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. 

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?

Craft for non crafters

I find craft really easy so I'm always a little bemused by those that say they can't do it but then again I can't bake and am truly fed up with the amount of people telling me that 'as long as you follow the recipe you'll be fine' well it's not always fine and before I get into another rant of you're in for a laugh at my expense head to the post 'maker not baker' to find out more.

That said I recently taught a craft at a church event and was thrilled with how many people said they were chuffed that they had successfully crafted even though they believe they aren't craft folk -

- maybe there's hope for me as a baker yet! 

The night was a wonderful mix of cake - always a favourite- men all poshed up, it is possible; 

And craft along with testimonies of God's work in some very special ladies' lives. 

I have to admit I was incredibly nervous to start with I mean there was a church full of women!

But all of them went home with something handmade, unique and as special as each lady in the room. Some also went home with a belly full of cake but I don't see any issue with that, I'm the fatty crafter not the fitty crafter after all.

Adding a little creativity

Sometimes crafting isn't always about what you're making. Often it is just the way you arrange things; cupboards, lunch boxes... yourself?
Although the above are a little silly I hope you get my point.
In a bid not to succumb to a Sunday afternoon nap to let the awesome home cooked pie work its magic, I decided today to do a wall display, I've been meaning to do it for a while so no further to do I went in search of my husband's tools.
He was safely stowed on the sofa with headphones completely unaware of my intentions- occasionally the best way to be.
After I had selected the pictures and pieces I wanted I laid them out on my bed to get an idea of how I wanted them to look. Usually it takes a while to play with the layout but this one fell neatly into place.
Then came the banging. At this I was thankful my OH was watching his zombie programme because as the plaster started to come off the wall I feared I had made a female error of some sorts.
But then I figured 'ah well, it's off now so may as well keep going!'
Ten minutes or so later I had my finished wall. I've got one last thing I want to put up but I haven't made it yet. Will update you when I can. Although some of the things on my wall won't make sense to you, they mean the world to my husband and I. Seeing as we are the residents of the house, I guess that's all that matters.

Have you seen...?

My husband has to put up with a lot. I'm not going to list my faults here because I'm hoping the most of you still think I'm normal and I don't want to risk changing that, but trust me, he puts up with a lot. One such fault though is a regular in our household.

I'm renown for temporarily forgetting where I've put things. I'm also not great at putting things in the same place more than once. As such objects are often prefixed with 'have you seen...?' 

Depending upon the urgency that my voice is saturated with my husband will start the inevitable three minute search until the item comes to the surface. 

I'm so bad at this sometimes I start the call to search the house but before my plea is finished I have found what I am looking for. Like I said, he puts up with a lot.

 Recently I purchased some items to give a craft I had seen a try - when I find them again I will no doubt be blogging about it - but because my husband is selfishly at work and I have the attention span of a five year old I moved on to do something different than I had planned. Reason being in my search I found something I had previously temporarily forgotten about and decided to play with that.

In Crafts Beautiful this month there was a feature on floral adornments: 

So when I found my tiny punches again I thought I would use their article as inspiration for my afternoon. As it is mothers day very soon I went with the word 'mum' using little flowers as the lettering. This is the outcome:

It's not backed onto the black card yet because I want to add some ribbon and use it as a gift tag. I don't have a gift for my mum yet but at least the gift tag is ready. Is giving just a gift tag as a gift a bit too mean? Maybe that can be the mum-in-law's gift. But seeing as I was on a punching adrenaline rush I made a heart too:

What I love about these two things is that the flowers are punched out of scraps of paper and card (after I gave my husband his valentines card I immediately reclaimed the very pretty envelope as crafting material) so they're really easy to source although I'm sure if CB wanted to send me some really pretty papers to play with there could be a much nicer effect ;)

Cute as a button

Hello everyone,

I'm very excited to announce I have a Facebook page dedicated to not only this blog but also the items that I am selling. I share this link on Twitter and other forums so although many of you probably already know about www.facebook.com/fattycraftertales I wanted to put the link here just in case you didn't.

