Crafty Creatives Club

I just went onto Google to search for the website for this monthly craft kit club and it doesn't appear on Google at all, ladies, you need to sort your SEO out!  I managed to find them through Feedly as I thought I might have subscribed to their blog and I did.  Go here if you want to find out more.  Basically, Crafty Creatives is a monthly craft kit, posted to you for £10 + P&P.  You may have noticed that I LOVE trying new crafts, so I jumped in.  There was a waiting  list, so April was my first box and the theme was blue.  Want to see what I got?

Each month there is a little kit, this one is to make a cute bird mobile, it's by my chair in the living room, waiting for me to give it a go.

There were a couple of sheets of paper, an FQ, 3 tubes of Americana paint (I've read a lot about this paint so am quite excited to try it), a Stix2 pack which includes a tube of glitter, one of sequins and one of seed beads, a mini picture frame, some "jumping clay" and some little bits and bobs...

... some tiny little beads, a pack of felt beads and two birdie beads.  I was a bit alarmed by the clay as it had a leaflet with it saying it's for kids, I was worried they were going down the kids route but apparently it was just for us to try.  I got that information from their blog.  I love the idea of this club and I'm interested to see what I get in the months to come, I'm going to try it out for 6 months to give it a chance.  I do think they could make a LOT more of their blog though in terms of ideas and so forth, there's potential there for follow on sales.

I also got a parcel from the most lovely lady who sent me the fab crafty items in the photo above all the way from Saudi, just because.  Joy you are an absolute love, what a wonderful thing to do.  I can't wait to try out that thread and I'm head of heels with the needle packaging!

Hello from Turkey!

Evening ladies!  I am in Istanbul.  Before you get jealous, it's work!  I got up at 2am this morning and drove down to Luton airport, about 2 hours away.  I thought I'd left myself plenty of time, turns out I hadn't and I ended up tear-arsing through the airport to get on the plane, not a cup of coffee or plate of breakfast in sight!  The flight was with Easyjet.  Now, I'm 5'1", pretty diddy, and I was cramped in the seat, how normal sized people managed, I don't know!  With the two hour time difference, I arrived at lunch time and just finished work, so I'm pretty knackered, but I thought you might want to see some pics of the hotel room?

So here's my room...

View of the pool from one window - there's a fly screen on the window, I'm not that bad at taking photos (but close).

View of the pool from another window, with the sea in the distance.  Sorry, what was that?  The bag?  The bag on the bed?  This one?

Yes, it is what you think it is.  And yes, you can make it in a single day.  Don't though.  Seriously, don't attempt to do that.

Dinner calls... I might post more about the bag, if anyone's interested?  No?

A disaster. A real one

I'm sitting here on Saturday afternoon, in my craft room but not sewing.  I'm a little paralysed by the news we've just been given.  If you're not into real-life disaster stories, scroll down, there is some sewing.

A week ago we had to clean out the kitchen as we're having a new kitchen fitted.  Exciting?  It was.  The reality is eating ready meals cooked in the microwave which is perched on a table in the living room, not being able to get to anything because there are half-built kitchen units everywhere and one un-holy mess.  But that's not all.

Last week I got a call from my uncle (who happens to be a builder and so is doing the refit).  Where he thought the plaster on one wall had blown (expanded outwards away from the bricks), it seems the problem might be more serious.

So this afternoon a structural engineer came round.  Our house is 3 stories, it was built in 1884.  Where the kitchen meets the rest of the house - dining room and entrance to the cellar - the wall is bulging.  It's not attached to the 1st story (2nd story for you ladies in the US) floor.  It is, in fact, falling down.  This could possibly have been caused by the leaking sewage pipe we had under the house, I don't know if you recall my stories of having a burst sewage pipe, cellar and garden filled with poo?

