Bunch of Flowers

Thank you so much for all the kind comments on my 80's Fantasy Film swap - so proud of Ming you wouldn't believe! I'm just relieved Fraggie liked him; sending out a swap is always nerve-wracking.


Just landed in the shop - crochet poppy brooches. My own pattern, of course, in lots of yummy, cheery colours to perk up an old coat or a bag (or perk up an old bag!). Treat yourself, or pop one in your mum/auntie/sister's stocking!

Whilst we're on the subject of flowers, I finally treated myself to Kanzashi in Bloom: 20 Simple Fold-And-Sew Projects to Wear and Give, which I can pretty much review as Very Good Indeed. The instructions are quite easy to follow and it's fun and interesting to pull together something as sweet as this. Of course, I already have some experience with origami so I found it quite intuitive to fold; I'm not sure exactly how easy this is for the complete beginner but it's definitely something you should try whatever your experience.


This kanzashi has been firmly claimed by K, but I'm out of hair clips at the moment so she'll have to hang on! Wow. Etsy is full of beautiful folded flowers, don't think I'll be competing just yet...but I will make these to order if anyone's interested.


Finally, whilst we're on the subject of flowers, here are the Fimo millefiori and some other buttons K and I made on a dreary afternoon a few weeks ago...

80's Fantasy Film Swap - what I sent!

So would you like to see what was in the parcel? I know it's been safely received now so I can do the big reveal!

"A COMMANDMENT FROM HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY"

Cross stitch on 28ct linen, generated with the caption maker at crosstitch.com - a very handy little tool! The phrase is from the film Flash Gordon, which you'll see scrolling across the sky during the scene of Ming and Dale Arden's wedding. I know Amiee has young kids and it reminded me of the "enjoy yourself or else!" phrase parents sometimes come out with! Quite possibly my all-time favourite film ever.

"Love Hoggle xx"

Inspired by Hoggle, the double-crossing dwarf from Labyrinth - Sarah presents him with a plastic bracelet if he'll guide her to the Goblin Castle. These are glass beads, which are a little more grown-up! I got these beads at Heidelberg Weinachtsmarkt (Christmas market) about five years ago on an enormous strand at least 2m long. Not many left now - good excuse to go back!

"Keep it safe - Jen & Kira"

Wire-wrapped smokey quartz on thonging - I was looking for a piece of amethyst for this but didn't find any as nicely shaped as the smokey quartz. A piece of The Dark Crystal. Amiee sent me a wonderful print from this film.

"Best wishes from Santa Carla - Michael & Sam Emerson"

A hand-bound journal created from the cover of a copy of The Lost Boys on video. This was perhaps the hardest part of the challenge - I knew Lost Boys was Amiee's favourite film, but what to make? For this I mounted the video cover on black card, cut the front and back sides to size, then laminated it. The endpapers are purple vellum and the pages heavy cream paper, and it's bound together in the Coptic style.

I also turned the spine into a bookmark!

And now, the piece de resistance...probably the best amigurumi I've ever made...

"We got him! Love Flash"

Emperor Ming himself, again from Flash Gordon. He's less than 10cm tall, crocheted to roughly the standard Creepy Cute pattern and finished with over 300 gold bugle beads on red satin and felt. The emblems are gold and red fabric paint on linen. This particular costume is Ming's wedding outfit.

And because I do go a bit overboard with the attention to detail, here's a rear-view of Ming:


Here's the whole parcel unwrapped, complete with stash, goodies and a gift:


I wanted to sent a copy of The Faeries Oracle because it's such a good way to look at Froud's work (he is responsible for the characters in Labyrinth and Dark Crystal) however you use it. I find it very inspiring just to sit and look at the cards. Also included are some fat quarters which made me think of deep forests and starry nights, some buttons, some crystals and some sweeties and chocolate. I've thoroughly enjoyed being able to use so many different crafts for one project, it's been fascinating. Huge thanks to Meridian Ariel for organising the swap, and to Fraggie Rocks for being such a great and inspiring partner!

Sorry for the smallness of some of these pictures - I think if you go to my Flickr photostream you should be able to get a better view. I'm really struggling with my camera/Blogger doing funny things with the rotation at the moment.

