Thoughts from the Bus Stop

Extreme Carpentry!

Stools from Mark Morgan on Vimeo.

Wow. This guy - Sentayehu Teshale, a carpenter working in Addis Ababa - is an astonishing craftsman. Do not try this at home.

* SONG OF THE DAY: Crowded House - Nails In My Feet *

Knitted animation: Little Red Plane by Charlotte Blacker

The Little Red Plane is a gorgeous knitted animation by Charlotte Blacker, a stop motion/2D animator and compositor living both in London and Wakefield, West Yorkshire.

She graduated from The University of Central Lancashire in 2010 with a First in Animation and later went on to win a Royal Television Society Award for The Little Red Plane. 

She's currently working on more film projects, hopefully involving knitting - so watch this space!

* SONG OF THE DAY: Suzy Bogguss & Tom Russell - Outbound Plane *

Diorama for new baby: Alexis

Design and image (c) Kristen Bailey 2011

Eddie and Sharry now have a baby girl, Alexis. I made this for her. Haven't met her yet but am really looking forward to it!

* SONG OF THE DAY: Stevie Wonder - Isn't She Lovely *

Helping creative women flourish through microfinance

These talented ladies are the 'Esmeraldas de San Francisco' (San Francisco Emeralds), a group of embroiderers from the State of México in Mexico. They applied to Kiva, the microfinance organisation, for a loan to enable them to buy more thread and fabric to help them expand their business, producing embroidered napkins and tablecloths.

I lent them $25 (about £16) and 104 other people made loans of varying amounts, which made up the total of $3,025. Just a few weeks later, the group have repaid 5% of their loan, and eventually I'll get my $25 back and will be able to loan it to someone else who needs to borrow it.

I don't have the spare funds to *donate* much money to charity, and Kiva allows me to do a little bit to help by lending the same $25 over and over - how fantastic.

* SONG OF THE DAY: The Feeling - Sewn *

Get aboard Brighton's Woolly Bus

Image via The Woolly Bus on Facebook

A Brighton bus stop has been given a woolly makeover to launch an appeal by a Hove yarn shop to raise money for The Martlets Hospice by covering an open-top double decker bus in knitting.

The lovely folk at Cocoon Knits in George Street are asking knitters to collect sponsors and knit a minimum of three 15cm x 15cm squares. To celebrate the end of the project the bus will be driven along Brighton seafront on the 20th August with contributors and guests aboard! The minimum sponsorship amount is £25 per entry but they're aiming to raise over £40,000 for the Martlets Hospice. More details at www.cocoonknits.co.uk. After the event all blankets will be broken down and sent to Africa with the help of Knit a Square charity to help keep AIDS orphans warm.

My First Paper Diorama

Look what I made - it's a foldable pop-up diorama! I went to a workshop (in December - yes, am crap at getting posts finished!) at Hove Museum run by lovely local artist Lizzie Thomas, who is part of the Unravelled group of craft-based artists (also lovely - the ones I've met anyway!).

Lizzie showed us several samples she'd made using the same basic principles, and although they looked scarily complex, she explained everything so clearly we all came away after two hours with complete and fairly fancypants versions of our own! All just from some pieces of card and careful scalpel work.

Mine is a secret garden. (I must re-read 'The Secret Garden'...)

 

A great tip from Lizzie was to cut all or part of the back of the diorama away and cover the aperture with artists' tracing paper. Then you get a lovely effect with diffused light shining through. You even place in in front of a candle if you were VERY careful. Maybe one of those fake LED candles would be better!

 

Since I did this I've made a few more, mainly as birthday cards, so I'll post some photos of them shortly. This is a fascinating craft, I really want to explore it further!

* SONG OF THE DAY: Dawn Penn - The First Cut Is The Deepest *

Regretsy

 

I've just discovered 'bad craft' site Regretsy, and I haven't laughed so much in ages! Regretsy (tagline 'Handmade? It looks like you made it with your feet.') trawls Etsy for examples of truly excruciating handiwork and takes the p*** mercilessly.

