Cat, and a sneaky peek...

A big thank you for all your comments on my previous post, I have been given lots of food for thought.  There are a few other projects on the go here, but I will re visit the fish, I'm not done with him just yet!

For now, I have indulged in what I do best, and am working on some more cats.  I do love the mix of materials that evolves with these, I love using the felted wool as a base fabric, even though it is really difficult to stuff, lumps appear in all the wrong places!

And here is a sneaky peek of something that will be making an appearance later this week.  I was going to post it all tonight but there is a poorly little boy, cough, cough, coughing next to me, so I'm off for a cuddle!

Mooooooooooooo,

There have been a few of these giveaways popping up on the internet lately, and I'm really pleased to be part of the fun now as Moo have very kindly asked if my blog readers would be interested in some of their new sticker range.  Would you?

I've been a Moo user since I began blogging, in particular the mini cards which I use as business cards but also as swing tags for my Softies (punch a hole in one end and attach with string).

So what is the deal?  Moo are providing 50 of their new round stickers and also 50 of the rectangular stickers to 5 blog readers.

If you're a winner, you can upload your own images, or choose from a vast range of ready made artwork and templates and personalise them with your own details. Moo's unique printing technology, 'printfinity' allows you to place a different image or design on every sticker and there's a range of options to create custom sticky products including uploading company logos and photos to embellish your own products branding.

I'd be very surprised if you hadn't come across Moo before given they produce just about the best sticker books, business cards, postcards and greetings cards out there.

For a chance to win one of the 5 sets of 100 stickers (that's 50 of each new shape), just post a comment on this post saying what you would use them for.  The giveaway will close next Wednesday, 6th July at midnight (GMT).

I'm kind of hoping no-one enters, that way I can have all the freebies!

edited to add - there have been a few problems with leaving comments, so I've changed my comment settings whilst the giveaway is running, just please make sure you leave an email address so we can contact you if you win, thanks.

Crafty eye candy...,

Al has been away in Singapore for a week, there wasn't much I asked him to bring back, just this Japanese Craft Book, 'Animal Mascot', which I've had my eye on for weeks.

Very cute penguin and seal pattern,

and Crocodiles to name but a few.

But he also picked up the May issue of 'Cotton Time', 

love this issue, there are a few softie patterns, in amongst,

a whole heap of quilting ideas.

All the eye candy got the creative ideas going at the weekend, and I started playing around with fabric...!

I'd better get on with the sewing!

Interesting fact no.5

I cannot make my mind up about what colour my blog should be. I've visited so many that look really nice and have now lost count of how many times I've changed mine. Today it is duck egg blue and brown, tomorrow, who knows!.

Cross stitch - a review of Mac based design software,

I've been thinking a lot lately about counted cross stitch.  This is the medium I cut my design teeth in, and over the last week or so I've had contact with my old work mates, which led to a bit of nostalgia.  Nowadays, I don't have any computer software to design cross stitch on, although it can be done quite easily just with graph paper and some coloured pencils, that's how my first few designs back in 1994 were completed.  But it's slow doing it that way, the design software we had was a revelation and sped the whole process up and opened up creativity, here's one of mine, and another, and another, there are many more I would not even admit too! 

Back then, I worked on a PC, and there were 2 main design packages used within the industry.  Stitchcraft, which is what we used and Ilsoft which, it seemed at the time, the rest of the world was using, although I don't know why because I personally found Stitchcraft to be the much better system.  It just seemed to make more sense as a design program.

But these are both PC based.  I now work on a Mac.  It seems there is a bit of a shortage of design software for counted cross stitch which is Mac compatible.  Now, I know you can use Photoshop to simulate cross stitch, basically scanning an image and altering the resolution so each pixel is one stitch and adding a grid, but I want to design from scratch rather than digitalise an existing design.  Finally I did find some Mac based software and spent a day fiddling around with demo versions, so here are my reviews of three...

STITCHES by Quixpace, €49.99 (£44.45/$71).  Nice layout, reminiscent of Photoshop as it has navigation boxes on the left, layers, magic wand tool etc.  You need to watch the videos on the website to understand what the toolboxes at the top of the screen do.  Does all the basics, symbolised chart, gives a rough guide to how much thread would be needed.  It did seem to work best when scanning in a photo and turning it into a cross stitch design.  The image can then be easily edited (colours, size of chart, aida count etc) although I could not find how to add backstitch, and it did not seem to cater for half stitches, french knots or any additional embellishment.  Also only had DMC thread colours, I am an Anchor girl.  In short, great for converting photos or any other image you want into cross stitch, but limited if designing from scratch.  Didn't do everything I would need it to do as a designer.