I'll leave you to digest that, that's what I'm currently trying to do.  Want to hear what else is going on in my life?  My cute little bunny Harry lives with fat Tiffany.  Fat Tiffany is dominant, very dominant.  We recently noticed a bald patch in Tiff's fur, so off to the vet we went.  Nothing.  She's fine, no mites, not worms, nothing like that.  The bunnies all moved to their holiday homes (i.e. my parents' back garden) last weekend so they were out of the way for the kitchen refit.  My parents spend a lot of time in the garden with the buns, so they found the cause of the bald patch.  It's Harry.  He's literally chewing Tiff's fur off.  It's called barbering and is usually done to assert dominance.  Harry never has been and never will be a dominant bunny, especially with Tiff.  I have no idea what to do.

In order to take my mind off it (after all, there's nothing I can do right now and the work trip to Turkey on Monday couldn't have been more badly timed...) I'll post some photos of my latest block in the And Sew On BOM hosted and designed by the lovely Kristy at Quiet Play .

April's block is called "Snip it Real Good" and snip it I did!

I did the section with the spool first.  You would not believe the problems I had.  Pieces in the wrong place (wooden parts of the spool on the sides!), pieces pieced in the wrong order, fabric upside down, scraps that didn't fit.  I unpicked so many times, I had to start again as my paper was completely shredded.  With the other 3 sections, I had just the on piece put on wrong way round.  I haven't added the thread coming off the spool yet, I'm planning on doing the embroidered parts when I've pieced all the blocks together and removed the paper.

Right, gotta go, I've got a Weekender bag to finish before Monday morning and it's 4pm now... I've got half the parts cut out and tomorrow I'm going to my parents' to see those naughty bunnies...



Related posts
block 1 - Measure Twice
block 2 - disaster
block 2 - You little ripper

block 3 - Spoolin' Around

Wipocalypse April

It's WIPocalypse check in time again!  First up, a recap of what I achieved January - March:

2. giant granny square blanket
10. Small vintage embroidery
11. Necklace kit from Spellbound
12. Necklace kit mum bought me
13. Tea wallets
15. Bathroom curtain
16. Picnic napkins
17. Wiggly bags 
24. punch needle
26. mosaic house number kit 
34. Scraperboard rabbit
48. Lavender sachets from hankies
53. Red scarf with beaded fringe
57. Mega chunky cowl
59. Decopatch
61. Crochet hat for me in Hug
63. Hat for Samantha

So what have I finished this month?

My Wips
1. The Mackintoshesque window

crafts I have kits for
33. Silhouttes cross stitch

crafts /projects I have supplies for
37. Clay + Pebeo paint

42. Extruding clay

46. Friendly plastic

49. Lunch bag

62. UTEE

So that's 7 WIPs from a total of 51 (projects left) done -  14%. And 7 out of the total of 67 is 10%.  Overall I've done 23 from a total of 67 - 34%.  I seem to be on target. 

So which projects have I made progress on but not finished?

4. crochet rug

32. Lynette Anderson needle case

50. Mum's chair covers

Which leaves me with:
My WIPs
3. Cotton granny squares - originally intended to be a blanket, now a footstool cover
5. crochet Yoda
6. crewel Jacobean pattern
7. Crewel fire guard
8. Beaded embroidery dress
9. Dancers cross stitch
14. Alphabet chart
18. Chair covers
19. Sewing machine mat with thread catcher
20. Ungar #2
21. Fleece baby hat
22. Applique tea cups

crafts I have kits for
23. Enamelling
25. Lace making
27. Mosaic tray kit
28. Beaded santa ornament
29. Silk painting
30. Origami
31. Hessian reindeer
35. Latch hook kit
36. Beaded lillies

crafts /projectsI have supplies for
38. Cathedral Windows
39. Tatting Course
40. Beaded Boxes
41. Sharp crochet hook
43. Hammering wire
44. Bead loom
45. Lino cutting
47. French knitting
51. Jacob's quilt
52. Beaded bird panel
54. Crochet cardi
55. Crochet bag
56. Wedding memories box
58. Crochet fat friends (the other 7)
60. Lucet
64. Embroidered tablecloth
65. Kitchen curtains
66. Bunny jewellery - charm and ceramic beads
67. Paper beads

