Shoe Tidy

I have been having great fun making things for the house. We had lots of trouble with shoes in the hallway so I have made a shoe tidy to hang on the wall. We did look at buying a shoe cabinet from IKEA, although some of them are very shallow they would still have taken up quite a lot of space in the hallway as it is quite narrow. The fabric tidy hanging on the wall isn't too intrusive.

I had a lovely piece of stripy fabric in white, purple, green and grey, is a good furnishing fabric and should take the wear and tear of being used for shoes, unfortunately I didn't have enough to make the whole tidy, but then it was just a remnant from a charity shop. I used this fabric for the pockets and found a piece in purple, from my stash, to use as the backing, this fabric isn't as hard wearing, but should do the job, my stash of purple fabric is finally getting some use.

 I had enough black bias binding left over from another project and had some thread in the right colour. I already had some dowel from when I was planning to make a blind. The only thing I needed to buy was some hooks to attach it to the wall. To finish the shoe tidy off I made a casing for the dowel from the stripy fabric and a lavender heart to make it smell nice, in case we have any smelly shoes!

The pattern for the shoe hanging came from Sew and Stow by Betty Oppenheimer. I found the pattern easy to follow and it worked out as it should have. This book has a lovely selection of useful items, the fabrics they have been made in are so pretty I love looking at the pictures. There are useful tips about how to customise the patterns to make items that exactly fit your needs. The only problem I have with this book is that all the measurements are in inches and I am much happier in metric!

I have also make a lampshade in the same stripy fabric, I bought a cheap lampshade and used double sided tape to stick the fabric on, it is holding up OK so far.

Festival of Quilts - The Shopping

I was rather excited by all the wonderful stands, there was so much fabric to choose from I didn't know what to do with myself. I was very good and decided not to look at books or other items that I could easily get online or in craft shops. I was there to see the fabric and was not dissappointed. I had a really good look around and decided on the most expensive items that I wanted to buy first then I was able to get lots of other little bits as well and should be able to make some really interesting projects. 

I have six red fat quarters that all go together, I am planning to use these to make some cushions for the bedroom, I want to try some different patchwork techniques.

I have a gorgeous square of red batik fabric with black elephants on it. I have always loved elephants and couldn't resist this fabric. I will probably use it to make a cushion and keep the piece whole.

I have some lovely fabric designed by Paula Ozier, all her ranges come in sets of five patterns, I was tempted to get a whole set, however some of the patterns are quite large and wouldn't work with the smaller items I like to make. In the end I went for two patterns from one range and three from another. I love the hearts and stripes designs, these were the ones that attracted me to her stand in the first place, I then noticed the gorgeous elephant designs and had to have both, good job she had a special offer on when you bought five fat quarters, I didn't bad feel buying so many.

There was a stall selling half metres of Japanese fabrics for £3, it costs about that to get some of them as fat quarters. I bought two pieces, one with little snails designed by Heather Ross, that I had seen in Sew Hip and one with lovely owls on it. I really wish now that I had bought more, they were such good value for money and there were so many other designs I wanted. I only had enough money for a couple which was probably a good thing.

I bought four pink and brown fat quarters, they were very good value at £4, I am not sure what I am going to do with them yet. I also got two rolls of four fabric squares, one has some deep red and gold fabrics, the other has some sewing themed ones. I will use these for small projects, perhaps pin cushions and needle cases. The other items I bought were all scrap bags including some Amy Butler, Japanese fabrics, and Kaffe Fassett. I am looking forward to using these little pieces in my projects, and getting insipration from them.

I think I did very well with my money, I could easily have spent ten times the amount I did, it would have been so easy to buy everything I loved, I am glad I had something to limit my spending as I don't have room for too much more fabric.

Festival of Quilts - The Quilts

I went to the Festival of Quilts at the NEC in Birmingham on the 20th August. My mum paid for my ticket and gave me some spending money as my birthday present (the big 30 is in three weeks). I had a fantastic day out. This post is about the quilts, I will write another post about my shopping.

There were so many quilts to look at I didn't really know where to start or what to look for, other than inspiration. I found it a little lonely looking at them by myself, it would have been more fun to look at them with someone else. I really liked the quilts that used a mixture of black and bright colours such as this one made up of tiny hexagons.

The amount of work that has gone into them all was amazing. I loved the miniature quilts, they were so detailed and really look like someone had srunk a normal sized quilt.

I was impressed by all the other items on display such as these flowers and there were some other amazing creations.

I loved these thin panels, there were lots of them, some in sets that all had a matching theme or colour scheme.

I especially liked this one with all these gorgeous flowers

This was my favourite of all the quilts I saw, I love the shape and the black outlines.

I came home feeling inspired to finish my purple patchwork quilt that I started eight years ago and to try to some new patchwork and embroidery techniques. I know I am capable of doing some more complicated projects, I just like doing easy things and finishing them quickly!

New Purses

I have made some little purses from a pattern I designed. This one actually worked first time! They look good and are easy to make. These ones are for presents, but I think I will make some for my Folksy shop.

The first purse is made from Freespirit fabric designed by Denyse Schmidt with a simple white cotton lining.

I have sewn my name labels into the lining of the purses. I love my labels, but most things I make are not suitable for using them. I think they look good on these purses.

