Finished this one today

I'm trying to finish a couple projects off before we go off on our camping trip to Wales on Monday. Now that the World Cup has finished we are free to leave the house! I'm really looking forward to getting away and living the outdoor life for a few days. Nothing beats cooking and eating in the open air - I love it. And I can't wait to be sitting by the campfire with Ned, drinking single malt and looking at the stars.. just the World Cup Final, the 3rd place play-off match (why?), oh yeah, and the packing to do first...


So, back to the bag.... It's shoulder bag size, fully lined with an internal pocket (more zips!) AND I made bias binding, so I'm feeling most pleased with myself.  As usual when I make something just out of my head, I am feeling slightly panicky now that I wont remember how to make it again. And as usual, if I say this to Ned, he'll just say - "didn't you write it down?".  Well durrrr! Doesn't he know that writing it down would just interrupt my creative flow?!

It's a start..!

The bags of fabric bits are oppressing me... And in spite of wanting to get going with some patchwork projects, at this time of year (busy in the garden), I haven't got time to experiment with anything too complicated. So thinking of lovely strippy quilts that I've seen on Flickr and at the V&A exhibition, I decided to just start sewing little pieces of fabric into strips and think about what to do with them later. It was lovely to sit and sew in straight lines, and not worry too much about colour and design! So once I had my strip, what to do with it? Here's what I came up with..

Yes... it's another zippered pouch...  Now I've worked out how to do this kind of zipper I can't stay away from them.  This time I've made the zip look even neater by covering the ends in this lovely tidy way.  The other thing to know about this colourful little pouch is that the lovely grey linen used to be a skirt and that sophisticated grey and white lining fabric is an ex-shirt.  I do like to recycle - it gives me a real buzz not to throw things away.... but it does, of course, mean a lot more bags of fabric.  Oh dear!

What I made today...

I've been catching up with all the blogs I follow and popped round to Handmade at Home - a lovely blog written by Kelly in West Sussex. First I was drawn to the lovely heathery colours of the Noro shawl that she's recently completed, and then I spotted a lovely bag she'd made too... To make her fab bag Kelly had used a tutorial and pattern from the VeryPurplePerson blog. It's a brilliant blog and a very wonderful pattern - quick to do, and the has a lovely shape. Here's my first attempt - I actually made it a little bit wider because I need to get a fair bit of stuff in it! It still looks good, but I think in future I'll stick to the pattern! I'm looking forward to making lots more. A good excuse to stock up on yet more fabric! The fabric I've used for this one is some vintageLaura Ashley fabric that I remember mum buying at a sale back in the mid-80s! I really love it... The buttons are Oxfam finds - I think they are glass and they are utterly fabulous. This one is definitely a me me me project! Novita the blogger from VeryPurplePerson, has some lovely patterns and tutorials, it's definitely worth popping round to take a look - there's lots of inspiration there. I'll be getting lots more inspiration tomorrow because I am off to London... partly I am catching up with old friends, but I'm also taking the opportunity to go to the Victoria and Albert Museum to see Quilts: 1700-2010 - a major exhibition that they have on at the moment. Can't wait!

And the Winner is....

Big fanfare and round of applause for the winner of my 100th blog post celebratory giveaway who is........ Louise Carswell! Congratulations Louise, it will be coming to you very soon. Louise is a fellow MISI shop proprietor. Her venture is called Loubie Jewels and she sells very pretty handmade jewellery. After considering using random number technology, as used in other blog giveaways, I did as recommended by Kitty Ballistic and used husband-power to make the draw instead... more lo-tech, but effective all the same (most of the time...). Thanks everyone who took the time to write a lovely comment or become a Fan on Facebook (or both!) - I feel very excited to have 61 fans, and am just hoping you don't all de-fan me now the chance of winning a bag is over! And while we're here, I thought I'd include a little picture of what I've been working on over the weekend. A couple of friends have requested knitting needle storage rolls from me, and I have been thinking about making one for myself for a while, so I thought I'd get going with a prototype that I could make use of even if it didn't work out! I wanted to have 2 sets of pockets, one for my knitting needles and the other for crochet hooks. I also needed some wider pockets for scissors, stitch markers etc. I've used some grey wool suiting material, which I hope will make it good and sturdy. The accent fabric is a Liberty print called Bourton, which long time readers of my blog might remember is my favourite fabric. Although since I have seen it used on a pair of wellies I have slightly gone off it. They are the most ugly thing I have ever seen - why would Liberty allow such a thing???! (....and breathe.....). On a brighter note - my potential customers are keen on the design, so I'm now going to try and make versions using some yummy big florals and batiks. Lucky me - more fabric buying... Thanks again everyone!

