The Secret is Out!

the embroidery design on my bag in Quilt Scene 2010

Hi!

You may remember that I mentioned a little secret at the end of my last blog post. Well I'm pleased that I can now reveal it to you!  My orange embroidered stripey bag is being published in a US magazine called Quilt Scene 2010. It's an annual publication to celebrate the International Quilt Festival held in Houston, Texas every year.  The publishers, Interweave, are a brilliant crafts publishers of numerous books and magazines, including the fantastic Cloth Paper Scissors and Quilting Arts, both of which are packed with unusual projects, features on artists and crafters and new techniques for you to try out.

Anyway, Quilt Scene 2010 is now available for you to pre-order. If you click on this link: Quilt Scene 2010 you will be able to read the table of contents (my bag project is on page 56!) and it's very tempting! Selvage edge pincushions, a birch quilt, pumpkin table runner and loads more!

If you happen to buy Quilt Scene 2010, please let me know what you think to it, I'd love to find out!

Best wishes

Joey x

A different, but similar bag

Pretty Dresses



Special Dresses!

 My friend Claire has just asked me, "Why don't you blog about the stuff you're making?" Well, the reason (or excuse) is that I'm very disorganised! I think I keep up quite a good pretence most of the time that this isn't the case, but if you saw inside our home, you'd realise that it's all just a front.
Anyway, I'll try to turn over a new leaf RIGHT NOW, and show & tell you what I've been up to over the past couple of weeks.


work in progress... a lot of blank faces!

 I have a little stash of very lovely fabrics that I never seem to get around to using, and I've had in my mind for a while that I'd make some little bunny and kitty brooches with them all wearing little dresses in these lovely fabrics.  I wanted to make something different and special for the Craft Candy Christmas craft fair on 27 November (which is only six weeks away - ARRGHHH! I'M NOT PREPARED! I will be though, I will be...) at which I will be having a stall, so if you're in the South Yorkshire area you must come along to get a bit of Christmas shopping in, Craft Candy fairs are always brilliant displays of beautiful handmade arts and crafts.

I've made a collection of nine (one has already flown the nest though... She's not pictured here), each with a different dress fabric, which is also on the backs (of course! Otherwise it would be rude for a prim little bunny or kitty to have a bare behind).

the back of one of the brooches, showing back of 'dress' and the brooch pin

I've embroidered the collars on by hand (it isn't lace) with cast-on buttonhole stitch (although the pink bunny in the strawberry print dress has a green woven picot collar, because it looks a bit like the calyx on a strawberry).


cast-on buttonhole collars

woven picot collar

 The next thing I'll be working on will be a bag or two along the same lines as my embroidered concentric circles bags (orange one pictured below)... more news about them soon! Oh and a little secret...

The orange 'concentric circles' bag

Have a good Monday everyone!

Best wishes

Joey x

Blog Action Day: Precious Water

Hi! I thought it would be a good idea to break my 'blog-fast' by joining in with the annual 'Blog Action Day', where thousands of folks all over the world blog about one particular topic to raise awareness. This year it's about WATER.  Very mundane, you may think. If you live in a country where water is plentiful, you may take water for granted. Well let's not!
Here's a little video to watch:

Blog Action Day 2010: Water from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.

Here's some startling water facts from water.org:

• The water and sanitation crisis claims more lives through disease than any war claims through guns.
• An American taking a five-minute shower uses more water than a typical person in a developing country slum uses in a whole day.
• Every 20 seconds, a child dies from a water-related disease.
• More than 80% of sewage in developing countries is discharged untreated, polluting rivers, lakes and coastal areas.
• Diarrheoa is more prevalent in the developing world due, in large part, to the lack of safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene, as well as poorer overall health and nutritional status.
• 1.4 million children die as a result of diarrhea each year.

Find more water facts, and how you can help, on blogactionday.change.org

To celebrate water, I've created an Etsy treasury with water as the theme... click on the picture below to take a closer look at these lovely handmade and vintage items!

Have a great Friday!
Best wishes,
Joey xx