I will be starting to blog again from my new site Stephalicious

Steph x

So much has happened since my last blog post, I’ve turned 21 I’ve been to Belgium, I’m helping to organise a craft fair with Relly and Jessica and I’m making dresses for some friends that have a ukulele band. I’m hoping to start updating more frequently again, but I am still suffering from RSI so my posts are dependent on that as well.

One sad bit of recent news is one of my Mum’s lovely cat’s was knocked down by a car last week. Domino will always be in our hearts.

Keep crafting in my absence!

Steph x

Well it certainly has been a long week! Edinburgh was really great, I loved the city and Aral and I had a great time there. I was struck by how much space there seems to be and how wide the streets were. We stayed in a fantastic apartment, and I hope that we might return there at the end of the year.

The Highland Fling was a really relaxed fun conference, and all the sessions were engaging even for a non techy person like myself. Alan White who runs the one day conference, really looked after us and definitely made the whole trip a more enjoyable experience. On the last day we went to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, situated in a fab red brick building the collection was amazing. The first thing you see as you walk in is the most beautiful frieze around the top of the balcony, showing famous people from Scottish history standing next to each other and wrapping around the walls, It’s really something to behold. The quality of the art was very fine, and I much preferred the work to what I have seen in the National Portrait Gallery.

The flight back on Friday night was late, and although it meant we had the whole day in Edinburgh we were very tired and Saturday was spent recovering. I couldn’t believe it though on Sunday when I woke up to heavy snow! I have a bit of a thing for snow, so I immediately jumped out of bed, into my coat, hat, gloves, scarf and out into the snow . Aral and I walked through the snow to Bill’s for a delicious and warm breakfast. I never thought I would see snow laying on the ground in Brighton, and I am so glad I did as I feel sure it’s a treat that my children will never get to have. The Pavillion and gardens were absolutely beautiful in the snow, and several snowmen, and snowbears had been built. There is something really magical about snow, I just love it!

On Monday I house sat for my Mum who was sadly attending the funeral of my great uncle Harold. It was good to spend some time in the countryside and I got to walk through the fields where I grew up, it was odd to think that when my Mum’s house is sold I won’t go back there again. But time moves on and nothing stays the same forever. After taking several long walks in the countryside I thought I would get up this morning and go for a walk. I ended up going all the way to the hospital and back through Kemp Town, about 3 miles! Right now my body hates me, but I really want to keep it up as my fitness levels need to be drastically raised.

I have cast on 130 stitches on size 5.5mm circular needles for the Christening blanket. It’s knitting up slowly but nicely in Stockinette stitch. I will post some pictures when it’s a little further along.

Have a good hump day

I met my friend Leanne today, I haven’t seen her since she had her lovely son Joshua nearly 6months ago, so it was great to catch up. We also went to buy the yarn for the christening blanket, we looked at lots but decided on ‘Wendy Beach Baby DK’ in cream for the center and blue for the edge. I am really looking forward to knitting up the blanket, I decided to do a plain square for the center and then a lacy edging.

Nothing much has been happening around here. I seem to have lots of ideas but no energy to put into making them happen at the moment. Maybe the trip to Scotland will help. I am looking forward to see the city in which some of my favorite books were written. I love the 44 Scotland Street books by Alexander McCall Smith, I started off reading the No.1 Ladies Detective Agency books, and both series are super!

Caio for now x

After agreeing straight away, I started to give it some thought and then of course it dawned on me that most Christening blankets are very intricate and often lacy. I love knitting, but until recently I didn’t think I would ever knit anything more complex than a scarf. So I was a little scared. Then the other day I was at Jessica’s house looking at all her fab knitting books, when I saw lots of lace blocks in The Encyclopedia of Knitting. Jessica told me that it wasn’t as difficult to knit lace as it seemed and she showed me a great scarf that she had knitted using one of the patterns. So I borrowed the book and practiced my yarn over, cast on a few stitches, and in no time I was knitting a basic faggot lace stitch. Lace knitting is so much simpler than I thought it would be, and I urge you to try it if you haven’t yet. The faggot stitch that I was practicing was yarn over, knit 2 tog, repeated along every row, over 24 stitches.

My current idea for the blanket is to have a simple repetitive lace center square, with a wide more intricate lace edging. I brought a book on Friday called Knitted Edgings & Trims, by the same author as the Knitting Encyclopedia. It’s a very good book and there are a few lace trims that I am considering.

