Another project bag

Well, yesterday evening I was replying to a comment on the post about my sister’s skirt when I suddenly realised that I need to make her second skirt before next weekend. Not only that but I also needed to put together a gift for a poorly friend, make a project bag, crochet a funky bag and crochet some flowers… All before next weekend (oops 🤔).

I had been planning an early night, but instead I nipped downstairs, uncovered sissy, loaded her bobbins, got cutting on my new much larger cutting mat that my lovely husband bought me, and made a project bag. It’s a bit unseasonal as it looks like Christmas material, but it’s for someone who collects gingerbread people and snowflakes, so I thought the material would be perfect for her.

I then sewed together the offcuts from the corners in order to make two little lavender pillows. I decided to make the hole quite small so I didn’t have to hand sew much but then I discovered how time consuming it is trying to turn an inside out item through a too small hole, and then trying to stuff Stuffing through it and funnel lavender flowers in. I got there in the end though!

I’m quite pleased as I used lavender from my garden that I’d picked and dried, which I think was from a plant grown from the lavender in my wedding bouquet. I need to check if I’ve remembered that right (mum…have I just made that up?!), but if I’m wrong then it’s from à plant that my parents in law gave my husband when he had moved in (which is also a Nice story!) . We actually have two lavender plants and I took flowers from both. Oh goodness me, I’m waffling now about the origins of my lavender plants!! Hope you’re all still awake… Or not, actually, if you happen to be suffering from insomnia 😂

I think I’d best sign off here… I think I am overexcited with weekend fever, and possibly the excitement of rain earlier in the day! Gonna try to calm down by crocheting a little flower from this months simply crochet magazine

But quickly, I made a little bookmark for my poorly friend’s parcel, using her initial. I’m quite pleased with it apart from the fact that the card bled a bit when I made the thicker areas. Might try water colour paper next time.

Have a lovely weekend everyone

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More calligraphy pictures

I’ve been looking for inspiration and ideas and have been having a go at a few more drawings.

This first was an attempt to copy this bird.

Initially I learned that I couldn’t put my hand on top of wet ink! But thankfully hadn’t got very far, so started again!

Annoyingly I added a break in his beak part way through, which then looked odd, but as I added more and more detail I decided I didn’t hate his beak quite so much as I thought! I think I’ve accidentally mixed two different styles though, between his body and his wings.

And then I came across this very cool crane made out of letters. I started with the basic shape and then started to add my own detail in.

I’m so much more pleased with this, apart from the fact that I forgot about where I had got wet ink and where my hand was about to go! More smudging ☹️. I’ll get there with it.

It’s fun just making different marks and swirls though. Now I just need to start taking notice of basic shapes so I have something to start with.

I’m beginning to get a highly attractive purple finger! Might invest in some different coloured inks to mix it up a bit!

Calligraphy practise

A quick bombardment of photos of playing around and working from modern calligraphy by Lucy Edmonds. I attached my pen nib to a pencil and used purple ink. It’s interesting experimenting with how much ink the nib will hold and use before it needs refilling.

Needless to say I’m happier with some of what I’ve done, but I hope that playing around might result in prettier drawings in the future!

Weekend crafting update

My sister came to stay, and her skirt fits (and she likes it)! So here are the photos as promised. I used the we all sew instructions for the wrap around skirt, but reduced the lower hem width to make it flare less.

I love using the variegated yarn and making double lines of stitching. And I’m really pleased at my totally made up pocket.

Also, on Saturday I went to some literature events at the cathedral, and discovered a table in the cloisters where you could have a go at calligraphy. Here are my attempts, guided by David Simons

Here are what the guy did, along with embellishments…. Now THAT I’d like to explore more.

I hadn’t realised that you do this with a pointed pen where the nib splits as you put pressure on it, and depending how far the sides split that determines how big a difference there is between the wide parts of the stroke and the thinner parts. He gave me a proper nib to try with… Now I just have to experiment with finding something to attach it to!

I think it will be a lot easier to make the designs even if I use lined guides rather than just going freehand. Maybe now is the time to bring out the calligraphy workbook my friend gave me for my birthday 😊

Giveaway winners

I’ve drawn the names out of the hat and here are the winners. It’s worked out pretty well as 3 out of the 4 winners get the item they requested!

1. Karen – heart bracelet

2. Faye- Chicken grandma – double washer necklace

3. Christine – single washer necklace

4. Hannah- Quiet water craft – I’m afraid you’re left with the star bracelet (I hope you don’t mind?)

Karen,please could you message me your address so I can send your prize to you?

Christine i’ll bring yours when I next see you

Hannah and faye I’ll pop yours in the post this week some time

Enjoy!

Finished bees

Here’s my finished embroidery. I’m so pleased with it.

But! In the spirit of honesty, have a look at the rather scrappy back… I’m a bit lazy with tying off and restarting, and actually don’t have the first idea how to do that when it’s just individual french knots. So I just trail threads all round the back!

I also made my sister a skirt for her birthday yesterday and was pleased to finish it in an afternoon in between football matches! I’ll share photos once I’ve given it to her next weekend.

Bee embroidery

A while back I bought a kit from oh sew bootiful. I’d seen pictures of it made up and thought it looked stunning, and then when I got the printed fabric out of the box I felt disappointed. It seemed smaller than I expected, and I just didn’t really like it.

But, today I started work on it, and funnily enough, sewing on top of the print totally transforms it 😂😂 I should have known!

It’s been relaxing and I’ve really enjoyed learning how to do the lazy daisy stitch which I’ve never done before, and improving on my satin stitch which I’ve previously struggled with.

There is padding on the back of the fabric and as I’m sewing it’s really adding depth to the illustration.

I’ve got quite a bit done and am really pleased with my progress so far.

I initially did back stitch on the flower stems but didn’t really like the look of it. I experimented with split stitch and loved the fact that it gave a much more natural look to the stems.

I wondered if I’d have to unpick all my stems and start again,but I decided to try splitting the back stitches that were already there, and that seemed to work, even though the stitches were a bit smaller than I’d have liked.

I’m loving the fact that my satin stitch is definitely improving as I work on the poppies and bees.

Hopefully I might get it finished tomorrow afternoon.