New Baby is Born

As I think I may have mentioned, my latest 'ethel & edna' creation is a shop.  Well now I can introduce the newest baby the shop website.  Please pop over to have a little look.  I'll be adding pictures and online shopping very soon but let me know what you think so far.

Sorry it's a really short post but it's a tad busy here in the Sapre Room on my day off!  BT need chastising (don't get me started), house needs sorting before my sister and 2 nephews come to stay for a few days and I have a brother to visit in hospital.

There is a shop blog if you want to keep up with what I'm doing in my 'real life'.

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xx

Exciting Times Ahead...

Well it looks like 'ethel & edna' may have to be in moth-balls for the long term.  It's not that things didn't work out it's just that another, bigger. more exciting project has come my way.  I'm buying a haberdashery shop!!!!!  Can you believe it?!?!?!  I am so excited.

It has it's own blog and I'm giving everyone a step-by-step report on how it all grows and (hopefully) flourishes in the coming weeks , months and years...  Please pop over and follow me there as I think 'ethel & edna' posts are going to be even more intermittent than they have been.  Yes - that is possible.  I am really going to do my damneddest (sp?) and post every day for The Sewing Shop.  So many lovely people are already following us there and they are all so excited for us.

'e&e' will still be ticking over.  Any bits that I make I will sell through the shop.  We'll have a website and sell mail order as well as through the shop premises.  Any other ideas people may have will be gladly considered.  We've had some fab suggestions already.

So thanks for being there all this time.  I'm not disappearing completely.  It feels sad enough saying au revoir so I can't wave 'ethel & edna' goodbye.  Pop over to The Sewing Shop and we'll pretend we're back in the spare room.  :)

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xxx

Tigerlily Makes...

Well, the small person started Big Big School today.  How can she be old enough to go to high school already?  It's all gone to quickly.

Anyway, normal routine can resume - whatever normal routine was...  I've been having some technical glitches (computer crashing when I try to use any photographs) so this won't be a long post, but i just had to share.

Tigerlily Makes is moniker of local feltmaker Lisa.  She has just moved to a new craft unit where she will be running not just felt-making workshops, but inviting other textile bods to come and teach their technique to people.  And if you follow this little linkette you'll see that yours truly is to be counted amongst these talented people.

You may have seen some of my campervan canvases before on my blog, Flickr, Facebook, etc.  Well I shall be teaching how to make one of these appliqued panels but with a twist.  Using photo transfer techniques, we'll be personalising the pictures so that the faces of your choice will be smiling out through the windscreen.  If you've always fancied owning a van but could never afford it well here's the next best thing.

The workshop is on Sunday 13th November, so plenty of time to finish this and possibly make more for Christmas presents.  It will held in Lisa's studio at Curborough Craft Centre near Lichfield and includes tea/coffee and scrummy cake plus all the materials you will need.

  

If you are interested then click on the link and contact Lisa directly to make your reservation.

Right.  I'm going to quit while I'm ahead ie before the computer crashes again.  Will post again very soon with news of my latest craft show, plans for a future one and the results of my dying session (Mmmmmm....).

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xx

Step back in time.

So, after a busy few weeks of travelling to Dorset, Devon, Cornwall, Devon again I am finally home again, and trying to catch up with stuff.  Suddenly there is an awful lot to do and it's not that easy with a small person on hols from school.  To be fair she's been here, there and everywhere this week so I have had quite a bit of time on my own.  It's then that other factors have managed to stop me from working.

I desperately need to complete a sample canvas for Lisa so she can promote our workshop but just when I thought I'd got it licked my black thread started shredding in the machine. 

It was cheap rubbishy stuff but buying a reel of decent thread meant a trip to Hobbycraft, which meant filling the van up with diesel - a costly affair which I've been trying to put off as long as possible.  Anyhoo, I needed some white DK to finish my latest hookie blankie as well, so double the excuse for a trip to Tamworth.  Yay!

The only problem was I had to wait for kidlet to finish at her skateboarding workshop.  So to while away the time I decided to dig out my procion dyes and have a play.  I soaked a load of lace trims and fabric scraps in some soda crystals and hot water for a while.  Then I mixed up a few pots of random colours and splodged.  All highly technical don't you know.

At the moment the trays are just sitting on the side.  I'm not timing them or anything.  I'm probably just going to put them out of the way 'til tomorrow, and I'll rinse and dry them as a treat when I've finally completed my VW bus panel.

I do love the colours in this one.  The purple is actually Reactive Blue but with the yellow and turquoise as well...ZING!!

I've had a request for a couple of brooches/badges/pins/call 'em what you will.  So while I was making 2 I thought I may as well make a whole batch ready for Whittington.  The order was for a '6' for a special someone's birthday next month.  It's cotton appliqued onto felt, made up with my magic machine and then delica beads stitched on by hand afterwards - a fiddly job but they do look lovely..

Here is a selection of the other ones I made.  I can do any letter, number or simple shape you like.  Colour choice can also be specified.  These ones without beading are £3.95 each.  They are 38mm wide.

I also made some more simple badges from a book that's one of my childhood favourites - Milly Molly Mandy.  There's MMM, Billy Blunt, Little Friend Susan,  The Little Girl Jessamine,  muvver and farver to name but a few of the characters featured.  These are £1.25 each - also 38mm across.  I'll be listing them on Folksy/etsy soon but if you're interested then you can contact me through my blog, Facebook, email or any other means you possibly have access to.

