Latest Makes

Hello all,

Hope you are enjoying your summer so far - this is my favourite time of year, not only as I love the sun but I was born in August too so BIRTHDAY! Woop.

This blog is mostly picture heavy as I expect the items I have been making to be pretty self explanatory, but I'll point out a few things. Enjoy. :)

Some more Tea Cup Pin Cushions

New materials used for the Mobile 'Phone Cases with Earphone Pockets

Christmas Bunting (I know) in Large Size, Double Sided, 8' Long

Christmas Bunting in Small Size, Double Sided, 4' 6" Long

A new style of Freehand Machine Embroidery Denim Purses

Cute Freehand Machine Embroidery Denim Pencil Cases

The next batch of Freehand Machine Embroidery Greetings Cards - always a popular choice

A Throw Cushion made using gorgeous Hemp and Linen Materials (made a while ago, just not photographed)

My Freehand Machine Embroidery Bottle Bags - such a good idea! (If I do say so myself)

My newest line of items - these are Cross Stitch Needle Cases, this one Pink and Red Ladybird theme

And this one is my Blue and Grey Butterfly Theme

These last two items I have to tell you about. There is a little company called Jammy Codgers who are two friends that work together making and retailing many kinds of jams, chutneys and pickles (that are delicious I might add) and who regularly attend the Bakewell Town Hall Craft Fairs I often tell you about. Well, Sue, one of the two, was making a quilt for a grandchild but never got around to finishing it - using an array of Cross Stitch patches. Now, as she doesn't have a use for them any more, she decided to give them to me to see if I can use them! How lovely! There are loads....and a bag full of other items too. So, the first thing I made were these two Needle Cases and I simply love them. PLUS, Iris, another Bakewell visitor, also had a huge bag of ribbons she no longer needed and she gave them to me - on the same day. How lucky am I?!! Needless to say, ribbons were also used to make these two and there will be many more...

I posted these onto Instagram yesterday and today, the pink one sold! Wow. Very pleased. So, I only have one now but I will make more.

That's all for today, I hope you like my items, they will be at my regular craft fairs or if you are interested in anything, please get in contact. This is my Instagram account and here is my Facebook page. I love you to follow me!

Thanks for reading,
Julie.

(C) FMN Crafts 2016.

Christmas Items!

Good evening all,

I have been working hard, in preparation for my three days fair this weekend (details later), and I wanted to show you a few new makes. First up:

Click the photos to make them bigger

These are my Christmas Notice Boards! They are made using circles of cork, covered carefully using fabulous Christmas materials then 'hooked' and 'backed' ready for use. They look great against a wall and would make a lovely addition to your kitchen or lounge over the festive season. They could also be used as place mats if you like...

Next up:

The picture may not do it justice as it was later in the day that I took the photo, but it is another design in my line of Christmas mugs! This has a line running around the base of the mug with mini pictures of items relating to the festive season. I think it's really cute, what do you think? Just imagine it filled with steaming hot chocolate, topped with mini marshmallows. Mmm...

Thirds:

This is a new style of Freehand Machine Embroidery (FME) cards in a Christmas design - I also have stockings, puddings, stars and baubles on the go, but they will come when there are 25 hours in a day! This is a batch of FME Christmas Tree cards that I enjoyed making, in a rustic, country feel and I would love to receive one of these myself! An advantage of purchasing or receiving one of these cards is that they can be framed afterwards as they are little pieces of art...

And finally for today, a little teaser...

Not exactly on the Christmas theme, but these Button and Bead Earrings would make a lovely Christmas gift. I tried them as a little experiment and I actually quite like them and boy, the more I think about them, the more kinds I am thinking of making! As they say, watch this space :)

And as mentioned earlier, I am at the Bakewell Town Hall, this Saturday to Monday at a Craft & Gift Fair and it would be great if you could pop along and say hi. Now we are getting closer to Christmas, items listed here will be available (while stocks last) and there promises to be some great stalls with fab items, so go on, shop different this year, shop local, shop hand made and support the smaller businesses.

Thanks for reading, leave a comment if you wish or 'pass me on'.

Julie.
(C) FMN Crafts 2015

New Items and a Giddy Moment...

Hi all,

For today's post I would like to show you a few new items (there's never a dull moment here), first up is a small batch of Freehand Machine Embroidery Cards that I took to the fair last weekend:

Whenever I put these out at the fairs they go almost straight away (which of course is good!) but I can pretty much guarantee I will not go home with many... Those of you who are eagle-eyed will notice there are some similarities to ones I have made before, but you may also notice there are some slight changes in style and colours materials/used, due to natural evolution of skills and experience in making items...

The next thing to show you are these:

These are really cute little Linen Coin Purses! They have two different sides to each purse, a cute little zip and a cream lining and a snazzy little string pull. Even though they are really small, they pack a punch in the content they hold! These will be going out at my next fair.

And my third items today:

My Freehand Machine Embroidery Denim and Firm Linen Purses. These are slightly different to the ones I made last time in that they have a different front to their back, so it makes them even more interesting. I love the little birds design and the materials are so hard wearing, adding to durability. They look cute too and you can get LOADS in them. I made one a while ago for myself and boy, does it take some abuse! I am not a pretty handbag type of girl - in that the exterior will be lovely, but inside? Jeez. My Mum often comments on the amount of unnecessary stuff items I carry in my bag and asks how it all fits, so my purse does get bashed around a bit, but it still looks like new :)

And finally for today, I tweeted about my Freehand Machine Embroidery Bakewell Pudding Shop framed piece of art recently and the Bakewell Pudding Shop themselves picked it up; here's a screen shot:

Teehee! I was made up! I am so proud...

