Second Fiddle Crafts and Vintage

Dinosaurs

2012-01-29T05:20:00.000-08:00

I bought this amazing pillow case from a charity shop for 99p a while back and had to make it into a zippered bag for my friend Danica's birthday. It took me two attempts (sewing whilst drinking wine and tired is not the best plan) but I'm definitely improving at zips! Once again I used the tutorial for a simple cosmetic bag from Sew Happy Geek, I can almost do it off by heart now. I popped a pair of chunky woolen wristies in the bag, she seemed happy with them both!

I still plodding away at the Coraline cardi, I'm only about 25 rows away from finishing but I need to concentrate on what I'm doing so I've not had a chance to do much on it recently. I'm also working on a cabled baby jumper for another set of friends having a baby, I've had to take it out once already, the pattern is more complicated than I realised!

- The colours I'm using

My next big project for me is a crocheted blanket out of Donegal Aran Tweed yarn. It arrived last week through the post and it is scrumptious, I want to rub it all over my face. I'm planning on doing these 12" granny squares to make a blanket for our next house, since we're planning on moving once I graduate. It's going to be a housewarming present to ourselves, to replace Little Ugly Blanket, who'll be downgraded to the dog's blanket.

- The granny square pattern

Must crack on with the cardi first though, I've been at it since September 2010...

Sleep mask

2012-01-18T14:22:00.000-08:00

I had sudden inspiration to make a sleep mask the other day, mainly after finding this super easy tutorial on Whipup.net, via Pinterest.

I've been planning on making one for a while, since Andrew started a new job last year and now gets up an hour before I do to commute to Glasgow. Once he's awake and switching lights on, I find it hard to carry on sleeping, meaning I lose an hour of sleep a night. Which isn't a huge amount, but it's enough to make me crabby.

This little mask is backed with cream boiled wool, a remnant from my Birds wrap for Frances' wedding. It's so warm and completely blacks out any light, I slept right through until Andrew brought me my morning cup o'tea this morning, amazing!

These would make cute gifts for folk, you could make them in so many different colours and styles. This one is pink velvet with 2 vintage doileys hand-stitched on the eyes.

Drawing

2012-01-14T12:00:00.000-08:00

A slightly off-the-wall craft post today, since I barely ever draw, but I'm strangely proud of this little sketch I drew while waiting for Andrew to play his turn at scrabble. He takes absolutely AGES to put down a word (though granted those words are then high scoring long words like 'roosted' (50 point bonus for using all 7 letters) as opposed to my quick play words that are invariably no longer than 4 letters like 'yams') so whilst bored waiting, I drew his face on the scorepad. Which is why, for the eagle-eyed among you, there's the top part of the Heinz logo adorning his chin, it was a free pad I scored from some promotional thing going on at the supermarket.

I tried to find a photo of him that looks vaguely similar to the concentrating-on-scrabble-in-an-attempt-to-crush-ones-girlfriend-on-points face he was sporting and this was the best I could come up with.

Wow, I draw so infrequently that I don't even have a tag for it so I'll have to use 'art' (ha!). I'd like to practice drawing more in the future, when I have a bit more spare time. It's quite relaxing, even when you're being thrashed at scrabble

Owl jumper

2012-01-08T09:31:00.000-08:00

There's a bit of an owl theme going on with the 2012 posts at the mo, how strange. Anyway, here's the finished owl sweater I knitted for Vicky from her Mum for Christmas (incidentally, that's Vicky of the amazing rose teacosy fame. She's hoping to start a blog soon so watch this space, she crafts beautiful things and takes lovely photos so I'm sure it'll be a feast for the eyes!).

I love this pattern with a passion, it's so simple but so effective, I'm planning on knitting one for myself and my Mum this year. Sadly I didn't manage to get any photos of it on, but maybe Vicky will take one at some point! I'd like one in a tweedy green for me and I'm planning a raspberry or paler pink version for my Mum. I'm going to get some New Lanark wool for both projects I think!

Owl purse

2012-01-05T13:06:00.000-08:00

I made this for my friend Alison as part of her Christmas present. She likes purple and things with owls on them so I thought I'd combine the two and practice my new-found ability to sew zips (still not very straight though, clearly more practice/less gin is needed).

She actually gave me the material I used for the lining, she brought me back a lovely bundle of quilting fabric from the States and I know she picked out the colours and designs that she liked since we have similar tastes in these things, so I thought she might appreciate it!

I've got a few more Christmas crafts to show you all but my camera battery has been pinched by the battery fairies...

Out with the old...

2011-12-31T12:15:00.000-08:00

So, this is the last day of 2011 and my first blog post in over 2 months. I'm still swithering over whether to continue the blog in 2012, I think for the moment I'll just blog when I feel like it and have time, rather than feeling beholden to it. Maybe once I graduate I might have time again to do it properly, my first job being to invest in a new camera! Part of me wants to go back and retake the horrible (in my eyes at least) photos from the past, but then part of me appreciates that they're part of the evolution of a blog, as you learn about the process. It's like anything really, no one is born perfect and looking back on those flaws makes you appreciate how far you've come.

This time of year is the traditional time to look back on your life and reflect and evaluate on where you are and where you're going. In many respects I'm very happy with my life, but in other ways I'm unsatisfied. 2012 may be the year to correct a lot of those issues - graduating (touch wood!), getting a job, having some money and some time to indulge the personal life things I've been feeling have been missing over the past 8 years while I've been a student. Moving house somewhere with a garden, getting a dog and some chickens, having more time to craft and visit friends and family...it's going to be lovely. I'm going to be glad to be done with vet school.

Andrew and I at a wedding this year - I'm in a full hand-made outfit (minus pants and shoes obviously)

I'm not really making proper resolutions this year, they always fail and make me feel ~~quilty~~ guilty (though quilty is an awesome word and will be adopted in 2012). One unoffical one that may well stick though is to craft more for me. I'm still going to be crafting as presents - I have 4 babies and my Mum's birthday present already planned - but I definitely want to make time to finish my Coraline cardigan and knit myself an owl sweater.

In the meantime, I'm having a quiet Hogmanay with my folks and spending the 1st and 2nd of January with Vicky. I hope you all have a lovely festive time!

Break from blogging...

2011-10-20T12:11:00.000-07:00

Hello all! Apologies for another long hiatus from the blogosphere, I'm finding it hard to find time to blog at the moment. Uni is taking up a lot of time and when I'm not studying, I'm finding my motivation to blog is dropping right off. I love the process of reading blogs and crafting and sharing my creations with everyone, but when it becomes a chore I guess that's the time to call it quits.

I've not quite decided whether now is the time to close up the blog, I still enjoy it after all, but final year has made me realise that I'm probably not going to be able to make blogging a long-term thing in the future. Uni is more like a proper job now, I'm out from 8am until 6pm and when I get home the last thing I want to do is sit in front of a computer. In the past I've had the odd afternoon off during the week to take photos or write blog posts but now I don't have them I find my free time is taken up with studying, relaxing, or getting those boring chores done that you don't get the chance to do during the week. I imagine this is how next year is going to be when I (touch wood) have a job, so I'm thinking that I might be better off closing down the blog now and focusing on passing my finals.

Source: None via Second on Pinterest

I can always reopen it again in the future, I'm not going to remove it altogether, and I'll still be doing my Etsy shop when I get the chance. I'll still be reading blogs too, but I'll be able to enjoy blogs for what they are, rather than feeling guilty for not getting my own one sorted. I've always felt like I'm not doing my best with the blog anyway, my photos are pretty rubbish and my content and frequency of posting aren't as good as some of the more well-established blogs. There's part of me that's OK with that but then the perfectionist part of me hates not being able to do it to the best of my ability. I'm still going to craft but my priority is vet school and once I graduate my priorities will be work, hobbies, Andrew, pets, friends and family (in no particular order!). Blogging just won't be high enough in that priority list to justify keeping it going.

So for the moment dear people, goodbye. I might still update from time to time, but I think the next few months will be a good test of whether the blog is worth keeping in the future. Now that I've announced my feelings officially I feel relieved and less guilty already. I'll still be reading all of you though, so keep those posts comin'!

Chunky woolen wristies

2011-10-08T09:43:00.000-07:00

I was given a knitting kit for Christmas from my gran, from Wool Fish in St Abbs, Scotland. It was a pretty simple kit, with wool, needles and instuctions to make a pair of fingerless gloves. I don't really like long gloves, since they make your jumper bunch up, so I shortened them and made two pair of wristies instead.

I'm considering threading some ribbon through the bottom holes of one pair, to make them a little bit different. They're perfect for typing at my computer, since my fingers get cold in the winter, or for reading in bed now it's starting to get chilly!

Vintage floral cotton fat quarters

2011-10-03T13:03:00.000-07:00

A few more new additions to the shop, this time some vintage cotton floral fat quarter bundles. I love making these up, there's something so satisfying about all the cutting, ironing, folding and bundling, especially seeing them all sitting side-by-side at the end. These three are the only ones that have string at the moment (mental note: must buy more twine) so I've got another six bundles to list in the shop.

I love imagining all the lovely projects people will be making with my fat quarters...

Assissnation of JFK

2011-10-02T03:16:00.000-07:00

Remember last week I mentioned some vintage newspapers I'd picked up for the Etsy shop? Well, I've listed one of them, it's from 4 days after the asssissnation of JFK.

It's not in the best condition, as you can see from the photos, but I couldn't resist all the same, it's so exciting to have a piece of world history in your hand! It's a Scottish newspaper as well, which I really like because it fits in with the Scottish slant of my shop.

I had some trouble with the photographs, the weather here in Edinburgh has suddenly turned very autumnal, it's pouring down with rain and yesterday was foggy so the light isn't the best. I'm still having trouble getting Andrew's camera to focus properly as well, everything comes out slightly out of focus, it's very frustrating.

There's something a bit morbid about selling this newspaper I think, like I'm profiting off someone else's death. I thought about just keeping it, it's a really interesting thing just to have, but I bought it for the shop and so into the shop it goes.

I figured in some ways, it wouldn't be fair for me to keep it anyway, I'm not American, I wasn't alive at the time of the assissination, I'm not especially interested in history (beyond the occasional documentary on TV and a love of Philippa Gregory books) and so I'm sure there are people out there to whom this newspaper will hold so much more meaning.

You can check it out in the shop over here.

Ephemera

2011-09-24T04:54:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've added anything new to the Etsy shop. Time for some thrifting I feel!

I found these amazing little photographs at a car boot sale last week, the people from Unicorn Antiques had a stall and I bought these photos, 3 antique newspapers and a funny old 'bond and disposition in security' paper. I've yet to work out what the last one is, but it's heading for the shop once I do.

I'm swithering on whether to list the newspapers or not, one is from the assissination of JFK, one is the day before the second world war officially broke out and one dates to 1900. I want to keep them really, but the whole point of buying them was for the shop so we'll see which side wins, the pack rat side or the sensible side!

Anyway, you can check out the listing for the photographs over here.

Second Fiddle front page!

2011-09-22T11:47:00.000-07:00

Nothing more to be said other than...

SECOND FIDDLE MADE IT TO THE FRONT PAGE OF ETSY!!

I know I should be acting all cool and nonchalant but this is awesome! See that grey vintage wool cardigan on the bottom right there? That's this little guy!

Work in progress Wednesday

2011-09-21T08:26:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since my last Work in Progress Wednesday, but I'm pleased with how quickly this jumper is knitting up so I thought I'd share it with y'all.

It's the Kate Davies o w l s design that I blogged about over here and once you get going, it's surprisingly easy (albeit I haven't got to the yoke yet). It's lovely yarn to work with ('Thistle' by Louisa Harding in case anyone is interested), I'm looking forward to knitting myself one, probably in New Lanark wool!

Check out these stonking great waist shaping stitches, I'm hoping they'll look less scary and obvious once it's been blocked...

Thanks to Tami's Amis for hosting the 59th Work in Progress Wednesday!

New purchases. GASP!

2011-09-20T13:17:00.000-07:00

Remember way back when, The Great Wardrobe Sort of 2010? I know it wasn't the most exciting of posts, but it definitely helped me gain a hold on what was quickly becoming a ridiculous mess of a wardrobe and helped pull me away from the I-dress-entirely-from-charity-shop-clothes-that-don't-suit-or-fit-me look. Which, as we can all agree, not the sexiest of looks.

From Dune

Well, in a break from my normal crafting, thrifting chat, I'd like to briefly mention some things I've bought new recently. GASP! That's right, NEW. I feel guilty, don't get me wrong, and I have no intentions of dropping my second-hand/handmade/refashioned clothes campaign, but since starting back at uni, the time has come for a slightly more attractive, work-based, less scruffy look to emerge. And I have to say, I'm enjoying it.

From Zara

It's really nice putting on shoes in the morning that fit. Actually fit. Because I bought them in a real shop, not online where I had to take a guess as to the size. I can walk around in them all day without them pinching my toes. This is AWESOME. They're exactly the look I want, they suit me, not some idealistic imagined version of myself that I carry around in my head. I feel fashionable, but still myself. It's amazing.

Also from Dune. There was a girl in this shop carrying a chihuahua. In a shop! Madness.

Of course, being me and therefore an obsessive planner, I'm already thinking in my head the things I want to make or buy to go with these fabulous new purchases. But for once, I'm going to relax and not make plans for the future of my wardrobe. Because really, it's not important. And if I've learned one thing since making that first post about sorting my wardrobe, it's that my style is still constantly evolving and there's no point making plans, I'll only end up deviating from them. I'm enjoying this newfound confidence in myself and my body and my style.

