Making Stripey Bunting

One of the downsides about blogging about your craft projects is that as well as having a record of all the stuff you've made, you also have a record of all the stuff you never finished and just how long ago it was that you last picked up the thread / yarn / fabric etc and worked on that project that you were definitely going to finish that weekend / that month / by the end of the year. Time, it flies and WIPs they gather dust.

I've got quite a few projects in progress at the moment but most of them involve a bit more brainpower than I've had in the evenings lately. I've been crashing in front of the TV each evening but have still found myself wanting something really simple to work on to keep my hands busy. After years of crafting while watching the telly it just feels weird not doing so!

So I had a look in my WIP stash and dug out these old stripey fabric panels I made back when I was still at school and which I last blogged about TWO YEARS AGO (argh) ... when I was totally going to use them to make something new but instead just put them back in the box they came from and did nothing with them. Tsk tsk.

It's not even as if I'd not decided what I was going to use them for! Thanks to a suggestion in the comments I'd decided to chop them up to make some stripey bunting but had then done nothing whatsoever about the chopping or the making.

So... a mere two years later, yesterday I made a paper template and got pinning and cutting and ended up with 10 large stripey triangles (6 blue, 4 pink) and 10 felt triangles to match.

Here are 6 of them:

And here are the leftover scraps - I'll be salvaging some of the beads and other embellishments from these. Waste not want not!

 

I'd thought about folding over the edges of the fabric, then backing them with felt but because of the thickness of some of the stripes (lines of felt, thick cord, etc) that was going to be a bit tricky and would have meant smaller finished triangles and fewer stripes / less detail on each triangle.

So instead I'm just leaving the edges as they are and securing them to the backing felt with blanket stitch. If they fray a bit, so what? 

I'm using embroidery thread for the blanket stitches, which looks rather lovely.

Slowly stitching all these edges is just the sort of sleepy evening task I need at the moment and with a bit of luck I'll have them all finished before another two years roll round.

A Few Things I'm Working On...

This week I've been sewing some felt owl masks that have been in my work-in-progress box for a while...

 

... winding some embroidery threads so I can add them to my main thread stash....

... packaging up and labelling some finished pieces...

... re-organising & tidying my packaging supplies...

 

... finishing sewing-together my slightly random blanket...

 

... making a start on weaving in the ends...

... working on a new layout for my Book Reviews page (when it's finished it'll look like my Crafty Tutorials page with lots of neat little thumbnails)...

 

... and choosing walls in my studio to hang some prints.

I've also ordered some copies of my new book, Super-Cute Felt Animals so I can offer signed copies in my shop in a few weeks time (my mum wants a copy too!).

The official UK publication date is September 12th but rather excitingly, copies of Super-Cute Felt Animals are already available over at Amazon! After months and months of working on this book & then keeping its contents a secret, it's so thrilling that copies of it are heading out into the world. I am so excited and nervous to hear what people think of it!

P.S. You can find a sneak peek at some of the projects from the book here.  

P.PS. The Amazon links in this post are affiliate links.

Random Crafty Photos

I'm continuing to sort through my old photos, and I've found a few random snaps that (for one reason or another) I don't think I ever included in a blog post... so I thought I'd share them now!

First up: a photo I took when I was working on my first book, Super-Cute Felt. Slightly messy/chaotic but lots of fun.

Another work in progress pic - sitting on the sofa crocheting my giant granny square blanket.

Me & a big pile of felt!

Sewing in the ends of one of the loop scarves I knitted for my sisters.

Sorting out some photos to hang in my studio...

... and making a list of frames to buy for yet more pictures (buying art = definitely one of my big weaknesses!)

Crates in my studio, full of fabric...

... and felt:

Plus (not crafty, but still colourful) a couple of snap from when I was sorting through all the stuff from my old kitchen, having a bit of a declutter and packing the rest up neatly to be stored until I have a place of my own again.

 I basically never need to buy another mug, bowl or storage jar ever again in my entire life :)

More Threads, More Scraps

I'm still working on a whole bunch of projects behind the scenes that I just can't show you yet... so here are yet more photos of felt scraps and sewing threads. I love the oranges and turquoise together, so pretty.

In other news, I had a very stressful afternoon over the weekend when I turned on the computer and... well, it just didn't turn on. Ugh. I eventually managed to get it started a few hours later (phew!) and backed up all my most recent files but, eek, that was NOT a fun few hours... especially as I am currently on a deadline! These things always seem to happen when you're already super busy and a bit stressed out, don't they?

Also, I can hardly believe it's going to be February later this week. This month has just zipped by!

You've got a few more days to enjoy the mega low prices in my January sale and it's also your last chance to grab a bargain ad space on my blog, as the 50% discount code will expire at the end of the month. If you're interested in buying an ad, click here for all the info.

Spring Things

I thought you might like a peek at some in-progress projects in my workbox at the moment...

... as long as I get the time to finish them (fingers crossed!), you should be seeing all these bits and pieces popping up here on my blog over the next few months as part of some spring-themed tutorials.