They're currently mining a particularly rich seam of Twilight fan art. Other enticing categories include Dead Things, Pet Humiliation and Spelling Issues.  It's a guilty pleasure, in the same vein as red carpet fashion site Go Fug Yourself. For more bad craft, there's also Craftastrophe and Glitter Gone Bad.

* SONG OF THE DAY: McAlmont and Butler - What's The Excuse This Time? *

Grinding gears at Hove Museum

Mum and Dad came down for the afternoon so the Blonde and I took them to Hove Museum to partake of afternoon tea. In the foyer of the museum is a wonderful coin-operated automata by Ian McKay.

There's a chap reading a newspaper, seated next to a lady with a flask of tea...

... and a kissing couple!

I love automata. I enjoyed making the sheep automata for my mum, and I'd like to learn how to design one myself. I'm not a woodworker so I'd like to see if I could make a fabric one - over an armature of some sort I guess.

Rob Ives' Paper Engineering and Pop-ups for Dummies looks like it might be a good starting point.

* SONG OF THE DAY: The Rolling Stones - Start Me Up *

New knitting booklet from Jean Greenhowe!

Queen of knitted toys, Jean Greenhowe, has a new booklet out this week. Dolly Mixtures is a collection of 9 inch dolls, including a snowman, a pirate boy, a flower seller girl and a Christmas elf.

It's been ages since she's had new stuff out so I was excited to see this, but I must admit I'm a wee bit disappointed that it's another book of large dolls - they're cute but a quite similar to dolls already included in previous JG booklets. But I am a JG addict so will still be buying it!

All images in this post (c) Jean Greenhowe 2009

Nice biscuits

Nice biscuit print (c) Hazel Nicholls

It appears that the humble Nice biscuit is becoming something of a icon in the crafting community. Perhaps folk would rather make them into works of art than actually eat them? They're usually the ones left on the plate - see this heated debate on my fave author Jasper Fforde's website.

This post from Anne at I Like flagged up the work of hwayoungjung, who draws fantastic pictures of famous British foods, including a plate of Nice, Custard Cream and Malted Milk biscuits.

Zoe Graham has created a series of biscuit works, including the Nice, by carving into sheets of MDF.

My favourite is this 'It's Nice To Be Nice' screenprint by reapwhatisew on Etsy (Etsy also has some smashing Jammie Dodger items, if you like your biscuits a more flashy). Reapwhatisew, aka Hazel Nicholls, has also has a blog, where she's posted this photo of a Nice biscuit brooch she made for a friend. Sweet.

* SONG OF THE DAY: Two Pints - The Biscuit Rap *

Cup & Saucer Posy mosaic by Anna Tilson

I have totally fallen in love with this beautiful (or beaut-tea-ful?) mosaic by Anna Tilson, spotted in her Etsy shop. It's made with fragments of rose-printed crockery and is just... LOVELY (sigh).

It's £120 so a bit out of my reach, but maybe if manage to save, or get a surprise commission, I'll be able to make it mine! Or I could treat myself to a mosaiced letter 'K', like this £45 letter 'E'.

I went to a mosaic workshop at Hove Museum run by Anna a few years ago, and she helped us all make something we were proud of - but I still really really want a Tilson original!

Also: MADE: Maker of the Week - Anna Tilson

Both images (c) Anna Tilson

'Fancy a brew?' asks Mr PS

  
Images (c) Mr PS

These tea-themed mugs and teatowels from Mr PS (Manchester-based Megan Price) are fab - especially the ones with the 'greasy spoon' cafe menus. Available from the Mr PS shop.

Thanks to Anne at the ever-wonderful 'I Like' for flagging them up!

Morph flashmob pays tribute to Tony Hart

Image (c) Krypto

A flashmob of Plasticine figures assembled outside Tate Modern this week to form a 'terracotta army' of Morphs in honour of the late, lovely Tony Hart.

There are great photos of the hundreds of different Morphs on the Let's Make Morph page on Facebook, and there's also a wonderful Morph Flashmob photo group on Flickr.