STITCHES SCREENSHOT

Next up is STITCHPAINTER by Cochenille $85 (£53) for the standard version, and $165 (£103) for the gold version.  This does more, and I would advise to go down the gold version route as that has additional plug-ins which offer most of the adaptability (eg, beadwork, tapestry design, DMC shade numbers, although again, it's just DMC, no Anchor).  Each plug-in costs in the region of $25 (£15), so price wise, it does add up, and as the plug-ins are not part of the demo version, what I could try out was limited.  The cross stitch design element is limited as again, I couldn't find how to add any backstitch, but this program does cater for knitting, crochet, long stitch, hardanger and as mentioned above, tapestry and bead weaving, so is a very versatile pattern design system.  It claims to do weaving too, although looking at the example, and given I have a BA Honours Degree in Weaving (showing off moment), what I saw didn't particularly resemble weaving as I know it.  In summary, I found it intriguing and would have liked to have tried it out more than the demo allowed.

STITCHPAINTER SCREENSHOT

Finally, MACSTITCH by Ursa Software, $60 (£33).  Out of the three I tried, this was the most similar to the Stitchcraft program I am used to.

MACSTITCH SCREENSHOT

And look, it even simulates cross stitch on screen.  This was very user friendly, the toolboxes across the top gave the ability to add half stitches, quarter stitches, backstitch (and adjust the thickness of the backstitch), even french knots and beads.  You can import an image and convert that straight to cross stitch or you can import it as an onion skin.  Now what is an onion skin?  I love this bit, it's just another word for adding layers (as in Photoshop), basically so you can place an image under the grid to use as a guide when designing.  This is exactly how I used to work at Coats and exactly what I would be looking for in a cross stitch design system.  It also caters for other threads and not just DMC, including Anchor (yay!), Appletons Wool, and Madeira.  It symbolises a chart and exports in a variety of formats, in short, it does most of what I'd be after as a designer.

If you're a Mac user and in the market for some cross stitch design software, I'd still say try the demo versions of all of these.  Different people need and want different things, what I've written here is just my own opinion, but I have been around the block and back when it comes to counted cross stitch.  

...Macstitch gets my vote.

Interesting fact no. 4, owls, owls and more owls!

I love Owls. They seem to follow me, they are something that keep cropping up over and over again. My most successful cross stitch kit design for Coats Crafts was of an owl. I have a small collection of owl ornaments which live on top of the grandfather clock given to me by my mum, grandma, husbands grandma and my mother in law. I also love making owl softies, I think it's the big eyes that do it!.

This week, Hooty came to visit. He flew out of my fabric stash basket, flapped around the sewing machine and then landed on my desk.



Hooty looked lonely, so I made him some (girl!) friends.



Caught the owl bug, kept going and before you know it, Hooty had a gang.



When I design for Coats, I usually have to use easily sourced fabric or Rowan as they are part of the Coats group. It was nice to finally use some of the fabric I've been finding myself. This little lot came from Kitty Craft.

More movies...,

Can you spot mine??

The book is out now.

I am a mole,

...and I live in a hole.

(or in this case, a garden in dire need of some weeding!)

Meet Nelson,

...he was the inspiration behind my Fox softie!

The bleepers!

I thought it would be fun to show these, the ones that didn't go quite right...

the toadstool that will not stand up, (when I photographed it before, I cheated, and used blue tack on the bottom!)

And the owl egg cosy, that was too narrow to fit over the egg, (cue back to the drawing board with the pattern!)

This one, however, is a wip... a fish,

I'm beginning to hit a stage where things need to change direction slightly. I have plans, but none of those can happen without the work itself being right. I know I love working three dimensionally, I also like working small, the choice I need to sort out is between a style that is cute or do I go down the more realistic route.

At the moment, the fish, is neither one or the other, I'm at a crossroads. The danger of the cute, is the crossover with the toy market, which I want to avoid, (too much red tape for the handcrafted) and the danger of the realistic, is am I actually able to pull that off well, or will it look like I'm trying too hard?.

What do you think...?

Fabric, material, cloth,

...whatever you call it, it is my favorite medium to work with.  Anyone who reads this blog regularly will have noticed that I work from a limited range of fabrics, the same prints will crop up over and over again.  This is partly due to lack of storage space, funds and also because my crafting philosophy stems around the idea that it doesn't actually need to cost a huge amount of money to sew.  Many of my fabrics are from old clothes, mine, the children's, family members, and thrifted.  When I do add to my collection with bought fabrics, it will be something carefully chosen, I window shop a lot, but only occasionally buy.