On the page you can find lots of handmade goodies, my crafter tip of the week and usually comments about cake. I'm not the fatty crafter by accident! I also post events on there so if you find yourself my neck of the woods maybe there is a crafting party going on.

One such thing that I make, and will be teaching at an event coming soon, is this button heart:

It's selling on my page for £6 but as a special offer to any new likers I get from this blog you can have it for £5 and I will cover the postage. Remember to like my page first then when you message me to get yours remind me that you saw it here first. I'd love to have a good memory but a lot of the time my head is too full of cake. 

Decopatch-ish?

It happened again. I read Crafts Beautiful and had to succumb to its crafting compulsives. This time it's a crafty hoop art thing. 

This is something I find really frustrating about my hobbies within craft I find they don't really have a real name. 

Anyway, before I get too involved with my rant, these 3D pictures caught my eye and with one of my besties having already had a baby and another one 18 weeks along, these were what I thought great ideas as a replacement present. Although I made a baby blanket for the first bestie, the second has a mamma that is essentially a knitting machine and I know when I'm beaten so thought I'd give this a go instead. 

To start I got a large embroidery hoop, weirdly enough I had one lying around the house. I then used this to draw the required circle shape onto a piece of wall paper sample - also just lying around and the perfect colour to boot. I cut the circle and attached some green material for the grass to give a 3D effect from the outset. I also had the fabric lying around, it was last used 12 years ago for a school project. I then cut out geometric shapes from patterned paper that, you guessed it, was just in my craft stash for the trees. The rainbow was the hardest and part of me wishes I had printed this off to save time but I quite like the uneven element, I mean how many times do you see a perfect rainbow? It then was about assembly and deciding which parts belonged where. 

I decided that it looked far too bland and as the magazine had a bear I thought I would copy their idea, except the baby is due in June when it's sunny (hence the rainbow) and I didn't have a bear. I did have a printer and laptop so I printed a cartoon Dino for the baby boy who already has a Dino themed room and a puppy for the baby that is unborn, I know the parents are dog people so thought this was a safe choice. 

I printed them out three times and gradually just built up the characters to create the 3Dness using foam sticky pads that were in my craft corner. After that it was about assembly again before sticking the lot down.

The flowers were a strike of genius that I can take no credit for, I found them when looking for a craft knife and thought they would look awesome. I think that they do anyway. The spaces at the bottom are for names or messages for the parents to decide on. Next to what Crafts Beautiful made I'm pretty pleased with it.

It's not as good but I do love it. My other half is already listing the variations we could do although I'm going to have to find a better way to attach the picture to the hoop as my elbow is still sore from the carpet burns I got from crawling on the floor with my glue gun!

Craft central

I'm not a naturally organised person. My favourite expression is 'we'll get organised tomorrow' but with the new year comes the obligation to tidy. Another reason to love Christmas more than new year's eve. Now let me make something clear, I'm under no circumstances resolving to become a tidy person. As much as my husband may want me to the chances are it would last 30 minutes and while sitting still so as not to disturb the organisation I would browse a craft magazine, find something I want to make and create a new mess more spectacular than the last. I have however tidied some bits up and dedicated one room of my house to mess rather than have it spread out all over the place. I love my new craft corner and think for an inherently messy person it's pretty awesome. Not quite awesome enough to make me want to do it on a regular basis. I wonder how long it will last, anyone want to place bets?

