Over to Textiles

OH EM GEE!!!

I went to Harrogate on Saturday with my friend Wendy and I was blown away.  Not with the wind I might add but by the array of stands and work on display at the Knitting and Stitching Show.  Five halls (I think, but don't quote me on this) of vendors and exhibitions of work.

We set off from home a little later than we anticipated but on nearing Harrogate we ended up in a bit of a traffic jam.  If we thought that was bad our experience at trying to park was even even worse.  Unfortunately Harrogate had a Christmas Market on, and it was a Saturday.  Having been  stuck, and I mean stuck, in traffic on various streets and hills in the town centre we finally found somewhere to park for three hours.  By the side of the exhibition centre too.  I won't go into details about poor Wendy having to go out twice to move the car but I was grateful for the closeness of the car to the exit at the end.

We only had about four hours to walk round but at the end of it we were both suffering with our feet and backs but certainly not our minds.  I'll share some photos (permission gained to photograph) so you know what I mean:

These two massive embroidered canvases hit us as soon as we walked in.  Incredible work and the size of them was enormous.  And look at this needlefelted waistcoat.

Moving On

We stayed and chatted to the lady on this stand for quite a while as we were blown away with her book covers.  What a fabulous product she was selling and what fun you could have with it.  Below are some more.

On past the vendors who were  exhibiting their beautiful work and one I must mention is the lady who did the butterflies.  Wendy bought her book and got it signed.  Her work was exquisite.  Her embroidered butterflies unbelievable.  At first glance we thought they were made from paper but when realisation took hold it was pure embroidery.  These are absolutely fantastic and you could use a magnifying glass to pick out the stitching because the naked eye could not see stitches.

Around the corner we then came to exhibition areas

I loved the texture on this canvas and really want to make something now.  Yes, hopefully my mojo has returned.  Thank you Twisted Threads.

I'll leave you for now with these embroideries which have beautiful pencil work extensions to them.  They really did stand out and I'll continue with some more pictures tomorrow.

Anything Goes on Artful Times (Challenge 18)

Phew!  Was I glad it was a free choice this week over on Artful Times.  I just do not know where the days are going to but they are certainly not hanging around.  Only thing is that a) I am not ready for Christmas (not even done one complete card yet) and b) as each day goes by I realise I am getting older.

It was nice to welcome some new people to our challenge last week, hope we see you again soon.  We didn't have as many entries as usual so I wonder if the 'fabric' put some of you off, or are you like me, drowning in the Christmas stuff.  If you haven't seen the lovely fabric tags that are on show do pop over to the Artful Times for a quick look.  It would be nice if you could put a comment on some of the work too, people love comments.

I had a cut down box on my desk a few weeks ago and finally got around to covering it.  One of my closest friends saw it on my blog and said she wanted one.  Well, me being me, I couldn't have hers like mine so I took hers a step forward:

It looks a bit like a contraption on wheels doesn't it.  Well, it is simply a holder for those ATG guns that have so much sticky on the tape that it sticks to anything and everything on your desk.  This has proved invaluable for me and I urge you to make one.

In the beginning

I took one cat food box and cut it down to just below the push out bit for the lid.  It's approximately 3.5 inches high now.  Then I took a piece of 12 x 12 scrapbook paper and measured out, using the box, how much I needed for the two long sides allowing a little at each end to turn around the corner and a good overhang at the top.

Hope you can see what I mean, on the right you can see the folded bit sticking up and on the left my bone folder is there to show you that I marked along the edge of the box to get a crease line.  I then stuck the piece on, marked across the top with my bone folder and turned the top edge over and inside the box.  (Is that as clear as mud?)  Repeated with the other long side.

The two short sides were cut from what remained of the 12 x 12 paper, measured for length with an allowance for a turnover and then stuck on each end.  You can see one is in place and the other on the deck.

As you can see from the photograph below I actually made three of these containers in all. One for myself with "Glue" on it and one with the name of the recipient on it.  (Carmel overheard Lorraine asking me to make her one and she wanted one too) and, of course, the one for my friend Lorraine.

Now what is the wheel?

