TinkeringTimes

Quick: a sumptuous downloadable Valentine's Day card!

Need a top quality card for Valentine's? No time to nip out or whip something up yourself? Ta-da look what I found from Jen and Floris at Love vs Design. Just head over here to download the proper pdf and print it out on some nice thick card. Job done.

And it has a little secret - a bundle of valentine's vouchers. To put inside and offer the recipient... well that's on a need to know basis...

Also it's beautiful. A quick, beautiful card that you made yourself (well you did, with a little help that's all). For all of us who love handmade and refuse to let it be a retail thing. Thanks Jen and Floris, you saved the day.

Reindeer cushion cover tutorial

I'm going to start by saying this is not my tutorial, it's by the lovely Katbaro on Flickr who has been one of my longest standing flickr friends. For years I knew her as an amazing foodie then *ping* out of the blue it turns out she does crafts too. So when I saw this in my festive flickr stream I was instantly smitten, and utterly chuffed to find out she'd written a tutorial for it. Any credit goes to her, I'm merely sharing the love. So pop over to her blog post and get to work...

Colouring in for Grown-Ups

You may know I'm a huge fan of colouring in. It relaxes me, helps me feel free and childlike again, and polishes up my thinking about how to use colour and pattern.

I recently came across a real grown up colouring book Garden Party! with a nod towards those fantastic 1970s vintage children's illustrations. There's a sample page show above, and 29 more inside.

The publishers say it's "Set in a dreamy landcape of stylized patterns, this garden party buzzes with life. Whimsical and wild images of birds, frogs, bugs and other creatures populate flowery fields that pulse with psychadelic energy." 

I've added this to my Amazon Associate favourites - these are the books I love so much I want to recommend them. Nobody's sent me them to review, I don't know the authors or the publishers. They're just books I love and think you might too.

Craft Tutorials

I don't know a single person who crafts that doesn't love a good tutorial. No matter how experienced, enthusiastic, professional or skilled you are, there's always more to learn. Seeing how other people do those fiddly creative things can be so inspiring.

I have lists of tutorials everywhere but I've finally hit on a genius way of keeping them all fresh, in one place, where I can not only find them but see them at a glance too. Pinterest is perfect for such a thing. So from now on I'll be noting them all there, on my Make This board. And then I thought, why not share them with you too. There's already a good stash on there and I'll be adding to it continually.

So far you can find...

Sewing Suffolk Puffs / Yoyos with Year 6

Last Friday's Secrets & Codes workshop was all about starting actual sewing, at last! After some prep for the children's artwork two days earlier, in which they began to draft their final designs, we finally moved on to cracking out the needles and thread.

Firstly I must say someone has done an excellent job of this with them already as they were able to thread the needles beautifully and knew what a running stich was, which saved us all a lot of time. They were very excited about being able to choose the colour of felt for their Yoyo (as it's known in the US - Suffolk Puff in the UK). I took along this little sample (above) which I'd prepared so they could pass it round and scrutinise it to give them some gist of what to expect; and a few of Jennifer Collier's paper versions to give them a feel for some more creative options. 

It was wonderful to see the few who felt they couldn't do this at the start proudly finish their little works and ask to take them home, we did start off with a few 'I can't sew' murmurings, but I promised them they would be able to by the end, and they worked hard to see if actually they could. The teacher said she really enjoyed the session and found it very theraputic (which was also lovely, as the group is quite pleasantly excitable - I imagine a little injection of calm now and again is no bad thing for Miss!)

To make life easier for everyone I prepared a cheat sheet which we had up on the smartboard the whole time. I thought since I'd made it, why not make it available for any other teachers or stitchers who wanted to try it alone or with their class. So you can see it below or download it here You are welcome to make copies and use it as you wish, though please remember to credit the source if you do, thanks.

Free downloadable tote bag pattern

People seemed keen on the free downloadable quilting patterns so I thought I'd point you in the direction of a couple of other new free downloads. Sewing with Oilcloth is a new book and a little different from the usual 'How To's. It focuses purely on how to get the best from oilcloth and having used this fabric myself a few times I know exactly how tricky it can be, especially without the right sewing machine foot. So I welcome it and wish there were more books out there that looked particularly at specific fabrics and how to make the most of their unique characteristics.

