Spinning Streak.

As you all know I recently tested a knitting pattern for fingerless mittens for Sue of  Spinning Streak.  Sue is a fellow team member on the Etsy Craft Britannia team.   This is a little bit about her from her shop page.

"I belong to the Guild of Weavers Spinners and Dyers and have been spinning away for over 15 years. I live partly in England in a city by the sea and partly in rural France, so plenty of inspiration for colours! I love the surprise element of dyeing - I tend to use professional quality acid dyes in England and a wide range of natural plant material in France."

 Not only does she spin and dye her own wool but she makes lots of gorgeous woolly things.  You can check out Spinning Streak by clicking on the link.

To give you a little taster of the gorgeousness, here are a few of my favourite items from the shop.

The wool.

Beautiful hand knitted garments for everyone. 

Please do go and check it all out for yourself and remember that very soon there will be kits so that you can make your own mittens from the pattern that I tested.  If I can make them anyone can!

Spinning Streak.

Jilly @ Fabrilushus

A custom order completed.

Evening all.  How are you?  I am recovering from dental surgery this evening.  I had to have a back, upper tooth removed due to a nasty abscess. I had it done under intravenous sedation so I am still suffering from a bit of brain fog!

I have several blogs half written and a few in the planning stage but I need something relatively easy tonight so I thought I would show you my completed applique cat cushion.  It was a custom order for a lady who had already purchase an owl cushion from me.  I showed you a photo of it in the early stages.

Here it is completed.  My customer was delighted with it.

 

I do enjoy making cushion covers and they are one of my items that seems to be doing better.  My top best selling items are, in order:

1. Wire, heart hangers for quilts and wall hangings.
2. Hip pouches or bum bags or fanny packs, seems to go by different names depending where on the globe you are!
3. Cushion covers.
4. Tote bags.

I am wondering about making changes to Fabrilushus in the new year to reflect what seems to be selling best for me.  We shall see.

I have just sold My lovely red Dalmatian cushion.

Sold 3 hip pouches this week too.  This one is a custom order from a friend of my daughter.

I have just listed this new one but I need to take better photos.

Lastly, we received a custom order for a Christmas tree hanger and this is what we come up with.  The photo needs urgently redoing but it has already sold a 2nd one.

Speaking of the need for better photos, I am in the market for a new one so any suggestions or advice will be gratefully received.  I don't want anything too complicated.  I am thinking of a bridge camera maybe?

 Jilly @ Fabrilushus

Jarg0n

Do you every fancy treating yourself to something nice?  It is rare that the urge comes upon me and when it does I quite often get something practical.  A couple of weeks back I decided it was time to treat myself.  I fancied a new scarf.  I knew exactly where to look too.

Dawn of Jarg0n is one of my Craft Britannia team mates on Etsy and I have been lusting after one of her 50’s style scarves for ages.  I have lost count of how often I have looked through her shop trying to decide on my favourite ones.

In the event Dawn actually did me a special custom order in a beautiful blue and purple fleck wool.   Having got my scarf sorted I decided that while I was at it I may as well go the whole hog and have matching fingerless gloves and a matching bow, head band. 

Dawn got on to it straight away and I was amazed at just how quickly she had them finished and in the post.   I couldn’t wait.  When the parcel came a few days later I was absolutely delighted.  The whole set is just gorgeous; beautifully made and gloriously soft.  I am going to be warm and cosy this winter as well as looking very glam.

You want to see them now don’t you?  Well here they are.  Aren’t they lovely?

Ok, Now I’m going to model them for you.  I am afraid that I don’t really do them justice.

If you like my new winter woollies why not have a look in Dawns shop.  She has lots of lovely handknitted goodies. In addtion to gorgeous winter wear Dawn also makes lovely tea cosies and gorgeous children’s toys as well as other items.   As an added bonus Dawn has free shipping until the end of December.

Here is a little taster of more of Dawn’s gorgeous goodies.

 

 

 

I hope this has inspired you to take a look at Dawn’s gorgeous shop Jarg0n.

Jilly @ Fabrilushus

Craft Britannia shop of the week - Feather And Sixpence

It's Sunday so that means the Craft Britannia team have just announced the new shop of the week.  Before I go any further I just want to say a BIG thank you to Nadine and Erika who put everything together and make it all possible.  BIG thank you's also to everyone who promoted my shop Fabrilushus over the last week.

