Shimmery Crochet

I went to the Knitting and Stitching Show in London yesterday.  It was fantastic.  There was so much to see, it was like craft overload.  So many stalls and not enough time.  In the five hours that we spent wandering around, I didn't get to see everything.  

But, I did find some fantastic yarn to start my next crochet project.  I went to this show with the intention of finding some wool, because that is one of the things that I can't buy online just for the fact that I can't touch and feel.It's called Oyster by James C Brett.  You have to see it in person to look at the texture and colors.  It has a shimmer to it and it is very soft.

Here's a little scarf project that I whipped up using the Oyster yarn.  Keeping with the theme of creepy, it uses a pattern called Spider Lace Scarf, that you can see at the top in white and a pattern called Irish Wave, as seen in grey purple, black and white.  I found both patterns on Ravelry.com

You can kind of see the shine to the yarn.  The purple and the black is lovely...it matches my two black eyes that I'm currently sporting due to a little drinking mishap.  Long story short is that I got into a brawl with the pavement and the pavement won.  What can I say?  I like to party.

Back to the subject, I also found some lace weight yarns, at the Knitting and Stitching Show, that I want to make some lightweight shawls or something like it. Who knows?  Maybe I'll try something more challenging like a sweater or a cardigan.

Wine and Painting

I had my swing at wine and painting yesterday.  It turned out better then I expected considering I haven't painted anything since I was in grade school. 

This was actually a small 12x4 canvas that my youngest daughter had painted some scribbles on and I saved them from a trip to the trash.  

My oldest daughter's friend came over with some paints and we busted out the wine and had a go at stirring the creativity.  I highly recommend trying this one day when you're free, just have a seat outside with a glass of wine and see what you can come up with.  If you aren't too sure and you don't think that your painting ability is on point then you could always do what I do and use your phone to help you out.  It's amazing what you can learn on Youtube.

Sew Creepy Apron

Since my last post, I have had some life changing moments which has affected my craft time significantly.  I have just moved house and started a full time job.  I have also lost my craft room, so at the moment everything is stuffed in a cubby under the stairs...just like naughty children.

It's definitely a chore to pull everything out and find things in my piles of boxes and bags.  Just doing one project is an eye sore to my dining room, and the husband goes nuts with my crap everywhere, which could be there for days.  Some day I will have some sort of organization going on.

But, you know what?  It's all just excuses, and nobody wants to hear those....so, here's what I created!

I found a cute pattern on Pinterest that lead to sew4home.com.  It's a fairly simple design and you can modify it to your liking.  A few months back I purchased a yard each of Dancing in the Shadows by Marcus Fabrics from fabric.com.  I wasn't sure what to do with it, so I figured I would use it to make a sewing apron to keep the fuzzies and threads off.

I changed it up a bit to include these fancy buttons I got from a boot sale for 50p.

I also added a plain black lining to the back with some extra fabric I had lying around.  I have to say it turned out pretty cute and the pockets on the front are pretty handy for sewing notions or, in my case, the E-cig and reading glasses.

Sew CreepyThread Catcher

I ordered this fantastic fabric from the Michael Miller Nevermore collection.

Michael Miller Nevermore Collage Fabric

I like the creepiness and the goth steampunk feel of it, but I didn't want to turn it into a quilt.  I was browsing on Pinterest and found this great tutorial on how to make fabric bins.

It's very easy to make.  I'm using it as a thread catcher because the cardboard box that I've been using just isn't fancy enough.  I ended up only using the largest size pattern, but I could probably get away with using it as a fabric scrap bin and making a smaller one for the catching of the threads.  The only thing I regret is that I didn't use a heavier interfacing so my bin is a little squishy, but it's still functional.

Here's the link to the tutorial on Birch Fabrics:

See!  You can turn something so cute and adorable into your own weird and strange tastes.