Tony's daughter said she was "bowled over" by this moving tribute to her dad. I think he'd have heartily approved!

Rob Ryan papercut for April's Elle

Papercut by Rob Ryan for Elle Magazine, April 2009

Another beautiful papercut from Rob Ryan - this time for Elle magazine. It's to accompany an article called 'A Promise To Mothers Lost', about the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood, an international coalition which aims to ensure that pregnancy and childbirth are safe for all women and newborns in every country around the world

Bus gets yarnbombed!

The Knitta Please bus in Mexico City

In probably my favourite yarnbombing incident so far, guerilla knitting heroes Knitta Please have covered an old Japanese bus in knitting and parked in Mexico City. I feel some Brighton 'n' Hove-based mischief coming on... ;)

Also:
The Yarnbombing Blog
The Telegraph, 21 Jan 2009: Knitters turn to graffiti artists with 'yarnbombing'
Flickr: Yarnbombing groups

Coraline: Her Handmade World

Trailer for 'Coraline', via YouTube

I hadn't heard of Neil Gaiman's children's book Coraline before, but now a movie version has been made I'm getting up to speed. I got the book out of the library and can't wait for the film's UK release (not til May!).

The story is a sort of sinister Alice In Wonderland - Coraline finds a door in her house which leads to a parallel world the same as her own, but seemingly better - she even has 'other' parents... who have buttons for eyes and may not be as friendly as they first seem...

There's a lot of buzz about the film in the crafting community, as it's a stop-motion animation with sets and characters all created by hand, including a cherry orchard made from pieces of popcorn sprayed pink!

The most gobsmacking creations are the pieces of miniature knitting by Althea Crome - see her in action here.

Coraline is directed by stop-motion supremo Henry Selick, (who did The Nightmare Before Christmas, and James And The Giant Peach) and has the most fantastic companion website where you can spend hours exploring Coraline's world(s). 

Watch the behind-the-scenes films in the Theatre, Create A Flower, Have Your Tea Leaves Read, or  - if you dare - Button Your Eyes!

Also:
Mouse Circus, the offical Neil Gaiman website for younger readers.

The Great British PicKnit with Shaun the Sheep

 

Sarah and I spent this afternoon at the Creative Stitches show at the Brighton Centre, and got to see the finished Great British PicKnit. 

The project is supported by Aardman Animations (together with the UK Hand Knitting Association, Simply Knitting magazine and ICHF exhibitions) and the star of the piece is Aardman's own ovine knitter, Shaun the Sheep.

The longer we looked, the more details we spotted - the robin in the tree, the pop bottle knitted from clear plastic, the chicks fighting over a worm, Shaun's iPod! It was fantastic - a real labour of love by hundreds of knitters.

It continues its tour in March and April, visiting Glasgow, Birmingham and Liverpool.

* SONG OF THE DAY: Henry Hall & His Orchestra - The Teddy Bears' Picnic *

 

 

All images (c) Kristen Bailey 2009

Knitted sofa covers by Nicki Trench

Nicki Trench's sofa, from the Dec 2008 issue of Good Homes

This lovely sofa, entirely covered in candy-striped knitting, belongs to craft tutor and author Nicki Trench, whose home was featured in December's Good Homes magazine. Gorgeous eh? Must have involved some seriously dedicated needle-wielding...

* SONG OF THE DAY: James - Sit Down *

New brooches on Folksy!

    
Heart-shaped brooches (c) Kristen Bailey 2009

Finally I have something in my Etsy shop my Folksy shop! It takes such a long time to make just a few things, then take good pics of them and get the listings done, it does feel like an achievement!

Here are some large, sparkly Valentine brooches. I'm single and I always send Valentines to my single friends, and these brooches were made with them in mind. Hope you like them!

