Superpig!

A while ago (summer time maybe?) I showed you this photo of a new project I had started.  It stayed like this for months and months and months until I picked it up and finished it in one sitting!

It is from the book Sew Sweet Creatures by Lark Craft.  I was asked to review this by GMC, however all opinions are my own.

There are 16 projects in this book, and I love that they are shown on the index, not just a written name, but a picture of the project.  It makes navigating the book so much easier.

How cute are they!  I want to make that little fat lion!

Lots of them have cute little accessories too.  It may surprise you to read that I didn't make the rabbit...  I'm not sure why, but I decided to make the pig.

All the templates are full size - I love that, I hate having to find somewhere to enlarge projects and I can't just "nip to the copy shop", I have no idea where there is one or if these things even exist in this day and age!

There are loads of photos for each project and the instructions are well-written and easy to follow.

Ta-dah!  No idea why these photos are so blurry... maybe Superpig was flying around so quickly I didn't notice, but my camera did.  Or maybe I'm just crap at taking photos!

The mask is removable, it's just tied on.

As is the cape.  Want to see what's underneath?

A little curly tail!

This pig was sewn by hand, though it would be possible to do some of it by machine, it would be far too fiddly for me.  I enjoyed making this little pig and I like some of the other projects in the book, I would recommend it for anyone who fancies having a go at making some whimsical little creatures.  

Paint by Number Quilts blog tour

Good morning and welcome to the Blog Tour!  My good friend and co-founding member of the East Midlands Quilt Group, Kerry Foster, has written a book!  It's actually a bookette, and is well worth a read.

Kerry's technique is certainly unique, I haven't seen it anywhere else, and it's great fun.  The bookette takes you through making 4 animal appliques for which full sized patterns are included, but you can use this technique to make other animal appliques (as I show you further down).  

The bookette takes you through materials needed, there is a very informative section on selecting fabric, this is followed by instructions on the technique.  

The four patterns are:
Raccoon mug rug
Grizzly bear wall hanging
Fabulous Mr Fox wall hanging
Whitetail Stag wall hanging

Each one includes tips on quilting and selecting backgrounds.



I stole this photo of Kerry from her blog.  You can see the Fantastic Mr Fox wall hanging in the background and also one of her other patterns - Hank the English Pointer.  A few years ago Kerry ran a workshop at one of our Quilt Group meetings.  She took me through making an animal applique from one of my own photos.

You may remember this cushion I made of Colin which is still one of my favourite makes.  This is also poignant timing as I lost my lovely Colin last week. He was 10 and a half, I rescued him as a young kit so we'd been together 10 years.  He's left a massive hole in my heart and now I am rabbit-less.  This cushion feels like a good memory of him.  It was really easy to do following Kerry's instructions.

Kerry wasn't able to get all the patterns she's created into the bookette, so she's made 5 of them (including the lovely Hank, above) available in herpattern shop HERE. In the next day or so they will also appear in her Etsy and Craftsy pattern shops, however you will need to own Paint By Number Quilts in order to know how to put the pattern together

Interested?  You can buy the bookette here

Follow the book tour for more views of the book and some chances to win a copy!

Monday Sept 17 – Kerry @ PennyDog
Tuesday Sept 18 – Deirdre @ C&T Publishing
Wednesday Sept 19 – Anita @ Daydreams of Quilts
Thursday Sept 20 – Sarah @ Coopcrafts *
Friday Sept 21 – Krista @ Poppyprint *
Monday Sept 24 – Elizabeth @ OP Quilt
Tuesday Sept 25 – Wendy @ The Crafter’s Apprentice
Wednesday Sept 26 – Angela @ Heart of Charnwood *
Thursday Sept 27 – Leanne @ She Can Quilt *
Friday Sept 28 – Katy @ The Littlest Thistle
* Instagram link

Craft Book Review - Seed Bead Chic

The generous publishers at GMC sent me another book to review.  Although the book was provided for free, all opinions are my own and I was not told what to write.  The book in question is Seed Bead Chic, which you can see on Amazon here.

This is a beautiful book full of gorgeous projects.  This is definitely not a book for the beginner, some of these projects are pretty complicated.  A few that caught my eye are:

This Art Deco brooch, I think I'll make this one at some point.

This tube necklace.  I had intended to make this, but didn't get round to searching for the tubular material it's strung onto.

This lovely summery piece which I may well make, but I'd probably make it in copper as I'm not a fan of yellow gold.

This lovely bracelet.  This is actually the project I chose to make, but I made it into a necklace.  See below for more details and pictures.

This is another one I intend to make at some point.  I don't like the giraffe print beads much so I need to find a nice alternative.

I decided to make the bejewelled barrel bracelet as a necklace.  It required 2mm Swarovski rounds (as do a lot of the projects in this book).  I did some searching on line and bought some from Mail Order Beads / The Bead Shop Nottingham, not out of loyalty but because they had the best price on Swarovski.  I paired them with white 15/0 seed beads and clear 11/0 seed beads.