Who would have thought it?

When I set out on blogging a couple of years ago I never would have imagined that I'd get to 100 posts. It's been tough at times - the last 2 years have been full of changes for me. I've grown tremendously as a crafter too - it's really interesting to look back on the earlier offerings to see how much more confident I've become in my crafting choices. Who for instance would have thought I would make a bag in this particular colour combination? It's a bit pink...and green...and purple (I've used this cute pattern from Melly and Me). But I love it, and I hope you do too, because it's going to be the main part of my Celebratory One-hundredth Post Giveaway.. All you have to do to get a chance of winning this cute little number (it's just 20cm high and frivolous rather than practical!) is to leave a comment here or sign up as a fan of Craft Matters on Facebook. If you are exceptionally keen then you can do both and I will give you 2 entries in the draw (assuming that I can connect your ID here with your ID there). There'll be some other goodies, and maybe a sweet treat or two, in the parcel too. Hopefully it will cheer up the lucky winner in this chilly new year. I'll do the draw 1st thing next Monday (18th) so get your comments in/get joining my FB fan page before then. I wish I could send all my visitors a little gift to say a huge thank you for all the kind and thoughtful comments that you've left on my blog over the last 100 posts. It's all the friendliness in the crafting world, and the general fabulousness of people who support crafters by buying handmade, that keeps me going when my confidence has taken a knock or I'm feeling depressed about progress. So a huge thanks to everyone & I wish everyone a very fulfilling 2010.

PennyDog's Garden Swap

PennyDog's Garden Swap has been such a great experience - I feel lucky that I got paired with Chrissy - it's been great to get to know her better (she goes dolphin watching! she lives in Aberdeen! she is considerably cooler than me!) and she has been so generous. Her parcel of goodies arrived here yesterday and as you can see I got some fabulous things - a lovely hand-printed tote bag (that I have decided to use for current crochet projects), a fabulous hand made ring and fridge magnets, a very stylish b&w rose picture, a japanese lantern, some chocolate (that didn't last long) and some incredible fabric. I also got a 10% off voucher for her brilliant shop. See, I told you I did well! There's been some other great swap parcels - you can take a look at the Garden Swap Flickr group. A huge THANK YOU to Chrissy for all the lovely thoughtful goodies you sent - can't wait to make something fabulous with that fabric!

While we're on the subject of the swap I thought I'd blog the bag I made to go in to Chrissy's parcel. It's a small bag (about 20cm x 20cm) made with navy cotton twill with a handsewn, wool felt, flower garden applique. I have to say that I am pretty much more proud of this than anything I have ever made, and it was VERY hard to send it off to Aberdeen. Doing the applique was a real challenge (I always like to set myself a bit of a challenge when I'm doing swaps!) but I think it worked well and I got the slightly retro feel I was going for. I'm also very pleased with the colour combination, because I'm never confident about how colours go together. The handles are recycled from an charity shop bag find, and I used that bag as a template for this one. That's my bag making top tip actually... You can find some ace bags in charity shops - I like to use them to make a pattern and reuse all the bits and bobs (handles, zips, buttons, beads, etc), that come with them. I am really hoping Mary Portas' ideas to revamp charity shops don't catch on - I'm worried I wont be able to find bargains any more...

A Recycled Bag...

I started this soooooo long ago, I think it was just after Christmas when I had a sudden enthusiasm to dust off my sewing machine. It's finally finished and I am dead pleased with it. It's an eminently practical, really simple pattern, which doesn't take too long to run up.

It's a bought pattern (this one by Kwik Sew) that I've tweaked quite a bit with a slightly different shape and different handles. It's nice to feel confident enough to fiddle with a pattern, although I wouldn't feel half as confident if I was making something to wear!