* SONG OF THE DAY: Feargal Sharkey - A Good Heart *

Hey Cinderella

The other day, my cousin Lisa and I were tallking about our favourite childhood presents. I was saying how brilliant her mum, my Auntie Sue, was at choosing gifts - a Crayola Crayon Caddy (64 different colours!), a Fashion Wheel, and later, my first proper sketchbook and a tin of Derwent drawing pencils. She could see that art was my passion and did what she could to encourage me. This is Cinderella. Sue made her for me when I was about six. Lisa had one too. Cinderella looks sad now, but if you turn her upside-down...

...she CAN go to the ball!

There is so much detailed work here. She has a beautiful ballgown of pink and white lace over pink crepe, a choker of flower beads and an elaborate plaited coiffure of white yarn. Can you imagine how exciting and glamourous she was for a six-year old girl in sensible clothes and a 'boy's' haircut?

I will always keep her. I will always appreciate the love and care which went into making her, and I hope that the things I make for my friends' kids will make them feel as special. I hope one day I'll have the time to knit Jean Greenhowe's Cinderella doll for one of them.

  

* SONG OF THE DAY: Adam Ant - Prince Charming *

Summersville

Just before Christmas I came across a wonderful Etsy shop called Summersville, full of handprinted fabrics by Suffolk-based Lucie Summers. My favourite of her prints is called Avenue* - line drawings of houses and trees, available in three of my favourite colours - hot pink, teal and turquoise! So I ordered a piece in turquoise, and some Christmas tree stars she'd made from her Weave and Totem prints.

And what a beautiful parcel Lucie sent! I almost didn't want to unwrap it... but I'm glad I did:

Gorgeous, eh? Lucie also has an Etsy shop for her mixed media work - LuSummers, and you can read all about how her work is developed (and which bit of delicious vintage crockery she has found this week in the charity shop!) on her lovely blog.

* A name I also love cos it reminds me of how Margot in my fave 'The Good Life' says, "Not on The Avenue!" aghast, whenever Tom and Barbara get more livestock!

Kirstie Allsopp gets crafty for Channel Four

Kirstie Allsopp (c) Channel Four

Excellent! Kirstie Allsopp (she of Location, Location, Location fame) is presenting a series for Channel Four called Kirstie's Homemade Home, where she will attempt to transform a dilapidated country cottage in Devon into the "ultimate 'homemade' home".

I'm well up for this. The Blonde and I love LLL just for Kirstie and Phil's banter (it's not as if either of will be getting on the property ladder anytime soon). I hope Phil pops in at some point, for homemade cake!

Channel Four says that Lady Miss Allsopp will,"hunt for the "best of handmade inventiveness, design and craft" and visit auction houses as well as reclaiming and restoring pieces of furniture... learn how to create items such as homemade soap, candles, pillowcases and tablecloths... meet all the wonderful artisans who keep the great British tradition for crafts alive from furniture-makers and antique restorers to glassblowers and flower arrangers, and ... learn some of the key skills of the humble craftsman." Can't wait! (Via Crafty Crafty.)

Anne Boleyn doll - with detachable head!

 
Anne Boleyn doll (c) Katie Park 2008

I'll be off to watch The Tudors in a mo', but thought it fitting to warmly applaud the work of caffaknitted (aka Katie Park), who has made a fab Anne Boleyn doll complete (or incomplete?!) with a detachable head.

Katie has also made wonderful dolls of Henry VIII, Katherine of Aragon, Jane Seymour and Anne of Cleves... so keep your eyes peeled for Katherine Howard (the other one who lost her head) and Catherine Parr!

* SONG OF THE DAY: Frank Black - Headache * 

Etsy Love: Some Days Are Rainy

Vintage umbrella	'Some Days...' badge	Happy Raindrop pendant
Holly Hobbie fabric	Vintage raincoat	Umbrella earrings
Rainy Day print	Knitted hat	Man In The Rain photo

Rob Ryan designs for Clothkits

Talented papersmith Rob Ryan has produced an exclusive skirt design for Clothkits. It's a little out of my league, at £46.00, but I might add one of the £25 tiles from Rob Ryan's Etsy shop to my birthday list, along with his gorgeous book This Is For You.

