Cotton reels,

I love old cotton reels, there is something very appealing about all that wound up thread waiting to be sewn with.  For a while, I have been wondering if there was a way of making a cotton reel out of fabric, felt and embroidery.

With some tinkering around involved, I came up with a pattern and began a little cotton reel production line.  After I'd added a felt label to one end, I sat staring at it for a while, and thought, this would make a great pin cushion!

Funnily enough, the other day, I'd already ordered some key rings, so attached one to the pincushion, and made a little needle book to match.  Was really handy for storing all my bits and bobs when we went away last weekend.

Oh, and if you happen to see a copy of the August issue of 'Quick & Crafty' magazine, turn to page 70 for a little interview...

...with me!

Thank you for all the lovely jam pot comments, we will have the best dressed jam in the land!

(sorry for the terrible photos, it's rain, rain, and more rain here, where is summer hey?!)

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!

If you make something from one of my tutorials please do join the Flickr group, Lucykate Crafts... pattern pieces, to show off your creations.

Cat, and a sneaky peek...

A big thank you for all your comments on my previous post, I have been given lots of food for thought.  There are a few other projects on the go here, but I will re visit the fish, I'm not done with him just yet!

For now, I have indulged in what I do best, and am working on some more cats.  I do love the mix of materials that evolves with these, I love using the felted wool as a base fabric, even though it is really difficult to stuff, lumps appear in all the wrong places!

And here is a sneaky peek of something that will be making an appearance later this week.  I was going to post it all tonight but there is a poorly little boy, cough, cough, coughing next to me, so I'm off for a cuddle!

The bleepers!

I thought it would be fun to show these, the ones that didn't go quite right...

the toadstool that will not stand up, (when I photographed it before, I cheated, and used blue tack on the bottom!)

And the owl egg cosy, that was too narrow to fit over the egg, (cue back to the drawing board with the pattern!)

This one, however, is a wip... a fish,

I'm beginning to hit a stage where things need to change direction slightly. I have plans, but none of those can happen without the work itself being right. I know I love working three dimensionally, I also like working small, the choice I need to sort out is between a style that is cute or do I go down the more realistic route.

At the moment, the fish, is neither one or the other, I'm at a crossroads. The danger of the cute, is the crossover with the toy market, which I want to avoid, (too much red tape for the handcrafted) and the danger of the realistic, is am I actually able to pull that off well, or will it look like I'm trying too hard?.

What do you think...?

You may be forgiven for thinking...

...that this is one of my usual owls,

and at first glance, I suppose it is.  But look closer,

here's a clue, there it is in front of one of my usual owls.  It's half size, teeny tiny!.  I really like working small, and wondered if it was possible to do baby owls, so gave it a go!.  

I am in the middle of a (late) spring clean, so am making the most of there being no children in the house so I can go through the toys and cull all the broken things without causing too much upset, wish me luck!