I NEED THIS

Autumn Days

Yup - we are back!

Summer was long and busy for both of us and crafting was shoved on the back burner for family visits, job changes, and all the other stuff that gets in the way of doing lovely things that we like to do.

So here we are in Autumn, which I am hoping will inspire us to make lovely warm clothes and finally get the secret knitting project finished. I guess I will be starting on stuff for the upcoming wedding in Spring next year - so now would be a great time to get some cuter and more lasting projects in before bunting becomes my life.

On a wedding related note (just so we don't forget how contrary I can be), look what I just bought from Etsy from ClearcutCraft's shop

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=32838396

Exciting!!!

My city garden

As the weather has been nice, I have really been making an effort with my garden. I moved some of my little seedlings into pots to keep outside. Sadly I live on the top (3rd) floor, so it's not easy to just 'pop' out and see to them, but I am trying my best not to let them die. I must admit my garden was helped along by the donation of some plants (I can't remember the names) from my big brother, who works in a plany nursery.

Please note, we didn't buy enough mulch, so it isn't in it's fully glory yet.

Recycled Knitting

http://www.myrecycledbags.com/

I found this website, which is soooo cool. I would really like to do some knitting with old plastic carrier bags, because I always have about a million!! It's also a really good way of saving money on buying yarn.

Invitation inspiration

Oh My God - I love this invitation idea here from Green Wedding Shoes Would fit quite well into the Festival/Maritime Theme - It could be a Wheel of Fortune or a compass?! Exciting!

Bounteous Bunting

Been looking up bunting for the wedding. We have 3 1/2 acres to cover!!

All these are lovely too!

This site is my favourite though, alongside the paper bunting above!

I think I will be going for colour, but do the simple elegance of this....

For Phil

This will make little philly collapse with delight

Here!

p.s Sorry I have not been on the crafty scene all that much - had manic few weeks but promise to blog soon!

Growing a jungle in my kitchen

A couple of weeks ago I planted some seeds, a little late in the year I know. I have positioned them on top of my microwave in a prime sun catching spot in hope they will grow. This is my little sun flowers so far. By the end of the summer I'm hoping they're at least be a few feet tall. I'm also hoping that I will get some seeds from these sunflowers to plant loads of sunflowers next year.

These are some cuttings my mum gave me from her garden. One is Holly, and I can't remember the other one, but she assures me they will grow quite big and fill my poor empty garden a bit.

I really like the idea of making my (shared) garden look like a weird jungle of plants. Those of you that have seen my garden would probably say it does already. I also like to give my little seedlings a pep talk every morning, much to my boyfriend's horror. I like to think it encourages them to grow. Mad or bored? Who cares?

Gingerbread men army

After some delay (my apologies) here are my decorated Gingerbraed men. I think will be doing some biscuit and cake decorating again. I really liked it and you get to eat them afterwards!!

Sadly the blog won't let me turn the picture round, so you'll have to tilt your heads I'm afraid.

Well done Dad

My Dad emailed me the following link today from the Guardian website (good old Guardian). After the initial shock that my Dad has actually remebered my latest hooby quest, I was very pleasantly suprised. I think it's a really nice and pretty cheap way of doing something cool and original. I will definately being decorating a bag like this for my mum, and possibly anyone else who happens to mention they like it.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/may/19/how-to-embroider-bag

Oooh the sweetest things...

To liven up our continuous knitting\sewing on our weekly bouts of craftiness, I bought some gingerbread "do-it-yourself" kits from Tescos, which contain sweets, icing and a gingerbread man! You get four little models and icing in two colours for £1.78.

Phil and I sadly didn't get time to do it together, but I got my sister Missy to give me a hand....

and this is what we achieved!

We then ate them, and they were very very sweet.... A little too sweet actually - I felt quite sickly afterwards... 