Halloween Meme

I have about ten minutes before I have to leave for the final demo of this ridiculously busy week; which is not enough time to blog the 80's Fantasy Swap (coming tomorrow - I know it's been received now!), but just enough time to get distracted by this Halloween meme from Meridian Ariel.

What is your favorite work of horror fiction? I rather like Stephen King's less mainstream horror - Rose Madder definitely sticks with me. And predictable though it is, Dracula.

What is your favorite work of science fiction/fantasy? Afraid I'm very partial to David Eddings - not so much the Belgariad but the Sparhawk series is something I tend to read every year. I'm reading RA Salvatore's Cleric Quintet at the moment; it's a bit slow but as someone who plays a cleric almost every time it's certainly ringing a few bells!

Who is your favorite monster? Probably Drusilla, from the Buffy & Angel series - just so totally mad and devious.
Favourite Horror movie? I'm not sure. I don't really go for horror films, I can't suspend my disbelief for long - I know everything is fake!

What horror movie gives you the most chills? Again, I don't really get scared. If the violence is excessive I just get bored and turn it off! I like the atmosphere of films like Sleepy Hollow - it's the mystery that gets me interested, not the gore.

What character from any horror film would you most like to play? Buffy. Nobody wisecracks like Buffy.

Freddy or Jason? Neither - I managed to escape seeing either series of films, thankfully.

What is your favorite Halloween treat? Popcorn

Ghosts or goblins? Goblins if they're Labyrinth goblins. Otherwise, ghosts, cos my current cleric character is absolutely kick-ass at turning undead!

Friendly-faced jack o’lantern or scary one? Oh, scary. Or what's the point?
What is your scariest encounter with the paranormal? None, really. I'm about as psychic as a brick. We got married at Chillingham Castle, which is supposed to be one of the most haunted places in the country, and to me it just felt a bit sad and in need of love.

Do you believe in ghosts? Nope. None of the evidence stacks up.

Would you rather be a zombie, alien, or psycho? Can I be a Risian (whoops, just outed my Trekkie self)?

Favorite Halloween costume? A witch, definitely, you can have so much fun with it.
Best thing about Halloween? I never used to like it much, actually, but K seems to be quite enjoying it at the moment. Mostly because she gets to dress up like a cat for weeks on end!
Person in your family who most likes Halloween (not counting yourself)? K, definitely. She's having a party at preschool this morning and all the kids look amazing.

Are you superstitious? If so, name at least one superstition of yours. Not at all.

If you're reading this, you're tagged! Have a go, comment below and I'll come and have a nosy later!

Crafting at the speed of starlight

Oh boy, I really hadn't banked on having to make something in my lunch hour today! When I pulled the star out of my props bag this morning I was horrified to see it was starting to unravel - how, I don't know as I check over all the toys after each class and it was fine on Saturday. Anyway, there was no way I could take it to this afternoon's class, and I couldn't think where I could buy one quickly - so here is the one I've knocked up in 45mins flat!

80's Fantasy Film Swap - sent!

Finally I've sent my swap parcel off to Fraggie Rocks - so embarrassing to be this late but I do have a good reason which I may explain some way down the line. Here it is:


Each parcel has a label attached to it - the two Seawood Designs ones are gifts/stash from me, of course, the rest are as follows...

"A COMMANDMENT FROM HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY"
"Love Hoggle xx"
"We got him! Love Flash"
"Keep it safe - Jen & Kira"
"Best wishes from Santa Carla - Michael & Sam Emerson"

You can probably guess from those which films I was inspired by - but can you guess what might be in them? I'll reveal all when I know Amiee's received it safely!

80's Fantasy Film Swap - received!

Doesn't that look delicious and exciting! This is my parcel from Amiee, aka Fraggie Rocks who I've had the pleasure of getting to know over the last few weeks. I'm a touch embarrased as my parcel to send to her is not ready yet; I can only plead all that work in the last two posts and crack on tonight.

Want to see what was inside? Of course you do. I nearly forgot to take the above photo, I was so excited!

