Getting back on the 'horse', a child's perspective and a birthday epiphany!

So lovely people, it's been a very long time since I last posted. I've been having it tough with the ol' fibro and then had an accident which left me feeling very bruised and battered - hence the lack of making and blogging...

I have managed a few makes which I will share in due course, and I'm currently working on some pieces for a special little lady with a birthday very soon.........

The weeks spent 'recovering' included a birthday for me which led to something of an epiphany. I suddenly woke up and realised I have been wasting energy on people/things whose sole aim is to drag me down/stop me/make me feel rubbish and it's time I put a stop to it once and for all.

I also saw two of my (four) nieces on my birthday and they were so interested in, and excited by, the various things I have made and upcycled that my enthusiasm was brought up past the pain and back to the top of my tree! Whoop indeed! (My upcycled bed linen tea towels were a hit for one thing!)

Sometimes it takes the perspective of a child, which is always honest, non-judgemental and straight to the point, to make us stop and reassess things. I was so lucky to have had this experience and have been designing, planning and sourcing ever since!

I'll post again soon with pics and more positive stuff!

Big Love, Loli B xxx

Felt, felt and flare-ups!

Howdy my lovelies, long time no see!

I have been in the grip of a big old fibro flare and have basically been an exhausted zombie for over a week now. Not how I usually roll - it's mostly pain normally but this past week I've genuinely looked as if I have narcolepsy.........and that's not a good thing.

Anyhoo, before the flare took hold I dabbled with a bit of felt earring making! Cupcakes, bats and russian dolls - I just had to try them and get them out of my system I think.

The pics below show all three efforts: (The bats will certainly be adorning my lobes come October!)

Cupcakes!x

Russian Dolls x

Batty earrings!x

So, there are the felt earrings and while we're on the subject of felt; does anyone watch 'Kirstie's fill your house for free'? I'm a devotee and artist Charis Williams is a girl after my own heart - last week she said she keep everything and even has a collection of jam jars. I thought I was the only one!!

Charis also had an awesome hair adornment  - a cute little bone! Now as I love anything kitsch, kooky, quirky, or any other term you prefer, I had to make one. I made it from white felt, toy stuffing and a hair clip, tweeted a pic of it to Charis and she loved it! (Have to say I do too!)

In other news I have signed up to the "Stall and Craft Collective" and will be selling from my online stall once the flare has passed and I have a selection of items to stock! Can't wait to get going but in the meantime I've been commissioned by my Mum to make her a bespoke make-up bag for her birthday which is well under way and had a lightening strike of an idea brought about by going to sleep!

More of those next time, until then lovely people.........

Be happy!

Big Love, Loli B xxx

Designing, doodling and doing!

Howdy, it's time for another update on my crafting journey (even if it is later than planned - thank you fibromyalgia)

So, I've been trying out a few old things and a few new this week - felt brooch (new), oilcloth key ring (new) and jewellery (old).

A few weeks ago I got a copy of Craftseller magazine with a free kit attached to make a travel card wallet from some lovely red and white polka dot oilcloth fabric. Sadly, not all of the parts were inside so I sent a little tweet to the magazine and they said they'd send me a replacement kit with their apologies. (I must add here that it is an utterly brilliant mag and website - www.craft-seller.com please check it out for tons of ideas and info).

True enough the next day I received a new kit, with all the right bits, and was ready to crack on and make the wallet. But hang on a second! There was a completed card wallet inside along with the kit!

Having customised my wallet (of course) I figured I could make a couple of key rings with some of the oilcloth. They're dinky and, to be fair, not incredibly sturdy but they are pretty! Here's one of them:

Oilcloth key ring x

Having given one to my friend (which was immediately hung up in her car) I thought I'd do a little jewellery making - an old friend of mine!

The handy thing about this was that even though I've been feeling devoid of all energy I could do this from the comfort of an armchair.

First up; the heart key ring friend loves anything pink and/or sparkly so I made her a little pair of earrings......

