craft space – A box of allsorts

Craft studio update

Way back in my first post of the year, I mentioned that I was moving from my craft room/ spare room into my new craft studio in the attic. My wonderful hubby painted the room for me at the very start of the year and since then I’ve been on a mission to sort and organise. Its by no means finished as I still need a few more pieces of furniture and to get some pictures and art work up on the walls but its a fabulous space and I LOVE it! Come with me on a little tour…

My shabby chic ‘working’ table in front of the window. This table rarely looks this tidy as its the central part of the room where most crafty exploits take place. On the floor is the blanket I’m currently in the process of joining for little Miss to go in her new bedroom.

My sewing and fabric table, where my sewing machine will reside once I get around to setting it back up again (it’s currently sitting on the floor in the old craft room, looking a little sorry for itself!).

I like to call this my cosy corner. I just need one more unit to go on the end to put a tv on so I can watch as I crochet when the mood takes me. Its needs a crocheted blanket and some pictures on the wall to finish off the cozy feel too although its obviously fairly cozy as it as, as one of my cats seems to have claimed it as her own!

With the room being in the attic, it’s full of nooks and crannies, so Little Miss even has a crafty corner too. She doesn’t tend to craft in there at the moment as she prefers to sit at the table with me near the window. It is a little bit dark in the corner too, I’m yet to find the perfect light for her little corner but once I do and get a bit of her artwork on the wall it will be fabulous!

Yarn and fabric storage.

Card making and general crafty stuff. This area still needs another unit and a bit more sorting.

My workspace for when I need to do paperwork at home. My work bag fits inside along with the laptop and can easily be closed away when it’s time to get crafty!

My bunting is the only decoration in here at the moment and it does look a little lost up there. Im hoping to add to it very soon and adorn the walls with my crafty makes. It will take time to get the room exactly as I want, especially in terms of the decorations, as it is such a big space but I count myself so so lucky that I have it. I am one very lucky lady!!

Karen x x

Streamlining update and a crafty challenge

As I mentioned in my last post I decided that this was going to be the year of streamlining for me, not a new years resolution as such but more of a long term goal to get things in order to make my life easier. The first thing to be streamlined was my clothes. Now, I’m not one to massively hoard things (except maybe craft stuff but we’ll get to that!) and my drawers and wardrobe weren’t over flowing but things were stuffed into drawers and weren’t as organised as I would have liked. The last few days of the holidays before going back to work were spent sorting and arranging and I am sooo pleased with the result.

This is my new and improved t-shirt drawer and I love it! No more rummaging through a pile of t-shirts to find the one I want. All of my clothes drawers have had the same treatment and all of the shelves in my wardrobe too. It makes life so much simpler choosing clothes in the mornings. Little Miss saw me sorting and arranging my drawers and declared that she wanted hers doing too. She helped me to fold and arrange all of her clothes in her drawers and proudly showed her big brother when he came around to visit. Mr O has since followed suit and rearranged all his drawers too. It really does make me happy seeing things so neat and easy to access.

After the clothes came all of the cupboards and drawers,in the living room, kitchen and hallway. In each of these places we had a sh*t drawer, you know the ones, the ‘open up and shove it in there if you’re not sure where it should belong’ drawers. Well, we no longer have such drawers. All drawers are sorted and organised. I do, however, still have a large carrier bag of bits from said drawers that I still haven’t got round to finding homes for but one things for certain, it will not be going back in those drawers.

Next on the agenda was the craft room. As my stepson moved out a little while ago, Mr O kindly suggested that I could move my craft room from the craft/spare room up into the very spacious loft room upstairs! To say I jumped at the chance was an understatement! Mr O spent a couple of his precious holidays days painting the room and assembling furniture for me and I began the dreaded sorting and moving of craft stuff. Now, I knew I had a lot of craft stuff but pulling it all out of its various hidey holes and moving it all up into the attic room did open up my eyes as to just how much stuff I’ve actually got. I underestimated how much storage furniture I would need and so will need to make another trip to Ikea in the next couple of weeks (much to Mr O’s delight!) before I can completely finish and share pictures of it.

Upon realising just how much stuff I do have and locating wips that I’d almost forgotten about, I decided to set myself a crafty challenge to make no craft purchases for the whole of 2019. That means no wool, no material, no card making supplies. The only things I will allow myself to buy are bias binding for any bunting that I make as I don’t keep any of that in, and sewing machine thread. It really shouldn’t be too difficult as I do have a lot of stuff to keep me going:

3 zenbroidery pictures I was given at Christmas

My huge stash of embroidery threads (I kept finding these in various boxes and really didn’t realise how much I had until I put it all together in my new (for Christmas) sewing box.

This isn’t even half of the material I have, which I’ve been intending to make into bags or bunting for such a long time.

These wool kits had been sat in a trunk for a good few years, patiently waiting to be unearthed and used to create something beautiful.

These photos are just the tip of the iceberg. Once the craft room (or should I say studio!) is finished I will show more photos but already my mind is feeling so much clearer from sorting through it all, seeing exactly what I do have and having it all much more easily accessible.

