Attic24

Homespun Cushions

I have to tell you am deeply in love with this book [Homespun Style by Selina Lake], it really is one the most beautiful, uplifting, heart-skippy-happy books I have ever owned. The pages ooze creativity, inspiration and fun, and gosh I think the whole notion of Having Fun whilst creating a home is hugely underrated. There are too many books/blogs out there taking decorating and home styling way too seriously in my opinion. Too self conscious. Too hip and cool. This book is just a happy, colour filled, light hearted funfest and I love love love it.

I've already read the book cover to cover a fair few times, and have spent endless hours drowning myself in the images, absorbing the essence of these wonderful, quirky, happy homes. There is much I would like to say about this book and the homes featured in it, I think it's fair to say I'll be chatting more about it in the not too distant future.

One of the (many) things I particularly love about this book is the abundance of textiles. Almost every single page has some sort of delicious patterned fabric on it :: rugs, towels, wash cloths, duvets, sheets, pillowcases, homemade bags, curtains, blinds, crochet and knit blankets, quilts, seat covers, cushions......ahhh pure joy! I am passionate about colourful home textiles (blankets, tea towels and cushions send me into a spin of cosy feel good), and I really enjoy seeing how creative people layer these textile elements throughout their homes.

If like me you are a textile lover, you will adore this book.

Sometimes, on some of the pages, I found the huge array of patterns on the walls a little bit too much (I'm not a wallpaper fan). But generally speaking, so long as the walls are plain I really love to see a heap load of pattern in the soft furnishings. As you know, my own instinctive style is along these lines, I find the overall look really welcoming, laid back and cosy.

Some of the rooms featured in the book just have me with my tongue hanging out, honestly I drool quite a lot when I browse these pages. Luckily for readers like me, every image has it's own credit in the back pages of the book, allowing you to identify the creative genius behind the look. It's marvelous! You get to find out about all sorts of wondrous people living amazing creative lives in fabulously decorative homes. And it really makes you want to do all sorts of things to your own home, it is totally inspirational I'm telling you.

Two things I desperately wanted to do immediately after reading this book were to paint all my plain wooden furniture in bright colours and acquire more patterned fabric items. The latter idea would not leave me alone, and a month ago I found myself searching on Etsy for some fabric scraps. I had an idea that I wanted to make some cushions a bit in the style of Jane Foster, using a patchwork of brightly coloured retro/Scandinavian fabrics. I really have a soft spot for that style, and so imagine my delight when I came across my own vision already in creation! It was as if someone had looked into my mind, taken my patchwork idea and brought it to reality in exactly the way I had imagined.

Of course I could not resist, and the sweetest little 12 inch cushion came to live in the Attic......

Isn't it so perfectly me???!! I adore it. It was made by a lovely lady called Lisa and her Etsy shop is chockablock full of the most gorgeous creations, go take a little look at her shop Made by Lisa Jane.

I love the way the fabric patches are seemingly quite random in their placement, but the whole cushion is still really harmonious and lovely to look at.

This cushion of Lisa's is really lovely too, she describes it as "Bright Mod Florals". I like the bright fabrics, but more than anything I love the way she's added the extra detail :: the ribbons and ricrac look amazing with the fabric patches, I just adore the slightly over the top feel to it. It's exuberant and happy and fun, don't you think?

So. I already bought a little cushion, but I could not stop thinking about making my own patchwork creation. Actually I couldn't really justify buying fabric for this project, so I turned to my own modest collection of fabrics instead.

I had this idea that I could try something simple. I would combine equal width strips of fabrics.....

.....with some ribbons and trims, à la LisaJane. Yay!!! What fun I would have!

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!! See what I mean??? Yummy or what??!!

These are the strips and trims laid out on the floor after I'd had a little play, I can't tell you how excited I was at this point. Remember I was working at great speed whilst Little B took his nap, I was working my Window of Opportunity to the max. It was marvelous in a hectic kind of a way.

I managed to stitch the strips together yesterday evening in the 6-6.30pm slot. Happy happy.

This morning Little B was at playgroup and I had another one hour at my disposal. I had to use all my concentration as this sort of sewing does not come easy to me. Decorative sewing I find easy, but construction, not so easy. First of all I did what Lisa advised and backed my patchwork strips with a very fine iron on interfacing to strengthen the fabric.

I then cut out a same size square of backing fabric. Looking good!

Now for the scary zip part....deep breathing and deadly concentration here folks. I chose not to look on the internet for tutorials, chose to officially wing it.

