more unfinished projects

hand appliqued leaf detail

In between burger bears, loo roll bags and cushion commissions, I have been quietly wading through my unfinished work.

There was so much more than I realised but the pile is slowly diminishing.

the finished cushion

This week I managed to complete a cushion I was trying something out on.

It’s a nice leafy fabric that is quite current in design. Although completely lovely, I don’t add twiddly bits like piping or frills to my cushions generally so they are quite simple.

leaf details highlighted

My thinking with this fabric was that I could make it slightly three dimensional by appliqueing the leaves on top of the fabric again (if that makes sense). I picked random leaves but generally with a band leaves across the middle.

ikea small worktop ironing board with folding legs

It is a lot simpler than most things I make but I like it.

The best thing about it was being able to finish it off in my new work room; the first thing to come out of there but it isn’t my first complete creation to be made in there as I have yet to find the time to do that.

ironing the finished item

Can’t wait.

LOVE is in the air

heart of buttons

I really am being rubbish at the moment but work is very full on and there seem to be sooooo many demands on my time

but

I did get another of the unfinished projects finished.

Alas, I have probably missed valentine’s day shoppers as it is a tad late.

Still, very much along the same lines as my last post about the valentine cushion, this one has the word ‘love’ on it but the ‘O’ is a heart and it is covered in buttons.

love heart cushion

It’s quite cute and a completely different shape to all the other cushions I have made in the past.

It’s nice and neat and I have been thinking about doing some doggy cushions and think this one lends itself to a dog image. however, since I still have a load of things to finish and a commission to squeeze in, I will have to hold onto that idea and do something about it another time.

Valentine Cushion

love cushion

I have finished one of my many ‘unfinished’ projects and here it is.

I adored the ‘love’ cushions that I made for friends & colleagues wedding gifts and while I was designing them, I had looked at different colours and combinations before settling on the cream ones.

Anyway, whilst trying to find the right combination for the presents, I had prepared one cushion in cream with red letters. It wasn’t subtle enough for a wedding gift but I did think it might make a nice valentine gift for someone.

red needle cord letters

The letters are in red needle cord and although it is quite simple, I really like the effect. I love red.

I am definitely going to make more of these and I have some more ideas for a similar cushion with button/beads and other decoration added to the letters or I might try the letters in patchwork or multi colours.

I still have lots of unfinished things and I must get on with those first.

So, for now though, this one is finished and in perfect time for Valentine’s Day!

New year Resolutions

sorting out projects that need finishing

I’m not big on new year resolutions but I do try to make a few:-

So:-

1   have a good sort and clear out (ouch!!)

2   detox again (did it in November and it was amazing)

3   stop spending and start saving (LOL now that I have just finished all my internet shopping!!)

4   list all the wonderful things that happen in 2013 (great idea from little room of rachell)

5   finish ALL the projects I have started

So, resolution number 5 – projects;

I have had to resign myself to having a restless creativity that means I flit from project to project and will always have a few on the go at one time.

I’m very focused when I am working but need the challenge of variety to keep my attention. It is the same in my job as a designer project manager.

I always have a million ideas going around in my head and committed to my sketch book, some become real, some get started but falter and but some are simply condemned to my eternal ‘to do’ list because I don’t have the time to realise every idea.

I have a written list (I love a good list) and I have an actual list (that takes the form of a basket that is full of part finished work).

At any one time, I will be working on 2 or 3 different things anyway. It isn’t as random as it sounds. I work a bit like a production line, albeit a production line of completely individual things. For example, I cut lots of things out at the same time, I do lots of machine sewing at the same time, I do lots of applique at the same time and generally add my labels to all of the finished items at the same time.

There is an efficiency in there somewhere, I’d like to think.

I do tend, however, to lay some of these many projects aside. The reasons could be any of a number – I’m not happy with how it is progressing, I have run out of time, I have run out of interest for it, I am bored with doing the same thing over and over, I’m not sure it is right etc etc etc.  Most of them are eventually revisited with a fresh enthusiasm, and although some seem to remain unfinished for an eternity, I do get there.

A busy 2011 & 2012 has meant that ALL the things that I set out to complete previously (I have said this before) are still waiting to be done!

So on new years day, I went through them all and have transferred them from the ‘to do’ basket into my ‘doing’ work bag so that I WILL work my way through them and get them finished.

valentine bunting

There is bunting for valentines day.

lavendar cushions

There are lavendar cushions for valentines day.

patchwork

Patchwork for blankets and cushions.

dog neck ties

Dog neck ties, aprons, cushions, bunting, jungle chums blanket, patchwork blanket, bags and food savers to name but a few.

I completed one of the handy shopper bags and a dog neck tie this week and I prepared some of the applique for bunting and cushions that I wanted to do. They will keep me busy during the dark wet evenings before the weather changes.