I'm not going to wax lyrical for too long, it's boring for everyone else reading it, but I'm embracing my new-found purchases and not letting myself feel too guilty for their environmental and social impact. Of course, I'm going to have to alter one of the jumpers waiting in my stash this weekend, just to counteract this break from the norm...

Cartoon moles

2011-09-18T12:33:00.000-07:00

Once again, let me preface this with an apology for the crap photos, it was another rush-at-the-last-minute, finish-it-and-straightaway-wrap-it affair and since it was 8 o'clock at night when I finished it, it's rubbish flash photos for the blog!I made this little purse using a great tutorial from Sew Happy Geek, it's a great blog with loads of useful resources and tutorials! I used the Simple Cosmetic Bag tutorial and just shrunk it down a little to make a wee purse instead.I wrapped it in some old wallpaper I've had in my stash for a while, I like the look of wallpaper as wrapping paper but sellotape doesn't stick to it very well!I recently swapped for the fabric for this project over on Thriftstore and I got some adorable animal print fabric as well, plus some awesome dinosaurs cotton! Check out this print though, how cute is that!

Globe drinks cabinet

2011-09-11T03:27:00.000-07:00

You might remember a few weeks back me alluding to a thrift find that Andrew's Dad found for him at a car boot sale?

Well, here it is, in all its (questionable) glory! A globe-shaped drinks cabinet. Andrew has wanted one for years now, in his quest for a gentleman's reading room (complete with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, brown leather chesterfields and green reading lamps). He already has the green reading lamp and I was hoping that the brown leather chesterfield might be the next but sadly the globe drinks cabinet arrived first.

Source: google.co.uk via Second on Pinterest

Personally, I can't decide whether I like this thing or not. Apparently it costs hundreds of pounds new, which baffles me to be honest, but for £8 from a car boot sale, you can't complain there. It's functional, which I like, but there's something about it that I think looks tacky. The two glass decanters were from Rod and Viv, I really like them and can't wait to put port in them at Christmas!

Still, given the huge amounts of fabric and wool that reside in various nooks and crannies in the flat, I'm happy to cohabit with this drinks cabinet if Andrew wants it. I'm not going to promise that it won't 'accidentally' fall down 3 flights of stairs when we move house next year though...

P.S. Again, apologies for the rubbish photos, I'm using Andrew's camera at the moment because mine has died a little and I can't seem to get to grips with it, all my photos come out either grainy or blurry. Believe it or not, these were the best of about 20 I took and given that I have other things to do today than blog, I decided to throw in the towel and just go with these ones. Ah, to be able to afford a new camera!

Bunting

2011-09-10T13:48:00.001-07:00

I made this string of bunting for Jessica's birthday and I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. Apologies for the awful photos, as usual I was rushing to the last minute to finish them so had to take pictures in a hurry!

She mentioned to me a while back that she wanted green bunting, so I searched my stash for appropriate fabrics. In retrospect, I think I should have put the flags closer together and had more of them, definitely something to bear in mind for next time. There's 4 metres of bunting though, so I guess you could double up. It was a really simple project and has left me wanting to make loads more!

Inspiration part 6

2011-09-02T10:59:00.001-07:00

My study chair cushions have been pinched by a certain somebody and since it's a hard Ikea wood affair, I'm needing some comfy cushions to caress my backside, especially since I spend a ridiculous amount of my free time sat there studying.

Source: etsy.com via Second on Pinterest

At the moment I'm sitting on some cotton fabric that's awaiting being made into fat quarters for the Etsy shop, but as soon as I get a spare moment (ha!) I'm going to whip up some lovely cushions, I have the inners all ready and waiting.

Source: etsy.com via Second on Pinterest

These ones I found through Etsy and have given me plenty of inspiration to get my sewing machine out and running again, it's been a month since my last sewing adventure!

Source: etsy.com via Second on Pinterest

Exploring the Lothians

2011-08-29T12:58:00.000-07:00

A little gardening-related post today folks, just for something different. I tried disasterously to garden last year (see the Triffid-sized weeds encroaching menacingly on my little veg beds over here? Well, they are so large now that you can barely see the vegs beds at all, I've given up on the garden and barely escaped with my life...) and so now restrict my botanical adventures to the original and best Windowsill Farm, the one actually on my windowsill.

However, the gardening bug still remains and I dream of the day when I can have a little patch of land to call my own. In the meantime though, look what I came across on a recent jaunt to Linlithgow!

It's food! Growing in the street! And there's no litter or vandalism or poop in it! That's how you know Linlithgow is fancy, there's no animal (or human) poop in the fancy pavement veg bed.

I love this idea though, it was literally right on the pavement and you could have walked past it thinking it was just a flower bed if you weren't more observant. I love the oil drums with the not-so-subtle political message and I love the reclaim-the-streets vibe about the whole thing. It's run by Transition Linlithgow who stand for 'bulding a resiliant and sustainable future.' Two thumbs up to that I say!

For those of you not familiar with this little satellite of Edinburgh, Linlithgow is a Royal Burgh, complete with its own palace and history stretching back hundreds of years, with links to almost all the Scottish Kings and Queens. It was the past birth place of Mary, Queen of Scots and the future birth place of Montgomery Scott or 'Scotty' from Star Trek, both of whom have exhibits in the lovely little Annet House museum.

I miss Star Trek. They should show that on TV more often.

Back from the Highlands

2011-08-21T05:39:00.000-07:00

I'm back from 2 weeks in the Highlands on placement with a horse vet. It was amazing, I got to see and do loads of things and the people up there are all lovely. The countryside is amazing as well, it's nice to be a passenger in a car for once and get to enjoy the views!

Anyway, just a quick one since my folks are arriving for a week any second now. I might not get to blog much this week but normal service should resume next week so watch this space...

In the meantime, here are some thrifty finds from Inverness. I bought this fabric (plus some secret baby things for Baby Maciver!) from a community centre thrift sale, all this for £1, bargain! So much for the one-in-one-out pledge when it comes to my fabric stash, I just can't say no to a thrifty find!

Here's a sneak preview of an Andrew find, I'm not sure if I like it that much just yet but given the amount of rubbish we have in the house that belongs to me, I could hardly say no. Still, it may yet grow on me. More photos to come once it's assembled and in its rightful place (which sadly is not the bin downstairs...not the attitude Amy...)

Karen's housewarming blanket

2011-08-06T06:21:00.000-07:00

Just a quick one folks, since I'm off up the road to Inverness to start a 2 week placement this afternoon! I'll be able to carry on blogging while I'm there, but posts might be a bit sporadic.

Anyway, here's a finally finished crochet blanket! Remember I showed you a sneak preview of it back here? Well, I started it at Easter and just finished it now, effeciency at its best!

It's for my friend Karen, as a belated housewarming present after she moved to Wales. I got a very sweet homemade thank you card in the post this morning, so I'm finally able to put it on the blog, knowing I'm not spoiling the surprise!

Happy Housewarming Karen! ♥

A sewing disaster

2011-08-05T07:02:00.000-07:00

I'm here today to share a cautionary tale with you all. I'm sure for a lot of you the following words will be a 'no dur' moment, but I find I have to learn by my own stupid, silly, I-wish-I'd-thought-of-that-beforehand mistakes. Otherwise it just goes in one ear and out the other, sigh.

Here's what happens when you make a sideboard cover out of material that is cotton on one side and random, thick, calico stuff on the other. It didn't seem to occur to me at the time that I might want to wash the cover in the event of, say, my rose regularly leaking water, causing the cover to go mouldy and decompose in an attractive circular pattern that exactly matches the terracota water catcher it sits in. Nooo, that would be far too sensible.

The mouldy hole, in the process of being fixed:

Patch-up job:

So I decided to wash it and repair the hole, good as new. Sadly not. What actually happened is the random, thick, calico stuff shrunk in the wash, while the cotton stayed the same size, meaning the cover is now much smaller than it used to be (and so doesn't cover the top of the sideboard any more) and the cotton side is all puckered and wrinkly with all the excess fabric. Since I'm about to leave the flat for 2 weeks, I don't have time to fix it properly (i.e. throw it out and start again) so instead I patched the hole to protect the sideboard while we're away and I'll have to make a new one when we get back. And I don't even like the sideboard very much!

It's not the clearest photo, but you can see that the cover doesn't actually cover the sideboard, and look how much extra material there is on the cotton side!

Learn from my mistakes folks!

New summer skirt!

2011-08-04T04:03:00.000-07:00

Remember the skirt kit I got for my birthday? Well, I made it up!

I was really pleased with how quick and easy this was, especially given my mental block with following sewing instructions, I finished the whole thing in about 2 hours whilst listening to Radio 6.

I wore it out yesterday and am planning on wearing it out again today! I was going to cycle in it (with cycle shorts underneath of course, can't be flashing my bright pink pants to the world) but Andrew persuaded me otherwise because it's raining and I'll get all muddy. Sad face. I'm taking it with me though, to change into when I get there!

Things I learned whilst making this skirt:

- Not drinking wine whilst sewing makes a huge difference to the professionalism of the outcome
- Not watching TV whilst sewing makes a huge difference to the straightness of my hems
- Listening to the radio is infinitely better than watching TV whilst sewing
- Measure twice, cut once = GENIUS!

Apologies for the cars in the backgrounds of the photos, the whole point of taking them on the Meadows is to avoid distractions like that in the background but apparently my photographer (who shall remain nameless...) has the mental capacity of a small fish and needs reminding of this every time.

Two new in store

2011-08-03T11:28:00.000-07:00

A small Etsy shop update for y'all.

Vintage pastel lacy sweater

Vintage rose knitted sweater

Welcome to the shop little pretties!

Inspiration part 5

2011-08-01T12:51:00.000-07:00

Goodness, it's been a while since I've had an Inspiration post! It's not that nothing has been inspiring me, far from it, I just haven't had the time, what with exams an'all.

Look at this lovely photo tutorial from {this is glamorous}. I just got my regular 3 monthly please-tidy-my-hair haircut done, so I'll definitely be having a go at this lovely 'do, now my hair is a bit more manageable.

Source: citified.blogspot.com via Second on Pinterest

This amazingly simple scarf-to-top tutorial strikes me as having a multitude of bra-related issues, but it's so cute it's totally worth a shot anyway! From Everything Fab

Source: s633.photobucket.com via Second on Pinterest

Skirt in progress

2011-07-30T12:13:00.000-07:00

Check out this amazing 'make your own skirt' kit I got from Frances for my birthday. It's from Meme Fabrics, a new fabric shop just opened in Exeter.

This is a lovely present because I've been bitching for a while to anyone who'll listen about how I want to make my own clothes, but I'm too scared to try any more after a few attempts that haven't come out just how I'd like them (see the Frances dress and the tartan car boot sale dress, both of which are fine in a kind of first-attempt-so-so kind of way). I know it's very defeatist but it's intimidating to be faced with an idea and a pattern and some lovely and/or expensive material and end up with...a giant pile of scraps and an angry face. So it's easier to dream about what you would make if you had the time/money/experience and never actually get around to doing it, for fear of failure. I know all failures are learning processes but at the moment I feel like I'm constantly struggling at uni and the last thing I want to do is come home and struggle with a hobby that's supposed to be relaxing. Hence, more knitting, less sewing.

But, I feel like this little bag of goodies could be the project for me. Look at how simple the instructions are! No terrifying bits of paper to trace or cut, no naps and grains and dashed lines and dots and other bits you don't understand so skip and then later on discover why they were so important. And, the added bonus is that if it works with this lovely piece of yellow gingham, I can make it work with any number of colours and patterns from my stash.

Plus, look at how awesome the bag is! I can't think of a better use for the sport pages to be honest.

Obituary

2011-07-29T13:10:00.000-07:00

Wee leather bag, you will be sadly missed. When your strap broke just a few weeks ago (it seems like a lifetime now) and you slithered from my shoulder in the quiet, calm manner that you lived your life, unceremoniously dropping onto the wet muddy grass, I think a little piece of my soul died along there with you.

You were one of my first car boot finds and you served me well these past 4 years. Twice I sent you in for repair and twice you came back to me, as solid and trustworthy as the day I bought you from that dodgy, greasy, 1-tooth-missing man at the car boot sale. I've seen your bigger brother about town, but never plucked up the courage to ask a stranger where they got him from, and if he was indeed related to you. I guess I'll never know where you originated from now, and maybe it's better that way, you'll maintain that air of mystery with you to Bag Heaven.

Wee leather bag, I've left your broken body with the nice people at Manacraft, where I know they'll take good care of you and recycle your parts for other bags that will make other people happy. Every time I sit next to someone on a bus or pass them in the street with a bag of similar hue to you, I'll think of you and wonder if it's your pocket that's holding their mobile or your strap that's lying across their shoulder.

And I'll smile ♥

6 year anniversary

2011-07-28T02:16:00.000-07:00

Andrew and I have been together 6 years as of yesterday. It's crazy how quickly time flies, it seems like yesterday we were walking hand-in-hand across Trafalgar Square and I nervously blurted out, "so...you want to be my boyfriend then?" Ah, so smooth. Saying that, one of our first dates he 'wooed' me with Saving Private Ryan so I guess neither of us played it that cool.

I bought him this letterpress linocut print off The Big Harumph on Etsy. It arrived with super fast postage actually on the day, which was lovely considering I clearly hadn't left enough time when I ordered it, what with exams and all. Still, at least he got a present, I have still yet to get a birthday present (from the 23rd of May no less) so I'm not holding out hope for an anniversary present until maybe the middle of September. Such is life, I have too much stuff anyway!