The second purse is made from a remnant of corduroy fabric and yellow lining both of which I picked up in a charity shop. The colour of the lining is a perfect match for the pattern on the main fabric. I have added a yellow button to this one, mainly because I love buttons!

Real Flowers and Fabric Apples

I woke up really late, nearly 9am! I had a relaxing breakfast actually sitting at the dining table. My husband sent me some flowers that arrived during breakfast, he is working away four days a week at the moment and I am not very good at being on my own so he was trying to make me feel better. They are very pretty and from the florists I walk past every day looking longingly at all the lovely flowers.

I was looking through my Sew Hip magazines over breakfast, enjoying all the lovely fabric designs and wishing I could buy some, when I came across the pattern for felt apples (issue 2 p41). I decided to make one as a quick project to start the day, I ended up making four as they are so easy and effective.  I need a few more if I want to make a good fruit bowl full, however I don't think I will do that this time. I have added some ribbon to three of them so they can be hung up. I think a couple of them are going to be presents and I will hang some in the kitchen.

This afternoon I am going to watch the Tour de France as it is on all afternoon. I have a recycling project that I am working on and will carry on with that while I watch. 

Yellow Elephant

I have made and elephant today. I used my favourite fabric, a 1970s pillow case in yellows, which as you would expect from me, came from a charity shop. There was a false start with this two legged version.

The next attempt is much better and has four legs making it look more like an elephant and allowing it to stand up. 

I need to work on the legs to make the underside better but this is just the prototype.

I am glad this second elephant wasn't quite right as I get to keep it! I will work on a third version now which will hopefully be good enought to put on folksy.

Update...

Here is a third elephant to list on folksy, I have sorted the legs out better and made the eyes and ears more interesting. 

Brooches

I have been inspired to put more effort into making my brooches and filling my Folksy shop with pretty things. I have been rummaging in my fabric drawers and button boxes to find interesting and coordinating bits to decorate the knitted flowers I had already made. Here are some pictures of my favourites.

The fabric on this orange brooch is from a favourite old shirt.

I love this cute flower button.

I have found some lovely bits of fabric I would like to use, now I need to knit some flowers in matching colours. I hope this extra effort will help me to get my first sale.

Chair Cushion

After reading an article in Sew Hip magazine I fell in love with Anna Maria Horner's wonderful fabric. I particularly liked seeing the different patterns together. Take a look at her website for more inspiration www.annamariahorner.com

I bought a bag of scraps from her online shop, to begin with I was reluctant to use them in fear of wasting them. However, I read an article in Elle Decoration about patchwork as a fashion trend in clothing and interiors, the photos inspired me to make a patchwork cushion for one of my Series 7 chairs.

I used my Anna Maria Horner fabric in two different width strips to make an intesting patchwork and to combine the different patterns.

I am really impressed with the results and still have plenty of pieces left over for another project.

Purple Doll

I decided to try and make a doll today. I was aiming for one about 6 inches high, the final doll is rather larger than that, but she has worked out quite well.  I decided to make her on the sewing machine rather than by hand, it did make it much quicker to sew, but not as enjoyable as doing it by hand.

She has a simple dress with a belt and a hat. She also has some pretty knickers, but you cant see them in the picture. I over stuffed her so it is quite hard to get the clothes on. I will try again and reduce the stuffing. I want to try and make a smaller one too, but it will probably be easier to do a smaller one by hand. 

The doll itself is made out of a scrap of curtain lining I bought in a bag of scraps from a charity shop, the patterned fabric for the belt was from a bag of vintage fabric scraps. The button and felt were also from charity shops.

My free gift from my Sew Hip subscription arrived with the new edition of the magazine today. It is a pretty piece of fabric in blue and purple, it came with some patterns to make a pincushion, needle case and bag. I don't want to make any of those items so I will look out for something else that takes my fancy.

I have been making good progress knitting my green top today, the back is now 4 inches long. The ribbed lace is very pretty and not too complicated. The yarn seems to be working well for this pattern so far. 

Parcels

My day off today, had a walk around the shops and bought a few things. I found some yellow fabric, gold beads, and some buttons. I wasn't able to get any toy stuffing so I have a half empty owl waiting for some insides.

Some parcels arrived in the post, some lovely fabric from PhatsheepFabrics.etsy.com and some badges from http://www.folksy.com/shops/milomade. Very exciting to have pretty things arrive. I have a few more parcels on the way, nice to have something to look forward to.

Hunting for materials

I love crafts and making things, but I also love finding materials. I enjoy visiting my local charity shops looking for fabrics, buttons, trimmings, vintage tools and accessories.  
I have bought a large quantity of yarns, a few odd balls for little items, and lots where there was enough to make a garment. The shop kept putting out more yarn each week, so I went in frequently, and became known as the Knitting Lady.

Another shop had lots of buttons, bias bindings, vintage zips, hooks and eyes, and some threads. There is a lovely lady in the shop who keeps sorting out more each week, so I keep checking back and have become known as the Sewing Lady. I have also had some nice pieces of fabric that have been useful for making bags and my projects for Folksy such as this cute owl.  

I love the element of discovery involved in searching for materials, but I also like the fact that the money I am spending is going to charity.

http://www.folksy.com/shops/zoesharp