Super-quick Folksy Friday - Stationery!

I didn't think I would have the time for this, and to be honest I probably don't but I though hey - just do it anyway!
Without further ado -
I <3 stationery.



List maker's notebook by gooseberrymoon




Green Dinosaur notebook by She Draws


Print your own Stationery set - Kawaii Poo by Papercake make and print


Gorgeous postcard by Hide n Seek



Vegan mini journal by Susan Green Books

So - that's the fastest blog I've ever done. (Sorry for any spelling or grammatical errors!) I had found the items before this morning but even so - if I can post this fast all the time I could blog every day - or at least every week!

Have good weekends!
:)

End Year Resolution and Photography

It's been a while *hangs head in shame* but I've made an end-year resolution to be better organised. The main problems I had were time and over-ambition. I don't have enough time in the evenings to research, compose and post as well as wind-down, crochet and occasionally cook! But I realised that I don't have to do it all in one evening.

I've downloaded the Blog Booster app for my iPhone so I can make drafts anywhere. I can research items one night and post them another. So hopefully I will be able to post more regularly in the future.

Speaking of apps... I've been getting back into photography recently thanks to my new iPhone and two fantastic apps.

Hipstamatic is a brilliant camera app where you can choose different lenses, films and flashes to produce some amazing retro shots.


Like these ...


The other app I've been using a lot is Instagram. It's a social networking site using photographs instead of statuses. A bit like twitter for photos I guess. It's free too!
With Instagram you take a photo or choose one from the camera roll and crop it square with the ability to zoom in as well. You then have the option of sharing it as is, or choosing a filter to overlay it. Depending on the filter you choose, the effects can be quite dramatic.

Here's a picture of the sky behind my flat.



And here's the same photograph with the 'Gotham' filter over it.



All the photos go into your feed, which other users can follow. You can follow users, 'like' photos and comment on photos. Popular shots go onto the 'popular' pages. There are some amazing photographs out there!

Here are a few of mine.




This was taken on my way to work one morning. It's in Mistley.

This bee was on the wall of my office one day when I cam back from lunch. I managed to get pretty close to it and then enlarged it using Instagram when I posted it.

I took this one morning while walking the dogs. It's a school fence round the corner from me.


This map is on my desk at work. I got it from a charity shop.


Aloe Vera on my kitchen windowsill.

So, I hope you like them. If you want to follow me on Instagram my userame is Badschnoodles there too!
:)

Soya Pineapples

Gosh, I am completely shamefaced by how long it has been since I have updated. I have lots of draft posts but none of them have made it here.
There's a couple of things that I've been working on.

This is a shawl I made from sirdar just soya dk. It's the Aphrodite Shawl pattern. It took me about two weeks to finish it.










It's the first time I've tried pineapples. I love the way they look but always thought they'd be really complicated. It was actually quite an easy pattern to follow.That's the beauty of crochet for me - it's all stitch by stitch, row by row so as long as the pattern is clearly written you can follow it and create something beautiful!




The other thing I've been making on and off for the last couple of months is two pairs of day gloves for my friend's bridesmaids.The original pattern was from The Art of Crochet (issue 23 I think.) I just happened to see it when I was thinking about patterns for the gloves and it turned out to be exactly what my friend was after. The pattern came up really small so I had to increase the number of stitches and use a larger hook than stated. I also increased the size of the fingers individually.

Basically the process was that I made one glove and sent it to my friend. I then worked on other things while she tried it on the bridesmaids and sent it back for editing. I was really pleased with how they turned out. And apparently they got a lot of compliments on the day, which is always nice! ;)

At the moment I am working on a new fingerless glove design. I've made several pairs and I think they are nearly ready... I am also looking at baby patterns on Ravelry because another friend just had a baby girl!

Makes

I know I’ve been quiet recently and have missed a couple of Monday and Friday postings... *hangs head in shame*

I thought I’d share some pictures of what I have been filling my time with…

But first – here’s the 2^nd attempt at purse making, which turned out a LOT better than the first. I made a glasses case for my Dad for his birthday out of tie silk.

Okay, here are some skirts that I made following an on-line tutorial. Well, I say ‘following’ – the first one proved that the tutorial wasn’t right for me so I hacked bits off it here and there and then used it to make a better pattern for the other two.

Originally I was going to make a dress with this fabric, but I think the pattern is a little much for that.

How gorgeous is this fabric? I’ve had it stashed for years but I always knew it wanted to be a skirt. It’s called “Erte revisited” I think.

This pink seersucker I’ve also had for years. I was going to make a bias cut wrap skirt from it, but didn’t have enough.

This is a cover for our patio table that I made with some cute Russian Doll print PVC. It came in the day before I went to the shop – fate!

I’ve got a bit left over – the long strip cut off the bottom to make it the right length so about 3 metres by 30cm – any suggestions? It’s fairly light-weight.

I just love this Ikea fabric. I bought it last year to make a throw-over for our footstool and made sure I got some extra as well. I know most people would say that purple and orange clash, but I don’t see that as a bad thing! I might have enough of this fabric left to make a couple of little cushions, too.

