Friday 28 November 2014

Finished Object Fridays


It is done and I love it!
The edges turned out so wonderfully straight, and I really loved working in the two colours - I actually think this is what helped me to keep the edges straight!

As you may recall I had a mix up with the two greys when it came to warping the loom but I am really glad I stuck with the combination of the two greys and the purple.

Sure I don't have the houndstooth pattern I was originally going for but I think it actually looks great the way it ended up.

rigid heddle weaving

I used Drops Baby Merino for this project which I love. 
Firstly it is a Superwash yarn which makes things so much easier wash wise and the yarn feels amazing against the skin.

The next project I have to share with you are Kay's Surprise Socks:

batman socks

She is a sucker for Batman anything so I thought I would create her a pair of socks with this in mind.

I like the way they turned out and appreciate the colour combination.

I always love that process from idea to actual finished object, especially when it turns out the way I want it to.

What have you managed to finish off this week?

I will be sharing this post with my Friday friends.

Well I am off to go and grab me some Black Friday Craftsy Courses :D
All classes are on offer for $19.99 or less - there is no time like the present to grab yourself some amazing courses!
I will share my incredible choices with you next week :)

x

Craftsy

Thursday 27 November 2014

Tutorial Thursdays Month-Long Linky Party


Welcome back to the last chance in November for some more linking fun!

This month there is no theme, and no feature. 

Feel free to link up all your crafts below.
I look forward to visiting all of the links I find below.

If you want a button for your side bar - here you go:

Marigolds' Loft

Feel free to link up all your crafts below.
I look forward to visiting all of the links I find below.

x
Craftsy



Wednesday 26 November 2014

When a Plan Comes Together

WIP Wednesday

Don't you just love it when a plan comes together? 
(If you grew up in the 70s and 80s you will remember the A-Team - my maiden name is the same as Mr. Crazy - was always fun to go to school after the latest episode - NOT!)

Anyway I digress..............

It seems that I am still on track with my Christmas projects.

I have managed to finish Kay's Scarf and her surprise socks, which I will share with you on Friday.

The buttons for my Mandrakes arrived this morning and if I have enough time over the next day or so I will be able to share these with you on Friday also.

Finishing projects is always exciting as it automatically opens up space in my WIP corner for something new :)

This week I have two new projects to share with you.

First up - a Bray Cap for Jas.


I am just changing needle size and am about to start with the patterning.
It is such a pleasure to be able to knit something on a bigger size needle again and I am loving the fact that it grows so quickly :)

I am making this hat in Drops Karisma and in a colour as close as I could get to the original as Jas loves it :)

I have also cast on another pair of wristlets/cuffs for Hubby

cuffs

He loved my last pair of wristlets and wears them all the time so I thought if time allows I would like to make him a couple more pairs to put under the tree :)

His Tardis socks haven't grown much this week but I plan to remedy this tomorrow time allowing.

Reading Wise - I have managed to get my hands on a couple of good looking books and have chosen to read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
I haven't yet read enough of it to form any opinion on the book and will let you know once I have done so.

I wish all my American friends a super Thanksgiving.
See you soon.
x
I will be sharing this with all my Wednesday Friends

Craftsy

Monday 24 November 2014

Crafts From Another Era

Passamenterie

About 3 weeks ago I had an amazing opportunity to travel with the weaving studio from work to go and visit a Swiss passamentery factory.

Now, I didn't even know what I should understand under passamentery.
I even Googled it with no great results!
Being bilingual helped and I managed to find a Wikipedia description in German which explains that passamenteries are objects which don't themselves have any function other than to serve as a decorative extra to things like clothing, furniture etc.

I was now a little closer but still couldn't really imagine what it was that we would be going to see.

What we got to saw took my breath away.

I couldn't believe that this is something that still is in production!

The two ladies that own this company spent the morning showing us their crafts.

What they make and create are:

Tassles
Curtain Cords
Furniture Gimps

When they started to show us their wares the first thing that came to mind was how I imagine it to look in the Palace of Versailles!

They create these amazing curtain cords:
(These are images from their product page line-up)

Herma Partner Cords

Herma Partner Cords

And they create them from scratch!

