Christmas Wreaths

So I mentioned a bit ago that I had made a couple of Christmas wreaths like the one I'd made last year and I thought that in the spirit of sharing I would show you guys how to go about it.

Please be aware that there is no way that I could come up with this idea on my own, I am in no way vaguely creative enough to have these kinds of ideas by myself. This is all the work of one of The Stitchettes, who showed us how to do this last year and sat with me, telling me what to do.

So first of all you need some wreaths like so;

This guy has a diameter of about 20cm/8ins. You can find them online at gardening websites and the like. They can sometimes be kind of pricey - the good thing about having fellow Stitchettes is that you can buy in bulk, which makes it cheaper, and then split the cost. Hurrah.

You also need fabric. Christmassy fabric, if that floats your boat. But any kind of fabric will do.

I've been getting mine from Doughty's which is a brilliant website. You can get fabric by the fat quarter, which is useful if you're trying to save pennies, and they are very quick at getting your fabric sent out to you and if there's something you've ordered that they don't have, they'll call you right away with other suggestions or refund you your money straight away.

You then need to cut your fabric into strips. The beauty about this is that you don't have to be super precise with your cutting, everything's cool, everything's all a bit rough and ready.

For a ring that size I used 4 fat quarters. Those of you who are maths whizzes will have astutely observed that that is 1m of fabric. These guys are approximately 3cm/1in by 15.5cm/6in.

(And speaking of Doughty's they sell Christmas themed fat quarter packs which include 8 fat quarters for £10.99)

And then you just start tying them to the wreath. Fold each strip lengthways in half and then knot it. Easy peasy right?

Now. Beware. When you start this endeavour, you will go through a period where you want to cry and you will sit there going "It looks rubbish! It's no good, it's not working!" Believe me I went through it and had to be cajoled and encouraged by my Stitchettes to stick with it and eventually it would reveal itself to be awesome.

And they're right, you have to keep going and most importantly, keep bunching your strips up together. Now you might think that everything is good and everything is placed nicely but trust me those strips are minxy. You will think that you've filled one section of your ring and then you squish them up and suddenly you realise that actually you've only filled half of one section of your ring.

So you keep going and you keep going and you keep squishing and you fluff and primp and preen it as you go along and you will end up with a fluffy side, with the other side of it much flatter and you will keep going and going and then suddenly, 2.5 hours later*, you will have one finished wreath. (And I actually had a few strips spare.)

Then you just need to get some ribbon to tie round it and you're done. (I still need to buy some ribbon so you'll just have to use your imagination.)

These are the easiest gifts ever to make and work out not too expensive as long as you get a good deal on your fabric and your wreaths. These wreaths work out at about £5/6 each. Obviously not taking your labour into account - because when do you ever when you make home-made gifts?

And what I love is that each wreath is different. No 2 will ever be the same and just a slight change in fabric will make the wreath look totally different. This guy is much lighter, thanks to the cream fabric, but the last wreath I made was much more traditional looking thanks to the golden tones in some of the fabrics which made the overall effect much darker.

So I guess you'd better get making. Go on. Less blog reading, more wreath making.



*I kind of timed it and this was how long it took to make from cutting up the fabric to finishing the fluffing and taking photos. Don't blame me if you're a slow coach.

Crafting Geekdom

You may kick and scream and shout and grow very angry at the fact that I’m about to mention Christmas on this blog but I think we’re allowed now. We're getting towards the end of September and I’m sure anyone crafty knows that if you have a full time job, Christmas crafting really needs to have begun by now.

Well at least if you craft at my pace it does. (Plus you have to allow for lost time due to hangovers.)

I’ve had ideas swimming about in my head for some time about things I would like to make for people at Christmas but I realised a while ago that I needed to get these ideas down and on paper, otherwise I would find myself in the middle of December with absolutely zilch done.

Enter.....the Gantt Chart.

Ok. It’s not really a Gantt Chart. I just messed about on Excel to make something that vaguely looks like a Gantt Chart.

For those not in the know and who can’t be bothered to click on that nice little link I embedded for you, a Gantt Chart is the ultimate in organisational geekdom. It’s a bar chart that can track progress on a particular project or projects –the chart can show at which point you’d expect everything to be done by and how long each bit would take.

