Time versus crafting

April 6th

It's true I have neglected this blog and my crafting for the past two weeks and I apologise to you my dear reader and to my crafty self.  This just won't do.

Time

An evil of my life at present, there are just not enough hours in the day to do ALL that I have to do, such as the boring job front which helps to being in some small beans to survive on and the desire for crafting and making.  In fact my creative juices are ebbing away with not being constantly fed by making...do you suffer from this?

Solution ?

My daughter is mid revision flow and has the most complex revision timetable made, she and my husband made it together and it seems to work brilliantly, maybe I need to timetable my life a bit more?  A timetable like hers or maybe a lovely new shinny journal, more detailed than my messy but cannot live with out hand written diary, none of this smart phone diary tech stuff for me  may help me in my quest to accomplish more in each 24 hour period.

Enough chat, look what I have managed to squeeze into my day, a daily photo challenge.  I do so love these and again this one is run by the talented Ashley of Lazy Daisy Jones It's not too late to start and each Friday a winner is chosen from the Friday's post on Instagram (IG) to receive lots of goodies. If you do not have IG why not join along with me and post your photos to my Facebook page, you will not be eligible for the competition but it would be wonderful to see your photos...  https://www.facebook.com/eclectichomelife/

What photos to post:

 

 

 

Day 1

 

Day 2

 



 

 

Day 3

 



Day 4

 



Day 5

 



 

 

♥  Tips for time management would be gratefully received  ♥



Christmas cushions

December 16th

I have a thing about cushions.  I love them but am beginning to think they are a tad like Marmite. You either love them or hate them. At Christmas I need to be surrounded by red and the odd 'extra' cushion or two may just come out to play. 

This year using the most adorable yarn by Rowan with an alpaca blend I had a cushion ball all on my own . I knew I wanted something soft and chunky and this fitted the bill, although in my eyes at an eye watering price. I knew if I bought this yarn that I would have to make darn good use of it. There are two motifs that I love and do not  seem to tire of, that of the heart and the other the elusive elk. Having made my fair share of hearts over the years I decided to have a go at knitting an elk pattern on the front of the cushion. 

Having purchased said yarn from the wonderful Fluffatorium, 

Fluffatorium in 'corking' Dorking

Inside a paradise for yarn and colour lovers

don't you just love that word I couldn't wait to get home to begin so like the mad fool that I am stopped the car by a stretch of water surround by birds, I began to knit. Did I mention I bought super duper cute chunky needles too...
 

New knitting needles, knitting in the car...

The cushion panel knitted up much quicker than I expected and so I had to design a motif in a hurry.

 

This project worked up quickly

An elk design was needed

It's beginning to look a lot like an elk

Completed elk design

Once completed (a day later) I couldn't wait to take it outside to photograph...

 

Warm autumn day, but as I knew I wanted this for Christmas,
I had to see what it looked like with red

In hindsight, I should have knitted it a tad bigger

The yarn in question in case you are tempted...
 

Expensive yarn, but so soft, am tempted to use it again

Et voila ~

 

Christmas cushions in situ

♥  Do you have cushions that you bring

out depending on the season?  ♥

Cushions again?!?

September 19th 

On Tuesday I drove over to my MIL to collect some of my FIL things.  It is always a difficult and raw time after you loose someone and touching their belongings too seems both right and wrong.  Mixed emotions.

On return home, I could not lift some of the items out of the car and so there they stayed until the children came home and helped me, but I did look through one bag on Wednesday morning and my whole day suddenly changed.  That which I had planned flew out of the window and nostalgia took over and the sewing machine had to come out.  What did I find?  My FILs old shirts...  I knew that they were coming into our house, but I did not realise the effect they would have on me.  I had a day full of memories and began to cut up the old shirts and make cushions for the grandchildren out of them.  Something to hold and snuggle, something of their grandfather.


