bee handmade

surprise

Holy moly, it looks like she's been doing some crafting!

A while ago we bought some Ercol chairs on ebay and then had them recovered. I used some of the leftover fabric to make a new cushion cover for the sofa. I'm really pleased with the result as it makes more sense of the chair fabric in terms of the room as a whole. Using silk for the piping was a bad choice as it kept slipping on the machine but I got there in the end. I love these fabrics, particularly the graphic floral by Clarke & Clarke. I need to think of more uses for it. I'd like to eventually have both Erocl chairs in the same room but that will have to wait for a bigger house (bring on that lottery win).

This episode of sewing was achieved because of the invaluable help of my mum with Lena. The baby finds the sewing machine very amusing but I don't think she would have the patience to be entertained for the whole odyssey! I'm continually amazed by how much crafting some parents seem to manage to fit into their busy lives.

Apologies for the very poor light on the chair pic.

labels

Lena loves the labels on toys and studiously practices her dexterity by playing with them. With this in mind I decided to make her a taggy blanket. It's small and portable so should be a handy item to carry around in my ever expanding baby bag.

I used a small square of wool felt and a piece of Liberty tana lawn then hit my stash of ribbons and cut some coordinating pieces. This was all quickly stiched together, along with a sandwiched piece of batting.

I then did a tiny bit of free motion quilting to anchor the two pieces of fabric together.

She seems intrigued already.

Hmm I should have ironed it before taking some pictures!

retrospective

Firstly some crafting. I made a drawing folder for a young friend of mine who was three years old last week. I just made the pattern up as I went along and then cut out some felt for the applique lettering and motifs. I realised that the structure was a bit to floppy half way through so inserted a rectangle of perspex into the fabric behind the crayons. He can draw on the go now!

I finally got round to processing 5 lomo films which have been sitting round for ages. Here are a selection of holiday pictures from 2009 and 2010.

Holy Island. The upturned boats were traditionally made into sheds.

A walk in Portugal

 

Portugal pool. Wish I was there now.

A coastal walk in Cornwall. We were out for about 8 hours in total. It was a lovely day.

 

Afternoon tea in St Mawes. One of the best I've had. Light and delicious scones. Chilled water in a glass carafe, cream and jam in pots NOT packets. As you can see P had to supplement his tea with a cool glass of beer!

Brooklyn Bridge

 

New York. This is the view from our hotel window. I was convinced I was going to drop the camera.

Alhambra in Granada.

I only have 5 weeks left at work now which seems quite surreal. This post by Peonies and Polaroids struck a chord as I still have "The Anxiety, The Panic and The Vomits" at 31 weeks. I think that all the stuff about blooming during in pregnancy was a big conspiracy theory to lure me into months and months of tiredness and nausea! Hey ho, on the downward slope now. It had better all be worth it.

 

January blues

January seems to have eradicated any blogging mojo I may have had. I'm tired of being cold, tired of the short days and can't wait for the warmer weather to kick in. It's hard to focus on the joys of the small pleasures in life when you are walking home from work in the dark, shoulders tensed against the cold. However this lovely sunset did lift my spirits the other evening on my walk to the station. Sorry about the softness of the picture but it was just captured on my iphone.

 

I'm still recovering from finishing my blanket so haven't been that productive on the craft front. Time for one from the archives.

I can't remember where I saw the pattern for these pincushions but they are easy to create and make a good little gift. There are lots of pincushion tutorials out there. Just sew two circles of felt/fabric together (right sides facing and remembering to leave a hole for turning), turn, stuff well, sew the hole together then use a long piece of embroidery thread to stitch through the centre, bisecting the circle into equal segments. You can sew on buttons in the process or use any decoration which takes your fancy.

 

best laid plans and one from the archives

The chairs were supposed to be finished today but I've been scuppered by dreary November rain.  The two lessons learned about spray painting are as follows:

• don't try to spray paint outside during a small window of opportunity when it isn't raining.  This results in using up the paint too fast as most of it disappears into thin air.
• don't construct a spraying area from a tent of dust sheets to resume the job indoors. Despite having windows open this results in nearly gassing the household.

