Month: March 2009

Small World.

This week I am in love with the seemingly random interconnectedness* of things.

The other day I joined Twitter.

Havi Brooks sent many people my way with her tweet (thank you!), one of whom was Randomling. She turned out to be the housemate of Miss Alice, who’d put me on to both Havi and Twitter in the first place!

This morning I came to update my Etsy shop with the brooches I’ve been making, and discovered that a few new people had chosen to “heart me” while I was away.

One of those people was Little Alouette. I didn’t recognise the name at first, but as soon as I clicked through to her shop I recognised the little fellow above. “Harper” is a wooden hippo teething ring, and I’d seen it featured by both Soule Mama and Dooce.

I may not have any particular use for a small wooden hippo, but several of my friends are having babies soon, and will be needing teething toys at some stage. So, I’m passing the link on to them… and the small world shrinks just that little bit smaller.

 

 

*It’s a word now.

A very pleasant turnaround.

I spent half of the weekend in what can only be described as “a bit of a state”. Things seemed rather hopeless on the sewing front, and I wasn’t at all looking forward to coming out to my Shed to start work this morning.

I decided to finish off this fleecy skirt, which had been waiting for its contrast hem band since November.

Polar fleece elasticated skirt

Within an hour of its completion, it was sold!

Since then I’ve updated my Etsy store and taken orders for a dress, a corset and another skirt.

Maybe things aren’t all bad…

Knitting neckline.

New neckline

Work has been progressing at a snail’s page around here this week. I’ve finally put together a new bodice, but I think this neckline’s going to be too low. I like the shape of it, and I think it showcases the necklace beautifully, but I think it needs to come up just a little bit.

I’m not too worried about it for this dress, as I can just wear a white t-shirt underneath. But it’s back to the drawing board before I cut the silk for the next dress!

Tweet tweet!

2nd February 2009 - Snow Day!

Yesterday I met a duck, and today I learned how to Tweet.

The duck in question is not the fancy Mandarin pictured above. It’s Selma, able assistant to Havi Brooks.

Miss Alice realised that I was in serious need of some help with “destuckification”, and sent me a link to Havi’s website, The Fluent Self. I may have had a little cry when I read Havi’s Is This You? page, and have since been rummaging around her blog, and downloading the destuckification sampler. You can find the sampler on the right hand side of Havi’s web pages, and I heartily recommend it. (I’m saving up for The Procrastination Dissolve-o-Matic.)

I’ve been making things all my life, but I do have a terrible problem with actually selling the things that I make. I feel pushy, trying to sell things to people, and I don’t like to be pushy. (Apparently “nice” and “pushy” don’t really go together, and I do so want to be nice.) But if I don’t tell people what I’ve made, they’ll never know that they can buy it, and that’s not really a good way to run a business. In fact it’s not running a business at all, it’s just pursuing a really expensive hobby.

My first step towards doing a bit of something vaguely resembling “networking”, is to find out how to use Twitter in a productive way. As it turns out, it’s so much more than overhearing half of a million private conversations, or finding out what the internet had for breakfast. It’s a great way of spreading little bits of news, passing on interesting links and meeting people all across the world that you wouldn’t have been able to reach in any other way.

You can read my Twitterings over in the sidebar there, or you can come and follow me. I’m eternalmagpie, of course.

Move over Facebook – Twitter is the way forward!

Gingham dress and a price list.

Gingham dress

This is the second incarnation of my new dress pattern – this time in a black and white polycotton gingham. This one’s a bit longer than the first one, and trimmed with black broderie anglais/eyelet.

I’ve now worked out my pricing structure, and it looks like this:

  • Reclaimed/recycled fabric: £90
  • Hand dyed organic cotton: £120
  • Novelty print quilting cottons: £140
  • Hand woven Yorkshire silk dupion: £285

Other fabrics can be used, but I’d like to try and concentrate on the organic, reclaimed, recycled and locally produced as much as I can.

My next task is to build a web page and a gallery, so you can start to place your orders!

Umbilical Cord Hat.

Umbilical cord hat

This is the Umbilical Cord Hat, from Stitch ‘n Bitch.

So many of my friends are due to have their babies in the next few weeks that I haven’t decided who this one’s for just yet. I have a sneaking suspicion you’ll be seeing a lot more of these very soon!

Feather & Fan Scarflet

Feather & fan scarflet

I made the world’s smallest scarf. I like it very much.

I think I need to find or make a pretty pin/stick/thing to fasten it. Maybe something with beads that match the wool.

My current project is another feather & fan scarf – this time knitted on 8mm needles using Colinette Giotto. It’s coming out lovely and loose and relaxed, which is a pleasant contrast to the Kaffe Fassett Brocade jumper that makes my brain hurt even before I’ve picked up the needles!

Unexpected gardening.

I had been planning to work on a new dress today, but a slight difficulty with an incredible shrinking lining swiftly followed by an unexpected power cut sadly put paid to those plans!

While the power was out, I did something which I’ve been putting off for ages, and tackled the garden. I spent a couple of hours mostly chopping down the plants which had sneaked into our garden over next door’s fence.

My reward for all this hard work?

Robin

A new friend.

(I still want need a bigger zoom lens though!)

Spot the pigeon…

_MG_7609

Yesterday I had a sudden flurry of excitement when I realised that it was still light at 5:30, so I went for a wander around the lake with the camera. I took Paul’s new zoom lens (75-300mm), and had a play.

The photos are here.

Mostly the pictures are of Things Up Trees, including a tiny treehouse and two wood pigeons snogging.

Most of the pictures of pigeons were out of focus, although I’ve uploaded some of them anyway. After I’d taken them I worked out how to turn off the annoying autofocus on the lens, and later Paul showed me how to take multiple shots with one press of the button, so that should help when I try again.

What I’d really like though, is an even longer lens. Given that the cheapest one I’ve found so far is £500, I don’t think that’s going to happen any time soon!

Suffolk Puff (Yo Yo) Flower Brooch Tutorial

Flower Brooch Tutorial

This is what I’ve been up to today – making an enormous flower brooch using suffolk puff (yo yo) techniques.

I’ve written up a tutorial for you, if you’d like to make your own!