Summer plans

I'm sorry dear readers, but I have nothing exciting to say at the moment, so I'm going to decorate this post with pretty pictures from my Pinterest. I'm deep in Study Land, emerging only to purchase over-priced cups of tea and glower at the ridiculously overdressed women in George Square library. Someone needs to tell them that appropriate clothing for studying is old jeans, bodywarmer (it gets cold in the library), cable knit cardigan (aforementioned coldness) and glasses. Pashminas, super-short miniskirts, over-done make up and Uggs have no place in the library, for no other reason than you annoy the hell out of me. Especially when you conduct 20 minute 'whispered' conversations with your BFF about how 'my art history exams are like, sooo hard'. I'm going to be super judgemental right now and just out and state, vet medicine = harder than art history. So take your annoying stage whisper downstairs to the cafe.

Source: coletterie.com via Amy on Pinterest

I honestly don't have a problem with art history, just for the record.

Source: purlbee.com via Amy on Pinterest

The online craft world has changed so much in the few weeks I've been offline. Blogger has changed, Pinterest has changed...alright, just those two but that's enough to be getting on with. I'm so far behind with my blogroll and Pinterest, so many pretty pictures and posts just waiting to be looked at! In time, little Amy, in time...

Source: rufflesandrosescrafts.blogspot.com via Amy on Pinterest

In the meantime, this is to officially announce that my Etsy shop is no more. I'm away on my last 3 weeks of placement (eeh! So exciting!) next week so I've taken the opportunity to shut it down for good. I might come back to selling on Etsy in the future but under a different name and with a different product idea so for the moment, Etsy, I bid you adieu.

Source: aforestofapples.blogspot.co.uk via Amy on Pinterest

The Pinterest pictures in this post are my vague plans for 'if I don't have a job and have time to have a life this summer'. Looks like fun, non?

Source: blog.craftzine.com via Amy on Pinterest

Frances' birthday cushion

It was Frances' birthday yesterday so I bought her a sewing book, since she's the latest recruit to the awesomeness that is sewing, and made her this cushion. I already had everything I needed to make the cushion, which was amazing because I have no time to go shopping now finals are only 8 weeks away.

It's wool tartan (Laura Ashley off-cuts donchaknow) with a red velveteen bow and it fastens with a zip that is just a little bit too small, I didn't have one the right size in my stash and I didn't have time to buy another one as I'm terminally disorganised.



It's so satisfying to see something that's been sat in your stash for years, become something pretty to give to a friend.



I also made another card inspired by the lovely Beautiful Mess tutorial I linked to in that post. This time I went for rectangles, rather than hearts, and I'm pleased with how it turned out. I used pink thread on the opposite side, so it looked a bit funky when you opened the card. I could stick some pretty paper over the back though, to make it look more professional, though I quite like how the stitching looks to be honest.





I'd like to make sets of these as presents in the future.

Mushroom cushions

My friend Karen (of John Deere tractor card fame) recently commissioned me to make her a pair of cushions to give to a friend as a wedding present. The theme was 'mushrooms and fungi' as this particular friend works with mushrooms. It was the first time I've been asked to do something like this, so it was pretty exciting coming up with a vague plan, looking up pictures of mushrooms online, drawing my felt mushroom and deciding on fabric. I decided on the striking Amanita muscaria mushroom, since it would look good against the brown wool background and is a well known mushroom, leaving less room for people to look at the cushions and wonder what the amorphous brown blob in felt is.



All in, this project probably took about 4 hours. I've had the week off for Easter, so I've been at home trying to get some studying done. It's been a nice break, doing the odd hour here and there on these cushions and I'm really pleased with how they've turned out.



It's funny, sometimes being given a theme for a project makes it easier to come up with a plan than if you've got all the options open to you. If Karen had just asked for cushions, I think I would have been a bit lost, sometimes you can be paralysed by choice. Do you go with florals? Polka dots? Plain? Modern? Vintage? Bright colours? Muted colours? The list could go on forever.



Sometimes I find this when I get the urge to sew something for myself. Do I use my small amount of precious sewing time to have a go at altering some of the vast trunk of clothes I have under the bed? Or do I go for something simple that's guaranteed succes, like a zippered pouch or cushion cover? Do I want to push myself and learn a new skill, or do something easy that I can do whilst watching X Files? Do I want to use some cheap, not terribly nice fabric in case I botch up (then if it works, not want to use it because it's nasty material), or go straight for the lovely stuff but then what if it goes wrong? Sometimes you can have so many choices that by the time I've decided what I want to sew, it's time to get back to studying.



Another nice thing about this project was it was all from stash material or buttons. Remember the buttons that Karen gave me? Well, some of them are now gracing these mushrooms, ready to start the next stage in their lives on a newly-wed sofa ♥

Knitted lamb

Don't all knitted lambs need hooded jackets? Well, they do in Scotland, where it went from 20 degrees C and sunny last week to -1 and snowing this week. Luckily this little dude has his own coat, complete with toggles.



I used Fuzzy Mitten's Fuzzy Lamb pattern, which is a lovely free pattern for those of you on Ravelry. I bought the pack of 5 patterns for clothing, because every lamb needs a bad ass hoodie. And a superman cape. And a t-shirt. And dress...it's a cross-dressing lamb.





I've knitted two of these so far, they're so quick and satisfying to knit. Such a good stash-bust too, I've made them all from wool I already own, which is nice because I a) have too much wool (if such a thing were possible, ha!), b) have too little money and c) am moving house over the summer hopefully and am scared by how much stuff I own and how many stairs I live up. I realise that losing the odd ball of wool is not going to make a difference to the HUGE quantity of STUFF we're going to have to shift, but it makes me feel better in my head. Plus that's what men are for right? To carry all your shit up and down 3 flights of stairs?