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Thursday 29 January 2009

I have THE LUST

This will be quite a dull post, as I have no photographs as I am mid-project. However, I am hoping this is something existing crafters will identify with: others, please don't think I have lost my marbles! Yesterday I managed to slip off and spend a WHOLE day painting pottery with the lovely Claire at Langlands Garden Centre in Shiptonthorpe, near York (http://www.langlands-nurseries.co.uk/). Unique Ceramics is a fab little place that inhabits the corner of a garden centre, outside. Poor Claire is such a hardened crafter that I think she deserves a medal. She even sits and waits for customers when her painting water is frozen! Luckily, it was a quiet day and we got the chance to sit, paint together and natter in the warmth of the cafe, which specialises in home made food. It was fabulous. I painted three egg cups for Easter presents for the children of our friends and family. One was cream, with light and dark brown and pretty pink spots. The other was pastel blue with yellow, pink and various shades of blue. The final one was baby pink, and I painted three layers of hearts next to one another around the top, in increasingly darker shades. I'm not quite sure how this will come out when it's painted, but I hope it will be lovely, translucent and layered. I hope to make sequined felt egg cosies to go with them - am just waiting excitedly for the postman to arrive. I also made myself a fab cappucino cup and saucer. It was like a much larger version of my cream egg cup. The inside of the cup was baby pink, and the outside cream. It had large brown dots, with a darker layer inside (they ended up looking a bit like Maltesers!) I also painted pink and pale brown dots too. The saucer was pink with the two tones of brown dots. I am really excited about seeing it, as it took well over 3 hours to complete - I loved every second. Just think my little babies are baking away at 1,000 degress as we speak. I came home and this fantastic book had arrived: [caption id="attachment_46" align="alignleft" width="240" caption="I am really enjoying this"][/caption]


I am really enjoying this


 

I spent a good hour sipping tea and reading through this book. I love it, because it gives the stories behind the crafters, as well as some lovely ideas and patterns. I was surprised how young most of these crafters are! I think that has been my problem in the past - I have crafted for as long as I can remember, certainly since I have been old enough to buy my own supplies. However, most of the patterns available have been very old fashioned, so I have either made my own, knitted for babies (and then never used the stuff) or given up for a while, uninspired. I was especially thrilled to see Amy Karol featured - I am very into her at the moment, because I am reading her 'bend the rules' book pretty much on a daily basis. I just love the photography.

 

I was inspired to see each crafter's work area - so much so that I tidied my office (*shock* *horror*)I hope to combine my business stuff with my crafting stuff, and have made a good start tidying out my cupboards, as quite a lot of stuff has hidden in their untouched for over a year. Who needs a gazillion copies of outdated rate cards, anyway?

 

I spent a couple of hours in the evening stitching Charlie's duvet cover - it's nearly done now. I reckon another 3 or 4 hours and it'll be ready. I hope he likes it, and I REALLY hope it doesn't fray too much in the washing machine. I am going to machine stitch the next one rather than hand stitch, then see how they both wash before starting on ours. I have bought fat quarters (why is it called that?!) in lovely patterns, all shades in our pictures above the bed. The rest of the bedroom is completely neutral, natural wood or chrome, so I am hoping it'll look really eye catching without being over-coordinated. I have to confess that I am not enjoying the big projects as much as the quick ones though.

Feeling on top of the world, I couldn't sleep last night, I woke several times thinking of new ideas and projects, ways I could combine the fabric I already have into things new and exciting. So much so that I got up at 6am to start again. Something tells me that this lust is not going to go away easily...


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