SAD, BUT TRUE!

I find it really sad, and annoying, that I must type this post. Even though I know that I am not the only one, by far, who has had to deal with such an issue.
This picture is mine, taken with my camera on my desk. A picture of my hard work, to make something lovely to look at and

display accordingly.
It isn't very nice when someone comes along, takes your picture and passes the work off as their own. Even trying for orders to make them.
My patterns and designs are my own. The only person, at the moment who has the patterns, is me, and, they're not even written on paper. They're all stored in my head, until, one day I will put them on paper.
If you, as you say, are a maker, show us your talents instead of pictures of everyone else's makes.
You know who you are, and it seems you are doing the same to others.
Some people would probably have named you, and put a link to your page, but I won't be doing that.
I am hoping that you have the decency to remove my picture, as asked several times and that of others work which you so "proudly" show.
So, should anyone see this picture on any page which isn't linked to me, then I'm afraid it's a scam.
And what have I learned from this? Firstly that everyone has imagination, but some  people prefer to trade off others hard work, and secondly, as my family have now convinced me, to watermark all my pictures!
Lesson learned!

MINCE PIES GALORE!

Well it's been a while, but I am still here!

It was always my intention to post on my blog at least once a week, but that, sadly hasn't happened.

Life is so busy for many of us and I would love to be Superwoman, but that's going to happen!

But hopefully, I will try, in the near future to begin again, updating with some of the projects which I've been working on, which have been many.

I have recently had two messages concerning these:-

.......I have tried to contact the ladies concerned, but I don't seem to be having much luck. (Not sure if it's my laptop or blogger!)

Anyway, I have now begun making these again, ready for the coming season, ( trying hard not to mention the word as it's still summer!)

Should anyone be interested, please contact me again, or you can find me  here:-

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Incredible-Inedibles/174330736038419

Have fun in the summer holidays everyone!

Wood work!

In my efforts to make my little craft  (play) room  more efficient, I decide to make another change. Out went the wooden work unit and I purchased  a small unit from Ikea , which matched the other long unit. I now have one long unit with space and storage galore, a result at last!

Whilst there I purchased another one of these....

...now with two of them, I had plans for them both. But first I had to paint and decorate them.

The first one was given a wash with two Plaid paints...

...I used these two colours and just dry brushed them in, I didn't want it perfect and I didn't want the whole surface covered....

..it dried quickly. Whilst drying I set to with some wallpapers pieces which I'd been given...

..I roughly cut three pieces, two for the sides and one for the top, (the underside and back were just painted)

but they weren't quite right so I tore around all the edges....

...not being to careful and then I glued them on to the three sides.....

.....once dry I dry brushed a little paint over the torn areas of paper....

....whilst that was drying I set about the drawers. I decided to paint these with blackboard paint....

....but they were too plain. So using three complimentary stamps I stamped with white Stayzon and edged with gold Galaxy marker.....

...it matches with the design on the paper perfectly, right down to the gold edges.

There's plenty of room for me to chalk on the draw fronts what's in where!

I gave the three sides a coat of matt varnish....

.....The other one I just did without taking many pictures.

I gave it a coat of white paint (watered down as it's thirsty wood) and when dry it got another white coat.

I then picked four colours of paint and just dabbed randomly over it. After drying I made a buttermilk colour and gave it one coat. I wanted the other colours to show through. Before it was completely dry I used a damp cloth and rubbed in some Plaid glaze (New Gold Leaf) once again it was rubbed in randomly as I didn't want a perfect finish.
Once dry using black Stayzon and a small butterfly stamp, I embellished the whole front....

....and now it's filled with inks and pens....

...I'm pleased as I got the finish I wanted and they hold all my paints, pens inks and sprays.

I'm finally getting organised.  Next job.... well, I have more boxes to decorate!

Stitching through Time!

Well, May came...and went as just as quick. I've been stitching my way through the last few weeks, and making family birthday  presents and cards too. So here's a peek at what's been happening in my little hobby haven........
I told myself  (back in March) that this summer I would finish off most, hopefully all, of my incomplete projects. So I started with this......

