Ok, so I've nearly used up all those zips...for now!

 

Not wanting to waste the scraps left over from the various items I've made recently (& needing a use for all those zips I impulsively purchased), I've had a go at some little coin purses using fabric remnants. Made with the natural linen/cottons that I love working with & matching linings, they have a little tab with key ring to attach to whatever you may fancy attaching them to...!

They measure about 10cm/6cm and although I was originally thinking of them as 'coin purses', I've come up with a variety of uses:

 

1. Coin Purse (obviously)

2. Credit Card/Receipt holder

3. Gadget Case (just about big enough to hold some mobile phones/head phones/bits & bobs

4. (For Dog Owners) Doggie treat & poo bag holder

5. Lip gloss/mascara (make up essentials for night out) purse

6. Mini pencil case for those little crayons/pens. Good for Mums to keep in handbags to keep little ones occuplied in an emergency!

7. An alternative to the 'party bag' for girls.....(not if you're providing them for the whole class of course...that could get silly expensive), but for a few girls; one of these with a bag of chocolate buttons/haribos/hair clips etc etc,could make for a nice 'thank you for coming to my party' gift.

 

 

J quite liked these...said they were very 'practical', so I made one for him too...not sure if boys would go for these, but perhaps I'll come up with some design ideas...they could use them to keep hold of their Lego Mini figures/ Go Gos/ Other Treasures, I suppose.....

Lovely Linens & Linings

Today I've been busy making some more zipped pouches (make-up/accessories/bits & bobs bags) which would make lovely girly gifts. They are all made from natural linen/cottons with pretty  lining & contrasting zips...they're nice and rigid so will withstand knocks & bumps in a handbag/suitcase. 

 

Not much more to say about them really...I like them, hope you do too x

Rainy Days & Mondays

...always get me down...(as the lovely Karen Carpenter famously sang).  Today it is both raining and a Monday...the worst of all.  However, I'm determined that being stuck inside will not be a chore and will use this enforced time indoors to get on with some 'making'.

Last week, I didn't get much done as I had a few projects to get on with in the garden.  I did however have a play around with a dinosaur applique design & pencil case, using green camo fabric as a trim, lining and the applique T-Rex, a little keyring tab and contrast orange zip & stitching.

...and I've discovered a new obsession: 'free-motion machine embroidery'.  It's basically sketching on fabric using the machine.  A bit random and messy and quite odd to get to grips with, but fun to do and I quite like the results.  Here are my very basic, first attempts, so nothing special...but everyone has to start somewhere, right?!

Pottering around...

Yay! Back in the ceramics workshop today & back at the (sometimes frustrating) wheel!

3 hours later, some (not too) wonky pots thrown, ready to dry out, neaten off and then start to add the decorative finishes before they go for their first firing (It's a long old process from lump of clay to finished pieces)








I'm covered in clay but very happy....

Zip It.

At last...I've done some sewing!!

This week's project has been all (well, mostly all) about zips....seeing as I seem to have acquired (impulsively purchased) a load over the summer. 

I get really fed up of the lack of 'stuff' (by that, I mean clothing & accessories) for boys that doesn't feature some kind of branded image. Now; I appreciate that Lightning McQueen, Ben 10, Star Wars are all 'awesome', as a certain 5 year old boy might put it, but I'd rather these 'characters' stay on the TV, in the cinema and (I'm even willing to concede) toys. Merchandise that isn't branded is out there, but it is harder to track down.

Therefore....ta dah....I'll take my zips and darn well make my own......

(Ok, ok, this first pencil case does feature Comic Book Super Heros, which therefore makes me something of a hypocrite, but the print is kind-of-retro & not straight out of a Disney-Pixar animation!)

Love the boxy shape and the chunky zip, as does T apparently...looks like this one is for him!

Celebrating 'Brand Britain' again with union jack appliqued guitar and matching lining. This one is made from an old pair of jeans. Yay..upcycling that fabric again.

I had some blue camo fabric which I thought might make a great shark applique. Bit of an experiment this one, but worked out ok.














so ok that I made a matching toy bag too!

...and then on to the girly things...Really pleased with this pouch. Especially the little fabric tab on the end of the zip. This is made from a rustic piece of natural linen cloth, with a bright, colourful Japanese floral & geisha print fabric for the base & the lining.  Hmmm, might make a good gift for someone.....

