Memory Blanket

I had to repair some trousers for NYE and loved having my sewing machine out again. I wished quietly I had a reason to sew. Then to my amazement a week later my friend asked me to make a memory blanket for her little boy.
She gave me a bag of superman t-shirts and I set to cutting up the use able ones.
As he is a little boy there were tons of blue shirts so I decided on 3 rows of blue interrupted by 1 red and 1 green.
Despite using a template to cut the blocks, the t-shirts didn't line up perfectly which is a true annoyance to me but alas I wasn't unpicking all the panels that I had only just put together.
I then whizzed the backs of the shirts into the same sized panel and joined the front and back together.
My back hurts from cutting and sewing and I have a blister from my scissors so I should probably be careful with what I wish for but I have truly loved making it.
Who wants the next one?xx

Swapsies

You know me, I'm always looking for a bargain and to try to overcome my horder tendancies. Ok I don't try hard enough at that but the bargain thing is true. Recently a fabulous lady suggested a swap event. Something they make for something I make. I was well up for it and immediately starting showing pictures of things I could swap, thankfully lots of people were interested and soon trades were made. I've had jewellery from Beautiful and Precious, buttons from Jellybean Home and Decor and a gorgeous print from Hope Eternal. You can find all of their pages on Facebook but if you're stuck message me, I would be happy to point you in the right direction. I figured this was a good way to stock up on Christmas gifts. But then the horder in me reared up.

I fell so in love with the prints from Hope Eternal I bought an extra one, just in case. Then I realised I'm allowed presents. What a bizarre concept, well not really I love presents and often keep things I like too much to give away. Maybe I should actually do something about being a horder.

I digress. 

When I had the print I decided I wanted to turn it into a real feature for my porch. Picking up on the Nottingham lace theme I bordered two edges with trim. Then picking up on the nature theme I used leaf print fabric to create a mount board. 

The craft side of it - mostly glue and staples is a bit crude- but the finished product is beautiful. I love it and I know for sure noone will have another one like it. 

Hungry eyes

I get a fair few people asking me about homemade gifts, which I take as a massive compliment. I love searching for appropriate gifts or thinking about things I've already made and how they could be adjusted to a suitable recipient.
No problem so far. But you see I then get what I call 'hungry eyes' I look at the new idea all shiny and pretty looking and immediately want in on it. Sometimes because I don't think the people understand the vision I have in my head (how can they, they aren't mind readers) so I think they might ruin it, then other times I just want to make it myself - just to prove to myself that I can.
This happened recently. Under the guise of being helpful, after a friend said she had lots on, I suggested I made some flags she needed for our church holiday club. She only asked me to cut the shapes out to save her a job, I may have gone too far...

They're multiplying!

So put your hand up if you've ever thought of an idea and just run with it only to have that idea completely crash and burn. Yeah me too. Well since I set up the page FattyCrafterTales and have opened a shop on Etsy I'm sad to say I have become much more cautious. I would blame age but then I would have to admit that I have aged and of course I haven't, not since I hit 25.

By the by, when I have my ideas I try now to actually think about them which is what leads me to this sorry little picture.

I had decided to extend the quilled paper range onto candles - look at me sounding all posh with my 'range' - but I also realised that paper and heat forms two elements of the fire triangle so could essentially catch fire. Not good: the flames are supposed to be pretty not terrifying. Also I didn't know how PVA stood under heat. So I sacrificed some quilled paper and attached them to a tea light. As you can see the papers stayed on the casing and as I am writing this you can deduce it didn't end in a house fire and lots of trauma. It did end with me cleaning lots as I had to wait the two hours it took the candle to burn. Grrr, I knew there was more than one reason I don't like candles.

After I knew it was safe I set about turning this:

(Lots of shredded paper)

Into this:

Those tiny coils take ages but I am thrilled to discover cotton buds are great glue applicators. Not in the least because I'm a messy crafter as well as a fatty crafter and I don't always clean up after myself and I do regularly have to throw brushes away because they are too hard with glue to use again.

Then it was just about sitting watching a film (Magdalen Sisters to be precise) while I applied the glue and coils to plain candles.

Firstly we have a rainbow candle:

And I promise you I am sick of the song - I won't be making anything more in a rainbow style for quite a while let me tell you. Then when I was feeling brave I used bigger coils to be a little bit more arty:

I have left the bottom bit empty although I did think about green to represent land but instead I thought it looked really nice with the blue and white.

At this point my film finished and I had run out of inspiration and coiled up papers - they take a while to make. So I put the little family together.

These will be going in my Etsy shop this week of I don't get any interest on Facebook or here. Hope you like them and if you can think of any more patterns I would love to hear from you.

Toodles x

When is it ok to crochet?