The whole parcel. Matching brooch and fascinator inspired by Labyrinth - aren't they gorgeous, I never would have thought to use the beech nut shells like that! A print from The Dark Crystal - I've always loved the gentle but firm Mystics. A Brian Froud card of O! That Gnome - he always makes me smile when he comes up in a reading (I have Froud's Faeries Oracle). A sketch pad and bundle of pencils - I WILL learn to draw this year, I promised myself! and some great little sword charms, for lo, I am a sword nut.

Fascinator close-up

Brooch close-up

Thank you so much, Amiee - it has been an absolute pleasure to receive this. I only hope you like mine half as much!

PS apologies for the photos - I can't seem to get Blogger, The Gimp or Flickr to behave properly this morning. Better composed shots are at Flickr.

Arrr, Me Hearties!

Hello from conference!

Well, no, not really - I'm writing this an hour before my epic train journey from the dank North West, lugging all those suns and cakes with me, and this will appear as if by magic whilst I'm supping coffee with my fellow blue-shirts.

Have you met Jessie Cat before? Here she is:


Jess is our mascot, friend and teaching aide for Sing & Sign, of course. Every teacher has one and we have lots of fun playing peek-a-boo. She's a firm favourite with everyone, from tiny babies to tumbling toddlers. This year we were all asked to bring Jessie Cat with us to conference, and to dress her up - if we had time. I think I first started to think about it on Talk Like A Pirate Day, so obviously a quick bandana, eyepatch and cardboard cutlass would be an easy costume if I didn't get finished with all the orders and swaps until the last minute. I thought I might even have some Jolly Roger fabric left over from last year's Out & About Books. Easy peasy and no drama attached.

Last Tuesday I sat down to finish the last Mr Sun and put Pirates Of The Carribean on for some inspiration. Little ideas kept popping into my head "...you know, I think I have some deep red fabric like that...I wonder if you can make a long wig in the same way you do for NeedleNoodles' Creepy Cute amigurumi...I have some coins like that from belly dancing projects...hmmm." You know the way it goes, sometimes - you get a dash of inspiration and realise you have absolutely everything you need in your stash (hooray for stash!). And miracle of miracles, all went smoothly (even the bit involving the sewing machine). Captain Jessie Sparrow was born, and here she is.

Mugshot



Full length shot

She has a black yarn wig complete with beads, coins and ribbons; yarn beard with beads; bandana; brown waistcoat; leather baldric made from an old belt; sash and a sword made from a wire and foil-wrapped knitting needle. Pretty neat, huh? I'm so pleased with it - it's really close to the film and came together so beautifully. I'm fully aware I've gone quite a bit overboard with this, but hey. I can't let a challenge like that go by!

A whole lotta...

...sunshine. And cakes. Just in case you were wondering why I was always moaning about having a lot of crocheting to do for conference...this is why. There are 11 suns, 15 large cakes and 36 small cakes. I'm already getting requests for more and am taking my order book with me. These cakes are my best seller by a long, long way; I think I've made upwards of 300 since I opened the shop last November!

Buttons in a Box

Today I got a big parcel from Maxine and we had such fun opening it! Everything was beautifully wrapped and tied with buttons and ribbon. Mmm, old-fashioned sweeties - my favourite. What could be inside all those neat little packages?



Look what I got! Green & Black's chocolate bars (yum!), a jar filled with buttons and ribbons with a pincushion top (just what I needed!), a charm bracelet in greys, whites and crystals (gorgeous!), layered ring (matches my dragonfly brooch), crocheted flower brooch (will look fab on my green coat) and button-topped giant paperclip (how did you know I needed a decent bookmark for all my travel reading this weekend?).

Just lovely. I love neutrals, black and silver and these will go with pretty much everything I own. The jar is filled with sweet tiny pastel buttons and cute Japanese style ribbons - I'm having to fend K off with a big stick at the moment as she wants them for her own stash - and little ideas are fermenting in my head already.

So a very big thank you to Maxine for all her work and to Sam from Incy Wincy Stitches for kindly hosting the swap. I've thoroughly enjoyed it and found a new dimension to my making. Can't ask more than that!

Now to crack on and finish the 80s Fantasy Film swap and complete a costume for a toy cat before the weekend...yes, I am slightly mad.

Buttons On My Side

I had a lovely email this morning from Maxine of Tiny White Daisies to let me know that my button swap had been safely received, so now I can share what I've been making all this time. It's so nice to be able to show something off, finally! Lots of piccies coming up...