So I can't show you lovely new chairs. This pretty white orchid can provide some distraction.

 

Time for one from the archives I think. I thought I'd written about this book before but, after searching through my posts, I think I must have imagined it.

This Japanese craft book is quite hard to get hold of. I think it may be out of print but ebay eventually came up trumps. It has a lot of good ideas and patterns for soft toys which aren't too twee and 'sugar coated'. One of the best things about the book is that it serves as inspiration rather than being too prescriptive. I've made three of these rabbits now, all for children of friends. They have been well received so the proof was in the pudding.

This was the first 'Hoppity'. She had her own hat and scarf and a pocket to keep her carrot in (one never knows when a snack might come in handy).

 

The only other pattern I've used from the book is this doll. She's destined to be the friend of a little girl named Alice. The beautiful pink fabric is from the Cloth House in London which is a veritable treasure trove of fabric, button and trimming delights. Just walking past it makes my credit card jangle in my purse.

 

 

the big apple: part one

Soooo exciting. I'm in New York City!! I can hardly believe it. I've never been to America before and we are spending a week visiting friends.

My other half got us into the spirit of things by making this New York cheesecake. Apologies for the poor photograph but it was so dark in our kitchen when we were about to tuck into the meringue topped wonder. I was so impressed - how clever was he? This is a man who has never baked before.

I've delivered these to two little ladies.

 

And will be trying with all my might to channel some of this.

 

and this.

 

Wish me luck, I'm now off to have breakfast in a diner. Bring on the pancakes ...

craftcycling

That's probably a totally made up word but it seems to fit - a craft version of recycling. What do you do when you ruin a loved piece of clothing? Curse and lament or give it a new lease of life?

A friend accidentally shrank a favourite cardigan and couldn't bring herself to part with it. I volunteered to make 'something' out of it. I settled on a cushion cover and pieced it together along with one of my 'ruined' items. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out, despite being a bit scrappy inside because of all the awkward shapes.

The applique was stitched with wool using buttonhole and split stitch.

summer swansong

A trip up north with friends to my favourite place. Kippers from Seahouses for breakfast - scrumptious.

The wedding of friends. Sort of village fete meets hoedown (raspberry buns made by me and my mum).

Detail of the bride's dress. She looked beautiful. The dress was very 'Thomas Hardy Tess' and suited her prefectly.

Hog roaster made from scratch by the very talented groom (the rotation is powered by bike). The weather was absolutely glorious. Memories of the day include delicious crackling, setting off flying lanterns at dusk, a superb bluegrass band, very pokey jam jars of 'moonshine', chatting in the sun with friends, coconut shy, a fairy light and bunting filled village hall and, most importantly, a smiley bride and groom.

This is the card I made for the bride and groom. It was inspired by Katie cupcake's love note.

It's my birthday today and I'm off work, yay!  So I'm off to have a nice day in town and then dinner with my husband.

shop update

Check out the new felt corsages in my shop. Hope you like them.

 

A new dress from All Saints for a weekend wedding. Looking forward to wearing it.

 

beetroot

More beetroot pictures. The colour was amazing.

 

I grated it

 

and turned it into this

 

 

I used this Allegra McEvedy recipe. I have 2 of Allegra's books (Leon and Colour) and would highly recommend them. I haven't encountered a dud recipe yet and am currently a bit obsessed with the Leon Gobi - easy AND delicious. The beetroot and chocolate cake was really good (and provides one of your five a day - ahem). I find baking so relaxing. I think it's because, unlike preparing a meal, you generally aren't cooking to a deadline. And you can't beat that smell. I usually get around the greed temptation by us eating a couple of slices at home and then taking the rest into work. Nobody seems to mind!

I've also been doing a little bit of sewing. I had (well still have, albeit in a tatty state) a felt mouse when I was a child. His name is Midge. I made a Midgette for a friend's baby. Here she is.

 

I love working with this 100% wool felt. It has such a nice feel, sturdy yet soft. Something this robust seems appropriate. Autumn is coming. Brrrr