Tis the season for strawberries...

I've noticed there is a lot of jam making happening in Blogland lately, plus with Wimbledon also on, and so thought this tutorial for a really easy jar jar topper might be useful, if you have jam left over you'd like to give as a gift.

To make one for strawberry jam (the pattern can be easily adapted for other fruit), you will need - 

 

a jam jar with lid (mine is 8.5 cm across, and notice, once again for the purposes of photography, I have 'stunt' jam, not homemade!), a circle of felt measuring 16cm across (you will need a larger piece if your jam jar is larger than mine), two pieces of red felt 2.5cm x 4.5cm, another piece of red felt cut into a strawberry shape about 3cm tall, a small amount of green felt for leaves, about 58cm of narrow ribbon, some red, green and yellow embroidery thread (I've used pearl cotton 8), a small amount of stuffing, pencil, pins, sewing needle and some scissors.

First, scallop around the edge of the large felt circle, I just used normal scissors for this and did it freehand, but if you have some scalloped edge scissors, you could use those.

Then, place the jam jar lid centrally, and draw round it with a pencil to mark its position.  Thread the needle with the ribbon, weave it in and out all the way round, 1cm away from the drawn circle.  You may need to poke a small hole with some sharp scissors first, just make sure that both ends of the ribbon come out on the top side of the topper so they can be tied in a bow.

Next, to make mini strawberries to decorate the ribbon with, fold the red rectangle in half, and sew down one of the open edges which is at a right angle to the fold.  Trim the open side to a curve,

turn the shape inside out so the seams are on the inside, fill with a little stuffing, then sew running stitch all the way round the open edge, and pull to gather.

Before you sew it up, poke in one end of the ribbon, then secure the top with a few stitches.

Next, decorate the strawberry with a few yellow french knots, cut 4 small leaf shapes out of the green felt, and sew them to the top with the green thread.  Repeat, for the second strawberry.

Place the topper on the jam jar, and gather the ribbon, then pin the felt strawberry shape centrally to the top.  Applique it on by sewing blanket stitch around the edge, leave a small gap at the top, fill with a little stuffing, continue stitching to close it up.

Again, decorate the strawberry with some yellow french knots and add some more green felt leaves.  Then pop your topper back on your jam jar and tie the ribbon into a bow.  The good thing about making this in felt, is felt is quite forgiving, it is really easy to sew with, doesn't fray, and has a little 'give' in it so will stretch to fit if it's a little tight.

There you go, all you need know are some scones, clotted cream and a pot of tea!

Owl egg cosy tutorial

'Hey, little egg, why so sad?' (notice, it's a stunt egg, not a real one!), 

'What's that?, you'd like a little jacket to keep you cosy, well, look no further, how about an owl egg cosy?...'

You will need felt (various colours), patterned fabric, 2 buttons, embroidery thread, pins, needle, paper, pencil and scissors.  First, print out the templates below so the owl body is 10cm wide at the bottom.

Using the templates, you will need to cut, 2 body, outer eye, and eye shapes in felt, 1 beak shape also in felt, 1 tummy shape in patterned fabric, and for the wings, cut 1 in felt and 1 in patterned fabric, then flip the template and cut the same again.

Position the tummy fabric on the bottom edge of the front of the owl and applique on using random straight stitches,

place one button in the centre of the smaller felt eye shape, with the outer eye shape underneath.  Sew on the button and then fix the eye, again using random straight stitches.

 

Repeat for the other eye, and  then attach the beak between the 2, by firstly folding it in half, then sewing 2 or 3 tacking stitches.

Pin each of the wings together, patterned fabric facing front, felt to the back, and sew around the edge in blanket stitch.

Once both wings are complete, sandwich them, at either side of the body, between the front and back of the egg cosy and join everything together with a running stitch, through both layers, all the way round.

When you get to the bottom edge, stitch the running stitch so it only goes through the top layer which will help to anchor the fabric appliqued tummy.

And there you go, one owl egg cosy!

(Smallprint, as always, please remember any tutorials I offer are for personal use only, and are not to be used commercially, thank you)

What were you doing 10 years ago...?

Thank you all for Luke's birthday wishes, the party went well, apart from, we did decide to be brave and go for a bbq, only for it to start raining just as Mr LK started cooking, then the gas promptly ran out!  Luke had fun anyway, and got lots of new cars, so he's one very happy little 3 year old.

