Le weekend

Good stuff happened this weekend, including this..

Ken Law print from 60s of Hampsted High Street via H is for Home. Our new favourite bit of wall candy.

Squidgy yarn, tiny little going-to-take-ages-to-knit yarn, and tortoise fabric. If I was a tortoise, I would join this tortoise gang. For real.

Happy feet, and quilted work in progress. Already getting use even though it's not finished. A good sign!

Four special words: snack in a den!

Hello stranger!

Oops, where did those last two months go? Well, while these hands have not been so busy typing, they have certainly been busy stitching. Inbetween enjoying the sunshine and not enjoying some flooded house shenanigans, I've been working on a wonderful order of knitting and crochet needle rolls for two rather wonderful ladies.

I'm not sure how much I'm allowed to say at the moment, so shall stop there, and switch to the medium of photo-visual delight....

 

Work in progress

Question: What has more pockets than a person has fingers...

a fancy-smancy zip...

and a curve or two....?

Answer: My protoype for the Made by Loulabelle knitting bag pattern!

It's not quite ready for the full on reveal yet, but keep 'em peeled!

ps.. yes, this is the same fabric as the baby sleeping bag! Those bedspreads go a long way you know!

Trucking on for Truck Festival

Slowly, slowly, ever so slowly the stock pile for Truck Festival grows. Currently it is accumulating next to our wine rack - this seems fitting somehow.

Slightly panicked work in progress

So, this time my excuse for irregular blogging is the sewing frenzy that I have been immersed in for the past few weeks. I'm trying something new and having a stall at a festival - Wood festival, described as the greener, younger and quieter sibling to Truck.


The countdown is nearly... umm... counted down and I now have just 2 nights of sewing left before I can make no more!

Fingers crossed I have enough in stock...

Work in progress: a leather adventure!

Before you get too excited, I'm afraid my adventure with leather has been an altogether wholesome one..but, pretty exciting nonetheless. I've had an idea for this new bag style for ages - it's based on a vintage bag I saw in a junk shop once - and I knew I wanted to try combining reclaimed leather with vintage fabrics, but have just been too scared to take the plunge. Well, I'm so glad I finally have - here's a sneaky peak of my prototype and I'm really pleased with how it's turned out.


The leather bit was easy-peasy with the right needle. I've only got 3 pairs of these handles, so am making up a small batch first, but am so pleased with how they've turned out that I'm definitely going to make up more.

Work in Progress Wednesday

A new batch of upholstery fabric scraps came my way recently, so this week I'm working on a set of mini chain purses with the pieces that immediately caught my eye. I like working on this style - there's a fair bit of hand tacking to be done with the bias binding so I can cosy up on the sofa with the TV and still be industrious!

Autumn feels well and truly underway now - perfect for crocheting something snuggly. Here's a sneaky peak of a secret project I'm working on... ssssh, it's a gift, so don't tell!

Craft adventures #4... and some Craft Fair news

A quick update on today's Crafty Friday session: the brooch necklace is now a nearly finished work in progress - this beading palava is brilliant fun but takes a lot longer than you'd thing - probably not helped by my over-enthusiasm which meant I nearly had a necklace that would reach my knees.

Here's a taster... I really hope it turns out okay and doesn't just end up look like a few bits and bobs on a string!I also have some news - I've managed to book some spots at the weekly craft fair at Woodstock Town Hall near Oxford. I'll be there on the following dates:

Saturday 5th June
Sunday 1st August
Sunday 7th November

It's been a while since my last craft fair - just over a year in fact! A teeny tiny Freya came with me too - I remember feeling like it was massively obvious I was pregnant, but looking back at the photos, you can't see any sign of bump yet!

Anyway, I'm a bit scared about how close the first date is, so, while Freya is napping I'd best stop blogging and start sewing!!

Craft adventures #3

Many thanks to all those who have entered the giveaway so far - there's still plenty of time (the closing date for entries is the 20th May), so if you haven't done so already, then give the giveaway a go!!!

Anyway, better late than never, I thought I'd quickly update you on my latest Crafty Friday adventure. This time we were right in my comfort zone with a fabric brooch and necklace combo. I loved this project - the brooch took no time at all but the necklace is a bit more fiddly so I'll be finishing it at next week's class.


I went for a romantic feel with a nude peach coloured chiffon and used a vintage button that I had in my stash.

It was super easy - you can probably guess what we did just from looking at the picture, but I think it was pretty effective. I thought I'd include some really basic instructions here, as it would make a really quick last-minute gift. When the necklace is finished I'll post instructions for that, as I think they are going to look really lovely together.

Step 1: Cut circles of fabric. I cut 15 10cm circles as the chiffon is so delicate, but for thicker fabrics you would need fewer layers. I used the same fabric for all the layers of my flower, but some of the other girls used a combination of fabrics - using layers of net worked really well for a fuller flower.

Step 2: Sew a running stitch in a small circle in the centre of the flower and pull to bunch the fabric a little. Then sew a running stitch in a straight line from the centre of the flower out towards the edge and back again. Pull the thread to bunch the fabric and tie a knot to hold it in place. Do this 2 more times at even intervals around the circle to give the flower it's shape. I only went a little way out towards the outer edge of the flower, but you could go almost to the edge for a more "pansy" type shape.

Step 3: Sew buttons and beads into the centre of the flower to embellish.

Step 4: Sew onto a brooch plate.

and that's it!

I should really have been finishing the cake tin instead of moving on to new projects, but I decided to complete the tin at my leisure! After a week of thinking time, it looked a little sorry for itself so I'm going to start again and paint on the brown base colour before getting stuck into the fun decoupage part.

