Sew Nice To See You....

I can't apologise any more for the bad blogging, we're all friends here so I can say that it stands at a "If I do, then I do; If I don't, then I don't" situation!
I have been busy beavering away, and as per usual it is my terrible photography (or should I say reluctance to be photographed) that stands in the way of a finished item becoming a blog post. BUT I have just had a fancy hair cut, and am on a diet for like the billionth time, so maybe I will feel a bit more confident about having my photo taken.

In the mean time, I hope you will all appreciate the latest addition to my fridge ;) You can never have enough Ryan Gosling!

Blogging...

....It would seem that I am stuck in between having no time to blog but being unable to give it up!
I even started a Kollabora account, but after a couple of days messing around with it have found that deserted too!

The lovely Rochelle over at Lucky Lucille has just posted about being in a funk, a very timely post as I am in the funk to end all funks right now and am finding it so difficult to do much other than aimlessly waste time. So I am taking her advice, and pulling myself out of it, one step at a time. Fingers crossed!

The Dreaded UFO Confessional...

Eek! So I rounded up a few of those things I have tried to forget about!

Exhibit A - U.F.O. - Finger knitting to create bulky yarn to make an ombre blanket from. This has been about a year, it is just particularly boring and therefore neglected! I did one whole ball of yarn and started on a second, however, to make a blanket of reasonable size I need 4 balls at least!

Exhibit B - U.F.O - This is the bottom part of a thrifted nightie, intended to make a slip. All I have to do is elasticate it. That is it. And it has been lying about for over a year!

Exhibit C - Repair - This top has an inch long split in a seam near to one of the armpits. Will take seconds, yep mere SECONDS(!!!) to run a few stitches over it. Been in the pile for 8 months. I am ridiculous!

Exhibit D - UFO - This is the back of a piece of bunting made to join in the Lincoln WI group bunting. All I need to do is cut those blue lines to remove some sequins, steam/ gently press the triangle, then reattach the sequins individually. I also need to embroider my name onto a second triangle to be the backing. Granted this is more than a few minutes worth of work, however, I did the embroidery on fathers day weekend back in June and really should have got my butt in gear!

Exhibit E - UFO - I have blogged about this before, it has barely progressed from there! What can I say, it takes ages and involves large swathes of the same colour in the same stitch. Yawn.

Exhibit F - U.F.O This is a kimono sleeve shrug. Or at least it would be if I finished it! It is very wide and the bobble stitch takes ages to knit. So it will take many hours to finish it, and doing a metre(ish) of stocking stitch before going back to painfully awkward bobbles is not making it very endearing!

Exhibit G - U.F.O. - This is a crochet shrug I made the pattern for, all it needs is two crocheted strips to attach for ties. It will take all of 10 minutes, then I can wear it! It is made from gorgeous (but sadly discontinued) yarn that I was so excited over, then I just never finished it. Once it is done I can photograph it and put the pattern up.

Exhibit H - U.F.O. This is another neglected piece, I mentioned in my last post about it that I didn't know what to do with it, I still don't!

Not Pictured- A pocket repair on one of the other half's shirts, a seam repair on another one.
A tea cosy for a competition that I can't post up until the competition has started.
A recently started knitting project that I will be blogging about later.

I would lie and say it isn't too bad.... Namely because I'm sure there are more lurking hidden away in corners!

How many U.F.O.s do you have?
Don't forget to grab yourself a button if you would like to join in!

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W.I.P. / U.F.O. Hall Of Shame!

This will be a new feature here at Pin Up Crafts, first and foremost it is to try and force myself to get these projects finished with some good old social pressure!

We all have them, we all pretend they don't exist, but I *will* tackle them! So how will it work? I think it would be best to document every last one lurking in the corners and hiding in boxes, then do a monthly report on progress made.

If any one would like to join in then let me know in the comments below, and I will add you to the Hall of Shame page you can see linked at the top of my blog beside the Special Links tab. Together we can do it!

So watch this space for my U.F.O. confessional post, I'm not looking forwards to discovering the true extent of my lazy/ distracted ways though!

Feel free to grab a button if you are wanting to be in the Hall of Shame!

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That Mod Podge Shoe Thing

I jumped on the bandwagon and tried that mod-podge shoe nerdifying thing. I did this quite a while ago and never got around to blogging about it. It came about in the usual way of it being really late at night and me being on my own and deciding it would be the perfect time to try out that time consuming craft project I pinned months beforehand.

So I got out a stash of Neo magazines and set about snipping a pile of cute pics small enough to fit on the shoes, as well as a pile of multi coloured bits to be fillers.
As you can see they turned out all bright and funky, and despite them not being the kind of thing I would normally go for, I thought they looked pretty awesome and were definitely going to be worn.

Front view - I love the Junko Mizuno mermaid picture <3 br="">

Side view one

Back view

 Side view two - showing some less than perfect sizing on the back shoe.

