The Burger Bear Challenge Continues

burger bears mark I, II, III & IV

What do you call a gathering of bears?

A batch?

A bevvy?

A brood?

Apparently it is a sloth or a sleuth of bears!!

Who knew?

mark I, II & III

I have now made a total of 4 versions of the pattern I developed for Burger Bear Tom and I am not sure if there is one that I prefer over another.

Each one is a slightly different size and each has characteristics that I like. Perhaps I need to combine those features and bring all the best parts together into one bear.

But……

mark II

Before I embark on how I think they should be, Tom’s input is key. Let’s not forget that they are actually for him and his customers and I am making them on the back of his challenge…..

mark I

As always when being judged on my makes (I really can’t understand why people put themselves under the pressures of something like the great british sewing bee – I’d be in bits!!).

Anyway, I was slightly apprehensive and worried the Tom would hate them once he’d seen them face to face (so to speak).

mark II

My concerns were completely dispelled as Burger Bear loves them and likes bits from each one.  He is also quite happy that there is variation from one to another and he even suggested pink for his moma bear fans.

ickle mark III

Different cheeses get used on burgers so different yellows work, the brighter green is fun and the faces all have slightly different expressions so they can be as individual as we are.

Burger Bear version 3 is his 0ver all favourite size (it is slightly smaller than the others and very cute!).

I’m busy costing them up at the moment and thinking about the orders that Tom has had for a few already!!!  I may be a bit busy but it is great that people like them and want them.

Woop woop!!

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.

doggy neckerchiefs

max in a peach floral number

I have blogged about these doggy neckerchiefs before. I’ve made them for friends who have asked for them and I have given some as gifts, but people don’t seem to buy them.  During my days at Harringay Market, it occurred to me that the reason could be that it isn’t easy to work out what these little doggerchiefs actually are!

Hamlet modelling Agnes’s Doggerchief

Although Max goes down a treat with doggy shoppers at the market; he behaves like everyone loves him and he is always pleased to see anyone who makes eye contact with him, it’s not very fair to expect him or Hamlet to sit around modelling in the freezing conditions that we have had there JUST so that people understand what these doggerchiefs are.

doggy outline

So the solution is to have a stand in; A cardboard cut out of sorts (made of MDF to be precise).

It couldn’t have been easier:- a quick outline of a JRT (Max wriggled a bit but we managed to get him flattened out………only joking!!!! ) enlarged to about the right size, an off cut of MDF from the shed and a jig saw.

cardboard cut out

JC did the cutting for me and it is now done.

Although, I haven’t been making much lately and my pile of unfinished projects is really not getting any smaller making the cut out for the purpose of modelling the neckerchief, made me pick these out of the basket & I got them finished.

I must do some in more masculine fabrics as these all seem to be a bit more appropriate for girls but when you are working with vintage, it is hard to be sure what you will come across.

lady labrador’s neck warmer

Anyway, Agnes now has the cute daisy green, Bosley will get his blue and gingham one next time we see him and there is a labrador along with her chihuahua buddy who also have them in hertfordshire

I love this fabric!!

I love them and would put Max in a new one every day if JC didn’t think he looked ridiculous!!

the tiniest doggerchief in the world!!

lovely customers

patchwork panel on bag

One of the delights of blogging, folksying, fairs and doing the harringey market are the lovely people that you come across.

The lovelies heavily outweigh any of the sillies that you encounter I am very pleased to say.

This weekend, I was asked through my blog to supply a lady with 3 of my cable knit cushions in red and I also had to make a loo roll bag for someone who had approached me at the Harringay Market with the request some weeks ago.

bag of bag

I agreed a price for the cable cushions (discounted and with postage and packing included) and parcelled them all up ready to go off to Wales. Just whenI was expecting payment, I got an email to say ‘no thanks, I’ve got 3 from Tesco for £14 each.

I haven’t got a reply to the ‘no thanks’ because it has rendered me somewhat speechless.

bag front

I was disappointed on so many levels but just as the disappointment was in danger of ruining my weekend and drying up my crafty juices, the very lovely Sophie got in touch to ask how I was getting on with the bag she wanted for hanging spare loo rolls on the back of the loo door.

As it happened, this weekend was the very weekend, I would be making it for her.

patchwork panel on bag front

I suffer terribly from confidence  (or severe lack of it) when I am making and especially when I am making something for someone that they have not seen (it is very different to having made something you like and did sort of to suit yourself, someone seeing it and just buying it outright). I had taken a brief from Sophie and then we communicated by text to get the details sorted out so I thought I was on the right track.

hanging on the back of the bathroom door

I finished it on Sunday morning and sent her photos of the completed bag hoping that I had interpreted her requirements correctly.

I am always pleased and very relieved when the response is positive. She liked it and it was just what she wanted but better.

