Before and After

I had wanted a new chair for my sewing table for quite a while when I came across an old, battered, wooden one in a reclamation shop which for some odd reason, I liked. A fiver later, I was trying to squueze it into the back of my little Corsa :-).

It stayed in the garage for ages until the summer holidays arrived and I had a bit more time than usual to give it a little TLC. Someone with woodwork knowledge very kindly made it sturdy again and sanded in down, in a much better way than I could. Here is what the chair looked like after the first couple of steps.

 

 

From here, I gave painted it with white undercoat, and then two coats of my chosen coloured emulsion. I had my paint mixed but it's still not the ideal colour. I'd have preferred it to be a bit more green.

Once it was dry I used a decorating knife to scrape off parts of the paint to reveal the wood underneath, giving it an old, battered effect. Finally, I painted it with quick drying emulsion and upholstered a drop in seat pad with some nice, new fabric.

 

The photo isn't the great quality and you can't see the colours very well but hopefully, you get the idea. I must admit, it was quite a bit of work to get the chair to this point, but I'm happy that it's completely individual and it does look lovely in my sewing room :-).

 

Thanks for reading.

Rachel xx 

 

A Complete Cushion

This weekend, I finally managed to finish a project!! I'm always so busy with work, projects seem to last forever these days, which is not good for an impatient person like me!

 

 

 

I started this hand appliqued, hand quilted cushion back in February. I love applique and hand quilting, but it was the putting it together and the piping which stressed me out this weekend. It was very fiddly!

 

The pattern is from the lovely Sandra at Plain Navy who designed it herself as part of her 'Best in Show' quilt. Although my dog is a different breed, I love daschunds and this design is fab. He looks right at home on my Laura Ashley easy chair.  

 

 

Now that I've finished one project, I MUST finish another before I begin something new!

 

Thanks for reading.

Rachel x

 

Martha Stewart Craft App

I got a mini iPad for my birthday in January and have been trying out various apps and asking people for recommendations. I found the Martha Stewart Craft app and absolutely love it.

Basically, it is a scrapbooking app which allows you to create pages including photos with a scrapbook page type feel to them. It includes, a selections of plain and patterned paper pages, border, page and corner punches, embellishments, glitter glue, different text and loads more. The best thing about it is it creates a fantastic result in only a few minutes.

Have a look at a few I have made.

 

I have done a bit of scrapbooking before, but have found it extremely time consuming and quite expensive with having to buy lots of little 'bits'. I definitely prefer sewing. But this app is perfect. The app saves the files as photo files so I am going to get them printed on photo paper and add them to cards for a personalised greeting instead of shop bought cards for some up and coming family celebrations. I may even get a second copy printed for myself and stick them in a lovely book to create an easy and cute scrapbook.

Would definitely recommend the app!

 

Thanks for reading,

Rachel x  

Craft Kit

A little while ago, this amazing box arrived in the post.

I had been looking forward to recieving one of these since I knew that Marna from Little A Designs was going to be selling them.

I wrote a blog a while ago about Little A Designs after I attended one of her rosette making workshop. Her work is gorgeous and Marna is lovely, kind and generous.

Inside the box is everything needed to make a family tree cushion, in the same style that Marna uses. Here is what is inside.

There is a piece of linen to use as the base fabric for the cushion. The tree itself has already been cut out by Marna and then there is a selection of different fabrics to use as the leaves (leaves have been drawn on the back and just need cutting out). There is also a packet of various buttons to use as embellishments.

What I wasn't expecting was the selection of sewing equipment, scissors, threads, pin cushion, thimble, pins, needles, tape measure and glue! You can literally take this box anywhere and not need anything else to create the fantastic cushion! So that's exactly what I intend to do. I am going to Tenerife in August and this is the perfect travelling project.

Hopefully I'll have a complete project to show you soon and *hopefully* it will look something like this.

Photograph and cushion by Marna Lunt, Little A Designs.

Visit Little A Designs Facebook page here.

Pom Pom Trim

I LOVE pom pom trim. I have added some to cushions in the past, but it hasn't always been the best quality. I decided to buy some better quality trim, made from proper velvet.

This love trim is from Deckchair Stripes.  

I have made this cushion and added the pom pom trim. I bought a fat quarter of this fabric and then realised I loved it so much I needed some more, so ordered plenty! I am going to use some of it in my next quilt (when the first quilt is finished!)

Does anyone have any good tips for sewing on pom pom trim? It seems very tricky on cushion seams. I used the zipper foot on my machine but still struggled. Maybe there is some cheat method I'm missing!?

I just bought one of these cheap and basic sewing machine from John Lewis.

