2019 Wk 40 - assorted stuff

It's been a busy and crafty week

I made luggage tags for a group of friends, with name and mobile phone number on them

I gave a talk at a local corporate office: I talked about Stitch and Days for Girls and then taught the team how to make basic tote bags - actually I taught the teams how to use a sewing machine too: some had never used one and others hadn't done so since leaving school

They did a great job

At Chertsey Museum we made t-shirt and velvet necklaces

 And admired the Show and Tell from last month's Dresden Plates

On Saturday the family treated me to a chocolate experience!  We all went to a lady who has a great workshop with liquid chocolates and all sorts of goodies to get creative with (and unlimited pecking whilst we worked!!!)

 And we all come home with a bag of hand made goodies!!!

 I did some more work on the paper foundation pieced spotty circles

And I worked with a friend at another church to talk about the concept of weaving prayers into everyday life.  We used a tall clothes rail and warped it

then wrote prayers on colourful paper and wove them - doesn't it look great!

2019 Wk 24 - D4G update and some new ideas

Niki set off on her safari adventure on Wednesday morning.  She's packed everything into these two backpacks and is clearly apprehensive about going and missing her mummy (not!)

She's sent a few pics - I think it's safe to say she's having a great time!

As well as the two backpacks she also took a suitcase filled with 48 Days For Girls kits - and these have been delivered top the lovely Pamela who has undertaken to get them to Connie at Kisumu

I have bought some more brushed cotton for more D4G kits - if you ever wanted to know what £180 worth of brushed cotton looks like here is your answer!

I don't know about your sitting room but we have two double sofas - he has one which he shares with the cat and the TV remote controls and I have one that I share with my hand sewing projects!  My project basket was a rubbishy woven one with the lining on the outside rather than the inside to stop it scratching the sofa.  

So I made myself a fabric caddy, with pockets that holds it all and is gentle on the sofa, and can be picked up and moved if I have to share my sofa with another person!

I have been thinking about being unemployed from next month (!) and maybe offering a sewing / making / mindfulness class.  Something that will teach people a new skill but just as importantly let them zone out of the daily stresses of life and concentrate on themselves.

I've been Pinning loads of ideas, and decided to try this one - handmade fabric beads.  I store my embroidery threads on clothes pins, so used one to wrap fabric (and wadding) around
 

and then started stitching.  The phone clearly doesn't like zooming in that much, but they were really good fun to make and only took about 20 minutes each - what do you think?  Would there be any interest?

And finally this week I was going to a meeting and needed pen and notebook.  I was tidying up some leather (Jackie arrives in less that a week so I need to have *some* work space to share with her) and made a quick pen holder before I put it away!

2019 Wk 22 - Lizzie has been busy!

Our village fair is in a few weekend's time.  (OK not actually our village as we are too small but our sister village has a cracking summer fair!).  One of the Crafty Church ladies organises a Craft Show and I try and enter something most years.  This year there is a theme of The Big Top, so one of the classes is 2m of Clown bunting.  I had a great time designing then stitching these clowns

They are all slightly different but use the same 4 fabrics in different combinations.  I alternated some so their hands rise and fall as you look along the length.

I then used the rest of the pink, red, orange, yellow fabrics to make a Stitch banner

Which fits perfectly on the display until Husband made.  I can hang quilts, or with S hooks we can hang boomerang bags - and here we are hanging just some of the Day For Girls sanitary kits going to Kenya with Niki in a few days time

I entered some embroidery items in a craft auction to help a friend get back on his feet.  He moved into a new studio and set up all his equipment as he was working through his to-do list.  Unfortunately a neighbouring unit went up in flames before Darren got to the 'pay for insurance' bit of his list - and all the units were consumed by the fire.

4 people have bought tote bags embroidered in a design of their choice.  These are the first two customers

And patchwork labels for another two customers

And finally some hand sewing - a few more flowers added to the EPP Rainbow flowers - which the cat seems fairly positive is hers!!!

2019 Wk 20 Days for Girls

I did a Corporate talk about Days for Girls today.  I think was even more scary because a good friend and a daughter actually work there and I desperately didn't want to let them down!

I did my talk (it went well) and then the staff helped pack kits for us - and what a load they did!

As they started to run out of components they carried on packing - and adding a label noting the missing parts (starting with 'missing two knickers) 

(all pics can be clicked on to enlarge)

And ending with "missing two knickers, 7 liners 1 x pod" . . . that means the bag only has a shield, a bar of soap and a flannel LOL, but it means we are ready to fill them as we make the rest of the stuff on Saturday!!!

And the other side  of the project is the distributing!  Here is Briege with some of the local ladies!  These ladies make the kits at Local Enterprise units.  They learn a skill and can support their own families, and the kits can be 'sold' - not necessarily to local ladies, but to individuals and groups like you and me and my Stitch group, to then be donated to local hospitals, schools or villages - isn't that great!