The Start of Autumn

And as usual I'm a bit late with the last of my summer makes, and a bit early with the first of my Christmas ones.
I did think this little corduroy dress I made might be ideal for bridging the season, but we seem to have skipped the intermediate weather this year and jumped straight from Indian Summer into full on wild autumn. Oh well, perhaps with a nice chunky cardigan and some woolly tights...
This is the Zoe dress from Sew Over It, made in a beautiful soft needlecord from Seasalt Cornwall (yes you CAN buy their fabrics!).

I do love the shape and fit of this dress (and did I mention - pockets!) however, and I'm well on the way to making a 3/4 sleeved version in a heavier weight fabric. Cool sunflare in the picture too.
The very early Christmas crafting takes the shape of a stained glass workshop my friend and I attended at Craft4crafters.

I loved making these little tree decorations, and I may have to have a bit of a play with this technique and some of my ridiculously large mountain entirely proportionate and appropriate collection of seaglass.
Oh and I made a little skirt from a couple of upcycled t-shirts. I'll be listing this one on my Folksy soon,

A Little Alchemy Going On In The Alchymyst's Study

A few weeks ago I was working in the local Secondary School, invigilating exams, and the exam they'd done was Chemistry. Afterwards there was a heaping great pile of periodic tables left over and the school were going to bin them, so I offered to "re-home them"

After distressing a handful of them with cold tea and ink, I combined them with a few vintage book pages, some mediaeval alchemical illustrations I found online, and a couple of used envelopes and made this little junk journal.

It was a steep learning curve, and I'll be doing one or two stages differently with the next one, but for a first attempt I'm quite pleased with it.

In other news, we've been busy in the garden constructing a second patio, as the main one loses the sun mid-afternoon. Naomi decided "second patio" wasn't a very good name for it, and has re-christened it and wood-burned us a sign for it.

Presenting the "Gin Patio"

Every garden should have one

Not Very Seasonal

After knitting away half the summer I finally finished off my lightweight cotton jumper just exactly the week the first of the autumn storms arrived.
Typical really.
The pattern is Rocky Pond from Classic Elite yarns which I found here at LoveKnitting, though I knit mine using Paintbox Cotton DK in Washed Teal.

Following on from the upcycled t-shirt skirts I made for the girls, I decided I needed one of my own, and here it is:-

The Deep Purple skirt. 

Because you're never too old to rock.

Gifted Gorgeousness for October

Gifted Gorgeousness day has rolled round again (Gifted Gorgeousness is a monthly blog hop organised by Jo from Serendipitous Stitching, where we show off our gift related crafts and craft related gifts)
Once again this will be a cross stitch free posting, (those of you who come here looking for a cross stitch blog must be getting pretty fed up by now, I promise I'll try harder next time)
This month I have made each of my daughters a skirt from an upcycled t-shirt. This one is Naomi's

And this one is Eloise's (completed on a rather damper day, hence the somewhat less attractive location for the photoshoot)

Also I don't think I've shown you this before, it is a woodburned piece that Naomi made for me in the summer using an offcut of the wood her dad had used to build himself a set of speakers. (I sew things, he builds speakers...)

As you can see she knows how to appeal to my inner geek.

Gifted Gorgeousness for September

The day for Gifted Gorgeousness has rolled around again, Gifted Gorgeousness being the blog hop organised by Jo of Serendipitous Stitching where we show our gift related crafting.
Three things to show this month. First is the Holiday Exchange from Needlecraft Haven. This was an exchange in two parts. We selected and kitted up a small free chart to send to our partners earlier in the year, and for this part we reveal what we stitched from the gift we received.
I received a sweet little snowflake design from Dusty, and here is the ornament I stitched it up into.

Thank you Dusty, it was a fun stitch.
Second up is this bag I made for Naomi using a gorgeous remnant of sloth print fabric I got from the sale at Sugar Bowl Crafts

Thirdly a t-shirt upcycle, also for Naomi. I took this t-shirt

and added a faux leather corsetting detail at the neckline.

