A little knitted beading

Been wanting to make thi for months and finally the Christmas break gave me the chance to sit down and string some beads on to jewellery wire.  I mixed up seed beads along with larger different shapes beads in shades of navy blue

I ended up making a cuff/bracelet.  This was part of a kit that I bought at Creative Stitches on Exeter but I decided to add lots of my own beads as well.  

Always need a close up shot!

I used the clasp which came with the kit. and all I need now is somewhere special to go to wear it or would it be prudent to start a present bag in January?

Really enjoyed making this in front of the televisionso much that I have in fact started another one!!

Will post that next.

xx

Heart Applique Cushion - OPAM April -Update

I did not realsie just how much blue fabric bits I have.  I really need to change direction with my choice of colours.

This is a heart applique block left over from making my blue and white quilt back in.........not sure will have to look it up.  2009 perhaps?

Anyway....... now that I am back with my sewing group after a 2 year sabbatical with my evening classes, I have been pulloing out some WIP's and bits and peices that ned sorting out.

I really enjoy applique and my beloved Husquvarna  has always made an excellent applique stitch.

The block on its own was not a size suitable for a  cushion pad so I added a couple of rows of blue and gingham fabric.  By adding a thin layer of wadding behind it I then quilted the pnale a little to give it some strength when the cushion pad is inside it.

I bought some blue and whote gingham  while back which is 100% cotton and comes from France.  Lovely fabric and wears well too.  This was to be the back panels.  No zips on this cushions just a deep and generus flap opening at the back.
Yesterday I attended my sewing group ( I did not realise just how much I have missed those meetings until last week)and managed to fully complete it.  I have decided to give it to my friend for her birthday in June and she loves blue and white and this is pretty darn close.

I like a good bit of satin stitch on those applique shapes.

I do not have a cushion pad as yet, there seems to be a bit of shortage of 14" cushion pads at the moment.
Another WIP sorted and completed.
I then start another block for my quilt.  I will try and take some photos over the weekend, weather permitting.
Take care all
xx
UPDATE:
Finally found the ideal cushion pad sonow completly finished.

Cross Stitch in Blue - Opam April

I sometimes wonder how I found the time to keep making all these bits of work that I  am finding and spent time completing over the past months.  For example, the above must have taken ages to create and it would have been in the evenings......now I can bearing focus much after 8pm on something as delicate as the above.

Anyway, I digress.  The above is a cross stitch piece on 14 HPI fabric which I am pretty sure was made before Sophie was born!  Last weekend I looked at it and thought "you know what.... it is time you became something better".

I am planning my first organised workshop (more on that later) and I was thinking about little items that could be made to learn how to use their sewing machine.

I also had some home grown lavender so I decided that by sewing some cotton fabric on the back and adding the lavender a lovely sachet could be made.

I added a loop of ribbon to one of the corners and it is now hung up in the back of my car.  I do not like shop bought car fresheners but this has been in the car for about a week and it is lovely.  Again,  out of the box and into the wide world for this piece of sewing.

Blue again as well....must work on something with a different colour palette!

Hope you enjoyed the good weather today.  It got to 24 degrees which is a little bit too warm for a classroom but it was good to see it in April.

Hope it lasts a little while and comes back in the summer months.

xx

Creative Monthly Challenge - What does your Heart Look Like?

Better late than never, but this is my entry for the Creative Monthly Challenge with Jenniebellie and the theme was "What does your Heart Look Like?"

I was not entirely sure what to do and then things cropped up at work so it was put off until half term but then that past.

I found this lovely sun catcher on Suzysitcom.com which I thought was lovely and there is a post on her website which you should go and read.

I felt that the use of wire would represent the combining of lots of different aspects of my life and how my love of making has gone from a hobby to a job and with off shoots such as my Art Journaling and website.

I bought some wire from Hobbycraft and created a heart shape and then criss crossed thinner wire in the centre.

Taking my blog name which has featured in my life for the past 7.5 years I found a range of blue fabrics and woven then through the thinner wire.

I teach textiles, so a few buttons were added.  I am trying to teach myself crochet hence the little flowers.  i also teach Art but struggled to add anything that would actually stay on so painted glass beads took its place.  I have made intricate beaded wedding bags so I felt it worked!