When they are all finished, they will help swell the stock in my internet folksy shop and my facebook shop back to where is was previously and I will take some of them to Harringay Market when I am next able to do it on the 3rd of February.

I expect to be ticking them off my list over the next few weeks before adding a few new ones (of course)!

Phew!!

I can honestly say, I didn’t really truly see Christmas coming.  I have been so busy since September that although I have made some Christmas gifts and some bits and bobs to sell, October, November and December seem to have disappeared and here I am facing the dawn of 2013.

So what has my time been spent doing?

Monday to Friday has been full time busy with a workload that is about 3 times what I would normally expect for this time of year. Add that to some overtime and a little socialising and the weeks get eaten up.

Weekends have been about catching up on important home things that keep life ticking along, some makes for my stall on Harringay Market, a bit of Christmas shopping and some Commissions.

The market has proved great fun and it has generated a lot of interest. My stock is almost depleted and I am thinking of Valentines day already but here are some of the things that I have managed to make between my last entry and Christmas.

cup candles setting

cup candles in the making

I made cup candle gifts for a few people I know who I knew would love these scented pieces that will be used long after the candle is gone.

alexina bunting

Bunting christmas commission for Alexina

Silmar’s Taste bunting

barcy portuguese emblem

sylvia with her new bunting

Bunting commission for the lovely Sylvia and her husband who run Silmar’s Taste and are regulars at Harringay Market.

car crochet

A bit of car crochet on the long, long drive to do a santa drop to family in the north east. The blanket is slowly growing.

santa, snow man and reindeer stockings

santa stocking

santa’s reindeer stocking

Some Christmas stockings for little boys and girls (I didn’t get the advent calendar finished unfortunately).

lucy’s floral bunting

Lucy bunting in time for Christmas.

another granny blanket in the making

A bit more crochetting but small granny squares in 4-ply this time that kept my fingers warm at the sunday market leading up to christmas.

a cello cushion

a tune from a cello

A christmas commission for a cellist daughter from her very proud dad.

a few fairy lights

fluffiness

Oh, and finally a few christmas decorations before some welcome time off…….

Belated Merry Christmas to you all and here’s to a brilliant 2013.

Baby Bunting

leo bunting

My very clever friend V suggested that I try using small flags in my bunting. Having seen something at the knitting and stitching show, it got me thinking.

When a name is very short, it is difficult to make it interesting or even too decorated with cars, and hearts and flowers on the flags that don’t have letters on them. Very, very short names like Leo mean that without these extra flags, it is really short bunting, or very plain bunting.

alternate small flags

So, with V’s suggestion still in my head, and because one of the boy’s at work has just become a dad this week, the opportunity came up.

Little Leo now has this new style bunting for his nursery and I’m very pleased with it. It’s a great way to make bunting fun for a short name.

theodore grey bunting

Just as Leo arrived Theodore Gray was taking delivery of his bunting from his Grandma.

From one extreme to the other!

hedgehog motif for theodore gray

I have made the shortest bunting name ever and the longest ever all in the same week.

Now I have to get cracking with some for a very little person who has just arrived into my family in Canada!

rule breaker

fresh new stash

I broke one of my strictest making rules……

I bought some brand new fabrics!!!

Not thrifted, remnants or repurposed; brand spanking new and they come with that glorious smell that you get from fresh off the roll fabric.

yum yum

I couldn’t resist, I really couldn’t. I went to the knitting and sewing show at Ally Pally last weekend and just couldn’t walk away.

charlie fox

I know exactly what each piece is for and although I have stashed them and am saving them for later, as soon as my latest commission and some christmas makes are completed, I will be delving into them to get started.

ladybirds

The red foxes were the first to catch my eye and they (along with lots of the others) come from a lovely on line shop called pin it and stitch who are opening an outlet in West Hampstead soon and I can’t wait. It will be well worth a visit and the ladies at the show were lovely to deal with.

abstract

Myself and my friend V (of pearl barley and by appointment fame) both wanted to go so we got there early and were done by lunch time. It started to get very busy just as we were finishing and I sort of lose the will to live when I have to fight with the crowds (you can see I would be hopeless in the January Sales!!). I find shopping a bit frustrating anyway but I can get over that for all the lovely stuff at the show which is different; it’s a bit like being in a big sweet shop full of your favourite stuff but even that has it’s limits so we left quite early very happy with our purchases.

floral

Anyway, like last year, I have found some great on line shops while at the show which I will fall back on for certain things when my thrifting lets me down.

crafty ribbons for gift wrapping my makes

This year it was crafty ribbons who sell these lengths of lovely ribbon,

blooming felt starter kit

Blooming Felt who sell all things felting (thank you very much for your help Sarah – more of that later).