As I was making five cushions out of six shirts I had to be a little creative in how I used the shirts, but think they turned out well.  The two that have received theirs certainly appreciated them and have pride of place on the sofa.  I still have three to finish, the fronts are made, but I am waiting on cushion inners and then I will make the backs up and hope to post them to their new homes next week...

Each letter had a template made up first

Trying to keep the stripes in line!

Good old zig zag on the machine

Attaching the 'J' was the hardest letter of them all

The pink and blue looked particularly good, I thought

The three cushions still to complete



Completed shirt cushion

I used an envelope style pattern, so no zips needed and
incorporated the breast pocket of the shirt too
 on the back side of the cushion

This shirt back was so soft and very tactile

The children loved their new cushions and
snuggled up with them immediately

Even the cat loves the cushions,
 they hold memories for us all

Memories are important and this little thing I did on Wednesday made me look back on happy days but also forward.  Life has to go on...

♥ Hoping you all have a beautiful weekend ♥

Cushions, cushions and more cushions

September 18th 

Putting the drawn pattern behind the
material made it easy to embroider
any shape or pattern

At present my days are filled with crafting and not earning and I love it!  My work load is often quiet at this time of year and I have learnt to embrace it with both arms and make the most of it.  Knowing that this does not tend to last very long, I begin so many new projects and this week seems to be bursting with new things to try and do.  The first of this weeks makes was an embroidery cushion which was quick  (my favourite kind) and very therapeutic.   

How did this project begin?  Well, my son seems to be in a growing spurt and has jumped two year sizes in school shirts, having asked a couple of friends if their sons wanted them and being politely refused, I decided that the charity shops probably would not want them either, so it got me thinking...

...maybe I could use the back of his shirt as a front cover for a cushion...  I set to straight away.

I knew immediately that I wanted to base it on Scandinavian red embroidery work and so began googling various patterns, the Internet is full of free patterns and you could spend forever on there and not actually do anything!  Not one pattern was suitable, but I amalgamated a few and cobbled something that I was happy with. I drew out the design and then placed it behind the cut up shirt which was placed in an embroidery hoop and began to trace the pattern onto the material.  I have one of those disappearing ink pens for fabric which should in theory disappear after some time.  Mine must be old as the ink began to disappear within five minutes, meaning I could only trace a small section of the pattern at a time.  It was a race against the disappearing ink!

Embroidery and traced pattern,
beginning to disappear already

Progress was quick and I was able to sew
and sit with the children whilst they watched some TV

Front and back view

Almost finished, after a second evening

I had intended to back the cushion with a red fabric,
but instead opted for another section of a school shirt!

The cushion was lovely but looked lonely
on my sofa, so I have begun a second



This will be the main section of the second cushion,
 hope to finish it tomorrow...

These cushions would not win any awards, the stitching is uneven and they are not symmetrical, but they have cost me nothing except time as I had in house everything already. 

I think they make better cushions then they did school shirts!

♥It is almost the weekend,

cannot wait for the family to be together.♥

Crochet colour and quick makes

16th June 

Having made a vase last week which took no time at all, very little thinking power and no money, see  here , I was keen to add to my quick make collection, add colour to our home and have something to do without taxing me as life is very busy at present.  Below is the result.  I have added a cushion to my crochet collection and made a matching tea light holder.  All made in the super quick granny stitch, see the vase post for how to  help.  I then added a scallop edge on the tea light for extra detail.  The weather has turned cold again here and so I could not photograph outside, which meant I played indoors with the cushion in various rooms and situations.  Indulge me, please!

For the cushion pattern on the right, see here

For the scallop edge, all you need to do is to slip stitch into first stitch of row below, then into each next consecutive stitch, sc, hdc, dc, trc, dc, hdc, sc, sl and repeat this until the end of your row.

 



The recent quick make collection!

 



BUT, this is what I should have been doing instead...

 



 

...off now to do paper work and admin!

 

♥Hope you all have a great week♥