We did have a lovely day at the beach though, although now my face is an unnaturally red colour. Factor 50 my arse...

Thrifted cork board to inspiration board

2011-07-25T09:57:00.000-07:00

I bought this cork pin board a while back from the Omni car boot sale (the same trip where I got these amazing tea cosies and these vintage scarves!) and I've planned for ages to turn it into one of those pretty inspiration boards you see in craft rooms.

I forgot to take a 'before' picture, but I'm sure you all know what a cork board looks like, so here's a photo off google

Well, since it was Vicky's birthday at the start of July, it gave me the kick up the backside I needed to get the old trusty glue gun and not-so-trust staple gun out and get t'prettifying.

I covered the board in batting, then ironed the material and stretched it over the top, stapling it around the edges. I bought the velvet ribbon from the wonderful Edinburgh Fabrics on Clerk Street (who don't have a website sadly) and eyeballed where to place and staple that. The drawing pins had buttons glued to their tops and the pins to hold the ribbon in place are split pins, poked through a hole made with a nail hammered through to the back, then taped on the back and a button glued over the top. Does that make sense? My brain is a bit fried after all the studying!

I'm pretty pleased with the result, it could have been straighter and less wonky had the staple gun not been a giant pile of something indescribable but for the most part, I'm happy.

Lessons learned:

- Spend more than £9.99 on a staple gun

- Measure where to place the ribbon before stapling it in place.

I also bought her this lovely locket necklace off Rose and Raven on Etsy (the same seller as Karen's bird and tree necklace) , I just want to buy everything in that shop to be honest.

In other news, my exam is over (and was every bit as horrid as I thought it was going to be so fingers crossed for me not having to repeat the year) so hopefully blogging and crafting will go back to normal!

Giveaway results!

2011-07-19T07:08:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who entered my 50 Etsy sales giveaway! Here are the exciting results...

The winner of the set of vintage knitting patterns is Vanessa!

The winner of the polka dot scarf is Lorraine of Head to Toe Vintage!

Well done guys, get in touch and we'll organise getting your prizes sent out to you!

Thanks to everyone who entered and keep your eyes peeled for the next one!

Extending the giveaway deadline!

2011-07-09T12:31:00.000-07:00

Argh, I'm an idiot! I've planned the giveaway to end tomorrow (Sunday) night but just realised that I'm away on Monday for a week in the hospital, working in the intensive care unit for the horses at the vet school. So I'm not going to be around for a week to post the items to the winners!

Looking after these little guys again!

Consequently, I've decided to extend the 50 Etsy sales giveaway for another week, this time ending on Sunday the 17th of July.

I'm really sorry to those of you who've already entered, obviously your entries still count so good luck! For those of you who haven't entered yet, now's your time!

I'll do the draw when I get back on the 18th, which is a Monday, so keep an eye on your inboxes for then.

In the meantime, check out this lovely bird and branch necklace Heather, MJ and I bought for Karen's PhD graduation present. It's from Rose and Raven on Etsy and I would definitely recommend that shop, the postage was quick and the necklace came packaged in a lovely little box with blue ribbon wrapped around.

I actually bought 2 necklaces from Rose and Raven but I'm not going to show you the other one until the intended recipient has opened it!

Little shop update

2011-07-07T13:09:00.000-07:00

I'm having the hardest time with my camera at the moment, the batteries are definitely dying, I have to charge them pretty much every time I switch the camera on. I switch it on, take 5 photos, upload them, switch it off, then next time I need it - 'batteries exhausted'. Queue much sweating, cursing and gnashing of teeth (or bruxism if you'd like the nerdy veterinary term) while I fight the inclination to throw the damned thing out the window, since I can't afford to replace it any time soon.

Sigh.

Vintage grey wool cardigan, made in Great Britain

Hence, the latest addition to the shop is somewhat grey and grainy, after about 57 attempts to get a good photo (with many battery chargings in the meantime) I gave up and just went with the best I could find. I often wonder in these cases if it's better to just not list the item at all, than list it with a sub-par photo and possibly put people off my shop altogether since it makes the whole venture look somewhat amateur. But for the moment, if I didn't list every item with a rubbish photo, I'd have a pretty much empty shop so I'll just grin and bear it. I'm still making the occasional sale so it can't be all bad!

Only 3 more days to enter my 50 Etsy sales giveaway!

Crochet tea cosy

2011-07-06T06:46:00.000-07:00

Check out this lovely tea cosy that Vicky made me for my birthday! Isn't it lovely? I love the roses especially, she informs me that they're easy to make so I guess I'll have to learn so I can attach roses to EVERYTHING!

It fits my little teapot perfectly, I use that one when I want herbal tea since Andrew doesn't really drink it. Apparently it was completely made with stash wool as well, which makes it even cooler because it's recycling! Yeah, recycling nerd over here.

Thank you Vicky, I love it!

P.S. Don't forget to enter the 50 Etsy sales giveaway! It closes on Sunday night but so far I've only got 3 entries, so hurry up and enter folks!

Owl jumper

2011-07-05T07:47:00.000-07:00

Apologies for the quiet over here at the moment, between placement and studying I'm not getting a huge amount of time to blog. Any time on the internet is restricted to my Etsy shop and decluttering the flat, I'm having a bit of a late spring clean so have been busy giving things away on Gumtree and Freecycle. There's something very satisfying about giving away things you no longer have a use for, especially if it's going to charity or a new home where it will be loved! I just took a couple of bags of stuff to Cash 4 Clothes, it's a relatively new shop down the road from me that takes all kinds of textiles, including odd socks, jeans with holes in the crotch and stained t-shirts. 2 bags gone, £3 in the anniversary fund, hurrah! It's not a lot of money, but it all adds up.

Anyway, I can't show you the 3 projects I've been working on recently because they're all presents so I don't want to give the game away until they've been given! But, I can update you on one on-going project, Vicky's jumper dress. Remember how I was struggling with the wool and the pattern? Well, Vicky's chosen some new patterns and among them is one I've been planning on doing for myself, Owls by Kate Davies.

Kate actually lives in Edinburgh and writes a really interesting blog called Needled. She has so many lovely patterns to chose from, but the following are definitely in my queue for the not-too-distant future!

The amazing Owl jumper. Imogene has knitted one of these and it looks amazing, I definitely want one for myself!

Even better than the owl jumper, the owlet jumper. How cute is this?! One of my friends is pregnant with her first baby and I'm totally making this one for the new arrival!

The tortoise and the hare sweater is so adorable, I might have to try and lengthen the sleeves since I'm a major wimp who gets cold in the summer time, but I love the fairisle pattern.

Ah, to have more time to just sit and knit...

Latest Etsy update

2011-07-02T08:14:00.000-07:00

Here's a few of the latest pretties to end up in the shop. It was pretty hard to part with the fairisle cardigan but in Andrew's words "you have too much knitwear already". You can never have too much knitwear when you live in Scotland love!

Don't forget to enter the 50 Etsy sales giveaway!. You've got just over a week to do it!

Vintage fairisle Scottish cardigan. Check out those awesome clasps!

Vintage fairisle sweater vest.

Vintage floral pussy bow blouse

Vintage red abstract pattern dress

Hand made autumnal print dress

Vintage floral brown sweater

Vintage pinstripe handkerchief with Parisian buildings

Vintage paisley handkerchief

Jumble sale finds

2011-06-27T12:37:00.000-07:00

Check out this amazing green Aran cardigan that Viv found for me at the jumble sale. Isn't it awesome! It fits me perfectly, is probably my favourite shade of green (it brings out my eyes dahlings) and it's handmade in chunky wool!

In other exciting news, the vintage jacket relining is finally finished! You can read the whole saga in full here, here and here. By the end my hand sewing was getting decidedly larger and more wonky but I don't care, it's finished!

From this:

Plus this:

To this!

I even saved the original Jaeger label, rather wonkily sewn in!

Boy, it feels good to be finished with this one!

Another one in the shop

2011-06-26T08:17:00.000-07:00

Just a quick one this afternoon, piles of studying calls, le sigh. I have however, finally finished the vintage tweed jacket relining project, what an epic saga that's been! Just waiting on some decent light to take a photo to show it off to you all!

I managed to lose my last crochet hook, meaning progress on the two wedding blankets has ground to a halt for the moment. I know I should be rushing because one of them was actually due 2 weeks ago (oops) but it's actually been quite liberating not having to craft for other people this weekend. I've finally had a chance to get on with some of my own projects, namely the aforementioned jacket and the cardigan. I also finally got round to putting together a scrapbook of all the cards, photos, ticket stubs and whatnot I've been hoarding over the past 6 years, it's nothing special but it's a nice way of keeping all those things in one place, in (rough) chronological order for the future. I've been meaning to do it for ages and not had a chance so it's been quite a productive weekend all in!

You can check out the listing for this set of vintage handkerchiefs over here.

Just one in the shop

2011-06-25T07:06:00.001-07:00

Just a wee shop update today, I was planning on blitzing through the 10 or so items I've got waiting to be photographed for the shop but after spending a frustrating hour or so trying to get decent photos in the grey nothingness light produced by almost 3 days of solid rain, I've decided to give up and go back to studying.

Still, I managed to get photos of this awesome 1980s Icelandic coat before I threw in the towel in a rage.

Don't forget to enter my 50th Etsy sale giveaway before Sunday 3rd July! It's open to international readers too!

50th Etsy sale giveaway!

2011-06-22T11:55:00.000-07:00

I just made my 50th sale over on Etsy and I'd like to celebrate by holding another little giveaway!

Here are the lovely prizes up for grabs, hopefully something will tickle your fancy...

1. Set of 5 vintage 1970s knitting patterns. The sizes are listed over on the shop listing so head on over and see if this might be your choice of prize!

2. Set of 5 vintage photographs for scrapbooking. Check out the listing for more information, would be great for a collector or someone into paper crafts.

3. Vintage polka dot scarf, perfect for summer days!

Usual rules apply, one entry for following the blog, one for 'liking' Second Fiddle on facebook, one entry for following me on Twitter and one for linking back to my blog from your blog! Just comment with each entry, leaving a link to your blog if you're linking back to me. Does that make sense?! So there's a potential for 4 entries per person!

Oh, and in one of those comments, let me know which prize you'd prefer, I'll be picking the winner by random number generator on Sunday July 3rd at 8pm GMT. The giveaway is open to you international folks as well!

Good luck everybuddy!

Latest thrifting finds

2011-06-21T11:04:00.000-07:00

Here are two of my favourites from the charity jumble sale this weekend. Isn't that crochet tea cosy adorable? I love tea cosies, just as I love tea pots, it's a match made in heaven! It's got a lovely paisley lining as well, so cute.

The blue tweed was a real find and a steal at only £2! I'm planning cushion covers for my study chair, I'm thinking blue tweed background with a riot of colour, velvet and grograin across the front, lovely, lovely, lovely.

In other exciting news, I recently made my 50th Etsy sale, woop! I'm planning another giveaway to celebrate so watch this space for prizes!

Wee shop update

2011-06-19T06:05:00.000-07:00

I'm finding it pretty hard to find the time to blog and update my shop at the moment. I'm on placement with a vet and so I'm not getting home until gone 7pm, by which time I've got just enough time to eat my dinner and study 1 lecture for my resit before I flop into bed and am asleep before my head hits the pillow. It's hard to find time to take decent photos as well, it's too gloomy by the time I get home in the evening and I've been away from the flat the last 4 weekends in a row. Next weekend I don't plan on leaving the flat between Friday night and Monday morning, it's going to be a great opportunity to catch up on studying, get the flat tidied and take some photos for Etsy. I'm going to squeeze in a bath, some wine and Country Living magazine at some point in those 48 hours as well, it's going to be bliss!

The latest Etsy item, a vintage leather bridge case

This blog post however, hails from the lovely Inverness. Andrew and I are up for the weekend visiting his folks, I was volunteered to help his Mum with a charity jumble sale yesterday. Despite the rain and lack of many buyers, we still managed to raise over £400, £15 of which was stuff I bought! I got 5 items of clothes for the shop, a green aran cardigan for me (photos to follow, it is lovely!) and a rain jacket (dusky pink, perfect fit, Helly Hanson and all for £3!), a set of Morse books for Mum and Andrew bought the first 3 seasons of Battlestar Galactica.

All in all, it was a thrift-tastic day. Just got to knuckle down to the studying and get the Etsy items listed now! The above bridge set I bought when Frances and Vicky came to stay and it's finally made it into the shop.

Recent vintage finds

2011-06-12T11:16:00.000-07:00

Last week Vicky and Frances came to visit. We had a lovely few days charity shopping, vintage shopping, eating cake, drinking wine and tea, doing girly face packs and visiting the lovely Ruth in Glasgow. Whilst in Glasgow we visited two brilliant vintage shops, Mr Ben and a second one, of which I can't remember the name.

I bought a brilliant green aran cardi from Mr Ben, which I have grand plans to alter slightly so photos to follow. In the second, nameless shop though, I stumbled upon this lovely wool '60s number. After much umming and ahhing, I was persuaded by the ladies to buy it and I love it! I wore it out to a wedding brunch this afternoon where it gathered 3 compliments in the space of 2 hours so it's definitely a keeper!

In crafting news, work on yet another wedding blanket is on-going but look, I learned to do hexagons!

Blogging is hopefully back to normal now that the wedding season and exams are over, although now I'm on placement now so don't have a lot of free time. I'm going to take blogging down to twice a week (which is twice a week more than the last 2 weeks) since between placement and studying, I'm finding my motivation to blog is severely on the wane. Still, twice a week should be manageable, I don't want to push myself and it become a chore, it's supposed to be fun after all!