...the patchwork blocks had been made about four years ago and were waiting to be stitched together. Yes, I know, I should have done it earlier. Well it's now complete. I used a flannelette sheet for my batting. I can almost hear the quilting purists alarmed at this, but I see it this way. When my grandmother (and hers before her) made quilts, they didn't have the vast array of "must haves" to complete their projects. They used what they had, and so did I! The backing is an Ikea quilt cover which I bought in the sale ( about three years ago) for £2.00.  The stitching isn't perfect, and neither am I, but it looks lovely and it goes on the bed in the spare room beautifully.

I had a lot of fabric left over from the duvet cover and made myself a pair of pj bottoms......

.....they look great with my red tee. I've made pj bottoms from quilt covers and sheets before. well I'm not going to pay the price they want in the shops for something that is so easy to make.

This is something which is for our eldest grandson.....

...  and his much loved football team, but that's all I can show of it at the moment. It's all complete, but when it's hanging in place you'll get a better picture.

I've also cut out a dress and another bunting, but this one is a different theme ( one for one of our grand daughters) One down, five to go!

When I look back, there hasn't been a time in my life that I haven't been sewing or knitting. These have always been  my two great passions.

I began like many others using my grandmother's old Singer treadle machine, and when I got my fist little machine it was one of these....

..given to me by an aunt. It was a chain stitch machine, it was fun, and it sewed crepe paper together wonderfully, we made all our decorations for Christmas.

As I grew up we had a Singer hand cranked machine. My dolly's dresses were lovely. I made so much ( with the help of my mum of course) and soon moved on to making little quilt covers and rag dolls.

This hand machine I used right up until I went to grammar school, and it was there I was first introduced to the electric sewing machine. It terrified me! I was so afraid that it would go crazy I always opted to use the Jones hand machines. The teacher soon sussed me out and I ended up on the electric one. It took a while, but I got used to it, in the end.

By the time we married in 1976, I was still using our old hand operated Singer. I shared it with my mum until March 1977, when my lovely hubby bought me an electric Singer 303 for my 21st birthday. It looked something like this....

...just a straight and zigzag stitch, no free arm. it was heavy, really heavy.  I was on cloud nine! My friends though I was mad wanting a sewing machine, "why don't you want a gold locket/bracelet, or go to Spain for a holiday?   Er, no thanks,  money was very tight and this was the perfect present for me.  I made, curtains, cushions, dresses, toys for family and friends .I made costumes for amateur productions, curtains and pelmets for friends moving into their new homes.

When the children came along  I made quilts, bumpers, bedding ,clothes, wall hangings, duvet covers, pillow cases, toys, presents for their friends when they were invited to birthday parties. All with the same sewing machine. Virtually everything was made and very little was bought. In fact it wasn't until 2005 that I bought a new one.

I'd got off the bus to go to work and I had to walk past a beautiful sewing shop. Something caught my eye, and it was this....a Toyota Quilt 50....

I went back to the shop in my lunch break and was there for the whole hour looking  and thinking and drooling!!

I had some money saved up and after much deliberation over 24 hours, I bought it. It's been  my work horse since then and I love it. I still kept my old 303 for a short while. When you think I'd had the 303 since March 1977 until May 2005 and it had only been serviced once in that time, and had never let me down it had been one amazing machine, but I couldn't part with it. In the end I donated it to a charity and they were very pleased with it.

I love this machine but I was now getting interested in even more stitches. In 2009 my lovely hubby bought me a 

Silver Viscount 9500E for my birthday....

it is a little beauty. But, between Christmas 2010 and May 2012, I didn't sew much due to the fact I'd had this dreadful fall on my knee. All my efforts were concentrated on getting fit and well and  to be able to carry on as before (hopefully) which I have done, thankfully.  So for the last six months, I have sewn as much as I have been able.  I have knitted and sewn for about 54 years out of 57, and hope that I can carry on doing so for many, many more. Along with many other things too!

....and I'm back in the room!

Gosh, it has been a while since my last post! There's been so much going on, not that I'm complaining. I love being busy.
I have  (at last)  some updates on my "what I do with milk cartons" project. Apart from using them as ordinary stencils, I use the cut pieces for embellishments and decorate them to use on cards or boxes.  As an example I cut various shapes from these dies....

