Posts

Showing posts from April, 2012

It's raining - glad I stayed in and wore my new PJs nearly all day!

Image
Boo, the Pyjama Party Sew-Along at Karen's house is over.  But, yay, I have an absolutely gorgeous pair of me-made PJ bottoms to show for it! The weather was minging this weekend and I've come down with some kind of evil chest lurgy, so I wore these A LOT.  As a high point, to celebrate finishing the PJs, I painted my toes in a toning pale turquoise, which was immensely pleasing. Nicely matching centre seams but I really should have french-seamed them - I think I will go back and overlock. The finishing touch is a homemade Dark Choc and Black Sesame Seed cookie from a recipe over on Joy the Baker - salt, sweet and droolsomely good.  Along with my current book (The Return by Hakkan Messer - a cracking bit of Nordic noir) and my current fave tipple (Night Nurse, mmmm), me and my jammies are off to bed. Did you take part in the Sewalong? Have you remembered to post on Karen's blog to be eligible for her giveaway?  You've got til 7am tomorrow..

Best of the craftyweb: an interview with Dotty Red

Image
Welcome to the second of my quarterly 'Best of the Craftyweb' posts for 2012. The very first blog I ever followed was Dotty Red written by the talented Suzie Vallis. Suzie is a busy woman! She's a mother and also runs a small business making the most lovely homewares, bags, decorative items and so on. I figured that you guys, if not already following her blog, would love to know a bit more about her, so here goes:

How Tuesday 14: how to make a robe dress

Image
Hiya I've been reading a blog called Ikat Bag for a few months now.  The author is a talented lady, interested as much in sewing as she is in cardboard crafts, which is a new area for me.  She's made some lovely things - go and see the Barbie house she made with and for her girls.  So beautiful.

Totally loving: Bunny Love

Image
Having been sent a link to this project, I think it's amazing.  Please click over and see the work of Sue Bamford at The Eden Project in Cornwall, which coincidentally is not far from where I grew up. 

Great British Sew-Off!

Image
scrumptious Strawberry Cake tutorial at sew-ing.com Love Productions, the people behind the 'om-nom-nom' fest that was The Great British Bake-Off last year, are launching a new project: The Great British Sew Off!

Out of the Blue: gifts are go!

Image
Here's the shopper I made for my 'Out of the Blue' gift for The Curiosity Project. Read more about the rules of the game here .

How-Tuesday 13: how to join in

Image
Hi there I'm not a natural joiner-inner.  I'm always in the kitchen at parties, I only ever got two Brownie badges, I got picked for the school netball team and turned them down - you get the picture. But a sew-along that you can do in the privacy of your own home, that kind of joining I can handle!

Reverse applique - yay!

Image
Hi there lovelies! Just wanted to share my latest project with you, because I'm so pleased with how it turned out.  I had been actually dreaming of this since making the Figgy's Tea for Two jersey dress a while back.  It had some great suggestions for embellishment and REVERSE APPLIQUE was one of them.  Lookit, lookit! Lovely stencil from a book by Ed Roth , drawn in reverse onto the non-fusible side of fusible interfacing

How-Tuesday 12: how to make a lined fleecy blanket

Image
hiya, y'right? Happy Easter, readers.  This weekend went too fast, right? Just zoomed by, and all my plans for a total craft-in did not really come to pass.  Possibly being a bit ambitious, I had planned: Two bags, one for me and one for Out of the Blue A T-shirt or sweatshirt for Junior with reverse applique detail - more on that later Some mending A prototype oilcloth wrap-round bib/cape/cover-up from an existing original Finishing the Kindle cover commission which has become temporarily derailed by physics (two layers of oilcloth plus one of wool felt equals total rigidity, apparently, who knew...)

Totally loving: the work of Sally Spinks

Image
Hey y'all My aunt sent me a link to the website of the talented and quirky Sally Spinks.  Amazing stuff.  You NEED one of these toilet roll covers in your life: See her here. Great, huh? S x

Sewn paper

Image
Chin-chin, Joy of Sew types I've been enjoying noodling about with sewn paper these last few days.  So satisfying.  Nothing I'm ready to share yet but here are some gorgeous things you can see and buy for yourself right now: <>

How-Tuesday 11 - how to make memories

Image
hello my lovelies This how-Tuesday is about how I had a sudden and swift connection to myself as a seven-year-old via a box of old craft goodies.

Out of the blue, or random acts of arty kindness

Image
If you're looking for a wondrous 'share the love' guerilla art project, check this baby out: http://thecuriositybox.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/new-starting-today-out-of-blue-project.html I'm in - are you? S x