This is basically a visual tool which I can look at and go “OH MY GOD I SHOULD HAVE STARTED THAT BY NOW!” And stop me from faffing around doing something irrelevant and nonsensical. (Like reading. Seriously. Reading has taken a big hit now that I’m getting my creativity on.)

I know that some of you are shaking your heads in amusement at my ridiculous ways but I know that there will be a few like-minded freaks who are getting very excited right now.

This is like organisation on steroids.

And you might call me crazy and you might think I’m a little tapped in the head and you might say “What’s wrong with just having a list like a normal person?” and I would concede on all of those points but for me the visual works. Maybe instead of it meaning I’m super anal it means that I’m just ever so slightly retarded and need it all spelled out for me.

Either way. It’s working. The chart has meant that I am committed to getting things done in a certain time and actually the first three things on the list have been completed. And not just completed, but completed ahead of schedule. Now that's a good feeling.

It means I can get a grip on just how many Christmas cards I’m making. Obviously I made a resolution to make at least 1 a month but I feel that now I can step it up a notch, so I’m aiming for one every couple of weeks. I’ve added gift tags to the list as well, they only take an hour or so to make up, it’s easy peasy to squeeze one of those out per week and have a nice little stockpile to dive into when it comes to wrapping presents day.

It should also hopefully mean that I can plug away nicely at the blanket I’m planning to crochet for my Dad and his wife for Christmas. When the other little tasks are done I can crochet away on that until the point on my chart where the next project should be started. Or I can start a project earlier than I planned to and get it out of the way.

The possibilities are endless.

Except that they’re not really because December 25^th is definitely going to come in just over 3 month’s time and everything needs to be finished by then.

And see? Even the album that I’m supposed to be making for France, which I started with such gusto is still on there. It needs to be finished by the 31^st December if I’m to have not failed at my Not Really Resolutions this year. It will most likely be completed in the week between Christmas and New Year when all this silly Christmas crafting nonsense is completed.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go and consult my Gantt Chart and find out what it is I'm supposed to be doing next...

Cross Stitch gone wild

At last. I have been on my final hen do of the year. Some people have asked me why I haven’t been on a nice summer holiday this year. I wonder why and then start to add up all the money I’ve spent on hen dos and weddings this year and stop when my eyes start to water.


This hen do also involved fancy dress which whilst it initially made my blood run cold actually turned out ok. They chose a good theme, sailor girls, meaning your possibilities could be endless. For those who want to go kinky and go the SFD route there are plenty of options open to you. For those who are terrified of fancy dress, all you need is a stripy top and away you go.

I did some superb bargain shopping and managed to pick up a red and white stripy vest top for £3 in the Next sale and a navy blue pencil skirt for £7 from Primark. Both good because not only were they cheap, they were wearable again for work (although probably not together, unless we happen to have a sailor girl day at work, in which case...I’m set!).

But it didn’t feel like a special enough outfit.

Then, flicking through CrossStitcher magazine what should jump out at me but a pattern for an anchor. Perfect. Plus it would be doubly perfect to cross stitch this anchor seeing as it was a Stitchette's hen do. But how to get the anchor on to my skirt?

Soluble canvas.


Oh the wonders of modern technology.

I had heard talk of this magical stuff but had yet to experience it. A quick search online and I had some in my grubby little mitts.

Things to note about soluble canvas;

a) It is not cheap

b) You don’t get a lot of it

I worked out where I wanted my anchor to go, attached the canvas to the skirt with an embroidery hoop and just began stitching like it was normal aida. It is seriously that simple.

A word of advice though, don’t decide you’re going to stitch your design with a seam running through it because you’ll go through a phase of really hating your stitching because it’s hard to get the needle through the fabric. And it’s not really the piece of work’s fault that you’re a moron.

But all was well that ended well and I had a fancy little skirt that worked well with the hen do but I reckon I can also get away with wearing at work (as long as I lose a couple of ribs because that skirt was tight, meaning it was standing room only, sitting was an issue!).

Once you’re done stitching you just need to soak the fabric in a bowl of water for about 10 minutes or so, give it a little rub and voila you have officially cross stitched onto fabric. Boom.