Manda posted in detail the other day about fabric, and I'm also an advocate of buying fabric from overseas.  Last Thursday, I took the plunge, and purchased these two prints from ChokiChoki via Etsy, today is Tuesday, and they arrived this morning all the way from Japan.  How's that for speedy service!  I've had my eye on the telegram print for a while, and fell in love with the vintage sewing print while browsing.  Unwrapping the package, I was briefly disappointed to see they were a little darker that I originally thought, but then realised I still had my sunglasses on, sunglasses removed, problem solved!

(the sewing print is on linen, lovely weight of fabric)

Speaking of Manda, I have pinched her idea from this Flickr photograph for having swatches of fabric hung up over my desk,

...very handy and very organised!

And speaking of Flickr, here's a tip, NEVER (accidently) delete cookies from your computer, without taking a note of your yahoo id and password, otherwise you will find yourself unable to log in to your Flickr account, for hours and hours.

Not that I did this..., 

yesterday, 

just sayin...!

Should have read the small print!

I'd been on the look out for some newsprint fabric.  Found some on Etsy but it was a full yard, so I went looking on Ebay and came across a fat quarter.  Fab, until when it arrived this morning and I spotted this amongst the lettering...,

not quite the statement I'm looking to make in my work!

What's a girl to do,

...when all the housework is done, the children are playing happily in the garden (albeit, one small boy in only his underpants!), and your other half is away all week (in Singapore!)?

...make cake of course!,

(anyone fancy a slice or two?!)

...chocolate cake, just need the can of squirty cream and a spoon.

  A new week is starting, let the crafting commence!

This weeks WIP, and interesting facts 2 & 3!

A new hen softie has hatched this week, still not 100% sure about the legs but am happy for now. The hen also has a little chick finger puppet with a pocket for it to sit in.





This is the other side as I've used different fabrics on each. (Next time, I will photograph softies with a more interesting background!).



Interesting facts 2 & 3,

I work differently to most crafters who blog, in that the items I make are not for sale. They are prototypes, which will be made into a craft kit you will be able to buy in the shops so you could make one yourself, or they will appear in a craft or embroidery magazine as an editorial feature. In the future, I will most likely begin to make one offs to sell, as it can be a bit frustrating having to stick within manufacturing constraints when designing something to be kitted. You can see what I mean by a 'kit' here, rag doll kits, and felt toy kits.

My background in crafting is vast, BA Honours Degree in weaving and embroidery, 11 years design and manufacturing experience, I can turn my hand to make most things but i cannot ...................... knit!!! I probably could if I tried, I can (or at least, used to be able) crochet but haven't done any for years. Must get some knitting needles and have a go!.

Has anyone seen my crafting mojo?

...because it seems to have gone missing this week!

I've tried, and tried and tried, but production has slipped to an all time low.  It's been very disheartening after being on a bit of a roll the week before with my attempt at a stork for a mobile (of sorts!) amongst other projects.

But this week, nothing.  I've tried tidying up my craft room, but it ended up in a bigger mess than before.  I've tried moving the furniture round in there too, only to end up moving it back to where it was before.

I suppose the way forward is to start with something simple.  Unfortunately, my peacock, as much as I love it as it is, just will not stand up.  What I need to do is re-make the tail in lighter weight fabrics, and weight the base more to balance it out.  If I get that right, maybe the rest will start to follow.

Ok, that's enough of me moaning!  Tell me, what do you do to combat the crafting doldrums?!

You may be forgiven for thinking...

...that this is one of my usual owls,

and at first glance, I suppose it is.  But look closer,

here's a clue, there it is in front of one of my usual owls.  It's half size, teeny tiny!.  I really like working small, and wondered if it was possible to do baby owls, so gave it a go!.  

I am in the middle of a (late) spring clean, so am making the most of there being no children in the house so I can go through the toys and cull all the broken things without causing too much upset, wish me luck!

On my desk today,

Hello, long time no post..., it's been a mixture of a missing camera (now found, don't tell the husband I mislaid it!), being a bit on the poorly side (on antibiotics) and a flood in the kitchen resulting in the book giveaway being left open for a bit longer than originally planned (leaking washing machine hose, fixed now but damage has been done).

Have all you Blogger bloggers noticed the new template designer feature?, it's fab, been a long time coming, but very welcome now it's here.  Also, static pages, look, see the tabs up at the top ⇡⇡⇡.  The pages are still blank, and I'm not done fiddling around with the layout yet, too much to play with!

