More sneak peaks of new products

Coming soon to folksy and etsy...

Quilting for beginners

I had a little go at making a quilt today! My niece received a baby doll for her 3rd birthday, along with cot, pram, all the good stuff, but I got a call to say that her dolly was getting cold at night because she only had a tea towel to use in her bed. Well that wouldn't do at all, would it?

I grabbed a couple of vintage pillowcases from my stash (the furry sort of deep-piled cotton ones, what's that stuff called again? Is it flannelette? That doesn't even look like a word, does it?) and set to work. Luckily my sewing machine had just been fixed by Jen at The Life Craft, so I was all ready to go. I had a little bit of a fleece blanket left over from making a blackout blind/wall hanging so that went in the middle of one of the pillowcases, which I trimmed to tea towel size and turned inside out to sew up all the edges, leaving a gap to turn it back right side out again and closed up by top stitching all around. I then did a few lines of top stitching to keep the fleece in place, giving a very amateurish (but just fine for dollies) quilt style look. I then made a pillow out of a bit of old sheet, stuffed it with toy stuffing, sewed it up and made a matching envelope-style pillow case. The whole thing took me about two hours and was the most fun I've had with my sewing machine in ages! Not a swear word was uttered, something of a miracle.

Here's A's toy elephant testing it out! I have a feeling there will be many more photos of this kind to come and that makes me very happy indeed.

Break out the bunting, I'm unstoppable!

I'm really ploughing through a whole lot of unfinished projects at the moment, and feeling pretty chuffed with myself. I've updated the shop with three new products this week, and the latest is timed to tie in with Royal Wedding Fever!

For years I've been putting little hearts in my knitting as a little kind of 'trademark', especially when I was making hats for Innocent's big knit. And of course there's almost a whole section of my etsy shop dedicated to confetti hearts. I've wanted to make miniature bunting for ooh, ages, and with my recent wedding-related cross-stitching project, all these ideas collided in a big flash of inspiration and here's the result:

I wish I was back at my day job at the moment so I could pop a string of this bunting on my desk in time for Friday. However, I am also aware of the fact that I would have to be doing work if I were sitting at my desk, so I'm kind of glad I don't have to be back for another three months!

Of course, this bunting is endlessly customisable, in different colours and even with letters spelling out 'bride', 'groom', 'wedding', the date of the wedding or the names of the happy couple. Or all of these things! Each square is 2cm by 2cm, uses dmc threads and the aida is backed with a layer of fluffy felt, to keep it in good shape. Luckily my stitching is pretty neat, even on the back, but I felt (ahem!) that the layer of felt just finished it off nicely.

Head over the shop now to pick some up - if you're in the UK, I'll even rush it out to you in time for Friday!

A few fun things to do

I've just entered a fantastic draw to win some amazing artwork from final year graphic design students, as well as established artists, courtesy of http://www.thea4draw.blogspot.com/ - get your ticket over at folksy.com for the next couple of weeks before the draw takes place.

I'd love to win one of the pieces by Gemma Correll, Rob Ryan or Sophie Evans, but really, all of the work on offer is brilliant.

I'm the world's worst at drawing, but I'm still tempted to help the ingenious founder of http://www.onemilliongiraffes.com/ win his bet against his pal. He's nearly there, but still needs our help.

And speaking of giraffes, Claire of MisoFunky, whose logo features a giraffe named Hamish, has tagged me in a photo challenge. I have to go to the tenth photo in the first folder on my pictures section of the computer, and explain what I find there.

Well, my first folder is tagged AMNH, and the tenth photo is this guy. I hope he didn't stay fast asleep until the museum closed, because we all know what happens then...

The full story behind the picture is that it was taken on 2nd January 2008, during my last trip to New York. I was at the museum with my sister and her husband, taking a break from hanging out with my cousin and my dad. I was feeling over my mild new years hangover, obtained in style at the lovely home of Brooklyn-based jeweller Grayson Mae.

My good friend and super-host Colin was catching up on work after being sick for a while, which appears to happen whenever I visit over new year, so being at a loose end, me and the Buchanans decided to go and do something none of us had done before - I was more keen on eating sushi, buying high-end stationery, celeb-spotting and generally being a bit of a poser down in SoHo when I lived in NY - spending my weekends as far away as possible from where I spent my weekdays shuttling between offices on Madison and Central Park West.

I am trying not to think too hard about the fact that the elephant's rear end may be haunted. I think I'm in the dust corner on the mighty dust vs. orbs debate.