Shop update

2011-05-26T13:09:00.000-07:00

Here's the wallet I mentioned yesterday in my thrifting trip on the way home from Blockbuster. It's over in the shop now so you're welcome to have a browse if it takes your fancy.

I love that this wallet has a pocket for '£1' notes! According to Wikipedia, the £1 hasn't been legal tender since 1988, making this wallet at least 23 years old. It's in lovely condition though, I could see it in some gentleman's pocket, with their initials embossed on the front to match the silver writing on the inside.

Vintage leather wallet part 1

2011-05-25T05:05:00.000-07:00

I had a brief thrifting trip on my way to Blockbuster and back again yesterday (£1.50 for a new release film Monday-Thursday PLUS student discount = thrift-tastic!) and came up lucky with 2 vintage leather wallets and Julie and Julia on DVD. I've seen it twice before but I know my Mum and Gran haven't so I figured I'd watch it again (because it's awesome) then pass it on to them. Spread the DVD love.

Anyway, my favourite find was definitely this lovely brown leather vintage purse I stumbled across in Hospice of Hope. The lady even gave me 75p off it since she'd been the one to donate it and she reckoned it was too scuffed for its £3.50 price tag. Bargain! It needs a bit of a clean, but nothing a damp cloth and maybe some leather polish won't fix.

Much as I love my vintage handmade tapestry purse (made from recycled tapestry from my parents old dining chairs!), it's really too small for regular day-to-day use, I can't fit my Tesco clubcard coupons (an essential, I think you'll agree) or find any card when I need it (hence 10 minute scrabble in my purse every time I need my Blockbuster or Nectar card). This one is just a much better size and makes me feel like a proper adult. Tapestry purse will be retired, I'll think of some use for him ♥

The second wallet I'll show tomorrow, it's gone into the shop for now.

Aunty Rita's chocolate crunch

2011-05-24T06:55:00.000-07:00

This is a recipe passed on to me from my Mum, who got it from an elderly lady who used to live across from my Gran. Aunty Rita we used to call her, my brother and I would go over to see her when we visited my Gran and she would feed us millionaire shortbread, starting a love affair with the yummy biscuit that I still carry on today.

It's a bit of an 'eyeball until the proportions are right' type recipe but hopefully it's clear enough that you'll be able to work it out.

Ingrediants:
♥ 2 x 200g bars of chocolate
♥ 3 tbsps treacle
♥ butter - enough to bind it all together
♥ roughly 10 digestive biscuits
♥ roughly 10 ginger biscuits
♥ cherries
♥ sultanas
♥ large spoonful of ground cinammon

Method:
Melt the butter and add the treacle, keeping warm on the hob. Melt the chocolate and add to the butter/treacle mix. Stir in together. Crush the biscuits and mix in with the treacle/butter/chocolate, you can add more biscuits now if you don't think there's enough. Stir in the rest of the ingrediants, pour into a greased loaf tin and press down. Refridgerate and cut when set. Eat!

In other bakery news, my friend Danica (of Hedgehog Cake fame) made me an amazing chocolate cake for my birthday yesterday. Unfortunately I didn't manage to get any photos of it before we all set upon it like a pack of hungry wolves, but it was yummy! Check out the amazing chocolate hedgehogs and owls from Choco-latte that adorned the top, if you're in the Clerk St/Summerhall area of Edinburgh any time soon you should definitely check out that amazing little shop!

Wedding season

2011-05-19T07:54:00.000-07:00

It's wedding season over here at Second Fiddle, I've had one wedding last weekend, one next weekend, another in June and a fourth in October. Phew!

I spied this darling photo over on A Beautiful Mess and thought it made the loveliest wedding present. I've had a bit of a thing for dala horses ever since first coming across them in Sweden in 2008 (for another wedding in fact!) and this is exactly the kind of house sign I would have if I had the chance.

Congratulations to Jeremy and Elsie Larson!

Work in progress Wednesday

2011-05-18T05:54:00.000-07:00

I've got two works in progress to show you at the moment, though technically I have 5 projects on the go right now, Coraline cardigan, the secret project and Vicky's jumper dress are still sitting in my craft basket!

The on going saga of the vintage tweed jacket is finally drawing to a close, I've just got to hand stitch in the lining and give it a final iron and it'll be done! I'm pretty excited to wear it again, I've missed this little jacket, it's one of my favourites. It's been a good learning experience though, I now know how to reline a vintage jacket, very useful!

The other work in progress is a jumper for Pickle, my friend's corgi. She's not very well at the moment so I thought to cheer her (well, mainly Alison, her owner) up, I'd knit her a little jumper. I'm trying it on her as I go and I think the fit should be OK, I'm finding the increases over the shoulders pretty confusing at the moment but the nice thing about knitting for a dog is that she's not going to notice or care if I get it wrong! I'm using the Bucalicious Sweater pattern off Ravelry so I'll keep you updated with my progress!

Etsy envelopes

2011-05-16T08:19:00.000-07:00

Oh, annoyance. I gave away the present I was working on without taking a photo of it! I'm pretty bad for doing that, I'll have to try and take a photo next time I'm round their flat. It was a crochet stripy blanket anyway, for a wedding we went to on Saturday. Hopefully now that one is out of the way (it was a bit of a manic rush to get it done in time!) I'll have more time to craft and blog! Blogging has been a bit on-off over the last month, between being away on placement and having exams, life has been a bit stressful. Even at the moment, my timetable at uni is more relaxed but I'm still finding myself pretty busy with ongoing deadlines and group work. It's much more manageable though and I have more free time to catch up on all the things I couldn't do because of exams!

Anyway, back to the crafting! The blanket was very much like this one but in purple and white instead. I like crochet blankets, they're nice and simple but you feel like you've acheived something when you get to the end.

I've also been busy making more envelopes for my Etsy shop. When someone places an order, they get a business card and their paypal receipt in a little handmade envelope. I like to make the envelopes from interesting, thrifted paper and in the past have used Where's Wally books, magazines and old map books. I'm not so keen on the magazines so I'm steering clear of them now but this new batch are from an old OS map, a child's 'learn about the world' book and an old Cabbage Patch kids story book. I'm really pleased with how they've turned out and it's nice to have a stash to turn to, rather than rushing to package a parcel and have to make the envelope as well. Makes me feel very organised!

Two works in progress

2011-05-08T10:42:00.000-07:00

I have a little preview of a work in progress I'm currently beavering away on, it's a present so I can't reveal the whole thing yet but it should be done in the next week so all will be revealed soon (just in case you can't guess from the rather obvious photo!).

Also, the dreaded jacket I'm in the process of relining has resurfaced. I've been too stressed and preoccupied with exams recently to attempt any craft project that might add to that stress and so the jacket has been shelved. Well, no more! I am determined to finally finish it, it's so close now. With the help of my Mum, Gran and Gran's friend, we identified the mistake I'd made (got 2 pattern pieces the wrong way round) and after much bickering about the best way to rectify this problem, I think I'm back on track. Watch this space!

Baking on hangover day

2011-05-07T11:24:00.000-07:00

Had a lazy, hangover day today. Slept late, read in bed for a few hours, crocheted whilst watching films and did some baking to use up some old bananas and apples (thanks for the chocolate Heather!).

I'm planning on cooking a pork roast tomorrow to try the apple sauce, can't wait!

29th April 2011

2011-05-06T08:19:00.000-07:00

29th April 2011. What a day. My brother's 22nd birthday, Andrew's Mum's birthday. And, obviously, the Royal Wedding day. I'm sure you're all sick of hearing about the Royal Wedding but since I'm an English girl living in Scotland (or a Scottish girl visiting England, depending on how I feel about my nationality that day) with a home counties accent and a love of weddings, it was only natural for me to get ridiculously over excited, put up Union Flag bunting and hold a tea party.

Here are some of my favourite Royal Wedding related items off Pinterest.

The cover of Vogue in 1947, after Queen Elizabeth's marriage to Prince Phillip. From The Bride's Cafe, via Pinterest.

Westminster Abbey illustrated tea towel from Helena Carrington on Etsy. Would look great framed I think!

Royal wedding cross stitch sampler from Bugs and Fishes. So cute!

Care package

2011-05-05T15:03:00.000-07:00

I made a little care package for my friend Heather after she had a rubbish week and put it all in a fabric basket I attempted to sew from this tutorial from Notes from a very red kitchen. I was reasonably pleased with how the basket turned out in theory, except I messed up the measurements (in that I eyeballed them and didn't use a ruler...) and ended up with a basket that only barely fit the things I wanted it to hold. Meaning when you picked up up, the basket folded in two and everything fell out. Meaning I eventually had to present everything neatly tucked in the basket, held together by a plastic bag reclaimed from some loose onions I bought. Sigh. It's all in the presentation...

Still, it's a lovely tutorial and I'll definitely try again, measuring properly this time!

Mannequins vs. models

2011-05-04T11:09:00.001-07:00

Gosh, it's been a while. I've spent the last 2 weeks pretty much solidly in the library, getting there at around 9am and not leaving until 10-11pm. It's been rubbish, but at least most of my exams are now done with. Until resits in July, sigh. Luckily we find out the results on my birthday, along with a 3 hour euthanasia seminar. Sometimes I wish I'd done law.

Aaaanyway, moaning aside, I've been very much neglecting my shop, blog and crafting in general. I have 3 secret projects in the works, 1 of which is finished already but I can't show you until I've given it to the person in question so watch this space!

In the meantime though, check out the cute new sweater additions to the shop, just in time for the summer! You can't say that we here at Second Fiddle don't work for your convenience.

Lovely salmon/coral handknit sweater

Preppy yellow sweater, very classic

White lacy sweater, perfect for layering

Fairisle wool sweater

Hand made cards

2011-04-24T03:21:00.000-07:00

Check out this amazing wedding acceptance card that my very talented friend Karen made! It's for a friend's wedding who comes from a farming family and is marrying a farmer, so the John Deere tractor is very apt. It looks just like the real thing as well! I love hand made cards, especially ones that have been personally crafted with you in mind.

The real thing!

In other craft news, I knitted up a gauge square for the Desire jumper dress from 'Dream Catcher' by Louisa Harding. The book cover, there are several things I want to knit for myself from this book, it's lovely!

I'm knitting it for Vicky from her Mum for Christmas because her Mum was struggling with the pattern. To be honest, I'm not sure I'll do a better job, but I do have Imogene on stand-by to help me!

The gauge square came out really weird, the yarn suggests using 5mm needles but the pattern calls for 8mm, so the square is really gapey, with lots of holes. Also, the smallest UK size is a 10, so I'm worried it's going to be too big for Vicky, even if I get the gauge right but I don't really know enough about ease and whatnot to try and reduce the size. I'm taking it along to a study session with Imogene tonight to ask her opinion and I'm knitting another gauge square over the cable and lace pattern to see if that improves it.

The pattern picture:

The nice thing is that you make the jumper dress in pieces, so if it is a little bit big, I can stitch it together slightly further in to make it smaller, the yarn isn't that bulky so I don't think massive fat hems is going to be a problem. Unless some more experienced knitters out there have better advice?

Shop update

2011-04-21T08:48:00.000-07:00

Here are the next 3 to make it into the shop from the batch I procured last weekend, I've got another 4 to go but I'm waiting on Andrew being home and the light being right to take photos of them on.

It took several attempts to get decent photos, but I'm pretty pleased with the outcome!

Scottish tartan scarf from the Johnstone clan

Vintage blue and red scarf

Large paisley shirt made in Scotland

Sneak preview

2011-04-20T03:46:00.000-07:00

Here's a little sneaky peak at a project I'm working on at the moment, it's a present for a friend so hopefully they'll like it!

Recent thrifting trip plans

2011-04-19T07:05:00.000-07:00

On my recent rummage in Mussleburgh, I came across a few things I'm planning on keeping for myself. Sadly my camera died before I could photograph them all, so the rest will have to wait until tomorrow.

I bought this shirt initially to go in the shop but it's grown on me since I've got it home. I need more basics in my wardrobe, especially to go with my growing number of thrifted and vintage wool sweaters, so I'm going to try this one on and see if it works on me. It's not my size, but then vintage sizes are different anyway so I might be lucky!

This one I also bought for the shop but I really like the print and the buttons so I'm tempted to keep it and do a bit of an alteration job on it! I'm thinking if I remove the shoulder pads, bring in the side seams and bring up the bottom hem, it could work quite nicely as a summer dress. I used to have one a bit like it that was ever so slightly too small so I had to get rid of it in the end. This could be it's reincarnated self!

Inspiration/shop cross over

2011-04-18T05:41:00.000-07:00

I guess this post would be Inspiration part 5! You can check out the other inspiration posts under the inspiration tag on the right hand side of the blog.

I just listed this vintage scarf in the shop and it reminded me of a lovely Anthropologie top I saw on Pinterest.

I'd love to have a go at making something like this, I have so many vintage scarves left from my Gran and it looks like it would be pretty simple. You could make one in every colour to go with everything in your wardrobe! It would be perfect for summer as well, so light and floaty. Ah, if only I didn't have exams and had time to sew...

Little shop update

2011-04-17T13:01:00.000-07:00

Just a quick one since it's Sunday night and I'm about to settle down to a bowl of pasta and an X Files marathon with the dorky love of my life.

I went thrifting yesterday and came back triumphant with 2 bags of things for the shop! So, expect lots of shop updates as I get myself organised with photos over the coming week. I'll try and mix it up with craft photos as well though, I have lots to show you guys!