She made me cut her head off the picture because "I haven't done my eyebrows Mum"
I also made a project bag for Clare for her birthday but I totally forgot to get a picture before I sent it out!

Gifted Gorgeousness in June

It's time for June's Gifted Gorgeousness, the brainchild of Jo from Serendipitous Stitching, where we show off anything we can remotely shoehorn into the category of a gift.
I'm kicking off this month with this stitched bracelet.

Double GG points for this one as it was a cover gift with Cross Stitcher magazine, and I've stitched it for Naomi.
I swapped out the slightly loud colours in the original kit for a cooler palette of blues and turquoises with white, and left a few rows blank as I liked the effect of the "leather" showing through.
Second up, is this handbag I made from a vintage souvenir scarf depicting scenes of  Rome.

I'ts got the Colosseum on the other side.
This is another double pointer. Again it's a gift for Naomi; who is going to be living in Italy next academic year as part of her degree, and consequently needs an Italian handbag; and the pattern to make it came from a book which I received as a gift from Julie a couple of years ago.
And finally, just so you don't think Eloise is being left out on the handcrafted gift front, here is my progress on a cardigan I'm knitting for her.

The pattern is "Mizzen" from Classic Elite Yarns. It's a raglan sleeved cardigan knitted in one piece from the top down, the line of lacy holes you can see is one of the raglans forming.

Sewing and Upcycling

A little more sewing this week. First up a pair of summer pyjamas I made for Naomi using a gorgeous Bambi print jersey I bought from Elephant in my Handbag

And secondly a spot of upcycling using New Look pattern 6230 to go from this xl men's t-shirt

to this swarovski crystal embellished top with lacy raglan sleeves.

I've entered this in the Upcycle 2017 contest on Pattern Review

More Block Printing and a Spot of Slightly Mad Knitting

This time I decided to use an Indian printing block to upcycle a plain and boring denim skirt. I also added some braid and a few sparkly beads.

Classic husband quote - "you've only done one side of it", well, yes, it's called a design choice...

And the mad knitting? This is from an Alan Dart pattern in Simply Knitting magazine.

Bwaa Ha Ha Ha!

 He was NOT easy to put together, but I think he was worth it

With Apologies to Edna Mode

Sorry Edna.

I made a cape. 

Perhaps I should call it a wrap?
Pattern and wool tweed outer fabric from Cool Crafting; lining from a liberty Tana Lawn remnant, wooden buttons from EvilBay.
The next project was something I saw in Mollie Makes magazine, a magazine rack made from copper piping.

This was a joint effort between me and my husband. He did the cutting the copper pipes bit and I did the sewing the fabric bit.
And here is a spot of upcycling, This second hand enamel colander, that had seen better days and cost me less than a pound; is now a miniature succulent garden.

Monthly Challenge, Dressmaking and Upcycling

Sunday was reveal day for the Needlecraft Haven Monthly Ornament Challenge. This month we did these fairisle style heart designs from Luli.
Here is mine, stitched in my favourite variegated red (Crescent Colours - Ruby Slippers), and white, and finished off with a teeny tiny pom pom trim.

The rest of the gallery is here
I've also been doing a spot of dressmaking. This is my version of the Lisette Traveller dress, done in a white broderie anglais for the bodice and a Lewis and Irene print cotton for the skirt, and finished with vintage buttons. I think it has a nice mid-century modern vibe.

I just hope we get enough good weather for me to be able to wear it!
And finally the upcycling. I'm sure you've seen the fancy marble coasters in the high end shops (eg John Lewis have a set of four for £20).
I picked up these ex-display samples of composite stone worktops for 10p each at a local DIY place.

All I needed to do was stick some self adhesive felt on the backs of them. Bargain!

