Never Forget

An Etsy treasury celebrating Remembrance Day.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young.

Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.

They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,

They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;

They sit no more at familiar tables of home;

They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;

They sleep beyond England's foam

A custom request

I thought you might like to see what I have been working on today.  It is an appliqued cat cushion.  It is a custom order.  I don't often do custom orders and when I do, I find that I often don't enjoy them.   This one though is turning out to be fun.

It is for a lady in Lancashire who recently purchased my applique owl cushion.  She was so pleased with it that she asked if I could do her a similar thing only with a cat.  It is for a Christmas present.

This is the owl cushion that she was so pleased with.

She has left all elements of the cat cushion up to me including the colour choice.  I am not great at drawing so my cat is very basic and "stylised" not an exact replica!  The design elements of the cushion are the same.  An appliqued central panel with a patterned border, then a border of patchwork rectangles and eventually another border, probably plain.

This is how it looks so far.

Clearly it is a work in progress. The cat is not finished yet.  He will have eyes, nose and embroidered whiskers. Not sure how I will do the eyes.  I am thinking of adding a tiny mouse.  

What do you think?  I am quite pleased with  it.  I'll post another photo once it is complete.

Crafty Creatives

Just received my very first subscription, Craft Box from Crafty Creatives. And I am so excited to open it.  It is a whole new concept for me.

I first heard about Crafty Creatives on Claireabelle's blog. Claire has been a subscriber more or less from the beginning and she often shares her makes from the Crafty box.  After reading her blog I decided I had to sign up. 

To explain further.......  Crafty Creatives is run by 2 sisters, Claire and Isobel. They offer something pretty unique; a craft box sent to your door every month, full of surprise craft supply items. It costs just a tenner and £2.95 for P&P!

So what was in it?! And what is my initial opinion?  My first box is actually box 16 and it is based around a Victorian circus theme.  It contains the following:

·         Art Card by Luke spooner. Carrion House

·         CC Kit: Kitsch animal pendant

·         4 stripey buttons

·         circus stamp tin

·         strand of purple glass beads

·         3 mask pendants/charms

·         Admission tickets- I got red and orange!

·         2 double-sided craft papers

·         Materials for extra coaster kit including:

o        two plain coaster

o       sheet of tattoos (I got dragons)

o       reversed circus images

o       Stix2 PVA glue

To be honest I wasn't totally blown away by this box, but I think that is just because the theme is not really my kind of thing. I’m a girly girl and I lean towards the cutesy spectrum in most things.  This is a bit too dark for me.  However I do have some ideas of things to do with it and I will make the elephant necklace.  I am sure someone will like him.  (NB.  You can return a box in unused condition should it not be for you.)

 Even though the kit wasn't really 'me' I am far from disappointed. In my opinion this subscription box is fantastic value for money and a nice little treat to myself. It contains quality supplies, which are wrapped and presented really well. It feels like this is a company that really cares. I will be looking forward to box 17 and also hope to lay my hands on the one off Christmas special.

Hopefully in the next few weeks I can show you what I made from my box.

Fabrilushus - Shop of the week

Yes, it is my turn.  This week Fabrilushus is the Craft Britannia "Shop of the week".  The article below is taken from the Craft Britannia team blog. Find the team here: TEAMCB

This week we talk to Jilly, whose shop, Fabrilushus is our current CraftBritannia Shop of the Week , where you will find fabric accessories and home décor.

Describe your “typical” working day or week

I am a home body, so my days do tend to be pretty much the same. I start the day with breakfast in bed. which OH brings to me before he leaves for work. Yes, I know I am spoiled! Once up and dressed, I play with my dogs in the garden before getting all the boring housework stuff out of the way. If I am well motivated I can be done by about 11.30am. That is when I begin the serious business of sewing. I never eat lunch, so I have a good 5 hours before I have to think about cooking dinner.

SET OF 3 BABY BURP CLOTHS BY FABRILUSHUS

When you are not doing Etsy related things, what are you doing?

Well, 2 days a week I look after my 2 year old granddaughter. It is great fun, but tiring! At weekends I can be found at the Three Counties Dog Rescue, where I am a volunteer. Dogs are my passion 

What was the first piece you ever sold?

It was one of my hip pouches in a lovely dog design fabric. It went to a lady in Texas who was so pleased with it she ordered another one in the same fabric!

What advice would you give someone taking up your craft for the first time?

Well the lady who taught me to sew used to say “measure twice, cut once”. My advice would be “measure at least 6 times, cross everything, say a little prayer and hope for the best”! Seriously, I have lost count of how many times I have messed up because I have not checked my measurements.

COT QUILT PLAY MAT BY FABRILUSHUS

What material do you most enjoy working with?

That’s easy! 100% cotton, quilting weight. It is so much easier to work with and always looks good.

If you could try a new craft, what would it be?

How to answer this? I want to try everything! Over the summer holidays I have been working on a large mosaic for my garden. It is a memorial piece for my Mum and contains a pewter heart made by Louise of Loutul. I am very pleased with how it is going as it is my first try. If I had more hours in a day I would like to learn to crochet and knit properly.

Which piece of equipment would you be helpless without?

Actually I could manage without most of my equipment, but what a pain that would be. I was going to say my sewing machine but I can sew by hand so I am going to choose my rotary cutter. I do have scissors of course, but it is so much faster with my cutter.

