Operation Applique! and the last post of the Summer Hols :)

I've been having some yummy, experimental crafty time this week - on Thursday I went applique-crazy, and decided to make my own applique 'tweedie' matryoshka.  I wasn't sure how the old machine would behave doing small, tight applique stitches, but it held  it's own and behaved very nicely, thankyou :)  Here's a little preview . . . 

She's now quite happily attached to a herringbone 'tweedie' zipper purse here . . . 

I'm making this the last post of the school summer hols, we're about half-way through already and I think it's time to enjoy the second  half 'sans-blogging'!  I'm really looking forward to having a family break which is going to be completely uninterrupted by any work commitments (crafty-work included!).  The last few weeks have been pretty busy with craft-fairs, stock-making and for the last week, some intensive designing and experimenting, which I've loved! 

Looking forward to some family time now though - who knows I might even turn into a Domestic Goddess without my crafty distractions, hehe!  'Big S' will be getting his exam results (VERY exciting!) while we're on our hols, it's definitely time to physically disconnect 'Little S' from his games console, and  if we're lucky we might have a few family outings if we nag my Other Half enough!  

I will try and take some photos of other stuff apart from 'tweedieness'!!  I'll  be back mid-August when the kiddos are back at school :)

I'm off to get my crochet hooks out now - well, it's enjoyable crafting, purely for rest and relaxation you understand!

Bye for now :)

Alison x

my creative space . . . crowdie and cream

The colour of the tweed I've used for these zipper pouches reminds me of  'crowdie and cream'.  I like the Wikipedia defintion of 'crowdie' - 'The cheese is often eaten with oatcakes, and recommended before a ceilidh as it is said to alleviate the effects of whisky-drinking.  That's a new one to me LOL!!

Anyway, I seem to be totally hooked on making zipper pouches at the moment and made these two on Monday - loved how the cosmetic pouch turned out, so made a little coin purse to keep it company :)  I've actually managed to put them into the shop - hurray!

I thought I'd  completely run out of this tweed,  but I found a little snippet of it.  Added some of my vintage lace stash (must get some more!) and had some fun making crochet flowers.  I lined them both in a natural linen fabric, which I also thought I'd run out of - there are some benefits to being a little bit chaotic eg.  "Oh, I wondered where that had gone!!!" moments are very common when you don't have a defined workspace!

I'm sort of liking that description of  'crowdie and cream' - might just go and rename them in my shop listing, hehe! :)

Off to have some crowdie on an oatcake, so that I can go to a ceilidh and drink lots of whisky, in true Hebridean style - sounds like a good night out!  (perhaps not at 9.30 am in the morning tho!)

More creative peeps over here :)
Bye for now
Alison x

Now you see them, now you . . .

Now you see them . . . 

. . . now you don't!  I made these two little zipper purses literally the day before my craft-fair, really because I wanted to have some fresh designs on display and I'd been wanting to use this lovely cupcake fabric against some classy herringbone tweed for a  long time.  I was pretty pleased with the result and a lovely lady at the fair was too, as she bought them both - I was so pleased as they were very much 'hot off the press'!  Delighted :)

There's a lot to be said for keeping your stall fresh and updated - this was one of the reasons I was a bit wary of this last fair - I've been so busy with retail outlet stock-making that my other stock was falling behind.  Funnily enough the items I loved making, the new scrappy flower brooches, the zipper pouches and some pendants, sold pretty well.  Pheeeeew!  Have to say I'm relieved it's over and I'm looking forward to a much more relaxed week though :)

Here's a pic of my stall,  which really needs some more fabric hanging at either end - I knew this, but hadn't got round to doing anything about it - ooooops!  The camera never lies, hehe :)

Also, I don't know why I hung my bunting over my 'tweedie' lettering!!  Never mind, I'll keep this photo as historic evidence and make some improvements next time.  I decided to take a selection of smaller items this time, so everything was 'on the flat' so to speak - but it worked fine as I had a reasonable variety of work - I won't win any prizes for display though this time round!  I think I was a little tired this week, so I'm quite pleased I managed to do the fair at all : )  And, heck, people were actually buying stuff - how cool is that, hehe!!!  (The local music festival definitely helped with that!)  Thanks Hebridean Celtic Festival! (even if I didn't manage to see any of it - boo hoo!)

Here's  what I was doing to pass the time in between customers . . .

I was so glad I had taken something to do - personally I don't always want to interrupt people while they're browsing my stall, so it's nice to keep your hands busy with something.

Here's the finished flowers  - I have to be honest, I made a mistake with the pattern, but I'm calling it a 'happy accident' and I quite like how they've turned out . . .

They'll make an appearance on 'something or other', no doubt!

All in all, the craft fair was a success - I didn't do quite so much mingling this time, too tired!, but it all went well, with good sales.  What more can you ask for?  This week I'm  looking forward to a much more relaxed  holiday-mode time with the boys (who seem to be turning night into day, at the moment!).  Perhaps a little more crochet and some fun crafting - I'm cutting myself a little slack, in other words, hehe!

Have a lovely week - 'speak' soon :)
Alison x

my creative space . . . the simple things

My creative space  is  a bit minimal this week - ooops!  Not because there's a  lack of creativity, it's just that the time to blog about it is becoming increasingly short, now that it's school hols.

I have a craft fair scheduled for this Saturday, which is a bit of a tight squeeze for me as I've been concentrating on retail outlets for the last 3  weeks or so, leaving little time to make the fun, funky stuff,  I'd like for selling at fairs.  

When I did my last fair, a little girl picked up a couple of my tweedie wrist-cuffs (in between performing a couple of pirhouettes - she was very cute, hehe!) and proclaimed they were far too big for her (she was also very outspoken!) which they were, as they were all adult-sized.  I had made ONE child-sized version, so this time round I thought I'd rectify the matter and made a little batch of kiddie-sized ones in nice bright colours . . . 

I like to have some very inexpensive items as fun tweedie-souvenirs, so these fit the bill - it's nice to  have things to suit all pockets, particularly little ones!

And, also another backlog from my last craft-fair 'to-do' list, some more handmade gift-tags . . . 

These will be added to any items that, well, don't have a gift-tag yet!  I really should have a little stock at the ready, but . . . . . :)

Sorry, this is a short-thrift post, but better get off and get a little more 'tweedie' work done - although, acutally I did promise myself a day off - not sure that I can keep my paws off that 'tweedie' stuff tho, LOL!! :) :)

More creative-peeps over here - see you hopefully after the fair for a little 'low-down' on my progress!  

Alison  x

Did you know . . . . :)

Did you know that . . .

Seahorses change colour whenever they are stressed . . . 
They are the slowest fish in the ocean . . . 
When at rest, they curl their tail around coral or seaweed so they don't float away . . . 

More seahorse facts here :), for those of you who ever wondered!

Have a lovely weekend!

Alison x

Pheeeew :)

Pheeeeew, me and my little babushka buddies are cooking up a storm in the kitchen (yes, that's my oven in the background, and no, I'm not going to cook 'em LOL!) - well, we have to work where we can - needs must and all that :)  They're all lined up to attention here on my ironing board, ready to be stitched up into little coin purses.  Then they're off to a new retail outlet - I hope they behave themselves there - some of their little faces looked decidedly snooty and down-right rebellious - behave yourselves girls, hehe!

This is me popping up briefly amidst a flurry of sewing frenzy - should be done by the end of the week, when I can hopefully be allowed 'out to play' once again :)

Speak soon!
Alison  x