I am now feeling an urge to cross stitch on to fabric so you might want to stay out of my way for a little while.

Please note that although it does look a little weird with the seam running through it, I promise that when it's on it doesn't look odd.

If you're interested, I used two different coloured reds, one for the outside and one for the inside and I did the rope using one strand each of two different tan/yellow colours, used together. I should really take note of what actual colours I used. Sorry.

Thank heavens for short names

Ever since I made the mobile/wall hanging for my niece back in May I’ve been wanting to give them another go. Although they still seem to instil fear in me, seeing the finished result gives you one of those warm glowy feelings.

And as luck would have it, someone did want me to make a wall hanging for them. All I had to do was wait for the baby to be born.

While I was waiting, a couple of things were running through my head.

1) I hope this baby is a girl – I’m late to join the fabric stash bandwagon and I only have girly fabric at the moment.

2) I hope they give the baby a nice short name – What happens if they text and tell me they’ve named her Perspehone, I’ll never find a twig big enough.

So I was very pleased when the news came that not only was the baby a little girl (hurray!) but she was called Elsa (hurray! And also note to self to store name in list of potential baby names if I ever do pro-create).

What did throw me however was that the news came a little earlier than anticipated. As in 4 weeks earlier. Finally, someone who is more impatient in this world than me. 37 weeks, 37 schmeeks, I’m going to enter this world when I flipping well want to (And at a teeny tiny 4lb 9oz which is ridiculously small to someone like me who is used to mahoosive 10lb nephews.)

You know what I hate? Surprises. Or just anything that messes with my well run plans of life. In reality, this really wasn’t a big deal at all, in my head however it caused a complete mental block. I kept telling myself to just get started but the fear returned and I sat there going “No, no, no, no, no”. (And how the hell her parents felt is beyond me, she cut short the preparation time by one month!)

So what did I do about it? I forced myself into activity by posting about it on the blog. I swear if it wasn’t for this thing I don’t think I’d get anything done. After writing that post I did indeed get it sorted and strung together and all ready to present to Elsa’s parents.

But then fate intervened. Well not so much fate, as that Dorothy went away on holiday on 3 weeks meaning that I couldn’t get it to them.

But now it has been presented and it is at home with Elsa (who is doing absolutely fine by the way. You know what goes hand in hand with impatience? Stubborness. Really they’re cousins if you think about it.) so I can blog about it to my heart’s content.

The finished article, in retrospect the L might be a little large, I was so scared of it being mistaken for an i I might have gone overboard.

I’ve also been asked to make one for another friend’s baby. The recipient of the Jungle Ripple blanket. This baby turned out to be a boy so this has meant the acquisition of more fabric. And his name is a little longer this time. Oh dear. The fear is returning...

Craft Hurricane

At the moment the living room at my Dad’s looks like a crafty hurricane has been through it. There’s aida, fabric, thread, needles, yarn and patterns strewn across the place and in the middle of it is little old me feeling increasingly overwhelmed with the stuff I’ve got to do.

I need to sit down and make a system, I need to make a list, but instead I wander aimlessly from one project to another, picking something up, only to put it down 10 minutes later and start on something else. I can slowly feel my sanity dripping away.

But then I remembered that I have a blog and I use this blog in a most inventive way. A way of documenting things I have done or things I want to do. I have also noticed that when I put things on this blog and say I’m going to do them, I am immediately held accountable and that post will act as a little niggly devil on my shoulder prodding me to get a shift on.

So things I am working on/need to work on:

- Jungle Ripple blanket (needs to be finished by 31st July for the baby shower but can be postponed because the baby isn’t due until 20th August.)

- Christmas card for July

- Wall hanging like the one I did for my niece’s christening
- France 2010 album

See? I already feel better. There isn’t actually that much I’m working on at all, it just feels like a lot because of the paraphernalia and the mess. I hate the mess you know.

So I need to prioritise.

I am tempted to put the Christmas card up at the top because we’re almost at the end of July now but then again is it really necessary? Would it be the end of the world if I did two in August instead? Would any of you hold that against me?