Like this, which is in progress on my desk.  It's my new pattern for a Mole.  This is the second body as the first was not quite right (too big, although they could end up as Mr & Mrs Mole) and now I'm having trouble deciding on how to create the claws so in the meantime am tackling an easier part and adding the tummy.

Right, book giveaway winner.  After weeding out all the spam comments (is anyone else getting loads or is it just me?!), the winner is...,

number 53, which is Alibobbles.

Now, back to sewing Mole claws!

Owls...

I will shortly be doing a little housekeeping in my Etsy shop, some things will be coming out, and going off to the 'Softies for Mirabel' charity auction, to make way for these...

With the school summer holidays approaching, I will aim to drip feed Etsy with some small items which I will announce here beforehand.

Thank you for all the lovely owl egg cosy comments, you are all so sweet!.  I need to set some time aside to go visiting everyones blogs.  I'd also love to see any egg cosies that have been made, check these out, here (scroll down) and here, I may have to start another Flickr group!.  And a big thank you to Craftzine and Whip Up who both featured the tutorial.

Well, Friday 13th June has passed, unlucky for some, but it should have been a lucky day for all (66!) toadstool swappers.  Please do let me know if there are any problems, however small.

You can check out all the toadstools made so far in the Flickr group pool.  Right, I'm off to do some 'Etsying'!

Off on a tangent...

Well, while working on the new idea I gave you a sneaky peek of last week, another idea popped up, which kind of took over.  And here it is, a parcel pincushion.

The address says 'pins & needles, the sewing box',

...the only problem I had with the design was what to stuff it with.  Felted wool has a lot of give, which is great for the rounded shapes involved in making animals, but can be a bit of a problem when it comes to anything requiring hard, straight edges.  The only solution I came up with was to use foam, a block of seat pad foam cut down to size.  Any other ideas??

I kind of like how it's turned out.  Think I'll be making some more of these for Etsy asap!

Mother Nature is so not my best friend!

3.00pm for me is about time to go on the 'pick-up' school run, and more often than not, this is how the whole experience unfolds...,

3.00pm  sky starts to go grey,

3.05pm  gets darker still, wind picks up,

3.10pm  just as I set foot out the door, the first drops of rain start,

3.20pm  arrive at school, a bit wet,

3.30pm  pick Luke up from pre-school, it starts lashing down,

3.35pm  Lucy's classroom door opens, it starts lashing it down even more,

3.40pm  scooters/bikes collected, begin journey home in the rain,

3.41pm  kids complain they are wet,

3.42pm  kids complain they are wet,

3.45pm  I yell at them to get a move on as we're all getting wet,

3.50pm  kids complain they are wet,

3.55pm  arrive home (thank goodness we have a porch!), WET!,

4.00pm  wet coats, clothes and shoes chucked on floor.

It's 2.30pm now, and oh look, surprise surprise,  the sky is starting to cloud over...,

please tell me it's not just me this happens to?! 

Owl egg cosy tutorial

'Hey, little egg, why so sad?' (notice, it's a stunt egg, not a real one!), 

'What's that?, you'd like a little jacket to keep you cosy, well, look no further, how about an owl egg cosy?...'

You will need felt (various colours), patterned fabric, 2 buttons, embroidery thread, pins, needle, paper, pencil and scissors.  First, print out the templates below so the owl body is 10cm wide at the bottom.

Using the templates, you will need to cut, 2 body, outer eye, and eye shapes in felt, 1 beak shape also in felt, 1 tummy shape in patterned fabric, and for the wings, cut 1 in felt and 1 in patterned fabric, then flip the template and cut the same again.

Position the tummy fabric on the bottom edge of the front of the owl and applique on using random straight stitches,

place one button in the centre of the smaller felt eye shape, with the outer eye shape underneath.  Sew on the button and then fix the eye, again using random straight stitches.

 

Repeat for the other eye, and  then attach the beak between the 2, by firstly folding it in half, then sewing 2 or 3 tacking stitches.

Pin each of the wings together, patterned fabric facing front, felt to the back, and sew around the edge in blanket stitch.

Once both wings are complete, sandwich them, at either side of the body, between the front and back of the egg cosy and join everything together with a running stitch, through both layers, all the way round.

When you get to the bottom edge, stitch the running stitch so it only goes through the top layer which will help to anchor the fabric appliqued tummy.

And there you go, one owl egg cosy!

(Smallprint, as always, please remember any tutorials I offer are for personal use only, and are not to be used commercially, thank you)

If you make something from one of my tutorials please do join the Flickr group, Lucykate Crafts... pattern pieces, to show off your creations.