I haven't had much time to blog this week with the children being off, and next, we are off to the Lake District for the weekend.  But while perusing Flickr, I did realise that I hadn't blogged this yet...

(front)

This is another version of my mum's bag, I changed the shape, mainly due to the fact that the felted cardigan used as the base fabric is now in short supply.

(back)

It was a present for my mother-in-law's birthday.

I've been tagged for the same meme by quite a few other bloggers, (forgive me for not listing everyone, and thank you for thinking of me).  Quite a few of the questions from the meme have already been answered by other meme's previously, but there was one question which caught my eye... what was I doing 10 years ago?

Well, 10 years ago I was newly married, living in our first house, no children yet and working in, what was probably a crafters dream job, an in-house design studio for a large multinational needlecraft kit manufacturer based here in the UK.  If the brand name was Anchor, then most likely, I would have had a hand in the production of it.  My first day there was in June 1994, and I remember it well.  I sat at a desk in front of a piece of graph paper and was asked to draw out my first cross stitch design, I had no idea where to start!  After 3 weeks of graph paper, I got to move onto the computer, through which I learnt a huge amount about design.  

I had the opportunity to work on projects with Marks & Spencers, the Embroiderers Guild, and Ehrman Tapestry to name but a few, and also had work featured in many of the craft and stitching magazines.  We had fun working there, it was a good design team, and there are many tales to tell... like the time I glued a bead to my forehead, or got my foot wedged in the arm rest on my computer chair (I wriggled around for about 10 minutes before asking for help to be released!), I put on well over a stone in weight as the snack machine was outside the design studio door, and the time our boss tripped and fell into the bottom draw of the artwork cabinet that someone, (who will remain nameless, but you know who you are!!), had left open.

All jobs have their ups and downs, and by the time I left, I'd moved in one direction, and the job had moved in another.  Anyway, I now have a new design team to work amongst...

all of you!

Bitty booties!

Some friends of ours had a baby girl on Tuesday, and I wanted to have a go at making something I'd not done before... cue Heather Bailey's 'Bitty Bootie' tutorial (don't worry, I have made 2!), this is the 0-3 months size, so cute.  Almost enough to make me broody, (I did say 'almost'!).

We're having a party tomorrow, it's Luke's 3rd birthday and also to celebrate Mr LK's news.  I had my heart set on a garden party, with bunting, bouncy castle and a BBQ, but unless the weather perks up, at this rate, it's going to be 'b y o b'.., bring your own brolly!

Safety first...

After last week being a bit hit & miss, I decided it would be safer to enter this week by setting a few ground rules to life, and a check list...

1.  hair to remain attached to head  ✓

2.  tooth to be mended  ✓

3.  no more teeth to be broken (fingers crossed, but avoid chewy sweets as a precaution)

4.  avoid the headbutting of sewing machine (so far, so good!)

Next, a check list for crafting...

1.  finish the two commissioned applique cushion covers  ✓

2.  more pink owls for Etsy  ✓

3.  more items in general, in pink, for Etsy (well, they are still wip's, but well on the way)

4.  email all the Toadstool Swappers with their partners details  ✓

(however, if you have yet to receive these details, please let me know)

I also had the first issue from my new subscription to Selvedge magazine arrive, turned to page 15, and a couple of minutes later, had purchased this little tiny 'tweeter', so cute!

Just call me 'The Bag Lady!'...

It looks like all my friends & family will be getting a bag for their birthdays this year.  I made this one last week for my friend and neighbour.  It started life as a very nice woollen Boden skirt which came from a charity shop (bargain at £4!).  There was no chance it was going to fit, it was a (UK) size 10, so I didn't mind chucking it in the washing machine to felt it. 

Rosebud decoration, courtesy of this tutorial,

It turned out rather pretty, the skirt fabric felted beautifully, and was really nice to work with, lovely and soft.  I only felted half the skirt, just in case it didn't work, but the rest will be going in the washer very soon!

Toot, toot... (and a swap!)

(latest bag made from a felted jumper)

It's not often I get the opportunity to blow my own horn, but this week has been a pretty good week!  In addition to the two Anchor kits finally making it into the shops (as announced in the previous post, and I've also added the new link in the sidebar), my little toadstool has proved very popular, and has been featured on,

Plush You

Craftzine

Feeling Stitchy

Craft Juice

and a mention on a site called Tipnut, (which I haven't come across before and is worth a peek!)

(close up of thrifted pillow case lining)

and my eyepatch tutorial also got a mention on Craftzine too, wow!