Fifty Tiny Bobble Hats

Fifty bobble hats for Innocent smoothie bottles (c) Kristen Bailey 2007

Well, they've gone off in the post - only managed to contribute fifty hats towards the target of 400,000, but it was fun playing just a small part in it.

Look out for Innocent Smoothie bottles wearing hats in branches of Sainsburys from 7th November - and buy one, it's in aid of Age Concern!

Swatch Portraits

Swatch portraits (c) www.purlbee.com

This is a great idea from the Purl Bee - frame favourite pieces of fabric with embroidery hoops and hang 'em on the wall. I've seen fabric framed before in picture frames but this is a more interesting way of doing it and is dead simple - just follow their free online tutorial.

There's even a Swatch Portraits group on Flickr.

Map Quilts by Ian Hundley

Bierbergen Oedelum Black (c) Ian Hundley, 2006

Ian Hundley is a Brooklyn-based artist who transforms maps into amazing large-scale quilts. Watch this video from Cool Hunting, where they meet with Ian to discuss his inspirations and capture his process.

Bulldog Light in handblown glass

Bulldog light by Elaine Sheldon (c) Sheldon Cooney

I just love this handblown glass pendant lamp by Sheldon Cooney (designer Elaine Sheldon and glassmaker Dominic Cooney). What a great idea to use a bulldog clip like that!

I'd like one in turquoise of course - so it's a good job they don't come in turquoise, cos I don't have the spare £350. A thing of great beauty...

Made In England mosaic

Made in England mosaic by Emma Biggs

Click on the pic for a larger view of this beautiful mosaic, put together by professional mosaicist, teacher and author Emma Biggs in celebration of the pottery and ceramics which have been made in Stoke-on-Trent for hundreds of years:

"There have been over 1,500 potters in Stoke-on-Trent and most of them used a back-stamp to identify their ware, often bearing the words 'ENGLAND' or 'MADE IN ENGLAND'.

Each back-stamp is a story - a story of the company (which may have lasted for two years or hundreds of years), the smoking - fire belching bottle kilns, the child labour and sometimes appalling working conditions. It is also a story of beauty, workmanship, improvement and camaraderie."

You can find out more about the project here, and more about Emma Bigg's mosaic work on her website.

Vinyl Junkie

Sunglasses case (c) Sugar Lust | Pouch by Miss Alison

I am in the grip of a fresh infatuation... vinyl. No, not records... upholstery vinyl made into cool things like bags and purses. It's shiny, wipe-clean, hardwearing, doesn't fray and comes in loads of bright colours - even glittery colours - what's not to love?

Of course I haven't yet tried working with it myself. That's on the 'to do' list. But I've already bought three gorgeous things via Etsy... and have my eye on more.

My first purchase was a fab robot motif sunglasses case from Sugar Lust (above) - perfect for me and my robot love.

Then I came across Miss Alison's Etsy shop, and her great 'bent stripe' pouches. Would she make me a bespoke in my favourite colours? Of course! So I'm the proud owner of a turquoise pouch with hot pink stripes (above). I've also got my eye on this Seagull Pouch from her website.

The starry pink beauty below is winging its way to me as I type. It's by Julie at Majesty Inc, and I love it. Great colour combination - and I love five-pointed stars as a motif.

Lend us a tenner? Kiva - loans which change lives

This is Sharifa Rajab Ali, who lives and works in Kabul, Afghanistan.

I've just lent her a few quid so she can buy materials for her beadwork business and use her creative skills to support her family. She needs more than I'm able to lend her at the moment, but once a few other people have chipped in with their loans, Sharifa will be able to stock up.

Kiva.org came to my attention via Miss Malaprop and Crafty World. It's a simple and effective - Kiva enable you to loan your money (as little as $25 - currently less than £13 in sterling) to the working poor:

"Kiva lets you connect with and loan money to unique small businesses in the developing world. By choosing a business on Kiva.org, you can "sponsor a business" and help the world's working poor make great strides towards economic independence. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates from the business you've sponsored. As loans are repaid, you get your loan money back.

