Sssh! Don't tell

I have been hiding away in my workroom for the last few days making a couple of Christmas presents. I'm taking a big risk here - I have to hope that the people they are meant for don't decide to look at my blog until after Christmas!
This first journal is made mostly from re-purposed fabrics and the nice thing is that the person who receives this one actually gets their own item back in a new form! She was just about to put a favourite old dress in the charity bag when I stepped in and requested it. It had an under skirt with a gathered trim along the edge and a small floral print cotton top layer. I have managed to incorporate both pieces into the front of the journal, added some extra lace trim and finished the edges off with a decorative machine stitch.
I set an eyelet into the tab so that I could loop a suede leather cord through to use as a wrap around tie to keep the journal closed.


The second gift journal is made in the same way as the one I showed you in the long stitch tutorial. Its even got the same decoration on the front, but in a different colour.
Yes.. I know..."No imagination!" I can hear you saying, but Hey guys it is Christmas, and just like the rest of you, I'm pushed for time and right out of ideas!

I think this might be the last post before Christmas, so I'll take this opportunity to wish you all a very merry time and hope that you get all the crafting goodies that you are wishing for!!

Eureka moment

Ever since I was a child I have always hand made many of my Christmas gifts. One of the more memorable ones was a "granny square" crocheted poncho for my little sister. It would probably be wonderfully retro now. I remember staying up half the night to finish it and even then I think I had to give it to her with threads hanging and sew in all the ends later.

Last year I was frantically devising excuses to lock myself away in my bedroom and frantically knit a cow shaped cushion for my son - that was after completing a quilted knitting needle case for his girlfriend and a few other projects. I always naively think that 2 weeks is ample time to make the creations that I have dreamed up as being "the perfect gift" for a particular person.

You wouldn't believe the "still to make" list that is in my head at the moment!

Besides these gifts I also volunteered to make a couple of pairs of baby shoes for new family members of my sons' girlfriends. They had to be posted abroad and I wanted them to retain their shape. ( I was also thinking I might put them on Etsy as well).

I spent far far too long looking for suitable boxes to buy that didn't end up costing more than the baby shoes themselves - nowhere did the right size. I realised that I had to make the boxes. Now I quite like making boxes, but my lids are never a perfect fit for the base (this is the perfectionist in me talking). Most people say they are fine -but I always end up with at least half a dozen boxes because I think I'll just have one more go at making a better fit, and then another and then...... yeah, you get the picture!

Frustrated, I looked across at an scrapbook style explosion box I had made at least four years ago, still sitting on the coffee table......

......and that was my Eureka moment! It was a box, the lid size was not crucial as the sides will always spread to fit the lid. A pair of baby shoes was likely to fit in the bottom and the parents could fill it with photos and keep the shoes in it once the baby had outgrown them.

So this is what I made. I shortened the sides of the traditional scrapbook style box so that the shoes didn't look lost in the bottom and I co-ordinated the papers to match the shoes.

Now all I've got to do is get on with the rest of the handmade gifts!!

A quick card idea

If, like me, you are just beginning to realise how close its getting to card sending time and how few cards you already have made, then you might need this idea for a quick, but effective Christmas card.
I saw the idea used as a bobby pin, and decided it would also make a good card.
The tree focal point is made entirely of ribbon - you need about half a metre. Cut two 8cm lengths, two 7cm lengths, two 6cm lengths and a different colour piece for the trunk. Fold each piece in half and glue the ends together. Glue your ribbon "trunk" in position and the glue the two longest loops at right angles to each other at the top of the trunk. Continue upwards using shorter loops each time. Finish off with a star or similar at the top of the tree - a button is my favourite. Easy peasy and super quick!!

Of course you don't just have to use ribbon. Strips of torn fabric, crepe paper, felt, off-cuts from mixed media paper-cloth - they will all work fine. You could machine stitch them in place through the centre if you prefer that to gluing. I did one using sheer ribbon and an acetate card front. I attached the ribbons with brads, but it didn't photograph very well, so I haven't included it.

