Wednesday 23 September 2015

Battling a cold and crafting

Well it seems the bugs are breeding in our house!

I now have a stinking cold which has that awful headache with it. 

 

So sewing went out the window again today.
 
 
 
 I have spent the day messing about with my dies and my Big Shot for some more ATCs.  I have also finished off another set to go off for another swap.  This time it is for "Whimsical Trees".



The one at the top is the one I'm keeping for myself.  I have decided with every swap I take part in that I will make five - three for the swap, one for the host and one for me to remind me of my ATCs I made for it.  That way I get a record of my work too.
 

I think I'd like to do this theme again.  Maybe I need to make some that are available to trade.
 

I made them by watercolour paints on the background
- I wanted them to have a fairly strong wash that blended into each other. 
 Then I used black ink to draw the trees and highlighted with silver gel pen.
 

This one is one I made yesterday and posted up on the forum as an ATC available to trade and within minutes of it being up there I got a comment from another member that she'd like to trade with me!  Woo hoo!  My first one to one trade!  Not bad for "Newbie" eh?!
 
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Tuesday 22 September 2015

Best laid plans ....

I was all ready this morning with a big bag packed with packages to take to the Post Office and two bags to be dropped off at the charity shop after I'd taken the youngest to school.

Then I'd be home again and get on with the sewing I'd started yesterday and hopefully get that finished.

And then tonight I was planning to go to Odcombe Stitch and Knit and do a workshop there. 

I was all geared up .... and that's not normal as I am NOT a morning person!

Only he is poorly.  A tummy bug.  Poor little mite.
 
So the best laid plans ... go to pot!
 
No Post Office.  No Charity Shop.  No sewing (I wanted him to sleep!).  The workshop was still a possibility but as the day has progressed my throat has gathered more and more razors in it and is now ragingly sore.  So No Workshop.
 
I spent the day instead at the dining room table creating new ATCs.
 

Jonathan surprised me the other week as we'd been over to a place that I call The Badger Place
(don't ask me why ... that's what I have named it in my head!) 
It is actually called Broadwindsor Craft Centre.
 
 
There's a Unit there called Earth Design and they had some lovely pictures that Jonathan said were made with wax in a craft called Encaustic Art. 
 
 
 
I'm of course intrigued - a new craft that I hadn't tried - and one that looked very effective!
 
 
Bless him - he ordered me the whole caboodle for creating my very own Encaustic Art!

 
And these Autumnal ATCs are my first attempt!  Well after a really really messy A3 page of wax!
 
 
I decided that I wanted to try and be clever and use some fallen leaves from the garden and try and get the imprint of them using the wax and the iron.  These are the results, which I'm actually pretty pleased with.  I think they look pretty effective and Autumnal. 
So they are going into the Anything Autumn swap on the ATCs for All forum.

 
I have also received some back!
 
 
Remember the Native American ATCs I made? 
Well these are the ATCs I received back as part of the swap.

 
Aren't they great!

 
I have also received two ATCs from a forum thread called PIF for Newbies (Pay It Forward) which entails you accepting the previous poster's offer of an ATC and then you offer one up.
 
Here's the two I have received ...
 


And here's the two I have sent ...




And for another swap ... this for Equine Lovers ....


These are my cards that I have sent.

 
I am thoroughly enjoying myself getting back into drawing and colouring
and painting and playing with paper ....!




The last one I have kept for myself!
 
Now every piece of patterned paper or card I see, I'm thinking .... hmmm .... how can I use that on an ATC ....?
 
 
~~~   ***   ~~~
 
 

Monday 21 September 2015

Vintage Waistcoat

Jonathan's sister asked if I would make her a crochet waistcoat if she found a pattern she liked and bought the wool.

Of course I would!

So she found me this pattern ...


She bought the yarn the 4ply WI yarn that is in Hobbycraft. 
She told me she spent ages in there with an assistant trying to work out how much would be needed.
 
 
The colours she chose were ....
 
cream

lime

orange
 
With the orange as the main colour.
 
So extremely bright! 
 
She actually wanted brown but there wasn't any so chose the lime green instead.
 
So .... here's the finished product ...
 
 
with Karen in her Bestival headdress which she made herself (she is an extremely talented lady herself) ....


* ~~~ *** ~~~ *
 
 
 

Friday 18 September 2015

Autumn is coming, so the hats and mittens making has begun

Autumn is on it's way. 
To me this is when the evenings start turning chillier
and there's the need to put a cardigan on and perhaps socks too. 


 
 It also means that the needles come out and the knitting of hats and mittens begin!  I have decided - for once (ha ha!) - that I would try and get some stock built up for The Crafty Phoenix Lady unit at The Emporium https://www.facebook.com/yeovilemporium in Yeovil. 


 
 Last year I found myself frantically trying to keep up with the fingerless mittens flying out the shop!

So Tuesday night I cast on a pair of toddler mittens.  This is a lovely pattern in ,my DK Winter Knits Made Easy book and has a I-cord that is attached to both mittens which is then thread through the coat sleeves so the mittens are never lost!

 
I finished them Wednesday evening!  Don't they look cute?
 
And here's Trixie wondering why I am photographing the floor! 
Or perhaps she just wants to be a paw model!
 
 
Then yesterday whilst I was at The Emporium doing my shift I cast on The Drops pattern "Sweet Pumpkin" in baby size and in a gorgeous pumpkin orange coloured Rowan cotton. 
The green leaves and stalk are Stylecraft Classical Cotton yarn.
 

And I finished it last night - so a super speedy project - which is just how I like it!
 


There was one little snag - the pattern called for 84 stitches to be cast on and then further on wanted makers placed at after 9 stitches intervals which left 3 stitches spare! 
So I worked the leaves with three of them having 10 stitches and the other 6 having 9.
 
And now a few super cute photos of our two new fur babies and their mummy ....
 





Yes, Luna, our Lionhead Bunny, is a mummy!  She has the two most adorable little babies!

~~~ *** ~~~
 
 
 


Monday 14 September 2015

Weaver Fever ~ to the sea

I received my second Weaver Fever box from Daisy Forster of Devon Sun Yarns the other month



 
 
 
This one was a sea themed box with gorgeous shades of blue and turquoise, green
(my kind of colours!) and cream.
 


There were five skeins of 10g of hand-dyed yarn with a variety of thicknesses - DK, Aran, Chunky, Slub Chunky and Super Chunky and also 5g of hand carded fibre blends. 
 
A collection of shells, some glitter and glue to pretty up the dowels. 
 Along with an ocean scented wax melt.

The little lap loom that I used for my first weaves is quite small - about A5-ish size and I immediately felt this would be too small to use to create what was in my head when I saw the contents of this box. 
 
I wanted to make a longer hanging. 
 
So I asked Jonathan if he thought he could make me a larger loom ... and he did ....



And it was just what I wanted!

It meant I could thread it up the width I wanted - to fit the dowel provided - and be that much longer (a bit longer than A4 size I'd say).

And here's my finished hanging ...



I wanted the effect of sky at the top - so a solid band of blue - and then the effect of waves and surf with the other colours and thicknesses of yarn.  I then stitched the shells on nearer the bottom of the hanging.


I love it!  It has turned out just as I wanted it too!
 
 
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