than 2 years ago.

Now it contains a wide variety of things.  It really needs sorting out!  Now, you'd be forgiven for thinking this is all.  I mean, this is the entire contents of some people's craft stashes.  But no, let us take a look down the side of the sofa.

Well, well, well.  What do we have here?

Exibit number one - a tower of crafting goodies.  The missing embroidery thread box with my yarn bowl sitting on top.  On top of that is my wooden tray with a variety of stuff that I'm currently using.  Or should be using if I hadn't stopped what I was doing to make loom flowers.  And what was behind that little tower?

This basket is stuffed full of WIPs, or rather UFOs, my on-the-go project bag made by the lovely Sandra, another project bag also made by the lovely Sandra behind it and about a gazillion sheets of paper with patterns I printed off as I had to make them NOW.  I haven't made them yet.   Is that it?  Oh no, no.

Cunningly squeezed onto my craft book shelf (commandeered from the general book shelves) is another vase of yarn - handknit cotton this time, and a vase of perle cotton.  You can also see my smashed suncatcher and empty Yankee candle jars that I'm going to refill.  On the shelf above you can see my fab red octopus made by the Dotty One.

I need to just stop a second here and point out two things.  Yes, that next shelf up is barren.  I'm currently trying to alphabetise all our books.  They are in the top bedroom which is two flights of stairs up from the dining room.  It's taking me forever to carry them down, sort them out and put them on the right shelves.  I can also only reach the bottom half of the shelves, despite standing on a very large ladder.  The second thing - yes that is an oven.  No, it's not plumbed in there.  Don't go there, it's a source of massive arguments between me and Mr CA.  Seriously, don't go there.

So, surely that's it?  Nope, look at this hanging on my computer dining chair.  It's my Zakka Style SAL tote bag, stuffed with yarn!  Do you want to see more yarn?

Look on the shelf of the computer desk!  A quick turn to the right shows us the dining table.  Complete with WIPs and bear hats that I was going to list in my shop until Folksy decided to shaft the very people who make it work.  On top of my ongoing doily rug and needlework is some free paper from a magazine and some buttons.  In the background you can see my secret project (which wont be secret much longer as I can't get in touch with the lady that sent it to me) and a bedsheet.  Used for painting on.  Yep, we're really slovenly in our house, things find a place to sit and stay there for ever.

Oh, look, I've found one more pile of craft goodies...  a box of candle making stuff.  Quite a big box, and overflowing.  I suspect there's more in there than just candle making stuff.  I'm not going to look though.

So, that's it.  Apart from the entire large double bedroom upstairs that is my craft room of course.  How do you compare?  Has anyone else got an out-of-control stash like this??

 

Zakka Style Sew Along week 4 - Sewing Kit

Are you all surprised?  It's week 4 and I haven't dropped out yet!!  I'm still raring to go on this SAL, though there's a quilt coming up and I haven't decided whether to go for it or not yet.  Part of me says "YES, do it!" but another part of me thinks it's a tall order for a weekend!  We'll see.

If you're joining in the SAL, or just want to see what's going on, the link up is here, and this week's host is I'm a Ginger Monkey.  For some reason, I'd got it into my head that this week's sewing kit was going to be complicated.  It's not, but having finished it, I wish I'd made it more complex, a zip pocket would be a great addition for a start, as would a little hoop to hook on the rings I use to hold embroidery floss.  Well, depending on what Sandra says (see below), I might be making another.

It had to be bunny themed!  I used this navy bunny fabric and matched it with a softer flower print and my rabbit stamp came out again, this time to be used with the black ink pad I'd bought.

Nice and simple.  Once again, I had forgotten to buy fibrefill (I bought some last night, what's the betting I don't need it for months now?) so I stuffed this one with my ORTs.  Although I never joined in the ORT thing that's been going on around blogland for a couple of years, I have two ORT jars, one next to my sofa in the living room and one by my sewing machine, it's just a handy place to put threads and they've finally come in useful.

For some reason, I had it in my head that the pin cushion was velcro'd on to the main part of the sewing caddy.  Despite there being no velcro mentioned in the materials list...  When I finished it, I was disappointed that I hadn't added velcro, but I kept thinking it was part of the pattern so would come up soon.  I think I realised it wasn't just after I finished sewing the whole thing up!  I added snaps.  They don't work.  They just wont close.  I hate bloody snaps.

This is the outside of the roll.  I used some cord for closure and added on this machine embroidered rabbit that the lovely Sandra made for me.  And this is where Sandra comes in.  I think I've broken it!  Look!  That happened when I pressed it, but the rest of the white meshy stuff wont come off, what have I done??  Can I fix it??

So there we go.  Week 4 completed, but not to my satisfaction.  I said at the beginning of the post that I'd been dreading making this for no good reason.  Well, in the interests of procrastinating, I spent Saturday cutting and preparing.

Weeks 4, 5 and 6 of the SAL.

4 placemats, 1 pair of oven gloves, an appliqued babygrow and a wine bottle cosy, all waiting to be sewed!  I feel so virtuous!

An obssessive week

The obsession started last Sunday night when I decided to try out a little gadget I'd bought and never used.  The obsession continued through the week until Friday night when I deemed the job done.

Nope, the obsession wasn't cutting bits of yarn.  Loom flowers.  Three sizes, lots of different colours.

So the question on everyone's lips - what am I going to do with them?  I have no idea.  I'll use some for packaging items sold from my Folksy shop, but considering I average around 5 sales per years, that's nearly 8 year's worth of packaging...

For the time being, I've put them in this jar.  Suggestions?  PLEASE??

