Month: September 2016

Happiness is scrappiness!

stitchesoftime5 Comments

Hope that you all had a lovely weekend, I really enjoyed myself being creative. Much as I love re-enactment I am glad in some ways that the season is over and I have lots more time at home in my lovely craft room šŸ™‚

I was just playing with my scrap drawer most of the time, I have been very inspired by all the lovely things on my Pinterest board and have lots of left over linen from all my years of making kit for the boys so made a couple of pincushions from linen and some of the left over charm packs. Very pleased that everything here came from my stash, mind you I do have quite a large stash!

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This one is also a scissor holder, again inspiration from Pinterest.

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This one was scraps from the various craft room accessory projects that I have made over the years like the sewing machine cover, needlebook and pincushion. Am quite tempted to keep this as it goes so well with the craft room though am supposed to be making these as gifts.

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I used some of my vintage linen for this one, the motifs come from a lace collar that a friend gave me and the button was also from the collar.

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I have wanted to make a little house pincushion for ages and found a great tutorial here at Retro Mama’s site Ā that explains how to make them. There are also some beautiful colour combinations here at Craft and Creativity’s website Ā to inspire you. Look at this loveliness in Tilda fabric and with some cute birds – picture fromĀ Helena’s site.

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I have made two so far , usingĀ an offcut from the red charm pack square in the previous pincushion for a little window box. The pink and aqua one is definitely staying with me in my craft room !

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I think these are just the cutest things ever and will be making a few more. Jake suggested putting a cat in the window and if I can work out how to cut a cat that small I will.

So many more lovely ideas on my board still left to do, must make a start on the Christmas ornaments soon though, it is nearly October and only have one made so far which is not like me!

Yarndale went very well, Sarah sold lots of books and I sold nearly all the baskets and some of the pincushions. She will be doing another book and stall next year and wants more things from me, especially needlebooks so that gives me plenty of opportunity to get making.

Take care and thanks for visiting.

Pinspiration and perspiration

stitchesoftime1 Comment

Hello, hope you are all looking forward to a nice weekend whatever you are doing. I am planning to make some pincushions, have got so many lovely ones saved on my Pinterest board that it is time for some doing rather than just looking.

I have got my friend Sharon’s dog Ted staying with me for the weekend while she and Sarah are at Yarndale Ā so Jake and I will be taking him for walks later on.

Jake is home with me for a few months until he hopefully goes to Japan next year. He is starting a Japanese course the week after next and in the meantime is working part-time doing bar work and dog walking so he is getting very good at canine control!

Have been working hard over the last couple of weeks getting the last of the baskets finished for Sarah to take to Yarndale so just thought I would show you the last few.

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I got this fab vintage sheep motif from Ebay, sadly only had the two, really love the pattern on the sheep.

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I also made another mini basket to put the needlebook and pincushion I made last year in, I also made a pink one of these a while ago.

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Along with the other baskets I made earlier and the Liberty and linen pincushions I had quite a lot of things for the stall so am very pleased.

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I do love the combination of Liberty fabric and linen and so will definitely make more things using that combination. These are the ones from last year that I made for Yarndale.

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I also still have lots of lovely themed stitching and vintage print material to make more as gifts for crafting friends. I also definitely need a couple more for me for craft room storage, you can never have too many cute fabric baskets šŸ˜‰ and there is a gap on my shelf now these have gone to Yarndale.

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Sarah is selling copies of her latest pattern book at Yarndale, not only does it feature some gorgeous patterns again, this time inspired by the Beaubaton Castle from Harry Potter but also Ellie modelled again for Sarah and her picture is on the front cover!

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This would make a fab Christmas present for a knitting friend so do go and get some from her website here. It is great value and there are some beautiful designs as usual, the woman is a knitting genius.

I love the promo picture for Yarndale this year, look at the cuteness of this sheep!

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I now have an I Pad, courtesy of work which has the Pinterest app on it and I am loving the fact that I can add things from the suggestions really easily. I came across this wonderful site the other day, Gentlework.

Christine makes the most amazing things from vintage textiles and I have been so inspired by the beautiful things on her site. Do go and have a look at them, they are really delicate and inspired by nature and just lovely.

Right off to make pincushions – see you later and thanks as always for visiting.

 

 

Stopping the crowds

stitchesoftime3 Comments

Hello everyone. I hope that you are all having a lovely weekend. I am asĀ it is sunny and we have blue skies here and I did my first day of teaching with one of my new groups yesterday. I have changed job roles this year and just moved office so am feeling very much like it is first days back at school! I have been busy making baskets for Sarah as well.

AtĀ our recent eventĀ in Lincoln during the Steam Punk Festival we once again went out to promote our show and in the evening for a photo shoot at the cathedral so I thought that I would share the pictures with you.Thanks to Kate and Wendy, our fab Swords of Mercia support crew, for these. I think we look brilliant!

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We were once again very popular, especially the girls who spent ages being photographed. There are lots of photography groups who come and visit for the weekend and Ellie and Kerry,Ā as wellĀ the knights spent ages posing for them and I even got asked as well!

I love these pictures of Ellie inside the cathedral.

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There were also some brilliant ones of our knights, especially the ones of them kneeling in parts of the cathedral.

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This is a superb shot of Jamie in his newest armour.

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We also had someĀ great ones taken back at the Bishop’s Palace, look at this lovely pair of medieval gentlemen.

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Luke has new armour, what a surprise, Ā and here he is with Shane in his latest livery.

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Here is Paul with Clive, Shane and Jamie outside the cathedral.

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I really do think our group looks splendid, am very proud of everyone for all of the effort that they make with their kit. That was our last show as a group for this year, Ellie, Kerry and I will be at Caldicot Castle in South Wales for our last show of the season this coming weekend and then it is going to be a lovely Autumn of sitting stitching and thinking about Christmas crafting šŸ˜‰

I hope that you are all having a nice start to Autumn, it is one of my favourite times of the year, am looking forward to some blackberry picking soon and lots of cooking nice stews. Will be back next week with a final round up of baskets that I have made!

Thanks for visiting and take care.

A little more making and a fab(ric) find!

stitchesoftime1 Comment

Hello again. Inbetween sorting out a Steampunk outfit and re-enacting I have been able to make a few things. Firstly a ring pillow for Ellie’s best friend Becky from University who got married this week.

The theme was linen and lace with dark blue so I used some of my vintage crochet stash and Jenny of Elefantz’s monogram patterns Ā as well as some flowers from an old pair of sandals that had worn outĀ to fit in with the something old something new, something borrowed and something blue.

I am very pleased with how it turned out, I love the combination of linen and crochet and lace and have been saving lots of other inspiration pictures to my Pinterest boards.

I have also been saving all my tiny Liberty scraps from making hexagons and inspired by Pinterest and Crazy Mom’s month of pincushions Ā made these for Sarah’s Yarndale stall.

Was very pleased as well to find a fabric stall at the Steampunk market selling another version of one of my favourite haberdashery fabrics. The lady was called Jill from English Rose and she was very lovely. You can find her Etsy store Ā here.

Steam Punk fabri purchases

I have got this print in grey and black and cream and black and have used it for the cute baskets Ā and now have a whole metre in blue and cream as it was such a bargain šŸ™‚ I also bought another print that I had seen on Ebay from the stall, love that sewing machine.

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I am aiming to make a few more fabric basketsĀ  this weekend as Yarndale is only a few weeks away so better get crafting! Have a lovely weekend and thanks for visiting.