Embroidery Hoop Heaven

This week, some particularly geeky embroidery hoop finds!...

by Sparky Green Knickers!

by Sarah Bella3

by Love and A Sandwich

by The Green Piano

New York, New York

10 days and counting until my trip to America, still can't really believe I'm going.  At the top of my To Do list is the highly touristy Empire State Building.  We've decided to try and time our visit with the sun going down over New York so we can get a day and night time view....in my mind this is also a more romantic time to go although I fear that hordes of tourists may scupper this idea!

America is rather filling my mind at the moment so it's hardly surprising that I've started trawling the craft sites for New York themed goodies.  The following is the first thing that caught my eye after doing a search for the Empire State Building in Etsy....

This fabric pillow panel features the building's most famous visitor, King Kong!  I absolutely love this and am very tempted to buy it and re-enact the film (with a different ending of course).  Love it.

 

Sold by Em Sew Crazy, check out her shop now!

An American Adventure

At the end of this month, just in time for thanksgiving, I shall be embarking on an American adventure! My partner is being sent to the states to work on a project over there for 5 weeks. The upside of the inevitable heartache and whimpering that will ensue in my part as soon as he leaves is that I get to come and visit him halfway through! Its going to be a flying visit and were going to have to seriously cram activities in but um already uber excited!
My lovely other half will be working north of New York so the plan is that I join him on the 27th where we will experience an all American Thanksgiving meal with some family friends....pumpkin pie, hell yes!
After that we'll head to New York and try and see as much as possible in very little time. America has always been a bit of a dream destination for me, I'm a sucker for all things fifties and love American culture.

The countdown begins, 19 days to go!

Embroidery Hoop Heaven

By OooohStitchy on Etsy

Stitch, Sew and Hobbycrafts

A little looky at my visit to the Stich, Sew and Hobbycrafts show at Westpoint Arena this weekend...

Needless to say I bought lots of (completely unecessary) craft goodies!

A world record attempt for the longest knitted chain was quite a feat to behold!

      

      

      

Some staggeringly detailed and stunning huge fabric books by textile artist Alison Murray.

     

     

     

     

Costumes from Les Miserables, the patchwork on a dress worn by Helena Bonham Carter was amazing!

I will have a garden! Part one...

I love where I live and every day I wonder at the landscape and wildlife right outside my door. However, there is a downside, no garden. Our lovely landlords have created a beautiful space around us but sadly none of it is ours to work with. 

After a lot of moping around about this and pining after pretty country gardens I decided that my way of thinking was very short sighted and uncreative of me.  We may not have a garden but we do have something to work with - the wooden steps up to our flat and a small balcony area just outside the front door.  So, at the start of Spring I bought some beautiful mini daffodils and lilly of the valley.  I wanted bright and colourful flowers that would make an impact and make me smile every time I walked out the door.

I don't have a lot of money to spend so instead of going out and sourcing some beautiful, but expensive, pots I dug out some old wellies that have seen better days but that I didn't have the heart to throw away!

I pierced the soles of the wellies to allow water to escape then filled the wellies with compost.  Next I planted my flowers.  I had to be careful as everything was a bit crammed in but I made sure that each plant had space to breathe and grow and, most importantly, look pretty!

I'm extremely happy with the result and feel like this is just the beginning of my gardening adventures.  Having such a small space to work with will make me more creative with what I do and the end results will hopefully be quirky and creative!!!

Embroidery Hoop Heaven

Some more embroidery hoop wonderment for you, this time infinitely better than my attempts last Wednesday! These two beautiful pieces are by Melissa Crowe whose rather fabulous shop on Etsy,Little Pink House , is well worth a look.

       

I love the idea of breaking free of the hoop shape and these are the best examples of this I've seen.

       

Seeing work like this really inspires me to carry on with my own craft projects and finds own distinctive style as Melissa has done here.

An Etsy Find Morning

Don't you just love it when you're surfing Etsy and you stumble upon a gem of a shop. I did just this and lost much of my morning to the wonderful Mrs Eliot Books today.

Filled with prints, homewares, stationary and all other sorts of delights Mrs Eliots Books is a shop full of colour and beautiful patterns. In particular I love her washi tape inspired items like the print above and the mug and cushion below...

This is just a tiny selection of her delightful wares so please go have a look  and see for yourself at http://etsy.me/UvGxVV via @Etsy.

Embroidery Hoop Heaven

I'm a little in love with embroidery hoop art so shall be sharing some of my favourites every Wednesday.  So, to begin, my own work......

Prizes and Perfection

Last weekend I ventured into the intriguing world of small town shows/fairs. I figured that if Kirstie Allsopp could do it then so could I! Little did I know quite how serious a world it is...and when I say serious please bear in mind this was a show that had the category "5 different vegetables on a white A4 piece of paper"!! 
I decided to enter two sections of my local produce show - the baking section and the craft section. Despite crafts being my first love I was more confident with my baking...I proudly placed my carrot cake down next to my other competitors and walked away confidently. Next, I placed my craft entries - first was a small piece of cross stitch I'd finished recently of a vintage sewing machine. As I put my little framed piece down on the table I looked around in horror at the other pieces. Intricate, traditional and huge my teeny, and relatively modern piece, looked completely out of place. My second craft entry was from a range of jewellery I've been developing ( see my next blog for more details). Remembering Kirstie's presentation skills I placed my felt flower ring down on a bed of felt leaves I'd cut out especially.

Then there was the wait. What had started out as a casual and fun foray into this world suddenly became serious and when the two hour judging time was up I hurried back in to the village hall.
The carrot cake that I had been so confident about won nothing and, worse than that, had garnered no comments at all! It sat there looking sad and dried up next to its prize winning adversaries : (
This did not bring me much hope for my craft entries, however.....

Second prize for my cross stitch and first for my jewellery!!! I was bowled over by these results got completely swept up in the sprint of the event (so much so that I didn't even care when I overheard two ladies questioning my second placed cross stitch! 

Next year my aim is to win best in show for the craft section, and it's going to be a family event with my parents, partner and brother in law all wanting to take part in the various categories!! Overall I loved the experience, it was a great way to get a genuine, unbiased critique of my work and was as surreal and quirky as I had expected!!! Great fun. = )

Hello...again!

Well here I am again delving into the world of blogging, and this time I mean business!  I have been lost in craft blogging for some time now, oohing and aahing over beautiful, funny and informative craft blogs.  Having started a couple of personal blogs that fell by the wayside I now feel the time is right to get my creativeness going again and share my craftiness!!
So, a little about me....originally from the south east I have now settled in Devon. It's a beautiful part of the world that provides endless forms of inspiration to me, in particular the wildlife. I love the cliche of living in the country being surrounded by fresh air, space and quiet.

I work full time which makes my love for crafting a little tricky but I'm slowly building up a portfolio of designs for my teeny tiny craft business Flutterby Button.

Although I love making things my real dream is to have my own craft emporium where I can share craftmakers, designers and artists work with the world.  This is the dream I hold onto and know that I will one day achieve, a little shop of my own where I can share the wonderful world of craft with you all = )

I shall be sharing my makes, work of fellow crafters, book reviews, and general musings on the world of arts and crafts (anticipate a lot of buttons). If also love to connect with other bloggers so if you'd like to comment please do : ) 

Thank you!!xxx