Friday Finds ~ Entrelac

Checking back through my blog archives, it appears that I stopped sharing Friday Finds over a year ago. I thought I’d resurrect the idea during Blogtoberfest.

So, what exactly is entrelac? Anyone? No, I’d never heard of it either.

It is a technique which produces this rather beautiful woven pattern and yet it is apparently achievable by “Advanced Beginners”. I’m not a knitter myself so I can’t say if that is true. The secret is in the self striping wool it would seem.

The pattern for the pictured scarf, by Allison LoCicero, is available free at Craftsy. There is also a video tutorial using it, by Staci Perry, if you fancy a peek. I’m hoping to persuade my Mum to take up the needles again and make one for me. As much as I am loving this prolonged Indian Summer, I’m sure scarves will be needed soon.

Holiday Home

I gave you a little teaser yesterday and here’s the full reveal. Oh, how I love these tall thin houses, all in a row.

The black and white houses are simply stamped on the background and the coloured house has been paper pieced. I stamped out five extra images. Two on white, one for the base and one for the windows and door frame. One each on bright yellow, red and pale blue, to cut apart for all the other components. This image works particularly well for the technique as it’s all straight lines.

We used the matching dies to cut the stamped houses for our next project, much to everyone’s relief! They wouldn’t work for the piecing, as they leave a narrow border around the image. Perfect here. I’m always a fan of kraft cardstock and it’s a great base for this simple box. A strip of patterned paper, a snip of ribbon and a few punched hearts, in Cherry Cobbler, all add up to a project with a seasonal flavour. It could be used to house (no pun intended!) a small gift or as a decoration. I can picture a whole row of them on a mantelpiece, or even hanging from the tree.

I’m putting together a tutorial for the basic box and I’ll be sharing that some time during Blogtoberfest, along with one for my take on the Card in a Box theme. You thought I’d forgotten about that, didn’t you? There’s one part of the process which I’m finding tricky to show/explain, but it’ll be coming soon.

Shameless self promotion coming up. The stamp set I used is called Holiday Home and is available to order at £13.95, if anyone is interested.

We’re still enjoying the sunshine here. Hope you are too.

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday? #278

It’s that time of the week again. Time to share our desks, floors, kitchen tables or anywhere else you happen to get your crafting done. Julia has all the details here.

Tuesday afternoon means class prepping and kitting. The sample was made last week and the kits for this card already cut. I just needed all the little extras that make the demonstration flow and I like to refresh my memory! Most of my ladies have been coming for a while now, but you never know when a technique will be new to them. I play it by ear on the day and show as much or as little as needed.

This week the technique is paper piecing. Not something I do very often myself and this will be the first time in class. I do love a bit of hand cutting. It’s so relaxing.

Hope to visit you all some time this afternoon, with a nice cup of coffee. Happy Wednesday!

Blogtoberfest? I’m in

I’ve ummed and ahhed about joining in with this month long blogging extravaganza. I have taken part twice before, but decided to give it a miss last year. I need to find my blogging rhythm again and perhaps posting every day will help me do just that.

Here’s what I had to say about Blogtoberfest, the first time I took part:

“The blogging community is a fascinating place, giving little peeks into the lives of lovely folks all around the world. I have found some very friendly and supportive people out there. It’s always thrilling to get a comment from someone new, but it is even lovelier to have blog friends that come back time and time again. In the same way it is always fun to discover new blogs, but equally so to have a collection of blogs to follow regularly. While visiting Mel earlier today, I saw her post about Blogtoberfest and decided to investigate. It may be just the thing to give me a push in the right direction. Watch this space.” *

‘Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose.’ Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr

‘The more things change, the more they stay the same.’ Jon Bon Jovi

* The full post can be found here.

Me on Monday

It’s been another beautiful day here, after a misty start, with temperatures well beyond the norm for this time of year. Autumn is upon us though as evidenced by the leaf strewn pavements on my walk to the shops this afternoon.

It was a germ fighting (the dreaded “Back to School” cold), soup making (lots of garlic and ginger and a little chilli), Peaky Blinders bingeing (anyone else watch the first series?), energy conserving, physics home work helping (or at least trying to dredge up something useful on the topic of Forces), sitting up sleeping…..

…..and blurry photograph taking (of that soup*) sort of weekend. How was yours?

Waving to Sian in her cuddly jacket. You wouldn’t have needed it here today either.

*recipe to follow

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday? #277

The kitchen table is set up for a session of mass production this afternoon.

One of my friends is hosting a MacMillan coffee morning later this week and I’m donating a batch of cards for her to sell. I’m sticking with a tried and tested (and simple) design that can easily be adapted to make two dozen cards, in a variety of colours, without them looking too similar.

This was the result of last week’s masking class, for those of you that showed an interest. Not my usual palette, but it was fun to work with all those bright colours.

These were the other things we made. I’m hanging onto flowers and sunshine for a little longer, before starting the inevitable “seasonal” crafting.

I’m linking up with all the other deskers over at Julia’s place.

Me on Monday

Well, not quite. This was me on Saturday, outside the Queen’s Theatre, waiting to see my first ever West End musical. I may have been just a wee bit excited.

It was a London journeying, Brixton Village lunching, Covent Garden wandering, juggler searching, National Portrait Gallery viewing, Soho exploring, Beruit Street food dining, Les Miserables watching, late night tube travelling…..

….birthday celebrating, company of friends enjoying, poppy reflecting, train home by the skin of my teeth catching, fun and exhausting sort of weekend.

Monday is almost over, along with my birthday, for another year. It’s been a good one and thanks to Sian it’s all here, in a nutshell.