Anyway, if you're interested, you can check out this lovely little addition to the shop over here ♥

Thrifting down south

2011-04-16T11:31:00.000-07:00

I didn't have a lot of opportunities for thrifting while I was away on placement, I was busy during the day and spent the weekends hanging out with my folks. On my last day in St Albans though, we went to a beer festival and on the way back from the toilets I spotted a book shelf stuffed full of books for 30p. 30p! It would have been hard to pass that opportunity by even if I hadn't been half cut at the time.

This pile of logs is the ultimate in thrift, I dragged the MASSIVE branch from whence they came home from walking the dog a few months back and it's been sat outside our front door waiting to be chopped up. I came home from placement to find Peter, my friend's husband, had kindly sawn it up for me when they came to feed Tron while Andrew was away on a stag do. And what a beautiful job he did of it. Can't wait to burn them in the autumn now! I'm definitely going to carry on collecting branches from the park, free fuel, why wouldn't you?

Knitted socks for cosy feet

2011-04-15T04:09:00.000-07:00

These were my first, and so far only, attempt at making socks, years and years ago. They were also SUPER expensive because it was back when I was first starting to knit and I thought you had to do everything by the book, buy the right wool, follow the pattern to the letter. This meant I ended up spending £18 on these socks, buying the wool the pattern said to buy, plus the pattern and needles. £18 on a pair of socks! Still, I learned a valuable lesson in buying second-hand thrifted wool and learnt to knit socks, so can't complain really.

I wore them literally to death, until the wool wore through on the soles, leaving me with 2 massive holes. Since then they've been sat in my 'clothes to alter' trunk until I dug them out a few weeks back and cut soles from a felted jumper to make them into slipper socks. I hand-stitched them on with red embroidery floss and blanket stitch and I'm quite pleased with how they've turned out, they look quite Scandinavian folk to me.

So, although they started out pretty expensive, they've lasted a good few years and with my new, thrify improvements, hopefully will last a few years more!

Etsy shop update

2011-04-14T04:18:00.000-07:00

I found this lovely tweed skirt on a brief thrifting trip this week, in between getting the food shop done. It's everything I like in clothes; tweed, wool, Scottish and in neutral, easily matched colours. I know it's not technically the season for tweed, but living in Britain I feel it's always the season for tweed! It's landed over here in the shop if anyone is interested.

I'm hoping to get to the Borders Scrap Store this weekend, they're having a craft fair and car boot sale and it would be great to get stocked up on some vintage lovelies for the shop, I made 3 sales while I was away and the shelves are looking a little bare! I've also got some more fat quarters to cut up, they've been reasonably popular so far so I want to get some more of them listed, I love selling craft items to craft people, it's nice to think of the lovely things they're going to be making with them.

I'm also in the process of working on a crochet blanket for a secret present, knitting a jumper dress for Vicky and a plodding along with my Coraline cardigan. It's not that I'm not enjoying it, I've just got so many other projects on the go as well!

Inspiration part 4

2011-04-12T06:35:00.000-07:00

Just a short one today chaps, I'm still in the process of catching up with myself after being away. Studying began in ernest yesterday as well so I have to be good over the next 2 weeks not to get too distracted on the interwebnets! Never fear though, I have several crafty projects and thrifting trip finds to share with you all, just got to get my camera unpacked and charged.

In the meantime though, here's the 4th inspiration post. I've just joined Pinterest so hopefully that'll help me collect more inspiration photos, today's post is home themed again, just like Inspiration part 2. Incidentally, I brought my stamp collection back with me from my folks so hopefully I'll be having a bash at those lovely stamp 'clouds' at some point soon!

This amazing lamp was spotted over on Her Library Adventures, what a lovely idea. The way I'm going, I might need to make one of these soon to use some of my rapidly expanding teapot collection!

I thought this was a lovely take on the traditional lace or net curtains, much prettier whilst still practical. I'd love to collect vintage and thrifted doilies, lace, table cloths and sheets to make some myself. From Dottie Angel

I'm back!

2011-04-11T05:53:00.000-07:00

Hello hello! Apologies for the long break, I meant to write a formal 'I'm going to be away' type post before I went but sadly ran out of time between sitting an exam, celebrating the end of term, packing for 2 weeks away on placement, driving 400 miles and finally ending up in a house with barely any mobile signal, let alone internet.

I was helping to take care of these on placement ♥

Anyway, this is just a short one to say I'm back and normal service will resume shortly, I've just got to get my study on, unpack, get the flat back to normal (Andrew tried, bless, but I'm anal about these things...) and take care of the animals, we've got a Pickle staying with us at the moment, Tron is not best pleased.

Watch this space, crafty action to come!

Velvet cards

2011-03-23T11:21:00.000-07:00

I've mentioned in the past my love for velvet and so I have a lot of little velvet scraps left over from various projects that I can't bear to throw away.

Well, this little card project made me feel justified in keeping them all! Inspired by this photo that popped up somewhere on my blog roll (apologies to whoever's photo it is, I stupidly didn't save the link and now I can't remember, contact me if it's yours and I'll credit you) I made my own little versions and I'm pretty pleased with them. Next time I think I'd use more colours and make them into triangles like in the inspiration photo but I like the button in the middle as well. So many options!

See, the inspiration folder is already working its magic!

Windowsill Farm returns!

2011-03-22T06:51:00.000-07:00

After my rather disastrous attempts at gardening outside last year, this year I've decided to remain focused on gardening on my windowsill. My small, overgrown shared tenement garden is just too damp, dark and shady to really grow anything properly and I don't have the time right now to put in the amount of effort needed to really make a go at it. I'm pretty bad for biting off more than I can chew and so my resolve this year to garden inside is part of an ongoing attempt to try and rein myself in, rather than spreading myself too thin and then becoming stressed and upset when I can't do my best with all my various projects.

In it's defence, Windowsill Farm can be very productive! It's only March and I already have my first harvest, the tiniest amount of dried organic lemon balm, ready to be made into tea. I'm pretty excited since my lemon balm plant was from my Gran's garden and so was free to begin with, plus it's growing amazingly quickly, I'm going to cut it down and dry it again before I go away on Saturday for 2 weeks, I'm sure by the time I come back I'll have another crop ready and waiting!

I think I'm going to need a new rosemary, my 3rd plant in 2 years. Sigh, I just can't seem to keep them going, they grow fine to begin with, then quickly develop brown tips to their leaves and stop putting on new growth. Still, for £1.99 a plant, given that they go for about a year before I have to replace them, I think I get my money's worth in fresh rosemary for lamb joints and baked Camembert...mmm...

I'm hopefully bringing back with me from my Mum's garden an African violet and a bay plant, the bay plant I'm especially excited for since I buy fresh bay leaves reasonably regularly for cooking, it's going to be amazing to grow some for free instead!

Also, check out my amazing crafty stickers my friend Lydia bought for my birthday last year. They're so cute! I'm pretty anal about organisation so it was an awesome present, I quickly set about using them to organise my 'important things' file, my tins and mason jars in the kitchen and my sewing notions. So sad but so satisfying!

A use for felted sweaters

2011-03-20T09:14:00.000-07:00

When I made Andrew Little Ugly Blanket's Bigger Brother for Christmas last year, I had a lot of felted sweaters left over. Well, bits of felted jumpers, a whole trunk full in fact.

So, in my continued efforts to be thrifty (2011 being the Year of Thrift after all), I decided to make a case for my portable DVD player from some of these felted bits of wool. It took 2 attempts, the first attempt involving complicated bits of felt and cardboard sewn together (I knew from the start that it wouldn't work, must learn to trust that gut instinct) and the second being a larger version of my camera case.

I'm really pleased with how it's turned out, it's a bit plain so I'm contemplating sewing some matching pink buttons on the front and back but for the moment, it does the job. Which is great because I'm away on placement this time next week for 2 weeks down south to a racehorse vets and so I'm going to need my little DVD player to keep me entertained in the evenings. I'm lodging with a couple who take folks working in Newmarket so I'll be alone in the evenings to study and knit and watch DVDs. I bought myself the first 4 seasons of the American Office to watch since I had vouchers from doing online surveys (another contribution to the 2011 Year of Thrift!), I'm pretty excited! Not looking forward to being away for 2 weeks though, but at least I get to see my folks and Vicky in the meantime ♥

Pocket on the back for the cables and control:

Action shot!

Inspiration part 3

2011-03-19T09:14:00.000-07:00

Today's inspiration post is about clothes and hair. Lots of things have been catching my magpie eye in the blogosphere recently but these 3 made me instantly hit 'save'.

Meghan over on Out of Order Designs posted photos of this amazing horse top that I'm afraid must be mine at some point in the not-too-distant-future. I ♥ things with horses on them (except those ugly fleeces and t-shirts with horses with flowing manes, rearing in front of full mooons on hills, I know they're 'fashionable' now but eurgh, come on).

Grosgrain posted up this amazing green dress that would be stunning for so many occasions. I need to come up with a better filing system in the Inspiration folder on my PC because I now can't find the link but check out her blog all the same, it. is. AMAZING.

This lovely up-do was caught over on Ruffled blog and would be perfect for fancy parties or every-day wear (minus the flowers). So cute! Would look great with the dress above...

You can see the rest of the inspiration post over here ♥

Etsy shop update

2011-03-18T09:42:00.000-07:00

Remember those tartan kilts from my recent thrifting trip with my Mum? Well, the red one finally made it into the shop, you can see it over here.

Here are a few extra photos of the lovely little details all over this kilt, it was difficult to give it up I can tell you!

Leather buckles round the waist:

Check out that length! It's 1 whole metre long, that's a lot of material!

It even comes with a kilt pin:

I hope it finds a new home soon, before I'm tempted to keep it again...

Sewing on paper

2011-03-17T13:19:00.000-07:00

I just came back from MJ's hen do, a girly weekend in a massive country house. It was amazing, the house was like something out of Pride and Prejudice and we had the whole thing to ourselves! It snowed as well, so everything was covered in a light dusting, it was very fairy-tale-esque, I'd love to go back there and just spend a weekend walking and reading by the massive open fire.

Each hen had to contribute a page to MJ's hen party scrapbook, complete with a photo of ourselves and/or MJ. We also had to write a little something, either something poignant or funny or a story or poem. I'm rubbish at stuff like that, especially when put on the spot, so I went for making mine in advance. I printed out this lovely quote from Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres (I've always thought I'd have this read at my wedding), stuck it onto card and then sewed around the card in pink thread. The card was some lovely thick stuff my Mum gave me when she worked at The Paper Trail, a working paper mill in Hertfordshire.

I'd definitely do this again, sewing on card was really satisfying!

Here's the quote in case you're interested:

Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being in love which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two.

It's an amazing book, definitely worth reading ♥

Work in progress Wednesday

2011-03-16T08:51:00.000-07:00

How lucky are you dear readers, two posts in one day! I forgot I'd taken these photos last week for Work in Progress Wednesday over on Ravelry and since I didn't get a chance to share them last week, today's the day instead!

Here's my contribution to Work in Progress Wednesday with Tami's Amis and Other Crochet, the start of the first sleeve for my Coraline cardigan. You can see my earlier WIPW post over here.

The body is done up to the yoke now, I just have to do the sleeves before I can start on the exciting patterned part! I altered the sleeves a bit, with the help of Imogene from Stinging Needle, since i-cord sleeves are both a pain in the bum to knit and mean you can't roll your sleeves up properly. Since I don't plan on taking off my cardi everytime I want to get my hands dirty, ribbed cuffs are necessary to allow sleeve rollage.

Here's the finished item, hopefully mine will look something similar! If you click on the Coraline link above, you can see more photos of the cardigan finished if you're thinking of trying it yourself!

Edible beasts in all their forms

2011-03-16T08:26:00.001-07:00

I am full of cold at the moment, I've just emerged from spending 2 days in bed shivering and snottering, not a pretty picture. As a result I have plenty of things to blog about but no energy to take photos and organise my thoughts, so here's a mainly picture post on the theme of 'edible beasts in all their forms'

My friend Danica made me this cake for Christmas and it's taken me this long to work out how to get the photos off my phone and onto my computer. Isn't he amazing?! I almost didn't want to eat him, but luckily he was too yummy not to. The spines are caramel filled chocolate buttons! He even has little claws, so cute!

My very talented friend Heather, of Heather's Cakes fame, made these hilarious 'wanger pops' for my friend MJ's hen do. I'm going to try and persuade Heather to do a little interview for me soon because her cakes are amazing and everyone should know about them. Watch this space!

The Life Craft review

2011-03-14T10:19:00.000-07:00

Remember back in January I mentioned I'd been for tea at The Life Craft? Well, I've been umming and ahhing over whether to properly review it, now that I've been for a full day course, and have been putting it off because to be honest, I don't have too many nice things to say about it. I don't want to write horrible things about a new craft business, I feel like I should be supporting my local craft shops but equally, I guess you learn by your mistakes. Now, I'm not under any illusion that my little corner of the blogosphere will in any way affect The Life Craft, it's not like I'm writing a review in the Guardian or anything like that, but I still feel a bit guilty.

So, my friends and I signed up for a day course back in November because they were running this amazing deal where we got a £70 day course for £25. They ended up being rather overbooked so we came in February instead, the same weekend of the amazing Ben Folds gig. It started at about 11am and we all had to gather just before 11 to choose our wool for our first class, crochet.