Many things make up my heart, including my hubby and daughter and all three of use have creative hobbies.

I also added lots of little silver beads around the edge using the thinner wire and tied on lots of organza strips.

It looks even better than the photograph suggests and I have it hanging up by my chair in the living room  Eventually I shall take it upstairs and have it by my sewing machine.  I really enjoyed making this once I got going, it is just a pity it took so long to get there!

xx

Art Journal Page - Blue

After creating my Blue ATC cards and I still had all of the materials out I thought another page in my Art journal would be a good next step.

A double page spread using the same shades of colour.  I stuck the pages together and put a blue watercolour wash on the background.  On the left hand side I added coloured tissue paper using decoupage glue and once dried i ran some blue oil pastels over the surface to show up the creases.

The lettering is cut out of thick blue craft paper and attached with tacky glue with white pen to look like stitching.

Behind the lettering i added some textured fabric and metal gauze.

On the opposite side I put a copy of one of the ATC cards which I transferred on to card and added behind that some more of the blue silk and metal gauze.

For the first time I added to text as well.

Around the edge I added some Aqua crayons which I did not add any water to but left looking a bit sketchy.

I am still not sure if the right hand page might need something else but then to clutter it up would perhaps detract from the overall appearance.

Not many more pages to go in this book and I have started another page which links to patterns.  I have not yet finished that so more on that another time.

xx

ATC - Colour Me Blue

Before we went away for a few days last week I needed to make some ATC cards for the February challenge with Blissfull ATC Swaps.

I added colour to some cards using Aqua crayons and then dribbled water to make the colour run.

I love using these and they look great on cotton fabric.

Once the colour had dried I looked at them and I could "see" trees in each of the blots left behind.  So I decided to go with it and see what happened.  The above card has tissue paper and machine stitching in the foreground.  White pen and watercolours to give a type of blue wood scene.

This ATC has machine stitching on the tree trunk and grass in the foreground.  More pen used in this design and the white pen enhanced the branches.  I did use a slightly darker pen on this card as well due to the quite light colour when it dried.  I could see that tree though.

With this ATC I added some pale blue mulberry paper on the top of the tree to add some variety but to also increase the texture with this design.

More free machine stitching and watercolour paints.

These ATC's are very very different to what I usually do and all the while I was making them I really liked them but I was also worried that they would turn out awful.  I made them all at the same time try and make them link more in appearance.

They remind me of book illustrations where the woods or forrest's are given a colour scheme to add to the story.  Such as a cold, snowy wood.  Am I making sense here?  Possibly not and I have just looked through some of my daughters books to find an example but I have not been able to track one down quickly.  Typical.

Anyway, I hope that you like them and more importantly, I hope that my swap partner likes them as they are on their way to America!

Not sure if I shall enter next month as March is a pretty hectic month.  I did follow this up with a journal page as well which I shall save for tomorrow.

Have a lovely evening and take care, weather is pretty wild in the UK at the moment.

xx

Bags of Flowers

Looking back through my posts I do not think that I have shown you the second bag that I made along with my year 9 group.  

These pictures do seem to have come out a bit bright even with the flash off.  The fabric is actually shades of green, bluey green and delicate brown. 

This pattern is my own and I added a flap which is bigger than the rose version.  The flap is self lined.and the lining is a navy blue.

The main body of the bag is very spacious inside and I decided not to add inside pockets for a change.

A more of a "chuck it in" and see type of bag.

Again I added rings as part of the strap and to adjust it I simply knot the end at the position that I want the strap to be.

The bag has box corners stitched to give the bag a bit of width and a magnetic fastening under the flap.

The flower was purchased from a shop to add a bit of zing and is simply clipped on.

What do you think?

I am going to a craft fair tomorrow and if this is not sold then it will be going on my website.

I intend making another version but with a different approach to the fabric itself.

Have a good weekend

xx

Felt and Stitch Flower Panel

I started this post several days ago it is now Tuesday.  I have had problems with blogger not letting me put pictures on at angles which will enable you to see what I have made. 

But, I have finally won!!

At work we are issued with a general diary/planner for all of our lessons etc.  When we first go them 6 years ago I did create covers to personalise etc, but for the past couple of years I have created my dairy bag and laptop covers instead.  So seeing as I was due to go away a nice little sewing project which would not take up too much room in my suitcase was needed.