I've also added a long crochet band to snazz it up a bit and so that you can tie the bag shut. There's nothing worse than putting your bag down for a second only to have it gape open and reveal everything you have in there!

I describe it as recycled because the fabrics used have had earlier lives. The lining consists of 2 pillowcases and the outer fabric is an ex-display curtain from John Lewis (the only way I can afford JL fabrics!!). Actually this pattern would make a brilliant one for making bags from charity shop pillowcases - you would need 4 in all, or 2 plus some other lining fabric. I definitely need to go on another charity shop scouting trip soon.

50 Things Challenge Update

*I've just realised that I missed out the brooches I've made from this updated list. Doh! It's now accurate.*

Another break from blogging - this time because my entire family has been struck by a horrid lurgy over the last few days... The boys both have terrible coughs, I was in bed with flu for a couple of days and now Mr Seasonal Matters has taken to HIS bed. I haven't done any crafting at all since last weekend when I finished the little purple booties - I just haven't had the energy, even since I started to feel a little bit better.

So I thought that now might be a good time to update my 50 Things list with what I've done and add some more projects to it. I think it will be good to have the motivation!


Update on progress:
1) Blue floral hairclips . Completed and sold.
2) Neckwarmer/scaflet in RYC soft tweed. Completed and listed on Etsy.
3)Pink wild rose hairclips. Completed and sold.
4) Tweed corsage. Completed and listed on Etsy.
5) Present for friend's new baby. Done - must post!
6) Crochet flower brooch made using Colinette Prism in Cezanne. Completed and listed on Etsy.
7) Crochet flower brooch made using Noro Silk Garden. Completed and listed on Etsy.

8) Brown and turquoise slouch bag. All cut out and ready to be sewn.
9) Crochet hairband for me to use when gardening. Started - about 1/3 crocheted.

10) 1 pair daisy hairclips for Molly
11) 1 gold slouch bag
12) Lily pad needle book.

New Stuff:
13) Owl related item for Meridian Ariel's Owl Swap. I think I have decided what to do - now I just have 2 weeks to make it!
14) 1 pair of merino wool booties to sell on Etsy. Inspired by my 1st booties, but in slightly chunkier yarn so should be nice and quick to crochet up. I really want to do a pattern to sell too, but I am not sure about my pattern writing skills yet..
15) A birthday present for my SIL. Not quite sure what I'm going to do yet and wouldn't give the game away on here anyway..
16) Another slouch bag using some of the gorgous Kaffe Fasset fabrics that I picked up in the Cottonpatch sale.
17) A bag commissioned by a friend in the style of this pink spotty one that I made and sold last year.

I think that will do for now. Instead of feeling inspiring this post is now making me feel positively overwhelmed so I think it's time to take a break...

My latest creations & works in progress

I have no idea how I am getting anything finished at the moment - there is so much to organise with our house & garden. Of course, work in the garden has to be a bit of a priority at this time of the year - we want to have some veg to harvest come the end of July. And because it's the end of the month I've also been busy catching up the hours I work for Any Questions Answered - an entirely marvellous text answering service. Now I can rest easy that I'll get paid this month!

In spite of all this I have managed to get a couple more things listed in my Etsy shop - a new bag made out of some marvellous retro-style fabric & a little sun hat for a toddler. What pleases me most about these is that they are my own patterns which I developed myself & have worked through by trial & error. I have never been that great at thinking ahead (chess is a mystery to me..) & so I feel pretty chuffed that I have been able to plan out patterns that haven't left me with huge holes or strange lumps in the finished items!

I have various works-in-progress at the moment. I've cut out some fabric for a couple more hats - this time in navy stripes which I hope will look rather dapper. I am trying to resist buying more Kaffe Fassett fabric so I can make MORE hats until I have finished the current ones. An incentive if ever there was one. Soon as I have them done I will be off to the Cotton Patch...

