A graduation, teddy bears and a new tea cosy.

Well, we have had an exciting couple of weeks.  My darling daughter's graduation took place in the wonderful setting of York Minster.  Even though the weather was of almost biblical proportions we actually managed very well and only got really wet as we left.

We were in a lovely position to see the whole ceremony and admire the stunning cathedral thanks mainly to mum's wheelchair.

Since I last blogged I have been making progress on the craft front too.  First in line were more bears!  There are now three and more in the making.

As you can see Gregory, the prototype bear is on the left.  I have not named the other two as I will be selling them so feel they need to tell their owners what their names are.  I am also making another one in the same material as Gregory.  I have learned so much making these and am looking seriously at trying jointed bears.  These are not suitable for small children as their joints are attached by buttons to their bodies but I think they are very decorative and full of personality.

I am also having great fun with my Slice Fabrique.  You do need to do what they tell you, ensuring it is stuck evenly to the mat and that you have ironed on you backing but this helps you place all the pieces.  My sewing machine has a lot of embroidery stitches but I need to learn how to use them for applique.  I did very much enjoy doing the blanket stitching by hand however.  My first project has been a cottage style tea cosy.

This cosy fits my 2 pint pot but would easily fit a 3 pint one.  I like the style so I think I will try something similar but with different applique.  One thing I have realised is that although I didn't think I wanted to do "quilting" I love the techniques involved.  This is made up in much the same way as a panel for quilting would be and most of the information I have found about applique comes from the quilting world.  Do remember, if I can help in any way I will try to so questions are always welcome.

Till next time - Happy crafting.

If you go down to the woods today …

I have made my first teddy bear and I have a feeling it could be addictive.  Here he is:

As he is pink and flowery I am not sure why I think he is a “he” but it feels as if he is.  He is just a prototype so I could learn about making him.  He isn’t a jointed bear but is joined through the arms and legs by linen thread which goes through the buttons.  I have learned so much making him.  Firstly, I now covet a rather lovely carved stuffing stick.  However, at the moment, the blunt end of a pencil will do!  I also learned about massaging the stuffing once I had filled the bear – particularly the head.  I used this on a heart I have been making and it really improved the finished look.   I also watched a really useful YouTube video about stuffing into points and small spaces; it was very useful and there are loads of tutorials out there.  I did think it seemed a bit spooky putting “how to sew a bear’s head to its body” into Google and this is when all the information about making jointed bears came up.  I think I may have to try it ... 

Can I, while I am chatting, draw your attention to Joanna Sheen’s blog “County Days”   It’s not about her sales side of things but more the diary of a country crafter.  It has made me think about telling you more about lovely North Yorkshire so you may find odd things coming up in my blogs.

Joanna loves gardening while I, it must be said, love gardens.  I decided to get out on Sunday and make a move towards the new design I have planned for my garden.  The garden at Granny Crafting Cottage is very small but can take quite a bit of work or it becomes overgrown.   I am going to make it as low maintenance as possible to allow for future inability to do as much.  Did I say future inability?  Gardening seemed a long way away by the time I had finished as I was cleaning the drive.  Unfortunately it was long overdue and very mossy so I ended the day with no wafting scent of roses or extra baskets and pots of flowers but very, very stiff joints and a lingering smell of Jeyes fluid!

Have a happy crafting week (or gardening or even drive cleaning)

Can I just add a PS to this weeks blog.  Yesterday my mother was called by "Dyson" to arrange a service for her cleaner.  She thought it odd because it is only a couple of months old but they insisted in making an appointment so she put them off until next week.  Well done Mum!  They said it would cost £15 which seemed very odd indeed.  I rang Dyson and they said they had been on Watch Dog on TV and advertised in the papers but these people were still able to approach vunerable Dyson owners and, saying they were from Dyson and capitalise on the name.  She said they would charge the £15 but often they would put other parts on the cleaner, saying it needed them and charge anything up to £90 and also negate the Dyson warrenty.  They have also, recently, been signing people up to a monthly payment scheme to cover the cleaner.  The lady I spoke to - who was extremely helpful - said Dyson would never cold call.  They have a free phone number and a very good warrenty so you ring them is there is a problem.  I just thought you might want to warn anyone you know who is vurerable to this sort of thing.

Playing? No it's research.

My new sewing machine arrived with its beautiful new feet and lovely stitches so I have been "training".  Going through the stitches I decided to make myself a bag for my tights.  I have been wanting one for ages and it gave me a chance to check out the blanket stitch on the appliqued hearts.  I found I need to make sure the tension is right and the machine went on being oily for longer than I expected but I got me bag and my tights will be tidy at last.

I am off to sort out more appliques and make some letters so I can add names to our standard bags!

Happy crafting.

Just adding a quick P.S. to say this machine is going back as I am really not happy with it.  I have ordered another one so will see where that takes me.

The things you do to get good light for a photo ...

Just to show you how cold it is taking photos outside today, this is the bird table next to the chair where the photos are taken brrrrrrrr.

Today's bag is a version using two printed fabrics as you can see below:

On this one I went back to putting the material that creates the channel for the tie on the inside again and you may be able to see the Katie Chucklemouse label on the inside too.