I folded and pressed a 2.5 seam allowance on both edges (patchy front and floral back) which would go against the zip. Pinned the zip in place with the folded edges touching (I'm kind of going for a concealed zip type thingy, see?)

So far so good.

Zipper foot on, deep breath in and away I go.....a little bit wobbly (the pins kept getting caught up) but oooooooooooo I stitched in a zip!!!! I actually did it!!!

I made a bit of a booboo in the shop when I bought a too-short zip, so I ended up with a small gap at each end.

But overall, I am so incredibly chuffed with my zippy zippered cushion!!

I made this cushion cover for Connievan actually. It felt sooo good to pop the yucky brown tufty velvet beasty cushion inside of it's swish new ZIPpEreD cover and zip it SHUT (with a zip that zips, zippety zip, I made a zip!)

Connie's new cushion is delightfully plump and pretty.

See how pretty it turned out? I am in love with my homespun cushion.

But do you know what I forgot? Do you know what I forgot in all the excited zippety zip frenzy? I totally forgot to stitch on the Ribbons and Trims!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Arrrrgghhhhhh!!!!

Never mind, never mind, this sweet cushion is still making my heart flutter. And furthermore, I cut out a good many 2.5 inch strips cos Connievan has 2 cushions that need funky homespun covers. And so cushion number 2 will have it's ribbons and trims attached. And it'll have a full length zipper and (hopefully) un-wonky stitching too. I just need to make time to do it. I shall run Little B ragged at the playpark tomorrow morning and hope that he'll then take an extra long afternoon nap. Good plan. Bring it on.

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Tins and Tape

Just a quick posting today as I need to get back to my Most Important Tin Coverage Mission. Don't try and stop me, my Tins need me.

I wrote up the tutorial for you yesterday (find it HERE).....I know it's a very basic pattern an' all, and many of you don't actually need such a picture heavy tute for something this easy. But I LOVE the idea of using simple projects with simple words and a gazillion step-by-step pictures to enable Newbie Hookers.

I've had a few comments about Sharp Edges. Yes, those inner tin edges can be devilishly sharp I agree. I found that my tuna tins opened cleanly and evenly with my tin opener and there were no sharp jags at all. But the pineapple tin (pictured above) actually drew blood. So I used the back of a spoon to press down a few of the nasty, wicked metal jags, then covered the inner edge completely with some pretty deco tape I had in the cupboard. I bought this tape ages ago from DotComGiftShop, and at 50p per roll it was a bargain. You can find it here, and there are other slightly more expensive designs to choose from too.

Talking of pretty deco tape, I had a little search for some on Etsy and OH. MY. GOODNESS.

I found WASHI TAPE.

How dreamy is this stuff???!!!!

Why did nobody think to tell me about Washi Tape before?????

Seriously, it is unbelievably gorgeous and desirable. DIViNe. Smoochable.

The above pictures are from an Etsy Shop called Le Box Boutique, one of many, many shops on the internet selling this gorgeous stuff. I can feel a Potential Addiction coming on. 

Oooooooooooooo♥ooooooooooo Washi Tape Mini Bunting, you are SO in my future.

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Trees and Triangles

My memory really must be very bad indeed cos I honestly thought I had shared this with you a few weeks ago. But it turns out that no I didn't, I just imagined that I did. Dear oh dear, I do apologise. So thank you very much to those of you who gently reminded me you hadn't in fact seen inside the map-package (mentioned in this post), cos you are in for a treat.

Isn't Internet Shopping so easy these days? And such a huge temptation too! I partake in a lot of  Virtual Shopping, lots of browsing and oooohing and ahhhing but on the whole I try very hard to keep my actual purchasing to a minimum. We have quite a strict Financial Control Manager here at number 24 you know.  If I come across something that I really, really, really think I want/need/desire, I tend to step away from the computer, sleep on it a few days, then re-visit and test out the level of Genuine Wanties for whatever it is. I am very rarely an instantaneous buyer. Is this bonkers? Anyone else do this?

This is what happened with this particular purchase. I came across it by happy accident as I was searching for something entirely different at the time. I was on Flickr, looking for bunting inspiration. Which I found (more of that in a bit), and that then led me onwards to a new blog which happened to showcase some amazing artwork. Clickety click and I arrived at an Etsy shop where the aforementioned amazing artwork is for sale. Ooooooo, the wanties kicked in immediately. I really wanted/needed/desired this artwork in a BiG way. So I walked away from the computer, slept on it a few days, chatted to husband/friends about it, tried to gauge if these particular wanties were strong enough to give in to. Back to the computer screen, clickety-click and YeS, that overwhelming heart lurch and I was certain I had to go for it. It helped that the FC Manager had provisionally given this potential purchase The Nod.

