Two Angels - angels & petals AND crafty angel

Zipping along

Recently we've had a few people asking for some help using their sewing machines, so today's workshop was a repeat of one we ran a while ago and involved zips.

There was a certain amount of debate about whether or not a zipper foot was an advantage or a disadvantage and largely this came down to the type of foot supplied with the machine.

So, whether the girls chose to use a zipper foot or not, they all made some great little bags in a variety of cotton fabrics, some lined, some not and also an oil cloth one, which is always useful.

working out the correct 'sandwich' of fabric and zip alignment.

Got it! Time to make a lined bag.

Tah dah! First lined purse and looking great.

And then more followed, thick and fast.

Well done Molly, they look amazing.

Floral fun, with a very useful twist.

They had this zip malarchy all sewn up in no time. Result, lots of little bags with a multitude of uses.

Just to let you know that we have a late entry in the workshop schedule. Crepe paper snowdrops, tomorrow morning, Weds 16th Jan at 10am. Come along if you fancy brightening your kitchen windowsill with a hint of spring :)

Jumping through hoops.

Work in progress.

Pretty hearts and pinks, destined for a little girl.

The blues. But in a good way!

I loved the sea greens.

A pretty mix of purples and a variety of shapes.

And finally a lovely mix of colours.

Life as we know it has resumed!

That's right folks, we're back into our normal routine after the festivities. The first Monday drop in session of 2013 saw a very decent number of ladies around the table today, glad perhaps for a little normality. I know I was! Knit & Natter will continue to be held on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Our January & February workshop lists are out now and available in the shop, or by email on request.

For those of you involved in the Personality scarf project, please may I have your scarves this week.

All that remains is for me to wish anyone I haven't already seen this year, a very happy and healthy 2013 & I hope to see you soon.

Forest of Bling

It was trees, trees and more trees today, as we put together strings of Christmas Tree Forest Bunting.

Well, these trees definitely nurtured their decorations along with their pine needles. I've never seen so much bling in one afternoon!

Operation bling under way.

One set nearly ready for stringing.

The idea was to use 8 different shades of green for the trees.

but some ladies felt they needed a traditional splash of red!

I think it worked well though.

And as we don't have another workshop before Christmas, I may not have cause to blog again, so as this little tree so beautifully says, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and thank you for reading. x

Angel delight

Oh, we did have a lovely day on Saturday, making our rustic angels. As the afternoon wore on we laughed more and more as some of our angels began to look a little worse for wear. We gave them names and I couldn't possibly tell you what we thought they might have been up to! But it was a great way to spend a cold pre Christmas Saturday. Here's what we made..............

Sun tanned angels. Or did they work for Boots??

Serene angels.

More angels worthy of a place in heaven.

Night on the town angels!

Christmas party angels.

 

And then today, we had a play with stamps and inks and came up with some tags and cards ready for the wrapping marathon which will be coming soon.

Glossy Accents and glitter were the order of the day.

A hint of embossed snow made all the difference here.

Sue now has a complete set of 12 of these pretty village scene cards. Not bad for a Sunday morning's work.

Wreaths round 2

This year's Fabric Christmas Wreaths workshop proved to be just as popular as last, and the results just as stunning. Spanning two days, we managed to make a whole gallery of Christmassy, frosty loveliness to adorn many a home this festive season.

Lets take a look.............

 Purple & gold with a hint of turquoise, was a wow! combination.

Below, traditional red, green and white can look so different depending on the pattern of the fabric and the density to which its packed.

This one used vintage curtain fabric from her daughters bedroom, very densly packed. Infact the lady could still be working on it now! What an heirloom when it's finished though.

More traditional colours used to great effect, each with it's own special 'something', whether that's a hint of frost, snow, or simply 'freshness'.

Claire's was a gorgeous combination, which could be left up all year.

This selection has a real wintery feel. They were all truly beautiful.

Rockin' Robins

We were throwing crumbs about left, right and centre on Saturday as we made our rustic robins. The more crumbs we threw the more robins appeared!

Each with a personality of its own, and often given a name too, here is our parade of, 'ease me into Christmas', rockin' robins.....................

There we are, a plethera of tweed, tartan & felted robins all wishing you a h............   no, its no good I can't bring myself to say it yet! So we'll settle for a great week :)

 

Just before I go though, I must show you the finished Hare cushion that Pam made.

Isn't that lovely?

Run Ragged

Well, sometimes we are, aren't we? But not yesterday, we sat down, chilled out and made a ragged runner instead.

3 fat quaters were chosen, each cut into 4, and then 6 pieces of batting for the middle.

Batting sandwiched between 2 strips, and sewn straight down the centre.

Making sure the right (raggy side) was facing, it was time to sew the strips together.

Sue's rather beautiful Christmas combination is well on the way to being finished.

Eileen's rich colour comination is ready for snipping now.

Louise is ahead of us, snip, snip, snipping every seem, every 1/4 inch. NOW they understood why we weren't doing a double bed throw today!

All snipped and ready to throw in the washing machine and tumble drier.

Ready for that fabulous scruffy, roughy edge to appear.

Smashin' Pumpkins

What a busy day we've had in the shop today! This morning was filled with witches, cats, bats, black crows and pumpins, all in the name of Halloween bunting.

It was a productive and rather ridiculously funny morning (sometimes it's just like that!) which ended with a couple of strands of rather smashing bunting.

just perfect for the witching hour

Then Chrissie came along to make her owl cushion, having missed our session last week

And a rather splendid owl he was too.

This afternoon we had 2 ladies who had missed our hare cushion workshop, so they came along and began work on two quite different, but equally lovely cushions

Vintage beauty

and more than a touch of Scandinavian chic. I can't wait to see the finished results.