Crafting Consolidation

I've had a bit of a craft explosion recently. (You might have noticed!!!!) and I've ended up creating things using crochet, knitting, sewing and beading techniques. I now know how to set in bag handles, iron on interfacing, fit a lining, make a pattern, cover a button (Thanks Terri!) so I have acquired quite a lot of new skills.

This last few weeks, I have been consolidating these new found skills. I've been doing the same things as before, but making the tweaks that I thought about when I was making the things the 1st time... "if I were to do this again, I'd make *this* bit before *that* bit", "next time, I'll set the handle over *there*".

I've been experimenting, a little, as well, just to see what I can create.

So, remember this bag...? It's the 'buttercup bag' from "Made By Rae"

I had another go at it....

This time, I interfaced the lining, so as you can see, the bag has more structure than the top one. I did the pleats a bit differently, and I also applied an internal pocket technique "Easy Peasy Bag Pockets" which I found on a crafty blog website. Oh, and I did the lining bright red. It's lovely isn't it????

Triple internal pocket will hold phone, cards, and your lip gloss safe inside!

Did you spot the deliberate **ahem** mistake though? I got so excited with wanting to turn it inside out and see what the pocket was going to look like, that I forgot to pin in the strap. Ooops! I may go back and put one in, but it looks like a cute clutch bag without one, so once I've put the snap fastening in, maybe it will stay like that!

Next....I made a few scarves....2 in cream which are gifts for Mum and Eithne one in pinky purple for Auntie Bo, and one in brown....which is in progress! I perfected the tassley ends so that the casting off doesn't pucker the last row! This, as well as any more I make are available for purchase for £20 +P&P

Here is the link to the wool website for the colours and I can definitely get Bunny Tail 2 (cream), Hot Pink 3 (pink), Black Velvet 9, Tutti Fruity 11 (pinky purple), Leopard 12 (brown/cream...as seen in this pic...) which are all for sale at my local hobbycraft!

Let me know if you want one.

My next experiment is a crochet/fabric techniques hybrid.

I learned that when you want to make a bag with a flat bottom, you have to cut pieces which have a notch cut out of the bottom corners. (See the 1st picture in this tutorial which shows the pattern pieces for a square bottomed bag. NB I used this tutorial to make Janey's lovely blue bag!!!)


So, I decided to try and crochet a bag using the same pattern, with notches "cut" out of the bottom corners, or rather just shaped using the power of the hook!

Here it is with one corner already sewn, and the other, you can still see the notches. Pretty cool huh? I think it's a bit short though, as I didn't really take into account the fact that the bottom of the bag curving under would take some away from the height. Dur! But, it *is* an experimentation after all.

I do like the way the bag has depth now...

And I love the way the bottom corner looks...

I still haven't decided what to line it with - well that's a fib, I did decide on a gold velvety chenille fabric, but (1) it didn't like my sewing machine, and (2) when I tried to hand stitch it, the cotton thread just pulled through to the other side. I think we may be back to the cotton for the lining (which I'll have to interface) and I'll crochet a nice big flap over the top. I also have some lovely green beads which will look fab on the front.

When I first started my adventures in crochet, I was inspired by this lovely fabric...

...and I wanted to do a nice stripy crochet bag (in the style of my earlier ones) and then embroider/stitch some flowers on. It's not going so well. I've made the front of the bag...

 I do like the way the various widths of colour look. And up until yesterday I had some rather shabbily embroidered white flowers along that bottom line of blue. It looked rubbish, so I've pulled it out and I'm going to stare at it until I decide what to do. Maybe the stripes will be decoration enough!

I also made this...

I think it might be the front of a bag, although the dimensions are more square than the usual shapes I make. So, no idea what it will be.

Pretty though, innit?

So, not so much of a week when I'm churning out 'product' but more of a skills consolidation and a little bit of fishing around for inspiration and working stuff out. It's a tough old game!

I've been busy

Creating some more bags and finishing the ones I started. Fabric ones are the new fun!

