Two Cheese Please

Weekend spoils

Published May 2, 2011 | By Holly

I love op shopping (thrift stores to those of you in the United States) and if there ever was a perfect op shopping day, it was Saturday just gone. I guess everyone else thought so too as my local oppy was packed!

Even still, I managed to come away with a few spoils…

vintage dinner plate, plastic knitting needles, yellow ceramic cup

Another vintage dinner plate for my growing collection, some knitting needles and a giant double-ended crochet hook, and a really pretty buttercup-yellow cup. I don’t know what I’m going to do with the cup but I love this colour right now so it just had to come home with me!

The knitting needles definitely had a purpose – I’ve been wanting to try out a 1970s favourite – knitting needle bangles!

plastic knitting needles turned into bangles

(I won’t be making a tutorial since there are so many online already! Just google "how to knitting needle bangle" and you’ll find tons!)
Basically you just pop these suckers in a pot of boiling water (make sure they’re plastic – the metal crochet hook didn’t do anything apart from getting burningly hot!) until they’re soft and pliable then, WEARING GLOVES (I used winter woolies) grab a needle out with your tongs and wrap it around a jar with your gloved-hands until it cools down. If they come out too big or too small or too wonky, you can pop them back in the water until they soften again and have another go!

It was so much fun – and easy too! – I think I’ll go back and get a few more colours.

So what did you all get up to on your weekend? What did you make, create, eat, watch, do?

edited to add: sadly the blue knitting needles didn’t make it through the softening process! They just got really brittle and snapped – maybe they were too thin?

Some more stamps

Published April 14, 2011 | By Holly

Things are slowly ticking away down here. The weather is closing in and there’s a definitely bite to the air now that means winter is on its way. We didn’t really have a summer so I’m mourning the warm weather we never really got, but I have to admit I’m looking forward to cold days snuggled on the couch with my sweetie and some crochet.

Stamp carving is another craft I love doing cuddled up on a blanket in front of the TV (although I have to pay less attention to the TV than I’d like to, otherwise I inevitably end up cutting myself!) and I’ve managed to knock out a few stamp commissions in the past week.

If you would like your own custom hand carved stamp you can email me (restlesswillow at gmail dot com) or check out my etsy shop!

I’m hooking again.

Published April 5, 2011 | By Holly

You might remember my first, fleeting flirtatious attempt at crochet. It was a whirlwind affair that lasted maybe 5 days at most.

I did what I usually do, and jump straight into something new without slowing down to learn the basics. "But the basics are boring! I just want to make some really cool stuff." And because I didn’t stop to learn the basics, I had no idea what I was doing and, being a perfectionist, I quickly became frustrated when I couldn’t do it properly and I gave up.

Not this time!

This time I was determined, so I started again at the beginning with a project to teach me double crochet.

A self portrait of me wearing a green crochet beanie I made

{photo taken with the Instagram app for iphone – love it!}

I’ve since frogged it ("frogged" – is that the right word?) because I didn’t like how bulky it was, but now I know double crochet. Next – treble. And of course what better way to learn treble than the ubiquitous granny square!

3.5 granny squares next to a ball of salmon coloured wool

I can safely say I’m addicted! Crochet is the perfect couch craft, and I’m finding it a great way to unwind while watching some tv after work. I know it will take a long time to crochet enough of these little squares to make a blanket (and I don’t want to think of how many ends I will have to weave in!) but this time I want the romance to last.

And as if the world was telling me "Go for it!", I found this in one of my favourite op shop haunts. I’m not sure what purpose it originally had – maybe a magazine holder? Or firewood caddy maybe? – but now it’s my new project holder.

Now, time for some couch crafting I think!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged crochet | Leave a comment

Square in a star

Published March 18, 2011 | By Holly

One blog I follow closely is Mrs McPorkchop’s, and when I saw that she had started a quilting challenge with her friend I was inspired to start my own and I knew just who I wanted to challenge and inspire and encourage me.

Esther is one of my biggest craft idols. I love and admire everything she makes, because it comes from such a beautiful and genuine place in her – she truly creates.

Each month one of us will choose a quilt block style to attempt, and the other will choose a picture that we love, and that will become the palette for the colours we use in our quilt block. I feel I’m very restrained when it comes to sticking within my comfort-zone, so I’m hoping this will push me to try new ideas and combinations – and actually be more bold in my quilting!

In February (ahem, yes, I’m very late in posting this!) it was my turn to pick the colour palette photo and I choose a vintagey, voguey, dreamy, scootery photo.

(source)

And Essie picked a ‘square in a star’ block style for us to try (AND made a fantastic step-by-step tutorial for those who want to make their own!)

I picked this photo very deliberately, because of the bold, vibrant orange and aquas. I normally find myself drawn to more muted colours, and since this is partly an exercise in stretching my boundaries (as well as being just plain fun!) I thought I would try and introduce some colour to my repertoire.

What I love about this project is the way two people interpret a photo in two completely different (yet magic!) ways. It’s 100% personal interpretation, and I think I’m more excited about seeing what Essie comes up with each month than making my own block!

Now… what I DON’T love about my interpretation… is the fabric I picked. It was also a pain to photograph with our overcast weather (can you believe that the "white" fabric is actually off-white/cream in real life!). It was a bit of a challenge for me, especially with my existing stash, but in hindsight I would have liked to have included richer tones, instead of just plain brights.

Well there is always next month! We’ve already picked our photo and our block style, so it’s back to the sewing room for me!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged block palette challenge, quilt | Leave a comment

For Sophie and Jon

Published March 11, 2011 | By Holly

Things are pretty busy over here at Chez Cheese, and I must admit I feel a little overwhelmed with everything that’s going on and consequently not dealing too well with the stress! It’s taken me a few weeks to "man up" and realise that putting my head in the sand won’t make all the work go away; in fact it will only serve to increase my stress when I realise how late I’ve left everything!

That being said, there has been a little crafting going on as I slug away at commissions and try and relax in front of some TV with my new couch-craft – crochet.

More on the crochet later – for now, here are some of my latest stamp commissions.

two birds kissing with a loveheart and the text "S&J" - a monogram stamp carved in inverse

A little monogram stamp made for S & J – Sophie and Jon. I really like how this turned out and I really should do more stamps inverse like this as I think it’s a cute effect (and, let’s face it, it’s a lot easier than carving in relief!)

An address label stamp with the address carved in relief next to a pile of mailing packages and letters

This one was such a challenge to carve as the text is around 12pt type! That’s very tiny, and very fiddly, and I always worry that my text never comes out straight or neat, but I guess that is part of the handmade, hand-carved charm, no?

I quite like the little pile of packages and letters next to the address and am thinking maybe I should have this design available for commission in my shop – what do you think?

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged stamps | 3 Comments

Page 1 of 6812 3 4 5...10 20 30...»Last »

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
« May
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30	31

Tutorials

Dear Jane

Categories

Weekend spoils

Some more stamps

I’m hooking again.

Square in a star

For Sophie and Jon

Search

Hello

Contact

Other Places To Visit Me

RSS

Be Respectful

Want To Read Way Back?