Such a cold finger...

Today, I saw yet another mention of how Etsy tends to feature a lot of fingerless gloves and wristwarmers. They certainly are in vogue! Much as I like these inventions, it got me wondering if there are many nice fully-fingered handmade gloves on Etsy, for those of us in colder climes that really need warm fingers in the winter months. After much searching and much rummaging through mistagged items, I think I found some real gems:

Featured here are gloves and mittens by:
cholosoy, artycousinjenny, dollyknits, woolyrosie
montyandmarwood, knitwhimsies, plainjanecollection, thejoyofcrochet
verabelle, flowerpot, ingucite, maisondelucille
kukaramba, petitekrottcreations, thesittingtree, goldenhind

Astronomical

Recently I have been suffering from a cold that decided to settle in my head and throat, and I have found myself very sluggish. Lots of hot drinks and huge bowls of home made soup, drunk with my slippers on, tucked up in bed. This is the reason for my recent quietness, blog-wise.

Yesterday, though, I managed to muster the energy to tidy up a little. I sorted out the recycling, hung up the jumpers that were hung on the back of my chair, changed the bed sheet and duvet cover, hoovered and cleaned the bathroom sink. I felt so much better for it, as I knew I would.

Later, I got back under the covers, popped on the telly. A cheesy Mel Gibson rom-com was on, one I've seen before - I find it easier to be creative when there's some background noise and this film was just familiar enough to stop me from getting too distracted from my work whilst being just entertaining enough to keep me sitting still. I stitched away with my bedside lamp on, the sky outside pitch black already.

I made something I've had in my head for some time, that I kept putting off making in the past. I find I do this with new ideas, I get excited about them and then feel afraid to go ahead with them in case they turn out to disappoint. Now I've finally gone and taken the plunge - and I am pleased to say the end result wasn't far off the idea in my head. Here it is...


The Astronomy pendant - number one (of hopefully several). Inspired by pictures of galaxies from afar and textbook astronomical diagrams. Made with layered pieces of silk in deep, midnight blue and one small white piece in the middle.

:-)

Do the stars gaze back?

Now THAT'S a question...

Pondering whether to make real-constellation versions of these brooches and also some pendants with the same theme:
And pondering whether to watch this film again this weekend:



metalology, shaylamaddox, aliette, thenebulouskingdom
christinetillman, lolariera, larimeloom, ara133photography
beckytomato, cookoorikoo, StankwytchBailey, lunaticart
Dreamsandjewelry, VieModerne, ReluctantDamsel, organikx

Ahhhh Etsy creators and Mr Gaiman, you bring me happiness! Thanks for the kind words from the last post, folks.

Bad things happen / Good things happen

For the past couple of weeks, I have been forced to shift my focus temporarily away from making handmade goodies. The shift in focus was thanks to various dramas which you can read about in depth on my other blog and in the post below.

It has been an emotionally exhausting time, but now things are mainly resolved, I think I'm getting my handmade groove back. Today, I printed out some new business cards that I designed a while ago:
I have done some in a couple of different colours and I think they're pretty effective, plus printing them at home saves me money so I can save more towards delicious new fabrics. I'm working on coordinating my packaging with these...plans for some nice rubber stamps for decorating the gift boxes and some stickers too. The stickers will be for holding down the tissue paper I put around purses etc and holding gift boxes closed (so much nicer than cellotape, and a bit more eco-friendly)

In the midst of all the stress over the past two weeks or so, I've tried to keep reminding myself of good things in life. It's tough I think, when things go wrong and especially when there is a constant backdrop of financial difficulty (which I think everyone can relate to right now), not to feel gloomy and embittered. So, without wishing to seem overly Pollyanna-esque, here is my Happy Thing of the Week:

Visiting St Ives with my parents recently, we were lucky enough to witness two seals swimming in the sea not far from one of the little coves. We watched them for quite a while, trying to capture a decent photo of their heads whenever they surfaced for air. They seemed so peaceful and at ease. Every time we thought they'd swum away, I'd turn my camera off and like magic they would re-appear.

Here are the pictures I managed to get...I think you can just about make them out, about half way up the picture (click for larger versions).