Snowy Owls

Here's a quick snap I took a couple of weeks ago and forgot to share with you guys - I was sewing a whole bunch of snowy owls and realised that the movie I was watching at the time was rather appropriate!

A Few Works in Progress

I've got a whole load of different crafty projects on the go at the moment! 

Here are some snaps of just a few of my "works in progress"...

... I'm knitting some blanket squares to use up the brightly coloured yarn I bought to make the pompoms for the Christmas stocking I showed you guys yesterday...

... I'm working on a couple of new designs I can't show you yet, but I can give you a peek at some of the leftover scraps...

... and I've made a start on sewing together some of the birds from that vintage ornament kit I bought last year...

...  I actually stitched these a few weeks ago, full of enthusiasm for getting all the birds sewn together and then I didn't have the right thread colours to sew the next birds in the kit, and then totally forgot to go shopping for the shades I needed. I must remember to actually do this sometime soon!

Current Works in Progress

Wanna see some of the stuff I've been working on recently?

I've been sewing something very colourful using these pretty supplies...

... and doing a bit of research (and lots of sketching) for something new.

I've also been sewing a couple of sets of gingerbread cookie ornaments using the patterns from my book, Super-Cute Felt. These are going to be Christmas gifts for my sisters (they asked me to make them, so I'm not spoiling a surprise by posting this photo, don't worry!).

And I've made a start on finally finishing one of my oldest WIPs - a quilt I started making back when I was a student, about 10 years ago. All the squares are hand stitched and I'm planning on hand quilting it too, so there's lots of hours of work still to go!

Something New & Something in the Post

Here's a snap of something new in my workbox at the moment:

I'm slowly turning all those cherry blossoms I cut out last month into brooches... they'll be a white & peach version of the pink cherry blossom trio brooches that are currently available in my shop:

And here's a snap of something lovely I got in the post this week:

They're the ornament kits I treated myself to from Alicia Paulson's shop. I originally just bought two but couldn't resist ordering a third (the Walk in the Woods set). They arrived in the country a couple of weeks ago but I only just collected them from the sorting office this week because there were customs charges (and customs office handling fees, ugh) to pay and I kept putting it off.

Ah, those colours! So lush, and so deliciously different from the bright colour palette I normally work with (although they do match the cherry blossoms quite nicely, don't they?). I am so looking forward to starting these this winter.

Making Cherry Blossoms & Forget-Me-Nots

I've been quite busy the past couple of days with lots of computer-based tinkering. I've been getting lots of important stuff ticked off my to do list (yay!) but I've not been doing much that's especially blog-worthy (boo!).

My main crafty project this week has been slowly cutting out lots of felt flowers and leaves. As always, all these pieces are cut by hand so they take a while...

I'm making forget-me-not brooches, cherry blossom brooches and cherry blossom headbands.

The cherry blossom trios are currently only available in pink, but I'm hoping to get some white & peach ones (like this single blossom brooch) sewn and listed soon. I almost got a couple sewn last night actually, but I wasn't 100% certain that the thread I'd picked up was actually peach so I thought it best to wait until daylight to double check!

More Making! Plus a Sneak Peek

So, it turned out that the temptation to spend another day doing crafty things was just too hard to resist :)

I've got a whole heap of things made and photographed ready for some mammoth photo-editing and tutorial-writing sessions over the next few weeks...

As you can probably see from the photo, I've got a few Christmas tutorials planned. Most of these were actually on my "Crafty Christmas" to do list last year but got put on hold due to my sudden move. It feels really great to finally be getting them out of my sketchbooks and into reality. I'm pretty pleased with how they've turned out & I hope you'll like them too.

The only downside is that my studio looks like something exploded! Luckily, one of the perks of having a dedicated studio space is that you can close the door on all the mess and go put your feet up without having to worry about it (well, until the next day anyway).

What's In That Tin?

Over the years I've collected lots of boxes & pretty tins to store my craft supplies and other stuff in my studio. Would you like to see what's in some of the tins?

This is one of my "random projects in progress" tins. These aren't projects I'm currently working on, it's more like a sketchbook of ideas that I'll go back to at some point. There are also a few things in here (like the Good Luck card) which are leftovers from old projects. This tin & the next one were part of a set from John Lewis, with a teacup design by Ella Doran.

Lots of felt beads!

Most of my embroidery threads are now neatly wound on bobbins making them super easy to find & use, but I always have some spare skeins and they live in this tin along with some mini embroidery hoops. This tin was one of Sanna Annukka's Christmas designs for M&S last year.

Another "random projects in progress" tin, and another M&S purchase.

A small tin full of my paper patterns (another of Sanna Annukka's designs for M&S).

Some of my current work in progress (mostly just old designs I'm restocking), in yet another M&S biscuit tin (they really do make the best tins!).

Last but not least, my most recent M&S purchase which now houses my camera, the camera battery charger and the USB cable for connecting the camera to my laptop. Not exactly "crafty" supplies, but very vital bits of kit for my job!