The actual necklace is a copper herringbone tube which was really easy to do, though it took a while!  The barrels are stitching in place so they don't all clump together when wearing it, as I'm going to prove in the next photo.  Oh yes, a photo of me.  In fact, my very first selfie!

I love this necklace and have worn it a lot.  The instructions were really clear and very easy to follow, I didn't have any false starts or any moments of "eh?  What does that mean".  Though remember, I do have some experience bead weaving so can't vouch that a beginner would be able to follow the instructions.  The weaves themselves are set out at the beginning of the book with easy to follow diagrams and written instructions.  Overall, I like this book and think it's a great addition to the library of intermediate to advanced bead weavers.

Let's finish off with another selfie:

Product details Paperback: 128 pages Publisher: Lark Books,U.S. (7 Dec. 2014) Language: English ISBN-10: 1454708174 ISBN-13: 978-1454708179 Product Dimensions: 28.2 x 21.6 x 0.9 cm Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)

Craft book review - The Stained Glass Garden

The lovely folk at GMC sent me another book to review.  I've had it on my bookshelf for a while now as I was intending to make something from it.  I'm not sure when I'm going to get round to it, so I thought it was about time I wrote the review.

The book is The Stained Glass Garden: Projects and Patterns

  Before we go any further, the disclaimers.  I was sent the book for free to review but I was not told what to say and all opinions are 100% my own.  I didn't receive any monetary compensation.  Links in this post, as with all my book posts, are affiliated.  If you click over and buy something, I get a few pence towards an Amazon voucher.  

I love that project on the front cover, it makes me dream of having a garden full of beautiful glass pieces and mosaics... instead I've got a garden full of weeds and bunny poo!

The book starts with 23 pages of instruction, hints and tips, covering how to work with glass, equipment needed and safety precautions.  I'm not a glasswork beginner so I can't say whether these instructions would be good enough for a beginner, but anyone who's taken a workshop in glass work should be able to follow them easily.

Next is a section on how to work with copper foil.  This is a technique where you cover the outside of the cut glass pieces with strips of copper foil and solder them.  This patio lantern project is one of the copper foil projects.  There are 14 copper foil projects in total including panels, garden stakes, mobiles and lanterns.

The third section is about working with 3d Lead Came.  This is the method that I used to make my stained glass window, does anyone remember that project?  This ladybird plant stake is one of the projects in this section, it's my favourite in the book.

The section begins with general instructions of how to work with lead cane, then moves on to 14 projects.

This book is not for everyone as you need to be set up for working with glass.  If you are a glassworker then I'd definitely recommend it.  The projects are just lovely and I want them all in my garden!  The instructions seem to be pretty comprehensive and include lots of tips along the way.  I haven't made anything from it yet, but that doesn't stop me getting it out and flicking through it, dreaming of that perfect garden (which would still feature bunny poo...).

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Sterling (26 Aug 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1895569575
• ISBN-13: 978-1895569575
• Product Dimensions: 26.3 x 22.4 x 1.5 cm

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Disclaimer:

I was given a review copy of the book by GMC however this review and all opinions are 100% my own, I was not told what to say.  Amazon links are affiliate links.

Craft Book Review - Adult Colouring Books

When those lovely folks at GMC offered me a chance to review some adult colouring books, I jumped at the chance!  I've been eyeing these up and wondering if it was something I'd enjoy doing and now I can have a go.

Before we go any further, the disclaimers.  I was sent the book for free to review but I was not told what to say and all opinions are 100% my own.  I didn't receive any monetary compensation.  

I received 2 books, the first I dug into was Creative Coloring Mandalas.

Each motif is full sized and on its own page.  On the reverse of each page is a quote so you can tear the designs out if you wanted to display them.  Not sure what hubs would say if he came home to find I'd stuck my colouring on the fridge...

At the front of the book are some examples of how you can colour the designs in and there is a bit of blurb about what kind of mediums you can use.  

The second book is Nature Mandalas.  A similar idea but with pictures of animals so you could colour them in naturally, or in whatever wild colours take your fancy.

This one has some information about doodling in the front and goes on to talk about colour.  I suppose you could use these books as a way of teaching yourself more about colour palettes and the kind of colour combinations you like and want to use in your crafts.

Yep, there's a page with bunnies.

So I bet you're wondering where the coloured in pictures are?  I didn't take any.  I have coloured in some of the mandalas in these books and it is an enjoyable thing to do in front of the TV when I'm too tired to do anything as strenuous as pull a threaded needle.  No, I'm not showing you because, quite frankly, you might mistake them for the work of your 6-year old niece.  

Of the two, I like the Creative Mandalas best (despite a lack of bunnies) as there is more detail which makes them more fun to colour.  There are several other titles in the series so if you look at the kids' colouring books with envy, get one of these and find your inner artist.




Disclaimer:

I was given a review copy of the book by GMC however this review and all opinions are 100% my own, I was not told what to say.  