Made my 1st one (for Janey) this week...

 It is all lined and has a magnetic snap and a card base (covered!)

 I even made a detachable charm for the handle...

Here it is in more detail

Feeling mucho clever!

Since then, I made this one - which is soooooooo cute....

Again, it's lined and THIS one has a mobile phone pocket!!! (Wooooo!)

Finally, this afternoon, I've made this black and white one

...it's reversible....

 So here is the current collection......Do you think I have enough to open my shop yet????

Flower Power

I've had my toes done again - this time all spring flowery!!!!

Can't wait until I can break out my open toed heels for work. Still a bit chilly for that at the moment tho!

Better than a poke in the eye with a Rich Tea

So yesterday, in a little lull in the workaday proceedings, we were Googling "Thick Rich Tea" biscuits coz someone remembers having them, years ago, and we were, in fact, eating normal Rich Tea.

OK, well, it seemed important at the time! (And it was the Customer who mentioned the think Rich Tea!)

The Google search results brought me to this Telegraph article regarding the dangers of biscuit eating.

I never knew how much danger I was putting myself under for the sake of a bourbon creme. 

Read it! It's not a joke. It's not the 1st April. 

I read out a couple of snippets...we all sniggered and thought it was quite funny.

I then went back to the google search results & found a related article....Attack of the killer Custard Creams.
It's from the Guradian's excellent  'comment is free' website (something I've mentioned before in previous blogs).

It's dated the day after the Telegraph report on the dangers of biscuit eating. Clearly the author was as shocked and traumatised as I was on hearing the news that a custard cream was virtually a lethal weapon.

You must read it. Here is the link again ---> ..Attack of the killer Custard Creams.
 
A superior piece of journalism. I particularly like the reference to the brandy snap. You'll see why.


It should have its own health warning though, as I was reading out bits of this to my interested colleagues, I could hardly breathe and nearly choked on my Rich Tea. Another example of life imitating art, I suppose. The irony was not lost on me.

I've been getting ahead of myself!

All this new-found creativity is getting bit much - I've started more bags than I've finished! The crafy overload is such good fun though, it's hard to resist each new thing as it comes along - crochet, beads, knitting, felting - whatever it is...it's all great, and I seem to be able to do it!

Anyway, after having made a couple of new bag fronts (just speculatively, you understand) and a couple of the bobbly scarves for Mum & Auntie Bo, I've come back to the original bags and have finished one off...

It's very pretty - and my new name labels have arrived and so I've stitched one in...

This is it close up...

How cool is that....!?!?!?!?!

It's all beautifully lined and would be perfect for a night out - room for a mobile phone, lippy and a credit card!

  
   

Chanel are copying me!

Chanel copy my bag designs...!

(I think mine are nicer!!!)

Two Growing Boys

Last weekend we dropped in to Irv and Hannah's for lunch - just when Marina & Michelle we're there with Archie!


Took some nice pics of the day ---> here on Picasa

Here is the lovely Archie getting very excited over Sophie the giraffe...




And here is Oscar, toddling about...

Amazing picture...

Click on the pic to see the full size version and some other pretty mad close ups (check out the insect with little antlers!)

Been and come back...!

Day 1

Excitement – we were on our way! It was raining for most of the route, but the journey up here only took about 2 1/2 hours instead of the anticipated 3+ so that was quite nice. The A1 gets very very quiet once you’ve gone past the Metro Centre!

Just before we left, we had a visit from Gordon (of “our lovely bathrooms” fame) he’s going to redo the downstairs loo for us whilst we’re away. How cool. A new loo, and we’re not even going to have to be there to see any of the mess!!