Sparkly earrings x 

Next I made myself a pair with 'bone', semi-precious stone and 'shell' pieces - the bone isn't real of course and I'm afraid I can't tell you what the semi-precious stone is as the beads came from a big bag of mixed stone beads!  

Anyhoo, I wanted something pretty but laid back and here they are:

Turquoise and neutral earrings x

As you can see for some reason I just could not get my camera to focus on these - must figure that out before I launch my shop!!!

Finally, I had to do something else with fabric - I can't go a day without the feel of it in my hands........

Lo and behold; Billy bluebird was created - a dinky bird brooch made from felt and stuffed with a little stuffing to make him puff out his chest! Here he is on my first Glasto bag (I now have three) which was wonderfully lined and customised by my fabulous Mum with a selection of buttons old and new!!

Billy bluebird

Since these makes I've been busy designing more earrings and brooches so my next post will hopefully show you these..........

'Till next time, be happy and enjoy the sunshine!!

Big Love, Loli B xxx

There's a cornucopia of information out there........insomnia...........and 'Hoot' the owl.........

Hello again!

Having posted earlier I have spent a while going through my 'resource' file and the good old t'internet searching out all kinds of info - legal shizzle, where to sell, who charges what to sell on your behalf and all that jazz.

Phew! I had to take a little break and have a cuppa in the garden after information overload and wouldn't you know it? The OH rings me and suggests I have been sunning myself while he's been working all day. If only. I'd probably have less of a headache if I had been in the sun too long!

The upshot of my afternoon's research is that I have a (long) list of websites to check out, blogs to read, and decisions to make.......oh and pattern pieces to cut ready for assembly. (I mean putting together - not taking to school in the morning!)

In other news I was unfaithful to my blog this week - I posted a pic of a little creation on Facebook before I posted it here. Please forgive me dear blog! *grovels on knees, does puppy dog eyes etc etc

Anyhoo, here's what I should have posted!

The OH is having trouble sleeping so I made him a little felt owl, whom I promptly named 'Hoot', and filled it with lavender from the garden. (I doodled many 'owl' shapes and searched out many pictures and eventually came up with a relatively simple shape I was happy with).

Here he is:

'Hoot'

Having handed him over to the OH I stated that he was fiddly to make and was deffo a one-off, but within a few mins of the photo of the owl being on Facebook a friend asked if she could order some! Typical yet marvellous!!!

To be fair, having made my templates (from template plastic) cut the felt pieces and chosen the buttons for the eyes the 'making' part wasn't tricky at all. I think I'm trying to convince myself that if I blast through the preparation I can handle making more; plus it's cute and smells lovely so I'm becoming rather keen!

Off to soothe my overloaded brain with laid back tunes and sunshine for a little longer before I get back to it!

Big Love, Loli B xxx

P.s. It's a good job the owl is aesthetically pleasing as it didn't help with the sleep problem at all! Are men-folk immune to Lavender??

One step beyond......and a stitch debate

Howdy,

It's time for another patchwork post - it's about three dimensional patchwork again (and how I got hooked on making these bad boys!)

So, after the pin cushion/doorstop I made for my Mum and finding out the pattern was a) not for commercial use and b) much bigger than I expected, I decided to use the graph paper in my quilting book and doodle a bit......

I seem to like working with definite lines and angular structures so I got to trying rectangle and diamond combinations. These turned out to be perfect for a little pin cushion so I made my templates, cut my fabric, tacked the pieces and got stitching......... (N.B. NEVER use your dressmaking scissors to cut anything but fabric - they will get blunt really quickly and you will no longer love them!)

The essential bits and bobs

Super cute ice cream tubs make for fab storage!!

My local haberdashery, craft centre-type place sells samples of fabric in these dinky ice cream tubs. Not just lovely to look at - they come in handy for storage too!

