New listings on ebay....

I've just posted some needlework books and patterns on ebay...have a look at them here

I've got a new shop on Folksy

I've discovered Folksy which is a craft shopping site along the Etsy, but it is UK based. I've opened a new shop there and will be closing the Etsy one, which I've had for some time but haven't sold anything on, and only had very few views. I think it's too big, and although when you post something new it might appear on the front page, because it's such a huge busy site your listing disappears almost instantly and gets lost in the crowd!

As soon as I figure out how to do it I'll post a link to the new shop. Stay tuned!

My New Love

I've been having fun this week with a new love...now don't get excited even though Valentines's is coming up...my new love is Chain Maille. I took a class during the week at Spoilt Rotten Beads and spent a happy few hours making a start on a Byzantine weave bracelet. It's a little bit fiddly to start and opening all the rings first is a bit of bore, although you could listen to music or the tv whilst doing it, but once you get into a rythmn it grows quite nicely and you can see results quickly. The chain maille itself is very tactile and drapes nicely...you just want to keep running it through your fingers. Our teacher Linda Plumtree had lots of examples of bracelets she had made and lots of advice and suggestions which gave us oodles of inspiration to go away and continue on our own. Here's a really bad photograph of my first attempt (unfinished as yet)....I'll keep you posted.

New photos

I know I've neglected this lately...I'm afraid I'm not a very good blogger. Writing doesn't come naturally to me. I read a lot, apart from books I'm the sort of person who always reads the labels and the instruction book and anything else, and I love the English language, but somehow when I write I want it to be nice and chatty but it always sounds stilted to me when I read it back.

Anyway, I digress...I just came on here to say that I've posted some better photos on items in my Etsy shop. I've not been able to make any new items recently, but I know I have to get my b*m in gear and do some.

I've booked a Chain Maille class next week which I'm looking forward to. I usually am able to learn most things from a book, but sometimes it's nice to be taught properly and pick up some tips that might make life a little easier, so I thought I would treat myself. The class is at Spoilt Rotten Beads which is not far from Cambridge, so it shouldn't take me too long to get there as I live in east London, just a couple of minutes from the M11. (Good thing I will have been paid before I go!)

Latest Additions

Hi there everyone....just stopping in here to let you know there's a couple of new items in my Etsy shop! See the pics in the sidebar...I've just added the two bracelets. I've also listed some Cross Stitch patterns, including a group of three For The Love of Cross Stitch magazines which are now out of print.

I really loved this magazine, which unfortunately is no more. I loved the patterns even if they were not really my taste, they were presented beautifully and printed in full colour on good quality paper. Those colour charts are really easy to use! The whole magazine was full of projects with almost no advertising, except on the inside covers.

Anyway hope you enjoy haveing a look round

Getting Started....

I've been having a tidy up at home, and I have so many craft items that I am running out of space for them. As well as the materials I have numerous UFOs (that's unfinished objects for the uninitiated!) So I've decided to try and sell some, and thought I should introduce myself first.

I've been a crafter for most of my life....since I was a young teenager anyway....and I'm now galloping towards 60! I remember the first thing I ever embroidered was a set of handkerchieves (that dates me doesn't it? Bet there's not too many people out there that remember that we always used linen hankies not paper ones?) Anyway these were in a little boxed set with a cross stitch pattern printed on them and all the threads ready to go. I seem to remember that the fabric was Swiss Lawn, which I think was very high class!! I know they were a present but I can't remember who from...I loved making them...I wish I still had them so that I could see just how bad the stitching probably was!

I can also remember from about the same age making little baskets from a kit which had the base of the basket with the upward spokes (I'm sure there must be a proper name for those!) and you wove in and out with coloured rafia. Then of course, I'm sure everyone remembers the little knitting dollies where you made endless strings of knitting that never got used for anything except maybe a scarf for your littlest dolly! Then my Grandmother taught me to knit...I started to do embroidery, and in my 20s taught myself to crochet. My mum was a fantastic knitter....me not so much. I'm very slow and tend to get bored before it's finished, luckily mum would finish things off for me!

I went on to do tapestry both from printed canvases and from charts...I really like working from charts...I think I must be a bit anal, as I like the accuracy of them. In the early 80s I went on holiday to the USA for the first time, and while I was there picked up a cross stitch magazine, which I read from cover to cover and could wait to get home and try one of the patterns....I was hooked! I cross stitched exclusively for quite some years and still love it...again, I think it's the charts!

I have been side tracked in the past by the various fads for different crafts that have come along...does anyone remember Petal Porcelain and Mod Podge? Hmmm I thought not! They came and went quite quickly in the late 80s/early 90s. But they were fun! I branched out for some time to make porcelain dolls which I really really enjoyed but it was a very expensive hobby especially if you didn't have your own kiln...even if you did it was still expensive!

Phew....this is getting to be quite a list! Almost finished if you're still following me! More recently it's been Patchwork and Quilting, and beaded jewellery which I got into by buying a kit for beadweaving an lovely little amulet bag...hooked again! As you can now imagine I have more stash that you can shake a stick at, and if I live to 150 I'm probably never going to be able to use it all up. Hence the purpose of this blog...

If I'm clearing out materials that I think I'm never going to use then I'll be listing them on eBay. If I make things with my stash or finish a UFO that I don't have a specific purpose for then they will be listed on Etsy. Things might be a bit slow and sparse to start with till I get in the swing of it, but if you are interested then you can get to both of those places using the links at the right and I hope to see you there! Thanks for stopping by!