week-long slump

For some technical reason, my digital camera hasn't been working properly.
I feel as though, for this blog at least, photos are necessary for each post.

But, I have been busy!

On Monday I had to work a dreaded nightshift. In a lot of ways it's a good thing, as I always feel as though I have to have done a lot during the day to make up for the fact that I have to go without an entire night's sleep.

I got up really early in the morning, got ready and set off with two of my cameras: Holga 120 CFN (white) and Lubitel 166B. Once I've used the remainder of the film and developed them, I'll post the results here.

On my way home I came across a little wool shop just behind the Greenock West train station. I picked up loads of different colours of balls of wool and headed home.
Every woman in my family knits, really well. I've stopped and started numerous times, always associating knitting with boring things like arran jumpers and itchy scarves. I searched Etsy for as many 'fun' patterns as I could find.
So far I've completed one of the patterns and am still working on (and waiting to get more wool for) another.

This is my latest 'make':



I needed a lot of help with this one (thanks mum), I get a lot of the stitches mixed up.

The other pattern I'm working on is a dark blue shoulder bag which I can use to put my uni things in. Why do I run out of wool on the only day the wool shop is closed? Argh!!

Cupcakes.

I've been crazy for baking recently.

I used to bake quite a lot when I was living in Glasgow and working in Mono. Mono is a vegan restaurant/venue in Glasgow which serves some really good food and hosts a lot of really interesting events. All the other staff who worked in the kitchen hated baking, so I'd spend most of my shift on a Sunday experimenting with new kinds of dessert.

All of my baking is still vegan as a result of a bad experience with eggs when I was 14 years old.
I made these cupcakes at a friend's the other day:




I'd never used food colouring before and was under the impression that food that colour really shouldn't be put into your mouth. I was wrong, these tasted great!

We used this recipe for the sponge-part of the cupcakes. The topping is buttercream which would usually be used for the filling of a cake, with food colourings. I highly recommend the recipe to anyone with a sweet tooth.

If anyone decides to try it out, let me know how it turns out!

Badges

I'm pretty sure that for everyone that makes little things like this goes through stages of making the same sort of thing over and over again.
My thing was badges. I made this one for Pip two Christmas' ago.


I cut out all of the tiny pieces individually, used the lid of a vaseline tin as a template for the main body and then stuffed it with cotton wool.
The end result was so effective that I made loads more with different appliques.
One of my favourites being the pixel heart badge, as seen in the top left of this photo (polaroids used for Firebrand Boy cd inserts).
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I then decided to give the badge-making a rest for a while after making this badge for The Teacups

Textiles.

I love textiles. I love looking at them, I love feeling them, I love making things with them.
Mainly everything I've made so far has been from felt. I remember making storyboards with felt when I was younger and it never really lost its appeal. It's cheap, it's easy to use and it's colourful. It makes everything you make look simple and it makes even the simple things look really effective.
One of the first things I made was this applique.




It was for a t-shirt I was making as a homeage to a band called Pony Up that I really liked at the time. It's not so clear in this scan, but you can just make out the word 'up' in the yellow heart on the horse's back.

Introductions

So, this is it, my craft blog!

I've blogged a lot of the things I've made before, but they've been in amongst a whole other host of things and, well, it got messy. I wanted to find somewhere that they could have their own space.

Ever since I can remember, I've been crazy for making little collections of things; trying to save the most insignificant of things, being caught up on the tiny details and not wanting to forget anything. I've always kept a diary and can't really function properly when I haven't had a chance to write things down.

My boyfriend told me just the other day that I'm a documenter, that it's my thing. I also love textiles and to make things by hand.

That's where this blog comes in. I get a huge amount of satisfaction at the idea of all of my handmade things being in the one place.

I hope you enjoy looking as much as I do making =)