If you know me, you will know that sometimes when I get the urge (you know that urge) to make something, I often don't think about it practically and end up with some pretty silly things happening. The biggest mistake was using magazine pictures instead of comic book pages. The magazine pictures are thicker and do not "become one" with the shoe fabric. This was not helped by a big shoe issue - these were shiny shoes and the pvc cheap nasty surface was not the best for gluing things onto, even mod podge is weak against them. So when I finished applying the pictures (some which were just unsuitable which I should have replaced, as in the above picture) and slapped on a couple of coats of mod podge (gloss) and let them dry, I was about to encounter my next set of problems.

First there was an incident where the shoes were placed too close together (they were dry, it was about a week after) and they fused together, this resulted in some of the mod podge coming away when I pulled them apart. Then when I started walking about in them to wear them in a bit (I had only worn the shoes a couple of times before so they were still a bit tight and ouchy) the subsequent creasing made one of the pictures come away. This showed me that I could effectively just peel the whole lot off as they weren't really bonded to the shoe as I explained before.

Now I just have the shoes sat in my craft room being a decorative feature that nobody except myself ever sees. And I am torn as to what to do with them. Do I rip it all off and try again with comic book paper? Or keep them as an odd ornament?

Suggestions welcome!

Long over due blog award thank you post!

Last year the lovely and super talented Wendy from The Butterfly Balcony (Check out her blog, it's totally darling!) awarded me with not one, but TWO blog awards! Can you believe it?! And this is my very long over due thank you to her - Wendy, you're wonderful and you really made my day, thank you :)

So following Wendy's example I will be passing both awards along at the same time to the following people -

Charlotte from Heart's Cottage
Emily from The Cute Octopus
Nikki from Multibeavo's world

Maria from When Life Gives You Lemons
Sue from Sweet Pea Family Blog

And now for the (probably very boring) 7 facts about me....

1. I don't watch television! I do own a TV but it is used for computer games and DVD/VHS watching only. I do watch some TV shows such as Big Bang Theory and Desperate Housewives but on online catch up or DVD. I also watch science documentaries on online catch up because I'm a nerd haha!

2. I work as a "seamstress". It is killing off my love of sewing. I do not do glamorous dresses or anything fun, I repair and alter work wear (boiler suits etc). On the plus side of things I have a far better control of a machine (domestic machines seem so slow compared to an industrial!) and can put a zip in blindfolded!

3. I am a crazy cat lady - how could I not be with this fluffy munchkin?!

4. I have started up my own charity crafting organisation Hearts and Crafts. I have only managed to do one project so far due to a combination of being so busy and it being so difficult to find places which would like something other than money. I keep at it though and hopefully a new project will appear soon!

5. Nobody has ever taught me any of my crafty skills. If I want to learn to do something, I just do it! I highly recommend that if you are interested in any crafty hobby, that you just get on and dive right in! There are so many wonderful blogs out there with helpful hints and tips, not to mention you tube videos and the vast resource of pinterest there really is no need to wait!

6. I have a pet coconut. His name is Colin. I have had him for around 4 years now and he has featured on the blog before. Sometimes he gets a little wild....

7. I have a major book fetish! In our house there are hundreds of books, non fiction, fiction, graphic novels, art books, coffee table books......lots and lots of books! We really need more book shelves but have no room :( I have tried and tried to come up with a way to squeeze more in but folks, it just aint happening! I prefer to read non fiction nowadays, I just can't get enough of learnin' stuff ha ha!

So that concludes seven boring facts about me, which has taken about two hours to come up with. Lame I know. Any way, further thank you's to Wendy and I hope you all check out her blog and the ones which I have passed on the awards to.

Adventures with fabric dye - Part 1

STEP 1 - ASSEMBLE THE STUFF AND THINGS!

You will need - 

* One washing up bowl sized container that is no longer used

* One tablespoon of salt

* One packet of fabric dye for hand dying

* Plastic or preferably rubber gloves (these are important!)

* A stirring implement, I used an old paintbrush

* A smaller plastic container (not pictured)

* One really nasty coloured dress (which is a nice style)

STEP 2 - MIX UP THE DYE ACCORDING TO INSTRUCTIONS

I did not think to write down the instructions from the packet for this post as I am a fool!

Make sure to stir it up really well and not to splash it everywhere, a sensible option would be to place it on an old towel or some newspaper unlike myself who got it on the worktop - it came off thankfully as I was quick enough to spot it!

STEP 3 - FILL UP THE LARGE CONTAINER WITH WATER AND ADD SALT

It was also warm water for this dye, the instructions will reveal all to you!

If you have a curious cat shut them out of the room, Biggins nearly became a black cat due to her idiocy!

STEP 4 - ADD THE DYE TO THE WATER

Again, be careful to stir thoroughly and wear the gloves! I got a hole in one of my gloves and ended up with weird black stains for a few days!

STEP 5 - SUBMERGE OFFENDING GARMENT IN THE BLACK WATER

Poke it about a bit to ensure it is all covered with dye.

Then stir continuously for FIFTEEN MINUTES!!!

You will then need to stir it regularly according to the instructions, I had to do it for about 45 minutes.

STEP 6 - THROW IT IN THE WASHING MACHINE!

I didn't take a picture of my washing machine to add here..... I think everyone can use their imagination!

MOST IMPORTANTLY, READ THE INSTRUCTIONS PROPERLY!!

(I DIDN'T)

Find out what happened to the dress in part 2!