Life's a Stitch

I started a new cross stitch project yesterday, it's almost done, I just need to do one more row of stitches across the bottom and finish of the row at the top where I ran out of thread (typical!). I used a scrap bit of aida that I found - it was the perfect size! I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet, maybe sew it onto some felt and make a lightly padded hanging thingiemabob, maybe attach it to the front of one of those blank Kraft notebooks or photo albums from Paperchase... My other half thinks my grandma would love it but I'm not so sure I want to give it away!

It's a Lizzie Kate design, she has these wonderful little "Snippet" samplers, I bought mine from a craft show in Manchester a while a go.

 

The thread in the picture is what I need to finish it off - I didn't use the thread colours stated in the chart as I wasn't too keen on them. I rarely use the colours charts say to use anyway.

I made felt notebook cover the other night that I thought I would share too. I have a thing for lists and have a number of slimline notebooks but they aren't very pretty so I thought I would use up some scrap felt to make a cover. The stitching is a bit scruffy as I was tired when I made it but I still love it!

Hello again!

Although its doubtful that anyone particularly noticed that I wasnt about for a while, the gap between posts needs explaining I reckon. To cut the short story even shorter, my laptop died and I couldnt log my other half out of google on his computer so that I could use Blogger as he doesnt remember any of his passwords. Typical man! He was very kind today though and made an account for me on his computer so all my stuff (Firefox etc) is seperate. I can now get back to blogging and what have you! At least when he's asleep and not hogging his computer hehehe!

I've been up to a few things, mostly crafting and organising my flat. It's going really well - I can now find stuff in the kitchen and everything in the spare bedroom (my craft supplies mostly) has its own place. I'm currently writing a cleaning schedule so that I can keep up with the cleaning. I actually enjoy cleaning but when you have to do the entire house in one afternoon it can be daunting. I had the kick up the butt that I needed to get back on track with cleaning though - my landlord turned up out of the blue and the flat was a state! Luckily he knows that we generally keep it nice and tidy but it was so embarrassing for him to see it when I hadnt hoovered in a few days, dusted in a week and the night before dishes were on the worktop... Oops!

The crafting I've been doing is mostly felt stuff as I have a new found love of felt! I've been making all sorts, from keyrings to pin cushions. Not a fan of the pin cushions though, wanna know why? I had a pin cushion on my leg then by accident I slammed my arm down onto the pin cushion. Guess where the needles and pins went - my leg. Now, I don't do needles, let alone unsterilised sewing needles. My god it hurt! Luckily only three of the needles stayed in my leg when I pulled the pin cushion off. I had a number of holes in my left thigh for a few days. It's safe to say that that pin cushion wont be used for a while, nor will any other kind that doesnt have a metal base of some sorts!

Here's some of the things I've made, please excuse the creased sheet, I just needed something white to put under the bits and pieces and I most likely wouldnt be able to get the creases out by ironing it anyway - I seem to have an inability to iron (any tips ladies and gents?).

Back to the organising thing - my other half bought me a recipe book, the notebook type ones that you add your own recipes too, a while ago and I've started to properly use it. I've got 20 or so recipes in there so far, some are much loved favourites of mine, some are ones that I've yet to try but definately think I would love. I do have a lot of my tried and tested recipes to add yet and I have a massive stack of cookery magazines to go through but at least I've started!

I also have a "Household Organiser" that my mum bought me for Christmas last year. I absolutely love it but I hadnt actually been using it until now. There are two main things I use it for  - to do lists and meal/food shopping planning. I've got an emergancy/important number page in it too plus some useful magazine cut outs (eg a chart explaining all those little pictures you get on clothing labels that tell you how to wash it, the ones that most people either ignore or guess what they mean).

Here's my recipe book and organiser:

  

And a couple of pages from each (just to prove I do use them :P) - 

On the subject of notebooks and what have you - I have also thrown myself into writing my own Book of Shadows. My other half gave me a beautiful leather bound book with a pentagram on the front and handmade pages inside. This was well over a year ago now and I hadnt actually used it before as I was so nervous of going wrong. Plus my handwriting is awful. But I decided that I would rather fill it with information thats writtin in scruffy handwriting than just have it collecting dust with my books. Granted I've only done a couple of pages but hey, its a big book and the pages are bigger than A4.

Here's  the book, I dont feel comfortable sharing the pages I've writtin but maybe one day I will show you the inside!

Well thats it from me folks, I hope you're all well, I sure am glad to be back! See you either here, on your own blogs or on Twitter!

Make it on a Monday: Felt Box

This is the first edition of Make it on a Monday, I hope you like it!

I have a love of felt - you can make loads of things with it, its easy to work with, cheap (although 100% wool felt can be expensive) and you can get it in a million different colours. I was reading Simply Homemade, a new craft magazine and fell in love with a felt and fabric sewing box. As I don't need a sewing box and didn't want to use any fabric (I have a limited selection) I decided to make a small felt trinket box.

I haven't actually made the "proper" box yet, but I made a trail run one out of some scraps of felt, I didn't want to go using the new felt I bought if I ended up not being able to make the box properly or I wasn't happy with it. Thankfully, I'm very happy with it and cant wait to make the "proper" one! The below picture is the felt I will be using to make the box, plus ric rac, ribbon and buttons I will be using to decorating it. The felt and ric rac was ordered from Paper-and-String, I cant tell you how pleased I was with my order and the service!

So, onto making it!

You will need:

12 5inch squares of felt (or whatever size you wish, keeping it square makes it easier)
8 4inch by 1.5 inch strips of felt
12 5inch squares of stiff cardboard (you will need to trim them to fit)
Thread
Needle
Decorations (if you want)

Firstly, sew on any decorations to the panels that you want to add. Then sew together two panels along three sides, continue with the rest of the panels until you end up with 6 panels, each with three sides sewn up. I used blanket stitch on mine but you can use whatever stitch you prefer. Slide in the cardboard into each panel and sew the opening closed. Sew the smaller strips in the same way, without adding the cardboard, these will form the lip of the lid.

Now, starting with the base, sew the panel edges together to create a topless box. Again, I used blanket stitch but you can use whatever stitch you prefer. Do the same with the lid, sewing the strips along the edges of the lid.

You should, if I've written at least marginally useful instructions, end up with something like this -