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 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!

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!

Owls...

I will shortly be doing a little housekeeping in my Etsy shop, some things will be coming out, and going off to the 'Softies for Mirabel' charity auction, to make way for these...

With the school summer holidays approaching, I will aim to drip feed Etsy with some small items which I will announce here beforehand.

Thank you for all the lovely owl egg cosy comments, you are all so sweet!.  I need to set some time aside to go visiting everyones blogs.  I'd also love to see any egg cosies that have been made, check these out, here (scroll down) and here, I may have to start another Flickr group!.  And a big thank you to Craftzine and Whip Up who both featured the tutorial.

Well, Friday 13th June has passed, unlucky for some, but it should have been a lucky day for all (66!) toadstool swappers.  Please do let me know if there are any problems, however small.

You can check out all the toadstools made so far in the Flickr group pool.  Right, I'm off to do some 'Etsying'!

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)

For Lucy...

Lucy was feeling a bit blue last week, she gets a bit jealous sometimes as she knows that while she's at school, Luke is getting to spend time at home with me.  So I thought I'd tinker around a bit more with the bird pattern, and sew some softies especially for her,

So, I'd like you to meet the little birds...

The body is made from a thrifted jumper, I love the colour but it won't felt as it is 'superwash' wool, basically pure wool that has been treated so it can be machine washed.  However, I did give it a go, the thinking being, if you mistreat it enough, it may just give in (same tactic works with husbands too, I believe!).  This poor jumper has sat in our washing machine and been through every wash cycle for about a month, and has also been in my biggest pan and boiled on the stove!  It didn't fully felt, but it did go a little, enough to cut it up anyway.

(Mummy bird)

Both birds have a little bit of embroidery on their wings,

(baby bird)

I really enjoyed making these, it was one of those projects that gives you a warm fuzzy feeling while you are sewing.  I just wish I had a picture to show you, of the smile on Lucy's face when she saw them!

Scarry stuff...

We are big fans of the Richard Scarry books in our house...

Luke loves all the little characters and cars...

I've often thought that Huckle and Lowly Worm would make great softies...

(images from my latest charity shop buy, storybook £1.45)

and talking of softies, 'Pink' has arrived in the Etsy shop this afternoon!

EDIT TO POST

3 owls, 1 pink cat and 1 pink kitten SOLD, thank you!

I wish I was...

better at keeping a sketchbook!

Sketchbooks were never my strong point while I was studying for my degree, and since then, although I aspire to be a sketchbook keeper, I am naturally drawn to designing new patterns three dimensionally.

This is a bird idea I have been working on, and is actually version number three, the first resembling a slug rather than a bird, and the second was more dolphin like.  Whilst, the bird is still not quite right, I am at least, for now anyway, on the right track with it.

Apologies for the bad photography today, it's raining and the light is pretty grim, even Photoshop was unable to compensate enough!.  I have a few things that will be going into the Etsy shop later this week once I get images I am happier with.

And finally... check out the toadstool swap Flickr group photo pool, some lovely work going on in there, well done everyone!

(which reminds me... I must make my toadstool soon, quick, where's that 'to do' list!)

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!

Good news always comes after bad...

There are some things that have been happening here that I have yet to share...

(more owls for next Etsy update)

Since having the bout of tonsillitis, I had started to feel like I was hitting a bad patch. My son drove a battery powered car across the top of my head, which got tangled up and pulled a large handful of hair out (yes, ouch!!), I pinched a sweet from my daughter and then thought, 'this feels harder than it should be!', to find a rather large chunk of both tooth and filling had come out (dentist for me on Wednesday!). This next one is more my own fault, but while burning the midnight oil a bit too much this week, I started to nod off and headbutted my sewing machine!

But, then the natural law of the universe steps in, and brings good things to even it all out, firstly for me, there has been world domination by way of toadstools!!, and secondly, for my husband...

Some of you who have been reading my blog for a while will know what he does, he is a portrait painter, and after being a member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters for around 5 years has just been chosen to be the new President!

You may now call me Mrs President!

ps, all those signed up for the swap, you should have received an email from me yesterday, please let me know if you haven't or if there are any problems.  I will be drawing swap partners later today.

Pink kitten...

Pink cat now has a pink kitten!