Phew!!!

patchwork

Crisis of confidence over so I arranged to meet Sophie at Harringay Market when we would both be going to get our yummy street food lunch and shop for the coming week’s meat and veg.

patch

We had a quick chat when we met and then I got a lovely text complimenting me on the quality of the work and saying how pleased she was with it.

patches

It is so easy to forget the sillies when you have dealings with lovely appreciative people like Sophie.  I have said many times before, that the customers and the ‘craich’ are the best bits about crafting in the public arena and I am pleased to say that the cushions are now unpackaged and back in my little stock cupboard ready for someone who really does want hand knitted cushions instead of some cheap and nasty ‘thing’ from Tesco.

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!

matching accessories

grey tote bag for work

One of the presents that I gave to my sis this christmas was a grey tote bag with a brightly coloured lining like the one in the photos.

She had asked me to make her one ages ago when she saw some I made and I got it done just before Christmas so wrapped it up along with her other gifts and despatched it

lined pocket

The brief was simply that the bag needed to be grey. Black denim is robust and serves brilliantly for a working tote bag and should go with almost anything grey.

I love making these bags especially as the variations are endless and have finally decided to use one for myself.

the finished bag

Imagine my delight (and Liz’s too) when I got a thank you text to say that it matched her new grey mini perfectly!

The lucky girl had been given a grey mini cooper for christmas from Kit, her other half.

tag

The featherweight Singer 221K

isn’t she lovely?

This is a little out of sequence after posting about new year resolutions but I had to tell you about one of my christmas presents……….

I got a new sewing machine to add to my little ‘collection’.

My very lovely husband, JC was at a car boot sale in late September and rang me to say that he had found this lovely small black singer sewing machine and was I interested?

the singer badge

It was only the singer 221k featherweight that they were offering but by the time he had sent me photos to be sure it was a good decision to buy it, the lady had taken it away to research it a little as she suspected the interest meant it was more valuable than she originally thought.

the motor and belt

JC had enough sense to leave the lady his number and took a call from her some weeks later to say she would sell it if he was still interested.  Off he went to meet said lady in the empty car park of where the car boot sale usually takes place armed with strict instructions to keep his phone on him in case he was bundled into her car boot and whisked away never to be seen again!

There was no need to be concerned. He eventually he returned and I could not have been more delighted to see him and he had the machine!

with the sewing flap down and ready for use

When you start searching for details on these little machines, you find that they have lots of fans and lots of pages and you tube videos dedicated to them.

top tension

Mine doesn’t seem to have the 221k badge on it but everything else is right and I loved finding out why there is a clip on the box lid and how it should be stored. The serial number starts with EH so I now know that it was made in 1951 and is definitely the 221k and not the 221.

foot pedal clipped into lid

The cable on the machine has been replaced with a new white one instead of the thread covered black original but it works and it is generally a thing of great beauty.

The original oil tin, instruction manual, sewing feet, attachments, carry case and key come complete with it and after a little clean up and a little machine oil, it works perfectly. It has signs of use from it’s previous life but that is to be expected and the scratches take nothing from it’s appeal.

The case is no bigger than a record case for LPs (showing my age now!). It is tiny and incredibly light so it is easy to see how successful it would have been as a travel machine. It would certainly be a lot easier to transport than any of my other machines.

all neatly stashed in the carry box

Sewing with it is a dream; it is quiet and smooth and because it is so compact, it feels neat and tidy working at it. I’m quite taken and can’t wait to really get into using it.

spool loader

I now have 4 old sewing machines (this one, the singer 320k, the singer 401 and a frisster and rossman cub 7. The Cub 7 was my first and only sewing machine until recent years) the singer 320k and now this wonderful little singer 221k are my absolute favourites. I am delighted with this brilliant and gorgeous christmas gift!

the decorative end plate

I can’t tell you how impressed I am too that JC even noticed it when he found at the car boot sale it let alone managed to get his grubby little mits on it for me for christmas.

Yey, Merry Christmas me and thank you JC!

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)!

harringay market

a tinyinc teacosy

Myself and V (by appointment) took the plunge and had a stall at Harringay Market on Falkland’s Road this weekend.

I have just returned from it and what a lovely day it has been.

all set up and ready for action

The weather was in our favour and our pitch at the market was bathed in lovely autumn sunshine for much of the afternoon.

bunting galore

There was a healthy mix of sales, commission and lots of interest in all of our things.

heart cushion and snuggle blanket

Some customers are coming back to us in 2 weeks when we do it again in the lead up to Christmas, others are going to be in touch and some need me to make a few more things in readiness for our next pitch.

cable cushions and aprons

The atmosphere was lovely and relaxed, there was lots of chatting and a real sense of community as you discover that lots of the visitors really do only live around the corner.

hot water bottle covers

Jessica, who is the inspired organiser of the market is ever present and clearly loves what she does.  Her husband and 16 year old JRT are regular features and the JRT, Joris, keeps everyone in order!

baby bunting

It was cold and I am now quite worn out and happy to be in the warm but it has been great fun and I’m already looking forward to next time!

applique cushions

Come along on the 25th November 2012, it’s a lovely way to spend an hour on a Sunday afternoon; you can get some christmas shopping done, have your lunch and get your groceries for the coming week!  All in one spot!

a gorgeous piece from by appointment

try ‘the lord rupert’ on rye!! DEE licious!!

super salami, my husband’s absolute favourite

the nicest natas