Tag Archives: uk

Have you met Laura?

Over a year ago now, Laura decided to arrange a meet up for Folksy sellers in the local area and invited me along as we’d been to fairs and stuff together even though I wasn’t active over there any more. What actually happened is Laura, Zara and I (who had met before at various craft fairs) ended up meeting up regularly, first for dinner and now it’s turned into a Bingo ritual.

Months ago now we were talking about my blog and I said to Laura that I would write a post about her and only now am I getting round to that, sorry Laura! So this is my first of a two part installment about my friends online who became offline friends and who make lovely things. Come back tomorrow to look at Zara’s lovely wares!

Laura makes jewellery under the name Laura’s Jewellery and has done for at least four years now, possibly longer I haven’t asked, but I know she was opposite me at my very first craft fair (blogged about in 2008!). It was a rubbish fair, we shall say no more and just show some pretty things. Honestly I’ve no idea how she does these but aren’t they great?


She has some fab butterflies in this style too, however my dislike of insects with wings (phobia?) dictates them inappropriate for showing here…

And this is my personal favourite item in the whole shop…

She is an active member of the Craft Britannia team on Etsy. her Etsy shop is HERE so make sure you go bookmark it.

She’s also on Twitter.

And Pinterest.

Oh and Facebook– go there too!

And her dog Ellie is from the same place we got Penny, so obviously being a dog lover I had to include a picture of her sweet Alsatian/Husky face! Look at those huge ears!

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Quilt and Stitch Village

I’ve decided to enter another quilt competition and wondered if you also might like to?

The Quilt and Stitch Village 2013 is at Uttoxeter Racecourse (not too far from me!) from 26th-28th April 2013. I know this sounds like it’s absolutely ages away, but if you plan to make a new quilt especially for the show like I do, it’s really not all that long!

It costs £5 to enter (plus return postage costs) and you must complete the entry form and pay before the end of January. Categories are for quilts but there are also embroidery categories as well if that’s more your bag. Categories include wall hangings, innovative quilts and bed quilts, plus there’s a category for kids too. It seems a lot simpler than the Festival of Quilts and that’s not a bad thing! International and group entries are also welcome. It’s run by Sally Stephens who was the editor of Popular Patchwork during my time on Popular Crafts, so I feel like I sort of “know” her even though we only met a couple of times. More details can be found on the website HERE.

I’m planning on doing a pictorial quilt for the Innovative category (of course), but instead of my usual applique style I’m thinking of a pieced pixelated one…. but not sure of the subject matter yet! I thought of maybe making one of a musician or an actor, but nothing cliched like Audrey Hepburn, James Dean or The Beatles, someone more modern but will be iconic in the future. The only people I can think of right now are Morgan Freeman or Stephen Fry.

Would that be weird? I have other ideas if so, what do you think?

UK Borders Agency Quilting Bee plus prize winners

And the winner of the scraps and bits and pieces is…


Nadia/TCN!

And the Twitter bonus prize winner is…


@gholmes724

Well done, I’ll be in touch later 🙂

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Right, onto new business! I’m starting my first quilting bee! I couldn’t find one with spaces and wanted to take part in another borders one but it was US only because of the postage, so I give you the UK Borders Agency Quilting Bee! We are currently looking for 6  4 2 1 more members!

A group of seven patchworkers will be adding borders to each others quilts over the course of a year. Want to join? Here’s the info you need, all you need to do is comment here (making sure there’s a way for me to contact you) or you can Flickrmail or e-mail me and I will e-mail you with a few questions based on your reliability. You will also need a Flickr account as this is crucial for communication (if you haven’t got one, they are free!) and then that’s pretty much it, you’re in!

Flickr group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/ukbordersagencybee/

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This is a UK only borders quilting bee, taking place over a year from July 2012 to 2013. There are only seven people in this bee to make it a little bit more time relaxed than other bees, so we should know each other really well by the end of the project.

This is not a secret swap and you are encouraged to see what your partner likes from their blogs and Flickrstream and also from their wish list on the discussion board. Each participant will make a centre block- anything you fancy- for their medallion quilt measuring 12.5″ (unfinished) and post it on to a specified bee member to add the first round. This will then be posted to another member to add the second round and so on.

Each round is allocated 2 months to complete and you will receive a quilt top posted on from another bee member. At the end of the sixth round, the last person working on your quilt top will post it back directly to you for you to quilt and finish yourself.

If you find you can’t take place in a round and need to drop out of the bee, you will get your medallion top back in its current state instead of the next round and your space on the bee will be taken by a reserve member (or by me if we’re almost at the end!), so it’s almost flake proof, as long as you keep your queen bee- that’s me BTW- informed of any possible delays or issues.

Everything will be run from the Flickr group, so your next address to post to, etc will be communicated through Flickr Mail and you are encouraged to come and chat on the boards often if you can, which will help fellow bee members make something you will love. Please post images regularly and check with your partner if they like the idea. Feel free to talk about a funny thing that happened that day or pretty much anything you like, it doesn’t need to be quilting related. It would be great if we all became friends by the end of it!

