I have dug further into my bead stash (I have one of those too) and created a few more bag charms whilst watching The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. The little yellow one is a series of wrapped loops on head pins and wire as mI had run out of chain and some of the yellow beads holes were too narrow to take a head pin.
This is a special weekend guest appearance of cup of the day. I needed a coffee to sip whilst I waited to cheer on M, G, S & X who were running the Eastleigh 10K. The cup sleeve was a last minute hack so, unfortunately, is not up to usual standard.
I have made little bit of room in my life for the allotment. Even my studio has a little room for it. This is what the window sill in there now looks like:
Spent another pleasant evening at a jewellery workshop at my company social club (its better than it sounds). Where I rustled up the following yummy bracelet:
Cup of the day is going on vacation. It might mean that some sewing appears here....
A month ago I attended a jewellery making workshop with my friend G where we learnt how to make floating bead necklaces. It was led by the people from World of Beads, a local bead shop in Winchester.
It is my friend C's birthday, a significant one, but we're not shouting about it too much (the clue is in the number of flowers on the card). I decided to make C this necklace and a pair of matching earrings using some of the gorgeous and more expensive (but worth it) Murano glass beads that World of Beads stock in their Parchment Street shop. As this is my third version of this necklace the finish is much improved from my first attempt in the workshop. (I forgot to photograph the turquoise one which I made for my sister H's birthday).
If you have never had much luck with the fiddly loops required of earrings and other jewellery making techniques the videos found here are really useful - very clear production so you can see exactly what is being done, or, if you are in the area I would recommend the workshops at World of Beads.
By luck I had a matching little pochette that I made some time ago from "Omiyage" by Kumiko Sudo to put the birthday jewellery in.
I then used some of my watercolour cartridge paper to make a little box and flower:
A matching card was also produced from my card and paper stash:
Happy Birthday C! By now we should be celebrating with you in a nearby tavern.
As well as some of my old junk my Mum left me with some offcuts of fabric from my Grandma's old fabric stash, to see what I would come up with.
I have started on one of the pieces already as the grey diamond piece "spoke" to me. Here is a sneak preview:
My folks have just paid me and M a quick visit. They have been doing some tidying up of their home and bestowed on me a couple of boxes (and sacks) of some of the detritus I left behind 15 years ago.
Going through the stuff I have made the following discoveries about my past:
I got given this tea towel for Christmas by one of my sisters. Within minutes of receiving and admiring the art work of my niece and her classmates, I thought of making a bag or something out of it rather than add it to the stash of cloths which will be wiped over my damp crockery and pans.
I noticed that A's self portrait was roughly in the centre of one half the tea towel. I cut the two ends of the tea towel off for the handles and trimmed the remaining side to the same size as the first side of the bag, giving me the following pieces:
I then constructed the handles by folding the handle pieces in half lengthways and sewing along the long edges with a 1/4 inch seam - this was the perfect amount to get the hand prints of the border squarely on one side of the handle. I then turned the handles to the right side, with my trusty rouleau loop turner. Neatening the ends had already been done for me:
I then noticed something uncanny on the unused scrap of tea towel:
There is a kid in a small corner of this country with my nickname and similar length hairstyle (as well as dimples - which I also have). Thanks for the portrait Kitty - you don't mind if I borrow do you? Cheers. Of course, if I wasn't being lazy I could have got a blank scrap of the tea towel and drawn my own but it wouldn't have been as half as cute.
I then found a some scraps of felt and fusible webbing and then created 1/2 inch frames which would border A's & my (ahem) portraits. I cut out the centre with straight scissors and the outside edge with a pair of deckled edge paper scissors. (though I used pinking shears for the second frame)
I then ironed on the blue frame round A's conveniently placed self-portrait, and placed my portrait with some extra fusible web over a little kid who probably has freckles but who looks like they may have had chicken pox that week (or hitting the teenage acne years a little early). I topstitched round with some contrasting thread in red.
I then got on with constructing the bag: sewing up the bottom and edges, neatening where necessary and squaring off the corners.
I then turned over the top inch of the bag (again, the neatening had been done for me) and attached the handles:
Giving me a tall tote. Suitable for my dancing shoes for Monday's lessons or for large bottles of soda pop and baguettes when I visit the shops.
Oh yeah, K, the tea towel you gave me? It's given M some VERY BAD* ideas and will be doctored shortly - watch this space.
*no we do NOT do the washing up - even if we have to.
Last Sunday, I wandered down to the pottery cafe just around the corner from me. I spent a nice peaceful hour sponge stencilling some plates. The design was taken from some Bridgewater spongeware mugs which I recently inherited. As the mugs also had matching bowls and a jug I thought a couple of almost coordinating plates would be a nice thing to have. Then I have a nice breakfast set or if soup is on the menu a lunch set. The plate in the photo above is nicely accessorised with some blueberry pancakes, or rather it was (and that solo one didn't last long either)
Blueberry Pancakes (makes 6-8)
125ml rice milk
1 egg
100g plain flour
pinch of salt
1 tsp baking powder
3 tsp caster sugar
olive oil
handful of blueberries
Preheat a non-stick pan on the hob. Loosely mix all ingredients except for the blueberries & oil in a jug. Use whisk attachment of blender until mixture is combined and bubbly. Drizzle a little olive oil in the pan. Add 3 small ladefuls of batter to the pan. Sprinkle over blueberries and dribble a little more batter over the blueberries to just cover. Wait for the batter to bubble and dry a little. Flip over pancakes and cook for a further minute or so. Repeat with remaining batter. Dot with a little butter* and eat whilst drinking some decent coffee.
* maple syrup wouldn't go amiss either.
Old printout of some gauntlets at the V&A I was studying last year for my design work. I was asked at the weekend whether I had discovered the V&A website yet. Ummm yeah - considering I couldn't have finished my course without it!
Or, more accurately, Achromatic March but it doesn't really have the double-M ring to it. Also I may slip a teensy weensy bit of colour....
