Felt Heart Cushion

Today I made another heart themed item, a cushion which is going to be a Valentines Day gift for Little L. The only cushion pad I had at hand measures 12in x12in so it's not very big.

After my fabric pieces were cut out I pinned the felt hearts in to position and drew on heart shapes in between. The hearts are spaced about an inch apart.

The felt hearts were sewn on using my sewing machine then the hearts that I had drawn on were outlined in chain stitch with embroidery thread.

The cushion has a simple envelope closing back. I inserted some pom pom edging when I joined the front and back pieces together.

Jute Heart Bunting

Last week I began to dismantle these jute gift bags that have been hanging around the house for a while. The fabric was quite stiff as the back had been coated, it looks like a layer of dried glue.

I was limited as to what to reuse use the fabric for due to the size of the pieces and I settled on making some bunting.

I marked out a triangle and heart shape on to the fabric

and chain stitched around the heart shape with some DK cotton yarn.

I cut out the triangle shapes and using a sewing machine, sewed on the crocheted edging

then glued some buttons on to the top corners of the triangle.

Crafty Catch Up

Today I'm sharing a few things that I have recently finished making. 

I began to crochet this blanket quite a while ago and after a quick look through my old posts I saw it was July 2013 (I didn't realise it was that long ago). I did start with the intention of it being a large blanket but it seems I got bored.

The blanket is made from 95 hexagons and measures approximately 31in x 42in.

I sewed some black fleece on to the back to tidy it up abit and for extra warmth.

The wool arrived to make the zig zag Hilda mitts from the Pretty Knitted Hands book.

The pattern was very easy to read and I'd finished them in a couple of days. I've been wearing them out ever since as it is still quite chilly here.

At the moment Little L loves to play on the tsum tsum game app so I made these Chip N Dale coasters inspired by the game.

For the pattern I used some free Disney colouring pages which I resized in Photoshop.

At the moment I'm in the process of dismantling some jute gift bags but I'm not sure what to use the fabric for yet.

Olympus Trip 35

The Olympus Trip 35 was I camera I had wanted for a while and was lucky enough to receive one as a gift last year. Both sets of our parents oohed and ahhed and reminisced about the TV ad's during the 70's. While looking for information about the camera I found there is a way to date it. Mine was built in July 1979 (as long as it is not refurbished using other camera parts that is). 

My first set of prints from the Olympus Trip came back this week and I'm delighted the camera is in working order. The film used Agfa Vista Plus 200 which I was purchasing from a pound shop (the shops no longer stock 35mm film, I'm down to my last 2 films)

All the photographs I got from the film were taken in Wycoller last August. 
The only trouble I had using the camera was when I came to rewind the film the rewind button stuck in. After a quick search online it seems there is a way to remedy this so that is something that I need to sort out. 
Besides the film rewind mishap, I think the Olympus Trip may be my new favourite camera to use.

Kodak Tele-Instamatic 330

I've started this year as I always mean to go on (yet never do) by sending off some films for developing. The first film was used in this Kodak Tele-Instamatic camera which Anders had purchased with the case for 99p.

The camera takes a 110 cartridge film which pops straight in to the camera. I chose to use redscale film as it was no more expensive than using a normal colour one. 

The effects can't be seen on some of the photographs so maybe it wasn't bright enough when I took them. Caleb commented that they just look like they have had an Instagram filter applied.

Some turned out OK though.

I'm not sure if I'll be in a hurry to use this camera again as the cost of developing a 110 cartridge is almost double that of a 35mm film.

Happy New Year

I know that it is a bit late but I hope that everyone had a great Christmas and New Year. Everything is almost back to the usual routine here. Little L has gone back to school today donning a not so great hairstyle. She decided to give herself a hair cut with her paper scissors on New Years Eve.

 I don't know what goes through her head sometimes. I wouldn't be so bad but she had only had her hair cut a few days before Christmas so there wasn't a lot there to begin with. I've straightened it up the best I can and I'll have to let it grow a bit until I take her back to the hairdressers.

Today I received a lovely surprise parcel, a book from a giveaway hosted on the Cut Out And Keep site. The book Pretty Knitted Hands features 27 designs of mittens, fingerless mitts and wrist warmers split in to seasons accordingly. The patterns have easy to follow charts. Also at the beginning of the book there is a section explaining different casting on and off techniques some of which I've never used before.

Not being a person to hang about I have ordered wool to start a pair. The pattern I have chosen to knit first is Hilda.

A couple of my other favourites from the book are the Ivy pattern

and Astrid.

A free pattern from the Pretty Knitted Hands book can be found here at Cut Out And Keep.