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........

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.....

Creating Corsages

I love crocheting flower brooches and corsages, and up until recently I'd been making them mainly in one colour, sometimes felting them, sometimes adding a contrasting colour button. Recently I've been inspired by the ever growing collection of coloured balls of wool that lie at my feet each evening to create some multi-coloured ones.

This one is quite chic I think - classic white and slate grey - both fine wools which create a delicate looking flower.



When the light is a bit brighter here I shall take some photos of the more vivid colour combinations I'm coming up with (imagine purples and vivid greens and bight reds and that'll give you some idea!)

Hold The Front Page

Yeah one of my favourite brooches made it to the front page of etsy - and I missed it! Luckily there is a flickr group which saves screenshots of the etsy front pages so if you miss your moment of glory you can catch it later.



This was a treasury picked by dandyapple, I love the selection and the colour theme. The brooch has now been sold, time for me to get crafting I think and make more!

Double Whammy!

"Wow I'm on the front page of Etsy!"

3 hours later

"Double wow I'm on the front page of Etsy again!"

Yes it was a good day yesterday! My 1st front page glory moment was a treasury by mamabetsy full of neckwarmers and my electric blue one was featured.



The second treasury was picked by lusitania and featured one of my brooches.



Thank you for creating these treasuries and picking my items!

Power Of The Flower

Take one crochet hook, one ball of pure wool, a box of buttons and a little thought of how to add a smidgen of cheer to winter skies - and that's where my wool flower corsages started.







Some I made with pure wool and felted, some I made with a lovely pure cotton that is the softest of softness, some I added a vintage button, some I added one of incywincy's gorgeous handmade buttons. I've put a few for sale in my etsy shop, will be creating and adding more too over the next few weeks.

Front Page Moment

Another pleasing moment - one of my brooches was featured on the Front Page of Etsy today - it was included in a wonderful wintery blue treasury created by TreasuryTown - oh and thank you to the UK Etsy folks for letting me know I was on the front page!





I'm currently working on another range of brooches in wools and cottons, hopefully they shall be in my Etsy and Folksy stores soon.

A Little Bit Of Sunshine Goes A Long Way

Typical conversation overheard between any two people in the UK:

"Terrible summer we're having"
"All this rain..."
"One week of sunshine and that was it.."
"Not as bad as last year though"
"True. But nearly as bad"

Oh yes we remain obsessed with the weather, the lack of a consistent spell of glorious sunshine that we all remember used to occur throughout all our school days (honest, 6 weeks of complete sunshine! It's true really!)

And when I discovered a little yellow wooden heart in my box of bits I was inspired to create my own ray of sunshine:




A little summer brooch - carry your own sunshine yellow with you!

I've put it in my Etsy shop today. Create your own weather!

Coffee And Cream

Maybe the sandy beaches of my recent trip to Northumberland have still been on my mind for my latest creations seem to be in shades of cream, beige and sand. It all began with a rummage in my material cupboard to find a piece of this flower print fabric in subtle shades, which just had to be made into this little clutch bag.



Then with the same material I used one of the flower prints to make this brooch, I also added a few machine stitches to highlight the centre of the flower.



And last but not least I crocheted this wrist cuff in pure wool, and added some surface crochet in brown wool.



I've divided them up between my Etsy and Folksy shops and listed them there today.

My Knots Are French

One of my very 1st embroidery projects was whilst at school, the remit was to design and embroider a fabric frame for a mirror. I'm pleased to say the mirror - and the embroidery - remain intact, despite many years having passed. It also delights me that the mirror is still used daily by my mother.

Each corner of the mirror frame hosts a little collection of pink French knots and this must have been in my mind when I started to think about embroidering a brooch.
I choose a pale cream linen (linen is wonderful to embroider on) and a lilac thread to create the French knots, and this is the finished result:





It now joins the collection of brooches in my Etsy shop, and is the 1st hand embroidered one there. It won't be the last though, embroidery is just ever so slightly addictive.

It's A Green Day...

It has been a busy few days for all things green and growing. A few rainy days followed by little bursts of sunshine is starting to encourage sudden bursts of strength in plants which have been looking a little pale.













Courgette plants were put into the ground, (keep away slugs keep away!) and I also gathered some flowers to bring a little positive purple energy into the house.




Inspired by all this greenfingeredness I also created my latest brooch - a most wonderful shade of green topped of with a lovely black button. I have put it for sale in my Etsy shop despite being sorely tempted to wear it myself. Though with one black button remaining in my button box I doubt it will be long before I make one of these for myself..

Craft Sale Number 1

My sister (herself full of arty and crafty goodness) has recently helped organise a Craft Sale, as a fund-raising venture for the NCT (The National Childbirth Trust) and asked me to provide some of my wares for the event. The sale was hosted in one of the homes of an NCT member, and included photographs, bangles, knitted goodies, brooches, - and lots of nice cakes. Here are a few snapshots of the day:

My sister's photographs, some in frames, are sitting to the right of this photo next to my knitted flannels and brooches.

Yay! Cloudhopping bags and brooches on display!


So thank you sis for letting cloudhopping goodies venture into your Craft and Art Sale!

And any new mums or mums-to-be in the UK check out the NCT too for an abundance of information and support on all things to do with bumps and babies.

The Many Uses Of A Brooch

Have realised today that I haven't mentioned for a while what I am actually creating at the moment, and as those in the know (IE anyone who lives with me) can testify I am pretty busy everyday, armed with a crochet hook, a needle, a ball of wool or buried beneath shrouds of fabric. The sounds of "ouch!" that emanate from our house tend to belong to other people treading on a pin that I seem to have dropped on the floor. (Funnily enough I never seem to step on them myself.....well I find that mildly amusing anyway).

At the moment I'm having a bit of a brooch phase. Fabric and felt. Buttons may also be involved. And lots of thread. And having created quite a few (most are heading for a craft sale, some will veer towards Etsy) I began to deliberate on the many uses of a brooch. I shall begin with the obvious:

• wear it on your coat
• when the weather is too warm for a coat, wear one on your t-shirt
• stick one on your hat (winter hat, summer hat, who cares!)
• adorn your bag with one
  
• attach one to a plant label and stick it in your house plant (trust me on this one, house plants need accessories too)
• frame one (who else will have a brooch on their living room wall?)
• wear one on your skirt
• got a dull scarf? Then it needs a brooch!
• decorate a pillow or cushion with one

So there we go, the 1st 10, I shall add more as my mind allows.`Please post any other suggestions too!

Happy brooch wearing.