Hexies and stitches

 Well its been a fortnight since my last post and I haven't done very much paper crafting or sewing/knitting for that matter. I have been satinwood painting, skirting boards, 5 doors and door frames done. The smell of paint is really strong but thankfully the sun has shone the last couple of days so all the doors and windows have been open and we have actually had lunch outside!

As I try and keep up to date  with the #52tagshannemade , here is wk7 and 8.

Week 7  Hexies. This was very new to me, you take a circle of material, find the centre point then fold in to the centre which gives you a hexagon. Its quite fiddly particularly when you don't have one of those mini craft irons! (more shopping to come) Although I only made one tag I do have spare hexies so will make a second tag at some point.

Week 8 Stitches. Wow this week was a challenge. Having learnt how to do french knots we now had to use that skill to make pistil stitches and bullion stitch. Well out of my comfort zone. Minimum amount of fabric. More about the sewing. One comment on my instagram feed thought the colours were funky! I'm not sure that was the intention but the more I look at it the more I like what I achieved.

Week 9: is here, now for an hour sorting through materials and ribbons. Happy days.

From the knitting needles this week

 The knitting needles have been busy this week, a jumper and a snuggly waistcoat for Jasper. The jumper in double knitting is a lovely pattern, its got drop shoulder sleeves which I always find easier and a round neck option. This pattern also has buttons on the shoulders. Lovely in a plain colour way I will reknit in a pattern wool at some point. 

The little waistcoat is knitted in chunky. The wool on the ball was lovely, soft and warm, when knitted up I thought it was a bit dark for a toddler I also ran out and didn't have enough to complete the armhole edges! So I bought an extra ball in the bright gold. I would have liked a royal blue but couldn't find anything that was quite the right shade. Love this and I'm sure he will look a bobby dazzler in it. 

All wool is from knitting Network

Slow stitching, wk4 Fly Stitch, wk5 Kisses, wk6 A Bevy of Buttons

Gosh time flies even when you are doing nothing. Its been so cold I haven't ventured out now for over a week but have been busy inside. The work to renovate continues a pace. As mentioned a couple of weeks ago -scaffolding -for the stairs. We hired scaffolding a fortnight ago to paint above the stairs. This was a first! The stairs are quite narrow so once we had erected the scaffolding I was stuck at the top and my OH at the bottom, hmmmm. So we returned to limbo days, which were a long time ago. I'm not as flexible as I was but we both surprised ourselves with how we managed. We worked until the painting that had to be done with the scaffolding was finished, which took us most of the day then took the scaffolding down. Taking it down was much easier than putting it up! and happened much quicker than we expected. This week I have sanded down the edge of the stairs and put one coat of Frenchic paint on. Second coat tomorrow. I have finished the handrail which my OH has re attached to the wall, all looks good so far. I still have the edges of the stair treads to do and then the carpet to order but there is always next week.

On the crafting front I missed posting about the sewing tags so I have 3 weeks worth to show you as I start on another one tomorrow. Week 4 was a new stitch to me -Fly Stitch. I created one very simple tag with the stitch which made me think of fronds in the river, my second tag uses a couple of buttons so the stitch looks like petals, a bit like a dandelion. I really enjoyed creating these 2

Week 5 Kisses, wasn't really about a stitch but the stitching was an element in it. I only created one tag for week 5 but may in the future go back and do a second one. The challenge was to create a cross with fabric then stitch crosses or 'kisses' onto the fabric cross or the fabric around it. I did find this one quite challenging. Firstly choosing the fabric and I probably used too many different bits then adding the crosses which needed to be very small. On reflection my stitching did improve as I went on.

Week 6 was A Bevy of Buttons. Loved doing this one I do have a very large stash of buttons. I started simple with shades of blue onto some fleece from a pair of xmas winter pj's they had snowflakes on them. Then I combined my fly-stitching with the colours of the rainbow to create a second tag. Love them both.

Keep well and stay warm. k x

Family art club - Kites

 So this time the family art club is kites. I was really struggling with what to do.

 On the first Saturday of every month I do an online altered book class with Phizzychick This is a new style of work to me. I have done about 1/2 a dozen now.  

So I branched out on my own and created this which I am quite pleased with. Very simple.

Week 3: Remnants

 I seem to have missed posting this week with my #52tagshannemade  During one of those very wet days last week I had a lovely afternoon sorting out my embroidery threads. I had small selections of them in a variety  of places. They are now untangled and neatly stored in my current sewing box. Its funny what satisfactory feeling that little job has given me.

However when Anne posted this weeks tag challenge I didn't need my threads, so I gad another exciting afternoon sorting through my bits bag, The theme for this week is remnants. A chance to use up all those little bits that are too small for anything but you just can't bear to part with! I also became aware of just how much 'remnants I really have, I will have to find a project for all of that.

For this weeks tags we had to cut small slithers of material, fold it in half them sew to the base fabric. each piece was sewn on as close to the previous one as possible, it reminded me of rag ruging! I remember my Mum doing,  but its something I have never tried. I found I had a lot of red material so my first tag is in red. I went on to sew one with a few remnants from my lovely neutrals collection. I had the pieces running lengthwise on the tag this time and added little flags down one side, finally using a random selection of pastels for the third one.  I must say the backs of this work get better with each one. My sewing is getting neater and more even. Very satisfying.

the reds.......

the neutrals with little flags down one side. J think I might trim this one so that each piece is a little less 'flappy'

finally the random pastels. I put all these bits in a bag and pulled them out one at a time, love the ramdomness of it.