I was lucky enough to recently win 2 giveaways.  One was from a magazine, no idea which one as my mum just enters all the competitions and then when she wins (which is often) she either keeps the prize or gives it to me.  I won this little hanging heart kit.

A much more exciting giveaway win was the fabric below, won from the lovely Rosa.  If you don't know Rosa, go and say hello, she's one talented lady.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with these fabrics, but it'll be something beautiful.  Thanks Rosa!

I spent today cleaning out Harry and Tiff's hutch, then blog reading as it rained for an hour, then cleaning out Colin and Ellis's hutch.  I snuck some pictures of the first two in the garden, I have no idea why they're looking at me with such suspicion!!

Right, I'm off now to do some sewing.  Next week's Zakka Style challenge was completed yesterday but I have a birthday gift to sew and whatever else might take my fancy.  I start a 10-week glass course on Wednesday evening, I can't wait so I'll be back at some point to show you what I made (if I manage to make anything!).

finishing stuff off

Oh dear.  Blogger has changed my interface.  I've been ignoring it's perky little message about a "great" new interface, try it now.  But it's happened.  It's rubbish, isn't it?  One thing it doesn't take into account is that I'm writing this post secretly at work, so I can't have a massive big window open on my computer, I've just got it small, about a quarter of the screen - that means I can't see the left hand side of what I've written! 

I've got a new addiction - more to be revealed at the weekend possibly - so I've just got bits to show you, things I've written about before but that I've now finally finished.  This is my blackwork piece finally mounted in the frame that I painted white.  Why is painting so bloody hard?  I used acrylic paints and it was just yuck.

It's now in my "gallery".  Can you have a gallery of two?  I'm hoping more will be joining them, but until then am I allowed to call it a gallery?  Will I get into trouble if I do?  And with who...? 

The next finish was the beanbags.  I don't know if you remember this, I posted about them and then I posted that I'd lost 4 of the 10 bags?  I found them.  In my little drawer that contains my Aida and evenweave.  Obviously.  Where-else would I have put 2/5 of a half-finished project??

When I found them, I quickly stuffed them and sewed them up before I lost them again, then whipped up a really quick and easy reversable draw-string bag. 

These are destined for a 1 year old, well actually he's now 1 year and a month, his present was a bit late, so I used little boy fabrics.

Choo-choos on one side and monsters on the other. 

I don't know if his mum will reverse the bag, but I think it looks pretty funky with one side showing and the collar turned down.  If you want to make some of these bean bags, I wrote a tutorial a while ago - you can find it here.

It was our second wedding anniversary on Tuesday so I had to whip up a quick card.  We didn't do anything to celebrate, but we did buy presents.  I bought him some cord and a macrame book, he bought me a very expensive bracelet - ooops!  I had a strange dream on Tuesday night - I dreamt that my husband had married my colleague and neither of them could understand why I was upset about it (still being married to and living with my husband!)...  it was one of those realistic dreams and poor Mr CA got a bit of a telling off in the morning!

Well that's it for now, I'd better go and do some work!  

Zakka Style SAL week 3 - pincushion

I'm back with another project for the Zakka Style Sew-Along, and I'm lucky to be here.  OK, so that's a tad dramatic.  It's been chucking it down in Nottingham the past 2 days and yesterday I aquaplaned in my car.  It's never happened to me before and my heart hurt so much I actually wondered if I'd had a heart attack! 

If you're interested in the Zakka Style Sew-Along, you can link up here and go and see the post by this week's host, Ayumi at Pink Penguin.

This week's project was a sweet little pincushion.  I could actually do with another as I like to have them scattered all around my sewing room so I was definitely in with this one.

I used some grey linen scraps, the back is grey linen too as I don't have pink linen as the book suggested, or any other colour apart from neutrals.  The scrap of fabric is from Ruby and the button is covered in a tiny piece of Bliss.

This was my first time fabric stamping.  I ordered a red and a black fabric ink pad on line which took some doing.  The first shop I tried wanted £4 for delivery!  £4 to deliver 2 ink pads??  I don't think so!  It took a couple of attempts to get a good impression on my cotton tape, then I messed one up by ironing it too soon after I'd stamped which made the ink run. 

I've covered buttons before so that bit was easy, sewing the trim on was not!  It just kept shifting.  It wasn't until I'd made the pin cushion that I read Ayumi's post - she suggests using glue to hold it down whilst you sew.  Too late now! 

Can you see that the pincushion is a bit of an odd shape around the button?  I came to fill it and realised I didn't have any fibre fill, it's been on my craft shopping list (along with pins and chunky white yarn) for so long, I'd forgotten I needed it.  I used some lavendar instead.

See what I mean about the oddness?  I quite like it though, and it smells nice.

I also had a parcel this week.  When I opened it, I couldn't remember buying this elephant fabric, then I touched it and realised it was the PUL I'd ordered as a lining for a new lunch box for me.  It's from Prints to Polka Dots.  I didn't remember ordering the butterfly fabric either, but I'm glad I did!  I did remember buying the Heat and Bond that came with the fabric though!

Whilst I was buying, I added in a little scrap pack of blues for my bathroom curtains (It's taking me so long to make them, I'm sure you've forgotten, except you Dotty as you'll have entered it into your spreadsheet...  but I'm doing granny blocks...).  So, a peak at my scraps especially for Katherine.

I got Pips!  The Superman print is destined for a Jacob babygrow...

Next weeks SAL is a sewing kit, I'm in on that one too and then I've got Jacoby-type things to make, a poofie to reupholster for my brother (how did I get dragged into that??  What do I know about upholstery?), oven gloves to sew, candles to make... the curtains aren't going to get a look in.