Oak Drive

This lap sized quilt, that I finished yesterday, was made out of a single charm pack called Sakura from Andover Makower UK.  I patched it with the many yards of black fabric that I have and a half yard of red border fabric.  It measures 39x47 and has a double layer of low loft batting.

Throughout the entire process I was lucky enough to be inspired by my garden for this quilt.  It just so happened that the Kwanzan Japanese Cherry Blossom tree in my yard was in bloom.

When the time came for me to machine quilt, the pink petals were really coming down

Im having my own cherry blossom festival in my backyard

A photo posted by Jo Wobser (@jowobser) on May 5, 2015 at 2:28am PDT

I decided to use the cherry blossom as my quilting pattern and to connect them with some leaves.  At first I drew some out on the outer black patches and then traced them.  I was having a tough time, but it might have had to do with the thread I had.  Note to self:  sewing machines are picky when using carpet and button thread.  After changing out my threads it was pretty simple after that.  No tracing necessary.  Very simple design.

This is the last time I'll get to see this tree in bloom.  Unfortunately, the owner of this house has sold the property, so we will have to move at the end of this month.  I will miss this tree, this garden, this conservatory that made an awesome computer and craft room.  No worries though, our new house is also a beauty.  But, I think this will always be my favorite.

At least when I look at this quilt I will know the reason why I named it Oak Drive.

Making My Mark

I finally received my fancy new labels today.  I wanted to make a little logo that I could sew onto things that I make.  After searching around the web for ways that people make their own labels I came across a blog on how to make your own labels on Spoonflower.com.

I wasn't sure what to expect, so I ordered 8x8" test swatches of two different fabrics.  I'm glad I did, because one came out not so great because it was printed on a stretchy jersey type of fabric.  The other swatch was perfect.  I highly recommend testing out your logos on different types of fabric before you make a larger order.

The swatches that I ordered had enough print to make 24 labels from each swatch.  All I had to do was get my rotary blade and cut them out.

Sew Creepy Quilt

Last week I finished my very first quilt.  I have done patchwork before and am still in the process of doing a traditional Hawaiian quilt.  But, this is the first time trying some free motion machine quilting.

I am self teaching myself through the magic of Youtube and came up with this video of Jenny Doan from Missouri Star Quilt Co. doing a Lattice Quilt.  If you want to start quilting or even if you do quilt already, she has a wonderful series of videos.

Last month I ordered a bunch of fabrics from Fabric.com that consisted of spiders, bats, bugs and all that creepy good stuff.  Simple to do if you just browse the Halloween fabrics.  Let me tell you I have come to hate the color orange.  Either way, I ended up with a good assortment and voila!  Gothic quilt.

The free motion quilting was a challenge to learn. After a few broken needles and some ripping of stitches I figured it out and made up a cobweb stitching.  It turned out pretty good.  It measures 50x60" and consists of 80 blocks.  I originally planned for 156 blocks but after cutting and sewing the blocks together and realizing how big it would be, I figured it would be too ambitious for a first quilt.  So, now I have enough blocks to make another quilt that would be similar.

As you can tell by the fabric I've used, it has also inspired my blog name.  Majority of the items I make have a darker touch to it.  I've decided that eventually I will open an Etsy shop and start selling things, haven't quite decided on what, but quilting is pretty fun for me.

And it Begins...Again!

Here on another adventure into blogland, this time for my passion to become Gothic Martha Stewart.  I've decided to take a swing at staying at home and crafting and creating magical and wondrous  items.

Since moving to the UK, I haven't used my sewing machine for fear that it will blow up due to the difference in voltages.  So, I have purchased a lovely Pfaff Smarter 160 sewing machine.  Nothing too fancy since my 12 year old daughter is interested in learning to sew.  I know, I could have used a transformer, but, it's a sentimental machine and I don't feel like taking a chance on ruining it.

So, to begin my crafting adventure and also while shopping for a sewing machine, I threw together this needle book.

It's hand sewn with felt and embroidery threads.  Here's some of the insides