I am contemplating entering the crochet challenge on Craftster - which is rather brave of me because I have never even posted on there before. The theme is 'Summer Crochet' & I have a good idea that I am working on. It's a bit make it up as you go along but I like what is happening so far... What I love about crochet is that I feel confident enough with it to just start on something with just an idea in my head. I don't feel that about knitting at all... but maybe that's just because I haven't had quite as much practice with knitting.

I also have another bag design on the go. The idea is to create a bag large enough to get in a whole load of supermarket/farmers' market shopping in it whilst still looking reasonably stylish. I have my prototype underway - it's at the part sewn up stage. One of my reasons to create a bag like this is my own annoyance with 'bag for life' style shopping bags that fill up so quickly. I also have some gorgeous fabric with a huge pattern on it that would look great as an enormous bag... but, of course, I also need to avoid it looking like a big sack. I think that's the trouble at this stage!

Projects in progress...

Haven't been around for a while... something to do with moving house I guess, but I have been hard at work so thought it was time for a bit of a round up of my work in progress. It was my friend's daughter's 2nd birthday last week (hi Becky, Molly & Keith!) and I wanted to make something that wasn't quite the standard soft toy. I recently managed to pick up some excellent hard-wearing blue suiting fabric on Ebay so thought I would use that as the basis for an Awake/Asleep Bear. I remembered loving this kind of thing when I was a child & as it was something that I hadn't seen in the shops I thought it would make a good pressie for a lovely little girl. The fabric is some great Kaffe Fassett stuff that I got from The Cotton Patch a shop with a really excellent selection of fabric & very efficient customer service. I am pleased with the way it turned out, although I think the bear is a little boyish for his cute green & pink dress! I definitely prefer the way that the sleeping side turned out.

I also picked up some gorgeous stripey Fassett stuff which I intend to use to line a bag that I have crocheted. The pattern is based on one from The Happy Hooker by Debbie Stoller. This is a fun book an excellent value for money considering the number of pleasing patterns & the very clear introduction to crochet techniques. I am particularly grateful for a tip that I have already picked up about how make edges neat by hooking into the base of the chain rather than the top on the 1st row. I have said goodbye to holey edges!! This picture is a bit out of date now because I have since sewn up the bag & blocked it & it is now all ready for its lining. I have been thinking & thinking about how I will embellish this & think I came up with an answer last night. I have made a flower with some of the lining material & am going to top this with a crochet flower (or possibly a crochet 'button'). I am dead pleased with how the fabric flower worked out so hopefully it is going to look pretty good. It will definitely go on sale in the shop when I open (next week?!) if I can bear to part with it.

I think that will do for now - I've also been working on new hairclip designs & have had a little go of doing some felting (with knitted fabric rather than from yarn) which I am very excited about. But that's for future posts.

Some finished projects!

Very pleased to be able to post some completed projects!

This is the scarf I have made as part of my brother's Xmas present. I am very pleased with it - it's probably the biggest thing I have ever knitted for starters (I am not a great knitter!). I love the pattern too - very simple but a bit more complicated than just a straightforward rib. The wool is some gorgeous Rowan tweed stuff. It is very black but has some lovely touches of red, blue & yellow in it. Hopefully it will appeal to my brother - otherwise I will wish that I had kept it for myself!!!


I have been making tote bags for a lot of people based on a pattern than I got from Simple Sewing by Lotta Jansdotter - which is an excellent resource (although strange for an English user to revert to using Imperial measurements). I have used plain white canvas for the main part of the bag & some green & blue check for the bottom panel. I have added different embellishments for different bags - this one has a crochet silk flower which I am hoping wont be too impractical. The yarn for the flower is from The Natural Dye Studio and is an absolute pleasure to crochet with. I am slightly addicted to crocheting flowers because they are so quick and easy to do & look so sweet. I finished a couple more last night to give as Xmas brooches/pins & will take a photo to put on here later on today. I also want to make another couple of tote bags like this one - it is great to have my sewing machine out again!

Whilst we were on holiday near York (you can read more about that & see some gorgeous photos in my partner's Christmas blog) I made another cutsey bag which I am very pleased with. I have numerous small girls to create presents for at this time of year (birthdays and Christmas all coming at the same time) so I have another one to do. Fortunately they are pretty quick to do & it is only really me fiddling around with different colours & embellishments that make them time consuming.