On Lorraines I have put a Cheese Triangles box, covered in paper. What for, I can hear you asking?  Well, Lorraine is in need of a bit of TLC so she got a special box and hers has a wheel on, to .....  wait for it .....  has a wheel on to hold a spare reel of tape.  I only had one of these boxes or I would have put two wheels on so that she could keep a spare tape for each of her guns in the one place.

I felt it would be cheating to put this on the challenge without any stamping so I made little frames and stuck them around the box (sticky tape on three sides only).  Lorraine can now take the stamped images I made for her box out and replace them with photographs of her pets and family.

Hope some of you like this project and have a go yourself.  If you don't have a cat to get a box do what I do - feed the neighbours two!

ps when covering the circular box lid and base draw a circle then add a bit and cut it like you do when lining a cake tin (snipping edges).  This is then folded down on the edge, glued and a strip added to cover it later.

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday (WOYWW) 181

How do I account for the heading being written out in full rather than as the acronym that we are all used to and which I normally feature? It's for 'newbies'!  I had a friend ring me up the other day (last week actually) and ask "what the hell is that "WO" thing you keep doing.  I told her so she asked me to explain it in my blog so here goes - especially for my dumb blonde friend in Rochester whose name begins with "M".  (LOL - I am blondish too so no slur here.)  Everyone else jump to the picture, this next bit is for newbies only.

WOYWW stands for What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday and is the signal for all those like-minded crafters to join in and bare their all (well desk or work area really) for all to see.  It was the brain-child of one Ms Julia Dunnit around three and a half years ago to begin this blog hop which has now turned into a massive phenomenon attracting around 150 visitors.

Are you a newbie (or my dumb blonde friend from Rochester) (she won't be offended, she loves me really), if so go to your blog, take a photo of your desk, tidy or messy, and upload it to your blog with a bit of blurb about it, what you are doing etc.  Then go to your heading for that particular blog today and click on it.  In the bar above you will see your blog name and the header you used,  copy this heading and go to here, go down to Mr Linky and put your name in and 'paste' your link below then press "enter".

No doubt my DB Friend M will ask me how to do it again but then we all have to be patient with friends like her (remember I love you really M - and you love me).

Now to my desk:

Am in the midst of a bit of paper engineering.  Not sure if it will work or not but I took the photo and then began assembling.  (Didn't get far but it is a thingie for my friend who said she wanted one and hopefully will give her a bit of cheer - she really needs it.)  Put a piece to dry on top of a radiator and it fell down the back.  Fished it out and it had fluff on it - now just finished cleaning behind the rad! Beddy Byes me thinks, its gone midnight.

Oh, and having a visitor at weekend so have moved all the craft bags I normally keep in the spare room back into my craft room.  To show how much room is taken up the grey bit at the front is my knee and I am sat with my back tight up to my work area.

It's tight in there folks!  Chocker to the back wall.

ps and I have a huge cupboard in the utility room and a smaller wall cupboard in there, plus a box in the hallway, plus a box in the spare room (hope they don't look in), plus a cupboard in the lounge. Crafters, "what (are) we like?"

At Last ...

At long last I have covered my Felix Box that holds my two ATG guns. So much on my mind that I was up at 5 am so I thought I had better get something done.  Got my things together for later (I am going to Padgate Crafters today - not been for ages) then had time on my hands so set to and covered my box.

"Out of a Hat Creations" are having a challenge for you to 'use your stash'.  As I have not been entering anything for ages I thought I would just put my box in - it used a sheet of my ancient Tim Holtz 12x12 paper and some Grungeboard letters.  More importantly it used some of my NEW Dabbers.  Yes, I had some replaced, months ago, and thinking about it I need to get using them up now just in case they start to dry out.

You can see my tin of Dabbers behind - it was the first one I picked up and it had blues and greens in.  I know a couple of the letters look the same colour but I assure you they are not.  All the paints were fine except Lake Mist so I can see I am going to enjoy using them again.  The other side says "Glue".

Made a card for a very good friend of mine for her birthday yesterday. I know it may seem a bit OTT with all the wordy bits on it but I can assure you there was a good reason for each and every one of them.

... and no, she does not drink Margharita's (unlike me when I go away) but I just wanted to make her smile.