Making as a reward for marking

As Christmas approaches it gets harder to write this craft blog as obviously my makes are going to be for gifts. As much as I would like to think that this blog is read by millions worldwide I'm pretty sure mostly it is read by my friends indulging my eccentricity. This leaves me with somewhat a dilema. Either I hibernate for the festive period then inundate you with blogs after the surprise can't be ruined or we establish a rule, if you don't want to have the surprise ruined- don't read on. For now I'm still fixated on my boxes so you can safely read on while we collectively try to reach the masses.
After being a good girl and doing my marking I decided I deserved a reward. I retreated to my craft allocated corner of my house and built my little boxes. I've attached tonight's effort somewhere although I confess I'm on a new phone so I'm not sure where it's gone.
I still can't decide if I prefer traditional wrappers to the 'nordic' papers which seems to be mega popular so please feel free to comment.
Be warned the next blog will be about the gifts I've been making- your surprise is in your own hands people, similar to destiny but that's far too deep and meaningful for a Monday.

Not for the love of money but for the love of making

I love craft. I love going to charity shops and finding things I can upcycle. I love making things from a whole host of goodies. I also love looking around me for inspiration and producing cute little makes either for myself or predominantly as gifts. And, let's face it, who doesn't love a bargain. But if that's your joy in life, craft might not be for you.

There is the assumption that if you make gifts they are cheaper- this is not always the case. Unless the ingredients can be found or sourced for free, other peoples clear outs for example or autumn leaves, crafting can become quite expensive and even if you do manage to forage some goodies the time it takes to make such items - even if you work for minimum wage - can start to add up. Look at the airsoft magazine I made:

Remember that one? Ignoring the paper, ink, card and double sided tape it took to create the magazine I spent an entire day putting it all together. To sell it in order to make money I would have to sell it for at least £30 which is beyond ridiculous. Another example:

These are my wool words. The wire and the wool are inexpensive but each one takes about 30-40minutes to make, depending on the length of the word. To be worth selling I would have to charge £8 per word.

Thankfully making these gifts was an absolute pleasure. For not a second of the making process did I count the cost, I enjoyed what I was doing and got a real kick out of knowing how much the recipients would like their gifts. I was even more pleased when those people displayed their presents and told others how much they liked them.

My point here is that when you try to make a gift for someone don't assume it won't cost you as much. Equally when you receive a handmade gift, consider how much it may have cost the person if not in money in time. Or if you buy handmade items, don't quibble over the cost - it isn't cheap to do!

I'm not trying to make anyone feel guilty I'm trying to point out how loved you actually are for another to invest so generously.

My motives for handmade gifts are purely selfish- I love to make things. A friend of mine has asked me not to make her things because she can't return the gift- what she doesn't realise is my being able to make her something is as much as a gift to me as it is to her. Here's hoping she lets me keep going!

From page to product in 24hrs

It's PIF time again. One of the most wonderful women I know isn't having it easy, but through it all she has been a wonderful friend. She is just so awesome and talented. I try to match up to her skills but I'm me and she is she. Today I'm feeling pretty good about what I've made for this lady.

It's a little bit silly and very cute. It's not perfect but let's face it, I'm an amateur-play-around-crafter what do we expect. Let's see if you can guess what it is... 

It's not a jewellery roll...

Not a fold away table runner...

Not a storage bag for buttons...

It's a collapsable button draughts board! I absolutely love it, here's hoping she does too!

I saw this in a magazine while away for the weekend, it's supposed to be a Christmas gift idea so kids have something original to do on the big day, but who says all the kids get to have the fun.

Punctuated Projects

I read an article recently about the therapeutic powers of baking. Personally I think this is absolute TOSH. For those of you that know me or have read my earlier blogs you will appreciate my journey with baking, I try, I usually fail, a blog is written and I get back to my crafting. What I do find therapeutic though, is the entirely captivating powers of craft.

I regularly start projects get distracted like a five year old and then move onto something else, but a common thread is I return to these projects and finish them off- unlike a five year old. Either after a week and polish off to perfection or repeatedly take them out add to them and then put it away again. 