(I've really changed Betz's original pattern this time round!)

All this interest has got me thinking, what about a TOADSTOOL SWAP?, using the tutorial but personalizing it as much (or as little) as you like?  

(Look, I've been tweaking around with my own pattern already!)

Lets make it official then!, if you'd like to join in, to make and receive a toadstool, send an email to, lucykatecrafts AT talktalk DOT net with the following information,

1.  name

2.  email address

3.  postal address

4.  website/blog details (if you have one)

5.  favorite colours

6.  favorite fabrics

Sign up by Friday 16th May, and I will send out your swap partners information the following Monday, toadstools will need to be made and sent by Friday 13th June, so that gives you over a month sewing time.

In the meantime, I will make up a little toadstool swap widget you can post on your blogs and also start a Flickr group.

(those who have already left a comment before I edited this post, don't worry, if I don't hear from you, I'll email you)

Happy swapping!

New wips...

I have been working on another one of these bags, just got to add the rest of the decoration.  This one is a slightly different shape to the first, curved at the bottom, mainly because I was running out of the felted wool, which is a shame as I do like the mottled background with the burgundy and green flowers and leaves.

Next, will be some stock for the Etsy shop 'Pink' range, which I've started playing around with some ideas for already.  The two little green owls were given to me by my mother-in-law, sweet aren't they?

We had a great trip down to London, although it did make me realise that the last 3 years of being a stay at home mum have left me feeling a bit out of touch.  I came to two decisions on the train on my way home,

1.  I need to subscribe to Selvedge magazine to get up to speed with what's going on in textiles these days, and...

2.  I need to go clothes shopping, there are so many fashion trends that seem to have passed me by!

Thank you for all the get well wishes, they are much appreciated and I am feeling much better I'm pleased to say.  Plus, how fantastic is this?!  A lady called EmilyT left a comment on the eye patch tutorial post...

"You're going to be famous in Cuba!  In a couple weeks I'm going down with our church group, and I had been asked to bring the stick-on patches for four kids in their neighborhood. I hated to bring something that could only be used once and thrown away.

So I took your wonderful directions, translated them into Spanish, added the photos (which are really helpful) and will bring them, together with an assortment of felt and decorations. Folks can make many many of their own.  Thanks, see how your goodness spreads all over!"

Emily, if you see this (unfortunately, blogger has given me no way of contacting you), I am so pleased!, I'd love it if you were able to send me some photographs.

Right, decision time, mop kitchen floor or sew, while Luke is still asleep..., what would you do?!

Mum, don't peak!

It's my Mum's birthday soon, and after the cushion I made for christmas went down so well, it has been difficult to know how to top that, until I spotted this tutorial on Betz White's blog.  So, after felting a wool cardigan, I set about making one of those lovely bags.

(front)

I've adapted it slightly by completely changing the colours, adding a lining, blanket stitch decoration to the edges, and a press stud flap for security.

(back)

Am very pleased with the result, and will simply have to make another!

(close up detail)

Thank you Betz for such an inspiring project idea!

Well now, down to the real business, this morning, there were 85 comments (sorry to those who were too late), after knocking it down to 84, as one person had commented twice, the winner, courtesy of an online random number generator, is...

49

which is Louise of LuluLollylegs!

Congratulations Louise, if you email me with your address, I'll get Rosie and a few added extras in the post.  Thank you to everyone who joined in and played along, some weird flavours of crisps there, salt & vinegar is most definitely quite a popular choice, gave me the munchies reading all the comments!

Sharing...

As a parent, sharing is a quality I try to bestow within both my children.  Being able to share, is a valuable quality for a child to have, and thankfully, reduces the amount of squabbling as a result.  I love watching my two play together, even when it does come as a result of bellowing at them, 'No, they are not all yours, share please!'.

(charity shop buys from the weekend)

How much you are willing to share is a topic I'm sure all bloggers will have thought about.  I am in awe of how generous some can be with how much of their home, work, family and life they are willing to expose online, and sometimes wish that I was more comfortable with being more open myself.  I am, however, more guarded when it comes to my nearest and dearest, mainly down to the fact that it is here for anyone to see, the world wide web is exactly that, world wide.  It would be lovely to assume everyone who visits, reads, comments or links to this blog is a crafter, but I know that is not always the case and it would be naive to think so. 

 

For those bloggers who don't already have one, I would suggest adding some sort of a sitemeter, it can be quite an eye opener to see where your blog traffic is actually coming from, and who, where and what it is linking back to.