I’m really excited about seeing what beautiful things I can make out of the resources that I already have, not to mention having a dedicated room in which to do it. This year is going to be very a exciting one for me craft wise, I can feel it!

Karen x x

January projects review

So, January went by rather quickly thankfully, as it is probably my least favourite month. Weather wise this January has been pretty miserable and grey but I’m very happy to say that despite freezing cold temperatures, February is so far looking much better. Its only the 4th and already we’ve had a few mornings of blue skies. The bright blue morning skies really give me a happiness boost and as long as the sun is shining I can deal with the minus temperatures!

Anyway, enough talk about the weather and get down to Januarys project review. In a bid to contain my wandering mind a little I decided to set myself a list of (hopefully) achievable project goals at the start of each month. Januarys goals:

Finish crocheted granny squares baby blanket
Continue and hopefully finish crocheted bright stripes full size blanket.
Start a crochet poncho for Little Miss
Make my first machine sewn fabric bunting.
3x stencil/ applique bags ready for craft stall.

For the first part of January, all was going well, I was fitting in lots of crafty time and I felt as though I was on track see post here.

Alas, I have little further to report since that post. The baby blanket was finished and has been gifted. The bright stripes blanket is not as nearly finished as I’d hoped and the sewing machine has still not been touched (the desk however has been decluttered and the sewing machine is at least on top of the desk, albeit still in its case!)

I did complete a few bags and 2 sets of bunting are cut out and ready to be sewn.

The heart bunting I made a couple of months ago is now up in the craft room above where the sofa bed will go…

and for some unknown reason I have started to make some itty bitty 3 round solid granny squares…

I have really no idea why I have started making them other than I just love them. I blame Sandra of Cherry Heart as it was her Battenberg blanket post that inspired me to start making them. They just seem to fly off the hook and I find it extremely satisfying that they stack up so quickly. I’m not sure yet what I am going to make them into, it may be the poncho for little Miss that I had planned to make or it may be a bag/ bags but they are providing a welcome relief from the long stripes of the bright stripes blanket and a quick crochet fix when I haven’t got a lot of time to spare.

Karen

January so far

You can take the Brit out of Britain but you can’t take the Britain out of the Brit and so with that thought in mind I’m going to start todays post, true Brit style with a bit about the weather. What a mixed bag of weather we have had so far this January! We have had the odd sunny spell (fairly few and far between, I must say), we’ve had rain, we’ve had hail, we’ve had snow and just this last Thursday we had the mother of all storms, with winds over 100km, schools closed and trees falling left right and centre, it was a bit scary if I’m honest. Most of all though January has been grey, grey, grey and sooo dark. When its so dark outside its easy to start feeling glum but I can say thankfully that this year it has not hit me in the slightest. In fact the only thing blue around here are the shades of blue in some of the fabric and yarn I’ve been using. I’m not sure quite why, maybe its the fact that I went on the sun bed, burnt my bottom slightly and had a glow for a few days…as the glow worm song goes, its hard to be glum when the sun shines out your bum!!

Seriously though, I’m very thankful to be feeling good, whatever the reason.

I’m actually rather pleased with myself at how much I have managed to fit in this January and we’ve still got over a week left. The craft room sort has continued, the bed has gone and whilst we are planning on getting a bed settee to replace it, I’m actually enjoying having the space to spread out a bit at the moment…

At the side of the picture you can see a blanket laid out, this is the baby blanket I have been working on for a friends baby and as it has now been gifted, I can show you. Its actually the first time I have ever bothered to block a blanket as the squares had bunched up a bit. I was a bit nervous about blocking as I hadn’t done it before but I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out.

I really love this blanket, especially the way you can see the crosses in the squares when the blanket is laid out. I’m very happy to say that the recipient was very happy with it too, which is after all why I make them.

I have been having a little experiment with appliqueing and stencilling bags with the idea of selling them at a craft fairs…

I’d love to know what you think of them.

In recent months as I think I mentioned in my last post, I’ve been yearning to work with fabric and start using the sewing machine again. I have so many ideas for things Id like to make on the sewing machine but have decided to start with bunting and bags. The bunting is all cut out and ready to go…

and here is the fabric I have lined up for the bags…

I still haven’t actually got the sewing machine out yet, for some reason I’m procrastinating. Its maybe nerves as I haven’t had the machine out for 2 years and I’m a bit worried I wont remember what to do. I am determined to get it out this week though and to have finished the bunting and a couple of bags by the end of January.

I’ve started running again after just not feeling like it for the last couple of months and am pretty happy with my progress. I even forced myself to go out on my own on a particularly cold and slushy Friday morning on my day off. I’m going to have a look for some 10km races to enter and once I see how they go, I may think about another half marathon.

