craft fairs and more

Things have been a little quiet on the blogging front, mainly as I decided to get back into the variable world of craft fairs so have been busy busy busy.

Yesterday I ventured over to the Doodle craft fair in Nuneaton, met some lovely people, sold a few things, - and won a prize in the raffle!

Here's a little peek at my stall:



Since being back home I have been wishing for some brighter light so I can photograph and add some of my latest creations to my Etsy shop - managed to get these on today:





And I had a few enquiries at the fair about cream wool flower corsages and wristwarmers - I sense this may be my next project.

In The Red

When you find the perfect shade of red wool to match that deep red fabric that you couldn't resist buying - well they just had to come together to make a few new clutch bags:





The fabric is an unusual print, dotted with images of an Edwardian lady. I've used the same wool too for both bags - a lovely merino wool that has a subtle two-tone effect. One of the bags I pleated the fabric and crocheted a handle, while for the other one I crocheted a larger piece that covers the back of the bag as well as the fold-over top.

Both heading for my Etsy shop!

Sewing For The Greyhounds

Ever since adopting my greyhound Casey I have tried to support greyhound rescue charities in whatever way I could - either taking Casey along to greyhound rescue promotion events, attending fund raising dog shows, and of course donating items to the handmade4hounds shop on Etsy.

My local greyhound rescue, Greyhound Gap, will be running an auction for a week from the 3rd September. All the auction goodies have been donated, and already there are items being added to the on-line forum in preparation.

These are the 2 items I have been working on over the past few days for the auction:

Small embroidered greyhound picture, the hound profile is the logo for the Greyhound Gap charity:



Phone/gadget cover, featuring a greyhound profile:



The auction is being run to raise funds for one of Greyhound Gap's sponser dogs, Fleck. Greyhound Gap's founder, Lisa writes:

"Fleck is one of our sponsor dogs who landed in our care worse for wear, his ears had been home docked with scissors and his tail has undergone what we think seems to be a dodgy/home amputation. He was also very under weight with bite marks all around his ankles, they seem to be scars from possible rat bites and there is every chance that he has been left for a long number of years in a shed with minimal care.
Fleck also had co ordination problems and sadly recently he had a fall where he splayed himself out and hurt himself. This lead to us needing to investigate and it seems he may have a problem with compressed discs or disc damage at the lower end of his spine."

Read more on Fleck here.

Fleck will be undergoing his investigations on the 6th September. Lets hope the auction raises his much needed funds.

The Muse

So often we hear about designers, directors, artists having a muse - sometimes a model or an actress.
I would like to introduce my very own personal muse.
He lives with me, used to have a career in the racing industry but luckily no longer has to do this, he now spends a lot of his time lying on his back with his legs in the air (quite zen like, he can lie like this for hours without moving).
Please meet Casey.....




His unique greyhound profile is currently gracing some of my latest creations





He has taken to the life of a muse with ease, as long as there is a regular supply of treats and walks through the woods, not to mention the odd belly rub.
I'm sure other muses must demand similar.

It's A Tartan Day

I have a wonderful Aunt who very kindly sent me a batch of Harris Tweed tartan from her home in Scotland, alongside some other lovely woollen fabrics, a fantastic gift to receive for a fabric addict like myself.



Today I decided to try how they would look if I crafted them into a brooch, and chose one of the warm brown tartans, which was the perfect background for a lovely little orange vintage button, one of my favourites.



I've padded the brooch too to give it some depth, and edged it with a contrasting orange. It will be in my Etsy shop as from today, hot off the sewing machine.



Lots more tartan, lots more ideas........

Buttons and Hounds

I love buttons.
This is a fact.
I have boxes of buttons, bags of buttons, some new, some old, some faded, some gifted, some treasured.
So while thinking of a new picture for daughter's bedroom, it wasn't long before the buttons came to mind, and a joint project began.
One box of buttons, one tube of glue, one ikea white picture frame and the finished result -



Both myself and daughter have sorted buttons together for a few years now, and making this picture together, and hanging it in her newly decorated room, felt good. It now takes pride of place, hanging above the little black fireplace (and the restoration of that is another story...)



Making a picture for a child's room also led me to think about other ways to create wall decor that steps away from the twee and the predictable, and maybe how my hounds (or at least their images!) can find their way into bedrooms in a soothing sleep encouraging way. Over the past week I have been working on my latest wall art, the Greyhound at Night, now added to my etsy shop.



Which I think would be perfect for any age bedroom, surely the comfort of a hound guarding over you at night would help send you into happy dreamland. Made from a wonderful starry fabric, with the instructions to "shh..." embroidered next to a sleeping moon.

Summer Crops

A day of showers and sun, inbetween the latest downpour I was able to crop the last of the of fruit - and more of the prolific mange tout.