With lots of scraps of fabric (mainly internet-acquired this time) I made the first pin cushion in bright fabric. The next three were all in softer blue tones and then I added a pink and yellow one along with a red and white one in the interests of not becoming a faded, vintage-style addict. (I totally love the vintage-looking cushions personally but I know not everyone shares my exquisite tastes!)

Here they are: 

The first (not -so-famous) five

Bing! Red and white number; enter stage left!

I used fabrics to compliment the main sections for the sides and hey presto; a little family of pin cushions came to be! Now I just need to decide how to sell my wares and get going. Small items like this are perfect for me as when the fibro flares up and I can't do a lot I can at least crack on and still feel like I've achieved something. Winner!.......even if I did become hooked on making them for a time.........

Just to prove they are 3-d!

To Whipstitch or not to whipstitch? (This bit refers to hand sewing patchwork - I'd rather do it by hand as it portable and easier to correct any mishaps!)

Well, that is indeed the question. Most quilting reference material I have read suggests using whipstitch to join the patchwork pieces together. This is when you hold two pieces, right side together, and catch one or two fibres from each piece with your needle and thread.

So, me being me, I cannot get this to look good on a finished piece and I find it uses a ton of thread. Therefore on my patchwork pieces I use the tiniest running stitch imaginable - seriously, we're talking around 1mm per stitch! This gives me a neat, surprisingly strong, finish with very little stitching showing if any at all.

I guess the best way is to practice and find what works for you - we're all different and that's what makes life interesting!

Right, signing off now to go and do some research on selling and doodle some more designs.

Toodle pip!

Big Love, Loli B xxx

A voyage into three dimensional patchwork!

Howdy folks, time for a little bit of gentle Sunday bloggage!

This time it's about my first go at making something patchwork that wasn't a quilt or a cushion cover.....

My copy of "Quilting on the go!" by Jessica Alexandrakis has already inspired me and led me to making the little bag mentioned in my 'Don't worry, bee happy!' post on 23/6/14. (Ok, so the bag was 3-d once it was made up you'll see what I mean about the next piece shortly!)

I decided it was time to try another project from the book as it has instructions and templates and I love looking through it, so I set about deciding on fabric to use and made the templates.

I wanted the pin cushion to be bright and cheerful so I went with pink, yellow and blue; and green buttons from the stash of buttons I inherited from my Great Aunt.

It's a tad daunting at first; trying to piece together the sections and see where they need to be joined to get the shape right but I got there. The stitches also need to be teeny tiny as once the cushion is stuffed if they're untidy it really shows up! (Note to self - future post re stitching required)

Anyway, I made the pin cushion and gave it to my Mum with a bit of a giggle - it's a big old pin cushion!! I followed the pattern and used the templates in the book, I just didn't realise quite how big it would be so I did suggest it could be used as a paperweight or a doorstop as you can see below:

The giant pin cushion! (To give an idea of scale the button is about the size of a 10p!)

(Can't blame my fibro-fog for the size of the pin cushion as it was just as the pattern said - maybe we're just used to little pin cushions over here?)

I emailed the author of the book and asked if the projects in it are protected, bearing in mind my plans to sell my handmade items. As I suspected, the projects are for personal/gift use only but inspired I started to play about with the graph paper in the book and I created my own little design for a cute little pin cushion..................

Pop back soon for the next installment of my handmade adventure!

Big Love, Loli B xxx

Howdy!

It's me again with another little tale of progress on the hand sewing front!

So, my Dad is not the easiest person to buy presents for - if you ask him what he'd like you'll usually get 'I can't think of anything' as a reply. Actually, he's not the only one - I find many folks these days appear to either not want anything or don't want to suggest anything in case the buyer's budget is somewhat slender. Sign of the times or a return to older values? Either way, if you are determined to give someone a present it can be very tricky to choose that perfect thing.

Step forward, my Mum! I'd had a brief idea of something to make Dad for Fathers Day and when I discussed it with my Mum she suggested the same thing.