Regular readers and visitors to my Etsy shop (Which is being re-organised) will perhaps recognise this idea.  I designed my first felt flower book cover way back in 2005, wow where has the time gone.  I have changed it for this version as no two of my designs are ever exactly the same, that is afterall part of it being handmade. 

All felt pieces are hand cut using shapes that I have created.  I like to layer the sections up in colours that add to the design.

Each section is hand stitched down using DMC embroidery threads.  The centres of the flowers are metal brads.

I do prefer straight running stitch as it does not detract away from the design itself.  I wanted to add more to this design by including some hand embroidery in green for stems.  Buttons to add as buds plus some more blue brads to add further texture.

Finally, a little controlled glitz in the form of iridescent sequins here and there.  I finally used only about 5 or 6 of them.

I also included some chain stitch on the outer blue leaves of the largest flower.

I will attach it to my planner when I get home and it has spurred me on to making more designs to add to Etsy in time for December I just wish I had packed more felt....never mind!

xx

ATC July Swap - Colour my World Blue

I have signed up to take part in the Creative Swaps Colour my World July ATC swap.I have decided to focus on the colour blue and various shades of blue. I decided to make three and three others will in time be sent to me. I used pre-cut ATC cards as I know that they will be the right size.

I put the cars through a sizzix bigshot with an embossing folder with flowers and vines, which I thought would make a good base. I then used watercolours to lightly put a wash over the top of the embossing. gave a depth of colour. Some white is showing through and I hope that is ok as I have sent them off and then had an awful thought. I am very new to ATC etc, well I hope they are ok.

I then punched out some flower shapes and highlighted petals using a sharpie pen. Some navy blue tissue paper was added down the left hand side using PVA to give a bit of texture. Some 3D paint was added into which I pushed some beads.

Using the computer I printed out some text and added this to the cards. A hand stitched button to give a crafty/textiles angle to the idea.These ATC cards also come with envelopes so these were also passed through the sizzix machine and a light wash of watercolour added.Then to finish off I added my details on the back using the printer and some lovely blue textured paper. They were sent off today and will hopefully arrive at Lenna's house within a few days.

I really like making these little works of art and I would like to sign up for another very soon.
Some good news, I took my damaged laptop into PCWorld today and they have sent it off to have the screen fixed. Hurrah, just hope it does not go missing. oh I am such a cynic, sorry. Then Sophie left my brand new glasses in the building Society today at a cost of £188 pounds. I have emailed an employee who gave me her card when I opened an ISA saying I would be in early on Monday. I so hope they are still there, I have not even worn them, I have waited two weeks for them. They are still in the packaging and I only asked her to hold them so that I did not drop them whilst writing out a cheque. So you gain with the one hand and loose with the other. There you go.....

It is lovely weather here today, do I dare to hope that we may actually have a summer this year, shuushhhh, perhaps we should only hope and not say anything out loud!

Take care

xx

Felt commission

I think one of the best things about having online shops is the possibility of being asked to create a special commission or design. I have been lucky enough to carry out several of these special orders and the above is the latest. The order is from a lovely lady in Australia and the fact that she has not said they she has received it is not going to worry me just yet, but I have emailed to ask.

I am not spoiling her surprise as the order was similar to another cover featured in my Etsy shop. I love making these and I do have another 6 different designs cut out ready to stitch together. I did add additional features to this cover as it was to fit an A4 book, which is the largest that I have ever made.

Due to the bigger size I decided to add some interfacing just to prevent the cover from stretching too much. I then added a fabric label, packed it in my lovely blue tissue paper and labels. It has been over a week since it was sent off and I really do hope that it is alright.

It has been an awful day in my part of Cornwall today but we still took Sophie to a bowling party. Hubby and I hired a lane as well but then had to stop as it malfunctioned and then the party food was served. I was pleased to even go as I had been nursing another bad migraine which started Friday evening soon after I started work on my latest knitted scarf. I had no idea that knitting could affect your health like that. Managed to drag myself out of bed at mid day but mainly because I was hungry! Luckily it has subsided a bit by 3.45pm when the party was due to start but I was not exactly the life and sole of the party but I was still there! Hoping tomorrow will be better. Enjoy the rest of the weekend anyway.

xx