29th December 2012 = 67 projects.
26th January 2013 = 6 completed. 6 projects total. 61 to go
26th February 2013 = 5 completed, 11 completed total, 56 to go
27th March 2013 = 5 completed, 16 completed total, 51 to go
25th April 2013 = 7 completed, 23 completed total, 44 to go

And the projects added since Christmas?

a1 - Skill Builder sampler BOM
a2 - And Sew On... BOM
a3 - Daisy crewel alphabet sampler
a4 - Kumihimo braiding
a5 - Soft book animals
a6 - Hardanger SAL
a7 - CK Button kit (Christmas present from Mr CA)
a8 - fabric medium
a9 - Weekender bag


Next check in May 24

Previous Wipocalypse posts:

March
February
January

laundry bag and travel jewellery organiser

I'm going to Turkey next week.  Nope, I'm not off on a jolly, it's work.  I know everyone thinks that travelling with work is a massive bonus, but it actually involves daytimes in a factory, working, evenings in a hotel room, working, so not so glamorous!

I was supposed to attend the East Midlands Modern Quilt Guild meetup last weekend to work on a Weekender bag.  I didn't go.  I'd ordered some interfacing from Jaycotts and it hadn't arrived, it hadn't even shipped.  You can be sure I won't be using that shop again.

Aside from the Weekender (which I actually want as carry-on luggage to hold my laptop, book, crochet, etc etc), there were a few other things I need, so I got to work.

Bag for dirty undies.  Just a very simple drawstring bag with ribbon closure that I can sling in the washing machine with the aforementioned dirty undies.

I've had this washing line fabric for ages, no idea where I got it from though I think it's Japanese.  I lined it with a green print.  I have no idea where that came from either!

Next up I wanted to make a jewellery roll.  I have about a million patterns bookmarked, and there is one in pretty much every sewing book I own, but they ALL focus on rings and (bleurghhh) earrings.  I only wear my engagement and wedding ring, and wear them all the time so don't need somewhere to store them, and I certainly don't put bits of metal through...

... sorry, had to go and puke.  I won't finish that sentence, my stomach can't take it.  In the end I bastardised a pattern from 100 Pretty Little Projects.

I used some Daisy Cottage and half followed the pattern, half did it my way.  The pattern called for binding, but I couldn't be bothered, so did the stitch-right-sides-together-and-turn method.  Hmmm, doesn't work so well with zips.  I unpicked, fine, I'll bind.  Reading the instructions again, it's not actually binding, so I was back to winging it!

Hmmm.  Doesn't close.  Seam ripper, where are you?

I'm still binding this, it's been a nightmare, I'll show you when it's finally done!

Hardanger #3

Time for another look at my Hardanger SAL.  I'm sewing along with Mabel Figworthy's Fancies Song of the Weather SAL and despite not getting started until a few week's ago, I'm now up to date!  Fancy a look at April's block?

I'd worked the Portuguese ladder stitch in the centre when I realised something was wrong...  yep, I'd not been reading the directions properly and had sewn it all in one colour.  I didn't think it looked right as the only light blue was the Greek Crosses in the corners. I ripped it out.

Much better.  Though it's a shame the same can't be said for my photography skills!

Once again, I really loved stitching this up.  Seriously, if you like cross stitch or embroidery, you should try Hardanger.  Those funny wiggly things in the middle are my first ever attempts at bullion stitches.  They're not very good, but they will do!

So I'm all up to date and here are the first four blocks.  Two more to go on this panel and I'll work some kind of sashing between them.  I'm enjoying this so much, I'm not sure I can wait until May, I feel another Hardanger project coming on!