I shall add some dangles and buttons to this one later, I have some pretty glass sparkly buttons that will look great.

Happy sewing folks.

Family Art Club

 During the lockdowns last year we had a family art club that zoomed together once a week. Not everyone contributed every week but most of us did something most weeks. I do admit there were weeks when I sat at my desk/corner and could not do anything, the mojo just wasn't there. We have re introduced the art club since Christmas but are doing it fortnightly as one of the group is back out at work, 2 of the group have dribbles of work coming in and David and I are trying to work on the house. 2021 was always our 'do up the house' year. The bathroom is done we started that when we realised we weren't going to be anywhere for Christmas..... a bit before Boris realised it! Now we start on the hall and stairs. The ceiling above the stairs is over 20ft high, now we don't have a ladder for that (thank goodness) so we have hired a scaffolding tower! That arrives on Monday, the paint is here ready so a busy week next week.

I digress, the last art club theme was holidays. It was lovely looking through holiday pictures from years gone by as well as some of the websites touting holidays at the moment. My ideal holiday is the sea and sand and of course a lot of sunshine. I would love a beach hut. Somewhere out of the wind with a primus stove, tea/coffee, a tin of homemade cake and a deckchair for when the sun does shine. 

My art club creation:-

On the arm of each chair is a cocktail so this presumes the sun is shining. generally I would rather have tea.

The scale is a bit out but you get the idea. 

My OH did a collage of pictures from our holiday/honeymoon in Africa at Victoria Falls, (when I was young!) Next theme is Kites..........help.

Slow stitching week 2. Theme - contrasting heart.

 I am beginning to look forward to weekends again. When you are retired and in lockdown the days are all the same, the only thing that keeps us on track is the wonderful bin men who always arrive on a Tuesday, ready or not! But now I have Friday evening to look forward to as thats when Anne Brooke posts her new  weekly tag I then have a couple of hours collecting together little bits of material that I am going to use. I have already cut enough tags for January.

This weeks tag was all about using a contrasting material for a heart. With things to do with the heart we generally think of red, so I started with a fabric with red then built the background in blues. Really happy with this one. But once again I had to make 3!

My second tag is blues with a cream linen heart. Love turquoise. I have had the ribbed piece in my box of bits for ages. I can't remember what it was off but knew it would come in useful for something. I think this one is the best one of the three.

And then a patchwork of materials with pink/red and a blue check heart.

The three together, all very different. Next week I shall have to search out my embroidery threads.

January altered book - Lovely letters.

I thought I had posted this. On the first Saturday of each month I take part in a zoom class run by Phizzychic This is her fb link. Doing this class has encouraged me to get my watercolour paints out. They have been so well used my OH bought me a new set for xmas.  I am also using up bits of my stash as I go. 

My work is in an old hard backed book that was in the pile for the charity shop. The charity shops around here haven't been open for nearly a year now so the fate of this book has been to have pages stuck together, some pages cut out and others painted.

The lovely letters for me has turned into love letters. Once I had put red paint on the page I didn't think there was anywhere else to go. I have also added 2 postcards. I liked them so much I wanted to be able to see both sides. They have been added between the edges of some cut pages so act like an added page. We were also encouraged to make a letter within an envelope. This is all new ideas to me and I am really enjoying it.

This is the first page The little envelope also works as a pocket. This page still needs a title. I am working on that! You can just see the postcards. The handwriting on the top one is beautiful. Its to an Edinburg address.

The other side of the postcards. I have just added flowers and hearts to the top one, but used the lower one as somewhere to add tags, teabags and ribbon.

The top half of the second page I have used part of a small paper bag, tearing the top edge to insert some cut outs.

The lower half of this second page is my letter cascading out of its envelope, This is behind the bird cage cut out, tied in with the ribbon

Letters and more letters, cascading out of an envelope.

Looking forward to next month when the theme is Regency Regalia.

Slow stitching

 I haven't posted in a while, probably because I haven't done much crafting. It's the new year, sorry not a new me, same old same old. Life is still very strange, if not a little stranger. Living in a village has meant we have walked the local byways, making the occasional trip out to a couple of our favourite places, these are now quite busy even on a week day so we are staying local. Also waiting for my turn for the vaccine, not having any idea when that might, is making me a little anxious. These things are sent to try us...

I have quite a stash now of finished projects, they are all carefully boxed ready for when local craft markets get going. I thought I might try this year to use up my stash and increase the number of items I have for sale. I am really enjoying making large tags with many layers. Then the #52tagshannemade popped up in my fb newsfeed. I have done quite a few courses with Anne Brooke. I love her style and everything she creates so I am giving this a go. I know many of my friends will enjoy this. She posts on a Friday evening I plan to spend Saturday searching out my bits to complete the challenge and sit and sew on a Sunday evening. I do enjoy stitching with needle and thread. Its just threading the needle that is the main challenge these days! 

The theme for week 1 is 'White'. My base layer is cut from an old white linen serviette, remember those. I had the piece of lace and other bits in my stash. It didn't take me long to create my first tag. The piece of serviette is left over from some lavender bags that I made. There was just enough left to make a couple more tags. They are only 3" x 2" so quite small. 

Check out the hashtag on fb or Instagram. I am looking forward to next weeks theme.