Glitter is for life

I love you more than jammy dodgers

I have decided that glitter isn't just for Christmas! I bought some fabulous glitter fabric from Paper and String to use at Christmas, and it was so lovely to use that I have carried on!
This fabric is easy to cut, doesn't fray and just looks so good! To be honest I haven't tried it in my sewing machine yet though.

brooch or keyring

With Valentines day coming up, I used the glitter fabric to revamp my 'I love you more than jammy dodgers' range, and I am really pleased with the results!

Handmade Love



Mug Hugs

 An early Festive Friday for Valentine's Day, and to give you time to make. A felt mug hug.
I actually made two - one for Valentines and then Pickle-Lily said 'How about a Mothering Sunday?' one?

Mug Hugs

These are very simple to make.
My mugs came from Sainsburys - they are special offer at the moment, less than 50p each! I chose them as they had straight sides, rather than curved. To start with, make a paper pattern, by measuring from the base to just below the top part of the handle. I made my hug a bit short so I didn't get a mouthful of felt as I drank. Cut out the rectangle from a piece of paper - it will be too long and overwrap. Then wrap that rectangle around your mug, marking on the paper where the short edge 'joins' to make a complete cylinder. Or, measure the circumference of your mug and mark that onto your rectangle. Add on a tab section at the top of the rectangle. I hoping the picture will explain!

Make a paper pattern

Next, cut out two pieces of felt using this pattern, and embellish one. For the letters I used some wooden letters I already have as template. In the olden days, I used to draw round paper letters, cut them out, mount them and then re-cut to uses as labels for displays at school. Now you can just print them off! A good font to use is vag rounded for this style. I then stitched them into place.
Stitch the two felt pieces together to make a sandwich.

Finally, wrap the hug around the mug and mark where the button will go to hold it in place. Cut a buttonhole through the felt and stitch the edge to neaten, being felt don't worry about fraying . You can put the buttonhole in the tab or the main part, depending on which fits best with your design.
These could be made for any occasion - Father's Day, an apple for the teacher or just put a name on.
And of course you can fill the mug with chocolate hearts, marshmallows, teabags, homemade shortbread ....
Enjoy x

a BIG thank-you

Valentine Owl

I want to start with a BIG thank-you to all you lovely bloggers out there who commented on my Railway Children post , with 15 comments and my post and facebook post that should be £34 donated to the charity!
I also need to apologise for not being round much, but as you may remember I was on jury service last week (and this week coming), and I was fairly incommunicado. The good new is I took my small pair of wooden knitting needles in, so I could knit when I was in the waiting room. I'm also hoping to try and visit all the lovely blogs on this week's Handmade Monday and see what everyone has been up to.
My 'Ta-dah!' this week is Valentine Owl. I had this idea buzzing around in my head, so early one morning I had to do something about it! It involved me drawing lots of lines on a page from an old exercise book, and then counting and rubbing out, and redrawing and knitting and then re-knitting, until Valentine was finished. I'm really pleased with him, and when Pickle-Lily went 'aww' I knew it had worked!
Have a good week!

Felted Hearts

Felted heart key rings

I'm not sure if I have already told you, but my lovely sisters-in-law gave me some needle felting kit for Christmas. I already wet felt (but that tends to a warm weather activity outside, with all the soapy water used) and machine wash felt, but wanted to have a go at needle felting. I have already got the traditional needle, but to be honest the barbs are just daring me to stick my fingers in them, so for Christmas I was given a Clover brush and five needle pen. I also indulged myself in the Hobbycraft sale and bought a couple of moulds and a needle pen.
So this is the Pickle-Lily beginners - teach-it-yourself guide to felting hearts! I can not say if this is the correct way to do this, as I have been teaching myself, but I am very pleased with the end result!






Place the mold on top of a normal piece of paper on the brush.

Fill the mold with short sections of fluffed out merino tops.

Punch the tops using the pen through the paper.

This is what the reverse of the paper will look like.

Carefully remove the heart, turn it over and repeat the process on the other side, still placing the paper between the brush and the heart.

The finished hearts.

I then attached them to some normal wool mix felt to make the key rings ready for Valentines Day or Mothering Sunday.

I'm now off to order a book from the library to see if I'm doing it right!