So we arrived and found the lovely cottage with absolutely no problem. The village is called Millfield and is just after Wooler on the A697. The cottage is in a little ‘steading’ just about ½ a mile outside the village. It was such a lovely evening (the rain stopped and the sun came out) that we parked up, quickly unloaded the car, and wandered into the village itself. There’s not millions there but enough – a pub, a village store and a cafe/tea room/ restaurant. We were going to go and buy provisions at the store, but found it had shut at 3 – we got there about 3:15! So much for us trying to boost the local economy; we’d deliberately avoided going to the supermarket on the way so that we’d spend some money in the village, so it’s a good job we’d got some stuff with us to start us off for the 1^st night!! The pub also looked shut, but the caff was open. We got a nice warm and chatty welcome from the staff, and we had a spot of lunch and a beer each – first food of the day for us. Starving we were! After our wander back to the cottage, the real business of the holiday began. I broke out the crochet – Dan got the fire lit, and the wine was poured. Chilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll.

Day 2

Not an awful lot to say about day 2 - it was the reason why we come away - to do nothing but the things we enjoy. So, there was some cooking, lots of reading, some sewing and crochet. In the evening we went to the local pub in the village and had a couple of pints of Guinness and some food. Very nice. The walk home in the dark was quite interesting, and my torch wasn't quite as good as I thought it would be!!!

Day 3

Picture courtesy of the Sydney Morning Herald

Out and about - we decided to head to Alnwick gardens. I'd watched a TV program from quite a few years ago about the Duchess of Northumberland's idea to turn the castle gardens into some kind of water garden. It was very very nice! The main cascade is amazing. 

After visiting the gardens we had a lovely lunch in a local Italian Cafe - very nice indeed. 

Day 4

Today we drove up to Eyemouth on the coast, in search of old fashioned fish and chips which we did in a pub called "The Contented Sole" right down on the harbour. 


It was bleak but very exhilarating on the seafront. Very errm, brisk! Think British summertime.

The fog was coming in quickly but we decided to drive down to Holy Island - somewhere I've always been fascinated by! So off we drove, into oblivion - or so it looked - down the A1. As we turned off the main road and drove the 8 or 9 K across the causeway, we could not see ANYTHING AT ALL. AT ALL. NOT A SINGLE THING. The fog was so think that the visibility was down to about 100 yards! So, we drove onto the island, and then turned around and drove back again! We were worried about getting stuck there in the fog!


On the way back we discovered "The Barn at Beal" a coffee shop and Bird of Prey centre. YAY Birds of Prey! We find them all over the place. So, after the coffee, we went to see the birdies. As usual, Dan bonded with a couple of the birds...they love him...doing the head bobbing, squawking and beak clicking thing.

The girls at the centre were very friendly and even though there wasn't an official 'show' they flew 4 of the 'special needs' birds that they'd rescued. Some of them didn't so much fly as bob along after the food lures! Between them they had a broken leg, missing tail, missing wing feathers, and just a bit mental. 

Day 5

Home time today - we were told by the owner that there was noone else coming into the cottage until tomorrow so we didn't have to be so strict about getting out before 10. In the end we got out about 10:30 after having done a minor bit of cleaning around the place - and we were home by 1:30. 

A brilliant, chilled week. A lovely cottage

I've not been slacking...

Just because I've not been posting loads of status reports on my current crochet activities, doesn't mean I'm not doing any. I've *nearly* finished the next one...

Just got to finish the little flap at the top to extend it over the top and make a button hole to fasten on the front. I've made the lining as well, but it's not stitched in yet: I'm waiting for my 'Made By Liza' labels to arrive so I can stitch one into the lining before I sew it into the bag.

I got this lovely floral fabric (it's the only one I could find with blue and black in it) to do the lining...

...and it's got me thinking about the next bag design...I'm going to go all spring flowers...so I've been practicing some floral designs...

I'm thinking a white bag (lined with the floral fabric) maybe with fabric handles. We'll see where the inspiration takes me.

Some other flowers I've been making...

This one is my 1st attempt at an 'anatomically correct' one - supposed to be a rose, could you tell???

I did quite a few blue (ish) flowers when trying to decide what embellishments to put on my new black/blue bag. I'm thinking that I probably don't need any more flowers stuck on it - opinions welcome though!