Gifted Gorgeousness for February

Gifted Gorgeousness, for those who haven't come across it before, is a blog hop organised by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching, where we show off anything even remotely gift related that we think we can lever into the post stitching and crafting gifts we have sent or received.
To kick off this month we have the Valentines Exchange at Needlecraft Haven. . The idea was to exchange Valentine themed sock and matching thread.
Here are the wonderful snuggly and oh so pink socks I received from Justine.

Thank you Justine, I love them!
I sent to Julie, but forgot to get a picture before I sent them out.
In other gift related news, I made a little something for Kerry who won my imaginatively titled "Guess how many finishes I'll have this year" competition for 2016.

Yes, you can cross stitch on a tea strainer. Who knew? Anyway, I'm pleased to say that Kerry loved it.
And for dear Barb's birthday I made and sent this quilted patchwork zippered pouch, incorporating various vintage and contemporary fabric scraps including a piece with a lovely metallic sheep print, because as we know, Barb is rather fond of sheep.

Well, that's it for this month. Off to hop the blogs and see what everyone else has been up to now.

Gifted Gorgeousness - December Edition

It's Gifted Gorgeousness time again, the blog hop organised by Jo from Serendipitous Stitching where we get to show off our gift related crafts and stash.
I've got a little more to show this month. First up the Needlecraft Haven Ornament Exchange.
This is the beautiful sparkly ornament and little beaded angel I received from Gill

And here is the one I sent to Tina

Sally had her birthday this week, and I made her this little coin purse from an upcycled souvenir tea towel.

Still on the subject of upcycling, here is a bag I made from scraps cut from old jeans. This is for a Christmas exchange organised through Facebook, so I think I'm safe in showing it on here.

I won't show the other bits I made yet as they were more specific to the recipient.

Summer Sewing

A couple of the summer sewing projects I've been working on.

A playsuit for Naomi, using New Look 6291 in Liberty Tana lawn

This second picture was Naomi's idea to show how easy it is to move in.

A tunic for me. This is Simplicity 8141 using a poly-elastane jersey fabric.

rear view to show back detail (note to self - should have worn a different bra).

 

I love how this came out and I'm planning to make a plain coloured one as well. Full reviews for both patterns on PatternReview.com here

And just for fun - and because I bought these polka dot bag handles from EvilBay thinking they were big enough for a proper tote bag and had to think of something else to do with them when I saw how tiny they were - I embroidered some flowers on the leg of a worn out pair of jeans and made a Useful Bag For Keeping Things In.

Gifted Gorgeousness - August

Yes it's a day late. Whoops.
For those of you new to the concept, Gifted Gorgeousness is a SAL hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching, where once a month we show our gift related stitching and crafting.
This month I've got three things to share. The first is a little upcycled trinket tin I made as a Birthday gift for Julie. This started life as a tiny tin of mints. I ate the mints (sorry Julie), and then gave the tin a new lease of life with some vintage fabrics.

And here is the inside:-

The next is the gift I sent in the VSCyberstitchers Christmas in July exchange. My gift was for Nick (no blog as far as I'm aware), and I stitched him this set of a a Celtic bookmark and coaster (design by Textile Heritage) and sent it along with some local Cornish tea. Yes they do grow tea in Cornwall.

And here is the gift I received, by pure chance also from Nick, a fabulous stitched and framed monogram in beautiful teal green tones, and a set of stitching accessories in a fleur de lys design to represent his home in New Orleans.

Summer is icumen in

loude sing cuckou

I'm linking this up to the Tenuous Shoehorn Link Party organised by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching, the idea being to post some Summer holiday related stitching.
Summer, of course, is the busy season as far as weddings are concerned, so summer holidays are pretty much anything but holidays around here, and stitching time is severely curtailed.
You could stretch a point however and say that I spend my summer holidays in Cornwall every year ...
because that is where I live.
So here is a tenuously shoehorned picture of an older make, an upcycled (summer holiday)  souvenir of Cornwall tea towel bag.

And here is a picture of a bit of Cornwall that is just down the road from us