If the full book is too much to contemplate for now, try these two samples from it. A simple Farmer's Market Tote Bag which I really like because it looks huge and has extra pockets (we all need extra pockets); and a table runner. Being honest I have never and probably will never use a table runner so make your own mind up on that one, but what caught my attention was the chalkboard cloth used. I can see the potential for all sorts of things there.

Free Quilting Patterns

 
It's got to be said. I'm not the world's biggest quilting fan on the whole. I have dabbled a little now and again, and there are a few folks on Flickr who blow my mind with their quilting skills - and essentially, the aesthetic judgement they use. My friend Lu Summers has accidentally introduced me to some of its better features and I'm more prepared to give it the benefit of the doubt than I once was. Reading the book Witch Child helped me appreciate the heritage of quilts a little better and that improved my understanding and appreciation a little more.

And so it was I found myself browsing the Moda fabrics website. Hidden away there, was a host of free quilt patterns - click on the black scissors on *this page*. Some of which demonstrated the things I don't like about quilting - I won't name them. And some of which demonstrated the ways in which my opinions are changing: bright colours, contemporary designs, alternative patterns. So if you're a quilting type go, rummage, download and stitch.

Free downloadable Jennifer Collier Calendar

Ok so we may be in January already, but textile and paper artist Jennifer Collier has created a beautiful calendar free to download. It features the work of other textile and paper artists who form part of the exhibition and workshop line up at Jennifer's gallery and studio, Unit Twelve.

So if you're a bit partial to special stationery, or work by the likes of Samantha Bryan, Helen Musselwhite, Julie Arkell, Debbie Smythe and others of that ilk, treat yourself to a freebie calendar now.

Better still, get down to Unit Twelve this year - it's a beautiful trip out into the country.

Lavender + gardening = lemonade

This crazy beast was getting far too large for the tiny garden attempting to contain it. So I spent a day cutting it right back and repotting it. The bees stayed away only and exactly when necessary, when I picked the whole thing up and shuffled it around. We worked harmoniously around one another. As I cut it back I cut the stems with flowers on and left them in piles a) to keep the bees happy elsewhere away from me and b) because there were so many flowers I couldn't bare to just get rid of them.

So now I have a ton of lavender waiting for something exciting to happen to it. I love lavender bags / cushions and have several around the house. But I have no inclination to start making any myself, so I needed other ideas. A quick search of lavender recipes unearthed lots of possibilities. It seems lavender honey, biscuits and scones are popular. But my favourite one was something a little different. Here's what I'm going to try: 

Lavender Lemonade. I can't explain why but somehow drinking it seems more 'right' than eating it. Here's what to do:

Ingredients:

• 5 cups of water
• 1.5 cups of sugar
• 12 stems or about 1 cup of fresh lavender
• 2.25 cups lemon juice

Making:

• Bring half the water to the boil and mix in the sugar until dissolved
• Stir in the lavender, remove from heat, cover and leave to cool (should take about an hour or possibly more)
• When cooled add the rest of the water and the lemon juice (it might change colour when the lemon juice goes in - that's fine!)
• Strain the liquid so there's no lavender in it 

 

And serve. With lavender flowers, lemon, or mint garnish. And maybe ice. Possibly a straw. Hell go for a cocktail umbrella if you want. It would look nice in a pimms jug type arrangement. Should be enough for about 8 drinks (perfect picnic slurping then).

If, however, you prefer your lavender in a bag or cushion I do very much recommend you try Paperfish's lavender cushions and Pouch's lavender animals. Also if you happen to know where those bees live let me know, I want to eat the honey from my lavender!

Sandy

 

You might remember me admiring *this* gorgeous bunny. Not least for it's understated, subtle, appearance. So I bought the pattern and set about my first attempt at amigurumi.

Ahem. As you'll see my attempt was slightly less understated and subtle! really I was using up remnants of yarn leftover from two baby blankets so it is what it is...

Also my local haberdashers didn't have any of those beautiful pure black plush eyes and I just couldn't wait for any through the post so we settled for Manchester's finest alternative.