Craft Book Review - Pretty Quilled Cards

The lovely folk at GMC sent me another book to review.

Pretty Quilled Cards by Cecilia Louie
Before we go any further, the disclaimers.  I was sent the book for free to review but I was not told what to say and all opinions are 100% my own.  I didn't receive any monetary compensation.  Links in this post, as with all my book posts, are affiliated.  If you click over and buy something, I get a few pence towards an Amazon voucher.  

I have done quilling before, it's something I used to do a lot of as a teenager and I'm used to the traditional coiled shapes.  This style of quilling is a bit different.  It still uses long thin paper strips on their edge, but there is less coiling and more shaping.

The book has 25 designs, each one showing a large colour photo of the finished item, the lengths of each colour strip to cut and a diagram showing how they are put together.

The next pages are a written explanation of how to form each design, including more diagrams.  The instructions really are top notch.

There are a whole range of different designs in the book, including card designs for birthday, Christmas and other special occasions.  You could, of course, use the motifs however you like and aren't restricted to making cards.

Each design is rated out of 5 for difficulty and I, stupidly, chose the level 3 cherry blossom design.  It was tricky.  It was fiddly and frustrating at times, but I did it.

I wasn't very happy with my shapes as I was forming them and I didn't think I'd get a good result, but you know what?  I'm really chuffed with my final piece.  I don't think I've done a bad job.  It took a long time, nearly 2 hours, to put this together so it wasn't quick!

Whilst making the design, I was sure I'd never make another design from this book as it was just too fiddly, but when I'd finished, I rethought this and I think I might just tackle another!

The designs are lovely, I do like the style and the instructions are really detailed.  I think this book would be ideal for someone who's got some experience in quilling, but anyone with a bit of patience who is able to do fiddly work could make the designs.  My one criticism of the book is that there aren't enough designs suitable for me, the only one being a necktie.  

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Disclaimer:

I was given a review copy of the book by GMC however this review and all opinions are 100% my own, I was not told what to say.  Amazon links are affiliate links.

Craft Book Review - Felting Fabulous Flowers

Pavilion very kindly sent me a copy of Felting Fabulous Flowers by Gillian Harris to review for you all.

Before we go any further, the disclaimers.  I was sent the book for free to review but I was not told what to say and all opinions are 100% my own.  I didn't receive any monetary compensation.  Links in this post, as with all my book posts, are affiliated.  If you click over and buy something, I get a few pence towards an Amazon voucher.  

I'm embarrassed to say that it's taken me quite a while to get round to reviewing this for you and I'm not sure why as when I got started, I really enjoyed it.

The book has 23 different flower patterns and some leaf shapes too.  The flowers are divided by colour and each given a rating of easy, intermediate or advanced.

There are some truly beautiful flowers included.  Look at that amazing passion flower!  Yes, that one is advanced!

The cosmos flower is the bottom right of the above photo, this is one that I chose to make.  All of the flowers are a mixture of wet and dry (needle) felting.

I didn't have any green merino tops to hand, so I didn't attempt any of the leaves, but they'd look fabulous is a bouquet or with a flower as a corsage.

Each flower has it's own page of instructions, then there are instructions for the various felting techniques at the end, followed by the full-sized templates.

I decided to make the daisy and the cosmos (though in blue!), so I started making some felt.  My white felt ended up rather thick.  It's been a long time since I made felt and I overestimated how much it shrinks.

I actually used two different shades of turquoise for the second piece of felt.  One colour on the front...

...and the other on the back.

It's not easy to see the difference, but there is one!

I cut out the cosmos shape from the turquoise felt and decided the lighter colour would be the front.  I added some needle felted veins in the darker turquoise, which are hard to see, and did a simple needle felted centre rather than the balls in the original.  This flower needs shaping with some Mod Podge or fabric stiffener to give it more shape.

The daisy is made up of two layers of petals with a yellow centre needled to make it a dome shape.

I liked this so much I added a brooch pin and it's already on my winter coat.  I know, daisies aren't very wintery but I don't care!

I have a few of Gillian Harris's felting books and all of them are fabulous.  The projects are lovely, the photography is gorgeous and the instructions are good.  This book is no exception and I actually want to try each and every flower in this book.  I think they'd make a wonderful bouquet to put in a vase on the table.  

If you have any interest in felting, whether you're a seasoned felter or are completely new to it, I'd recommend this book.  The instructions are good enough for a beginner to make their first piece of felt and try their hand at needle felting, and the projects are varied enough to interested the more advanced felter.

Product details Hardcover: 80 pages Publisher: Collins & Brown (3 July 2014) Language: English ISBN-10: 1909397393 ISBN-13: 978-1909397392 Product Dimensions: 1.3 x 21 x 21 cm

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Something New for 2014

  

Disclaimer:

I was given a review copy of the book by Pavilion, however this review and all opinions are 100% my own, I was not told what to say.  Amazon links are affiliate links.