I have now managed to make the items on Etsy give the price in £s stirling - it looks so much better than having it under the dollar amount. 

Next week - da da da daaaa - mini pinnies - our pinifores for very little people.

I daren't comment on the weather

other than to say I am enjoying it.  (It might become a proper winter if I say too much!).  Because of the "you could really be working in the garden" weather I am feeling a bit guilty that the only garden chair I have painted is the one I am using for photographs.  You may see blue ones in the back of pictures occasionally.  I really love the colour of the "new" one so, as soon as I have a bit of time, I will be painting the rest and the table.  Meanwhile the chair does seem to be working as a good display for the bags.

This week I am showing you two bags.  The first is my "animal" toy bag.

On this one I kept the coloured strip that makes the channel for the tie on the outside again.  My experiment was with the french seams round the edge.  This time it's on the outside rather than the inside, making a decorative edge. 

The next one is a girly pink one.  I tried a bit of personalising on this one.

It says "THIS BAG BELONGS TO GRACE" along the top and the font is the same as the "TOYS" but on a narrower ribbon. 

I have been busy knitting this week and am halfway through a sheep at the moment!  We are hoping to make up some kits of the bags and the sheep may well have a kit of his own ... more of this later.

Happy New Year to you all

The Etsy shop is now live and our first item listed at http://www.etsy.com/listing/89579677/laundry-or-toy-bag - all very exciting!

Another bag this week as I have worked my way through to get to our final "standard" design.  This time I used the patterned material on the outside at the top too.

This one has the Katie Chucklemouse label at the top and is in a sage green with a white spot.  I have found it really difficult to track down any woven labels in small quantities but hope to find a reasonable source eventually.  Meanwhile this was a tryout with some printed ones.

I will be continuing to load these on to the Etsy site and it will be interesting to see what response we get.

Christmas over, prepare to greet 2012

I do hope you all had a very happy holiday.  Ours went very well with a lovely Christmas Eve with my daughter, her partner and his teenage children.  During the evening we Skyped my family in Australia for whom it was already Christmas morning and watched the grandchildren busy with their presents.  They were getting ready to go off to the beach for Christmas lunch!  A quiet morning and a late afternoon (very grown-up) Christmas lunch at a local hotel followed.  My 91 year old mother who, as many of you will know had a fall and fractured her pelvis managed, with the help of a wheechair and helpful family members, to join us and have a lovely time.  Before I set off with her we spoke to my brother who lives in America and was only just starting his day.  What an around the world Christmas!

Back to what we are doing with Katie Chucklemouse.  This week I want to show you the first piece we are putting on Etsy.  It's one of the first pieces I made in order to decide on a design for our Toy/Laundry Bag.  You will see changes to the design with the piece I am going to show you over the next few weeks until we decided on the final one.

I hope the help I have been given on my favorite forums when it comes to taking better photos is beginning to show and that you are getting a good view!  Don't forget you can click on the photos to get a better view.

One of this weeks jobs is to set up the Etsy shop and then this will appear so keep you fingers crossed that I can work out what to do!

Another Tuesday, another post

I thought I would let those of you who haven't been in on the thinking process into the name and logo we have chosen for our new company.  My daughter Kate said she liked my ideas for a crafty business and would like to be involved.  I spent a while looking for a crafty name which would cover a variety of items and then I had a lightbulb moment.  When my daughter, the now grown up Kate, was little, her dad was in love with her chuckle; it was the sort that should be prescribed on the NHS, it made you feel so good.  So he called her Katie Chucklemouse and that was just the name we needed.  So

was born!

We started with lots of ideas and one of the first things I made was:

Lots and lots of little lavender bags in Cath Kidston fabric to go at the front of our stall when we go to our first craft fair.  The whole house smelled of lavender while I was making them - lovely.  (There are quite a few more than are here).

I think we are aiming for Easter for the first fair but we are also looking at online selling and more. Next week I will start to show you some of the other items I researched and where I got with them.

Happy crafting and a very Happy Christmas to you all.

A Cushion of Hearts

I have been determined to see if I could use my dies and die cutting machine, that I use for card making, for fabrics.  This cushion is the result of a bit more investigation in that direction.

The backing is simple calico and the individual hearts are then satin stiched in place.  The cover is a simple envelope style one.

My First Bag

Made this bag up yesterday.  I'm not sure what happened to my crafty Tuesday but it became Wenesday this week ... I think it's because of all the bank holidays!  Right - the bag:

I learnt quite a bit making this so I think there will be more bags in the future. (If you click on the picture you should get a larger view)

Making it double sided is an interesting proceedure.  You leave a gap in the stiching at the bottom of the inside and then pull everything through!

While I'm reporting back on bags can I mention the give away on the Ribbon Girl Blog ... now there's a bag to covet!

Sewing is taking over my life.

My first attempt to get back into sewing was to try out a cushion.  This was a remnant and I made it envelope style, piping with a contrasting brown.

The only thing was it went with my sofas

so I have gone on to make three more!

My next try was to make a cushion in felt and I wanted to decorate it - this was the result.