Plans had been to make more sowings - beans, lettuce, courgettes - after reading about the advantages of second sowings - more veg into the autumn (weather permitting).
However rain clouds and my aversion to gardening in the rain - oh I so need a greenhouse - have led me to a sofa and crochet day.

So hook at ready, wool stash at my feet, a bag, a bangle or a brooch? Decisions decisions.....

Tumbleweed.......and hounds

I apologise for my blog neglect over the past year or so. Sometimes life brings on changes, disruptions, and for a while my focus had to be directed elsewhere.



The new additions to my home - greyhound and lurcher boys - have not only added fun and frivolity (and a plethora of soft squeaky toys) but have started to creep into my craft - little greyhound profiles in brooches, wall art, and a few other ideas which will soon be heading their way into my etsy and folksy shops.



The support we received from our local Greyhound rescues, Greyhound Gap and GRWE when we adopted our hounds was fantastic, and to add my support to their ongoing endeavours I will now be donating 10% of my profits to Greyhound rescue.

Normal blogging services now resumed!

Buttons And Gadgets

One of my favourite things when crafting and creating is spending an excessive amount of time sifting through one of my many vintage button boxes to find the exact button that will marry perfectly with whatever fabric I happen to be using at the time. And when I was making a few gadget/mobile phone/iPod cases I found myself whiling many a minute away selecting the perfectly perfect button.

Here are the combinations I came up with:


Love this big brown button!



A starry affair livened up with a splash of pink wool


Butterscotch button and tweed.

Must start to put these in my folksy and etsy shops too - that's after I've spent another inordinate amount of time thinking up names for them!

Grey Flowers Looking Bright

Another of my fabric finds has been transformed into one of my clutch bags, which I've been meaning to put online for a few weeks now and finally got round to it today. On 1st description - "grey flowers, yellowish background" you could be excused for not thinking this fabric was too cheerful, but when you see how the sweet carnation-like grey flowers sit amongst little white flowers, you realise this is one sweet unique design. I like the background colour too, whether that's because I'm drawn to things that evoke memories of other eras (70's maybe?) I'm not sure, but I think it works well.



I've popped this bag into my folksy shop and called it the Grey Carnation Clutch Bag.

Now to photograph 8 ipod covers and 10 brooches......

An Itch To Stitch

Its a strange time at the moment - caught between selling and buying a house, things in boxes, things not in boxes, life in limbo. I felt I needed to distract myself from scouring the web for sites such as "how to move house in 10 easy steps" or for waiting to accost the postman each morning for any letter that might speed up the process.

So I had to find a way to "step away, nothing to see here" and embroidery was that way. Last year I was given some of Jenny Hart's Sublime Stitching books and kits and it didn't take me long to get back into the swing of a little gentle sewing. Embroidery is therapeutic, I curl up on my red chair, feet tucked beneath me, sink back into the cushions, thread a needle and sew sew sew. There is something about the order of sewing, the rhythm, that slows your breathing and thoughts down into a calmness that is so needed right now.

This is the work in progress:





If you're new to embroidery, the Jenny Hart books are excellent - they include a load of transfer patterns that you just iron onto your fabric (I love using linen and linen-type materials). The instructions for the stitches are also very well written - even the French knot can be mastered with ease!



You can find her books on Amazon, but the Sublime Stitching website has a wealth of other patterns and kits too.

Stalls, Snips and Trips

Its been a busy old week - started off with the handm@de craft fair in Cambridge, which was great fun - so nice to meet up with some of the lovely crafty folk I'd met last year at Oxford - amongst them paperleaf, quercus silver, pennydog, twinklyspangle - and also to discover some other great handmade delights - such as the lovely Fabric Nation, Made by Kate, and Hannahchan.

This is my stall - apologies for the poor quality photo, but there are lots more images of the fair on the handm@de flickr page.


Meanwhile over in the "its the half -term holiday and I am a child what can I do now" world, what happens when you get a boy of 7, a pair of scissors, a bathroom mirror and an active imagination? This is the fringe result of that combination. Not sure about the boy's new look myself.



There was nothing else to do but head out of the door in an attempt to channel that energy elsewhere.

Handm@de Cambridge Panic

Eek only 2 days til the Handm@de Cambridge Craft Fair and yes, panic has set in. The fair comes hot on the heels of other hectic life stuff - selling house, new job, usual mundane life events that may have contributed to a recent bout of insomnia and strange 3 am thoughts about wardrobes and crochet.

Needless to say the last few days have been a whirlwind of crochet hooks and wool and sewing and making labels and hunting for a tablecloth (still unseen - must delve deeper into the back of the airing cupboard).



The Handm@de Cambridge craft fair will be held on April 4th 2009 at the Guildhall from 11am to 5pm - more info can be found on the blog here.

