Crafty Happenings - Weeks 8-10

Hello!

We're not talking about my inability to post a weekly post, well, weekly.  Suffice to say I've been rushing around like a blue  a little busy and functioning entirely outside my comfort zone - anybody else fancy speaking to a conference of 400+ people about the wonderful work they do for an organisation that will no longer exist ... at 4 days notice?  I was torn between honoured and scared witless - but I did it, and without falling up the stairs to the stage which was the stuff of my nightmares!

Right, stop wittering woman, this is what I've actually been up to ...

 

 Don't you just love this kitchen fabric?  This was a bag for My Girlie's flatmate - a little birthday gift.  She has a red Kitchenaid so this was perfect

 

 

 

 

I made it at Sewing Club, we meet about once a month - I entirely failed to take photos this time which is sad because we had a super time and I actually made a card for Emmie, the first one I've made in months, I should have evidence!

 I found these in a charity shop - I love old notions.  They were going to charge me 10p for both - I couldn't take them for that so we settled on a £1 - apparently they're not used to people haggling upwards :)

 

 

And I got this brilliant pile of things from Freecycle, the lady had inherited a box of stuff and didn't want to throw it away.

 

There's was lots of stuff I couldn't use but my little 3 year old niece took them home for her craft box so we both had a happy pile of useful things.

 

Isn't this beauty? £20 from eBay.  I'm having fun finding things for my daughter's bedroom as she's taken all her furniture to her new flat.  I can't have a double bedroom standing empty - thought I'd get creative.  This is going to be white with a yellow interior eventually.

 

I've been very busy sanding, priming and painting, all still works in progress

When P and I drove to pick it up the lady who was selling it was clearing her Mum's house, she'd sadly passed away at the age of 86.  She was glad the desk was going to a crafter, I found the knitting needle inside when I got home.

 



 

Just visualise the yellow interior :)

 

 

Imagine my delight when we got there and found this too - £5, I kid you not!

 

No, it doesn't go with the wallpaper - I'm still at the thinking stage with this one :)

 

And this makes me very happy - it's going to be a bedside cabinet/seat

Try and imagine white paint and yellow and white fabric OK?

 

The best bit was we'd driven to collect the desk in my mini - I could not leave without any of these things - P had an interesting time making them fit in the back.

We drove all the way home with me barely able to see over the lampshade on my lap - and holding the lamp stand so that it didn't keep hitting him in the back of the head!

 

 

Finally found a use for the small piece of yellow vintage fabric I bought last March in Chester.

 

Foxes and rabbits and bears - oh my!

 

And finished the baby blanket I've been planning with the fabric I bought in San Francisco.

 

 

 Two more bags - both identical, one is for My Boy's girlfriend, she was with me when I bought the fabric and I know she likes it - just need to get it in the post.

 

And a Baby Tag Blanket from scraps - no idea who for, this was an idea I was trying for using up odds and ends from other projects.

 

 

And another bag from leftovers for my work colleagues wife - who bakes cakes for charity.

 

That's it - perhaps not masses to show for 3 weeks but lots of finished items - and given my tendency to be an Excellent Starter and the Master of WIPS I'm pretty pleased with my progress :)

 

Now I just need to find some time to catch up with all the blog posts I've been missing.

x

What should you take to Sewing Club?

The correct answer is 'a planned project' not 'everything but the kitchen sink', which was pretty much my approach! 

A while back I very excitedly replied to Rachel (House of Pinheiro) because she'd posted about the possibility of having a local sewing group. Fortunately for me the suggestion was to meet in Rochester and that's not far from where I live at all - result!

There's been some planning over a cup of coffee and a piece of cake and finally last Sunday we got together for the first time to actually sew.

Going around the table, clockwise from the left: Polly, Emmie, Rachel and Cris. Polly's mum, Julie is also a member of our group but unfortunately was double booked last weekend, although she did keep us updated with photos of dessert!

 

Honestly, I didn't know what to take with me. You get used to having all your stuff around you at home - I tried to plan but, in the end, kept throwing stuff in my various holdalls 'just in case'. I thought bags would be a good idea, something simple to complete, so took the pattern (and the 2 larger sizes I've tweaked a bit) that I downloaded here. I've made it lots of times before, although I don't tend to make it reversible, and I like a zipped pocket and a closure of some sort. But it is totally brilliant for adding your own touches too.

 

 

I didn't get that much done! 

 

I thought I'd do loads in 4 hours - I had 4 bags cut out that I took with me - totally unrealistic.

 

 There's definitely a knack to sewing in a group and it's totally different to sitting at home on your own - I might not have been terribly productive (I'm about finished on 1 bag and half way through a second)but it was really inspiring. 

 

Emmie forgot her sewing machine power cable - despite the fact that she and I had managed to fill the back of my car with stuff and nearly gave ourselves a hernia trying to get it all to the venue! On the plus side she had pdf patterns to put together and cut out so she got loads and loads of prep done. 

 

Rachel's experienced at group sewing and she didn't get much done either (so I felt a bit better!) but she was absolutely right, it was a really good day for swapping ideas and thinking creatively, I'm really looking forward to future meet ups.

Polly had the right idea - she took one project, that she'd done all the prep for beforehand, literally everything cut, bagged up and ready to go. Isn't it super? It's a quilt top she's secretly working on for her little boy. She got all of this done in the 4 hours we were together.

 

And Cris was recovering chairs, with no pattern as such - she made great progress too despite literally having to make it up as she went along :)

 

I think I might need something like this - before I do myself a mischief trying to cart my machine around but my heart yearns for something more like this ...

.... which is far less practical of course but it is covered in dots! I've been reading reviews (and frightening myself with horror stories about the damage you can do to your machine if you transport it!). 

 

If anybody has any recommendations I'd be glad to hear them :)

 

Jacq

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