Each class was run for complete beginners, with the idea that by the end you would have the skills to go home and practice yourself and develop your new found craft. The crochet class was pretty good actually, the instructor went at a good pace and had a comedy size crochet hook to explain all the different stitches. In the last half hour she explained how to read a pattern and we set about crocheting a basic granny square.

The only criticism I would have of the crochet class was that the instructor wasn't that great at helping people who were struggling. Fine if she could sort out your problem in a few minuts, not fine if you needed more time and one-on-one tuition. I guess in her defence, she had about 14 of us to teach, but by the end most of us were OK by ourselves so she could have easily gone back to the people who were still obviously struggling.

Next up was sewing and at this point the day started to fall apart a bit. 15 minutes into our hour and a half class, the police showed up to help evict a pervy guy who had taken up residence in the coffee shop out the front. Fair enough, it was a distraction, but our instuctor disappeared at this point for a good 45 minutes, leaving us sitting with our threaded sewing machines and little scraps of muslin and nothing else to do. Even the police issue aside, she clearly didn't have anything extra to show us. Perhaps this is a bit harsh, maybe she had some amazing project to teach us hidden away somewhere and we just never got to see it because of the distractions, but it seemed a lot like she planned to take an hour and a half to show us how to thread our machines and sew practice stitches on muslin. By the time she came back, there was only 15 minutes left before our next class, so she helped one girl who had brought a project to work on, and left the rest of us to chat amongst ourselves. Not very professional.

Last for the day was knitting. In our group there were only a couple of people who couldn't knit at all so our instructor showed us how to cast on and knit and then set about telling us her life history and all the problems she'd been having with the shop, money and family. It was surreal, we were sat around knitting randomly with the wool provided to us, listening to a complete stranger who was supposed to be teaching us, pour out her heart. I felt bad for her, it seems like she's had a rubbish time of it recently, but we were there to learn and there wasn't a whole lot of learning going on. Once again, the people in the group who didn't know how to knit were neglected and eventually the class was over without them getting any help.

For £25 we got 2 balls of wool, a crochet hook, a pair of knitting needles and a yummy lunch of soup, a sandwich and a glass of wine. When you add up all that and minus that from the £25, the cost of the rather rubbish tuition wasn't too bad. On the other hand though, we got a brilliant money off deal, if I'd paid £70 for that day I would have been very unhappy.

In their defence, The Life Craft hasn't been around very long and so hopefully a lot of these problems will be sorted in the future. If it were my place I'd be trying to improve the professionalism of my staff, the quality of the teaching and would provide some basic projects for each class, so you finish with something in your hand to take home. The granny square was a great example, but there wasn't anything similar for the sewing and knitting classes.

We were offered £10 off our next course to apologise for the disruptions with the police but I have yet to receive anything through my email, as promised.

I would definitely go back for a cup of tea if I were in Glasgow, but I would hesitate before doing another course for a good long while.

Inspiration part 2

2011-03-08T10:08:00.000-08:00

It's been a long day at uni, I'm glad to be home with a cup of tea and the last piece of 'floor pie' (AKA apple pie that I made last week but dropped on the floor whilst putting it in the oven, leading to frantic scrabbling to quickly put it all back in the pie dish without breaking the 3 second rule).

Since I'm tired, today is going to be an inspiration post. I like how this is shaping up, I've started an inspiration folder on my PC where I save photos I've seen and label them with the site I've seen them, I've already got enough for at least 2 more posts after this.

Since there were a few that fit the theme of homewares, I thought I'd group them together. I love this modge podge'd Ikea stool from Dottie Angel. Such a great idea and such a pretty outcome! I need to work out what the UK version of modge podge is so I can try this myself, I've got so much lovely fabric I could use...

I love these stamp collection pictures from Cabin and Cub. I collected stamps for years (I was in the super cool group at school) and I've often wondered if there's anything crafty I can do with them now, rather than have them sit in a box in my folks house gathering dust. I was planning on saving them as an heirloom for my children but this seems like a lovely way to make use of them. Valerie is planning one in every colour which is a great idea, you could have a collection of them on one wall.

Suzannah of Adventures in Dressmaking posted recently about plate walls, which is something I've been planning on doing for years as soon as I get my own place. The image is via Down and Out Chic.

Another Etsy update

2011-03-07T07:35:00.001-08:00

I've been busy thrifting for the shop recently, mainly because I've had several boring chores to do that took me past some of my favourite charity shops. There's always a silver lining to the cloud of having to collect shoes from the cobbler on a rainy afternoon.

I love this little tapestry purse, I'm on a bit of a tapestry kick at the moment with my first attempt at a zippered purse, the swallow tapestry I'm slowly working through and my post on my favourite vintage tapestry clutch and Etsy tapestry finds.

I was very tempted to keep it for myself but I'm determined to try Sew Happy Geek's tutorial for a purse with card pocket, just got to find a spare moment!

Isn't this brown leather wallet so classic? If it were mine I think I'd get my initials embossed on the front. It's got so many pockets as well! Super useful.

Tartan kilts

2011-03-06T11:46:00.000-08:00

Check out my amazing thrifted tartan kilts! These were from the charity shopping trip with my Mum a few weeks back and I bought them with the intention of putting them in my Etsy shop. The more they sit in my study though, the more I want to keep them for myself, the material is so lovely.

I've pretty much made up my mind I'm going to keep this one, it's 100% wool and I love the colours. I'm going to take it up though, to make it more wearable. It was awesome while I was taking photos, running to and from the car with it swishing around my legs, I felt like a heroine in a Scottish romantic drama novel from 200 years ago, but sensibly I'll be tripping over it if I don't take it up at least a little way. I might just take it up to ankle length though and wear it long like this Beyond Retro blog post about knits and skirts. Although on the other hand, check out this skirt over on Preta-Porter, £125 for a knee length skirt in almost exactly the same colours as mine! I spent £8.95 on mine, who knew I was so subconsciously stylish!

From Beyond Retro:

I love this one as well, especially since it's got little leather straps round the waistline (just like the blue one), it's such a cute authentic detail. Red doesn't go with a lot of colours in my wardrobe though, I wear more purples, greens and browns so if I kept this one, I wouldn't have a huge amount of top layers to go with it. Plus, I couldn't really afford to buy either of them, so I really should sell one at least! If I sell this one, it'll hopefully make back the cost of each plus a little profit so that's the plan. Just got to take some more photos of the lovely details so watch this space!

Added to Her Library Adventures flea market finds ♥

Etsy shop update

2011-03-05T06:24:00.000-08:00

Here are the new tripod photos of the latest fairisle knitted yumminess in the shop. Aren't these jumpers amazing?! Who wouldn't want ducks swimming across their breasts?!

The other handknitted addition is a grey wool cabled headband. I made myself and Dad one of these and I like mine so much I thought I'd make one for the shop as well.

Fingers crossed other people like it as well!

Vintage suits

2011-03-03T09:35:00.000-08:00

Remember I mentioned a few days ago about some vintage suits my Mum bought for me while we were out charity shopping together? Well, yesterday I finally got up the courage to learn how to take photos of myself using the tripod. It's been languishing in the cupboard for years because I've basically been too scared to try and use it. We don't have a garden, so any outdoor photos I want to take for the blog or shop have to be done on the Meadows, a large and lovely park just across the road. This isn't a problem in itself, but the Meadows is rather busy and also right beside 2 rather busy roads. This means any time I want to take photos, I have to bear in mind that people will be EVERYWHERE watching. Which isn't a problem in itself, but it does mean that if I've got several things to photograph at once, I have to get changed in the car (since we live up 3 flights of stairs and there's no way I'm trekking up and down them every time I want to change a skirt), whilst school kids and yummy mummies and students stroll casually by. It's not ideal really.

When I'm taking photos with Andrew, it's not so much of a problem because with 2 of you, somehow the embarrassment factor is halved. Doing it by myself though is a bit cringeworthy, especially (as was the case yesterday) when 2 random guys in a car are intently staring at you the whole time, as you run forwards and backwards between the tripod, posing, changing, tripod, posing, changing, tripod...you get the idea.

Anyway, now I've finally got it sorted (2 battery changes and almost locking myself out of the house later) here are those amazing suits! I find it really difficult not to look at photos of myself with a really critical eye. I'm guessing everyone does this, but right now all I can think is 'cankles, cankles' and 'double chin...double chin...'

This one fits me perfectly and I love the length of the skirt. I'm going to have to reline the jacket and since I still need to finish the other jacket relining project, it'll have to wait a while. I don't think I'd wear the skirt and jacket together too often, for fear of looking a little too much like an old lady, but both of them look awesome as separates as well!

This suit is almost exactly the same material as the jacket I'm relining, which is brilliant because I wear the relining jacket so much. The skirt is that weird mid-calf, unflattering length but I'm going to take it up to the same length as the herringbone skirt above. I'm thinking of putting leather elbow patches on the jacket, just to make it a little different from my other jacket, but it's so nice I'm loath to fiddle with it too much. I love the belt as well, so cute!

I also photographed the amazing tartan skirts from the same thrifting trip and took photos of the Etsy jumpers being worn but I'm saving those photos for another post. I think I need to learn to pose better, I feel a bit of an idiot looking at these photos, I'm just stood square on, it's not very flattering. I like how Meghan over on Out of Order or Tasia on Sewaholic look in photos, they always stand nicely so they look elegant, not heffalump-esque which is how I feel looking at these photos. Ah well, first time with the tripod, I'll learn for next time!

Ooo, my To Dry For order arrived yesterday and it is awesome! So chuffed with them, I want to keep them all for myself. I'm thinking of a simple plain frame for them, something like this from Ikea. I prefer white but I think white teatowel and white frame might be white overload. I feel a trip to Ikea coming on, yay!

Inspiration

2011-03-01T09:02:00.000-08:00

Some random Ben Folds photos. My camera sadly died for the craft day but hopefully I'll be able to steal some off the photography buff in our group.

BEN FOLDS!! And the O2 Academy in Glasgow

Andrew plus embarrassing Heineken bracelet he got on a stag do a few weeks ago and refuses to take off, even though it makes him look like a teenager.

I'm honestly not drunk, no matter how much this photo suggests it!

I've found myself lacking in inspiration lately, I'm so busy with uni and still pretty fed up with studying in general. My Mum's been in hospital getting her pacemaker repositioned and my Grandad in Newcastle still isn't very well. Plus Andrew's really stressed out with work at the moment so all in all, life's getting a bit on top of me. I'm going to take a step back from blogging for a while, I'll still be blogging but probably only a few times a week, rather than the every day target I've been aiming for.

That being said though, I love having this blog as a place to record my crafty endeavours and share my projects and thoughts with the world. So I'm going to start a new tag called 'inspiration', where I post things, pictures and thoughts that have inspired me. I already sort of do this in my 'Things I love on Etsy' posts and my 2011 project plans. But 'inspiration' posts will be more random I think, just pictures I've seen or things I've read that have made me think, "I want to have a go at that". I also like the idea of the tag being somewhere I can go to for inspiration on days where I need a bit of a creative pick-me-up. I see things on blogs and flickr and google all the time that I want to print off and keep in a scrapbook for a later date, I guess this is just the 21st century way of keeping a scrapbook!

So without further ado, things I've found inspiring recently:

♥ Casey's Elegant Musings has a lovely video on how to do an easy, romantic updo. Since my hair is at the length now where I can finally do things with it, I'd love to have a go at this hairstyle. It would be lovely for a wedding as well, if you were brave enough to do your own wedding hair!

♥ Tales of Ted and Agnes have a brilliant series of photos about re-doing an old bath, I would love a bathroom like this when I have my own place. I love freestanding baths, especially ones with legs or a roll top, I wouldn't have even thought of painting a bath! Love that rose print shower curtain as well, as a person who takes at least 1 bath a week (I shower in between, don't worry!) I would love to have a long, hot, candle lit bubble bath in my own thrifted and re-made bath.

♥ indoor tents. I built one for Andrew for Valentine's day and it was lovely, all snuggled up inside with sheepskins and fluffy pillows and fairy lights and blankets, we felt like we were the only people in the world. When I have a craft room, I want to make a permanent indoor tent where I can curl up with a good book and a cup of tea on rainy Sunday afternoons. Image via Lucky by design.

To Dry For

2011-02-27T10:30:00.001-08:00

It's been another busy week and so another slow one on the blogging front. I spent a brilliant weekend in Glasgow seeing the wonderful Ben Folds play on Friday night (I got myself an awesome t-shirt as well, check it out below), made even better by the fact that he played Still Fighting It, Bitches Ain't Shit AND Army, my 3 all time favourite songs of his. Saturday was spent learning crochet, sewing and knitting at The Life Craft, a nice but slightly strange experience that at one point involved the police and a member of staff's full-on life story, I'll blog about that later on in the week once I'm a bit more caught up with work. We stayed with our friends Mikael and Claire, watched films, ate home-made waffles and generally caught up on the chat. It was lovely.

I'm trying to be organised about presents at the moment, since I have so much going on at uni and I know closer to exams I'm not going to want to think about it. I promised my friend Alison I'd buy her this amazing Corgi teatowel from To Dry For for her birthday, which isn't until June but while I was browsing the site I saw 2 more that would be perfect as presents so I just ordered them, free shipping as well! I can't show you the other two since they're for folk who might read my blog, but I thought I'd share with you my other favourites from the site instead. There are so many amazing designs, you should definitely check them out and the postage is pretty cheap, even internationally. I'm going to frame the ones I've bought to give as art for the wall, they're too nice to use to dry dishes!

These are the ones I'd buy for myself if I had any spare pennies:

Triceratops Meat Chart

I love Robert Ryan and this teatowel is no exception. It would make a great Valentines gift.