The knitted summer top I have been working on is nearly finished. I have crocheted the two triangles onto the large rectangle and I have crocheted tie straps. All I have to do now is plan the crochet for the lace up back and then get to work. I am planning on posting a tutorial once I have finished it, but here’s a sneak peek for now.

There are several new items in the shop, and more to be added in the week. I made two purses from the large flat pieces of wet felt, and I am very proud of both of them. Part of me wants to keep them for myself, but I am resisting.

I think that’s about it for the Monday update I hope you had a good Easter and ate lots of yummy chocolate.

Have a good week

So first of all, a definition of felt. And there is a little more history here.

The Esty Storque has a really good article ” Trends: A Little Fuzzy Bling of Felted Goodness” about felting with lots of links and pretty examples of super felted things.

How-Tos for Needle Felting

• Embellishing already felted items using needle felting.
• Tutorial for needle felting with a specific tool (Clover needle felting mat and tool).
• Making a needle felted head, this site has a PDF download with instructions.
• Needle felted apple tutorial.
• Video tutorial on applique needle felting on a sweater.
• How to make a needle felted ladybug
• How to needle felt a little dog. Wait till this downloads fully and then skip till the felting starts.

These cute creatures are from Okaggi on Flickr.

General Felting Links

• Machine felting a knitted bag, and needle felting a flower on to it.

Wet Felting How-Tos

• Instructions on how wet felt a large flat piece. Part one : Part two.
• Hand felting knitting, a five part how-to.
• Instructions on felting knitted bags. (Scroll Down)
• Wet felted beads from Knitty.com.

Machine Felting Knitting

• Very basic instructions, including shrinkage advice.
• Some hint’s and tips.
• A PDF on how-to felt from Patons.
• Felted slippers with knitting pattern.
• Felted bag for beginners instructions from Knitty.com. Knitting pattern here.
• Felted tea cosy, with knitting pattern.

This felted knitted star is from WordRidden on Flickr.

Materials

• Beginners kits.
  
• Hand dyed wool tops for felting.
• Un-dyed wool tops.
• Colourful tops.
• WoolPets, cute kits to get you started making needle felted animals. (Highly recommended).
• Felting needles and accessories.

Books

• Beginner’s Guide to Feltmaking.
• Simply Felt: 20 Easy and Elegant Designs in Wool.

Felted Goodies on Esty (for inspiration of if you like felt but don’t want to make it)

• Knitted felted bag.
• Felted pebbles.
• Felted natural colours bag.
• Wet felted retro bag.
• Wet felted messenger bag flap.
• Earrings made with felted beads.
• Cute little needle felted bear.
• Hedgehogs
• Purses and bags with needle felted embellishments.

Here he is! I called him Gwin, like penguin without the “pen”

Needle felting is really fun, you can be much more precise, and it’s nowhere near as messy as wet felting. I have been messing around with this method over the weekend, and doing some regular wet felting as well. I think the best use of needle felting is for figures, such as little animals, people, and objects, and for adding detail and motifs to larger wet felted projects. Once you get over a certain size of project, wet felting really becomes much easier. I also tried combining the techniques, so I needle felted a little purse, and then wet felted it afterwards. I finished wet felting it by hand to make sure the joins were well fused. This worked pretty well, as you have lots of control over the specifics of the item and you also have the knowledge that after the wet felting it will be much stronger.

After wet felting above, after needle felting and prepared for wet felting below. As you can see the fibers are much closer bonded above. The bubble wrap is to stop the pocket felting together, and the bubbles help with the felting.

So what else happened this weekend, well it was BarCamp Brighton2 this weekend and since Singularity was sponsoring it, we spent Friday afternoon pinning badges on little silver envelopes that were to be the schwag for the event. Friday night we met up with Serena, Zoha and Colin and went for dinner at Bill’s which was really great fun. The next morning after too many glasses of red wine at Bill’s the night before, we got a cab to Sussex University to set up the Singularity banner and to help set up the building. I didn’t enjoy the day that much, I had a super awful headache and I felt a little lost and out of place, I may try another BarCamp in the future but I’m not sure that will be too soon.