One Hundred and Eighty

Yep, it's the 180th edition of WOYWW this week - pop over to the link if you want to know what I am on about.  I think most of you know it is the weekly snooping of workspaces that takes place, courtesy of Ms Julia Dunnit every Wednesday.

Nothing of note on mine - was going to have something crafty on it but I got involved with buying books on Amazon and reading text books from the library - crafting is definitely going to happen today.

Have been busy doing a bit of sewing and here's my desk this morning, just as left last night

My new iPad cover is the fabric on the left - not sewn yet as I did it wrong so many times and now have forgotten to put a flap on the top so it is back to the drawing board.  The red underneath it - that's my laptop and Chas' laptop covers and the rest is a selection of tools I guess with my machine peeping in at the corner.

This is the floor behind me

A couple of nappy boxes (didn't we all set off with them in the old days?  Remember Mothercare, followed by a car boot sale?) that holds some of my sewing stuff/fabric although there looks to be a considerable amount on top and a bit on the floor.  The purple topped box used to be my demonstration box when I first began working at shows.  It's great for my sewing stuff but I wish I knew what had happened to the third plastic container that fits in the drop down section.  Remember ArtBins like this one?

Well, I must get my worktop tidied up a bit and then I can get something crafty done.  Bah Humbug to the iPad cover that I messed up - it can wait another month or two like it did last time.

See you on the circuit!

SORRY TO SHOUT BUT SPYDER AN YOU PLEASE GET IN TOUCH 

Artful Times Challenge 17 - Fabric Tab

A while ago I went away with some very talented friends and found out that they were all into textiles.  Now from one who used to sew (dresses, curtains, bedding etc) to one who never sews anything unless you can count the curtains I made when we first moved into this bungalow - swags and tails I might add - to someone who did "free machining" was quite a different matter.

Mum's old Singer sewing machine did straight no nonsense stitching.  Long ago the booklet with it had disappeared and on my inheriting the 'workhorse' the box of attachments had laid in isolation somewhere.  Perhaps now lost forever.

Anyway, I digress, I bought myself a bit more up to date sewing machine and so envisaged dazzling you all with my prowess when I first decided to add this FABRIC TAG Challenge to our list.  Plans, mice and men all spring to mind.

So many ideas, and suddenly, so little time.  No sewing!  What could I do in a hurry?

Manchester Show with Sam had revealed yet something else to my eager 'fabric minded' head.  Fusing fabric aka Margaret Beal.  I had a FabricMaster (what on earth are all those bits for?), a friend had gone through it with me to tell me what all the bits were, I had some organza so what was stopping me.  Must add here that I bought this Fabric Master years ago (about 9 or 10) and had forgotten all about it, never used!

Here's my Fabric Master, with all its bits:

and here is what I made

To be honest they do  look better in real life.

Now, what will you do?  Sewing, Fusing, Transfer technique or good old stamping on fabric?  Can't wait to see.

WOYWW 179

Well, here we are again, another Wednesday which means it's Snoop Day.  For those not in the know there's a conspiracy going on where we all go and look at others desks and see what everyone is up to.  Want to join in?  Go along to The Stamping Ground and prepare to be amazed.

Mine hasn't been very productive in weeks now and over the weekend I was at a brilliant workshop given by Jacqui one of Vicky Stampers members.  Sadly my attempts were nowhere near like hers and I haven't (shame on me) done any since.  There are my two attempts above right and to the left are some copies of Jacqui's exquisite samples.  You might recognise the style as that done by Lavinia Stamps at the shows.

I've still been feeling off with this infection or whatever it is and my lip has been painful, now on penicillin from the doctor for it and to go back next Monday to see him, so no crafting done.  Today though I did wash the outfit worn by this adorable little lady (hope Elizabeth visits and sees my rocking horse) and now I need to sort her hair out and then it is a gift (additional one) for my little Chloe at Christmas.

Bought it off a lady when Chloe was just a tiny baby and have saved it for her so now she is 5 she can have it.

Shame about the shadow on her face but it is "the late hour" and my bed is calling so no time to take another.  She is pretty really.

Pop along to Julia's and see what others have been doing.  Toodle pip!