Most of you reading this will know that recently I've been bitten by the crochet bug. I've made six beautiful blankets and just had my seventh order www.facebook.com/fattycraftertales if you want to see the pictures.
The first blanket was a trial one because I liked the pattern and needed to stop putting food in my mouth when I really wasn't hungry - more challenging than it sounds. If you've never tried to diet it's kind of like trying to pick up eye lashes with chopsticks whilst blindfolded.
After that I spent every stationary moment with my hook and some wool but as I repeatedly reinforced this habit, as soon as I sat down, anywhere, I started to look for my hook. Now of course I know that some places you aren't supposed to crochet; at work for example I am sure it would be frowned upon (unless I got a new job teaching crochet.... there's a thought) I'm pretty sure whilst the sermon is in full flow on a Sunday the crochet hook is supposed to stay in my bag but what about other times?
Last week I went to the in laws. I had my crochet in my bag. I left without growing the blanket because there didn't seem to arise a moment where it would be socially acceptable to get my wool out. It's wool for goodness sake not my boobs but still when is the socially acceptable time? I was sat down, I was still able to contribute to the conversation but alas my hook and wool stayed stowed.
I've figured that if you come into my home while I am crocheting it's totally ok to keep going - obviously I would break to offer tea I am British after all - which makes me think if I just walk around crocheting all the time is it ok never to stop?

Books, books, books

I love books. I love reading nearly as much but I adore books. I love the feel of the pages, the smell of an old book and the excitement of settling into a new good read. It's more than the stories that are contained on the pages, it is the books themselves that I love. It is no surprise therefore that I own a lot of books. Here's the top of my stairs to prove my point:

Floor to ceiling full of books, glorious books. It will probably come as no surprise to you then that I hate it when a book is ruined by being used for something else. When a lovely golden page is ripped out and used to decorate a card or to decopatch a bowl. I nearly disowned a friend after he had cut out the centre of a beautiful and old hardback book to house his stupid kindle. don't even get me started on kindles and ereaders. Just sacrilege. 

But as an avid crafter this poses somewhat of a problem because as much as I hate the torture books endure they do make cards and bowls look all the more gorgeous. It still feels wrong though - it's book murder. I'm probably going to have to get over this hurdle with years of counselling but for now it's book killing with intent.

I approach book murder with seriousness and have a few rules:

1. The book has to be a modern publication.

My dad is as eccentric as they come and a collector- cutting into an old book is just wrong, painful even, just plain wrong.

2. The book has to have served its purpose at least once.

Cutting into a book before it has been read is like killing a tree before it has chance to grow.

3. A book can be cut up if there are lots of versions of it

Wordsworth classics and penguins are available a plenty unless they are the orange kind. Then you're not allowed to cut them up.

But anyway back to craft.

As I see lots of book inspired crafts I tread with caution but I've found one recently that is brilliant. Page folding. Now after reading a semi good book I don't know what to do with them as I don't want to recommend a semi good book but I can't bring myself to throw them, see previous blogs on how much of a horder I am, so what to do. Well turn them into something pretty without ripping the pages out. Point in question: 

Now although I'm adverse to cutting books up I don't mind bent pages - I think they are nice as it shows the book has been loved and done its duty. Yes I personify my books. So this craft is brilliant because you could still technically read the book should you want to but it is also something new and pretty.

I'm tempted to decopatch the sleeves but think I may need that counselling first.

The art of quilling

Well hello all, have you missed me?

Today I am turning my attention to the very therapeutic art of quilling. This tale starts not so long ago and in a fairly nearby location with two extraordinarily beautiful women who had decided to get together to do some craft. Being one of those women I'm happy to share with you what was made. 

Our theme was 'rainbow' anything could be made but by the end of it rainbow had to have been incorporated. While on a trip to a seaside resort I frequented a charity shop. Those of you that know me already know that I'm a bit advocate of the charity shop especially for craft items and this trip was no less successful than the many other trips I have made. I found my base. A thin cylinder that I imagine could be used for drinking out of, holding flowers or just storing your dreams. I then got all my quilling papers together and toddled off to the other beautiful lady of this story's house.

With our supplies at the ready: 

We made a start. The day was spent chatting and drinking tea- perfection and pretty soon things started to happen with the receptical: 

More tea and chatting and more than likely at least one wee break lead to: 

But before I knew it the world was put to rights and time had evaporated so my bag of papers and I returned home. Now I'm always at risk of not finishing projects - mostly because I lose motivation but the other beautiful lady of this story wanted results so I pressed on. 

And before I knew it, my project was completed.

Many of you will know that I make things to sell at www.facebook.com/fattycraftertales (shameless plug) but with this I could never sell it. Although the paper and the jar were quite cheap the time it took was phenomenal. 

I'm usually one for perfect lines and symmetry which in this project went straight put of the window so by the end of it I embraces the merging of the colours. I think it looks better for it. What do you think?