Tuesday 28 July 2009

Brooch Competition!!!

How would you like to win one of my knitted brooches? I thought it was time I had a competition on my blog so here it is.

All you have to do is post a comment letting me know what your favourite colour is and one lucky winner will receive a brooch in their favourite colour. This competition is open until 8pm on Sunday 2nd August.
I will make a new brooch for the winner but here is an example of my brooches. If you want to see more have a look at my Folksy shop.
Purple is my favourite colour. I like all shades of purples and lilac, but particularly like a rich red/pink shade.

Wednesday 22 July 2009

Real Flowers and Fabric Apples

I woke up really late, nearly 9am! I had a relaxing breakfast actually sitting at the dining table. My husband sent me some flowers that arrived during breakfast, he is working away four days a week at the moment and I am not very good at being on my own so he was trying to make me feel better. They are very pretty and from the florists I walk past every day looking longingly at all the lovely flowers.

I was looking through my Sew Hip magazines over breakfast, enjoying all the lovely fabric designs and wishing I could buy some, when I came across the pattern for felt apples (issue 2 p41). I decided to make one as a quick project to start the day, I ended up making four as they are so easy and effective.  I need a few more if I want to make a good fruit bowl full, however I don't think I will do that this time. I have added some ribbon to three of them so they can be hung up. I think a couple of them are going to be presents and I will hang some in the kitchen.

This afternoon I am going to watch the Tour de France as it is on all afternoon. I have a recycling project that I am working on and will carry on with that while I watch. 

Sunday 12 July 2009

Vintage Fabric on Folksy

I love using vintage fabric in my own crafts and the items I sell in my Folksy shop. I thought it would be nice to see what other people are doing with their vintage fabric. I hope you enjoy what I have found.



Lovely vintage fabric cat from Fabric Nation




Useful and pretty peg bag from Pouch




Badges from Ellie Ellie to add a dash of vintage to clothes or bags



Very cute mouse pincushion from Nettynot



A lovely bag from Beaky



Pretty clutch bag from Lilidrawspictures


All these items can be bought from Folksy, click on the shops name to go directly to the page for the items featured. 


Wednesday 8 July 2009

Car Boot and Antiques Fair Purchases

On Sunday I got up early to visit the local boot fair, I was really tired from staying up too late reading on Saturday night, but thought of all the bargains I might miss if I stayed in bed. I also went to an Antiques Fair and bought a few more bits. 

I picked up some buttons, some pretty ones shown here, but also a big bag full that will hopefully be useful for some crafts.


One stall had lots of embroidery threads, mine are all DMC so I had a good rummage and picked out these ones. They were such a good price I couldn't resist getting so many. There were lots more, but I thought this was enough for one day.

I found a couple more Upcott Bears and a tiny owl. The other bears are Peter Fagan ones which I also collect, they were from the Antiques Fair and a little more expensive.

At the Antiques fair I also got some lovely glass buttons, they are quite old and very good quality. I have quite a collection of vintage glass buttons now.

I spent the rest of Sunday watching the Men's Wimbledon Final, what an epic! I was pleased to see Roger Federer break the record by wining his 15th grand slam, but thought Andy Roddick played so well and really didn't deserve to lose. 

Sunday 5 July 2009

Parcels

I ordered some moo stickers of my Zoë Sharp Crafts logo. They look excellent, part of that is due to the lovely logo my sister designed for me.

I bought myself some presents on Folksy this week. They arrived on Saturday, very exciting. Here they are in their pretty packages.


I bought this extremely cute cupcake charm from Treaclezoo

From HollieLollie I bought a magnet and some thumb tacks.


I could have easily bought so many other gorgeous things, perhaps next month.

Friday 3 July 2009

Friday Off Work

I decided to take the day off today so I could watch Wimbledon. It was my day off on Wednesday for the men's quarter finals, it was so nice to be able to watch it all afternoon that I decided I didn't want to miss the men's semi finals. I am hoping for a Roger Federer v Andy Murray final and would really like to see some good tennis this afternoon. 

I wanted to make good use of my time off before the tennis so I spent the morning making myself a nice light summer skirt, I used some of my favourite 1970s quilt cover fabric.

I have made a few skirts to this pattern now as it fits well. I originally designed this skirt pattern based on a skirt I already had. I have another pattern, one from the 1960s, that I have adapted to fit me, but haven't used it yet. I might try it at the weekend as I could do with another summer skirt.

On Wednesday I found some wonderful yarn in a charity shop. 20 balls of Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk in pink and 15 balls of Rowan Silken Tweed in purple. They are both gorgeous.

I usually use cheap acrylic yarn to make myself jumpers and tops as I can't afford really nice quality yarn, I was so pleased to find these yarns in a charity shop and at a price I could afford. I am really excited about knitting with them, the only time I have used Debbie Bliss yarn before was to make a baby jumper, the yarn was so lovely to knit with.

The lady in the charity shop said she had another six bin bags of yarn to sort through, I will be going back each week checking for more! I have found a pattern for the Rowan yarn in my Vintage Style Rowan pattern book, it is a 1950s style jumper with a collar. I would like to make a cardigan with the Debbie Bliss yarn.

Wednesday 1 July 2009

Well Loved Pyjamas

My husband has a pair of very well loved pyjamas. They went from long pyjamas to short ones when holes appeared in the knees and elbows. Now there are holes appearing all over the place and ripping noises whenever he puts them on. I said I would try to make something out of what is left that he can keep in memory of his pyjamas.

This is what I have made, it is made to the same pattern as my most recent vintage bear. I hope my husband like this little bear and wont be too sad about the loss of his pyjamas.

Vintage Bears

I attempted to make a small bear out of vintage fabric yesterday. It did not go well. The fabric wasn't really the right kind for the job and my bear was just too small. The template was not very good which didnt help, the limbs were too short and it looked very silly when I had sewn it up. It was too bad to photograph.

I plan to make a larger bear out of vintage fabric, about 25cm high and smaller bears about 8cm high from felt with vintage fabric detailing.

Update:
This is my second attempt. I drew round an actual teddy bear to get this shape. Not too bad, the head and the body are not as rounded as I would like them to be. I have worked on another pattern to try out ...


Update:
I have now finished off the bear and it looks much better with a face and a bow. I am quite pleased with it now.

I have also made a bear with the more rounded pattern.  It has worked well and looks cute.


I now need to work on my small felt bears, I will be able to use up some of my fabric scraps and the large amount of blue felt I have.