So, armed with a few dimensions, fabric and other bits and bobs I set about making a teeny gadget case.

First things first; I had to decide on a fabric to use. Now, with my 'make do and mend' hat firmly plonked on my head I decided that as Dad's fave colour is green this should involved. It would just so happen that having raided a bag of stuff destined for the charity shop, I found a lovely dark green and blue shirt of Dad's.......yes, you guessed it, I technically gave him back a piece of his own shirt!

You may be thinking it was a bit cheeky but I knew it was a colour and pattern he liked and it also satisfied my upcycling obsession.

Here goes another first!x

Quilting is not something I've done before, by machine or hand, but I had to throw down the gauntlet to myself yet again and try!

I used quilt wadding and fixed this to the main fabric and backing with fixative spray before I started to 'quilt'.

The quilted inside of the case x

Next up I made some binding from a piece of black fabric and I stitched it to the case as you can see below. Again, stitching on a curve - when will I go for an easy option?!

 





Finally I added a piece of velcro inside the flap and hey presto! The case was done!















I can happily report that the case fits the gadget it was designed for (a pocket magnifier) perfectly, was padded to protect it and it was immediately placed with pride in my dad's top pocket! (He even found the use of his old shirt amusing thankfully!)

Next time, another little creation or two and my plans for world domination...........maybe........

Big Love, Loli B xxx

Don't worry, bee happy!

So lovely people, since the last post the sun has been out, I have made more Elderflower cordial (obviously!) and the prototype handmade gifts I mentioned have made their way to the recipient, my sis Heidi-Jo! Thankfully they were very well received!

I was nervous to be honest- she's known me since I was 8 yrs old (that's a very long time!), when she started going out with my big brother, and she doesn't mince her words. in fact, she's a writer! Anyway, I knew that she had been researching bee-keeping and uses for beeswax for the next novel so I decided to hand stitch a little patchwork bag and a teeny notice board for her.

I have never made the bag before and choosing the right fabric took a little while. The original idea was from a patchwork quilting book I recently bought, but I adapted it to make it more individual and added a little key ring with the bee fabric inside it. Through making the bag I learned about English Paper piecing, how to make my own binding, how to make corners so the bag stands up and how to sew a zip on a curve -  a lot of firsts but I enjoyed every one!

Sewing squared-off corners x

The zip, stitched on the curve x

The fabric I used for both came from a local craft centre (the bold brown), the internet (the bee/honeycomb) and my best friend's Grandmother! (The vintage brown paisley).


























The notice board was a total flash of inspiration! I found some beehive templates on the internet and, again, adapted one to suit my design. I then decided to embroider the outline onto the fabric and wadding to give it a slightly quilted look.

The little yellow buttons and ribbon were from my (gradually ever-increasing) stash of craft bits and bobs and I used the brown fabric again on the back. I also had to learn to sew 'invisibly' to give the board a neater finish.

The back of the notice board x 

The 'invisible' stitching on the notice board x

All in all I had a lovely time making these items and to know they made the recipient happy made it even more worthwhile! The new skills I learned and the positive feedback I've received have been a real boost and spurred me on to work on more of my own creations.

The next post will chronicle more learning and show you what I did next...................................

Big Love, Loli B xxx

Sun, Rain , Elderflowers and a mind running away with itself.....

Greetings! (In my best Joey Boswell voice)

So having had some sunshine and been able to get some work done in the garden, the rain has set in again today. However, the way I see it all is not lost; the plants need the rain and I can stay indoors and work on my plans! (I realise that won't be popular all round but it works for me today).

I posted a picture of a simple bag last week on Facebook and within around 30mins I had had a request for one to be made for a friend. The power of social media eh!

Since finding my 'inspired hat' my poor little brain has been inundated with ideas of what to make. To be honest, it's not just the normal flurry of ideas one may expect - with fibro you can have 'fibro fog', when you can't think straight, but you can also get a racing mind. Mine's been spinning so fast I can't sort the good from the bad so I have taken to jotting down anything and everything to try and make sense of later!