This one uses scraps of patterned paper. The loops would get flattened if sent through the regular post, but it is OK if you are delivering by hand.

Let me know if you think up any good variations.

I can't believe I'm knitting fair isle again!

What was I thinking of?! I swore years ago that i'd never do anything in fair isle again. All that twisting of the colours around each other to prevent loops, all that trying not to get them too tight, so there is not enough give, all that unwinding of the yarns as they get wrapped so tightly together (possibly with your fingers entwined in them) and then horror of horrors - all those ends to sew in!!So what possessed me to start again? Maybe it was the cuteness of a little baby shoe. Maybe, like childbirth you are genetically programmed to forget the downside of something as time passes. Whatever it was, there is just one problem - having remembered all the things I don't like about it, how will I ever make myself knit the second shoe??!!

A Day of Indulgence

You know when you get an idea in your head and you just want to sit down and play with it, but the higher priority jobs always win out. Well a few weeks ago I treated myself to a book which had a long stitch binding in that I hadn't tried before and I've been itching to have a play with it ever since, but by the time I got through the day's jobs it was always about 4pm and somehow didn't seem worth starting. So yesterday I indulged myself. I let everyone fend for themselves and I played from daybreak until dusk and beyond.

The book I had bought is called The Bookbinding Handbook by Sue Doggett published by Search PressI really didn't need another book on bookbinding, but the pictures looked very clear to follow. The Keith Smith books are like the bibles of bookbinding but you really do have to have your head in gear to follow the diagrams. This book is for my "brain-retired" days.
I cut my paper and folded my signatures.

and pressed them under my trusty press .(Yes, its a brick covered in paper, really)

Next I made the cover out of felt and had great fun embroidering it. I machine sewed a cream felt lining to it.

Did the maths and pricked the sewing holes. I did wonder whether, being felt the holes would just close up again - they did to a certain extent, but if I held it up to the light I could still see them. I then started one of my favourite bits - the sewn binding itself. There is something very comforting about the repetition and the sound of the thread as it works its way through the pages, bringing all the separate pieces together.

The last picture was taken in artificial light. I had "played" all day! Overall, I'm pleased with the way it turned out.I like the fact that I now have a long stitch binding that doesn't have beads or knots on the spine, so its a good choice for a masculine cover, but I didn't like having to go through all but the end signatures twice.

I did enjoy myself though!

The power of the internet

So sorry I haven't posted for a while.

As most of you know, I make and sell things on Etsy to raise money for Leukaemia Research. At the moment I'm knitting furiously as my little baby hats, particularly the ones with ear flaps are selling like hot cakes - mostly to the US and Canada, but I think that's because Etsy is much better known over there.

I've also sent little hats to China and Australia recently and the ladies in my local post office always have a chat and ask me about them. They are the same ladies that knew Dave when he used to take in the parcels from our online craft shop sales, so they are always ready with a kind word or two.

I'm always amazed though when people find, and like my shop, so imagine my surprise when a lady in Canada emailed me to say she had featured my shop on her blog! She is going to do an interview with me and do a second post so I'd better keep my needles clicking over the next few evenings incase there are even more sales.

Ironically, her blog is called Organized Mum (http://www.organizedmum.blogspot.com/), so I'd better try and be an organized mum so that I can keep my shop well stocked.

I am hoping to make some journals to add to the shop in time for Christmas, but I like knitting - I find the repetition very calming. Its as good as yoga and meditation, so if I don't post for a while I'm either so busy with orders or asleep in the chair!!

Talking Threads - new TV series

I was so pleased to find out yesterday that there is to be a new TV series starting this week on textile arts.
It is called Talking Threads and the first one will be on Sky channel 171 this Wednesday at 7pm. If you don't have Sky you can view here www.countrychannel.tv.
Apparently there are to be interviews and workshops with various british textile artists including Jill Kennedy, Angie Hughes and Kim Thittichai.
This is such great news. My Sky box is set ready to record, so now I'm really looking forward to Wednesday evening!