HANDMADE VW CAMPER VAN CUSHION BY FABRILUSHUS

Tell us about what inspires and motivates you

I was motivated to start last year when I realised that the dog rescue did not have any kind of craft stall at its annual open day – dog show. I vowed to change that for this year by doing it myself and I have done that. I am inspired by all the gorgeous fabrics in my stash. A fabric kind of tells me what it wants to be. Ok, now I sound totally crazy!

Tell us about one handmade item that you own and love

We are a very creative family and I have lots of things which I treasure made by my husband and my children. A particular favourite is a wooden jewellery box made for me by my eldest son when he was doing his apprenticeship. That was 17 years ago. He is a carpenter now.

What plans do you have for your shop in the future?

This is a hard one as I like making so many different things. I’m not sure that I have really decided on a direction. At the moment, I have been making doggie bandanas and also dog leads. I am currently perfecting them and have been wondering about possibly going in that direction and making dog related items my focus.

Thank you Jilly! We love your passion for dogs and look forward to seeing your new range in your lovely shop!
Follow Jilly’s social media here:
Facebook: @Fabrilushus, Pinterest: jilly_sansum, Twitter @DalmatianMum, Tumblr: Fabrilushus and her blog:fabrilushus.blogspot.co.uk

Jilly was talking to Nadine of imyinda and MuntjacVintage. Edited & published by Erika of ErikaPrice and Blucha jewellery

Craft Britannia shop of the week - DyfalDonc

You may recall when I started my blog that one of my intentions was to promote the Craft Britannia, or team CB as we like to be known, shop of the week.  Each week a new team member is chosen and we all do our best to promote them wherever we can.   This week it is the turn of Morgan and Rebecca and their shop is:  DyfalDonc 

DyfalDonc specialises in unique, eco-friendly greetings cards in Welsh and English. They also sell ephemera jewellery, and home wares and everything is handmade by them in Wales.

"Our designs are quirky, colourful and at times filled with silly boy humour!!"

Sounds good?  Here are some of the items you will find in the shop.

To find out more about DyfalDonc check out their about page here: http://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/DyfalDonc/about?ref=announce

Here are some links where you can find out more and see all the goodies for sale.

www.dyfaldonc.com
www.facebook.com/dyfaldonc
www.twitter.com/dyfaldonc
Instagram: DyfalDonc

And lastly for those of you that may have been wondering..... DyfalDonc comes from the Welsh saying "dyfal donc a dyr y garreg" which translates ( roughly ) as "a steady tapping breaks the stone". 

Vintage and handmade

Yesterday, I mentioned a post that never got posted.  Well here it is.  This is what I had said, my thoughts on selling vintage alongside handmade. I have removed the previous shop that was being promoted and instead included some links to some lovely vintage shops.  I hope you enjoy browsing.

"I think most people by now have heard of Etsy.  It is bigger and more popular in the USA but still very well known here in the UK. It is known particularly for its handmade arts and crafts.  If you were to ask an average person in the street what do you know about Etsy or what does Etsy sell they would say handmade crafts.

So did you know that Etsy also sell vintage items?  Well they do. To be honest, I find it odd.  The marriage of vintage goods with handcrafted items does not sit well for me.   They do not seem to go together from a selling point of view. Before I started selling on Etsy I would never have thought of it as a place to look for vintage goods. But I am discovering some lovely ones."

Here are the links to some of my Craft Britannia teamies shops. 

Willows Room: For vintage fashion especially childrens.

  

Muntjac Vintage: For lovely housewares.  

Sophies Cupboard: For wonderful china.

Collective MiX: Clothing and vintage knitting patterns.  http://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/CollectiveMiX?  8ForHeaven: For jewellery and more.  http://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/8ForHeaven  I would really like to hear your thoughts about selling both vintage and handmade goods together in the same place.  Do you think it works?  Do you think the two go together? Please add any thoughts in the comments.

Jilly

Poor neglected blog

Oh dear my Fabrilushus blog has been very neglected. I had such good intentions when I began and I started out well.  I was doing posts on various suppliers that I love, Craft Britannia "shop of the week" and some features on other Etsy sellers.

Actually it is that last one that caused me to stop.  I asked on Twitter one day if anybody fancied being featured on my blog.  I was approached by a lady who sells some handmade stuff and some vintage stuff. I wrote a very nice article for her with a good number of photos show casing her shop.

In my article I spoke about how I personally find it a little odd that Etsy sells both handmade items and vintage items. To me the two things seem to be an awkward marriage.  I fail to see how vintage bits and bobs has anything to do with handmade items.

I sent my blog post to this lady to read and proof check. I had put a lot of time and effort into it. Sadly she didn't like what I had said regarding my thoughts on selling vintage alongside handmade and she got very stroppy.  Quite unpleasant in fact.

Now, I could have gone ahead and posted that blog anyway minus her photos of course.  I chose not to as I thought she could become nasty. However having put so much effort in to try and promote her I felt thoroughly deflated and frankly I couldn't be bothered.

Now, I wish I had of posted it anyway.  I shouldn't let one stroppy madam put me off. I didn't say anything negative and praised her highly. I just aired my opinion. Actually, I still stick by that opinion.

Anyway, time has passed and I want to resume activities here at Fabrilushus and I am annoyed with myself that I let one silly woman put me off of posting on my own blog.

SO.........Fabrilushus the blog is now back in action.  I will be posting all kinds of things that I hope will appeal to you. I will resume with "shop of the week", recommended suppliers, tutorials, videos and much more.  Even the occasional interview.

If you would like me to show case you then please let me know.

Here is to happy days ahead and many pink cupcakes.

Jilly