A friend has been researching mindfulness and I'm going to learn a meditation or two to quiet my racing mind and learn to (hopefully) slow it down and be able to focus.

I other news, I have made my first batch of Elderflower cordial! I feel so lucky to have an Elder tree in the garden as it is a very special, sacred tree and the flowers and fruit are both wonderful! Having made the cordial (and a few bottles to give away of course) I have read in at least two places that Elderflower tea is an old recipe which was used to help fend off colds and fevers. Yet another reason to love our tree! I will certainly be trying it should the dreaded cold visit the house.

Big Love, Loli B xxx

The list-making begins...

Morning!

I have begun a list of potential items to make and sell and I think the best way to decide is to make one of each item, showcase them and get some feedback. Blimey! Where did this come from?! Well, I'd say it's come from a combination of the sunshine (temporarily) coming out, realising I have to live with my condition rather than against it, and a desire to prove myself.

Phew! All a bit intense this morning but now I have a proper set of ideas to play with, the will to succeed and a tidier craft space I am ready to give it a red hot crack.............3-day headache be gone, I have work to do!!

Big Love,

Loli B xxx

It's been a while!

So, since my first post two months ago I have seemingly hit a lull in creativity. The fibromyalgia's been keeping me down and I've been trying new ways to try and tackle the pain and fatigue e.g. mango, dark chocolate - both can apparently help but I'm not there quite yet.

Anyhoo, my creative juices are returning and I am getting back on track, albeit slowly, with my plans for a creative future.

A fellow blogger and creatrix has talked about finding your 'brand' and this is a very important issue. I have always loved making things, from pasta necklaces to Christmas decorations and gifts of all sorts and pondering on this led me to think about my needing a focus. I enjoy sewing (especially when I'm unable to do anything strenuous) and I also enjoy making jewellery and trinkets and decoupage - it will take a little time to decide on which technique (s) I want to focus on and expand on. Kirstie Allsop's bitesize programmes have brought this to the fore for me as each time I watch I am fascinated by each and every craft!! (Yes, they are on a series link, of course)

One of the issues with a fibro sufferer can be a 'racing' mind or something of a 'scatter brain' - a million thoughts fly into your head within seconds of each other and this can be somewhat tricky to cope with. My current method of handling this is to have a notepad and pen handy at all times and jot down the many, many ideas I have. Doing this means I can then revisit the idea, explore it, and go from there.......well, that's the theory anyway!

I must away to my notepad now and plan some projects.........I have recently completed two 'firsts' for me and once they are packaged, sent and reviewed by the recipient they will appear on the blog.

Big Love,

Loli B xxx

Welcome one and all!x

Well, hello and welcome to my first blog post! I'm Loli Belle and I'm just starting out.......

This blog is about my journey from being a nurse into being a crafter; and not just in my spare time. I have been a nurse for 9 years and fibromyalgia has meant I can no longer do the job; for the time being at least.

So, I've turned to my love of craft and all things pretty and vintage inspired and have begun to create bouquet's made with hand-stitched felt flowers, vintage brooches and rings and a few little embellishments. The plan is to sell these bouquet's and the jewellery I make and create a little business.

We all know that the world has gone crazy for all things craft and vintage, but that's really not the reason I want to do this. It will allow me to still make a difference to people, use my creative skills and thoroughly enjoy sourcing materials while learning new techniques and skills!

I have always made jewellery and had a fascination with the 40's and 50's. The clothes, hairstyles and general 'way' appeals to me and I am a fully subscribed member of the 'make do and mend' philosophy. That said, I am also a huge fan of the modern day pinup -  tattoos, bright hair and all. I love the fact that many of these beauties are sporting ink depicting old school pinups while they show their own modern twist on it.

Right, creating and planning to do so I must close my laptop and get to work!

There will be photo's of my work posted soon!

Big Love,

Loli B! xxx