my creative space: umbrella prints trimmings competition

I love Umbrella Prints, they have such a gorgeous range of screen printed fabrics and when I found out they were having their trimmings competition, I had to enter! When I received my little trimmings pack in the post, I got really excited! I love the colours of this pack!

:: umbrella prints - trimmings pack

For the competition you have to make something/s using the contents of a trimmings pack! One thing I have always wanted is a pin cushion... that's right... all these years of sewing and I have never owned a pin cushion.. I know shocking! :) So I thought I would finally make myself one - a sweet little apple pin cushion! I based mine on this pattern and used some plain cotton/linen as the base fabric. It was really fun to make and I think it turned out really cute!

:: apple pin cushion using umbrella prints trimmings pack

:: apple pin cushion using umbrella prints trimmings pack - top

I also made a little pouch as well! I love the blue and mustard colours together :)

:: pouch using umbrella prints fabric trimmings pack

:: apple pin cushion and pouch using umbrella prints trimmings pack

It was really fun to making these out of such lovely fabric! I am really looking forward to seeing what everyone else has created out of their trimming packs!

You can view and vote for your favourite entries over at Umbrella Prints pinterest board here from the 1st to the 7th June 2012 :)

Hope you are having a great creative week!
There are lots of creative people over at my creative space...

my creative space: screen printing frenzy

I have been on a bit of screen printing frenzy this week! I screen printed some of my favourite "home sweet home" tea towels early this week. And one very special one, for my lovely friend Jo from bubala who's birthday it was, last week (I didn't realise until her little girl told me when we met up last week)! So I thought this tea towel would be the perfect present, as she is a really wonderful cook and her kitchen is white and with a bit of green! She loved it... perfect :)

:: home sweet home tea towel - lime green and dusty grey

Saturday morning, my little man got to hang out with grandma and pop, while I got a chance to screen print like a maniac! What bliss and a real treat to be able to dedicate a few hours to doing what I love the most... I had way too much fun... I just love it! I have lots of plans for all my screen printing efforts which will be revealed in the next few weeks! ;)

:: screen printing fun - sneak peak :)

Hope you are having a great creative week!
There are lots of creative people over at my creative space...

I feel very lucky...

Woo hoo... I won a little giveaway from inHomewares over at the lovely Christina Lowry Designs blog the other day! I won $50 voucher to spend at inHomewares!

Oh my gosh... there were so many beautiful products, from gorgeous home wares, lovely soaps and balms... it was so hard to choose! I was pretty excited when the delivery man knocked on my door, with a parcel for me yesterday!
In my parcel:
- 2x SunnyLIFE's Lacquer Bamboo bowls, one blue and one orange - I love bowls
- Margot Napkin - such gorgeous fabric
- Wild Fig & Almond Soap - all I can say is "YUM"

:: lovely things from inHomewares

I feel very lucky! Thank you Nicole (the owner of inHomewares), she was so lovely and looked really after me! She is a mother of four kids and has runs her online business as well! Not sure how she does it but I think she is SO inspiring! You can read more about her in a little interview that Christina did with her, over here.

Check out the lovely products over at inHomewares.

post note:
I turned my back for 1 minute and a certain little man in my house has claimed these gorgeous bowls for his very own.... hmmmm not sure I'm liking this!!! Oh and he had a taste of the soap too...silly sausage :)

:: bowls for cars?

Hope you are having a fabulous Tuesday!

my creative space: lining and pouches

It's been a very busy week... here are just a few of the things I've been up to!

I lined my new bag with this gorgeous Japanese little fruits fabric! It was quite a challenge as I had to make the lining pattern from scratch, fit it and then hand stitch the top of it to the bag, which was a bit fiddly! I am really happy with how it looks! I finally have a new bag to play with! YAY!!

:: felted bag lining

I also made some little zip pouches using some of my own screen printed fabric from my fabric stash which has been waiting to be made into something special! I used my bold flowers print for my wonderful mother in-law, Norma for mothers day, which she loved!

:: flat pouch - poppy red bold flower screen print with hand stamped center - 19cm x 13cm

And I made one for my lovely sister in-law Katie for her birthday, she really loved it too!! I used my first repeat screen print I ever made for this one. The screen print isn't perfect but that's what I love about it... the imperfection :)

:: flat pouch - dot drop screen print - grey and raspberry - 19cm x 13cm

I love this screen print so much that I just couldn't resist, I had to make myself one too! :)

:: make-up pouch - dot drop screen print  - grey and raspberry - 19cm x 10cm (bottom 6cm)

I really enjoyed making these little pouches and I was really happy to use some of my screen printed fabrics for something special for these two lovely ladies :)

Hope you are having a great creative week!
There are loads of creative people over at my creative space...

my creative space: knitted/felted bag - take 2

I have FINALLY finished my second knitted bag and felted it! And I am VERY happy to report that it all came out of the wash, just perfect... Hooray! I can tell you there was a massive sigh of relief from me, PHEW!!! When I put my knitted bag into the washing machine (to felt it), I had to take my little man out for the morning... I just couldn't handle, hanging around the house for 2 hours and 20 minutes, waiting for the washing machine (front loader) to go though the cycle... that would have been complete torture!

