Crafty Ladies: Meet Georgina Giles

It's time for the second post in my new series: Crafty Ladies. Each fortnight I'm introducing a new Crafty Lady who'll chat about her work and share a few crafty tips.

Today's Crafty Lady is Georgina Giles. Georgina runs crafty workshops, shares lots of creative tutorials on her blog and sells lovely handmade toys in her Etsy shop - I especially love her dinosaurs!
  

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Hello!

I’m Georgina Giles and I live by the sea with my photographer husband Matt, making toys, teaching lovely people to sew and blogging all the while. On my blog I write about things that inspire me, projects I’m working on and there are also lots of tutorials for both adults and little ones! I also love to be outside and potter around in my garden. I have a particular fondness for succulents and cacti!

Recently I've been stitching... 

... things for my wedding. Matt and I got married in May, so I have spent many hours recently making things for our handmade wedding. This included hand stitching six ties, making chutney, baking cakes, constructing bouquets and buttonholes, making presents for the bridal party and lots more besides.

Photo by Antony Turner

Now that summer is here I am having great fun planning activities for summer holiday art workshops at a local gallery. I am also working on some new knitting patterns which will be available to download from my Etsy shop soon!

I've been working on...

I belong to a local cooperative called Southsea Greenhouse, who has a beautiful community garden and an amazing army of gardeners and crafters! We are currently planning an education centre, so I’m really excited about being involved with that. It has also got to that time of year when I am looking ahead to the colder days and beginning to plan Christmas!

I’ve been blogging about…

... the things we made for our wedding. I’ll be sharing many of the things that we made but my favourites so far have to be the tutorials for stitching a smart cufflink case and making your very own Jenga guestbook.
 

 

I’ve also written about a brilliant project called Operation Tank Top, which uses craft to highlight the importance of checking yourself for cancer. The Feel Yourself Campaign’s aim to plan is to yarnbomb a tank outside the D-Day museum in Portsmouth. I’ve already knitted and donated some squares and I can’t wait to see the finished piece!

I’ve been reading…

I need to make more time to read online blogs, but of course I make sure to read Bugs & Fishes regularly! I am currently reading Quilts 1700 – 2010, Hidden Histories, Untold Stories which is the catalogue from the V&A exhibition of the same name. Next on my list to read is The Gentle Art of Stitching by Jane Brocket because I am in love with sewing by hand.

While I stitch, I've been watching... 

My favourite way to work is in silence! I love throwing open the window and listening to the sounds of the seaside, the seagulls, the hovercraft and the children running around on the common. Although I have also recently discovered the audio books section in my local library and I have listened to so many books over the last couple of months whilst sewing!

Georgina's Top Tips for Knitting and other Yarn Related Pursuits!

1. When you knit or crochet something as a gift, keep the wool band in a safe place and attach it to a brown label. Include this in your parcel so that the lucky recipient has the care instructions for their handmade present.

2. When you have completed a project that you might like to make again, weigh it and make a note somewhere safe. Next time you come to make it you can weigh the yarn you want to use and will know for sure that you have enough!

3. Keep all your scraps in one place, ready to knit a cheerful stripy scrappy blanket or for when you need to make a pom pom!

  

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Click here to visit Georgina's blog. You can also find her on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

View all the posts in the Crafty Ladies series HERE.

Please note: the Amazon links in this post are affiliate links.