Right.  I'm going to tackle the sewing machine again.  Maybe this time I'll get it finished.

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xx

Hip, hip - hooray!

I've sold a Silly Girl!

Yay!  Bye-bye b&w.  She's winging her merry way to a new home in Scotland.  Hope she'll have a lovely time up there and she tries not chase too many haggis.

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x

Okies.  I'm having a bit of a re-organisation of blogs, shops and all things web-based.  This blog will now be devoted to 'stuff what I've made'.  All my wafflings and ramblings about the rest of my life will be on my other blog - Witterings of a Land-Locked Beach Bum'.  Hopefully this will mean I will get my proverbial in gear and post more regularly about all things creative.  Then the travels and adventures during the school hols can be added to the other one as and when.

The other thing I've done is to jazz up the Folksy and etsy shops a bit.  I've added my new banner

to both shop fronts.  Hope you like...

I've added some bits and bobs to the Folksy shop and will be stocking up the etsy one ASAP.  I was shocked to see that I've been registered with etsy for 3 years+ and have never actually old anything.  That's probably something to do with only ever having listed 2 items for sale.  :)  Well all that is now going to change.  No more excuses.  No more pussy-footing around.  Organisation is the word of the day.

Here's a wee peek at what I've been working on recently.  As well as making and selling through the online outlets and at craft fairs, I really want to get some workshops up and running.  These appliqued canvases are hopefully going to feature in a workshop I do for a local craft outlet.  More info soon.  I'm soooooo excited to be working with this lovely lady.  I'll let you know as soon as all the details are finalised.

A funky bay window camper van in psychedelic green floral print.  How much would I love this as a full-sized, real-life bus??

 Or there's the more traditional red split screen camper.  Super cute and instantly recognisable.  This one is applied to an old linen dress of kiddie's which had the floral print around the bottom.  It just looked like a flowery meadow - perfect to park the van in.

Right.  Off to do more sorting.  I'll be back as soon as I've got etsy updated.

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xx

I've been a busy little bee in the last few weeks.  I've had meetings and done a craft fair and I've been designing workshops and listing stuff on Folksy and trying to fit some 'making' time in amongst all this.  And then my darling OH asks when I'm going to actually make some money. :-S  Got to love him.

So here are some of the little gems (you may have seen before) that I've got listed in my shop.  I have just a handful of Silly Girls left but more can be made to order if you have a specific colour requirement.  I also do them as a bridge and groom for wedding keepsakes.  I will try and post a picture but if you're desperate to see what they look like NOW then head over to my Flickr photo album for a peek.

I still have a few flower brooches left too.  There are roses, daffodils and these tulips.  All done in silk ribbon embroidery with perle cotton stems.  Again, I can do any of these in a myriad of colours, to match a wedding outfit perhaps....? 

The background felt could be a different colour too.  Your choice. 

So, I mentioned I'd done a craft fair...  My first one in 3 years.  THREE YEARS!!!  I can't believe it.  Anyway, someone I know has arranged this one to raise funds for Cancer Research UK so I thought 'why not?'  It was only £15 for a stall and most of that was going to the charity.

Thus ensued a frantic week of gathering together stock, making a bit more stock, deciding which workshops to launch first, writing leaflets for said workshop, planing a table layout to make sure I had enough goodies...  And that's before I even got there.

 

On the day I had a 'glamorous assistant' to help me.  I don't know if it's quite what she'd envisaged as it was not very busy, but in the quieter moments I taught her to crochet so all was not lost.  I gave the kiddie one of my softie teabags as her wages as she'd been asking (nagging) for one all day.  She crocheted a cup and saucer bed for it, a sugar cube stool and a spoon.  Bless.  She was so pleased with herself and didn't need too much help at all.  She picked up the concept of a slip stitch quite easily and, while her tension leaves a lot to be desired, it is improving with each thing she creates.

Of course, 'the best laid plans...'never work out.  When we arrived I'd added quite a few items to my stock since "the kitchen table layout trial" so nothing would fit properly.  Kiddie was trying to help but I ended up getting a bit tetchy with her too.  :-(  It all got sorted in the end though and we did have quite a nice day.

I didn't make a fortune but I didn't make a loss either so that's something.  And I did make a great contact with a venue in the middle of Lichfield where they want me to run workshops no charge.  I can use their room and charge whatever I like for the classes.  They'll help promote and just make sales from their coffee and homemade cake.  What a joy!  Just need to tweak some of my ideas for hand sewing rather than machining but other than that...no brainer.

Right.  We're now off to play dodge the rain at Alrewas Canal Festival.  This beautiful village, about 7 miles from Lichfield, is where I spent my first 17 years of life.  I still pop back, usually to The George and Dragon pub after Morris dancing practice, and love it despite all the changes.  Maybe it's growing up here, where the River Trent and the Trent and Mersey Canal briefly merge, that has given me my love for water.  My childhood was filled with walks by the canal, paddles in the canal, catching tiddlers,  photographing flooded water meadows, dreaming of travelling in a narrow boat.  I do miss it now.  Oh well.  Enough musing.  I'm going to go and see the real thing.

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xx