:: olive and grey wool felted bag

I am SO please with how it turned out... the only thing I wish I had done was use three colours instead of two and slightly brighter colours as well... maybe next time...? I still love it and can't wait to use it! It still needs to be lined... I really need pockets in my bags!

Notes:
Here are a few of my notes... if you are interested in making this bag:
The original bag info can be found here - ishi knit on Ravelry and there are more images on her blog. These links where quite helpful too - here and here!

My knitted/felted bag:
before felting - height 49cm - width 52cm - straps 166cm
after felting - height 36cm - width 39cm - straps 108cm

I used 4.5 mm knitting needles
5 x 50 grams balls of  grey wool and 5 x 50 grams balls of olive wool
It's a good idea to knit a test square and put it in the wash to make sure that it will felt - a big lesson I learnt, that's for sure!!!

:: moda vera 8 ply wool

Cast on 25 stitches and knit 50 rows of garter stitch to make each square.
You will need to knit 22 square blocks and 2 half squares (triangle) for the top of the bag. I added triangle pieces to the top of the bag - I just thought it looked neater.

:: sew bag  sides together 1, 2, 3

I started from the middle and worked my way outwards. The squares can be knitted separately and then sew together. I chose to knit as much together as possible by picking up stitches on the sides of the knitted squares to add new squares. I still had to sew up some sides of the squares that couldn't be knitted together.

:: picking up stitches
(photo of my previous knitted bag)

Once the bag body sides are sewn together (see graphic image above for the order to sew it up), you can start on knitting the attached i-cord - tutorial here! First i-cord the top of each triangle piece, then the rest of the body of the bag and then for the straps, knit a plain i-cord - tutorial here! I made extra long straps (166cm before felting) as I wanted the bag to be more like a messenger bag. I had all my fingers crossed that it was going to work out and be the right length after felting... luckily it was!

post note: The straps have stretched quite a bit so I wish I had now made them shorter now... maybe only 120cm long!

:: knitted bag completed and ready for felting

Once it was all finished and all loose ends have been sewn in, I put the bag in the washing machine with an old denim jacket (to help with the agitation for felting) on a very hot wash - 95 degrees celcius for 2 hours and 20 min! Once out of the wash, I stuffed the bag with towels to mold the shape and then allowed to dry.

Hope that is of some help! Sorry, I forgot to take photos of the process during my knitting frenzy of this bag! I was a little bit obessed :)

Good luck... if you have any questions, feel free to email me laminag@hotmail.com

Hope you are having a great creative week!
There are loads more creative people over at my creative space...

my creative space: a new bag for a lovely friend

I made a great little bag for my lovely friend, Maria! She had been eyeing off my bag which I made ages ago. It's a bit worn and much loved now but she has always really liked it, so she asked me to make her one! Of course, I was happy too :)

She bought the fabric from IKEA... love their fabric designs! She requested a slightly bigger bag than mine, so I altered the pattern to about 5cm bigger, end result - width 38cm x height 30cm. It's a great size and I think I'm going to make myself a new one!

:: Maria's bag - front with a front pocket

Maria's bag - back

Maria's bag -  happy fabric inside

I am so please with how it turned out and so was Maria, so much so that she sent me a photo of her and her new bag out, having dinner... too funny!

Maria and her new bag at dinner :)
photo - courtesy of Maria

 I am so glad she loves it :)

Hope you are having a great creative week!
There are loads more creative people over at our creative spaces...

post note: Maria comissioned me to make it for her :)

Oh dear... can I please cry on your shoulder....

Remember the bag I was knitting the other week....this one... well... I finished knitting it and it looked excellent, ready for felting! It ended up being quite a big bag (height 52cm x width 56cm) but was confident that it would shrink a lot after felting!

:: knitted and ready for felting

 And I loved how the i-cord turned out too... a very helpful tutorial here.

:: I love my i-cord

I couldn't wait to felt it - which basically means chucking it into the washing machine on a hot wash! I had no idea how it was going to turn out... I was excited, scared, petrified and crossing my fingers for 2 hours while it went through the washing cycle!
When I pulled it out of the washing machine... argghhh... felting disaster!!! I'm quite (VERY) upset/devastated! All that knitting ruined...
sob sob sob... sorry I'll wipe all those tears off your shoulder! :(

:: felting disaster...

:: the middle section didn't felt :(

The top and bottom felted perfectly (love those bits) but NOT the middle section... the section of wool that I dyed and it faded a bit too! I have a feeling that the wool may shrunk a bit from when I dyed it, so I think that's why it wouldn't felt! Drat!! :(

I am rather devastated... I've tried to think of ways to rescue the good felted bits.. I've unpicked the bad section and tried a few things ie. like a fabric section, but it just didn't work!

Oh well... things can't turn out perfectly every time, hey! I have learnt a lot! So now it's back to the drawing/knitting board for me... I REALLY want to make this bag! This time I have done a felted test patch of the wool I've bought, so I know it will work! I am, again, the crazy obsessed knitter in my house!

Hope you are having a better day!
Thanks for letting me cry on your shoulder  xxx