I was quite intrigued to hear that this kind of craft is still alive and well and that they receive many orders from clients who want to either have curtain cords to fit their curtains or furniture gimps to fit their furniture. (For those of you who like me didn't know what a gimp was - it is the narrow band of fabric which you will find attached to antique furniture to enhance the piece, where the fabric ends and the wooden frame begins) Here is an example I found on Pinterest:

Furniture Gimp

Furniture Gimp

The clients do this by sending the company a small piece of the fabric which the ladies use to create the perfect matched piece.
We were then shown how they do this.

The one lady used my scarf I was wearing to find the perfect match in thread.
This exercise was amazing in itself as she chose quite a couple of different pinks blues and greens and combined them to get an absolutely perfect match:



We also watched in amazement as they created an incredible tassle.
What jumped to mind was my youth, my parents had these big poufs that were made from woven fabric. I recall this piece having loads and loads of silky soft tassles all around the bottom of it and I loved playing with them.

It looked something similar to this: (Another Pinterest find :))

At the end of our tour we went into the middle of Lenzburg to find ourselves looking at some amazing Yarnbombing done by the school children of the area:

yarnbombing

This ended a fantastic, inspirational morning on a high note for myself :)

Don't you just love learning all about skills that are centuries old but still alive and well in our time?

Do you make use of curtain cords or have antique furniture with all the trimmings?

On that creative note, I wish you a wonderful start to your week.
x

Friday 21 November 2014

Remember this Hat?

Bob Marley Slouchy

Well, Kay can't find it!
She has searched and searched and searched.....
But then she is a teenager so it is probably somewhere in her room!
Anyway, her room is not my room and so I thought I would make a short process of this and whip her up another one for Christmas.

She has this blue version I made for her aswell but it isn't her favourite.

Bob Marley Slouch Cap


If she finds number 1, well then she will have a reserve.
Why am I making such a fuss about this - she really likes this cap I made for her - the child who told me there are clothing stores for a reason and not everything needs to be handmade!

So here is Version 2:


And with that my FO for this week.

Have you finished something this week?

I will be sharing this with my Friday Friends :)

Have an awesome weekend, thanks for the visit.
x

The Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 1 Fan Gifts

Thursday 20 November 2014

Tutorial Thursdays Month-Long Linky Party


Welcome back to another week of linking fun!

This month there is no theme, and no feature. 

Feel free to link up all your crafts below.
I look forward to visiting all of the links I find below.

If you want a button for your side bar - here you go:

Marigolds' Loft

Feel free to link up all your crafts below.
I look forward to visiting all of the links I find below.

x
Craftsy



Wednesday 19 November 2014

Secret Santa 2014 Reveal Link Up


Where has all that time gone?
All the Secret Santa Parcels should be on their way to their new homes.
Have you received your parcel already?
Yes?

Awesome - show us, show us!

Feel free to link up your gift reveal post below.

Thank you to all the wonderful participants who took part this year, I do hope you had fun?

I look forward to seeing you again next year :)

x



5 More Weeks WIP

5 More Weeks

Only 5 more weeks!
My Christmas crafting is going well and I am going to be glad to see the ends of these two pairs of socks!

This is what I have been working on since last week:

Batman socks

I have about 3cm to go before I can start on the toe cap - yay!
All things going as intended these babies will be finished by next week.

Tardis Socks

Hubby's socks have also been worked on.
I am just about finished the heel decreases and then I will be trying to knit the feet at lightning speed!

I have also managed to finish another "Extra" project which I will share with you on Friday.

The Scarf on my loom is almost done and I am hoping to bring that project to it's conclusion this Friday.

As for the mandrakes, I have started on the arms and legs and hope to have them finished shortly too!

I still have a couple of projects that I would like to see under the tree and I am hoping I will have enough time to complete them.

They are as follows:

A Bray Cap for Jas
Fingerless Gloves for Hubby,
Another pair of socks for hubby,
Wristlets for Hubby

Sewing Crafts:
3 Shoppers for godparents and grandparents

In-between all the festive creations I have many Christmas orders for my soaps and hubby has become my employee of the month ;) He comes home each day with bigger and better orders, which is awesome and keeps me on my toes.

Reading Wise: I have got my copy of the Beekeepers Bible which I am thrilled to have in my possession. I have some really good german books on the subject but it is nice to have a book on beekeeping in my mother tongue!

How has your week been?
I hope you will come by tomorrow and share your creative crafts with us all :)

Have a super rest of your week.
I will be sharing this with all of my lovely Wednesday friends so do pop over for a visit :)
See you soon.
x

Friday 14 November 2014

Unhappy/Happy Sewing FOs

wrap dress

Finally, I finished this dress!