Make Do and Mend, I'd definitely hang this one in my craft room!

Can't wait for my order to arrive, I'll definitely be blogging about the 2 I can't show you as soon as the birthdays have passed!

For my future kitchen

2011-02-23T09:06:00.000-08:00

I seem to be spending a lot of time at the moment dreaming about my future craft plans, but not getting a huge amount of time to actually do any of them. It's a most depressing state of affairs, the cardigan is growing very slowly, the thrifted wooden box has completely ground to a halt and the tapestry swallows are feeling rather naked. I haven't even begun to think about my 2011 project plans...oh dear...

Well, dear friends, here's another stalled project, sat waiting the right time in the future. Apologies for the rubbish photo, today is rather grey in Edinburgh. I bought this from an amazingly cheap charity shop for the princely sum of £2 thinking I would paint it and put it up in the kitchen for my growing collection of thrifted and vintage crockery. I envisaged painting it duck-egg blue or soft dove grey and screwing little brass hooks for my teacups into the edges of the shelves. It was going to look amazing...until I got it home and realised that the walls in our kitchen are lath and plaster and so won't be able to take the weight of all that wood and china. Sigh.

Ah well, it's currently residing in the pantry, awaiting the next house which hopefully will have strong enough walls. Only another 18 months until graduation and house moving...

In the meantime, here's what I'm thinking it will look like in the end:

From Shabby Chic Furniture, this is for sideways plates rather than face on, but I love this colour. I like the sideways storage because you can get more in it, but I prefer face on because you can actually see the plates.

Vintage style kitchen storage - this is what I'm thinking, but less sweet and sickly, my crockery is more a mix of colours and styles and I want to paint the storage unit a calm, neutral colour so the plates do the talking, without looking overwhelming. I love the crockery in this one though!

This one from The Orchard Home and Gifts is exactly what I'm thinking, right down to the colour and the 'worn' look and the backing paper (though mine's backless so I won't be able to do that). But £147.50?!? Nae way! I'll do mine for £2 plus the cost of paint thank you very much. I even already have the brass screws. Thrift at its best!

Finally finished Frances' bathmat!

2011-02-21T05:31:00.000-08:00

I wanted to make the title 'Finally finished Frances' Fathmat' so it was alliteration but that would be a bit silly after all. Here's the work in progress post and here is the finished object!

It's a bit wonky and the anchor hasn't shown up as well as I'd like, I should have used thicker thread or done more of a block outline rather than a line outline (if that makes sense?!) but seeing as it's 4 months late already, I feel like I should just cut my losses and get it in the post. Gosh, looking at the picture, you can barely see the anchor against those lines! I'm a terrible friend, to everyone reading this, I solemnly promise to be better organised at keeping in touch when I graduate.

Also, check out these amazing tartan skirts I thrifted over the weekend. I'm considering keeping the blue one and just shortening it, though I'm not sure I've got anything that would go with it! It's such lovely material though, 100% wool, I don't really want to part with them. But since they were both over my budget for buying for my Etsy shop anyway, I feel like they're going to have to work for their keep and will have to be listed. I might hold onto them for a little while though, just so I can stroke them from time to time...

Etsy shop update

2011-02-20T05:52:00.001-08:00

Apologies for the mini-blog break everybuddy, my folks came up on Thursday to celebrate my Dad's 54th and my Grandad's 80th birthdays so I spent Tuesday and Wednesday evenings frantically cleaning the flat and catching up on work before they arrived.

Also, apologies for never sharing the full photos of the Etsy shop preview I teased you all with last week, it was a gorgeous thick handknitted aran cardigan that I was all set to list in the shop until my Mum took a fancy to it this weekend and bought it off me! Unfortunately the weather was too miserable to take a decent photo of it before they left this morning (and we were drunk or walking the dogs for the rest of the time so no photography happened there either). Still, I quickly reinvested the money on Saturday when Mum and I went thrifting and I came back with these 2 jumpers and 2 amazing wool tartan skirts, one of which I'm considering keeping and shortening for me to wear. Mum also bought me 2 vintage tweed wool suits for £15 each, a complete bargain and a lovely surprise gift when Mum insisted on paying. I'm going to have to wait for someone to help me photograph them and I want to take up one of the skirts, but they're AMAZING!

In the meantime though, check out these beauties...

Vintage 1980s Scottish fair isle jumper 1

Vintage 1980s Scottish fair isle jumper 2

Inverness photo shoot

2011-02-15T07:50:00.000-08:00

I took advantage of having a garden a few weeks back when Andrew and I visited his folks in Inverness to have a bit of a photo shoot. Andrew makes for a good camera man, he directed me to stand and look in certain ways to avoid my usual photo catastrophes of double chin/stupid expression/eyes closed. I made sure to wear make up to avoid the Shiny/Red Face Effect (although sometimes this strikes even when I'm wearing make up) and overall I'm pretty pleased with the results.

You can check the listings out over in the clothing section of the shop, although you might have seen these on the blog before, these photos were an improvement on some of the grainy or dark or fuzzy photos that were the best I could manage by myself in the flat.

Vintage Scottish fairisle cardigan

Vintage handknit sweatervest

Vintage handknit cabled blue jumper

Vintage handknit black lace jumper

Vintage yellow sweater vest with flower buttons

Lets hope they find nice homes!

Work in progress: bathmat

2011-02-14T06:16:00.000-08:00

Years ago I made this bathmat from knitted t-shirts. It's practical but as my first attempt, it's pretty wonky and ugly. It's the back-up bathmat for the second one I made, which is pretty much used every day except the 2 days it takes to wash and dry it! I like this one much better, it's less wonky because I worked out that I had to try and cut the t-shirts the same width each time, otherwise you end up with one really thick row followed by one really thin (you can see a work in progress photo over here). As you can see this still didn't quite work in this one either but at least I know where I went wrong!

I'm not entirely happy with this one still though, if I was to make it again I'd try and choose my colours better, this one is a bit random and not in a good way. It's because I was just using up what t-shirts I had when Andrew's old flatmate gave me a load to craft with, I'd like to make it again without the wonky edges and with more of a chosen colour scheme. For the moment though, I'm happy to just use what I have, I'm in no great hurry to try making another one, it took me ages to cut up those t-shirts and knit with them!

On the subject of bathmats (now there's a sentence), I'm in the process of making a jaunty nautical-themed bath mat for Frances' new house. I say new, she moved into this house back in November and I promised I'd make her a bath mat as a house warming present, since I made her last one and apparently they used it until it fell to pieces. I like the style of that one, but I wanted something quicker this time, since I'm already 3 months late! So I ditched the patchwork idea and just went with a big rectangle instead. I thought I'd jolly it up a bit with an embroidered anchor but I'm not sure it's going to look very good in the end. I figure I'm so late though, I'll just have to finish it up and send it off, I can make up for it's rubbishness with an extra special birthday present in April!

Another Etsy update

2011-02-13T12:19:00.000-08:00

Why does the weekend go so quickly? When I was studying Zoology in Aberdeen, I had a reasonably busy timetable for a student but still had plenty of free time to relax and indulge my non-uni past times. Vet medicine, on the other hand, feels more like a proper job but you PAY to be there and don't clock off at 5.30pm, instead coming home to study until 10.30 at night until you collapse into bed in a semi-comatose state with images of infected joints and words like 'bilateral tarsocrural arthroscopy' flashing in front of your eyes. Then at the weekend you spend the day cooped up in your tiny, windowless study for 8 hours at a time, ploughing through never-ending pages of notes, trying desperately to stay as far behind as you were on Friday, never mind catching up, just trying not to slip any further back. Only to either scrape passes in exams, being happy with 2% past the pass mark, or just downright fail and have to repeat the whole process in the summer, while everyone else is off to Thailand making out with elephants or whatever, psh, sounds rubbish anyway. Meanwhile your boyfriend resents you for not being able to a) save for a flat because you have no money, b) go on holiday because you have no money or c) move to a flat with a garden so you can get a dog because...you guessed it...you have no money. And you can't get married until you graduate. And your mum resents you for the amount of money being spent on your apparently unending education.

But at least you chose to go to vet school!

Le sigh.

Here are some recent additions to the Etsy shop, vintage floral fat quarters, made from thrifted bedsheets.

Etsy shop update

2011-02-12T07:37:00.001-08:00

Just 1 item to show you, though I have 3 more sets of these waiting on the ironing board to be ironed and photographed and probably another 2 sets to cut out and a set of odd bits to iron and list...and and and...that's a lot of ands!

Bundle of 14 vintage cotton fat quarters over in the shop

I also thrifted a lovely little something yesterday for the shop that's currently in the process of being washed and dried, here's a wee sneaky preview:

Inspiration

2011-02-11T09:16:00.000-08:00

Things that have inspired me this week...

Adventures in Dressmaking is doing a blog swap with Sweetie Pie Bakery and I love this idea of this men's shirt to tunic tutorial. I've got my eye on several of Andrew's old shirts!

Ayumi of Pink Penguin wrote this post full of amazing photos from Tokyo's quilt festival. Some of my favourites:

Sew Happy Geek at Excell Crafts posted this brilliant purse with exterior card pocket tutorial, I plan to have a go at it over the weekend!

What are your plans for the weekend? ♥

Halibut and Herring review

2011-02-09T13:02:00.000-08:00

Just up the road from me is a lovely little gift shop called Halibut and Herring. It's so cute and quirky, they sell a range of handmade soaps and bath bombs (mostly made in Scotland and they smell divine!) as well as handmade bags, purses and cushions and random little gift things like a hedgehog shaped nail brush or bath crayons (to draw on tiles in the bathroom!) or a rubber duck with a doctors outfit on (I want this, he looks like a vet!). At the moment they have a range of gorgeous velvet (to continue the velvet theme) bags and cushions, I couldn't find a photo on the internet and I felt a bit weird photographing them in the shop but they're deep teals and mustards with birds and tree patterns, so pretty!

The shop itself is painted really bright colours, I especially like the teal theme they seem to have going and every time I've been in the shop workers have been lovely, greeting you with a cheery "hello!", and "goodbye!" or "thank you!" when you're leaving. Halibut and Herring has a nice range of prices as well, you could pick up a little gift for a couple of pounds or a proper present for £20-30 or more.

The window display is always very eye catching, it makes me want to go in and buy everything or run home and frantically sew all night. I love this scotty dog hot water bottle cover, so cute!

So if you're ever in Bruntsfield or Morningside, be sure to check out Halibut and Herring!

P.S. If you're into sewing and have a minute or two to spare, have a go at Sewaholic's questionnaire. It's for her business class and the sooner she graduates, the sooner we all get lovely new Sewaholic patterns to play with! I hope the link works, I've done it already so it might just direct you to a 'you've already done this survey' page but if that happens, you can check out the original link over on Sewaholic.net.

Tapestry swallows

2011-02-08T07:00:00.000-08:00

I have a bit of a thing for tapestry. I feel quite hypocritical because when Danny and I were younger, we used to laugh at the lady who lived across the road from us because she had a tapestry bag. Being in our early teens, we thought this was just the saddest thing EVER and used to mock her mercilessly behind her back. I'm so ashamed. The irony is, I love tapestry now, one day I'm going to be that middle aged, slightly frumpy lady with the tapestry bag that the obnoxious teens across the street will laugh about. Circle of life and all that, eh?

My current purse is tapestry, as is my favourite clutch bag. I have a pair of lovely thrifted tapestry cushions and now have just been gifted this half-finished tapestry of swallows from Andrew's mum.

It used to belong to his Granny, until she couldn't really see well enough to sew anymore, so it came to Viv when they cleared her house after she died. She's in the process of sorting through her house now, since they've had 2 grandparents die in the past 3 years the house is FULL of amazing vintage treasures (and quite a lot of rubbish!) so a lot of it is being passed onto Andrew and I. Some of it I'm under strict instructions to sell on Ebay for her and some is for us to keep and use ourselves. I really like this tapestry, I'm going to finish it off and make it into a cushion cover I think.

Vintage and fake fur - yay or nay?

2011-02-07T12:40:00.001-08:00

I had a brief debate with my friend Alison recently, after she got rather annoyed (and slightly heckled) a girl in the street wearing a fur coat. On passing glance, I couldn't tell if the coat was fake or not but that, Alison stated, was not the point. Fake fur these days is so convincing as to be almost impossible to distinguish from the real thing (this theme popped up over on Did You Make That? recently as well) and thus possibly compounds the idea that wearing fur is somehow fashionable, attractive and, as Karen from the aforementioned blog put it, "something to aspire to."

Since talking about it with Alison, I seem to be reading about fur everywhere. Debi over on My happy sewing place recently posted about a lovely 1940s jacket she made for herself, out of fake fur. It is gorgeous and she looks stunning in it, but again the question pops into my head, if it looks just like the real thing, how is it any different to wearing the real thing?

I don't have a problem with fake fur (I have sewn with it in the past), I think that it isn't directly fueling demand for the unecessary rearing and slaughter of animals for their pelts and besides the environmental aspects of the non-renewable energy and resources used in its creation (which is a whole topic unto itself and not restricted to fake fur at all), it is no more inethical in my eyes than wearing a jacket made out of any other material. The main argument I've heard for not wearing fake fur is, as above, it can be difficult to tell apart from the real thing and therefore could be indirectly promoting the use of real fur.