I’ve even managed to find some time to do a bit of colouring (see top picture). Normally I don’t really see the point of those adult colouring books as you spend so long colouring the picture but don’t actually do anything with it. As part of one of my secret Santa presents at work I was bough a mindfulness colouring calendar, so I thought I’d have a go and as the picture will be displayed for a whole month I thought it was worth giving it a go. I have to say I really enjoyed it, Little Miss was doing her colouring alongside me and it was a really nice way to spend an hour or so.

I hope your January is going well and that you too are escaping the post Christmas blues. I’d love to know what craft projects you have been getting up to.

Karen x

Thank you 2017, welcome 2018

HAPPY NEW YEAR

I know its a couple of days late but hey ho, its the thought that counts!

New year is a time where we like to look forward to the year ahead and what we hope it will bring, along with our goals to achieve. Whilst I do like to do this, I think its important first of all to look back at the last year and to give thanks for all the good times it brought.

2017 was, on the whole a good year for our family. Of course there were some difficult times, especially the loss of a dear relative just before Christmas. However, lots of good times were also had and what better way to celebrate than with pictures:

January brought with it a fair bit of crocheting, mostly in the form of hats:

February marked the first of our holidays, with a trip to Holland and the start of the granny stripe/ mojo blanket :

March was all about the flowers and lots of crafting with little miss:

April marked the second break of the year, a few days away in Oberhausen and not forgetting my first half marathon of the year:

May was the month in which I was introduced to a lovely little ceramic studio and the start of my addiction to ceramic painting. There was also a visit to England, including running the Liverpool half marathon:

In June I ran my third half marathon of the year, took part in a charity 5km run and had a few nice family local days out:

July was the only month in which I didn’t post anything here but it was a busy month with 2 trips back to the UK for weddings and a visit by my lovely Mum and Dad and 2 of our nephews and nieces.

What a relaxing month August was with a 2 week holiday in the caravan at the Norfolk broads:

In September I ran the Berlin marathon for the second time, raising over £500 and also finished making the squares for the eclectic mix granny squares blanket:

October finally marked the completion of the eclectic mix large granny squares blanket and some heart bunting :

November was all about organising my craft room and completing the granny stripe/ mojo blanket:

December was a busy month. Crafting wise it was all about making Christmas cards. It was also the month our little girl turned 4, we went on Santa’s steam train, visited Christmas markets, had snow, had a visit from dear friends, had some more snow and topped the year off with a fabulous Christmas with family back in England:

Looking ahead to 2018

I tend not to make too many ‘resolutions’ as I think we have a tendency to start the year off setting unrealistic expectations for ourselves and setting ourselves up for failure within the first couple of weeks of the new year. With this in mind I have just set myself a few goals which I hope to achieve this year:

Build up my blog readership (I’m not certain that anyone has actually been reading my blog for the last year and a half. If you read it regularly, please do let me know, so I can stop singing “All by myself…” Bridget Jones’ style as I’m typing )
Assign more time to crafting (my Fridays off are going to be dedicated to crafting and building up new crafty skills)
To make items to sell at a craft stall (I’ve been meaning to do this for years and have just never got round to it but I’m determined that this will be the year!)
To start machine sewing again (the poor sewing machine hasn’t seen the light of day in the last 2 years!)
To build on my photography skills and find my way around my new Camera (a Christmas present from my lovely other half).

As well as the above, there may be a bit of running squeezed in with possibly a few half marathons (I’ve got to keep feeding my medal addiction!) but absolutely no full marathons this year!

Have you set yourself any goals you’d be happy to share? I’d love to hear them.

Here’s to a fantastic 2018 and most of all… happy crafting.

Karen x

Double deskage!

I am ridiculously excited to be able to say that I now have double deskage. So excited in fact, I even made up a new word!

Look at all that lovely crafty space. Eeeeeeeeeeek!

For a while I have been wanting to give the craft/ spare room a bit of a reshuffle and make it more craft room than spare room. For the last few weeks I have been undertaking phase 1, sorting everything into clear boxes. The old boxes were perfectly serviceable but didn’t match and I do l like to be able to see at a glance what is in each box. Plus, I love any excuse for buying storage boxes, I do get a bit silly over them.

Phase 2 was to sort out the furniture to make space for another desk. So far I have managed to empty out a set of drawers and am now working on clearing out one of the 2 wardrobes to make even more space. I was originally going to buy a drop leaf desk that I could put up when needed but just as I had started to look around for one, a work colleague was giving away a large corner desk for free so I snapped it up!

Phase 3 will be to get rid of the double bed in favour of a sofa bed (the room is used as a guest room for 4 weeks out of the year at most so a pull out bed that can double as relaxing crafty space will definitely suffice). Hopefully this will happen in the new year.

For now though I shall wallow in the glory of double deskdom! I now have space to be able to leave the sewing machine out and still have the other desk for other crafty pursuits and the occasional bit of work if I must! I am so so excited about getting the sewing machine out again, it hasn’t seen the light of day in almost 2 years (because I’m just too lazy to keep getting it out and putting it away again after use) and has been calling me recently. I have so many ideas for sewing projects but am forcing myself to hold off for a bit longer to finish other wips. It really wont be long though, so watch this space…

Karen x