(two kittens in their finished cushions)

So, while you may not see many corners of my home (it's a mess), pictures of my children (they are lovely, but they pick their noses), and what we're having for dinner (pot noodle doesn't photograph well anyway!), but what you will see is a glimpse of someone who, after spending over 11 years working full time within the restraints of the UK textile industry, is currently lucky enough to be spending some time at home with little ones, and having lots of fun.  Making things with fabric and felt, aiming to build some kind of a small business out of it, whilst enjoying sharing this new found freedom with all of you!.

(more charity shop buys from the weekend)

Eye patch tutorial

My daughter is the unfortunate owner of very poor eyesight and also a squint, both are corrected by wearing glasses, which she has done, with very little complaining, since the age of 18 months old (proud Mummy moment!).  In addition to all this, we are exercising her weaker eye (the left one), with 2 hours of patching a day.  The sticky patches the hospital gave us were, to be honest, useless, and kept peeling off, but why use something like that, when Mum can make one of these... a cute, pink eye patch, out of felt.

I decided to post this as a full tutorial, so many craft bloggers have children, I figured there will be others out there who may find this useful.

You will need - light pink felt, dark pink felt, yellow felt, black felt, a button, embroidery thread, pins, a needle, and a pair of scissors, and of course, ...some glasses!

Print out the templates so that the basic eye patch shape is roughly 7 x 10 cm, and the flower is 5 cm wide.

Cut the patch template, making the 3 slits as indicated.  Fold over, as below, and sew (I have done this on the machine, but you could stitch it by hand)

Pin together the 2 edges of the center slit, trapping the folded over arm holder loop in between, and sew.

Trim off any excess felt from the inner seams and turn the patch the right way round.  Try it on the glasses for size, and also trim the outside edges if needed (probably a good idea at this stage to get the person who will be wearing the patch to try it on to check the fit)

Pin the lense sleeve into position,

and sew.

Repeat the basic patch shape in black felt, remember to sew it the reverse way round this time, as the 2 need to fit together with all seams on the inside.  Trim any excess off the black and blanket stitch both pieces together, all the way round the edge.

Attach the flower decoration using the button by sewing onto the lense sleeve. Place the patch on the glasses, and using some sharp scissors, poke a small hole through the whole patch, for the nose pad to slot through.

The patch can be used on either the left or the right side of the glasses simply by turning it upside down, Lucy's goes on the right, covering up her good eye, so she is forced to use her left one.  This is the girly version, you could easily make a boy's version by using red and blue felt, and decorate it with a star sheriff's badge, or a bug shape.

No doubt, in the future, I will be making more of these as Luke also has a slight squint, and it's best to catch these things early, that's when patching has the most effect.

Question, how do you photograph your new camera, in its handmade case...

...when you want to use said camera, to take the photograph?. Easy, you need a stunt camera!

Voila!, plus new crafty reading material...

'This is for You', by Rob Ryan, was my anniversary present from Mr LK. We have been married for ten years but together for twenty on christmas eve.

Camera case has been made from the wool jumper I felted a few weeks back, it is lovely and thick. Blanket stitched edge, with a felt flower and button to hide the press stud fastening.

Secrets revealed...

This is the cushion I made for my mum for christmas, it is her family flower garden. There are three hearts planted, which are her three children and nine flowers growing to represent all her grandchildren. I made the cover with an envelope back, I guessed it was wise to have it removable in case it ever needs washing!

And, this one was for my mother-in-law, a sewing cushion as a passion for making things is something we both share.

Just a quick hello to any new visitors from Sew Mama Sew, please come in, make yourselves at home, have a mince pie and some mulled wine!

Plus a big thank you to Beth for mentioning my owls.

Next project is Lucy's birthday on the 6th January and she wants me to make her something, not sure what yet, so watch this space...!

We're getting there...!

Another owl and cushion made, ready for christmas...

...another owl still waiting (patiently!) for her cushion...

...but look, some 'Moo' cards have arrived, and is that a 'Lucykate Crafts' label there on the side of that cushion?. I think someone may be making preparations for opening an Etsy shop in the new year!

For now though, we are getting there. Car play mat is finished, along with some other gifts which will have to remain secret until after christmas. The 'to do' list is still quite long of jobs that need doing round the house, not only do we have christmas eve tomorrow but it is also Mr Lucykate Crafts birthday. Lets hope this year, he can remember how old he is and not have to ring his mum to double check!