Kiva partners with existing microfinance institutions. In doing so, we gain access to outstanding entrepreneurs from impoverished communities world-wide. Our partners are experts in choosing qualified borrowers. That said, they are usually short on funds. Through Kiva.org, our partners upload their borrower profiles directly to the site so you can lend to them."

It gave me particular pleasure to be able to help a creative person like Sharifa - you can search the site by category to find people working in your area of interest - so I've loaned some money to Lolofa, a Samoan lady, to help her build up her mat weaving business. Who will you invest in?

Also:
I Love Kiva! Why Kiva is one of the best things on the Internet
Wikipedia entry for Kiva

Clayton Bailey's Robot Sculptures

Robots by Clayton Bailey via The Tech

I really need to start making robots. I sewed one in felt ages ago, but I want to make robots out of junk. Maybe not to the scale of California-based Clayton Bailey's work - this guy uses everything from coffee pots to fridges.

I came across him on The Tech's Robotics site (check out the 360 degree panoramas of his studio and his yard - now there's a garden I could go for!). PS: Great moustache, sir!

These are great too: Bennett Robot Works

My latest Etsy order has just arrived - this tiny chap made from electrolytic capacitors by oBVIoUS FRoNT...
	...and I've got my eye on a Mini Robo from The Blockheads.

Robot Love on Etsy

Prints © Cricket Press | Necklace © Atomic Glassworks | Corkbot © Moonshine Bluebirds

I am of course buying far more on Etsy than I'm selling, and my current 'thing' is robots. There's the gorgeous turquoise glass robot necklace made for me to order by Atomic Glassworks, a stunning set of robot letterpress prints by Cricket Press and my new desk buddy, Corkbot, courtesy of Moonshine Bluebirds. I think I'm in love...

Lego Flowers

Yellow Bloomin’ Bowl by Marie Worre Hastrup Holm, 2006. Photo: Ester Segarra

I love this glass bowl because it's been covered in LEGO flowers. Brilliant. Part of this weekend's International Festival of Glass in Stourbridge, incorporating the British Glass Biennale.

And as a result of Googling 'lego flowers', I've just bought a Lego Flowers Necklace by Swank, off Etsy.

Sussex teatowel bag

Click on the pics for larger versions (c) Kristen Bailey

Oh Sussex, Sussex by the Sea
Good old Sussex by the Sea
You can tell them all that we'll stand or fall
For Sussex by the Sea

I found this lovely linen 'Sussex' teatowel in a charity shop last weekend and I've made in into a bag, because I love Sussex and I especially love the map, with all the place names on it - so many which hold meaning for me.

Am on the lookout for more 'map' teatowels now. I've got loads of satin scarves with maps on but linen teatowels are easier to work with and make sturdier bags. Another fad is upon me!

Also: Flickr: More Little Fish bags

Lucienne Day and a bag for Anra

Click on the pics for larger images (c) Kristen Bailey

This bag is for my lovely colleague Anra, who I recently lent a book about Lucienne Day's textile designs. I'd bought this 1950s curtain fabric in a charity shop ages ago. I think the print must have been inspired by Day's designs - look at her Flotilla fabric.

I paired the vintage fabric with some lime green jumbo cord and lined the bag in a polycotton - white with red polka dots. It's got a phone pocket and white plastic hoop handles.

Centre for Advanced Textiles at the Glasgow School of Art: Classic Textiles to order - Lucienne Day
V&A Museum: Designing Britain 1945-1975 - Utility/Austerity Textile Design
Dioramarama: Fabric Friday: Lucienne Day
The Observer, April 15, 2001: Festival of Britain - Lucienne Day

Ball of Wool Deckchair by Robert Bailey

Robert Bailey with his Pink Ball of Wool deckchair (c) adnamsflyingegg.co.uk

The Adnam's Flying Egg competition is an annual event run by the Suffolk brewery and held in Southwold.

Last year, entrants were asked to design an Alternative Deckchair, and Robert Bailey's Pink Ball of Wool chair won first prize (extra points for the lilac mohair jumper too, I dare say).

