Earrings, earrings.

I think the title says it all.  I have been making lots and lots of earrings.  They are all listed in my etsy shop .

I have had great fun looking at colours and beads. Let me share with you what I have made.

I will be making lots more but if you want something similar in a different colour then just let me know.

Patchwork Cushion - Finished

I have made a little pad and pressed the cover, and here is the finished patchwork cushion at home with another bigger fellows.

I used my machine to make the pad but I hand-sewed the whole of the patchwork cushion.

Now, what patchwork shall I make next?

Patchwork Cushion Day 5

It is more or less done.  It needs a bit of tweaking - pressing, some of the fabric cut away along the inside, and the top and bottom should have the tops/bottoms of the hexagons poking out so I will pull these out if I want that look.

 This is the back and I am really happy with it.  I loved the pale fabric and so wanted a large piece of it and I like the way the hexagons either side poke into it.


Tomorrow I will do the tweaking and maybe start the cushion pad to go inside.

Thanks for coming along on this patchwork cushion journey. It has been fun.

Patchwork Cushion Day 4

I sat and looked at it for a while.  It goes very nicely with Maisy Cat on her cushion.

And then I decided what to do.

I didn't want to have cut hexagons on the edge. It looks fine on other works but I didn't fancy it for this.  So I have started to do more patchwork hexagons on the back by adding them as I go. If you look at the right and left side I hope you can see that I have added hexagons and sewed them right side together along the edges.  The left side I have gone a bit further.  So at the end I will have to turn it inside out and it will all work out. Maybe!

There will be the peaks..tips..er. what is the name of a top angle?... of the hexagons but it will be ok as I am going to make my own cushion pad which will just be square.

UPDATE:

Ok, so I didn't explain myself very well, did I?

Here are some more photos which I hope will help and if they don't then you will just have to trust me.

 And to help even more here is a link to a blog where the person explains it much better.

She is making a quilt and I am making a stuffable cushion so obviously I need mine open.

Hope that helps.

Patchwork Cushion Day 3

I haven't got much further on my patchwork.  I had to add another strip as it turned out that I couldn't do maths and it wasn't square.

I have taken out the tacking stitches and paper from the middle hexagons and now all I have to do is decide how I am going to do the border.  And this is the thing that is taking up all my time.  I do not know!

There has been surprise at how fast it has been over day 1 and 2 but the hexagons are not that big at only 4cm at their widest.   I have included a pen in the photo so you can see how small it really is.

Overall I am happy, there are a few bits which could have been sewn better but it is easy to get into a nice rhythm when sewing, and sewing the hexagons into a strip and then sewing strips together makes it go quickly.

So today (which is now Day 4) I have to decide about the border.

Patchwork Cushion Day Two

I know it seems like Day Two has come around quickly but worry not.  Day One was Saturday and Day Two was Sunday. I finished the patchwork  too late to take a photo so here is one I took this morning before I did any more to it.

I have another strip ready to add and then I need to think about the borders and backing and indeed whether it is big enough.


I do like this but next time I am going to use some brighter fabrics.

Patchwork Cushion - Day One

On Saturdays the girl has drama club so we bus down and whilst she has her club I enjoy 2 hours of me time which involves window shopping, real shopping, tea or coffee and a sit down in the library.

I love the library in Palmerston Road and I didn't think I was going to.  It moved into the old Woolworth's shop and it has a cafe and it is loud.  Not horrendously loud but a rather nice noise.  It made me realise that people talking, sometimes a baby club singing, ladies having a chat in the cafe is all a perfectly acceptable background noise.  In libraries where everything is dead quiet then someone speaking comes as a shock.  But in a library where there is already a level of noise, it doesn't. So I can sit in a chair with a coffee and happily read my book.

This Saturday was the first Saturday of the month and it is when Love Southsea hold a market with a mixture of stalls including lots of handmade.  It was also a Saturday when I was a bit skint so I will be popping along next time with more cash.  However poor I was I still seemed to squeeze some money out of my purse for some fabric. And I did.  I bought a few pieces including these three which I knew I was going to use in patchwork.

 I have been doing some patchwork with a couple of children at work which made me realise how much I fancied having another go myself. I have never used a sewing machine for patchwork as I don't really know how.  But I shall one day. Meanwhile I do enjoy hand sewing and patchwork is a great project to do in odd times and to take to the cafe with me next time I go.


I never knew until this weekend that this type of patchwork was called English paper piecing.  It is the only patchwork I ever ever done and I think I was taught it as a child at school.







It is an addictive craft and I kept sewing until very late (plus I spent a while on Pinterest compiling a Patchwork Board). 

 So here is what I have finished at the end of Day One.

Early Morning - Warning Contains Spider

For the past couple of weeks we have had a spider in our garden.  Obviously there must be lots and lots but this one has made itself a bit more prominent.  It has weaved its web between two trees/bushes above our back gate.  It is a shared garden so there are about 4 flats worth of people who potentially might go through.

But spider is still there. She is high enough for us to pass under and if her web gets a bit too low then we just break that bit.  But we have left her in peace.

I have tried, unsuccessfully, to get a photo of her to show you but it has been too windy, or too bright and mostly I am not good at photography.  But here is one I took the other day followed by one I took this morning.

As I opened the front door I spotted this foolish snail who was just in the right position to be trodden on.  I took a photo before I moved him.

 

Lastly I took this photo of a dandelion clock.  It is not a good macro shot as the focus is a bit off but I think it captures the seed head nicely.

I say early morning but it was after eight o'clock and just before I took the girl to school.  I suppose I have to get up a bit earlier to get nice sparkly dew shots.