The Fox and the Hare!

We had a wonderful day at the Butterfly Bright workshop yesterday with Carla from The Mousehole Woolery teaching needle felting to a very keen group of ladies!

Carla brought with her some inspirational creations of her own and set the scene for a day of making

When I popped in towards the end of the class there was such an air of concentration as the ladies were finishing their pieces,

busy grooming and shaping final touches to the animals in hand

there were so many fantastic details like the beard on this handsome fellow

Each animal had a little bit of unique character and a bit like children I would never know which belonged to who, but each creator certainly recognized their own!

I have to say I was extremely impressed with their day's work!

Carla will be popping on Yarn Shop Day on Sat 30th April 2016 to give a needle-felting demonstration and she will  be teaching her next class "Maisey Mole" with us on Saturday 18th June.

Carla will also be back on 20th August to teach the Country Hares and Foxes workshop again for anyone who missed it this time round.

Ali

x

ps. you can check out Carla's amazing creations on her website

The Mousehole Woolery

I must use that charm pack!

I opened a beautiful Moda charm pack a while ago and used half of the squares to make this mini quilt - you can read about this on a previous post

The other half of the squares were mostly blues and greens and I soon set to work on a project I'd spotted and pinned on Pinterest ages ago..

There is a patchwork element, a scrunching element, a boxing element and more,

you even have to sew a button on!

I was really pleased with the finished bag - all completed within the day, in between customers, conversations and cups of tea.

If you would like to make one I will be running a workshop on this soon, so watch this space!

Enjoy

Ali

x

Kids Summer Cotton Trousers

My daughter isn't quite back at school yet and with Daddy off coaching cricket I had a helper at the shop today - of course she was soon eyeing up the fabric and designing an outfit for herself!

This pretty and bright fabric called Lil Dotsy from Michael Miller was her favourite and we settled on the idea of some comfy summer trousers...

I googled for a pattern and came up with an easy tutorial by Sew Delicious

I took her inside and outside leg measurements drew out a rough shape and started cutting!

It really was quite a quick and easy method to sew up and Daisy was soon admiring them but she wanted a little more detail,

some pink elastic was just the trick and we added "tweedle dee and tweedle dum" style braces!

Ta dah!

Why don't you give them a try!

Enjoy

Ali

x

Riley Blake canvas road map play mat

I finally got round to making one of these panels which arrived from Riley Blake

I love the heavier weight cotton canvas material which will be a bit more durable than the usual quilting weight cottons and yet still quite portable if you want to take it anywhere.

All the panel needed was an edging (although you could add a backing if you wanted to) and I chose a bright red bias binding to pick out one of the colours in the pattern.

It gave me the chance to use my new binding clips which I have to say were a lot quicker and easier than using pins.

A lovely neat finish!

There is so much detail on this panel

and even a parking lot for kids to match up different coloured cars

All in all it was a quick and easy project

 and would make a lovely gift for a little person who loves their cars!

The finished mat is 114cm by 90cm and you can buy the panel on our website here.

Enjoy

Ali

x

My favourite crochet blankets from day 8 of the #ldjcrochethookup

I am so enjoying the April #ldjcrochethookup being run by LazyDaisyJones and Crochet Now magazine!

Have you been keeping up?

Today - day 8 - was #Blankets and I just had to write this post to record my favourites in the hope that one day I will get the chance to make some vaguely similar! Running a shop is such a busy occupation that I have never made more than a baby blanket as I am always trying out new patterns in smaller forms to come up with ideas for workshops. So I have quite a few crochet cushions but as yet no blankets.

Anyway here are the ones that really caught my eye

Firstly this rainbow of heaven from Flo_and_dot - such fun! There isn't a specific pattern sadly but from the comments under this post it is a fairly straightforward make

next this harlequin style piece of crochet perfection from holly_pips who looks like a crocheting wonder-mum to me! Check out Holly's instragram feed it is a feast for the eyes...

I love a simple granny blanket and the colours on this one by rhubardandpie seem somehow random but perfectly harmonious.

Another traditional design and very similar to the first granny blanket I ever made all those years ago - thinking about it now I've no idea what happened to the ones I made as a child which is sad, but this one is just perfect in my mind, definitely top of the list for me - nice work made.by.victoria :)

I love this colour combination by Chrissie_crafts, anything pink and blue floats my boat!

and talking of boats - this post from tintocktap gets top marks from me for creativity!

I am drawing such inspiration from the #ldjcrochethookup and you should join in too, its a great way to meet other crochet lovers and swap some creative ideas!

Enjoy

Ali

x

Sketchbook Club Training Day

I have just returned from a lovely day with Jennie Maizels at her studio near Winchester where the franchise team met up for our second #SketchBook Club training day.

I love visiting Jennie's studio as I find it so inspirational, we have the same love for colour and this shows in every corner of her rural studio.

All the signs are hand painted in Jennie's trademark fonts, usually using a rainbow of colours, I must try this at Butterfly Bright!

There are dozens of books that Jennie has illustrated dotted around the room and sketchbooks pegged up on pretty washing lines

Shelves carry stocks of creative and colourful products that Jennie sells to retailers

and the famous Jennie Maizels "Clothes Plasters" adrorn garments and bunting around the room.

There are shelves of colour as you climb the stairs

plus vintage tins of coloured pencils everywhere you look

and the table is laid beautifully for the day ahead as we arrive! 

An added bonus of fresh coffee and biscuits to start the day. Perfect.

Then it was down to the business of the day - Sketchbook club training for our summer term of fun!

Jennie had all the reference materials we needed and sample sketchbooks painted beautifully to explain the techniques for each module.

I don't want to give away too much detail as some participants who attended the first term like the modules to remain secret each week but I will share the first week as that is what we spent the most time on today and I think it is a really great one to start the term!

We painted these henna hands and played around with collage for the bracelets and rings and other adornments, such a brilliant idea from Jenny and a lot of fun to work on today.

If you would like to join us for the One Day SketchBook Club on 1st June 2016 you need to book soon. 

During the day we will use pen, pencil, watercolour, gouache and acrylic paints as well as collage and more to create a wonderful and unique sketchbook for you to keep, take away and be inspired by.

It is a fun and sociable class and some say a source of mindful relaxation as you can really get lost in some modules which are almost a form of meditation.

You can have a look at the fun we had in SketchBook Club Term 1 in a previous post - I think the circus module was my favourite.

oh, and do watch Jennie's  inspirational video about Sketchbook Club on her homepage!

See you soon!

Ali

Applique Houses and some Sketchbook Club inspiration!

I love teaching Applique and enjoy coming up with new samples for workshops.

I started this piece last year and as usual it sat unfinished for months before inspiration finally struck on a last bit of detail that it needed.

I had completed the houses with windows, doors and roofs.

I added some freehand machine embroidery for detail and left the edges uncovered to add texture as they fray.

Then I was inspired by an image I saw via the Jennie Maizles' #Sketchbookclub instagram feed, 

I had already started doing the Sketchbook Club at Butterfly Bright but this wasn't actually one of our modules but I loved it and knew immediately what my applique picture needed!

Clouds!

and not little white fluffy ones but deep blue paisley ones

I think they add real drama to the sky..

What do you think?

I also had a chance to try the sketchbook version myself and was rather pleased with the results!

If you fancy joining me for an applique workshop please check the website for forthcoming dates, our summer term of Sketchbook Club starts again on 21 April so do book early to avoid disappointment!

Enjoy

Ali

x