The Handweavers Studio which is only around the corner from where I live and I had no idea it was there but what a find.

felting wools from the handweaver’s studio

the black sheep craft barn who sell all the gorgeous Sublime wools and patterns for gorgeous, gorgeous knitting projects (how long were you able to hold back before you treated yourself and started your knitting V?)

hooplayarn were there will all their lovely T-shirt strips for the chunky knits and crochetting in your life

wanstead fabric merchants for floral prints

the eternal maker also did lovely fabrics like those at ‘pin it and stitch’

the village haberdashery or ray-stitch will fulfil all your haberdashery requirements

lady sew and sew for novelty fabrics.

I could go on……..

All fabulous in their own way but I was completely won over by ‘pin it and stitch’s’ gorgeous ranges and would like to thank them for their patience in the face of my indecision, I got there in the end and had to stop looking in the end otherwise I would never have managed to carry it all home.

delicious

Until next year, let’s hope I can keep to my rules and resist temptation.

heart patchwork

the finished blanket

I find it hard to keep up with all the things that I want to make, the list is endlessly long.

Sometimes seeing something that inspires me takes me back to an idea I had and thought I’d forgotten about.

the finished cushion

Heart patchwork is one of those and since I am on a bit of a patchwork roll, I thought I’d give my idea an airing.  I also recently bought quilting rings that hold the quilt in a neat roll while you do your quilting stitches.

quilting rings

I cheat (well, I think it is cheating) and quilt with my normal sewing machine. I’ve never done swirls or shapes and stick to straight lines mostly and it seems to work.

I was only going to do a cushion but got carried away cutting out and decided to do a matching cot quilt.

embroidery silks ready for the hearts

It came together quite quickly and was a real pleasure but the hand applique is still the most pleasurable part of it for me, it is sooooooo relaxing. The rainbow colours of the embroidery silks are like sweeties and selecting the right one for the work is as much fun as the sewing

quilt without wadding, backing, applique or quilting

I used to sit at my sewing machine for hours making clothes, curtains which I still love but given the choice I prefer the hand work and I now find delight in every stitch of hand appliqué.

appliqued heart

The theme was cream and pink with more emphasis on the cream as I wanted it to be subtle (unlike the next one I will make I think!).

applique heart

Anyway, they are both finished now and ready to be gifted or go onto my internet shop. Someone is due to have a baby soon and if it is a girl, it will be the perfect gift.

wedding presence

‘love’ cushion

Not satisfied with making wedding bunting, but also because I loved the cushion that I made for Jon & Nat, it was easy to decide on the LOVE cushion as a gift for Mark & Vicki too.

I like it as much as the one for Jon & Nat but the colour way is quite different. This one has a taupe linen cover with cream letters. It is subtle but you can still pick out the letters in the contrasting colour.

applique letters

I get so much pleasure out of thinking what to make ‘specially’ for people. It is an even greater pleasure to make it and give it to the recipient.

hand applique stitches

The fabrics are from my vintage stash which will appeal to Vicki’s own accomplished thriftiness. I have to confess to not knowing which part of Mark & Vicki’s house it will suit best but I’m sure Vicki will find the right place for it.

Designed with a lot of thought and made with a lot of ‘love’.

Congratulations on your special day, darlings. You are very special to us and we are very happy for you.

patchwork cushion

fabric squares in pink

I have been on a real crafting roll this week. I finished my girls cot blanket in record time, have cut out all the fabric for another patchwork blanket, and a matching cushion, I have made another 2 cushions and I am half way through some bunting that is a gift for a fellow crafter.

patchwork border in pink

One of the cushions that I made has been on my rapidly lengthening ‘to do’ list but I grabbed the opportunity and got on with it. I finished it over the weekend even though most of the time I was glued to the olympics.

floral and gingham

I’ve made bunting and other cushions with names on but like the simplicity and the timelessness of a patchwork trim to a name cushion.

patchwork corner

There are more boys than girls in my family and amongst my friends but I still seem to have more pink fabric than anything else. Some of it is quite gorgeous so a cushion for Lucy had to be pink and I happen to know her favourite colour is pink (of course!).

border squares and centre panel ready to join together

I probably would have finished it sooner than Sunday but I couldn’t decide how to finish it so t put the fine detail out to vote on Facebook and Twitter.

with

Initially, the general favourite and what got most votes was the ‘with’ image but eventually, the overwhelming favourite was ‘without’ so ‘without’ it is.

without

The Lucy cushion is simple and clean and I tend to agree with my friends, groups and tweeps. It doesn’t need the flowers adding.

the hand appliquéd letters

This cushion has a home to go to but I’ve made another waiting for a different little girl’s name and it will go in my shop on Facebook, wowthankyou, coriandr and folksy.

finished!!

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