And on that note, I'll sign off, until the next time :D

Julie.
(C) FMN Crafts 2015

Final Post This Week: Bakewell and New Items

Evening all,

For the last post of this week I would like to show you a couple of things, but before that details of my fair as mentioned in the earlier post.

I am at the Bakewell Town Hall tomorrow and Sunday from 10am to 4.30pm for a Craft and Gift Fair, organised by Dawn of Craftwise Art and Craft Markets.

The Craftwise Art & Craft Markets have been held regularly in Bakewell Town Hall since 2002, they are held in the downstairs room and admission is free.

There are a range of quality gifts available including handmade cards, knitted baby clothes, wrapped gifts, fabric crafts, a variety of different styles of jewellery, art work, photography and others - it sure is a great fair to visit and I for one am looking forward to it.

OK, so just a couple of things to show you that i have managed to make before tomorrow, firstly these:

 
You will recognise the new style rabbit from the previous post but I have also tweaked some of the others, either in design or materials used. These are part of my selection of Freehand Machine Embroidery Cards which I think are little pieces of art in themselves.

 

Plus, they can be framed after standing on the shelf or fireplace and hung on a wall :)

And finally for the week, this:

This is a Freehand Machine Embroidery Bunting Door Stop. It is made using sturdy denim and hard wearing linen, it has a webbing strap handle and is decorated in cute little bunting pieces. It is filled with sand, stones and padding and holds open a door just as it should. I like this. :D 

Click to enlarge

As you would expect, this will be going with me the the fair tomorrow.

If you feel like a day out, please go to Bakewell in the lovely Peak District, it is a fabulous little town that has all you need - including our craft fair! You will not be disappointed. 

Thank you for reading, please leave a comment if you wish.

Julie.
(C) FMN Crafts 2015

More New items :)

Evening all,

So over the last two days I have been busy making some new things, two repeat items with a little difference and a new item, so without further ado:

As part of my freehand machine embroidery cards range (I have made a rabbit before, which was cute, but this one I think is even cuter!) this is my new style rabbit. Rabbit #2 if you like. He has different fur and a pink inner ear and a cheeky little smile too ;)

Just look at his face! Arr. These kinds of cards sell really quickly at the fairs, below are a couple of pictures of the first batches I made and you can just see the Rabbit #1 at the base of the second picture:

It's a really great feeling when someone picks up a card (or anything I have made) and admires it, then gives lovely comments on it and then buys it - to give to someone else as a gift/greeting that hopefully they will appreciate too. I know that I have made that item and I have made someone have that reaction to it and taken action upon that reaction, and then, that item that I have made, is going into somebody's house! It's just fab. :)

Next up:

I recently made just one of these iPad Air cases and it sold at the first fair I took it to, so today I managed to make two of them, similar to the last but again slightly different, to add variety. These have been made using sturdy denim, with cotton linings and cotton freehand machine embroidery birds to decorate. They both close with an elastic loop over a button and they are padded too, to protect the iPad. If I had an iPad, I would have one of these...

And finally for today, I made two sets of these:

Click the picture to enlarge

These are children's bedrooms or children's play rooms bunting! I love this printed cotton material and it came in a flash to me today to make these, just something a little bit different. The colours are so cute and would look good in any room - it doesn't have to be for children!

I made them to be 8 feet long, they have 12 flags per set which are approximately 8 inches tall and there is an 18" piece of overhang at each end so it can be pinned or tied easily as necessary. The pattern is also on both sides so it doesn't matter which way you hang them and they don't have to be up against a wall, unless you want them to be. What do you think?

That's it for now, these items will be taken to the fair on Saturday - more details later.

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment if you wish.

Julie.
(C) FMN Crafts 2015

Afternoon all, I hope your Saturday is going well so far,

I would like to show you the fruits of this week's work:

These are my new Freehand Machine Embroidery Greetings Cards.

I have made a batch of six designs and of course, I love them all! This is the Thank You card:

This has been sewn onto cream card which has been sewn onto cream card (!) in two seperate sections to give definition. I simply love the willow pattern style material and I only had a tiny piece left, which works well as a jug.

This is the Birthday Cake one:

 

I love the way this turned out, it is sewn onto pink cotton which is sewn onto the card. All these cards have materials that have been interfaced to give stability and durability and adds to the quality. Writing using Freehand Machine Embroidery is fun! It takes a lot of practice and a couple of steady hands but it looks great when done. Even when you get the wobbles, it still looks great!

Here is the giant Cupcake Card:

 

YUM! I simply love using these materials and adding spots to florals - I don't think it'll ever get old... This one has been sewn onto a cream calico background before sewing to the card. Have you ever sewn onto card using your sewing machine? It's a great feeling - it goes 'duff duff duff' and it's so cool! Ahem, moving on...

Here is the Birthday Bunting card:

 

You can't go wrong with a bit of bunting - on most craft projects - and cards are no exception. This is really cute, if I do say so myself...it evokes feelings of party and celebration.

Next up, two designs made on linen (which I also love to work with), first the Hearts:

 

These two linen cards are plain, in that there are no specific occassions labelled so can be used for many things. I love the way these are more about the textures than the others and are inviting to touch; very tactile. Here is the second one named Bird:

 

It's really nice to work with neutral colours i.e. browns and creams and I always see these materials as 'quality classics'. This card has a button sun and sewn in grass sections too.

And this is what the inside of most of the cards look like:

Sew So nothing evasive or getting in the way, just lots of space for you to write your greeting without taking away the attention of your words.

I will be taking them to a fair I have in a few days time and if I have any left after that, I will put them in my Etsy Store.

What do you think? Do you like them? Please leave me a comment, I'd love to know what you think. Thanls for reading,

Julie.
(C) FMN Crafts 2015