Ooooh quilting is fun!

So, like I said in my last post, I tried out some quilting. I wanted to do it for ages but with the lack of an iron, I couldn’t allow myself to try it. I’m a perfectionist at times and the OCD in me refuses to let me start something new in a half-assed manner. My darling sister got a job recently with a little help from me and so in return she asked what would I like as a reward. She didn’t bat an eyelid when I said I needed an iron. She figured it must be for crafting rather than actual ironing of my clothes. Ah, she knows me so well!

One thing I love is scouring the mighty oceans of the Internet, searching for tutorials. There’s just so much cool stuff out there and I want to make so much of it! I rarely follow the full directions, somewhere along the way I’ll insert my own twist on things.

Anyways, one of the most awesome tutorials I’ve seen is from Obsessively Stitching. Caroline makes lots and lots of funky stuff, including fabric storage cubes.
The tutorial I tried was the quilty belt and I must say, it’s a fantastic tutorial. I never thought it could be so easy to make drab belts look so awesome!

(I don’t have a before shot, but it was quite boring.)

Time for the Action shot!

Nifty! The photo was taken by my boyfriend, who is feeling poorly. Awwh!

Much thanks to Caroline at Obsessively Stitching!

Almost a year later…

So the first anniversary of my blog is coming up. I’m not going to celebrate it or anything like that but I have been thinking about what I’ve done in the last year. I’ve learnt a lot, I really have. Some skills I already knew, so I improved on them and I’ve come a long way.
I learnt how to sew and knit when I was younger and I sewed here and there but it wasn’t until last summer that I bought a sewing machine (see post) and really started headway. Then I had to go back to hand sewing after about 2 months because it turned out that the particular sewing machine turned out to be utter shite and refused to work properly anymore. Making mad funny plastic clunky noises, throwing temper tantrums, deliberately messing up the threads…I don’t know what issues it had with me, but I eventually just threw it out and tried never mentioning it again.
Lesson learnt: €40 does not mean it’s a bargain for a brand new sewing machine. €40 for a vintage sewing machine is actually a great deal, especially for a treadle.

My sewing toolkit

On the upside, my mam gave me her sewing machine, a glorious Singer 9012. (Yep, the one I wasn’t allowed touch as a kid!) This workhorse has lasted 20 years and it’s still going strong. T’is a dream to use!

(I call her Attie, short for Athena, the goddess of crafting. It’s not an ego thing, it was either that or Zapp from “Futurama” fame. Personally, I don’t want to sew nothing but velour!)

Getting my love of photography on with my love of sewing...

I’ve already made loads of things with her, but that’s for another post.

The other things I’ve learnt this year: knitting (learnt basics as a kid, but I forget almost everything until January just gone), crochet (I’m only at the basic stage now), digital art, jewellery making, embroidery and I’m sure there’s other stuff but I can’t think of them right now.

My first embroidery piece - ever!

OK,  so some of these skills are still at extremely basic levels, but it’s all fun and I’m gonna keep on trying! I’m gonna try quilting next 🙂

Out of everything though, I gotta admit that sewing is probably my favourite.

I joined up to Craftster.org which is this unique community of crafty people. Everyone’s so nice and so goddamn talented that my jaw drops on a hourly basis at least (I do occasionally have to drag myself away from Craftster). Some of the tutorials are incredibly brilliant as well, I wholeheartedly endorse having a look!

I also joined up to the Monthly Odd Holidays swaps which have been fun, slightly nerve wrecking (“oh insert-deity-here, what if my partner doesn’t like what I sent? What if it doesn’t arrive?!”)  and invaluable to my learning. But mostly a lot of fun!

Well, I’ll leave it at that for now. But I’ll be back again soon(ish) with more updates!