30 Days of Creativity - Day 8

A super quick post today. Today I challenged myself to a spot of crochet. I'm a relatively new crochet fan (completely self taught from online tutorials!) and I am always looking to expand my skills.

So I decided I'd have a go at a pattern I've wanted to try for ages. Only problem with this particular pattern is that it's in French. Mum bought me this book a little while ago...

... and I've been wanting to attempt this pattern in particular...

...Irish rose buttons.

 Here is the finished article...

Front view

Back view

As you can see, it's not on a button. Reading the pattern in French beat me. I got the tension wrong so it's come out bigger than planned. I had to unpick and re-make several times before reaching this point. I just could not work out how to turn and do the reverse (which would have held it to a button). 

So I am left with a crocheted Irish rose. It's quite pretty though and I'm glad it's finished! 

 

(And before anyone asks, yes, I do know this book is available in English!)

See what everyone else has achieved here.

30 Days of Creativity - Day 7

Just a quick post today. I am so busy with getting ready for CraftFest and with a custom order that has just come in. It leaves very little time for even small creative projects!

A little while ago, I ordered some of the plastic make-your-own buttons thinking that they would be nice covered with Liberty Fabric or a simple embroidery. As is often the way with me, they have sat forlornly in a box ever since. Yesterday, in search of a quick, simple project I thought I'd do a few practice buttons and see if it was worth having a proper go at. 

 

Here are the finished articles.

Couched embroidery cotton

Lazy-daisy stitch embroidery

Liberty fabric covered

Check out everyone else's work here.

Further adventures in felt...

As you will have noticed, I have been going through an experimental crafting stage. If you haven't seen my previous posts on the subject, I have been experimenting with felt for a while now (you can read about it here - Adventures in Felt and More Adventures in Felt).

Well, these experiments have led to, what I hope will become, a new range of felt bears. 

They are not far removed from the prototype (he came out surprisingly well, for a first attempt) although I have made a few minor alterations. I have tweaked the pattern slightly so that the later bears are a little fatter in the tummy and have a shorter neck.

So with pattern prepared, I just had to choose a felt colour. Easy. Well, you'd think so, wouldn't you? I have a huge felt "stash" in a wide range of colours but I couldn't decide which to go for first! I pulled out all the "bear colours" (browns, tans etc) but that didn't seem to be right. Then I found these, on a trip with my parents to the craft wholesaler, and they were perfect! 

Naturally, it became crucial to fit the bear to the buttons (rather than the other way around) and the only colour that really worked was... white.

So the first white bear was born - with blue spotty buttons for joints, a blue embroidered nose and a blue ribbon.

Then came a white bear with pink spotty buttons, a pink nose and a pink ribbon...

...then came yellow...

... and finally purple!

And inevitably - while sewing, stuffing, jointing, embroidering and finishing these bears - hundreds of ideas were floating around in my head...

...mostly about personalising the bears...

...which is very tricky when they are only about 4 inches tall...

...but I might have found a way...

I fear this could become an obsession...

I have listed this "red, white and blue" bear on Folksy today.