(these two will be going into the Etsy shop soon)

Thank you to everyone who has signed up so far for the toadstool swap (there are nearly 50 at last count!), I will be in touch over the weekend with your swap partners details.  There is still time to sign up, the deadline isn't until Friday.  In the meantime, I've started a Flickr group if anyone would like to join (even if you are not involved in the swap, but have made a toadstool) and post images of your toadstools when they are complete.  I can't wait to see them!

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!

Toadstools for Etsy

I really want to add some toadstools to my next range for Etsy. 'Pink' has been on hold as the fabric I have on order hasn't arrived yet, so working with what I already have in my stash, I came up with the idea of adding a butterfly.

In addition to the buttons on the top, I've embroidered seeding and some french knots,

and used part of a thrifted crochet doilie (or is it doily?, how do you spell that word?!) to add decoration to the stalk.

The butterfly is actually a brooch and is removable!

PS, Don't forget about the toadstool swap, deadline for signing up is Friday 16th May (see the previous post for details)

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!

Toadstool tutorial (and some big news)...

This is a project I've been meaning to try for a while, and decided this morning to give it a go and photograph it at the same time.  So, if you'd like to make a little toadstool all of your very own, you will need...

fabric, size 10x8cm for the stalk

circle of felt, size 3cm diameter for the base

2 ovals, roughly 9cm wide by 8cm tall, one in felt, the other in fabric for the toadstool top

embroidery thread

polyfil stuffing

small smooth pebble

selection of buttons (optional)

Take the fabric rectangle, fold in half, right sides together and sew 0.5cm in from the edge, then turn the 'tube' the right way round,

turn the raw edge inwards and pop a little polyfil into the open end to help it hold it's shape,

place the felt disk over the end and oversew with the embroidery thread.

Next, remove the polyfil and replace with a small, smooth pebble wrapped in some more polyfil to weight the base.  Continue stuffing the stalk until it is full.

Now you will need the 2 ovals shapes, cut a small circle in the centre of the felt one (this is for the stalk to sit in)... 

place them together, right sides out, pin and then sew all the way round the edge in blanket stitch.

At this stage, you could add some buttons on the top for decoration.

Turn the toadstool top upside down and stuff with polyfil through the hole, careful not to overstuff as this will make it top heavy.

Place the toadstool top over the tip of the stalk, and attach by oversewing,

you can also add some extra, decorative, stitches underneath...

and voila!

Have fun!

EDIT TO POST, BIG NEWS...

The two latest craft kits I have designed for Anchor are now available to buy,

PATCHWORK ELEPHANT

PATCHWORK OWL

and all going well, and my small owl will also be available as a kit later this year!

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?!

Stuff...

Terrible title for a post, but I can't think of what else to put, it's been a busy week!.  The tonsillitis keeps coming back, plus I also have a heavy cold, and with it being the school holidays, potty training (which, on our second attempt, is going really well) and Mr LK away, I don't mind admitting I've been pretty knackered!  Shamefully, I didn't even get my act together to sort a wish list for Purl Patchwork while he was in New York, but luckily for me, he took matters into his own hands, and paid a visit to Kinokuniya and came away with a lovely selection of books, which I thought I'd share...

Look at those amazing crochet hooks, where on earth can I get one??!

Some lovely felted bags, I really like the handles on these two,

really nice coaster sets,

lovely corsages,

more felted bags,

and just lots and lots of inspiration in general.

A few of you have asked for tips about felting, to be honest, I'm no expert, I'm a chuck it in the washing machine and hope for the best kind of girl, and believe me, there have been a few disasters.  There was one charity shop jumper, it was really nice, tan wool, sleeveless top but it felted and shrank so much that it now looks like a comical hot water bottle cover!.  It will make a nice bag though and quite sturdy too, as it's so thick.  The best advice on felting is from Betz White and in particular this post as she gives before and after examples.

 This week is back to school, so Wednesday should, in theory, be my first proper day crafting in a while, but instead I am off to London with Mr LK for a private view of The Royal Society of Portrait Painters, at the Mall Gallery to see his work on show.  It is the first time in a long, long while I've been able to go, I've either been working myself, or looking after the children.  Now we live closer to London, it is much easier to make the trip, we're not used to going anywhere on our own though without the children, I'll have to remember that this time I don't need wet wipes and chocolate buttons in my bag!