There is no size restriction to your borders so the quilts are likely to be different sizes but the aim is for a lap quilt size or a wall hanging. You can make your borders modern or traditional, pieced or appliqued, anything goes as long as you are working on something the recipient will like.

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My requirement for my quilt is that each border must feature animals somewhere, whether pieced, appliqued or simply in the fabric, so you can specify what you like. There’s a thread on the group visible when you join where you can state all your likes and dislikes and anything your quilt just must have.

Any questions fire away and I’ll answer them 🙂 I’ll leave you with a couple of inspiring medallion quilts I just love (these are not my quilts, click the photos to link back to the original source)!


(it’s incidental that they both have the same starting block!)

More moulds, resin and stuff back in stock

In case anyone who reads this has been waiting the two months it has been since I had resin in, I now have it back in stock (albeit without measuring cups, need to track some of those down from somewhere) and some colourings and new moulds as well. My supplier is selling the business though, so I’m not sure if I will be able to continue selling these or not so grab what you want while you can. With any luck I will be able to continue buying but through the new purchaser, depending on what the terms would be like. I am worried that my prices will go up and a hefty minimum order be implemented, which will mean I will have to pay more customs charges, so I’m really not sure what will happen.

Patera bezels

I’ve just started selling the Patera range of deep well bezels in my shop. They’re not cheap as they’re made in the US from cast pewter and then coated (the £50 postage and customs bill didn’t help either!). I have a small selection of shapes in antique gold, antique silver, sterling silver and copper. Here’s one I made earlier…

UK Etsy Challenge

Every month, a craft challenge is run on Flickr here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/uketsychallenge/ with a theme for each month. The idea is simple, you make something (anything!) as long as it fits that month’s theme, upload it to the Flickr group and then a poll is run on Etsy to decide the winner.

My entry for Childhood Memories earlier in the year

My entry for "Childhood Memories" earlier in the year

Rather appallingly, no one enterred last month, so hopefully there will be a surge of entries this month to make up for it, it would be a great shame to lose the group as it has been running for a couple of years now. The only condition for entry is that it’s for UK crafters with an Etsy shop.

This month’s theme is “London” and I have an idea to make a cuff bracelet already! Come and join us!

Resin Moulds now available!

When I first started in resin jewellery making, I was amazed that the flexible type moulds couldn’t be bought here in the UK. It’s also one of the main keyword searches that people use when coming to my website- but it was something I didn’t offer. The best- and also best known- mould “brand” is Resin Obsession, run by Cindy Carter in the United States. Her moulds are great and I’ve been using them almost from the very start. Her range of moulds is so thorough and ideal for all resin jewellery (and ornament) makers, but of course airmail isn’t as fast as we’d like- we buy moulds and we want them straightaway!

So the solution. Cindy has very kindly allowed me to be her UK supplier, so I can now confirm that a small range of moulds are available to buy in my shop! Depending on the success I may be stocking a larger range in the near future- and all moulds are delivered by first class post in the UK so you will receive them 1-2 days after ordering- hurrah!

Click here to see

My 100th post!

Today is my 100th blog post! Unfortunately it’s going to be a small one since I spent all day cleaning and so don’t have much to talk about. I did however get my free tote bag through the post from Made It Sell It (MISI) http://www.misi.me.uk which I plan on using for craft fairs and the like! It also reminded me to list another item on there today. I’ve neglected it a bit in favour of Folksy and Etsy, but I think if I put something new on every so often it should pay off. Despite being a new handmade site (literally weeks old), several sales have been made already, which is promising, and the admin team are friendly and helpful! The first 40 buyers and 40 sellers registered get a free bag (it’s pretty!), so give it a whirl 😉

This is my shop: http://www.misi.me.uk/store_info.php?user_id=151

And here are some of my favourite things for sale on there so far!

  

 

Don’t forget to enter the November giveaway here: https://pennydog.wordpress.com/2008/10/31/november-giveaway/

I am taking part in NaBloPoMo (National Blog Post Month), so I will be blogging every day in November. Today is post 7 (a week has passed woohoo!) http://www.nablopomo.com/

Kathleen and Lily’s

Today I popped into Kathleen and Lily’s on Mansfield Road, Nottingham. They have recently started stocking some of my retro range and I’m happy to say they’ve sold two necklaces already and seem very pleased with what they’ve been sent. One of my pieces was even on a mannequin in the window which was unexpected 🙂

Don’t forget to enter the November giveaway here: https://pennydog.wordpress.com/2008/10/31/november-giveaway/

I am taking part in NaBloPoMo (National Blog Post Month), so I will be blogging every day in November. Today is post 6! http://www.nablopomo.com/

Spotlight on… Half an Acre

Half An Acre, aka Anna (http://halfanacre.etsy.com) is also a member of UK Handmade (http://www.ukhandmade.co.uk) too, so I’ve decided to spotlight her unusual work today. She makes interesting wall hangings and decorations, by cutting shapes from wood and then painting them with her own unique style of repeating patterns and bright colours. Here are some of my favourites!

Don’t forget to enter the November giveaway here: https://pennydog.wordpress.com/2008/10/31/november-giveaway/

I am taking part in NaBloPoMo (National Blog Post Month), so I will be blogging every day in November. Today is post 5! http://www.nablopomo.com/