More flutterby's...

I asked my Facebook friends for suggestions on how to use yesterday's butterfly motifs and inspired by their answers, I dug into my workbox and came up with some improvements to the designs.

First thing was how to stiffen the body of the ones made from pearl cotton and also how to come up with a convincing antennae (is that what you call them on butterflies?).



So, out came the florist wire and the needle nose pliers.  With the addition of some seed beads I now had a beaded body, convincing antennae (still not sure that is right) and a stiffer body. 









Add a brooch back and you have a lovely embellishment for jeans, jacket or bag :)

The smaller butterfly made with four ply cotton are now lovely, little bag/phone charms with addition of a jump ring and chain with a lobster claw fastening.

Butterfly, flutterby

I have been experimenting with butterfly motifs. I want to decorate my next tea cosy with flowers and butterflies, so searched the Internet for butterfly patterns.

Then the experimenting begins to find the right yarn and hook size.  I tried a four ply cotton yarn first.  The butterfly came out a bit bigger than I wanted.

Anchor Pearl embroidery cotton was my next choice, in orange and brown and the result was lovely.

The third pattern makes a much smaller butterfly that was just right for what I want. 

 I also tried a half butterfly so it looks like it wings are folded.

Time for tea and cake...

I have made another tea cosy.  Themed tea cosies are becoming 'my thing'.  Today's theme is afternoon tea appropriately enough.

I decided to go with the body of the cosy in blue and white stripes like Cornish Ware crockery, which is a favourite of mine. 

The cupcakes were made in 4 ply yarn, a pale brown cake bottom with a freeform top to look like big fluffy icing, one in pink and one in lemon.  

Then I  sewed lots of little bugle beads on - to look like sprinkles!

The tea cups were made in pink and white and lemon and white.  I sewed the cups and cakes on to the cosy, pink cake, yellow cup and vice versa

Add a blue ring and embellish the top with a wreath of little pink flowers and it is done!

Baaa...

I recently received a gift of a lovely frilly scarf from my friend Bernie's mum.  In return, I have made her a tea cosy.  Bernie's family have a sheep farm in Ireland and the tea cosy design is based on the farm.

Made in a double thickness of DK yarn for extra warmth, the cosy is made with a sky blue top part and grass green bottom and features four little sheep! 


 




The top part is decorated with little shamrock leaves.

Perfect for keeping the pot warm while you have a 'wee half cup o' tea' :)  The tea cosy will soon be on it's way to Ireland.

Summer Hols...

Yay!  Started my 6 week summer break yesterday and have lots of projects planned.  I started today with a couple of baby sunhats.  A friend of mine has a small baby and was struggling to find a hat to fit, so I was inspired!  The results of a mornings work were two little sunhats, one in blue and white stripes for a little boy...

 

 

...and one in a variegated yearn with shades of white, lemon and green in a pretty shell pattern.

 

 

 



Baby Blue.

This week I completed a baby blanket as a commission for a friend.  She chose this lovely blanket made from a hexagon motif with a flower centre.  As the baby is a boy, we decided to make it in blue and cream yarn. 

 

 

The motif starts with a cream flower that is them built up into a hexagon shape with the blue yarn. 

 

 

 

The hexagons are joined into strip using a slip stitch seam and half hexagon on alternate strips to create a straight edge on the long side. Then the strips were joined to make the blanket and three rows of double crochet in alternating colours made up the border.

 

The finished blanket has a warm, thick feel and although it has a flower, it is still suitable for a boy.

I am ready for my close up...

I had a fab time this week at The Sewing Sanctuary in Thornton.  I went along to their Product Photography workshop to get some top tips on taking photos of my items.  It was very informative and I got to take a few photos while I was there.  Emily, who ran the workshop, was really helpful and showed us all sorts of little things that really make a difference to how you showcase your products.

Here are a few of the photos I took on the night ( though not my products!).

Working outdoors...Baby Blanket

The beautiful summer weather has come at last and my crochet has moved out of doors.  I love out door living and when the weather is nice we spend a lot of time outside in the garden.  Our little patio doesn't get much sun so it had to be warm to sit there but on hot days it is a beautiful, shady place to sit and crochet.

This weekend I started making a baby blanket.  A friend has asked me to make a blanket to give as a gift and that got me thinking about gender neutral baby wear.  These days, most people seem to know what gender their baby will be and it certainly makes planning for it much easier but some couples still choose not to know and making baby items in pastel shades of green and lemon can be a bit tedious.

I have had a couple of balls of Hayfield's Baby Changes colour phase yearn in my stash for a while, one in pink and one in blue.  This is a space died, variegated yarn that goes from the palest shade to a vibrant colour and back again and comes in 100g ball.  I decided to make a small blanket that used the pink and blue yarn combined with a white baby DK and chose the old favourite granny square motif. as usual I kept notes of the work and the yarn so I can remember how I did it.

