Chilling Out

Sitting here sort of thinking that I should have been doing something this evening but having spent the day moving beds and furniture about in the hope of eventually getting a spare room to work in again maybe chilling out is the best thing. I can start afresh in the morning.


I have a couple of projects underway at the moment two sewing and one jewellery. i must admit the jewellery one has me most excited at the moment as I am learning new techniques. I have done a little sawing, soldering, filing and polishing just waiting for the next step. Picture will follow when its finished but it may be a few weeks away yet.  The sewing projects should be finished this week.

New skills

Last week I started a new course to extend my skills and so far its everything I'd read about and wanted to have a go at.  Entitled  "Introduction to Jewellery making" it starts with metal working and progresses building on the basic skills. So far I have been using a jewellers saw, and had a go at soldering and pickling (much more fun than reading about it. Currently we are using copper or brass but later it will be silver (I'm looking forward to that).  Today I soldered a copper ring. Next week I get to finish it.

Finally Finished Cushions

Here they are finished at last, three oblong stripey cushions. And my first attempts at designing patterns for machine embroidery didnt turn out too badly.  Pity I had to wait so long for the filling but what can you expect if you order over the Holiday period.

 Well while I was waiting I decided to make a previous favourite of mine the red berries chainmaille bracelet then decided to make a pair of earrings to match. I'd forgotten how long it takes to thread each of the beads onto the silver plated links. Still I think the result is worth the effort. 

 At the bequest of my daughter I ordered some rather funky soft spikey balls  I then made them into earrings here's an example.

Rainbow cats

When I went to Jersey in October I went into this fabulous fabric shop ( Fabric Factory Shop, St Hellier). Floor to ceiling in rolls of fabric anything from heavy upholstery fabrics to fine voiles, trimmings and all things haberdashery. And the staff were so helpful. I bought a bundle of 'fat' quarters in a self tie-dyed colours. I haven't bought fat quarters before but the colours were irresistible. What was I going to make with them? Well I decided I wanted to make some cushions.  That was the easy part. The next step wasn't. I didn't want square cushions. No pattern, no idea of normal sizes in fact no real experience of cushions at all. So in thinking mode for a while, and craft fairs took precedence.

Rainbow Cat - Front

In the meantime I took a look at my old sewing machine (it had been faithfull (over 35 years service) but it was badly in need of repair and had been for some time) so I looked around and decided to treat myself to a new sewing machine with extra facilities. What better way to check out a new machine than to have a project ready and waiting.

Designing the cushions - desicions.

1. Shape is now decided I wanted oblong
2. Colours - I want to use all  (8)

3. Size 12" * 24"
4. Embroidery - undecided but doesnt prevent starting.

Rainbow Cat - Back

Once I had cut and sewn the basic shape for my cushion I then started thinking about the embroidery. On one I decided to try out a variety of standard stitches to see what they looked like. Then sat down and designed a cat and a butterfly.

The cat is the first one completed the other are waiting for stuffing to arrive.

Merry Christmas

Its Christmas Eve. No more shopping for food presents etc. Time to put your feet up for an hour or two and relax.  Look forward to tomorrow and enjoy.

Wishing everyone a Merry Merry Christmas. Hope you all your happy dreams come true.

Relaxing before the rush

I'm sat relaxing on the sofa thinking should I be doing something Christmas is only one week away. So "What have I done" and "What is still to do?" Well I've put away my jewellery tools and added the last items to my "WOWthankyou" shop. Just going through the tick list

Presents - sorted
Christmas pud  - made (not sure how its going to taste)
House - ready for guests
Food - still some shopping to do
Pre christmas cooking - still to do

Things are pretty much on schedule.

The only blot on the horizon is a tax form to fill in. Still there is over a month to the deadline. So I might just fill it in before Christmas so that I can forget about it til next year.

 PS  WOWThankyou is a relatively new site where british crafters can sell their goods. Please take time to have browse you may find that something different for that special someone.

No more fairs til March

Its time to prepare for Christmas. I've done no shopping so far but there is still three weeks to go and no more fairs to prepare for so my time is my own.

This is the list of things I need to do

Get the trimmings out of the attic dust them down and see what needs replacing.
Clean and tidy up. (I've let things go a little recently).
Trim the house.
Go shopping for presents, food and cards.

Not a lot, but I can guarantee it will take plenty of time

Then when I have a few minutes to breathe I'll start more detailed planning of next years projects making sure I have everything prepared. And take a look at this years craft fairs etc. and set a plan for next year.





 Heres a few of my earrings. Just to brighten up the page. 

I love making earrings. I'm fascinated by the fact that I can add something different to make them unique. There are only a couple of designs that can be repeated but only while I can find exactly the same components.