I brought a super magazine at Borders called Belle Armoire, “French for “beautiful wardrobe,” Belle Armoire® marries fabric arts with rubber stamping and embellishments–showcasing one-of-a-kind, handmade fashions and wearable-art projects”. It’s a really great inspirational magazine, and one of my favorite articles was about Lori Marsha Sandstedt a really interesting artist who is currently making new pieces from recycled clothes. Her story was a joy to read and has really made me feel good and excited about creating new things. I think I have been a little scared of making things that are maybe too unusual, in case no one is interested in them. I think this is a problem that lots of artists have, trying to cater for the greater public instead of creating what they really love. Lori Marsha has definitely inspired me to be more true to my art and I am going to challenge myself to only make things that I myself, would love and treasure from now on.

I made some flat felted pieces which I am going to turn into little pouches or purses. Keep any eye on my Etsy shop for them, should be up tomorrow evening.

I should be going for an x-ray on my hip tomorrow, but now the pain has gone I’m really putting it off. If I do make it I’ll try and take a picture of the x-ray.

Have a good week

Update : Here is a good link to get you started felting if you don't know where to start! LINK

I have been enjoying a brief break from Brighton, and normal life, as I have been staying with my Mum over the weekend. I have been continuing with the knitted summer top that I mentioned in a previous post, I think I am going to give it a lace up back, and crochet along the edges where the laces will go through. I also helped sew some new curtains for my Mum’s bedroom, which she is giving a bit of an overhaul at the moment.

I have recently been interested in making a quilt, and have been very inspired by the ones that Jane Brocket makes and shows us on her Yarnstorm blog. I am particularly inspired by her use of colour, pattern, and design. The swimming pool quilt is one of my favorites, do go and check it out, it might change your mind about quilting. I didn’t really know when to start when making a quilt, so I researched it online a bit and then made a small quilted cushion cover, to see what I thought of the actual quilting process. I will hopefully be posting a tutorial in the next week or so. I will definitely try machine piecing next time tho, as I entirely hand stitched the cushion cover, and I can’t imagine doing a whole quilt! I have chosen a few fat quarters, and I am planning to build up the quilt fabric collection over the summer and then start on it in autumn.

I have been doing a lot of thinking about my time, what I can devote to certain projects, and how much I want to get out of them. I have decided that since I work best for myself in the afternoon, (I rarely do anything productive before 12) I am going to help out with Singularity in the mornings on Mon, Tue, Thur, and Fri  and have the afternoons and all day Wednesday to myself. In that time I want to concentrate on Modified by Stephanie, and any other house-related things that I need to do. I have marked out Monday and Tuesday for updating this blog and my Etsy shop. I really hope that actually deciding on specific times to do certain tasks will help to give me more direction, and something to work towards.

I thought I would post some pictures of my clothes here as I don’t  seem to be able to get my Etsy mini to work. You can click on the little button in my sidebar to get to my site.

It’s pretty embarrassing for me to see myself posing every time I look at Etsy, but with a lack of funds or a volunteer, I was the only model available for the shoot! lol

Remember click the link in the sidebar to get to my Etsy shop ———>

Have a good week

I go through phases of wanting to cook, and I am definitely there right now. However nice it is to eat out, nothing replaces proper home cooked food. After traveling and eating out a lot recently my body is craving simple healthy food. Restaurant portions are much larger than they should be, I never finish a main dish and if I come close I often feel much too full afterwards. Restaurant food is also much saltier and richer than is good for you on a daily basis. However saying all this, most of my favorite foods are pretty bad for me (lots of butter and sugar) so I am trying to cut chocolate and overly processed sugary foods out of my diet.

I had a bad baking urge today, and so I made Orange Muffins. This may seem to go back on what I just said about cutting out bad sugary foods, but the difference is I made these myself, I know exactly what is in them, they are actually quite savory and don’t have much sugar or fat in them and I made them with half wholemeal flour. The most important thing of course is they are really yummy, and much better for me than the partially hydrogenated fat and additives in the chocolate cornflake square that I usually have from Starbucks.

These Orange Muffins are from a Nigella Lawson recipe, they are meant as breakfast muffins, and I am going to save some for tomorrow morning

I am working on a pattern for a triangle beach top. I have knitted the triangles for the top, so now I am working on the bottom part of the top. I think I might line the finished creation with pretty fabric, I’ll let you know how it works out.

I finally found time and inspiration enough to take photos of my modified clothing, and I have put four of my creations on Etsy and I am still up loading the rest. It took me a long time to take the pictures as I had to use a self timer and tripod, which meant lots of running back and forth.