Most people would assume this makes for boring, elongated projects (sometimes true) but for me it makes them more special because they become witnesses to my existence. I'm guilty of personifying everything. As I sit adding to a piece of craft I think about where I was the last time I was doing it, who I was with, what was happening. It always makes me think about when I learned how to do the craft and as such laughable, not always happy but laughable, memories start to build up. I usually put the craft away because it has beaten me but I rarely remember that frustration, especially when what I add to the work looks as pretty as this:

It probably doesn't look much to you but that tiny feather is part of a much bigger project. A project that has been going for years, a project that I both love and hate but one that's seen me through uni, two relationships one of which turned into marriage, arguments and make ups, dream jobs and house moves. As you can see I'm a busy girl so it's hardly surprising projects get put on the back burner for a while.

Each time I get this particular cross stitch out, I'm convinced I will finish it off once and for all. But as I've aged and hopefully matured- jury is still out on that one - I'm happy to accept that whatever I add to it this time will be a memory for the next time.

Help!

I like the idea of undoing work about as much as I like the idea of licking a sweaty bear's armpit. It's right up on my to do list with pulling my eyelashes out. Perhaps this is the reason I got so good at improvisation, at being able to 'fix' craft errors and change designs to produce as good an outcome as if I had followed the original plan. There are however some points in a crafter's day that defeat must be acknowledged and the only thing to do is undo.

This happened to me recently with a cross-stitch project I've been working on for nearly 18 months. I haven't actually been making my own version of the Bayeaux tapestry it's just I pick up and put down projects at the same velocity a child on lucky charms does laps of a garden. 

I thought I had found a fix to a border problem. A miscalculation left a 3 space gap where there should only be a 1 space gap. 'Not to fear', I thought, I will just put another pattern across the middle complimenting the design. I picked a nice flowery design and set to. At least an hour later, two colours and back stitch I proudly displayed my work to the craft critic in my house to have the rose tinted glasses removed. It did indeed look crap. The pattern was fine but having it go through the middle cut the should-be-complimenting words in half effectively divorcing them. Less than ideal!

Another, very stressful, very blue, hour later, this is what I had to show for my salvation attempt.

I was not a happy person and an even less easy person to live with. You can't even use these threads for anything else!

I've still to discover how I'm going to fix my 3-space-should-be-1-space problem (undoing the entire border really isn't an option) so if you have any advice I would be extremely grateful. If not, chances are the project will go away for another indescriminate period of time until I can think of another approach.

Did I also mention that I now have a green line across my work that needs sorting too?

Confession of Craftaholic

It's my wedding anniversary today and that is something to celebrate. I haven't injured myself or anyone else and am still affectionate toward my husband. Enough sop, let's move onto the craft.

As most five year olds, the inner child in me gets very excited about presents. I warned my husband that I was never going to not want a gift and that he should probably remember this when I'm too tired or distracted to drop heavy hints. I am incredibly easy to buy for though so don't feel too bad for him. He on the other hand, along with having a unusual name, is impossible to buy for. His hobbies are so specialised I stand no chance of buying a gift of any real purpose or substance so I'm often left with the unenviable choice of money, I.O.U or voucher. I like receiving gifts but as any outer adult I like seeing the smile of a well thought out gift being appreciated too so imagine my dismay when the first year category is paper and under interrogation my fella decides an airsoft magazine - the paper kind not the load with BB's and shoot kind - would be the perfect gift. Without ordering from the Internet and paying double the price this is impossible. With only a week, ok more like two days, I was running out of options. Then it occurred to me, I just needed to consult my inner craftiness. I would make a magazine, it can't be that hard.

I gathered all the feature stories, reviews, funny pictures and recipes that I could. All good magazines have a recipe of some kind. Then came the putting together. Six hours worth of craft, a full roll of double sided tape and probably a full ink cartridge and the magazine was born.

Seeing how pleased my husband was with the magazine made all the hard work worth it.

Hard work? Who am I kidding, I loved making every page, I'm already looking forward to next year's challenge. Then it dawned on me, if crafting can be used to supply an airsoft fix maybe I really have reached the realm of craftaholicness. No that isn't a word, I will give myself a good talking to for that later.