Craft adventures #2

So, I've just returned from the second of my crafty Friday sessions. My mosaic flowerpot was waiting for me on the windowsill with all it's little mosaic'ed friends:
I've now completed the grouting (VERY therapeutic - I shall be looking for things to grout in moments of stress from now on) and my mosaic "masterpeice" will be able to come home to roost in the bathroom next week. I think I'm pleased with it - maybe I should have put the ceramic peices closer together so there is less grout on show.
I was surprised at how easy the process was so I might keep an eye out for charity shop china and put this in my mental bank of Christmas present ideas.....

I also managed to make a start on the decoupage - I've decided to go for a design based on circles but the first stage was to create a plain background - this is as far as I got.... Let's hope it gets better (and a little less brown)!!!
Back to mosaic... here are some new and some vintage peices I've spotted on Etsy and Folksy that put my new found "skills" into perspective!

Clockwise (from top left):

1. Mosaic Modern Mirror by memoriesinmosaics
2. Mid Century Mosaic Tile Plate by domestikate
3. Thesarus Mosaic Mirror by Garwerth
4. G.E. Vintage Wall Clock by pinkbeeb0
5. Mosaic Row of Beach Huts by The Mosaic Garden
6. Retro Tile Trivet by Fuzzsicle

New craft adventures

Last week, on a bit of a whim, I signed up to a 10 session taster course of lots of different crafts. It was the creche that swayed me - 2 hours a week of dedicated, guilt-free craft time while Freya plays (or tries to eat) lots of other babies.

The first session was focused on mosaic and after I've finished the grouting Friday, our bathroom shall soon display my debut mosaic flowerpot - the first of a new series of crafted "heirlooms" as Paul rather cheekily put it.

This week we are looking at decoupage and I've been thinking about what I want to acheive. I've decided I would like to have a go at beautifying my make-shift... sorry, "up-cycled" cake tin which is actually a chocolate tin leftover from Christmas. Here's the Before photo, complete with chocolate cake:
I've been searching online for inspiration and have found some really cool vintage cake tins/carriers. Now I want them all!

1. Vintage Art Deco Style Fruit Cake Tin by JollyPollyPickins
2. Take the Cake in Style Vintage Cute Peach and Green Floral Tin Cake Carrier by jenscloset
3. Mid Century Cake Tin by avantgarage
4. Shabby Chic Yellow Plaid and Floral Vintage Cake Tin Pan Carry Box by thodge62
5. Vintage Cake Carrier by claireferrante
6. Cupcake Cake Carrier by theButterDish
7. Cake Carrier by kitchencupboard
8. Vintage Sunflower Cake Carrier by PatinaVintage

I'm hoping it won't look too odd to depart from the usual more Victorian inspired decoupage style and go 70s instead. So, fingers crossed it doesn't turn out as a complete disaster - I have promised myself that I will be honest about my new crafting skills and will post the results, however hideous the outcome!

Knitting Rocks!

Thursday night was “Knitting Night” – the second installment of the mini knitting circle that we set up just before Christmas. There are only 4 of us and we’re all nice girls so we’re more “stichlet and bitchlet” than Stitch n Bitch. Snow meant that the original date was postponed – we decided we didn’t want to have to waste our precious yarn on knitting a “HELP” sign for the snow plows to see, although the idea of being snowed in with nothing to do but knit and sew to keep warm is obviously more of a dream for me than a nightmare!

We’re all at various degrees of expertise – Miriam is at the top of the knitted totem pole and is working off-piste (‘scuse the snow pun) on a tank-top for her sister. I’m definitely not up to improvising but am currently knitting my first lace-work project - a ‘matinee’ jacket for the little monkey (so she’ll look the part at all those matinees babies go to, of course) and Lorna is just starting out and was practising stitches – her homework for next time is to decide on her first ever project. Here are the fruits of our labour:

Ask me just over a year ago what I’d be doing on a Thursday night and knitting at a friend's house with a baby at home would definitely not have been my first answer, but I was in 7th heaven!

I’ve got big plans for knitting this year. After the matinee jacket I can't wait to get started on this chunky beauty from Gedifra as featured in the January issue of The Knitter - I've never tried cable stitch before so it'll be a challenge - and an expensive one at that as the yarn costs a small fortune! But it's my birthday soon though so I'm making some not so subtle hints.


I’ve also got my eye on a set of cable scatter cushions for our bedroom, a delicious Debbie Bliss bag with pom poms and another short sleeved cardi for Freya. That should keep me going for a while!

My first post

Still trying to get to grips with how this all works, so thought I'd start off by putting up photos of my current projects! As usual, I have a million things going on at once – pressure is mounting as we’ve only got 7 weeks left before our baby (aka The Bean) is due. For some reason I have it in my head that everything MUST be perfect before The Bean arrives when really s/he will be completely oblivious and would be perfectly happy sleeping in a drawer (who wouldn't?).

Anyway, current projects are:

• Finishing the dining room decoration
• Converting my sewing room/our spare room into the nursery
• Making cute baby stuff for Bean
• the latest batch of bags I’m working on for the madebyloulabelle shop

Let’s start with the bags!

I’ve got a big cupboard full of fabric, trims and other bits and pieces, so thought I’d go through the whole stash and make a batch of Esther clutches:


I really love the clean, curvy shape of this clutch and think it looks really cute tucked under an arm – this time though I’m adding to the design with a detachable chain strap and then they can be worn ‘hands-free’ as well.

Looking at the pile of fabrics I ended up with, there are 2 definite themes emerging – day-time kitsch with cute cotton prints and a slightly more summery feel (it is still August after all)....

and evening opulence with upholstery weight brocades and satins and a more autumnal feel...

I can’t wait till they’re all made up and I'll have a big old stack of them to feel proud of. These ones will fasten with a simple magnetic snap, but I think I might try out a brief-case style tongue clasp on the next batch.