Category: fabric

Craft studio update

Way back in my first post of the year, I mentioned that I was moving from my craft room/ spare room into my new craft studio in the attic. My wonderful hubby painted the room for me at the very start of the year and since then I’ve been on a mission to sort and organise. Its by no means finished as I still need a few more pieces of furniture and to get some pictures and art work up on the walls but its a fabulous space and I LOVE it! Come with me on a little tour…

My shabby chic ‘working’ table in front of the window. This table rarely looks this tidy as its the central part of the room where most crafty exploits take place. On the floor is the blanket I’m currently in the process of joining for little Miss to go in her new bedroom.

 

My sewing and fabric table, where my sewing machine will reside once I get around to setting it back up again (it’s currently sitting on the floor in the old craft room, looking a little sorry for itself!).

I like to call this my cosy corner. I just need one more unit to go on the end to put a tv on so I can watch as I crochet when the mood takes me. Its needs a crocheted blanket and some pictures on the wall to finish off the cozy feel too although its obviously fairly cozy as it as, as one of my cats seems to have claimed it as her own!

With the room being in the attic, it’s full of nooks and crannies, so Little Miss even has a crafty corner too. She doesn’t tend to craft in there at the moment as she prefers to sit at the table with me near the window. It is a little bit dark in the corner too, I’m yet to find the perfect light for her little corner but once I do and get a bit of her artwork on the wall it will be fabulous!

Yarn and fabric storage.

Card making and general crafty stuff. This area still needs another unit and a bit more sorting.

My workspace for when I need to do paperwork at home. My work bag fits inside along with the laptop and can easily be closed away when it’s time to get crafty!

 

My bunting is the only decoration in here at the moment and it does look a little lost up there. Im hoping to add to it very soon and adorn the walls with my crafty makes. It will take time to get the room exactly as I want, especially in terms of the decorations, as  it is such a big space but I count myself so so lucky that I have it. I am one very lucky lady!!

 

Karen x x

 

 

Huxterkids workshop

Life has been very busy here this month with report writing and all manner of other things that had to be done for work and I just haven’t had the time to blog very much. Hence this post about the workshop that actually happened 5 weeks ago!

Over the May half term Little Miss and I went back to England to spend some time with family. Imagine my delight then  a few months ago when I saw that the lovely Sophie of Huxterkids was running a sew your own jumper workshop on the Friday, the day after my arrival back in England. For quite some time I’d been planning on getting my sewing machine back out and doing some sewing again, so this was just perfect timing. I scurried away and booked the course just as soon as I had booked the flights and checked that Mum could look after Little Miss for the day. Then I began eagerly counting down the days. Now, I truly believe I was meant to go on this course that day. A few weeks before the course, Sophie messaged me and explained that I was the only one that had booked on the course with it being on a Friday. Initially she was a little perplexed that no one else had booked on it as her courses are usually well visited. It was only then, she realised that she had actually put it on the Friday when she had meant to put it for Saturday. She then couldn’t change it to the Saturday due to other commitments. When Sophie discovered all this she apologised profusely that I would be the only one attending but she was still happy to run it as long as I didn’t feel uncomfortable being the only one there or she would happily refund me the money. To tell you the truth I jumped at the chance of one to one tuition and was so pleased I had been given the option, most companies would have cancelled due to a lack of demand and I’m so grateful that she didn’t.

On the day I set off form my parents and drove the 40 minutes to get to Sophie’s studio. The studio is in a beautiful converted barn in a courtyard of other converted barns housing small business. What a lovely setting, one I’m sure I would have appreciated a little more had it not been a gloomy, grey day and chucking down with rain!

Now, I will admit I was a little bit nervous as it had been a while since I’d touched a sewing machine and I was a little apprehensive about being the only one as I’m not generally very good at small talk and can find conversation difficult if people aren’t on the same wavelength. I really needn’t have worried! Sophie was the perfect host, made me feel totally at ease and we discovered that we had a lot to chat about through a shared love of crochet. She made me a cup of tea and I set about choosing the fabric. Little Miss and I had already had a peruse at the fabrics online(did I mention I was making the jumper for her?) and had chosen the fabric for the main body of the jumper but still needed to choose a co-ordinating fabric for the sleeves, cuffs and waistband. Once the fabric had been chosen, it was on to cutting out the pieces and beginning to assemble the jumper.

This was the bit I was nervous about, having not touched a sewing machine in 2 years. Sophie was very patient and gave me as much or as little help as I needed at each step of the way, showing me some handy hints and tips for working with stretchy fabrics and attaching the pieces together.

We stopped for a yummy ‘picnic’ type lunch, provided by Sophie, of crusty bread, olives, meat and salad and then set back to work.  All that was left to do was to add the collar, cuffs and waistband and voila, the jumper was complete…

As you can see from my face, I was pretty pleased with myself…

Thankfully Little Miss loved it too and has been wearing it with pride…

All that is left to say is thankyou to Sophie for a lovely day and for giving me the confidence to get back on the sewing machine. If any of you would like to book on one of Sophie’s huxter workshops, you can find the link here  or to see her fabulous range of made to order clothing, follow this link. But beware, once you have started, you may not be able to stop yourself!!

Karen x x

Fuerteventura – half term

Its 3 weeks since we came back from Fuerteventura and the tan has pretty much faded and sadly so has the refreshed, just back from holiday feeling. I had wanted to post about the holiday much sooner but as is often the case, life and work just got in the way. Oh well, better late than never!

With the freezing cold temperatures we experienced a week or so ago, I have to keep reminding myself that it was only a few short weeks ago that we were sunning ourselves in Fuerteventura. Ok, so it wasn’t super hot but it was just hot enough and a much needed and welcome break from wintry Germany.

We stayed at a self contained villa with a heated pool and a hot tub. The first day was extremely windy, which made it feel colder than the 18oC it was and left me wishing id packed more jumpers. after that first day though, the wind died away and we had lovely sunny days of 21oC. We had a few days out but the rest of the time we were just content to relax outside in the sunshine and Little Miss relished the opportunity to swim in the pool every day.

Of course I managed to fit in some poolside crochet time and my creative urge was further satisfied by a visit to a fabric/ wool shop in Puerta del Rosario. What a treasure trove it was, packed floor to ceiling with fabric, wool and all the accessories you could possibly ever need to work with fabric. with so much choice it took me a long time to settle on the fabric I wanted but here it is….

I got a bit of a surprise when the colourful fabric was all folded up as it was much heavier than I’d realised (I think its upholstery fabric, oops!) and I was a little worried about how I’d get it in the case…clothes would have been discarded though if necessary to fit in my beautiful material! I haven’t yet decided what to use the fabric for but I do know that whatever I make will evoke happy memories of a lovely family holiday.

 

Karen x