We have a house in Tenerife and when we go on holiday we want to take a little machine with us that we can leave there. This one is perfect as it is small and light and is well within hand luggage restrictions (with removal of needle). I haven't used it yet, but if it sews as good as it looks I'll be happy. Also, it can be bought in a range of colours!

Thanks for reading.

Rachel x

Handmade Heart Swap

I have posted about my love of heart shaped/themed items before and so was eager to be involved in Mary Poppins Handmade Heart swap.



I received my lovely parcel from Helene a few weeks ago, but have only just got the chance to post about it.

I was very excited about the swap as it is the first I have been involved in since joining Bloggerland!

I was definitely not disappointed. Here are a few of the things I got.

This was the main item of the package and most definitely my favourite! Helene corcheted this gorgeous floral hanger with beads and heart at the bottom. Her crochet is so neat and tidy and she picked gorgeous colours. It's now hanging in my bedroom.

She also crocheted me this lovely stuffed red heart.

Here are a few other things she sent. Some polka dot fabric, pom pom trim (which I love), some ribbon with hearts on, and some blue and cream ribbon. She also sent a cute little crocheted heart keyring.

Thanks Helene! If you like your package just half as much as I like mine I'll be happy!

Love Rachel x

Craft Workshop

I don't know about you but even though I am crafty myself, I really enjoy going to a workshop to learn things and to meet new people. Sometime crafting on your own can be a little lonely and it's always great to get together with like-minded people who can teach you something new and give you information about crafty places and stockists. However, living in the North East of England, finding good workshops can be difficult, but I have been lucky enough to find a couple of really good ones recently!

My favourite was a rosette workshop by Little A Designs. I found Marna's (the artist and owner of the company) page on Facebook and was chuffed when I discovered she was fairly local to where I lived. I booked onto the rosette course and my Mum decided to join me.

We were nervous about going to he house of someone we only knew through Facebook, but Marna was brilliant at welcoming us into her pretty home and we felt comfortable more or less straight away. I cannot praise Marna enough, she was kind and generous with all of her materials and hadn't just chosen a small selection that we could chose from, but let us loose in her workroom so we could pick anything we wanted! She even provided us with drinks and snacks.

Although Mum and I could already sew, it was brilliant to have Marna's advice on material selection and how to put them together to create something quite unique.

Here is what we made.

Here is where you can find Marna.
www.littleadesigns.com
 http://www.facebook.com/#!/littleadesigns
She makes gorgeous things (I want to buy them all). If you ever get chance to go on one of her workshops, go for it!

Anyone else got some good experiences of workshops?

Thanks for reading.
Love Rachel x

Books

Just a short post today. I know a few other people have been blogging about these, but I got two lovely books through the post within the last week and wanted to share them with you.

The first is this one by Selina Lake.

For some reason I was really reluctant to buy this book, but had seen some good reviews. All I can say is WOW, it is absolutely gorgeous, full of wonderful ideas and stunning photographs. I could frame each page and put it on the wall.

The next book is this crochet book which was advertised in Mollie Makes.

Again, this book is full of pictures of projects made in spring coloured yarn. It has three sections of varying difficulty, so I'm hoping some of the patterns will be OK for me.

I've picked this circular cushion as my first project from the book. I've ordered some 100% cotton yarn in shades of blues and greens  and can't wait for it to come to get started.

Anyone else got any good craft/housey books to recommend?

Thanks for reading.

Rachel. x

 

Bunting

A lot of crazes seem to appear out of the blue and some are definitely to be forgotten about! But for about five years now bunting has made a big impression on us all, it’s appearing everywhere and is ever changing and evolving.

However, bunting isn’t a new invention, apparently it has been around since the seventeenth century and was used for Royal Navy signal flags and of course, to decorate many a church and village fete.

In recent years, bunting has become a fashionable item to decorate many places, it appears in house and home magazines, lovely little boutique type shops and I must admit, I love it!! 

I have completely and utterly thrown myself into the bunting craze, and just wish I had more space in which to put it! I even have bunting in the classroom in which I teach. 

A lot of us are getting crafty and having a go at making our own, We are seeing bunting come along way from the typical red, white and blue flags hung at street parties after the war.

Bunting is, bright, pale, 'shabby chic', seaside themed, crocheted, lace, doily, customised with lettering, small, tied wth ribbon, string or twine. The list goes on! 

This is a set of crocheted bunting I made, and am planning to hang in my little spare/craft room.

I have also made some brightly coloured fabric bunting for a friend.

What's next? I don't know, but there are loads of ideas in this book.

The question is, how do you like your bunting?  

Thanks for reading.

Love Rachel xx