Exciting Ideas

http://recycledcrafts.craftgossip.com/


I found this website today and was immediately excited and began to plans new things to do! I love the dress made from an old mens shirt. I just need to steal one of my dad's Ducham's shirts and I will have a fabulous new summer dress. I think this website is definately one to watch for new ideas, especially for cool stuff for Viki's wedding.

http://www.gagafabrics.co.uk/

I also found this, which looks like total fabric heaven. I have had to stop myself from buying a variety of really cool fabrics, because realistically what am I going to do with them. Perhaps I will treat myself to something for a funky cushion. I defy anyone who doesn't think these are amazing.

Viki and Phil's Knitting Adventure

Ninja Knitting Viki

'Dis is 'ow le french do it!

My poor little first attempt. As my Gran would say....

A blind man would be hapy to see it!

Sadly not good enough to win me a place on Viki's Secret Knitting Team.

Viki's beautiful blue square only highlights my little red monster! (Yes that is what I have decided it is. If you look carefully there are two holes...they are the eyes).


MISTAKES WILL HAPPEN!

Viki demonstrating the absolute importance of checking each line. This way you avoid realising you've made a mistake after 5 rows and having to undo your hard work.

I chose the unconventional method of transporting my stitches onto the correct needle after threading it all the wrong way.

Despite the errors made and my apparent inability to mainatain the same number of stitches we really did have fun. We did resemble a couple of little old ladies, sitting knitting, watching Hollyoaks and discussing the benefits of decaff and herbal tea. After a few more lessons with Viki I definately think I will be able to master the knitting. Who knows some day I make even manage a scarf.

John Lewis Craft-Heaven...

Look at all these ribbons!!!!!

A teeny selection of the buttons they have on offer:

Crazy hippy wool I knew Phil would love!

Big wool that just makes me want to crawl into it and fall asleep! Bit much at tenner a ball though!

Space-age ambitions...

I'm attempting to make our costumes for BESTIVAL this year - the theme is Space and a group of us girls are going as Space Cadets - a futuristic version of air hostesses. The plan is to make us silver mini-dresses and sashes and hats in a classier and less revealing version of this:



I found a sewing pattern from Butterick (big sewing pattern company: easily google-able) and have purchased 2 metres of Silver PVC from "Rolls 'n' Reams"(henceforth RnR) in Lewisham.

RnR is a wicked fabric shop on Lewisham High Street, filled with random bits and bobs that will make any crafty girl very happy! The staff were quite friendly too, and helped me find a needle to sew the PVC with, as you can't use a normal sewing machine needle because the PVC is too thick. (FYI, you need a "leather" needle.) They also have a "random bits" bin in the middle of the store, filled with ends of fabric for barginous prices, which Phil and I have yet to give the full attention it deserves.

I am now supposed to be sizing up the patern with squared paper to make it large enough to use on me (its currently on A4 paper and would fit a 3 year old) but I have to admit I've been a bit rubbish on that front and haven't even opened the packet of squared-paper I got over a month ago. I'm hoping to finally get started at our next meeting...

Learning to knit

I have wanted to relearn to knit for ages now. My granny taught me when I was younger, but I had totally forgotten! I bought a children's 'how to knit' kit from amazon assuming that it would be the easiest way to learn. I was wrong. The instructions were far too confusing, but I was still really excited about learning. In the end Viki taught me how to get started and this is the first steps of me learning. Hopefully, it will get easier and better!

How it all began.................

Once upon a time there were two young ladies living in Sarff East London who embarked on a journey full of crafts and creative fun. It all began leading up to Bestival 2007, where we found ourselves two days before trying to create the MOST fabulous costumes on a limited timescale and even more limited budget. Armed with some old tshirts, some 99p shop TippEx and a mountain of safety pins we created this.....

Which we wore like this:

Since discovering the amount of fun two straight ladies can have together making stoopid stuff over too much tea and rollies (Viki has since switched to de-caf...) we have decided to take it to another level. Phil is taking up knitting and Viki is learning how to sew, in preparation for her up coming wedding so that she can make her own wedding dress. We also plan to make bunting, lanterns, tea-cup candles and heart-shaped cookies for the festival-inspired nuptuals and so we have our hands full over the next year!

We are planning to meet up once a week and conjur a creative storm, whilst blogging about our experiences, mistakes and any tips we discover.