So if you've go nothing planned on Saturday do come along, loads of hand crated goodness, and also the chance of picking up a free goodie bag if you're one of the first 200 people to come to the fair on Saturday - see you then!

iPod Attire and Random Notes

Only a few weeks til the Handm@de Cambridge craft fair (April 4th - come along!) hence the sudden panic of "eek have I got enough stock!"

Had a successful sewing day this week and made 5 more iPod Touch covers:



They were all intended for the craft fair but I couldn't resist adding one to my folksy and etsy shops.

Meanwhile back in home hazard land:
Anyone with a small person or 4 legged being will know the frequency that cups and mugs somehow manage to splurt their contents all over floors, tables and chairs - generally accompanied by a cry of "It wasn't me!".

In our house a shout goes out of "spillage of the day!" each time this occurs. Usually on a daily basis. This week the floor was drenched in a cupful of water (these cups do like throw themselves around) and my youngest decided to write a sign to ensure no-one would walk on the offending spot.

" "Don't Walk Here" is what I am going to write" stated the child and proceeded to write the sign and celotape it to a nearby chair. Here is said sign:



I think that sums things up nicely.

More Buttons?

Oh yes I'm afraid so - another batch of vintage buttons has arrived in the cloudhopping household.

Where they will live remains an uncertainty due to my already bulging button boxes (all 6 of them) who cry out "no room at the inn!" each time I arrive home rattling little bags and boxes full of button delights.



So button sorting awaits, a strangely therapeutic task, and I promise not to buy any more buttons for at least...erm...a week?

Hip Hugging With Belts

Inspired by the large amount of vintage buckles I seem to be accumulating, I decided to start some belt making in order to give at least a few of the buckles a new path in life.

I love knitted wool belts, there's something rustic and textural about them, and I used a pure black wool for these two belts:





Both belts are hand knitted, and both the red and black buckles are vintage too. I've made them long enough to drape around hips too - I think belts look great just slung casually around your hips. These two belts are for sale in my etsy shop, but with the ever growing buckle collection I sense more will be on their way.

Sorting Out The Stash

It was a combination of a few things that prompted me to have a fabric tidy up - new fabrics were waiting to gain entry into the fabric cupboard, and I had a few recent requests to make custom gadget covers so needed a way to show the fabric choices I have.

So today was fabric sort out day - I emptied the cupboard, grouped them into sets, photographed them, then uploaded them onto my flickr page (under the photo set "fabric catalogue"). Also along the way I discovered how to create a photo mosaic so you can see all my little fabric groups on one photo:



This isn't all my fabrics either I have to admit - I haven't included the plain fabrics or the small little pieces I collect - but sorting them out will have to wait til another day!

I Am Not Allowed To Buy Fabric Anymore

I have a cupboard that is very very full. Very very full of fabrics. Lots of them. Plain fabrics, patterned fabrics, vintage fabrics, tartan fabrics....I could go on. And every time I pop into a store that sells anything of a material variety I just have to buy the odd metre of something adorable that I must have.

So I imposed a ban upon myself - no more buying fabrics until I've at least used a small portion of the cupboard (yes, bags and gadget covers are queuing up waiting to be stitched into shape).

But then today I just happened to be walking past my favourite fabric shop (OK so maybe there was a small detour involved). And true to my word I did not buy one scrap of fabric - instead I stumbled on a lovely collection of these cotton trims.



I'm not normally a lace sort of a person but I couldn't resist these - all cotton loveliness. I really liked the one in the middle too which is a great shade of chocolate brown. I have a few ideas of what to do with them - something that will involve wool and crochet too - that will hopefully come into fruition this weekend.

Which also goes to show I can resist fabric (at least when there is something else to distract me anyway....)

Knitted Bangle Turorial

Knitted bangles are a great way of combining wool and plastic bangles - charity shops usually have some bangle bargains or check out the sales in any of the accessory shops.

Firstly gather your ingredients - bangle, wool and knitting needles.

(I used 4.5mm needles and a pure double knitting wool, but select whatever needles suit the wool you are using)

Then measure your bangle

and cast on the amount of stitches that will stretch to the same measurement
(my bangle was 10" and I cast on 35 stitches, so that the wool would sit very tight around the bangle)

Then knit away! Use whatever stitch you like (I've used stocking stitch here, knit one row, purl a row etc, but have also used ribbing, seed stitch - they all look good!) Knit until your piece will wrap around the bangle - either stretch it around whilst still on the needle or measure the bangle and knit your piece to match.

Cast off once you get to the right size - don't worry if your piece is curled at the edges, you can block it to flatten it out (see here for blocking techniques).I knitted 8 rows for my bangle.


Now for the sewing! Wrap your knitted piece around the bangle and sew up the seams - once you've finished sewing the wool piece will be able to be swivelled, so you can move the seams so that they sit inside the bangle.



And voila! Your bangle is done!



And you can also keep redoing them - bored of the colour? Simply snip off the wool and knit another colour. And a quick handwash keeps them fresh too.