I'm supposed to tag five other people, and I'm spoiled for choice, so I tag YOU!

Great contest at maker.com

Maker.com, the partner site to Craftzine.com, is running a great contest with only days left to enter.

Now I've talked about my addiction to stationery before, but one thing I've never really 'got' is the Moleskine. I think I was put off by someone who raved about them deliriously, non-stop, and in the same way I've decided to live without chess, skiing and Nick Drake in my life, I like handmade individualist notebooks, or at the very least, something with square boxes instead of lines inside (means I can design intarsia knitting patterns as well as jot down my thoughts).

But all this might be about to change, when I see the results of this contest. And besides, who doesn't love the words 'free lifetime supply'?

Closing date is 31 May, so get your skates on! If you're like me, and possibly not going to enter this, can I recommend a handy fix of the customised Moleskines over at Asking for Trouble? Just the job if you're off to London Town soon.

Happy Birthday to me!

Had a great day today! I called into Made in the Shade, now installed at Oran Mor, and was lucky enough to win in their tombola. Although I was slightly disappointed not to win any handmade loveliness, the £20 in vouchers for the Lighthouse Design shop that I bagsed more than made up for it.

Now I just have to decide whether I treat myself to some Marimekko fabric, some arty guide books to Vancouver and Seattle (for later in the year) or some of the delicious stationery the shop carries. Decisions, decisions.

Speaking of design, my day was complete when my friend and I spied Justin and Colin enjoying an al fresco coffee on Byres Road. Hurray for celebrity spotting!

All this week, it'll be back to business. I am planning a huge supplies destash as I may, very soon, be moving house. It'll be over at the 'bay, rather than through girlindustries on etsy, but keep your eyes on this blog for more news.

Hope you had a great weekend, too.

Something's hiding...

My latest etsy crush and now they have gone and made a video about how amazing and talented they are. I love their home. And their life. And their, ahem, mad skillz. *sigh*

Happy New Year

New Year means new products, and here are some napkin rings I designed and made, ooh about an hour ago. Made from what used to be a NEXT handbag, that served me well for five years until my ginger cat, Kipper, used the handles as a teething ring. Grrr. I'd love to hear your comments...

There are only 4 more days to submit upcycled projects to the Extreme Craft Creative Reuse project, so if you've been crafty and made some new stuff out of old stuff lately, click here and get involved. They are hoping to showcase 1000 items, and looking through the submissions folder, there are plenty of extra spots still available.

Get creative!

Weekly roundup

What a week! I've been subscribing to the watched pot theory over at etsy.com and have taken a little time away from the internet this week.



Mainly I've been working on research and development of all things crafty. I've been experimenting with self-designed patterns for fingerless gauntlet gloves, building up stock for the two fairs I'm hopefully signed up for in December, and putting more destash items in my shop. This flat won't empty itself.



Craft fairs are very much on my mind. I visited the excellent Mugdock Makkers fair yesterday - it's still on today if you fancy a run out to the leafy suburbs and the countryside beyond - and found a delightful mix of traditional crafts like glass bead making, soap making and wicker work, to more of the neo-crafts I'm used to seeing at these events, cool cuffs and brooches, retro aprons and super snuggly phone cosies. There's also a record fair in a back room of the same venue, as if we didn't need excuse enough to visit, we spent a happy half an hour flicking through Scottish 45s from the 80s and early 90s. I recommend it, and hope people will make the trip on 13 and 14 December, when you can visit the Girl Industries stall.



I've been catching up on recording some of my old videos onto DVD over the past week - it's a task which lends itself so well to knitting on the sofa! I've caught up with social commentary from the 70s to the 90s, with a look at a not much changed Glasgow in Just Another Saturday, life against a backdrop of the Queen's silver jubilee in The Spongers, far too many episodes of South Park, YTS and the 80s in Brick is Beautiful and disturbed Canadian teens running wild in the heady days of 90s grunge in Fun.



I also managed to take in the Coens' new film on Friday night - phew, what a week! Friday was the deadline for submission of hats in Innocent's annual big knit campaign, and I managed to take a photo of part of my contribution before it went in the post, too...

I'd love to hear if you see one of my hats at a Sainsburys near you!

London Town

I've been away in London to bid a fond 'au revoir' to a friend who is off to Nepal for a good six months. Being in travel mode, we were at the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden and I got slightly obsessed with the old fashioned posters.

This one, in particular, struck a chord...