This was part of a Craftsy Course which in itself was a good course, with good tips on how to change patterns to suit you, but not really advisable for novice sewers like myself.


With the course I received the Butterick Pattern 5030, and I initially signed up because I have always wanted to learn how to sew a wrap dress.

Now I absolutely loved, really loved, and learned so much from Meg McElwee in Sewing with Knits (this link will take you back to the post where I shared all my projects I completed in this course).

She showed me how to sew the pieces step-by-step in a great video class.

This is what I had hoped my new course The Perfect Wrap Knit Dress would teach me too.
I mean look at this awesome dress - who wouldn't want to make something if it turns out like this:

The perfect wrap knit dress


Unfortunately I didn't gain the same kind of experience with the course.

I think this course was definitely made with the advanced sewer in mind.

The instructor didn't take us through the steps, and I found myself treading water and confused at quite a couple of sections.

Because I received the pattern and the instructor didn't specifically say that she was going to take us through the pattern in a different sequence, I understood that she would show us how to sew the parts of the pattern when we come across them.

I merrily began to sew my dress according to the pattern insert and realized too late (more-or-less in the last chapter) that I had to add the belt tie in the seams and under the neckband. So I had to rip open band seams and side seams to allow for the belt!

The neckband was another headache as I had merrily attached it to the dress thinking that there was only one way to get it on there.
Once it was on, I tried the dress and noticed the collar sticking up at a weird, warped angle and suddenly distant bells rang reminding me of my Home Ec class many, many moons ago.

 What was it the teacher taught us about neckbands?......
Oh golly, I had sewed it on the wrong way.

Much to my distress I had to undo all my work from the day before and spent the entire morning doing nothing else :(

Once back on track and feeling slightly frustrated with the whole experience, I decided to persevere and hoped that the outcome would be one of wonder and awe.

Unfortunately I was wrong again!

After the garment was complete I tried it on - UGH!

It didn't fit me at all, was way too big and my girls told me it looked like an old, wealthy man in a dressing gown, kinda like a Hugh Heffner - YUCK - take it off!!!

What to do?

Well, I whipped off about 25cm off the hem and got Jas to try it on.
She looks really nice in it and it suits her with some skinny jeans underneath it.

perfect wrap dress



Would I recommend this course?

Yes - if you are looking for some advice on how to adjust a pattern so that you get a perfect fit, then this course would definitely give you some help in that area.

Yes - if you aren't a novice and can achieve the results you want from your sewing, then this is a great "Extras" course.

*No - if you are looking for a course which will give you some basics and more in sewing with knitted fabric. Then I would definitely recommend Sewing with Knits, this course gives you great satisfaction as the end result is very close to what she teaches you and is a very rewarding class to take.

No - if you are looking for a course that is built in a step-by-step construction class, this is definitely not one of those! Refer back to the *No above, that is an in-depth construction course!

So that is the end of this week's sewing attempts, maybe I will try something simpler next week - like one of these FREE Craftsy Courses for example:

bag making basics


I wish you all a super weekend.
See you soon.
x

I will be sharing this post with all of my Friday Friends :)

Craftsy

Thursday 13 November 2014

Tutorial Thursdays Month-Long Linky Party with Guest

featured blogger

Today I am honoured to have Marie @ Blooming Homestead over for a visit.

In October I featured some of her amazing creative tutorials which she shared with us all on Tutorial Thursdays Linky Party.

Here are those great tutorials again for your convenience:


DIY Embellished Pumpkins


pumpkin rice krispie treats


easy teddy bear costume


I asked Marie what her crafting inspiration was.

She replied: "I love finding inspiration everywhere. There is beauty in nature everyday life! One of my favorite things is to create or DIY my own crafts, home decor and more. I love creating beautiful things while sticking to a budget."

She also told me: "My favorite job is being a wife and mom to my 2 sweet kiddos. I love using my blog as a creative outlet to connect with others and also to improve our home and how it runs daily. Crafting is my sanity and favorite pastime. :)"

You can find Marie on her Blog aswell as:







Thank you Marie for your Tutorial Thursday Support :)

And now it is your turn dear readers:

In November there is no theme, and no feature. 

Feel free to link up all your crafts below.
I look forward to visiting all of the links I find below.

x
Craftsy



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