Honesty is the best policy

What a funny couple of days! 

I'm a Christian, this means I believe in the trinity, that I'm a sinner and that Jesus the son of God came to earth as man to live a perfect life, be put to a cross to die and take away all sins. It does not mean I'm going to hit you with a bible every time I see you or try to slip holy water into your tea. Now we've cleared that up we can get to my point.

Last Friday night I taught a craft session at a church event on wool words:

There were 50 women attend the ladies night which involved cake and tea served by handsome men in tuxedos. There was prayer and testimonies and it's fair to say a good time was had by all.

As I was teaching the craft to a large group I was given a microphone. For the record I should never be given a microphone. I tend to say ridiculous things and generally turn a nice shade of crimson. But needs must. 

Now while the ladies were doing the easy but slow part to the craft I decided to entertain them by talking a little bit about what I do and why I was there teaching. As such I told them about the college I work for and was probably too honest for my own good.

After the evening's proceedings a lovely lady approached me and asked me about my college. A little stunned I started to panic thinking my p45 was in the post for sure. What actually happened was she offered me a potential job. My jaw hit the floor but I picked up a piece of wool to disguise my utter surprise. Of course I was interested but this had to be too good to be true. I've wanted to make a job out of my hobby for a while but never found my way in.

The lady took my contact details and left. I was convinced it was a dream until an email came through inviting me to an interview. This is where I was this morning. The hours will be sessional and the courses short but it's certainly worth thinking about! 

There are a few points to iron out but God willing all things will work together. As such I just want to give some veteran no hopers like me some encouragement. Honesty, it would turn out, is the best policy and the next amazing opportunity is only a 'yes' away. When I found out the craft might would be to 50 people I nearly backed out, joined my nearest convent and took a vow of silence so I didn't have to admit to my nerves and shame. But instead I covered my bingo wings, smiled and thought 'here we go then' and right now I'm so thankful that I did.

It's all in a name

My husband has an unusual name, it's not Bert or Cecil before you start, but it's unusual enough that you can't buy things with his name on. Mine, however, is incredibly traditional and therefore popular. My husband's parents clearly chose his name but it would seem did not realise they would miss out on buying him pens, coasters, pencils, with his name on. After three years of receiving gifts with my name on from them I figured they were getting it out their system and soon would stop. I thought, 'how cute, his mum bought me a third coaster with my name on'. It didn't stop, I now have rulers, chocolate and key rings with my name on along with the pens, pencils and coasters.

I would like to mention I have had my name for 26 years, I know what it is. I do not need reminders. 

Recently in a random conversation it became clear that it was in fact my father in law that suffered with the compulsion to buy random things with my name on not my mother in law that I had once suspected. I quickly apologised to the mother in law and declared war with my father in law. 

Smugly he told me that nothing existed with his name on and therefore his drawers would not be full of 'tat' and reminded me that my name was everywhere. Well, I thought we will see about that!

I've managed to get him a torch, coaster, tax disc holder all adorning 'Ian' somewhere with a small explanation saying this is an easy going chap. It is true though, 'Ian' is in short supply. But I'm not letting that stop me. When all else fails... Craft!

I started with the pink idea, then it would seem I threw up girly all over it. I can't wait to see him wearing it. No sane man would be seen dead in this, of that I am sure, not just because of the pink or frills but the hearts and pin wheels take it to a new level, but this man, this man is not sane. I mean, how many people can't stop themselves from buying rulers, rulers people, how many can you use at any one time? That's right just the one! 

I may have opened a can of worms, and I'm hoping this will be the end to the war but even if not I've certainly got this battle pinned. Pin wheeled in fact!

Simple things please simple minds

I'm a horder, there I've said it. You can judge at will. I keep all kinds of random bits and pieces because one day they may come in handy. Why throw away less than a square inch of lace, that could adorn a hand made card one day! Or tip buttons into the bin- that crime should be punishable by eating lard. Each scrap of pretty paper, floral fabric or cute card is saved in this house: just in case.