This week it is the turn of a shop called Feather and Sixpence which is run by May who lives in the city of Bath.  There must be so much inspiration right there. In fact here is a watercolour painting showing some of Bath's Georgian architecture.

May sells a colourful array of quirky illustrations, children's art, modern paintings, abstract art, watercolour paintings, illustrations, wall art, art for the home, affordable art and beautiful, unique, original gifts.   You can visit her shop here but the following photos should give you a good idea of the kinds of things you will find.

 You can read more about May and Feather and Sixpence on the Craft Britannia team blog here.

Also on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/F-e-a-t-h-e-r-s-i-x-p-e-n-c-e

And Twitter: https://twitter.com/FeatherSixpence

Jilly @ Fabrilushus

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

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

Mad Mum Knits

Good morning.  Hope that where ever you are and what ever you are doing you are having a great time.

Today's post is about a fellow Craft Britannia team member called Liz.  Liz knits.  That is not her name it is what she does!  LOL.  She runs an Etsy shop called "Mad Mum Knits".

I wish I could knit. Well, knit complicated, gorgeous stuff anyway.  I can do plain and purl stitches but nothing fancy. In my entire life I think I have knitted just 7 things.  My first was a jumper for Simon when I first knew him.  It was very basic and if I remember correctly it came out quite large! I never got the hang of holding the needles properly. I have the right hand needle propped up vertically in my lap and use the left hand one to kind of knit around it.  The right needle never moves.   Normally both needles would be sticking out and both moving.

It's odd really that I never learnt properly.  I grew up in a house where everything was hand knitted.  My Mum was never without her knitting.  My sister is an excellent knitter.   I probably could do better if only I had the time to give it another go.  For now, if I want hand knitted then I have to go to someone who can do it properly.

Liz can most definitely do it properly!

Liz lives in Cornwall and not only does she knit tea cosies, gloves, scarves and household accessories but she designs patterns too.  Now that is a talent I really admire.  It is one thing to follow a pattern but to be able to write one is pretty clever.

Here are some examples of some of Liz's current stock. All items are of course for sale just click HERE.

At Craft Britannia we like to start our Christmas preparations early.  Yes, I did say Christmas!  Etsy actually run a Christmas in July promotion!  Really!

Liz has been very busy the last few weeks designing her own range of knitted Christmas tree decorations. How cool is that?  She assures me that they are easy enough to do.

Aren't they just so cute?  All of the above can be purchased from Liz's shop "Mad Mum Knits".  Just click on the link.

You can also find Liz here:
Facebook: http://www.etsy.com/uk/people/madmumknits
Twitter: https://twitter.com/madmumknits1

Jilly

The Navigatrix

Oh dear.  I haven't managed to update my blog for a few weeks.  That isn't good when I am supposedly trying to get it off the ground.

I have a few excuses.

1.  Last week was the school half term break and that meant my husband was at home.
2. We had my Dad staying with us.
3. We both had stinking colds which are still lingering.
4. We had very bad news regarding our dog Alfie.

All valid excuses I am sure you will agree.

Anyway.  For today's post I would like to promote another Etsy shop.  The shop is called The Navigatrix and it is run by Sally-Ann.  I found Sally-Ann via Twitter on something called the UK Etsy Hour.  (I'll do another post about that).

The Navigatrix which you can find by clicking here sells upcycled Steampunk fashion, jewellery and accessories. I have only recently come across the term "Steampunk" and when I did I had to Google it!   This is the definition that I first found: Hmmm.. OK!

" sub genre of science fiction and fantasy that includes social or technological aspects of the 19th century (the steam) usually with some deconstruction of, reimagining of, or rebellion against parts of it (the punk). "

Hmmm......OK! To try and explain better and in the context of arts and crafts, I would say that Steampunk is anything made from old, recycled mechanical bits and pieces!  Is that right Sally-Ann?

To give you some idea I shall show you some lovely examples which you can purchase from The Navigatrix.

Aren't they all just lovely? If you would like to know more about Sally-Ann and how it all began then you can read about it here.

Jilly