Good-o, clickety-click then and it's done. And so I waited. I waited and waited. The Little People waited with me, for they found it incredible that a package would be arriving from the Upside-down side of the world and they were very excited at the prospect. It takes quite a few days for a package to travel from Australia to the UK, so we continued to wait, and one morning it finally arrived.

As you can see from the above picture, it arrived beautifully wrapped. We were (all three of us) very impressed by the map wrap, not to mention the delightful little paper crane. So thoughtful! So clever!

So do you want to see inside the Mappage?

Want to see what got my heart a-skipping?

OK, here it is...........................................

.........this is the sweet little card that accompanied my purchase................

.....and this is the purchase itself. What do you think? Isn't it just beeeeeaaaaauuuutiful???

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh deep sigh. I L♥VE it so much.

It's a print taken from an original artwork called "Backyard with Stars" by the super talented Loretta Grayson. What a creative whizz Rett is! Her crochet work is hugely inspiring, but it's her artwork that really blows me away. I was fascinated to read this post with step by step pictures showing how each artwork is created. It made me love my little print so much more once I got a feel for it's creation. So clever.

The colours in Rett's work are incredibly close to my own instinctive colour palette don't you think? You can see how beautifully it fits in around here...it's right at home in the Attic I can tell you.

I love seeing it propped up there on the mantel, but I do intend to have it framed soon so that I can hang it on the wall.

So if you'd like to see more of Rett's work, do pop along to her Etsy shop and be prepared for The Wanties to strike.

Anyhow, cute little Trees aside, lets talk Triangles now shall we?

The above photo shows Loretta's fabulous crochet work :: this amazing bunting is what caught my eye in the first place over in Flickrville.

You see, I decided to finally take down my Advent Star Garland in the New Year and it left behind it a big wide open empty gap. Even the Little People commented on how empty it looked without the garland there, and we decided between us that the space was in desperate need of Something Else to fill it. Triangle bunting, I thought, and off I went to Flickrville to search out some inspiration.

So I had in mind to make some crochet granny bunting (ie triangles worked in the round with holes in, as opposed to triangles worked in rows without holes)...lots of patterns around and about in Blogland for this sort of thing.

The pattern that I fell in love with is to be found on Alice's blog Crochet with Raymond. What a gem of a blog this is, do go and have a rootle around at Alice's place if you don't already know it, it's a true delight. Her granny bunting is sooooooo pretty (that's her picture above) :: the dinky little picot edging and sweet little pointy bit at the bottom really captured my heart.

She's written up a super pattern for her bunting and it is all yours for free if you should want it...go here to find it.

I started working on my own bunting way back in early January, turning to my trusty stash of Rowan Handknit cotton. I switched down to a 3.5mm hook, and have to say am very happy with the results. I've not blocked them yet so they look a little bit wibbly and roundy still, but they are very sweet indeed.

I'm making mine very slightly different to Alice's original pattern in that I'm making the picot edging round in a different colour to the last granny round and also working an extra row along the top of the triangle.

I reckon I'm going to need twenty triangles in total to fill my very wide archway......only done four so far. Cos I got sidetracked by the Japanese Flower Scarf (almost finished!!!!!!!!), and then that in turn got tossed aside for a wee while when I needed to steam ahead with the Secret Project (very finished!!!!!!!).

More of Scarves and Secrets coming soon I promise. Although do feel free to (gently) remind me if I forget to remember to show you. You know, if I imagine that I did but in reality forget completely. Thank you. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

Housey-housey

Hello!
A very housey-housey post today as I seem to be going through something of an obsession with little houses at the moment. It is nothing new, I have loved housey imagery for a long, long time, and can't see it ever diminishing much. I just adore the heap of emotion that comes flooding in when my whirly-gig brain processes an image of a row of cute little houses.

Thinking about it now, I do seem to have many of these little passions, things that for me seem to have such a lot of feeling attached to them. Too numerous to mention, but I expect you could hazard a guess as most of these passions of mine tend to feature in my daily blogging.  It's the stuff of domestic family life, the stuff that makes me feel glad to be me, the stuff that gives me this emotional heart-skippy and happy jumpity feeling.
Pictures of little houses fall firmly into the heart-skippy category :: they make me feel safe and cosy and homely and glad for my own home life. I think that sort of explains it.