........

.....

......

I also used the dress and accessories die, but I seem to have lost that picture somewhere!   Anyway, you can also cut out shapes with scissors if you prefer or don't have a die cutting machine. The plastic on these cartons isn't very thick ( it used to be) and is very flexible.

...

........

......

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       On some of the shapes I stamped an image using Stazon black ink. Then I coloured with Galaxy marker pens  ......

.....

 they hold the colour  really well. I also used metallic gold and silver pens on this heart....

....this photo doesn't do it justice, it really does look pretty. I used some of these hearts stamped with butterflies on a card last year.   It worked so well and looked very pretty.

I also used Promarkers to colour in some of the shapes...

.....the handbag and the teddy were cut from the textured piece of milk carton. The flowers, once dried will  be gently heated with a heat gun, to make them curl a little more. ( Don't over do it or they become rock hard  as I can telly you from experience). 

I do have another couple of ideas which I've used, using Plaid Gallery Glass, and also heat embossing.

In the meantime I'm busy with a Kitty......

.......one of our grand daughters has a 5th birthday at the weekend. She adores Hello Kitty, so that's my theme for her card this year. I have a 21st birthday card to make too. I already know what I'm going to do for that and my theme colours are black and white and silver.

Once thay're  finished I can sit and sew this afternoon. A summer dress and some lightweight pj's.

I just might treat myself to a cuppa and a slice of cake first!

Knitting news!

I've added some new items to my Folksy shop this week......
First, some new cupcakes....

...with duo icing..
A trio of tartlets, calories free of course!

I've been asked to do some more ice creams and so we have.......

.
..a choc chip and a "99" with strawberry sauce of course......

.

and a raspberry ripple and double choc, with raspberry sauce.

...and finally, my version of teatime play for little ones.

...

I'm still knitting, trying out new designs. in between doing other crafty things. I'll show you what happened to the milk cartons in my next post.
Happy days!

Stencil Stories

I Love stencils, always have. When I was small we used to cut shapes from paper and card. I would colour and scribble and draw through the shapes onto other paper and card. My dad used to make us toys. Jigsaws were a firm favourite. I remember using the odd off cut shapes which were left. These I used as stamps, stencils, or anything I could think of to do with them.


I have a big collection of stencils, quite a few are kept in this box....


.... it's packed to the brim. I'll show you some of them.....


.....some of them have been used many times, some just once, some are waiting for that " certain" project....


.... some of them I was given, a huge pile of unwanted stencils...

....this is just a small selection of them.....


.....i have tiny ones for minute projects and huge ones for wall projects....

.....I have some that accompany books......


.... and I have some from my school days....

...and I love each and every one of them and wouldn't part with a single one.

Sometimes I use just part of a stencil, sometimes I use the whole thing. It just depends on what I'm doing.
I also make my own too, from card, paper, plastic or whatever is to hand or will be suitable.

I use this....
.


....clean plastic packaging. some of these packets were from dies. I cut out the best bits and the rest goes into the recycling ( if it can be recycled) .

I use card......

...any card, or paper.
But I also use these.....

...wash and dry them and then get to work. Cut out all the best bits. I know that sometimes these cartons vary from shop to shop, and some have a textured part. Fear not because that too can be used. ( I'll leave that for another post) It can be cut with scissors to any shape you want. Just draw around, or make the shape you want.. But the best bit is this.....



...if you've got a Sizzix machine,or other die cutting machine, then the possibilities are endless.
There seems to be a growing trend to use stencils once more, ( I hate that word, trend and the phrase "on trend") I don't follow whatever anyone else is doing and do my own thing, and always will. People even call them masks now, but they're all stencils to me. All my life I've been stencilling  on paper, card, walls, fabric, garden pots, sheds, glass, clothes, mirrors, curtains. it's endless what I've done, and I will carry on doing do, whether its "on trend" or not!
But back to the milk cartons, it doesn't stop these because there are other things which you can do with them too.
But that will be on my next post when I've played experimented some more.