Sewing Maniac

Well, it's been a while since I posted anything. It's been hectic here. I have been making trips to Weston-Super-Mare to collect my daughter and her cats and then to deliver my daughters cats back to her after she moved back into her flat and I have also been sewing like a maniac. About a week or so ago, I was at a local produce market, close to where I live, visiting a couple of friends who have a table there selling their fabulous wooden planters, hanging baskets and bird tables. There is lots of lovely local veg and free range eggs, a lady who paints customised hooks with pictures of animals on and someone who makes beautiful stained glass panels which incorporate shells and pebbles. There isn't, however, anyone doing sewing and I happened to mention this to my friend and she immediately introduced me to the person in charge and to cut a long story short, I now have a table every Saturday at the produce market. 

More Owl Cushions

I'm thrilled. Things have been very tough lately. Since finishing university 18 months ago, I have been unable to find a job of any description. My age seems to be an issue. At almost 48, employers seem reluctant to employ me. My degrees (I spent 4 years at uni doing a BSc and an MSc) seem to go against me and so I now leave them off my CV and although I have considerable experience in many areas, still nothing. Thank heavens for my family that's all I can say.

My First Tea Cosy

Anyway ...... I am hoping this will be the start of a little business to earn me a bit of extra cash, which will be very welcome. With this in mind, I have been sewing like mad because firstly, I had to take some things to show the committee and now, I have to get together enough stock to fill a 6 foot table. It's exciting but in order to produce enough stock, I think I'm going to have to invest in a couple of daylight bulbs so I can sew in the evenings, otherwise, it strains my eyes terribly. I am, however, really looking forward to getting started, I am loving getting creative again and I will now hopefully be posting back on a regular basis. 

A Trio of Egg Cosies 

Rug Making Course

Yesterday I finally got to go on the much anticipated rug making course that had previously been cancelled due to the icy weather. It was fabulous. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The people were friendly, there was tea and cake and lots of crafty chat and I learnt a fabulous new technique using the weird looking tool below which, I think, will prove to be highly addictive. 

Maxine, the lady who runs the course is extremely knowledgeable on all things rugs and rug-related (in fact all things craft related really) and has made some beautiful pieces such as the one in the poster. When I arrived at 10am, the frames had already been prepared with the scrim fabric and there were six of us all clutching bags of wool of various colours and thickness. As I already had a tapestry frame, which I found last year at a car boot sale for 20p, I dropped my frame into the shop the day before so the fabric could be attached and the image drawn on, ready for the class. Instead of an owl, I opted for hearts. This is the fabulous design Maxine came up with.

After a quick explanation on the technique and a demonstration it was time to have ago. I have to say, it is the easiest, quickest thing I have ever done! I know the frame doesn't look very big but it's actually 11"x 22" (28cm x 56cm), so quite large and I managed to fill in all the hearts and spots in about 4 hours!!.

It's not finished yet, I still have to decide what colour to use to fill in the background. In fact that was the hardest part ..... deciding what colours to use. I was so inspired that when I came home, I sat and made a cute little lavender bag with a hand rugged front and a felt back. It's only a prototype and will need a bit of tweaking but I was so thrilled with it and it only took me about 20 minutes!!

If you live in the Liskeard area and are interested in any of the courses they run there is a link to Painters, the craft shop where they are held, HERE

Fabulous Fabric Friday

I just wanted to share some of my recent fabric purchases. It's so exciting. For the last couple of days, lots of exciting parcels have been plopping through my letterbox. I can't wait to get started. I have loads of ideas but I'm going to wait until everything has arrived before I start creating things because I have ordered loads fabulous fabrics, trimmings and stamps to start building up the stock that, over the last five or six years, has just dwindled down to nothing. 

I'm hoping to start earning a few pennies from my crafts again, maybe a stall at a local market, (I had one several years ago and it was fabulous fun!) and definitely some craft fairs, probably with my daughter, who makes beautiful jewellery. 

I have been looking for inspiration and ideas and have found some lovely things that I'm going to be making and of course, I will be sharing the end results with you on here. So I guess ..... watch this space. This is what has arrived so far. Oh .... and you might have noticed I'm loving the giant ricrac .... it's fabulous and I'm going to get more in every colour I can find and at 67p per metre it's a total bargain! I have a feeling it might be featuring prominently in my future creations :-)