This year, competitors have to design an Alternative Clock and entries can be viewed along Southwold High Street on Sunday 23 July.

Donna Wilson cupcakes

Cupcakes (c) Donna Wilson

Especially for my lovely friend S, here are some knitted lambswool cupcakes by the marvellous Donna Wilson. Perfect for the lady who is watching her waistline. £12 each but they never go stale. I like the choccy one best.

S - you'll also love Heidi's plush patisserie @ My Paper Crane.

Gory Knitting #2: The Knitted Digestive System

Knitted digestive system (c) Matie Trewe

Also via Cabinet, a link to Strange But Trewe's knitted digestive system - there's even a pattern for it if you fancy having a go at it yourself.

Matie Trewe has also produced many other knitted delights for you to try, including the Lacy Skull Shrug, the DoKnit and the Slit Throat Choker ("For when you want to keep a specific 1/2" of your neck warm, AND look like you've just been murdered..."). Fan-bluddy-tastic.

Gory Knitting

Accident 3: Shark (c) Patricia Waller, 2003

"Roald Dahl would have loved these!", notes a perceptive Cabinet Magazine's link to a bunch of amusingly gory knitted sculptures labelled 'Beutiful Art Made with Kintting'.

Among them is a shark with a severed leg in its mouth, conjoined teddy bears, a rabbit who has been stabbed through the heart with a carrot, some fluffy pink bondage gear and a roadkill cat with guts and blood spilling out of its stomach. Artist unknown. Enjoy!

Later that same day... A-ha! Further Googling (props to 1percent - and I didn't pinch that post title, honest) reveals that the artist in question is Patricia Waller. There are dozens more works for your delight in her online photo gallery.

Nobody move - he's got a kimble gun!

Red button bag by Edson Raupp, suitcase-london.com

Mmm... a beautiful Edson Raupp handbag from the Crafts Council's Well Fashioned: Eco Style in the UK exhibition, which I've already posted about.

Many moons ago, when I was a Saturday girl in a haberdashery, I used to look at the kimble (tagging) gun we used and think, "Wouldn't it be cool to use long kimble tags to attach loads of sequins to curtains?" But kimble guns were beyond my budget, so that idea never came to fruition.

So it's cool to see this bag - and I love that he's used red kimble tags to match, and in all different lengths. Although it's probably best I don't own one - I'd doubtless end up getting constantly tangled up with doorhandles (and members of the public).

There's a lampshade in Habitat which has small pearl buttons all over it, attached by kimble tags. (Slight pause while she Googles for more info.) Ooh, turns out it's by Tracy Kendall, who does all that fantastic wallpaper.

And look - while searching for this lampshade I found another button lampshade you can make yourself - I've done something similar with beads and bits but I'd never thought of doing one with buttons.

Tracy Kendall 'Button' lampshade for Habitat (c) Habitat.net and button lampshade (c) hgtv.com

Knitted Wonder Woman bracelets and headband

Knitted Wonder Woman bracelets and headband (c) Janice Stanborough

Via Craftster, these fab Wonder Woman bracelets and headband are by Jan-On-Ice.

In Bed With A Bad Cold

'In Bed with a Bad Cold' (c) Pam RuBert

Ladies and gentlemen - for all those who still have horrible colds and all who are wondering exactly when it's going to get any warmer despite it being nearly MAY... I give you the witty and talented PaMdora's wonderful In Bed With A Bad Cold quilt. Yes, QUILT. Click on the pic for more detail.

Check out her amazing new Towers of Babble quilt in detail here. More from the Uncommon Threads: Contemporary Art Quilts - New Directions exhibition at Springfield Art Museum here.

Bake It! An Edible Wordsearch

Edible wordsearch (c) Zeekomkommer

The ever-inventive Zeekomkommer has produced Bake It! - a wordsearch made from letter-shaped biscuits which, thanks to Flickr's 'notes' function, users can play on-screen. Crumbs!

