Some Works in Progress

I would love to be able to post some pics of the mobile I am working on this weekend, because it is looking awesome, but it is going to be a surprise for my friend & I can't remember whether or not he has my blog address! Instead, here are a couple of the other projects I am in the middle of at the moment...

I am making lots of leafy brooches to restock my supplies because all the others have sold - if nothing else I wanted one of each to wear myself! I love leaves so darn much, and sewing these is a very restful soothing process.
This afternoon I did no sewing whatsoever but instead made a huge mess in the kitchen doing potato printing. I had some very nasty-looking potatoes that were a highly suspicious shade of green that totally has not come out in this photo (just trust me when I say they were uber-dodgy in appearance)
... not wanting to just chuck them in the bin (and lacking a compost pile in the garden as I live in a top floor flat) I wondered what I could possibly do with them & then remembered I had some fabric paint (bought about 10 years ago but still good) so a massive printing session took place.

I ran out of fabric pretty quick, and now have to go out on Monday and buy a "new" (ie from a charity shop) white pillowcase to replace the one I have destroyed! I'm not sure how great I am going to think the results of all this when I look at them in the cold light of tomorrow, but still reeling with the creative excitement of it all I am currently rather pleased. I'm going to use a lot of it as fabric for purses, bags or cushions I reckon, with some embroidered details picked out among the plain patterns.

Here you can see how the blue paint got used...
An arrow print for a bag or something, some letter Es and As to make into purses (for Emilys and Annas and so forth), and some words that I'm hoping to make use of in my tea party range, perhaps combined with some great blue&white striped pillowcases I bought the other day & this great teatowel that I have blogged about before:
There was also some black paint that became a pattern of repeating black hearts and some more letters, eg Ks for Katherines, Katies and perhaps even Kevins:
... and then red and yellow paint became a red heart pattern and bold star prints (these are really not the best photos but you get the idea)
The process of doing all this was so enjoyable, I would not be too surprised if I suddenly started doing this sort of thing more often. I have some of the fabric paint left and also some poster paint & am already thinking about what I might use to make stencils, and about looking out for second-hand cotton fabrics to print onto... As if I didn't have enough to do already! Argh! :)

The UK Sale is nearly upon us

I am a bit worried that I'm going to spend all my money in my fellow UK Etsyers shops this week. 50 of us have banded together to have a big huge Spring Sale, all with different special offers like discounts, shipping, and free gifts. Kezzaroo is even having a prize draw! Awesome stuff. The full list of shops taking part, and details of all their offers can be found on The UK Etsy Sellers Blog and the sale runs from 1st-8th April.

My whole house is covered in felt!

The little offcuts fall on the floor, stick to your socks and then turn up everywhere! The same goes for small bits of sewing thread... and then of course there's all my tins of finished goodies, my work-in-progress boxes, and my ever-expanding stash.

No matter how much stuff I make, I am always thinking of new things I want to get started on & am forever finding secondhand stuff that inspires me and gets added to my collection to do "something" with "sometime". I have:
- a box of beads and ribbons and things like that,
- a whole load of wool that's gradually being knitted into blankets (in a suitcase under the bed!)
- a fabric box that's bursting at the seams with vintage finds & other useful scraps,
- a big pile of vintage maps and books that I have projects in mind for,
- a bag of fabric squares that are in-progress quilt cushions
- a stack of old sweaters waiting to be turned into felt
- a box under the bed that is full of old embroidered linens and tablecloths that I'm planning on revamping into bags and cushions and pincushions and all sorts of pretty things
- and, of course, large quantities of felt!

Ah, how my boyfriend suffers.

In other news: I am rather pleased this week to be up to 49 Etsy sales, and 105 "hearts"... It's nice to be making some progress with it, and to have done rather well this week just when I'd been feeling a bit downcast. I have finished my items for the Ninja challenge & am already getting excited at the thought of what we might do next fortnight... Can't wait until Sunday when all the Ninjas will be revealed! I have been sewing lots of leafy brooches - autumn and spring leaf trios cos they are so pretty - and working on the mobile I am making for a friend. I am also thinking long and hard and developing my designs for tea-party-themed items and am determined to get some French Fancy pincushions finished this weekend instead of just sitting around eating lots of them instead :)

Busy busy busy

I continue to do lots of sewing. Unfortunately I have also had lots of housework etc to be doing, and there are really never enough hours in the day (or enough felt in my stash) to do everything I'd like to... but I have been making some progress, at least.

My whole sewing box is full of "in progress" items, lots of lovely coloured bits all cut out and ready to get sewn together... Of course I continue to start new things all the time, too. Today I have finished some more spring flowers, made a start on my Ninja-inspired items for this fortnight's UK Etsy Sellers challenge (I don't think it would be giving much away to complain that there is black felt fluff all over the place now, darn it!)... and I've also made some more little pants badges because they were just so much fun:
Oh, and I was featured on the Etsy Greetings blog the other day - they are featuring a random card-seller every day and my Autumn Leaf cards got showcased on the 24th.