After weeks of thinking, practising, doubting and redoing this is the first post at yencamade! Tadaaaa!
But the start is always a diffcult business and that´s why I've decided to introduce myself with some of my 2010 crafting-projects.
As I declared 2010 to be the birthyear of yencamade I started to make photos for it right from the start. And although the pictures are from january and february I would like to show them to you.
These pincushions were my first crafting project this year, but to be honest this wasn't my idea... I saw them on a blog I appreciate a lot: bugs and fishes . I love what Laura creates out of felt and so I copied the pattern of these beautiful cushions which now delight me during my sewing sessions.
At the end of 2009 I started with meditation and liked it a lot. But I was sitting on folded blankets or a pile of cushions. That´s why I finally decided to sew this meditation-cushion which also comes in handy for yoga. The pattern is simple, it is only one hour work and to give it more firmness I filled the lining with spelt husk ( I really hope this is the right translation :-) ). Like this it doesn't slip away. And it smells really good, too. :-)
In february I did a makeover of a filing cabinet. It was grey, dirty and shabby. Of course it had to become a green cabinet to fit perfectly into my office :-).
Here´s before:
And here's after:
Another thing I love to make are beautiful present-wrappings. Normally it begins easy and simple but at one point it totally gets out of control and ends up in a bigger project. In the middle of february I bought two antique corksrews for a friend of mine who collects them. It was a french and an english one. So I sew two felt-bottles in which I wrapped the corkscrew and added personalized labels in french and english. I really love it when the wrapping fits to the present. I hope to show you some more in the future.
I'm a sewing newbie. In 2009 I bought a simple singer sewing machine for beginners and since then I try my best to create some usable stuff. I didn't sew anything to wear yet, but I already bought a pattern to sew a simple shirt.
Last month though I started an ambitious project: I sewed a big patchwork cover but I made some beginner mistakes. First of all, I took cotton for the one side and thick fleece for the back. And to make the cover warm and cozy I put a thick wadding (or batting?) in between.
Well, I'm sure you can guess where the problems were. It all became so thick that the upper part and the bottom part of the cover got out of place and the fleece streched, so that I had a lot of fleece left at the end of the seams. Grrr. I was really disappointed.
But hey, I still love the fabrics and I cheated a little bit so that you can hardly notice the mess. :-) So here is the result . And cozy? ... Yeah, it really is!
Did you notice the white hair on the blanket?
Here's why:
Wicky (also known as Wicket, Wiggy or Mr. Wiggins) and his buddy Yoshi totally conquered the blanquet. My husband and I are really happy when our cats are so generous to allow us to use it too. :-)
And finally we come to march!
I was really busy making a present for a spring swap at dutch blue, a really cute blog.
I decided to create a spring-mobile and because I was very sad to give it away I think I will make one for me too. Here are the single parts of it:
And here is the completed mobile:
And as I had some leaves, tulips and snowdrops left, I used them to arrange a spring wreath for our door.
Do you like knitting? I tried when I was 12 and since then I never tried again. I just didn't have the patience. But in my recent crafting-fever I re-took the needles and tried to make a mobile case. ... Well, I thought it would be a simple project, but....ha!
The first case turned out a little too large, so I thought: well, if wool runs in, then I know what to do. I put it in a cooking pot and boiled it. Well, after that it was small you would think, but it turned out, that it wasn't that kind of wool. *hmpf* After that it was even larger than before!
The second case was made of the same wool, but I made it smaller right from the beginning. But as I used it, it got wider, too.
So I went to a crafting-shop and bought some felting-wool. I knit the case and felted it in the washing machine. Yeah... that was better. But still... it was too big. It didn't shrink 30% like it was indicated. Sooooo....
I tried it a fourth time with another knitting pattern. And finally I did it. A suitable mobile case! Yeay!
Here's the story in in short version :-)
Uff! This is it... these are my crafting adventures 2010 so far.
I hope to see you around some time:-)
But the start is always a diffcult business and that´s why I've decided to introduce myself with some of my 2010 crafting-projects.
As I declared 2010 to be the birthyear of yencamade I started to make photos for it right from the start. And although the pictures are from january and february I would like to show them to you.
These pincushions were my first crafting project this year, but to be honest this wasn't my idea... I saw them on a blog I appreciate a lot: bugs and fishes . I love what Laura creates out of felt and so I copied the pattern of these beautiful cushions which now delight me during my sewing sessions.
At the end of 2009 I started with meditation and liked it a lot. But I was sitting on folded blankets or a pile of cushions. That´s why I finally decided to sew this meditation-cushion which also comes in handy for yoga. The pattern is simple, it is only one hour work and to give it more firmness I filled the lining with spelt husk ( I really hope this is the right translation :-) ). Like this it doesn't slip away. And it smells really good, too. :-)
In february I did a makeover of a filing cabinet. It was grey, dirty and shabby. Of course it had to become a green cabinet to fit perfectly into my office :-).
Here´s before:
And here's after:
Another thing I love to make are beautiful present-wrappings. Normally it begins easy and simple but at one point it totally gets out of control and ends up in a bigger project. In the middle of february I bought two antique corksrews for a friend of mine who collects them. It was a french and an english one. So I sew two felt-bottles in which I wrapped the corkscrew and added personalized labels in french and english. I really love it when the wrapping fits to the present. I hope to show you some more in the future.
I'm a sewing newbie. In 2009 I bought a simple singer sewing machine for beginners and since then I try my best to create some usable stuff. I didn't sew anything to wear yet, but I already bought a pattern to sew a simple shirt.
Last month though I started an ambitious project: I sewed a big patchwork cover but I made some beginner mistakes. First of all, I took cotton for the one side and thick fleece for the back. And to make the cover warm and cozy I put a thick wadding (or batting?) in between.
Well, I'm sure you can guess where the problems were. It all became so thick that the upper part and the bottom part of the cover got out of place and the fleece streched, so that I had a lot of fleece left at the end of the seams. Grrr. I was really disappointed.
But hey, I still love the fabrics and I cheated a little bit so that you can hardly notice the mess. :-) So here is the result . And cozy? ... Yeah, it really is!
Did you notice the white hair on the blanket?
Here's why:
Wicky (also known as Wicket, Wiggy or Mr. Wiggins) and his buddy Yoshi totally conquered the blanquet. My husband and I are really happy when our cats are so generous to allow us to use it too. :-)
And finally we come to march!
I was really busy making a present for a spring swap at dutch blue, a really cute blog.
I decided to create a spring-mobile and because I was very sad to give it away I think I will make one for me too. Here are the single parts of it:
And here is the completed mobile:
And as I had some leaves, tulips and snowdrops left, I used them to arrange a spring wreath for our door.
Do you like knitting? I tried when I was 12 and since then I never tried again. I just didn't have the patience. But in my recent crafting-fever I re-took the needles and tried to make a mobile case. ... Well, I thought it would be a simple project, but....ha!
The first case turned out a little too large, so I thought: well, if wool runs in, then I know what to do. I put it in a cooking pot and boiled it. Well, after that it was small you would think, but it turned out, that it wasn't that kind of wool. *hmpf* After that it was even larger than before!
The second case was made of the same wool, but I made it smaller right from the beginning. But as I used it, it got wider, too.
So I went to a crafting-shop and bought some felting-wool. I knit the case and felted it in the washing machine. Yeah... that was better. But still... it was too big. It didn't shrink 30% like it was indicated. Sooooo....
I tried it a fourth time with another knitting pattern. And finally I did it. A suitable mobile case! Yeay!
Here's the story in in short version :-)
Uff! This is it... these are my crafting adventures 2010 so far.
I hope to see you around some time:-)