This one is for ME ME ME. I needed a new makeup bag and couldn't find one I liked, was the right size, or wasn't a silly price.  The fabric is an offcut from an oilcloth table cloth we used to have on our kitchen table!!! 

I've not taken a very good picture of this pencil case, but you can just about sneak a peek at this '1960s owl' print used in the lining. I've a pile of fabulous 'girly' print cottons that I'd like to utilise in coin purses, tote bags, more zipped pouches and toy bags, so lots more of this sort of thing to come over the following weeks.....

A rock & roll Friday night!

10 days after T's return to school, I return to school next week (well, college, & it is only 1 morning a week so not exactly the same) and being a bad student, I've left my homework until the last minute.  So I find myself, glass of wine in hand, doing college prep on a Friday night!

Now I've completed a year of my ceramics course, I want to have a real direction and focus with the work I produce next term (or that's the plan anyway). Last term I did some work on surface decoration on clay using 'lino cut' prints (essentially, as the name suggests, cutting out a print into lino sheets) and the results, for a novice, weren't too dodgy.




The original lino cut design inspired by the work
of Angie Lewin



The finished printed hand-built ceramic piece,
using coloured slips, oxides & glaze



As I had some success with this, (and actually producing lino cuts is slightly addictive) the aim now is to develop this style of decoration a little more and see how I can use it on pottery that has been made on the wheel. For this new printed work, I want to use some surface pattern that features seed heads as I think they are such interesting forms and structures. So, I had a go at cutting some designs last night, with that wine in hand!  Check back in a few weeks to see how successful (or not) these have been.......

 

The new lino cuts of cow parsley, alliums & dandelions







Indian Summer...I love you the best....

 

The weather this week has been conspiring against me and I've not so much as plugged in my sewing machine or opened my sketch book...but as my Mother just said "The piles of fabric will still be there on a rainy day..."

So, I decided today to make the most of the warm sunshine and get out in the garden. Earlier in the week I bought masses of spring flowering bulbs which all need to go in the ground in the next month or so..I made a start on them today, joined by some little friends who were happily enjoying this late summer sun.

 

Really need to cut out some of these fading flowers, but the bees and the butterflies are still very much enjoying them, so can't bring myself to just yet.

Put to shame by the hardworking bees, I have however managed to sit in front of a screen and create something this week (albeit during the evening when it's getting too chilly & dark to be outside)

 

...and here it is....my new style of Christening Card has been born.

 

We're off to a Christening at the weekend & as J is one of 'The God Father' (s), I wanted to make a Christening card for our wonderful friends & their lovely little boy, which contained a personal message & good wishes from us all, (whilst not being too 'twee' or overtly religious).  This is my favourite reading/verse for newborns and young children - it encapsulates everything that we wish for them as they start out in life & so I decided, after some tinkering with the formatting, that it would make a great bit of 'word art' to feature on the front of a card.

Back to School Blues

Feeling a bit sad today as T has gone back to school (accompanied by his PE kit, including this new trainer bag that I made for him).

This little bag has proved very useful over the summer, especially for transporting spare clothes & toys (cars, bits of lego, action figues, playmobil) either on holidays or to the Grandparents houses. I therefore plan to make many more & have some designs I'm going to try out...so watch this space.....

The other thing I love about this bag is that it is made with 100% recycled fabrics...something I really want to concentrate on in the coming weeks.  Children get through clothes so quickly and we end up giving bags & bags to charity (which is great), but sometimes it's nice to re-use those favourite items of clothing, or, certainly in the case of boys, the parts of clothing that hasn't worn out but you can't really do much with the whole piece.  The applique stars on this bag come from a pair of T's trousers that had massive holes in the knees, so were pretty much good for nothing, but I really liked the colours & he hadn't had them long, so great to put the scraps to good use.

So, with T back at school, a feeling of melacholy about my empty, quiet house and the end of summer, I need to get myself busy, organised and start on some new projects...working through that sketch book of ideas I have. Trouble is, now the holidays are over and I actually have the time to do it...the book of ideas & pile of fabric seem all a bit daunting..........!