Sunday 27 July 2014

Great Day Out

Been another busy week this week although my temporary job at the Brewery came to an end on Friday and I'm back signing on the unemployment list come Monday.  I really enjoyed my time at Mitchells and met some lovely people while I was there.  I was given a lovely bunch of flowers, a gift voucher for the local craft shop and a large bar of chocolate which was a lovely surprise - as I was only there as a temp I was so touched by their kindness.  (More than my last employers  DRI - I was there 16 years, made redundant and didn't even get a handshake off my former managers!!!!!!!!!) but I'm not bitter - Ha!

On to happy things:

We had a great day out today at the Cumbria Steam Gathering at Cark.  The weather was good and the sun shone until about 2.30 when it clouded over a little - but it didn't spoil our day.  There were hundreds of vintage vehicles, Commercial vans, motorbikes, cars, steam traction engine, tractors, ex army vehicles - the list goes on and on.  There were two craft tents where we bought some lovely Home-made Sweet Chilli Jam that is hot but not too hot and some fabulous Coconut Macaroons that were scrummy.  I walked my legs off and I'm feeling worn out this evening but it was a great day and I had forgotton how much fun Country Fairs are.  

Unfortunately I forgot my to take my camera so I have no photos to show so I will post a couple more of my recent craft obsession Felt Badges (at the moment I'm in the middle of  working on some Halloween designs to be unveiled soon!).

Another Felt Heart in white and pink with felt flowers and pink seed beads:-


And an owl which was a commission order by a friend who requested it in blue:-


I have also got a commission for two Christmas Christmas stockings for a friends' two baby granddaughters.  I'm going to start these this week as the is a bit of applique work to do on each of them.

Thanks for looking.

Sue
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Sunday 20 July 2014

Sunday Evening - More Felt Brooches

Another week has just flown past and it's Sunday Evening again - I'm getting ready for my last week in the temporary job at the brewery - I went for a couple of weeks which was extended to 3 months.  It's been an interesting 3 months and I have missed emotions about leaving.  I have enjoyed the company and will miss the crowd in the office but it means I can get my crafts organised and get some Christmas things made ready for the next craft fair.
 
Here are a couple more of the felt badges I have been making:-

Autumn Leaf 2


Hearts & Beaded Flower
 


 
Hope you like them
 
Sue
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Sunday 13 July 2014

Universal Woman Felt Brooch

Hi

I know I have been absent for some time but honest life has been so busy - I got a temporary job in an office in a local brewery and after nearly 12 months off work I found it a bit hard to get back into the rhythm of office work.  I found it tiring and at the end of the day I thought my head would explode with all the new things I had to learn.  Anyway it is about to come to an end and so I will have more time for myself and crafting.  Hurrah!!

I have been making (and selling) some small felt brooches and pins over the last few weeks and I'm thinking about opening a Etsy Shop  - I'm not sure that the local craft fairs are the right place to try and sell my things round here.  I did one the other weekend and although the response to all my badges was really positive there were not too many sales - I did sell a couple and at least made my table money back and a bit more.  I'm not really sure what to do!!   Perhaps I will do another craft fair in the run up to Christmas and see if it would go better.

I will be posting some pictures of my current work over the next few weeks I would love to hear your feedback it would be much appreciated.  Just a quick note in comments - please.

Anyway here a  couple of the felt brooches I have made recently:-

Universal Woman
 
This is made from turquoise coloured felt onto which I machine stitched a wiggly line (although it doesn't show very clearly in the photo!) then I added three star sequins held in place with seed beads.  I added random seed beads in the background. Finally I made the face from air-dried clay using a push mold - when it was dry I rubbed a gold waxing paste and used Dazzle-Tac Jewellery Glue to adhere it to the brooch. There is a safety brooch bar on the back.

 
 Autumn Leaf

 
 
The leaf was cut out of felt and a slightly smaller version cut out of a printed cotton, over the left half of the leaf is a net layer and all layers were appliqued to the front with a machine free motion stitched.   Again a brooch bar was attached to the back.
 
I hope you will leave me some feedback and let me know what you think of them.
 
Thanks for looking
 
Sue
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