Show & Tell #14

One of the best bits of my job is seeing what people have been making from my books and free tutorials. I love seeing the photos of finished projects that people share with me, and I love sharing them with you guys too as part of my ongoing (though somewhat infrequent) Show & Tell series.

It's been a while since my last Show & Tell post, so I've got lots of crafty goodness to show you...

Holly stitched a fab cassette phone case using my pattern from Mollie Makes #41.

Lisa shared this in-progress photo of an angel bear she was sewing from my first book, Super-Cute Felt. Her daughter helped trace the pattern and was "very insistent that the colours are as close as possible" to the ones in the photos.

Kate bought a big bundle of felt from my shop and used it to create two colourful patchwork projects, which she shared as tutorials on her blog.

Felt patchwork table mats...

... and a rather fabulous felt patchwork blanket.

 

Louise emailed me these photos of a cute woodland garland she'd sewn using patterns from my second book, Super-Cute Felt Animals. It looks like lots of happy hours of sewing went into this!

 

Liz used my vintage felt baubles tutorial to decorate her Christmas cards last year. Look at all those baubles!

Liz said she made the ornaments "then attached them to cards using a brad, so the recipients can take the ornaments off and keep them when they are done with the card" She "made the cards from a very heavy cardstock so they wouldn't tip over" and "sewed on the coordinating borders with my machine". Such a great idea.

Linda wrote a lovely review of Super-Cute Felt Animals. "The day the book arrived in the mail our granddaughter was here and we had a wonderful time looking through the book and picking out animals I would make for her. She chose a cat and a dog"

Instead of stitching eyes (which can be quite fiddly at this scale) Linda added cute googly eyes instead.

She also stitched a pair of blackbirds using my free pattern.

The delightfully named "A Foolish Twit" tweeted photos of a whole bunch of things she's been making from my books. She said "Without your patterns I would never have got back in to crafting, now I love it!" which makes me very happy.

She combined two projects in Super-Cute Felt to make this bee needlecase...

 

... stitched lots of safari animals from Super-Cute Felt Animals...

... and made a whole army of mice finger puppets (I wonder what the collective noun would be for finger puppets?). You can also spot one of my floral projects in the bottom pic - patterns for the mice and the flowers can both be found in Super-Cute Felt.
 

My previous Show & Tell post was all about the sky blankets other people have been making, inspired by my sky blanket.

Here's Leanne's finished blanket - congrats, Leanne!

 

Amy is making a fab crochet version of the sky blanket, crocheting a granny square a day and using cheerful yellow yarn for sunny days instead of sticking with shades of blue.

She's blogging about the blanket as it grows. It's looking great, and has a surprising amount of yellow in it.

Amy wrote "I can't actually say just how much I love this project - it is great seeing how it grows, as I have no idea what colour the squares are going to be from one day to the next" ... "this blanket is bringing me nothing but pleasure" - which sounds a lot like how I felt when making my sky blanket. Such fun!

And last but by no means least, Polly stitched a tree stump pincushion using this guest tutorial shared on my blog by the talented Manuela.

Polly adapted the pattern slightly, using French knots to add the white spots on the toadstools which look great. She says "I'm really pleased I made this! I like having practical items which are also visually pleasing, and this makes me happy every time I use it." What more can you ask for from a crafty project?

You can see see all the previous show and tell posts here. My archive of free patterns and tutorials can be found here and you can read more about my books here.   

If you want to share what you've been making from my patterns (or from supplies you bought from me back when I still sold them, or when I've done a destash sale) please do get in touch. If you just want to share your work privately and don't want to be included in a future Show & Tell post that's totally okay! :)

You can leave a comment and link here on this post, send me an message via my contact form or share a photo over on my Facebook page.

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

More Shaun-the-Sheep-Spotting + Fashion on the Ration

Earlier this year I had loads of fun following the Shaun in the City art trail in London.

Not heard of Shaun in the City? Well, this Spring/Summer "120 giant Shaun the Sheep sculptures, created by artists, designers and celebrities, are grazing green spaces and iconic locations across London and Bristol, before going to auction to raise funds for Wallace & Gromit’s Children’s Charity and The Grand Appeal, supporting children in hospitals across the UK."

The London trail has now finished and the Bristol trail has begun, with 70 Shaun sculptures are on display until 31st August. All 120 sculptures will then go on display in special exhibitions this September before being auctioned. You can read all about the Shaun in the City and how to get involved here.
 
I had originally planned on just spotting a few of the sheep on a Nice Day Out, as a fun way to liven up a walk round central London but I got totally addicted and set myself the challenge of visiting all 50 sculptures on the London trail. After a busy first day of sheep-spotting and then finding a few more on another day out, I was up to 30 Shauns.