But all in all for a first attempt I'm actually pretty pleased. And since its was a mere six rows in, toddlerboy took one look and said his name is Sandy and claimed it as his own. So it's well loved no matter what. Just as well really.

Amigurumi

I'm going to have my first go at Amigurumi. I can barely spell it so not holding out too much hope, but this bunny was too much to resist. Adorable and not too awfully twee cutesy. Just simple and tasteful.

You can make one too, *here*

 

Story time cushion tutorial

A couple of days ago I posted a little piece on the parentdish blog about making a felted cushion together with your child to encourage them to calm down and join in reading at story time.

You can find the bare essentials over there. However there are a couple of extra bits I didn't have space to include there so in case anyone would like them...

The felting works best with an old jumper or cardigan that is 100% wool. However other mixes that include 50% or more wool will also work but you may have to experiment with the washing temperature. If it's a wool mix it's likely you'll need to go higher than 40 degrees.

Felting will also work with other animal fibres, except for silk.

If you'd also like to add pinwheels to the cushion there is a great tutorial for fabric pinwheels on Chickpea Sewing Studio.

The sockmonkey was also one of ours, made a by a certain toddler boy's proud dad. There's instructions on making one of your own here.

make something this weekend...

I was waiting to write something about my book group but our meeting got cancelled so instead I'm finally assembling various 'make and do' items found all over blogland to share, just click on the pink bits below for full instructions. The pointy kitty is one I made, the rest I'll hopefully get round to trying soon myself. In the meantime...



fabric origami flower :: felt flower brooch :: scrap fabric bauble ::
pointy kitty :: how to transfer computer print outs :: vinyl pencil case ::
Lightbox (looks complicated!) :: Japanese paper craft box :: Retro 50s star

Pattern-tastic

I've had a craving for a couple of months. No not a pregnancy one, nothing like tuna and ice cream at 3am. A craving for - colouring in! Good old fashion colouring books, pencils and felt-tips. So I cast my mind back to the types of things I might enjoy colouring in and the dream of Altair came flooding back. So that's where my adoration of all things repeat pattern and Islamic geometry comes from, now it all starts to make sense.

So it turns out that Altair books are still available on Amazon (ah where would we be without Amazon...) and yipee book 1 has arrived. Obviously I ordered both books of course. So - in case you love them too, or in case you have no idea what I'm going on about, here are a couple of postcard sized patterns for you to have a go at too (the fabulous full sized versions are in the book too). Enjoy, upload them to your blog and send me the links, I just can't get enough of them.







And then just when I thought it couldn't get any better, whilst scouring Muji for the perfect set of felt tips and pencils, I found them stocking a re-issued version of Spiragraph, all repackaged and chic looking as you'd expect in a shiny brushed metal tin. So now I've got one of those too for when I feel more like creating obessively repetitive patterns, rather than colouring them. Quick, rush out and get one of your own - enjoy!





More images from this story at my flickr page

oh owly

Oh Owly how lovely you are. This gorgeous creature was made by Debbie.
I'm aiming to get round to making one of my own from this tutorial created by Menina. Great one for using up small bits of fabric.

things to make and do

I'm finally back at my pc after days and days away so I've been able to see all the lovely craft streams in my rss feeder, here are a few of my favourite finds - please try one out and let me know how you get on...

1. National Handwriting Day Ok it was last week - 23rd Jan, but I was in London and anyway I'm on a mission this year to write people more letters on lovely paper and in home made envelopes. So far the lucky recipients are loving a cheery bit of mail amongst their junk and bills. So I suggest you do your bit too as a belated national handwriting day gesture, go on, you might like it.

2. Valentine's Day - which I haven't missed (yet). My cards are normally ribbon based in some way or another, but I might try one of these this year - they're so adorable (and a bit less girly for hubby!) So here's a lovely robot based pdf template for you.



3. For no reason at all other than it's just beautiful, make an origami star vase. Not sure it'll hold much water but I bet it looks fab full of buttons, badges, pens, ribbon or whatever you have too much of in your house.



4. A little not-so-light reading - bare with me... this one came through from the makers of marvellous Etsy so I know its going to be interesting, an interview with Naomi Klein of No Logo fame. I've not read it yet so take your chances but Etsy don't usually get it wrong.

Happy happy days.