These first two images are "New Home" greeting cards that I found in my card stash a few days ago. I had quite forgotten I had bought them, I think they came from Marks and Spencers.  Of course I wouldn't dream of sending them to anyone, they will eventually become part of my big Inspiration Wall which one day I intend to create and share with you. For now, they are propped up near my sewing machine in the Attic, looking all cute and sweet, making me smile.

Its been quite a week for me, this one. After I made the stitched postcard for the Houseyversary giveaway (yes, it IS that day, but naughty me I am making you w.a.i.t), I realised that the time was right to be doing more with my skills. Making more. Sharing more. Achieving more. That I could talk about it and write about it and think about it and plan it, but really I should be getting on and actually doing it.
It was your comments and response to my little houses that have tipped the balance for me, and I cannot begin to think how to thank you. Each and every comment that came in on last Fridays post has made me so happy.
I had been pondering an Etsy shop for a while now, but had not quite had the confidence to do it. And now, thanks to you all, I think the time is right for me to give it a go. Katy, you in particular have helped make this happen for me, and I am sooperly-dooperly grateful for that.

So this week has seen me beetle about ordering supplies and materials and taking the first little baby steps towards setting-up-shop. Such fun!! As you probably know if you popped up to the Attic yesterday, I have been stitching a banner to head up my little shop :: I finished it last night, and am SO HAPPY to be sharing it with you! I think it's one of the best things I've ever made, and there is so much happiness and love and hope in every stitch.
The above image is how it was yesterday morning when I'd finished doing all the cutting and piecing and machine stitching, but before I started any of the hand embroidery. It's kind of like a lady without her makeup and jewellery on. She is there and dressed, but not yet ready for the party.

I really love how the hand embroidery brings the whole thing to life. When I'm designing a piece of work, I pretty much know from the outset how the hand embroidery is going to work. I cut little flower pots just so that I can hand stitch miniature flowers to fill them. I cut little windows which cry out for hand finished window frames.

You can click on these images to pop them up in a larger window if you like, to see the stitches. I love that you can do that, I always do it when I blog-read, I like to get right into the images and see every little last detail.

I drew the picture of the hill exactly as I see it out of my Attic Window. I had great fun stitching it whilst actually sitting in my window seat looking at the real thing (even though the real thing was/is white with snow)

And this is the finished banner. It had to measure just right to fit the rectangle needed for Etsy, so it's very long and thin, measuring 59cm x 8cm. And quite simply I love it.

But do you know what the nicest thing is about all of this? That my family also love it too. That they are proud of what I am trying to do and appreciate that I am attempting to begin working again. The Little People have been very curious to see me sit and stitch, and I have explained to them what I am doing. Little man even said to me this morning that he was very glad that I would be "starting a business", although he didn't elaborate on why exactly.

So my banner is made and hanging above my shop ready and waiting, and all I need to do now is work like the clappers and produce some colourful stitchy goodness to put on the virtual shelves. I hope that this will be in about a weeks time, depending on how clappery I can work.

Right then, finally lets stop talking Shop and start talking Gifts, shall we?
I have to be honest here and say I was/am astounded by the number of comments that have come in for this giveaway. Really, I have been bowled over by it all. It has been an absolute delight to read all your housey tales, has given me so very very much pleasure. And I think the overwhelming feeling that has come from this is how really the fabric of a place does not matter so long as there is love and happiness and warmth within the walls. That HOME matters so very much more than HOUSE. I truly wish I could make something for you all as a thankyou, but today there is just one winner.

There were 147 comments when I looked this morning.
And sorry, but I couldn't face writing out one hundred and forty seven slips of paper to put into a hat.
So instead I used the marvelous computery jiggery-pokery that is the Random Number Generator to select the number....

....and it's number 76.

Number 76, the 76th comment on my houseyversary post belongs to Tracy of Cupcakes at Home. Well done Tracy, I hope it will go some way towards brightening up your days. I'll be sending you an email to get your address, cos don't think I can put "almost as far north as you can be" on the envelope.

Incidentally, Little Lady (age 4) drew me this picture of a house and garden yesterday, specifically for my "compy-tition". That is me in the picture, wearing high heels, doing a little jig and looking quite funky.

Have a great weekend you all, see you next week
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