Related posts

January and February
March 

chain maille

I took last Thursday off to attend another class at the Bead Shop Nottingham.  I felt really bad considering I'd gone home with a migraine on Tuesday, but if it was any consolation to anyone (it wasn't to me), I still had the headache.  I've still got the headache now (I'm writing this on Sunday - I hope I don't still have the headache when this publishes, but I wouldn't be that surprised if I did).

This time the class was chain maille.  I've been wanting to try this for ages but it looked hard, fiddly and very time consuming.

Fiddly it is, hard and time consuming it isn't.  It took me about 2 and a half hours to make this bracelet, and that included making all the jump rings.

This is a Byzantine weave, a fairly basic one.  It's fiddly at first but it does get pretty quick.  Little equipment is needed.   We used a jump ring maker in the class, but I'd use my coiling gizmo at home, some flush cutters to cut the rings and two pairs of chain nosed pliers (i.e. flat) to twist the rings open and shut.  Oh, and a paper clip so you know which end to work on!

I love it.  I've been wearing it and it's so light.  I'm not sure why that was a surprise, it wasn't heavy when I was making it!

Yep, I'll be doing this again, perhaps with a few different weaves, I've already found a pattern in one of my many craft books!

I'm linking up to Fiona's New to Me challenge.

skinner blend + randoms

I'm afraid there's more polymer clay today.  I've been really into it recently and my sewing mojo still hasn't properly returned, so polymer clay it is!  There's also some basic jewellery making at the end of the post if you're interested.
  
I've seen Skinner Blends around and I wanted a go, they seem to be an integral part of polymer clay and I wanted to master it.  my first attempt didn't work at all!

My second attempt using pinks and reds also didn't work, but I did make these pretty little flowers.  I have no idea what I'm going to do with them.

And then I found a tutorial.  It worked!  You can find the tutorial here.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo, but I think you can see the effect on the green flower shape below:

The little bunnies are made with one of the moulds I made.

37. Clay + Pebeo paint on the humungous list was perhaps a bit of an enigmatic entry.  I wanted to make use of some of the Fantasy Paint I have, but the metal blanks to use with it are so expensive.  I was eager to see if I could build bezels with polymer clay.

The bezel was duly built and cured and it looks fine so far (despite the lack of a bail or any other way of connecting it to a piece of jewellery!) and the paint was applied...

Oh dear, see those splodges?  That's where the paint escaped out the bottom.  That'll be a big fat failure again, must try this again.

I'd made these flowers from knitted wire tube a long time ago and wanted to make some of them into necklaces.  I finally got the first one done.

I showed you these components last week.  I added some jump rings to join them together and a brooch back so I can wear it.  It looks a bit odd, it's because it was sitting on a piece of paper.

I treated myself to this Swarovski heart a few weeks ago and now was the time to string it.  2 jump rings and a ribbon necklace, easy, but effective.

I took these photos on Sunday morning, the sun was so bright I could barely see what I was taking photos of!

Hardanger SAL #2

Today I have been married for three years.  I can't quite believe it, where did that three years go??  I didn't blog at the time so I don't know if I've told you all the story of our honeymoon.  A couple of days before our wedding, some damn volcano in Iceland went and erupted.  We got married on the Saturday and were due to fly to Vietman on the Monday, but because of volcanic ash, all flights were grounded.  Now, I knew this was a possibility on our wedding day, but I was getting married and really didn't want to think about it.  Number one question from our guests?  "Ooooh, do you think you'll be able to go on honeymoon or are you going to have to cancel?"  Yeah, cheers people.

We weren't able to fly, but as we'd booked through a tour company we went in May instead.  I couldn't face going back to work 2 days after the wedding when we should have been in Bangkok for a couple of days before heading to Vietnam, so we went on an impromptu roadtrip to North Wales.  It was amazing, the weather was incredible and everyone was so kind to us.  Funny that, the weather three years ago today was glorious.  And this year?  Not so much!