My husband would argue until the death about this - he likes everything tidy (what a freak) and feels that there has to be a limit of what I save or collect from others too for that matter. But it's on days like today when I revert to being a three year old, I blob my tongue out with pride and say ner ner na ner ner to my other half.

This...

Was a skirt that I bought for £3 because it was £3 and I thought I could wear a belt with it. It was the wrong length and I didn't love it enough so to the bottom of my drawer it went. However when having a clear out (shudder) it was moved from the bottom drawer to my 'fabric for craft' bag and waited there to be converted into a rather lovely vintage apron for my friend. Yes, another PIF gift.

And this...

Was a bathroom curtain from my mamma's house.

Among my favourite words, as long as they are said by someone else, are 'we are having a clear out' my heart skips a beat, my palms get sweaty and my pupils dilate. As soon as I can get in up to my elbows in someone else's stuff I forget all social decorum. 

So until my husband actually threatens me with divorce and even then it would be a tough choice, or the house falls down from the weight of fabric I will collect and store and play with my scraps until the cows come home. I'm ok with being made happy by simple things, and even if it means I have a simple mind... Who actually wants complex?

Elizabeth Bennett bites back

So I was stuck with one of life's eternal problems tonight- I can't sleep, my husband can and wants to do so for the duration of the night (selfish I know) which means that although I'm allowed to craft it has to be silently. I'm a big fan of noise. I like to have music playing, hit things with hammers to shape them in the way I want, and I have to admit the novelty has not worn off my industrial staple gun. I told you my mum gets me the best presents. 

So... What to do!

I started by glueing some fabric that I've been meaning to do for a while, but that took 30 seconds. I then sat in my craft room with hundreds of ideas but they all made noise. 

Then it came to me, the pinwheel magnet. This is also something I've been meaning to do for a while, in case you haven't noticed I'm a class A procrastinator. So I undid my fabric jars picked out relevantly sized pieces and set to work. For those who don't have time to read my drivel, this is the outcome:

As the novelty hasn't worn off my glue gun either and the tutorial said that I could use one, I plugged it in and waited.

I'm not a good waiter.

Usually if I have to wait I get distracted and start something else. But for the glue gun to be most effective you have to wait. So I did. For not very long. Because the tutorial also said that you could sew the centre pieces. 

Now I am a modern girl, I like my stapler and my glue gun but I also think I could give Elizabeth Bennett a run for her moor walking peticoat (if you don't know who Elizabeth Bennett is, shame on you(!), and please read Pride and Prejudice immediately if not sooner.) This led me to wonder if modern tools are really what they are cracked up to be and if sewing by candlelight is still just as good. For all the optomologists in the room - don't fear I did use electrical lighting.

I threaded my needle in seconds- take that EB! And methodically worked the corners of the pin wheel into the centre before adding a button. The magnets I used already had sticky backs so I was done in 4 minutes flat. By this point the glue gun had reached the appropriate temperature, so taking the next fabric piece I followed the same process using glue instead. Oh my word! First there was no glue, then too much glue, then more glue on me than the fabric, then I was stuck to the fabric! I'm not a thimble wearer so I pricked my finger a couple of times with the needle but nothing had me singing the 'no' song like the hot glue did. 

Don't pretend you don't know the song, it's the one where you repeat 'no' getting progressively quicker that culminates in one long 'nooooooo' when things have gotten really bad. Or a joyous air punch if you've overcome the adversity that started the song.

Both the pin wheels look really good, and although I thought the glue would be quicker, when you consider how long it takes for it to warm up and how long it takes to pull the dry glue from your fingers - although I quite like that- sewing is definitely quicker. I also liked that you can see the thread on the button. It gives it a more authentic feel I think, less that there has been a conveyor belt of asbestos'd hands adding embellishments to my new favourite type of magnet. So although my glue gun will not be taking early retirement, I think the classics still have a role to play.