Jellyfish and Ice cream.

My latest project was a present for blogger Tasha's birthday and is my first attempt at making a creature from my own design. So here is the Jellyfish in question-

He's made from an Erin McMorris fabric and felt. I'm going to make another and blanket stitch the legs so they won't fray as much but as a first go I'm quite proud!

Little bag of happiness.

We visited Ikea at the weekend, the list of things to buy from there had been getting out of control so we had to nip it in the bud. Aside from all the other wonderful things I came away with there was a stack of fabric, Tasha and I hogged the cutting table for about half an hour. I had to buy a mini blue bag just to get them home safely, now I don't want to get them out except to unfold and refold them, they look so snug!

I've stocking up on sewing supplies lately and got a few gems from a charity shop- 3 vintage patterns (to go on the To Do list) and some bias binding, all for £2!

I've been attempting more fabric related projects lately and as I'm temporarily back at home while I work the summer in my local Post Office I needed to set up some crafting space. My Mum had salvaged a Singer treadle table from a skip outside a sewing shop many years ago and converted it to a table, but it'd been in the garage for a few years so I got it out, cleaned it up and installed it in my bedroom. The treadle still works so smoothly despite being out of action for about 30 years.

On my table here you can see a pin board I bought because it was square, pinned to that is some felt stitching inspired by the beautiful Polygon throw by Mia Cullin at Habitat. On the board is also one of my Scribble necklaces, soon to be added to my Folksy shop. In front are a selection of postacards from New Designers a few weeks ago and also two felt cacti- Astrophytum Myriostigma inspired as my real one gave up the ghost just recently and it was my favourite. Felt cacti are dangerous- they keep you up until 2am making them!

And lastly these are some of my Scribbles units before trimming and shinking, I really loved the negative shapes created with the black background, I'll try to encorperate this into some future pattern design and maybe screen print it.

All the leaves are green...

I've been working on more designs for shrink plastic necklaces. I wanted to try using paper punches so out came one of my leaf ones, I tried adding some colour too, bit unusual for me but my fabric obsession has spawned more of an interest in colour.

Leaves bracelet idea in green and black/white plus a pile of leaves in different colours.

I also made another scribbles necklace, this time in black. I like the impact black has without being garish. Plus it's an easy colour to wear, I often choose black necklaces. I'm going to play with the length next and the chains I use, the bright silver jumprings don't compliment the black as well as I'd like.

Scribbles necklaces in white and black.

And lastly for today's post a pic of the blanket box I recovered for my sister, finally got it completed the other night. As modelled again by Milo the box is covered in a heavy weight lilac/grey chenille I bought on eBay, the body of the box came out really well, the lid however was harder to tuck at the corners and was a bit bumpy underneath but as we didn't want to cover it over we just made it as neat as possible.

Blanket box being inspected by Milo, he's harsh but fair.

Yesterday we visited the 'New Designers' exhibition in London, hopefully next year we will be exhibiting our work. We walked 8 miles, mostly inside the Business Design Centre, and parked the whole day for a pound. Who said London has to be expensive?

The night before I was feeling crafty and wanted to make something to wear that was my own so I got cracking with the shrink plastic and worked on an idea I'd had in the back of my mind for a while. I'd originally wanted a drawn line on the front but decided it looked better plain white.

I'm quite pleased with the outcome and plan to make another in black, or colour the back of a white one in so you could wear it either way. I also want to play with the length and scale.

It's really satisfying to be able to make something yourself to wear, I really want to get my sewing skills up to scratch so I can make clothes and other things for my flat, it's addictive!

Four legged model.

I've been attempting to tick things off my crafts to do list, I'm nearly done with the blanket box I'm refurbishing. I finished recovering the top this evening, I attached new foam to the top with spray adhesive, trimmed it to size then covered first with a layer of white poplin before adding the Ikea pillowcase I was given for another project but was the perfect print for the box. I'm going to paint the wood, though I hate to do it, but it's only a plywood covering and it's really badly chipped.

Our Jack Russel Milo helped to model the completed top as I tried it on the base to see how it looked. He seems to think he matches it well and he's right.

Aside from my blanket box obsession I bought a small chest of drawers, shown in a previous post, and I've been stripping the paint off with Nitromors to show the lovely wood underneath. Nitromors is an old friend now after I spent several weeks stripping the paint off one of my Minis. I'm planning to glue fabric or wallpaper onto the front of the drawers to contrast with the wood. I keep buying fabric but the more I have the harder it is to choose!

A prickly pause.

Further to my cactus obsession I had a go at making a prickly pear in felt- more pear less prickle though!Needs some adjustment, the top pear ended up pointing the wrong way, but I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.

Yesterday I spent a lovely morning at my sister's babying sittign my nephew with my mum. While he was napping we were in the garden, I took the opportunity to make some quick sketches of the beautiful flowers my sisters grows. I want to build up a collection drawings to work from but I find I spend too much time deliberating about drawing and not enough time actually doing it so I'm trying to make an effort!

And finally on a lighter note I just wanted to share one of my most treasured charity shop purchases. I love finding a bargain, especially when it's vintage but this lion coat hook is easily my favourite; he's so handsome and his nose hides a secret compartment, or maybe not so secret now! I can claim I'm collecting things for my future children but everyone knows they're for me so why bother?