She's a Little Angel

Felt angel doll (c) Kristen Bailey

This little lady was a birthday pressie for the Blonde back in June but I've only just got round to posting her picture. She was my first attempt at making a doll from scratch, with no pattern, and didn't go quite as well as I'd hoped. There are a few strange lumps and bumps (that's the pot calling the kettle black...) and bless her, she's a got a distinctive face!

I stitched her features on before I'd stuffed her and didn't realise till then that I'd put her mouth far too low down. Still, you live and learn - and she's got quite a sweet (yet gormless) expression. And I love her shoes. She's made mainly from felt (including glittery felt and some great stuff with shimmery strands running through it) and has a pipecleaner halo.

Why an angel? Well, my little sis used to be (still is) into a band called Little Angels (one of whom is now the drummer in Feeder, who she's also a huge fan of) and ever since then she's liked stuff to do with angels.

Batwing jumper recycled as a bag

Bag made from old jumper (c) Kristen Bailey

I bought an old batwing jumper from a charity shop ages ago because I liked the colours, pattern and sparkly lurex bits. I think I imagined somehow altering it and wearing it, but I never did. Eventually I decided to chop it up and make a bag - but I was nervous about how to go about it... stretchy fabric is scary!

I did it by cutting out the pattern three times - once in the jumper fabric, once in the lining fabric and once in medium-heavy interfacing. I attached the piece of jumper fabric to the interfacing with tacking stitches and carried on with making the bag as I normally do - the 'self-lining' method (ie sew the two pieces together wrong-side out leaving a small gap, then turn it all right-side out).

The bag's lined with hot pink satin (a 20p remnant) and has bought black plastic handles. I use it whenever I'm having a 'pink' day (rather than a 'turquoise' day).

* SONG OF THE DAY: The Sultans of Ping FC - Where's Me Jumper? *

Suffolk Puffs and Yo-Yo's

Snooze the Suffolk Wyvern (c) wyrm.org.uk

Prompted by this gorgeous Yo-Yo Pillow by Vicki at Turkey Feathers, I've been off on the trail of Suffolk Puffs - which is what I've always called these little circular puffballs of fabric. They've long been used to form panels for quilts and other furnishings - stitched edge-to-edge - or threaded together in long strings to make toys, like this one from Shop Intuition.

They're a great way to use up fabric scraps (a necessity in past hard times but more likely a 'need to shrink my stash' thing these days). Here's how (via quilterscache, via Vicki!).

Here's a cushion by Irish artist Mary Robinson and a selection of Suffolk Puff quilts from Australia's National Quilt Register.

I used to have a clown entirely made from Suffolk puffs - it seemed to me that no two were the same fabric, and I probably spent more time exploring the colours and patterns of the fabrics than actually playing with the doll (I've never liked clowns anyhow!).

Here are instructions for making Snooze the Suffolk Wyvern, via Wyrm's Cuddly Dragons page. (Snooze isn't a dragon, but a wyvern - a mythical creature with the wings and upper part of a dragon and the lower part of a snake.)

I feel a fad coming on...

See also:
McCalls: Free Pattern for A Yo-Yo Nines Quilt
eHow.com: How To Make A Yo-Yo Doll
eHow.com: How To Make Yo-Yo Wreath Ornaments

How To Make Books - Free Projects

 

Hot Dog Booklet (c) Susan Kapuscinski Gaylord

Susan Kapuscinski Gaylord's lovely Making Books With Children site has a range of great free bookbinding projects, including the Who Am I Book, a Wish Scroll, a Palm Leaf Book and the intriguingly titled Hot Dog Booklet. (And now I want a hot dog...) They're aimed at kids but there's no reason why they couldn't be an inspiring starting point for a book project, whatever your age.

How To Make... Cushions, Curtains, Blinds & Bedding

There are oodles of free instructions for making bedding, blinds, curtains, cushions (including beanbags) and ornamental trimmings on the Alternative Windows website.

They're complete with diagrams and handy hints ... including basic stuff (basic stuff I struggle with) like inserting a zip.