Wednesday, 22 February 2012

Nosey Parker in the Neighbourhood



1) What are your preferred crafts? Do you have one primary one that you do most of or do you dabble around in many different crafts?

My main craft is sewing. I love to try my hand at most things sewing except if it is a teeny tiny thing. I dabble in a lot of other crafts too but not one of them takes up as much of my free time as sewing. In the past I have partaken in scrapbooking, cardmaking and jewellery making. Not to say that I wouldn't ever do these things ever again but these crafts I tend to employ for items for myself.

I also enjoy knitting and cross-stitching although at the moment these have taken a bit of a back seat at the moment because my attention span is equal to that of a goldfish and I prefer to work on a project that has a quick turn-around. With knitting, my mum used to decipher patterns for me and then I would just follow what she told me to do rather than learning how to read the pattern myself, meaning that without her I am a little stuck. Doing cross-stitch can be a bit of a pain as I think I am starting to get arthritis in one of my fingers so because its such a small scale project I can't always do it comfortably.

2) What avenues inspire you most in your sewing/crafting that we might like to check out?
e.g. what are your favourite books or websites or shops to visit etc... that we *must* know about ;)

When I first started sewing Sew Mama Sew was a big source of inspiration for me but now I would say blogging in general inspires me. Seeing what other people can make and come up with boggles my mind but at the same time opens it up to the possibilities. My mind becomes fascinated with people who can come up with an amazing, original design for a bag or a purse or for a quilt. This in turn inspires me.

3) Are you a one project at a time person or do you have "craft ADD" - OR are you somehow like me and have a combination of both?

I am major ADD! Sometimes I can decide that I will have a sewing day and will spend all day in my sewing room without ever accomplising much because I work for half an hour then get up to get a drink or to move things or to clean or to take out the rubbish, etc etc etc. Then there are other times where I am OK like today, I worked on a 241 bag from start to finish in about 3-4 hours. I wish I could bottle that determination and use it all the time.

I didn't think I was too bad with leaving WIP's until I looked them all out for Rhonda's Finish-a-long. It definitely happens because I get bored of whatever I'm doing or that the project is going to take a while to finish so I start something new for some instant gratification. I would hazard a guess that there is a good percentage of us crafters do the same thing.

4) What is/has been your longest ever Work in Progress (WIP)?

Probably the cross-stitch that I still haven't finished. It is a Creature Comforts Cat that I picked up on sale at the HobbyCraft show at the SECC in Glasgow 3 years ago. All thats left to do on it is the outline and yet it still sits in my craft organiser that Sarah @ Narcoleptic in a Cupboard made for me as part of the Goodie Swap back in September.

5 ) What are some of your crafty projects that you've made recently (or not so recently is ok to) that you'd love us to see?

Once I get to be home at a reasonable time in which I can take some pictures I'll show off what I've finished lately. I am particularly fond of the 241 bag I have made with kittens floating with umbrellas. It's coming I promise.


P.S - Apologies for being quite quiet the last week or so, having a few health issues that are knocking me for six. Surprisingly though I do actually have new finished things to show!

Thursday, 9 February 2012

Mandors

Just a quick blog post before I leave for work.

Mandors are running a voucher on a discount website I use.

Heres the offer:

£16 for a £40 voucher OR £24 for a £60 voucher to spend on fabulous fabric, a huge range of haberdashery or a wide selection of stylish wallpaper at Mandors The Fabric Store in either Glasgow or Edinburgh – save 60%


If any of you are interested then please use the link below to take you to the offer. Basically if 3 friends use this link to purchase this voucher I get credit back for my purchase, so if you were going to buy anyway then I ask could you use my link?

Itison - Mandors Voucher

Thanks!

Monday, 6 February 2012

Catch up

Evening folks!

Apologies for the lack of Sunday stash yesterday but I have a very good reason for it. I was working all day yesterday but admittedly that part is a lame excuse. The less lame reason is that yesterday was Superbowl Sunday so I spent the evening preparing myself to stay awake long enough to watch the full game.

I'm actually lying in bed just about to go to sleep right now cos i'm soooo tired! I will get caught up properly tomorrow and Wednesday.

Just a reminder that my giveaway for the Travelling Stash is still open. For the new readers and anyone who missed it, it you are in the UK and want to find out what the travelling stash is and details on how to enter then just click the link below.

Travelling Stash giveaway

Wednesday, 1 February 2012

Small Blog Meet - WIP Wednesday

So it's Wednesday again and time to catch up on what I've been up to. Not much craft wise although I got some lessons on Saturday from Katy @ The Littlest Thistle on photographing my items and editing them. Ok so we only took 2 pictures and ended up gabbing for like 3 hours but never mind. I got advice on what equipment I would need to make my photos better. I have so far received a photo light tent and a tripod is on its way. I just need to find halogen lights at the right price and we are good to make a start.

As I said to Katy, I never saw what was wrong with my pictures before, to my eye they looked fine. However, once we had edited one and flicked it side by side with my own ones the difference was massively apparent. Now don't be expecting the world from me, I'm still learning and I will be a far way away but hopefully you will notice some improvement. So thanks for your help Katy!!

Now, I have actually done some work although not actual sewing. I have managed to get the two Ikea quilts basted. I just need to decide how I want to quilt these. My original thought was to do a kind of Starburst effect from the top left corner but I'm not sure if that will take away from the prints. Then I was thinking of doing straight lines in the solids around the prints and something in the border but I'm not sure if that will be too little quilting. Or straight lines all over. For the record I'm a terrible decision maker.

SAM_0102

I am also linking up to Lily Quilts Small Blog Meet this month (as I said I would in my New Year Goals ;-) ). Lynne runs this linky party for small blogs who have less than 50 followers and in return you visit 4 (or more) fellow small blogs and follow them for a little bit. Quite nice, kinda like a pay it forward.

Small Blog Meet