And also, in true make do and mend fashion, these cushion covers were made for a friend out of one of her favourite duvet covers. She’s having a garden party and wanted some cushions to be strewn around the lawn. She asked me to make 2 small and 2 large and anything else I could get out of it. I think I did a pretty good job of maximising the fabric – I used the snap closures already on the duvet for two of the cushions and then managed to squeeze another two large cushions out of the duvet. Each pillowcase made one small cushion. The remnants won’t go to waste either, as I’m going to stuff them with polyfill and make some little random shaped cushions, too.

Sewing was always my first love – in fact, I only took up crochet because I didn’t have the room for my sewing machine! – But although I have slowed down on the crochet front, I haven’t quite ground to a standstill. Look at these cutey booties I was practising this weekend – I do love tiny shoes!

...And before you ask, no I am not pregnant! I just know several ladies who are. :)

Folksy Friday - Holidays!

I know it's early this week but as I am now on holiday from work for 10 whole days I'm a bit excited. So I have been looking at holiday-themed items on Folksy and I decided to have that as my theme for this week.

First up is this groovy holiday themed bunting by Cottoncabin. I love the stamp print.


Next I've chosen these cute gift tags made from maps by Little Silverleaf. Whenever I'm going anywhere I love having the map and looking at it over and over! I can spend hours looking through an atlas.
Next I've chosen this linen fishing boat cushion cover by Jo Fulham because it reminds me of my holiday to Cornwall last year.


How cute is this suitcase necklace by She Draws?!


Whenever I go away I like to make lists of everything I'm taking and check things off as I pack it in my case. And what a lovely case this is! I love red and white together in the summer. It's made by MamaRuby.
So, I shall definitely be enjoying my holiday next week - even though I'm not going anywhere, I will have plenty of time to craft!

(Mis)adventures in Purse Making!

…or “what I have learned this weekend”

I have a bit of a thing about purses. (Also bags, shoes, hats, coats, make-up, Momiji, stationery… but now we are talking about purses!) On an average day I have 3 purses with me – money/general, excess cards and ‘savings’ (which is where I keep money saved to pay for my Spanish lessons and my dog classes). Before I switched to a smaller handbag I also had a coin purse too! On any given day this number can increase if I fancy carrying more make-up, money for a different purpose, or just another purse!

I had an idea for a line of coin purses and glasses cases but absolutely no idea how to go about making them. Good old Google to the rescue! I found this site U-Handbag, which sells everything you might want for making bags and also has a good selection of really useful and well put-together tutorials with pictures – and they’re FREE!!

So, I ordered some coin purse frames from a fellow folksy seller HollieLollie Supplies. I also got the Gutermann HT2 glue recommended by the tutorials. When the glue arrived last week I set aside this weekend to have a go.

The tutorial was so good that I figured it would be a doddle and was a teeny bit smug about it I think. Never a good way to be! It went pretty well at the beginning. I chose a groovy owl print cotton from my stash. I designed a pattern following the instructions, cut out all my pieces and stitched them together following the directions. So far; so good. At this stage it looked pretty impressive…

Then I came to the point to start gluing and I learned a few things.

1) When it says ‘be generous’ it probably doesn’t mean ‘use half a tube’

2) When squeezing the glue – it keeps coming out for a long time afterwards and is really gloopy!

3) Ventilate the room really well as the glue is really strong smelling and gave me a headache

4) Don’t cut corners – check the seam allowances or it might not fit in the frame properly

5) No really, don’t cut corners – even though you hate ironing, it really does help to press the seams properly.

6) Everyone makes mistakes – the trick is to laugh and learn.

After this I made a somewhat more successful attempt, which I’m afraid I can’t show here yet as it turned out well enough to be a gift, but I will post a picture once the recipient has received it!

I’ve ordered some more frames and I’m hoping that with a bit more practice I will improve! I’ve got next week off work, so I’m going to spend a couple of days sewing and see what occurs! I want to make myself a skirt as well, but I think I’ve caught up on all my trouser-shortening, button replacing chores now!

As it is Monday and I missed out on Momiji Monday last week (because I was so busy trouser-shortening and button-replacing) I am tagging a Momiji on to the end of this post to make up for it.

This one is Dreaming - I thought that was apt! Dreaming is from Generation 2. She likes quantum mechanics, Las Vegas and surprises!

Sundays are my favourite days for dreaming. a big stretch and then some tea!

Folksy Friday - Flowers

Well, today seems to have been the hottest day so far! My arms caught the sun at lunchtime and are now red and itchy - my legs remain as defiantly pasty as ever!

I've decided to use flowers for my Folksy Friday this week.

First up is this Flower Ring by Grace Designs - and it's on sale!











Next I've chosen this cool flower coaster from The Mosaic Garden.



















Next up is this flower button bracelet by Made by Kate D - how cute is this?!














Finally I've chosen this lovely hand felted Daisy Lollipop Flower by Petal Textiles.













I hope you have a lovely weekend enjoying the sun!