My Old Friend

For the last couple of months I have been having serious machine envy over the current Singer limited edition sewing machine. It is on sale in my local sewing shop- Jaylaurs Sewing shop in Brigg.

I love the fact that they have tried to make it in the style of the old fashioned Singer but with all the mod cons.

Then I have been struck down with guilt pangs, how could I ever concieve of buying a new machine when my old faithful has stuck with me through college, more house moves than I can remember and any number of sewing tasks that I have set it. It was a present for my eighteenth birthday which is now an event in the distant past. So I decided to write a little post just to acknowledge how great my machine is and that I would be totally bereft without it, it really is like an old friend.

So here it is, maybe not as fancy but I love it anyway.

A bit late for spring cleaning

Ok so its supposed to be done in spring but that just didn’t happen. The boys are back at school and so there was no excuse not to clear out my craft space. I wish it could be a room but at the minute I have to be content with a cupboard. I long to have one of those immaculate craft rooms that are posted on pinterest but if I had to keep one as tidy as they are I would never have time to do any craft.

I pulled absolutely everything out of the cupboard and went through every box and jar and found loads of stuff that was never going to be used. Some has gone in the bin and the rest I can redistribute at the village craft group on Thursdayalong with a huge pile of crafty magazines that I have read to the death and know almost off by heart. I even pulled out the shelves and hoovered behind them finding the most enormous spider in the process. I must admit I turned big girly about it and got my 15 year old to put it outside- no spiders were therefore harmed in the process.

I have reorganised all my stash of stuff so that sewing is on one side of the cupboard and papercraft is on the other, not all jumbled wherever I could shove it as it was before. I wish I had taken a picture of the before but I can now show off the results :

Ok so its still not immaculate but it is a heck of a lot better than it was, the doors can now be opened without fear that something may fall out on top of you and in theory I will be able to find stuff when I want it!

Having cleared everything out I rewarded myself by having a play with my new gadget. I recently bought a felting machine with my birthday money but beyond making sure that it worked I haven’t really had chance to have a play with it. The machine takes about as much space as a sewing machine and has 12 needles to felt with at the same time.

 

 

I am planning to make some cushion covers onto which I want to felt some abstract flower shapes but wanted to do some practice just getting used to the machine first. I decided to have a play around with some different fabrics onto a spare bit of denim and this is what I came up with- very scooby doo!

 

I think some of the fabric that I used was a bit too lightweight and it had a tendency to scrunch up a little bit. The thicker stuff worked much better. Has anyone else got one of these machines, how are you getting on with it?

Since the clear out I found lots of christmas materials that I didn’t even know were lurking at the back of the shelves so I have started to make some Christmas themed items for our village craft fair in November- will I be struck down for mentioning Christmas already, apologies to anyone who doesn’t want to think about the festive season for a while yet!

I also found some other fabric and have run up another 13 frocks as a start for my next parcel for the Dress a Girl organisation.

Back to my cupboard then, clearing it out was very satisfying but getting it back untidy again will be even more fun!

Pinterest Challenge for Start of New Term

I am really looking forward to this months pinterest challenge, I am loving the new website for the challenge. For this months challenge I decided to use one of the projects I have been working on over the summer holidays in preparation for the new term of music lessons. Generally I work on a one to one basis from home but I also run a pre school group as well so I have had to make 15 of these ribbon streamers to ensure I had enough for the whole class. I will use these streamers when we are working on developing listening skills and will use them for movement games to smooth, flowing music.

To make the streamers I cut up some broom handles – cheaper to buy than one inch diametre dowelling, into 6 inch/15cm lengths. I then sanded both ends to get rid of any splinters.  I trawlled through the bargain bins of several sewing shops to find different colours, widths and textures of ribbon which I cut into lengths of between 75cm and a metre. I simply attached the ends of the ribbon to one end of the stick using some shiny metallic tape in different colours. Ideally I would have liked to knot the ribbons onto some small hoops but could not find any anywhere, it did give me an excuse to have a rumage around every pound shop I passed, for a few weeks though!

The finished articles have proved very difficult to photograph and don’t look very impressive however I am quite pleased with them and know that the children will love using them.

Lessons start next week I will let you know if they are a success.

New School Term, Must Do Better

WOW we have just come back from 2 amazing days at the paralympics, if ever you need a source of inspiration the athletes competing there certainly provide it by the bucketful.

Now however I am back to earth with a bump, I can’t believe the new school term is starting tomorrow and that my youngest is starting secondary school. I also can’t believe how long it is since I last posted anything onto my blog. So I decided to make a resolution to do better in this new school term. All of my planning for the coming terms piano lessons are completed as a my new teaching resources. This will mean that from tomorrow onwards I will have much more time to devote to all things crafty.

I have just had a look at the new pin addicts challenge website and am now full of enthusiasm to do something this month. Hopefully there will be some more to read in the days and weeks to come.