I also took a few pictures of the sea from up on the cliff. It was an unusually warm late-September day, and the sea was the most stunning colour. So St Ives and seals have fortified me for a while, at least. What keeps your spirits up in these troubled times?

If you go down to the woods...

EDIT
Because I got featured twice (my other Etsy shop also had an item selected) my tree-rings purse has been removed. Thanks to those who did kindly vote for me though!
Please check out the Etsy Voter tool here
:-)

Oh for Ochre...

I go through phases with colours that I'm drawn to. Lately, it's yellow ochre and similarly autumnal colours. Saffron...mustard...burnt orange. I recently got a gorgeous mustard-gold, small square suitcase from work at a bargain price. I've been needing a sturdier travel case than my hold-all, and this one is lockable and has a comfortable strap. It also goes very well with my saffron belt and yellow cardigans I think (is two cardigans of the same colour too many? They were charity shop bargains too so it's all for a good cause).
It's evidently quite old, though how old I'm not sure. The rounded corners have a kind of seventies/early eighties look I think, but maybe it's older than that? In any case, I'm looking forward to using it on my next travels.

At the moment, I'm waiting on some yellow ochre fabric to become available from my fair trade supplier. It will hopefully be available soon and once I can get it, I can start making golden yellow versions of my feathers cushion and tote bags. But having saved up a little money for fabric, I unfortunately have to wait longer still...

Recently, my bank account was targeted by a fraudster. I discovered the fraudulent purchase (a mobile phone top up for a company I don't have a phone with) late on a Friday afternoon and, not being able to find the right phone number to call and fix the situation, I had to put on my nearest pair of shoes, run a brush through my hair and dash down the hill to the bank before closing time.

Once I got there, I was passed from a polite, if clueless, cashier, to a service phone where I was put on hold for ten minutes before being told I had pressed the wrong department button and then having to wait on hold another five minutes, all the while my heart thumping and up-beat and erratic jazz playing on the phone (is that really a wise choice for your fraud department?).

I began to consider changing to a new bank. Then I was finally connected and given yet another series of 'options'...all in Bank-speak ("if your card has an R4 status...press 4...") - none of which made sense to me. Exasperated, I hung up on the automated service and sought out an advisor.

After begging for assistance from someone in person, she kindly set aside her end of day paperwork and phoned through for help for me, staying on hold past closing time. The bank emptied, the latch was put on the door, and still the advisor sat with me and arranged with the call centre to send me the relevant paperwork to get my money back etc.

It will take time for me to be able to reclaim the little money I had that they have squandered - it appears my bank's system for dealing with such things is absurdly convoluted. It's a horrible feeling, to know that someone out there has done such a thing so easily and putting it right is so hard.

Though I'm fairly confident now that I've calmed down from the panicked visit to my bank, that I will indeed be able to get my money back and in time to pay my bank fees etc, it's still a stressful situation to be in. Still, I'm lucky, in a weird way, that I didn't have much money for the scoundrel (my polite word for it...) to steal!

In any case, the lovely ochre fabric will have to wait a while. In the meantime, I shall content myself with looking at lovely things on Etsy. Here's a snapshot of a treasury list I made recently, complete with alternates:

Top row: TickledPinkKnits, hitree, NannasKnitting, grimm
Second row: uncommon, thejunebride, sleeks, InmostLight
Third row: prettygoodthings, underabluesky, peaseblossomstudio, greenchairpress
Fourth row: margotbianca, linkeldesigns, JillPopowichDesigns, DuetPhotography

Click on the image to see a bigger version. Each shop name above is linked to the relevant Etsy shop. :-)

Soil Association

I've managed to get a treasury list on Etsy, yay! This one is inspired by the different colours in layers of soil, in celebration of my archaeologist sister's getting her work contract renewed for another 6 months (again, yay!)

Featured here are:
thecyclingartist, GollyBard, Studio155, labokoff
MarcoLaGrenouille, yarnahoy, Crafterall, galeriedeilluminata
simplytwisted, ShopJessBecause, red2white, Ottoman
mysticfibers, Tuesdaymoon, LethaColleen, prettypanda

Clicking each name will take you to the relevant Etsy shop.

In other news, I have decided to list the tote bag (see previous post) at a special 'prototype' price. You can find it on Etsy here

:-)