I've sewn another block for Mabel Figworthy's Fancies Song of the Weather SAL, the Hardanger SAL I've signed up for.  I have to apologise for the photos, they're terrible, even by my usual standards.  I do believe the blurred patch in the top left corner was a mark on the lens!

This is March's block.  I enjoyed doing the edge stitch but had to do the first one again.  I sewed all four, then looking back I'd improved and the first one was awful, so out it came.

I really enjoy doing the cutting and this was no exception.  I'm also pretty pleased with the dark blue motifs in the gaps (I've left the pattern in another room and am too lazy to fetch it to check the names of the stitches!), after some words of advice from the lovely lady who runs the SAL.

I've actually completed April too now, I'll show you that later.



Related posts

January and February

working on it

Morning ladies.  I've been a bit rubbish at doing progress posts, so I'm sneaking one in now!  This is where I was at with various projects as of Sunday lunchtime.

#4 on the giganormous list crochet rug.  I think I started this back in June last year, you can see the post here.  I started using a doily pattern.  I put it down, picked it up a few months later and had no idea where I'd got to, so started again.  I put it down once more and picked it up last week and didn't like the pattern!  I'd found another pattern, so I started again, for the third time.  Even Mr CA noticed and said "are you just going to keep starting that and then undoing it?"  Well yes, Mr CA, I might just do that!

#32 on the massuge list Lynette Anderson needle case.  This is a new start.  I bought the pattern ages ago and finally found time to get started.  Out came a piece of linen and my choice of threads.  To be honest, I'm not sure why I bought the pattern as it's not really my style, particularly in browns as the picture on the cover shows.  The pattern was also a rip off.  £6, for a small photo of the front and inside, (but not inside the flaps, that I'm going to have to guess), the stitchery patterns and some pretty shoddy assembly instructions with very few diagrams.  They then expect you to buy 2 very pricey buttons to put on it!  Forget that!.

The East Midland's Quilt Guild is having their next meeting next weekend, well, the EMQG and me, and we're making Amy Butler's Weekender bag.  As I have to leave half way through the meeting, I thought I'd better get a move on!  I cut out the outer pieces and ordered the lining fabric, miles of interfacing and other notions needed.  So still not much further on!

I'm actually looking forward to making this bag.  I've made plenty in my time so I'm not scared.  That's probably a bad thing and I shouldn't have typed that.  It's all going to go wrong now...!  I hope the interfacing turns up soon so I can get it all fused up ready for the sewing session.

wig jig

Morning ladies. So, it's Sunday and I'm writing a week's worth of blog posts.  It makes me feel a bit odd and out of time...  Does it feel odd to you?

Last Saturday saw me and mum making another trip to The Bead Shop, Nottingham for another jewellery making class.  This class was advanced Wigjig.  We did the Wigjig class in November last year and I really enjoyed it.

This time we used the Wigjig Electra which is a round jig.  It's such a shame they're so expensive, no way can I afford £40 for one of these!  We started off making a simple shape which we made into earrings.  I managed to hold my bile down!  The class examples had beads hanging off them but we didn't do that in class, I think I might if I can decide who to gift them too.

Next we moved on to making a star.  It was great fun, but because I had to use quite a long length of straightened wire, things were going flying off the table left, right and centre!  It's a bit dangerous, this wigjigging lark.

I'm going to wire wrap the centre of this pendent and add some seed beads.

I made another three stars and attached them together with jump rings.  Adding in the jump rings was the most difficult part as I kept twisting the components!  It's finished off with some Swarovski pearls.  The bottom one looks a bit strange in this picture, I didn't use a headpin, I spiral wrapped it but it turned for the photo.

Finally I had a go at the advanced star.  We didn't have a diagram for this, I followed the photo they'd provided.  I was so chuffed with it, until I cut off the loop that will hold it together!  Damn!