So when I arranged to meet a friend (the lovely Laura of Mason Bee) to visit an exhibition, I decided to squeeze in some early morning Shaun-spotting before we met up. (This is a long photo-packed post, but I hope you'll enjoy seeing all the cute sheep!)

I started at the Royal Exchange, where I admired Robo-Shaun from under my umbrella. I loved all the dials and buttons on this one, especially the "Baaahometer". 

Then I walked to Leadenhall Market, passing this rather gorgeous church door along the way.

Leadenhall Market is just as gorgeous! I must remember to go back when it's open and not just populated by me and two women having a chat while walking their dogs.

At the market, I ticked Shanghai Shaun off my list...

... then found Kanzashi at the Lloyds Building, round the corner.

The financial district is eerily quiet on a weekend morning. It's always strange walking round London when it's so quiet but it definitely made it easy to take my photos quickly as I didn't have to wait for people to get out of shot! 

A few streets away, Liberty Bell was hanging out at Fenchurch Street Station. 

 I love the name of that lane! 

 

Several streets (and lanes) later, I arrived at Tower Hill where two Shauns were guarding the Tower of London.

Shaun-xiào was sponsored by the Royal Mint, which was based at the Tower of London for 500 years. His red fleece symbolises the gift envelopes exchanged at the Lunar New Year and is decorated with the Chinese character for "sheep".

 

Yeaoman of the Baaard is one of my favourites! Shaun is dressed like one of the famous Yeoman Warders (aka Beefeaters) who guard the Tower. 

 

Then I headed to Tower Bridge, accidentally crossing on the wrong side of the bridge to where the next Shaun was located. Oops! I crossed over to the correct side and walked back to the middle of the bridge where Globetrotter was attracting the attention of lots of tourists.

 

Next up were a trio of Shauns in quick succession: Petal...

... Lenny...

.... and Mittens.

Then I just had time to visit one more Shaun on my way to the Tube station: Rainbow, at the Shard (sadly just at the entrance, not right up the top! That would have been fun!)

I caught a Tube to Waterloo where I had a cuppa and waited for Laura. When her train arrived, we walked to the Imperial War Museum to see their Fashion on the Ration exhibition (on until the end of August).

The exhibition was fantastic. There was a wide mix of clothing on display, from military uniforms to homemade dresses with lots of accompanying info about the clothes people wore during the war and the ways everyone coped with the restrictions of rationing.

It covered some familiar ground of course - we all know about Make Do and Mend and rationing and Dior's New Look after the war - but there was a ton of new-to-me stuff as well, lots of advertisements and photos from the time plus really interesting personal details about the history of the items on display.

I took loads of notes (because I am a giant nerd who likes to write down interesting bits and pieces from my Nice Days Out) and Laura was very polite and patient with me while I did so!!

If you're interested in fashion, textiles and/or social history I highly recommend it (make sure you check out the excellent exhibition shop, too). Just don't take a friend who has brought along a notebook, haha.

The recently revamped Imperial War Museum is very impressive, and we explored a fair chunk of it before getting slightly overwhelmed and calling it a day. We just had time for a cuppa and some cake before Laura had to head home, so we walked to the Southbank Centre and had tea and a good natter in one of their cafes.

After Laura went to catch her train, I took a detour to mine - via a couple more Shauns, of course!

Br-ewe-nel at Tate Modern...

... and the charmingly named To Sheep Perchance to Dream at the Globe Theatre.

43 Shauns down, just 7 more to go!

Introducing: Craft Camp!

Contributing projects to craft books is always fun, but my goodness it is frustrating not being able to tell you guys what I've been making. Today I get to spill the beans about a couple of things I made last spring. Hurrah! :)

Lark Crafts have put together a fab new book called Craft Camp, with over 40 creative projects to keep kids entertained in the summer and beyond. 

The projects are divided into four sections by difficulty (and level of adult supervision / assistance required) with step by step instructions, helpful illustrations and lots of tips along the way.

 

There are a whole mix of different crafts to try. I especially love the galaxy t-shirt, animal applique scarves, paper-straw letters and milk-carton tea light houses.

 

I made two projects for the book.

Remember these pompoms? They became the decoration for these awesome Mohawk Hats. So much fun!

I also stitched a Space Mobile from felt...

... with a moon, stars, the sun, some planets and (of course) a rocket ship for exploring the universe.

 

I loved making this and was dead chuffed to see it made the front cover!

Craft Camp: Over 40 Fun Projects for Kids is published by Lark Crafts. It's available from Amazon USA, Amazon UK, the Book Depository and many other bookshops.

[Please note: The Amazon and Book Depository links in this post are affiliate links]

P.S. Fancy a peek at a fun and festive Lark Crafts book coming out later this year? Click here for a preview of 'Tis the Season to Be Felty, which will be published this autumn.