Wednesday 28 September 2011

New Handmade Buttons

Here I am. Feeling much happier. Cold still here but I shall not let it defeat me - no sir.

I had quite a good evening last night.  Mr has bought himself a box set of The Planet of the Apes, and I sat with him and watched number 4. Whilst doing so, I was trying out some new techniques. New to me but well -know to the ancients. Or the people who lived a hundred years ago. I have been trying out some different handmade buttons - singletons and shirtwaist.

I also had a look through my thread box and found some sparkly pink stuff  so I thought that would make nice hair clips. I have made them before but I think in a different size. So one made and another to do to make it a matching pair.  


Yesterday morning I made a spider button for Halloween. You can see it in the photo above. 
The fabric covered button is the Singleton.

I used a gorgeous Kaffe Fassett fabric. I enjoyed making this and will try a smaller button size.

The shirtwaist button was made the evening before, and I am rather pleased with it. It uses a ring, like the dorset buttons, but this time the wrapping round is done first and then the buttonhole stitches round the ring to fill up the gaps.
The sun has not reached my desk yet, so the lighting is a bit bad.  

I have some hair clips in blond so will be making button hair clips using these too. 

So rather a good end to the day, following a bad start. 

And here's to another productive day.

Tuesday 27 September 2011

Feeling a Bit Sorry For Myself

This is me. Got a bit of a cold. Only a small one. An annoying cough, and the desire to curl up under the duvet.

Awaiting the sunshine and my normal cheeriness soon.

Wednesday 21 September 2011

My First Button Floozies Post

I am rather excited to be writing on the Button Floozies blog. It is a really interesting read and interesting to see posts from different authors.

I posted my first one today. Yay!

Here it is.  It is all about a book I bought on Button history and how it led to me finding more about the fascinating author Diana Epstein.

So do pop over and have a read. Here is the link again if you have forgotten.. 

Tuesday 20 September 2011

I Have Finished! - Little Button Heart Picture









I have finished the little Button Heart Picture.  You have seen some of these photos in previous post but I thought I would show you them here in sequence.

I really enjoyed making it. Playing with three colours was good fun although I could have gone on and on experimenting and not actually making the picture.  I think I will make more of the buttons and have them available to sell individually or in little sets.

The heart picture is in my etsy shop and you can see it here.


Wednesday 14 September 2011

Button Wednesday - Work in Progress - A Pink Heart

In my last post I showed you some buttons I was making. They are for this project. A little framed heart picture.

Here I am thinking about which buttons to use.

I have lost my special pen which has disappearing ink, so had to do a tracing of the frame and actually this works really well.At this stage I decided to only use my handmade Dorset buttons.


I still haven't finished.  However, I have sewn on all the buttons. Now I am making the little french knots.


So still a way to go. When it is finished I will show you.  It has been great fun playing around with the stitches and the colours.

Friday 9 September 2011

Work in Progress - Pinks

I am making pink buttons for a particular project at the moment.

So I thought I would show you what I have done so far.


I am being a bit mean. The thread is wound round just to keep it safe as i want to use it to sew the buttons on something.

So here are the buttons unwound.

I have used a different stitch in each.

They are the small buttons at 1.5cms.
I will show you more as I do them.

Crafteroo Magazine Coming Soon


Crafteroo Magazine -Projects, Interviews, Giveaways and More!

I am so excited about this!!

 Coming soon is the new Crafteroo magazine.

It will  feature


- 17 projects, from chainmaille to crochet to recipes!- Build your online craft business with our tried and tested photography and promotion tips

- Fantastic tips on building your fabric stash for maximum versatility

- Stay in the know with the latest crafty book reviews, mobile apps and social networking tools

- Plus, fantastic competition prizes to be won each issue!

And you might see something of mine in there too.

So keep an eye out and I will let you know how and where to get it.

Sunday 4 September 2011

Keep Calm and Cast On - Book Review

I have just received Keep Calm and Carry On by Erika Knight, published by Quadrille.

I worked in a bookshop for 8 years and did get a bit tired of all the little gift books that had to be fitted on the counter, to grab the customers' attention. Some of them were dire.

And I am also a bit tired of seeing  'Keep Calm and Carry On' everywhere.

So I was unsure of this book. BUT I was very pleasantly surprised.  It is a lovely little book.

It is full of funny, witty and interesting little quotes from people and from books about knitting. It also has really handy little tips from Erika Knight who knows a thing or two about knitting.

There were a few quotes from members of Stitchlinks whose aims include 'To promote the use of therapeutic knitting and stitching through our research'. And reading through the book, I had to agree that knitting is therapeutic and this is not something I had thought about before.  There are many times when I yearn to knit and happily sit clicking away. And now I know more about why that is.

This is a great book to pop into when you are unable to knit and also a wonderful present. I was visited my mum and showed it to her. She loved it too.

So this Christmas, if you want a little present for a knitting friend, or something for yourself,  then do think about Keep Calm and Cast On.
.
Keep Calm and Cast On by Erika Knight
Quadrille Publishing
ISBN 9781849490955


Saturday 3 September 2011

Watch This Space...

I have a couple of tutorials coming soon - they will be published in various places. I will let you know when and where later. The first one will be in the soon to be published online Crafteroo magazine.

 The tutorial is for a Dorset Button, so you too can join in the fun and catch the DB bug. It will be for making the orange button in the photo.
I am quite happy with this photo. My photography skills although need working on, are definately getting better. But the photo is the wrong way round. And I don't know how to change it on blogger. Any ideas?

 All the buttons, should be or will be, for sale in my etsy shop.