It would be lovely to get the Jungle Ripple finished by 31st July but it wouldn’t be the end of the world if it didn’t. All that would happen is I would miss out on the admiring glances from friends – which I can’t lie, is hard to turn down.

The wall hanging is a surprise addition to my list, I knew I was making it but didn’t think I’d be making it so soon. However this little lady was unwilling to hang about in the uterus for a whole 9 months so arrived a little early. Some people are so impatient. Plus I know that these bad boys intimidate me but actually don’t take that long to do at all. This could easily be finished in a weekend, I just need to find a man with a saw to cut some dowelling.

France 2010 album does need doing but has a deadline of 31st December 2011 so isn’t that urgent, I’m just aware that if I keep on postponing it I’m never going to get it done.

So after that mindless rambling and the knowledge that I have a free weekend ahead of me. I think I have a plan of action.

1. Wall hanging

2. Jungle Ripple

3. Christmas card for July

4. France 2010 album

I think Number 2 & 3 might be interchangeable, depending on how progress with the blanket goes. If it’s not looking like getting done for the 31st then I’ll abandon ship and pick up needle and thread and get cross stitching instead.

Phew. Thanks for getting me through that guys. Come back in September when I’ve decided I want to make things for people for Christmas and am having a complete breakdown about it.

Fighting the Fear

"Sometimes it is good to try something new." I tell myself over and over again. "Don't get stuck in your comfort zone, give something else a go."

And so, many months ago, I decided that I would try something new craft-wise. Dorothy had bought a copy of Make (I've tried to find an online link and can't anywhere for some reason - it's a fancy crafty type magazine) and in there was a tutorial for a pretty wall-hanging/mobile for a little person.

Step 1 - Fold fabric in half, right sides together, and pin letter template to it and get cutting.

I knew that my niece's Christening was happening at the end of May and decided I would make one of those for her.

I'm a little retarded when it comes to fabric stashing. I obviously didn't get the memo that this was something I should have been doing so I don't have this magical stash that crafty people always refer to. But I did my best to pick up a little fat quarter here and there and decided I had enough to set about making it.

And then I stalled.

Step 2 - Get stitching! Stitch all the way around the outside (leaving about 5mm from the edge) until you've got about a 3cm gap. Then turn inside out, stuff with toy stuffing and then sew up.

You see, although I know it's good to do something new, I get scared of doing new things. Like really scared. And I do that thing where you just pretend that you're not scared and that there isn't an impending deadline - some might call it sticking your head in the sand.

Which is how I got to the point where the Christening was 2 weeks away and I hadn't done anything.

The problem? This project involved using my greatest enemy. A sewing machine. I have no idea why, but I'm scared of them. I've never so much as even touched a sewing machine before and I seem to have a pathological fear of sewing my finger to a curtain or something. It's silly I know and I just need to get on with it and learn but this fear was the main cause of the Head in the Sand situation.

So I decided to take the easy way out and hand-sew the letters instead. I know, I know. But it was the only way that it was going to get done so I stopped behaving like an idiot, pinned my letter templates to my fabric, wielded some scissors and a needle and thread and got my act together.

Step 3 - Hurrah! You have all your letters. Now attach about 25cm of embroidery thread to each letter so you can hang them from your twig/stick/piece of dowelling.

And pretty soon (like really soon, this process does not take long at all) I had one name. Hurray for me. But nothing to actually make a mobile out of. My saviour came in the form of a bamboo type plant thing that resides in my office. Part of it has died and my colleague was getting rid of the dead branches and they were perfect  for me. Way easier than having to forage in the park for a stick that a dog has probably had a wee on.

Add some ribbon and I do believe you have one finished wall-hanging thing.

Step 4 - Tie each letter to the stick making sure they've all got room. Put a wee speck of superglue on the string to make sure they don't fall off the stick. Try not to superglue a pair of scissors to your hand like I did.

I feel enormously proud of myself. I know I've technically cheated because I didn't use a sewing machine so haven't really conquered my fear but I have never sewed before so, you know, baby steps people, baby steps.

And although I know a sewing machine would be so much quicker, hand-sewing something this small doesn't really take that much time either.

Step 5 - Feel smug

Now. Who wants to commission me?!