The complete package revealed - two brooches, a bracelet, a wrist cuff, a pyrographed box full of buttons, a handbound notebook and loads of sweeties!

Button bracelet - Maxine's favourite colours are soft pinks and blues; I love these mother-of-pearl type buttons which I found in Hobbycraft.
Strung on Stretch Magic so it should fit anyone!

Ribbon wrist cuff. Inspired by some DMC embroidery sets that I'd made about four years ago; the buttons I got from Debbie Cripps a couple of years back for a t-shirt design for K. As soon as I saw Maxine's colour preferences this idea popped into my head fully formed.

Crochet poppy brooch with vintage button centre. I'm really excited about this one particularly as I'll be launching a range of different colours in the shop shortly!

Glass beads mounted on vintage buttons to form a brooch. I'm disappointed by the photograph, it doesn't do the colours justice at all.

Hand-bound notebook - it's coptic bound with plain cream heavy paper and gold sparkly endsheets! The front is linen embroidered with buttons and Maxine's username.

Pyrographed birch box. I'd done this a while ago and put it to one side as I wasn't sure how to varnish it - turns out A had the right stuff all along. I thought it would make a great stash box for favourite buttons!

Button stash. Blogger is being very silly with this picture and insisting it must be turned 90 degrees, sorry. I hope you can spot the tiny white daisy buttons in there!

And that's it! I'm really pleased with how it came out overall. In the meantime K and I have been having a go at making our own (thanks to inspiration from Kitty Ballistic's brilliant Halloween buttons!) and we've made a huge heap of little daisy millefiori and some other bits and pieces. Will blog about those another time - right now I really must get on with the 80's Fantasy Film swap, because I've FINISHED all the cakes and suns I've been making for my fellow teachers! I really need to take a pic of the giant heap before it all gets packaged up, but you can see all the listings in the shop now at Seawood Designs. Creeping ever-closer to 100 sales - watch out for a giveaway to celebrate when that happens!

All buttoned up

Finally something I can write about - but it's all wrapped up (some of it, anyway, I haven't shown the sweeties here)! This is my button swap, ready to go off to Maxine of Tiny White Daisies. The deadline is next Tuesday so I'm really pleased to have got it all finished on time. This is the inbetween-time now...waiting to see if she likes what I've made (or indeed, whether it's actually arrived!) and waiting to receive my part from her, and waiting to share with everybody what I've had so much fun doing over the last few weeks. My button stash has increased significantly, oops, but I love the way I've been able to bring in almost all of the crafts I'm reasonably good at, centred around some beautiful buttons. And I can't say any more than that for now!

Over the last week I've been even busier, if that's possible. The huge stack of orders for cakes and Mr Suns is almost complete - I just have three more Mr Suns to embroider to complete everything I've guaranteed for conference. I am SO not taking any crafting with me for the train journey and overnights; I reckon I've got at least 15-20 hours of reading time ahead of me so I'll be attacking the enormous pile which has been accumulating by the bedside.

Alongside the crochet I've been wrestling with cross stitch software - a couple of years ago I designed some sweet little stockings for hanging on the tree. I stitched six of them and then decided they were too small, really, so I left them, intending to go back and redo them for sale eventually. Then I learnt to crochet and that was it for cross stitch for a long while. A lunch date with Ali from Craft Matters last week reminded me of the existence of these patterns (how, I've no idea, but I always feel full of ideas when I've seen Ali!), so I fired up the software and suddenly remembered why I haven't gone more into designing. After a couple of hours tweaking and enlarging, the RSI kicked in from all the mouse use. Then I discovered I couldn't export the patterns in a useful format which I could get into a PDF for sale. By this point I'd already lined up ten friends (hi guys!) who were willing to test-stitch the patterns in return for chocolate, so after a reasonable amount of panicking at my other half (thank you, you are my hero) and a suggestion from friend Ben, I've had Kxstitch installed. Unfortunately I can't import the patterns from the original programme so it's looking like it's going to have to be a total redraw. Luckily most of the designs are repeating, sampler-style patterns, but I have a feeling my poor wrist will be quite sore this time next week.

Wish me luck, and I'll post what I made for the swap as soon as I know it's been safely received!