My main problem with this argument is that I don't think it's the duty of the person who's wearing the coat to provide a role model for others. If you chose to wear a real fur coat because you don't have a problem with the ethics then I feel it's a free country and you have just as much right to do that as I do to wear leather shoes or denim jeans. If other people look at you and think, "wow, I love her coat, I want one" and go out and buy the real thing, that's their choice and ethics, not yours and you're not responsible for their choices. It's like if I was wearing a fairtrade, organic, cotton sundress and someone who saw me in the street liked it so much they bought a non-fairtrade, non-organic version for themselves, I wouldn't feel responsible that they hadn't made the same ethical choices as me when it came to choosing that dress.

Now, I feel as a disclaimer I should write here that I'm maybe a bit biased. I have a vintage fake fur coat that I inherited from my Great-Grandma and I love it (especially at the moment as with my tweed jacket out of action, it's the only non-vet jacket I own that's warm enough to handle the snow!). I feel I should also state that I don't have a massive problem with vintage fur in principle either, I feel that since the animal is already dead, it would be waste and a death in vain if that item of clothing were just sent to landfill. I don't think I would buy a real fur vintage coat, but if I were to inherit one, I certainly wouldn't have a problem wearing it.

Here's one way to save vintage fur from the landfill, fur pillows. From The Coat Check. Bet they would be snuggly and warm...

I can completely understand where people are coming from with the other side of the argument, both with fake and vintage real fur. There's an episode of River Cottage where Hugh shoots some rabbits, cooks and eats the meat and then makes clothing from the pelts. If all fur clothing were made this way, I wouldn't have a problem with that either, but I could definitely understand people who did.

Woah, you can totally see through my top! Ha!

It's a tricky subject and can be so emotive for some people, but I firmly believe in truth through debate. Thanks to Alison for getting me thinking! ♥

Velvet love

2011-02-03T12:12:00.000-08:00

I mentioned a few weeks back that I was planning on making a velvet skirt and since then I've been thinking about it a lot. I want to start it in the not-too-distant future but since I have a stack of more pressing uni stuff to get through first, I'm resorting to living my velvet dreams vicariously through Etsy.

Here are a few of my favourites...

I've been an avid reader of Clever Nettle for a while now and almost every shop update Anja posts I want to buy something! If this lovely dress was my size, I'd snap it up in an instant.

Tweed AND velvet?! Where do I sign up?! From Melissa Tabor, she has lots of lovely tweed clothing in her shop.

This lovely winter woods skirt is from Made with love by Hannah and comes with a detachable bird brooch.

I'm also still pining over the delicious blue velvet dress from Bohemia. Le sigh...to have money...

P.S. I'll be taking a wee break from blogging over the weekend, I'm off to Inverness for Andrew's Dad's birthday!

Work in progress Wednesday

2011-02-02T05:07:00.000-08:00

This is my first ever submission to Work in Progress Wednesday with Tami's Amis. Hopefully this will encourage me to take more photos of my works in progress, rather than waiting until they're finished!

Check out my cardigan, see how it's grown! I love this wool, it's from New Lanark and the colour is called blueberry. There are so many cute colours of wool in that shop, if this cardigan works then I'm definitely going back for some bramble, pebble and heather. I should do a review of New Lanark at some point, it's a lovely place for a day out!

I had a scary moment last week where I thought this was coming out too large, but luckily I rechecked my guage and I think I'm safe! It's a Ysolda Teague pattern, 'Coraline' off Ravelry and so far has been pretty straightforward, check out my first attempt at provisional cast-on! It's growing slowly but that's more because I haven't been doing a huge amount of knitting recently, by the time I'm done studying for the night I can generally only stay awake for about half an hour before I have to give in and crawl into bed, so not a huge amount of knitting gets done. I'm away to Andrew's folks in Inverness for the weekend though so I reckon I'll get quite a bit done there.

Ooo, excitement! I love watching a big knitting project grow!

First attempt at a zippered purse

2011-01-31T06:57:00.000-08:00

It's a sad day but my beloved Ness purse has almost given up on this life, it will be sadly missed. In the spirit of thrift and saving money, I thought I'd have a go at making my own little purse to replace it.

I used this tutorial from Make it Perfect and it was really clear and easy to follow, two thumbs up there! Unfortunately I made a bit of an error of judgement when it came to choosing the fabric and chose 2 rather thick stiff pieces, meaning my purse has come out a bit odd and wonky-looking. Also, the only zips I had were either miles too big or just a tad too small, so I went for the too-small variety. I can get cards in and out...just, but I foresee many embarrassing moments in the future where I'm holding up a large queue of angry people whilst digging around trying to find that last 5p or struggling to find my bank card amidst the clutter of my Debenhams beauty card (used once), WH Smiths stationary card (last used approximately 6 years ago), various coffee shop loyalty cards that I can't afford any more, my blood donor card (what if I get hit by a car and they give me the WRONG BLOOD TRANSFUSION!?), my Matalan card, my Ikea family card...you get the picture.

The fabric is upholstery fabric that used to be on the seats of my folks dining chairs. The chairs eventually succumbed to old age and were burned but I managed to rescue the material from the funeral pyre. The velvet is some stuff I bought from a charity shop, I'm pretty much in love with velvet at the moment.

Other than all these obvious flaws, I'm pretty pleased with the outcome! I plan to use it until I find a tutorial that'll show me how to make one with different pockets, ideally I'd like a pocket for change and notes, a pocket for important useful cards and a pocket for less-important-but-still-annoying-if-you-go-out-without-them-then-need-them cards.

They'd make sweet gifts as well!

Housewarming cards

2011-01-30T03:17:00.000-08:00

I made some more cards! Following on from the success of the button card, I've tried my hand at hot glue and fabric. A fun but potentially lethal combination (well, mildly painful maybe...not lethal in the strictest sense of the word...), I think I've left a reasonable amount of the skin on my fingers attached to the coffee table and the 3 week old copy of the Guardian that I was leaning on.

Ah well, it's worth it when the results are so cute! Even if I do say so myself :)

You may recognise some of the fabric as being off cuts from Danica's tote bag. I think this is only going to fuel my craze for paper crafts, it's cheaper than buying cards and it uses up all those little scraps of fabric that are just too cute to throw out!

These two are going to Frances and Mark, who moved into their new house months ago (I'm a terrible friend) and my friend Dicker who moved into his new flat over Christmas. Frances' one will have to wait even longer as I said I'd make them a bath mat as a housewarming present. They'll have moved house again by the time I get myself organised!

Thrifted teacosies

2011-01-29T04:15:00.000-08:00

Following on from yesterday's post about my car boot finds, here are the teacosies I was telling you about!

I love this little house, I wasn't too sure when I bought it but it was such a bargain (50p!) that I had to have it anyway and since then it's just grown and grown on me! It's so bright and cheery, plus I love the idea of my teapot living inside it. Andrew hates it of course, but luckily is pretty tolerant of the stuff I bring home from thrift trips!

Look, lace curtains! So my teapot can twitch them at the neighbours!

This is the one I mentioned yesterday that I got for free, how cute is it?! It perfectly fits my little teapot that I use to make herbal tea for myself, it's a little bit big but I figure it'll grow into it.

I had a really hard time this morning taking photos, nothing was coming out right, everything was fuzzy or grainy or too dark or too light. I listed some things in my Etsy shop and it took me ages to get even half-decent photos. In the end with some of them I just had to go with the best I could get, though I'm very aware that they're not half as professional looking as I'd like them to be. Going through my shop as well, there are a lot of items that are from back when I first opened the shop and didn't know so much about Etsy, so didn't use all 5 of the photo slots or some of them are a bit out of focus or too dark and they look super amateur. It's frustrating, I'd love to go through and rephotograph everything but it would take so long and with my crappy camera, probably come out just the same. Ideally I would like to take all my items somewhere to have someone take the photos professionally for me, at least until I have money to buy a new decent camera and time and space to set up a proper photography area in my house. There's a girl in my class who takes amazing photos and is really into it so I reckon she would do them for me but I couldn't afford to pay her anything near enough to make it worth her while and I don't want to take advantage of her. It's just so hard, looking at other people's shops who obviously have Etsy as their day job, they look so smart and professional, it makes my shop look pretty rubbish in comparison. I guess I just have to keep reminding myself that I'm training to be a vet not a shop owner and this is just a hobby to me, so if it's not perfect, it doesn't matter too much. I think it's because I'm struggling at uni at the moment that the shop being sub-par bothers me so much, it would be nice to feel that there was at least one area of my life that wasn't failing!

At some point this weekend I'm going to have a blitz clean of the flat, that never fails to make me feel better!

Thrifted coasters

2011-01-28T06:33:00.000-08:00

Here are those thrifted French coasters I mentioned in yesterday's post. Aren't they sweet? I want to gradually replace the American flag coasters we were given by Andrew's folks, it's a nice gesture but they're so tacky! I want to eventually cover them in some other photos and varnish them like these ones over on Craftster (I especially like that idea since she used ceramic tiles as well, what an awesome idea!).

The blue and white one is a ceramic coaster I bought from Whittard's when I first went to uni, I love it so much, I wish I'd bought more than one!

Also, check out these amazing felt coasters I won in a giveaway from Bugs and Fishes! Laura runs a lovely site called Lupin Handmade selling adorable felt goodies, I love the bird brooches especially, my Mum would love this goldfinch:

I hope everyone has nice plans for the weekend! I have lots of work and chores to catch up on but I'm looking forward to a weekend in the flat to get organised and relax. Tonight's plan is Country Living in the bath with a glass of red wine...bliss...

Etsy shop preview...

2011-01-27T09:49:00.000-08:00

After the amazing crafting and thrifting trip to Glasgow with Vicky on Saturday, we followed it up with an epic car boot adventure on the Sunday. What a haul I landed! As well as the below items soon to appear in my Etsy shop I also bought a handmade pink tea cosy shaped like a house (photos to follow obviously!), a blue stripy knitted tea cosy (the lady gave it to me for free!), Delia's complete how to cook for £1, a gardening encyclopedia for 50p, 3 coasters with vintage French adverts printed on them for £1, a noticeboard I plan to cover in fabric and diagonal ribbon for £1 and a set of 6 egg cups with 3 matching plates and bowels in this lovely blue and white Scandinavian design for £3.50. Photos of my personal finds to follow but here's a sneak preview of the things I discovered for the shop...

I ♥ thrifting. I do not ♥ spilling tea on my keyboard and mouse, the scroll wheel seems to have broken and the arrow keys are all sticky, sad day.

Sushi amigurumi

2011-01-26T05:01:00.000-08:00

I knitted these adorable amigurumi sushi for my friend Danica's birthday, she's a big fan of sushi. I used an Amy Polcyn knitting pattern off Ravelry for free and I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out. I presented them in a sushi box so sadly I had to buy and eat some sushi as part of the project, it was a noble sacrifice.

Apologies for the rubbish photo, it's been one of those weeks where I seem to be constantly running around 10 minutes behind myself so I finished these off about 5 minutes before I had to leave to get to her party. I took a quick, slightly fuzzy, orange photo and wrapped them straight up. In case you're not sure, there's 2 tekka maki, 2 california rolls, 2 tamago nigiri, some pickled ginger and wasabi.

I also gave her one of my homemade tote bags, she seemed pretty pleased with them both. I like making totes for folks (ha, rhymes!), they're so simple but so pretty and I can make them look quite professional now. I want to experiment with zips and inside pockets and whatnot in the future.

We ate tapas and drank wine, it was a good night!

Crafting and thrifting in Glasgow

2011-01-24T11:45:00.001-08:00

It's been almost a week since my last post, apologies fellow craftsters! I've been busy with my friend Vicky (designer of my lovely banner) to stay and a crafty, thrifty weekend was had by all!

On Saturday we took the train through to Glasgow to meet Vicky's friend Ruth, who was billed by Vicky as being "just like you but a foot taller!" How true this was! Ruth did Zoology at uni (just like me!), is into knitting (just like me!) and thrifting (just like me!) and is an all-round awesome person (obviously, just like me).

We did some hard-core charity shopping which ended with my awesome haul of 1 Phillippa Gregory book, 1 Penguin copy of Moby Dick, 3 vintage knitting patterns for Aran jumpers and 1 ENORMOUS brushed cotton floral nightie in properly old lady style that I plan to cut up and make into pyjamas. I will definitely be sharing a photo of the latter with you all, it is hilarious.

On the way we also checked out a range of Glasgow's mighty fine vintage shops, my favourite being Starry Starry Night. I've linked you to the lady's blog who provided the photo, since the shop itself doesn't have a website. It was so pretty from the outside, down a little cobbled lane strung with fairy lights, painted green with window boxes that in summer I can imagine will be filled with flowers and ivy. There were loads of amazing little tucked-away corners like this, I'd love to go back when I have some money and do some proper vintage shopping.

We eventually stopped for a cup of tea at The Life Craft, a crafting space and shop with a tea room. It is amazing and has only been open a short while, so I can only imagine how amazing it will be in the future. Bizarrely, it's the same place I'm going in February with some friends for a craft day, I had no idea what the name of the place was until we pitched up and I recognised it! Looking at the classes available, I'm hoping to do 'Basic alterations' and 'Introduction to crochet' on the day. We just had tea this time round though.

Apologies for the lack of actual crafting posts, I have several things to share but haven't had a chance to take photos! It gets dark so early still and I don't want to post rubbish photos with the flash on so watch this space. In sad knitting news, I'm going to have to take out the work in progress cardigan, having knitted a good few inches of it now, I'm realising that it's going to be too big :-( I want to do it properly so it fits when its done, it's just so frustrating. Still, a good opportunity to practice my provisional cast on again I guess!