Pre christmas postman brought me some little parcels, I won my first giveaway, look at this little selection of goodies from Paper & String!


I just want to thank you all who visit and leave comments. I have had a really enjoyable first year of blogging, made some lovely friends, seen the most wonderful, inspiring work, and read lots that has made me both laugh and cry!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Another WIP...

A variation on the toy bag/play mat linked to here, and inspired by this, (scroll down and you'll spot it!) to create a felt road applique. Firstly, all laid out as a paper pattern.

Then pinned together in felt and fabric, next... the sewing!

This is intended for one of my nephews as his christmas present, along with some little cars, but it is proving very popular with Luke already. He keeps pointing at in on the floor of my sewing room and saying his favorite word, 'mine!'.




... and how lucky am I?

Suzie Sews won one of the owls in the giveaway and sent me this as a thank you!

It's so cute!






EDIT TO POST
Can I just mention something to all craft bloggers, do you back up your blog?. By backing up, I mean saving a copy of your posts and template on your hard drive. If you don't, I would suggest that you do, better to be safe than sorry.

Easy peasy elf hat!

I had to make Lucy an elf hat last night, she is an elf in the school christmas play and, only having a couple of days notice to come up with a costume, had to think of something quick. So, after a bit of pondering, I went up in the loft, rummaged around in the bags of old clothes and found a pair of Lucy's red cropped leggings from last summer. Here is what to do -

You will need, an old pair of childs leggings, felt strip - about 8cm deep and enough to go all the way round the hat, scissors, a pom pom, needle & cotton.

1. Turn the leggings upside down and cut all the way round the inside seam
2. Open out the legs flat, sew a triangle shape and trim off the excess fabric
3. Then turn the whole thing right side round, trim off any clothing labels, cut the felt to give a decorative zig-zag edge and attach using running stitch in a contrasting colour, sew on the pom pom to the point of the hat

You could also add buttons for decoration and a bell instead of a pom pom, couldn't be easier!

Jess

Who is that peeping out of there???

It's me!, hello, my name is Jess...

...and here is my little home, a snuggly pillow with a pocket for me to sleep in...

...and a pretty butterfly for me to chase!.

Come visit me again next week, and I will introduce you to a friend of mine, Lucykate Crafts... first handmade giveaway, a christmas owl.

Bits & Bobs

Well, what do you know!, there is a little bit of crafting going on, just bits and bobs...

Another cushion in the making, flower applique, buttons and a little bit of crochet decoration happening on this one. The framed piece is something I made five years ago now, to celebrate the birth of my niece, I've borrowed it back as Jessica now has a little sister and I am going to do another one to match as the girls will eventually be sharing a room.


I used to do these stumpwork portraits a lot as presents, on this one, above, the dummy is made from something called 'funky foam'.

As it's been a while, I thought I'd better have a little practice, so here is another of this weeks WIP's.



On another subject, Bella, has been on her travels with her new family. You can catch up on her adventures here. This is the lady who made my lovely bracelet and her new blog.

ps, forgot to say, thank you so much for all the good wishes for our anniversary, we had a lovely trip to the Lake District, weather was dry, crisp, and very autumnal, kids had a fantastic time visiting family.

For Phoebe...

It's finished, the first of many. I am making all of my nieces one of these, a little cushion with a pocket and a mini owl softie. The fleece fabric is so warm and snuggly for little ones.


We are off to the Lake District tomorrow to visit my husbands family for the weekend, but also because on Thursday, it will be our 10th wedding anniversary, and we were lucky enough to get married in the church in the centre of Bowness-on-Windermere.


Then, next week is the start of the 2 week half term holiday. I have promised Lucy that while Luke is at nursery on Wednesday, we will have a girls dressing up day. She wants to wear her princess dress and she's asked me to wear.....my 'marrying' dress as she calls it, I'm going to feel like a right banana if anyone comes to the door!!

This weeks WIP

I mentioned in another post about making something for my niece using some of the lace from my mother-in-law's wedding dress. Well, I've made a start, only just!. There is a list of handmade christmas presents to get through in the next few months (hands up, who is doing the same!!), so I need to get cracking with it all.


Also, remember Bella?, well here is my new bracelet which I got in return for the craft swap. It is the one with the turquoise beads nestling there amongst my growing collection, I am rather a big fan of bracelets.


Now, back to sewing all those christmas presents for me......!