The motifs had a white centre, then two round of colour finished with a round of white, 10 in each colour.  The changes yarn meant that each square had a different shade of the colour. 


Arranged so that the colour changes rippled across the blanket, the squares were joined with a dc seam.  I like to use this in blankets because it gives a nice checked effect and provided a strong seam.

The changing weather drove me inside at this point and this is still a work in progress.  Next stage is to give it a treble border with a band each of pink, blue and white.  the finished blanket will be small, car seat size but could easily be made bigger by adding more squares.

The finished effect will be of a lightweight, soft covering ideal for summer use in bright summer colours. 

Ideal for a boy or girl!

This week has been all about afternoon tea.  I have been making tea cosies and coasters in lovely summery colours.  The tea cosy is decorated with leaves and flowers inspired by the summery weather and the flowers in the garden.  The large flowers on the side are like the clematis flowers which are just opening in my garden.  The coasters are made in complimentary colours.

The tea cosy is made up with a double strand of double knitting yarn to make it nice and thick to keep your tea warm.  I make tea cosies from the top down in the round, like making a beanie hat, splitting it into two halves for the  holes of the handles and then joining again at the bottom.  This avoids a bulky seam that can spoil the look. The decoration is sewn on afterwards and there is a ring on the top,  a plastic ring crocheted over with yarn.

 

So excited!  My Etsy shop is now open!  Click here to take a look at what I have got to offer. And check out my Facebook page www.facebook.com/KatesDesignAndCraft or follow me on Twitter @KateNisbet

Inspired by our 'nearly' summer...

Funny what can inspire a new design.  This week I was inspired by a lovely Bank Holiday weekend, a random purchase from Ebay and some yarn bought months ago because the colours reminded me of a summer garden.  The result was the Camellia Tote Bag.
 

 

 

The random purchase from Ebay were some unbleached cotton tote bags, which I intended to embellish with crocheted flowers but when they arrived they weren't sturdy enough for this.  But as only £1 each I was sure I could find a use for them and  I thought that they would be ideal for a lining to a crochet tote bag.

 

During the lovely Bank Holiday weekend, I was  wandering in the garden and admiring the camellia tree, about the only thing in flower, when I remembered a cushion I had made sometime ago embellished with camellia type flowers.  Finding yarn in summer colours in my stash completed the inspiration process and as the rain came down on Monday I got to work. 

 

The camellia flower in the centre was surrounded by a large granny square in these lovely summer colours.  The straps are green, pink and cream and are embellished with little lilac flowers where they join the bag.

 

 

 

 

 

The outer layer and straps were hand sewn to the lining.  There is something very soothing about hand sewing, sitting at the table with the radio on.

 



 



For Sale...

I have been looking into selling some of my products but not really sure of the best way to go about it.

To begin with I need to know what will sell. Finishing a baby afghan for a friend made me think about baby gifts and after scouring through books and patterns for inspiration, came up with a simple baby bib design and matching bootees as the perfect gift for a new born.

 
 

 

 

 

The yarn is a cotton/acrylic mix making it soft absorbent and most importantly washable.  The bib fasten with buttons and is adjustable.  The two colour ways shown here are for a boy and a girl but I intend to make it a number of different colours.

 

 

The second product is a vintage style flower corsage.  Made of soft cotton yearns, these lovely items have a painted wooden button at the centre and a brooch pin on the back.

 

 

 

 

Both will be wrapped in tissue and gift boxed.

 

So now I need to decide the best way to sell them :)





All the small things...

This week I have been concentrating on the little things that make life worthwhile.  I have been making pincushions, mug cosies, coasters etc.

 

 
I also made myself a lovely roll for my crochet hooks!

Fabric and more...

This morning I went on a shopping spree today and got some lovely cotton crochet threads from Hobbycraft - in lovely spring colours.  After this, a quick trip to Abakan Fabrics turned into an hour of browsing and I came away with some lovely fabrics, knitting wool, ribbons, thread and all sorts of lovely things. 

This afternoon I finished my crochet fusion cushion.  I got the idea from a quilt I saw on Sewing Daisies website and adapted the idea for a cushion cover. 

Crafty Wednesday..

Wednesday is my day off from school, so I like to spend some of the day working on my crafts.  Today, I had a trip to the Marsh Mill at Thornton.  There are several lovely craft shops there including the fab Grace and Favour Fabric shop, a wonderful haberdashery that also sells lovely handmade items.  They also run The Sewing Sanctuary, where I went for the rag rug workshop.  I only went to get some more hessian backing but came away with some beautiful fat quarters of fabric in various shades of pink that will be perfect for my next rug!

I also went to the wool shop and picked up some great bargains.  I was looking for cotton yarns to use to make motifs for pincushions.  I like to top little pincushion with a crocheted motif and I am trying out some from the book Beyond the Square Crochet Motifs to see which are suitable.  What do you think?