A little touch of vintage

Today's post is a little bit different as it isn't actually something made by me - instead it is something that my brother made.

For anyone who has read the about page of the blog, you'll know that the name Ray's Place is the name of our house after our dad. The house sign and name were originally created by my brother too.

The original Ray's Place house sign

He's a talented self-taught airbrush artist who can usually be found painting designs on to ice hockey helmets and motorbikes under the name Masked Designs. However, recently as a present for our mum he made a beautiful vintage style sign.

The sign is made from some planks of wood which he distressed and marked to give them a worn vintage look before joining them together. He then stained the sign and painted on the white design. I think it is very convincing that it has been around for years being weathered and worn.

The final sign hangs in the kitchen at home from some chain which has also been distressed with paint to give it that rusted, well used, feeling.

You can see more of the Masked Designs artwork here.

Another cluster of birds

In my recent post Springtime Felt Birds I showed you a set of blue and purple felt birds that I had spent a lovely sunny day making. Well I enjoyed making them so much that I've been at it again and so another little cluster of felt birds have landed.

This time I tried to break my old habit of always seeming to pick from a similar colour palette when I make things and branched out into some more bright sunny primary shades with yellow, red and blue.

I actually really like the effect of the three colours together. When I make these I tend to try and stick to three colours as I think it looks more effective than having lots of colours and textures in the same decoration. Although having said that, maybe that should be my next habit to step away from and see what the finished product would look like!

Hexie BOM: April

I'm a little behind with the Block a Month patchwork project. I ran out of the hexagons that I had already made and making more and completing the patchwork takes longer than I thought.

Anyway, I've had this block finished for a while but I hadn't had chance to take a photo of it. This was the April design - an Easter basket.

I think it looks very cheerful and Spring-like against the blue. I haven't actually been sewing the finished patchwork designs on to the backing blocks yet as I will lay out the whole quilt once I am done to work out which colour to use for each block.

Hockey season's here

My brother recently started playing for a new ice hockey team - London's Haringey Racers - I thought I'd craft a little keepsake to mark the start of his first season with them. So I enjoyed a couple of hours sat with some felt and threads designing a felt version of their away hockey shirts.

I think it turned out really well, and he was certainly pleased with it. Maybe some hockey themed Christmas decorations should follow.

Hexie BOM: March

I admit that my biggest failing with this blog is getting around to taking pictures of the things after they have been completed. The trouble is I tend to craft in the evenings after work and by the time I have finished something the light has gone and the pictures don't look very good in the indoor light. So I inevitably think that I will take a photo in the daylight, then start making the next thing and never get around to taking the picture!

Anyway, I have finally taken a picture of the March Hexie BOM. The March design from the Hexie Blog BOM was a shamrock for St Patrick's Day. However, as I am using the fat-quarter material I already had mine has a less green feel about it but I still think it worked out really pretty.

I've also finished the April BOM (and taken a photo of it!) which I'll post next week. I've fallen a little behind with the BOM - I ran out of ready made hexies and it does take a bit of time to make them each month. However, having seen the half made quilt on the Hexie Blog it really inspired me to stick with it. So the May block is underway. I may not finish this all in a year (in fact it is highly unlikely with all of the sewing together of the quilt top), but I am determined that I will finish this however long it takes me!

A smashing mosaic time!

Sunday was Father's Day, and although this is never going to feel the same again for the last two years we have made sure to still celebrate Dad (Ray) on Father's Day and to have a 'gift' to mark the day. Last year, we visited a garden center and selected some beautiful flowers to plant up Dad's area in the garden. This year, we stayed with the garden theme but with a craft twist.

I've always liked the idea of trying to make a mosaic and last year I saw some mosaic stepping stone kits online. Mum bought me one and unfortunately time has run away with me and it has still be sat there. So this Father's Day we decided to make a start on it as our 'gift' to the garden this year.

The original stepping stone kit design from Tracey Cartledge

After having a read through of the kit I realised that the design was actually really hard to mosaic as to be able to see the flower petals you'd have to be really precise with tile cutting - surely not the point of a mosaic! So the design was promptly thrown aside. Cue an enjoyable session with a hammer smashing up the tile pieces into even smaller tile pieces!

Once the last piece was smashed and the pieces gathered it was time to play around with the shapes and see what design appeared. It's funny that the pieces seem to make their own design, at one stage Mum's fiddling produced a bird, the next a leaf. Anyway, after a bit of time a design appeared that we liked.

And this is as far as we got! Having started quite late in the afternoon it was too late to then start mixing concrete and mortar to make the stepping stone, before then transferring the pieces into the top of it. So at the moment, the design is nicely laid out - with everyone under threats not to knock it or touch it, and tonight may the stone making commence! Fingers crossed this all goes well now!

Springtime felt birds

Spring has finally arrived and with the sun shining at the weekend I made the most of the opportunity to get some bright sunlit photos of a newly finished project - some springtime felt birds.

I love working with felt - it's probably my favourite material because it's so versatile and easy to work with. These little birds are a great opportunity to mix together different colours, patterns and embellishments. The combination possibilities are endless.

The purple flowery material is part of a fat quarter bundle I bought at Hobbycraft a while ago. I think the fabric adds a simple hint of springtime to the birds when combined with the blue and purple felt,whilst the yellow ribbon and sequins provide a good splash of contrast.

The birds are so light that they easily fluttered around in the breeze whilst they hung in the tree.

Happy 'Spidey' Easter

Happy Easter!

I thought I'd share a little Easter crafting treat today. Obviously I had to wait until it had been given to the recipient as part of their Easter present before uploading pictures. It's not particularly Easter themed but it went perfectly with the Marvel Easter egg I was giving them.

So here he is - mini Spiderman!

At only 7cm tall he really is mini! The 32 year old 'child' who received this was pleased with it though!

Hexie BOM: February

During February I was working on the second block from the Hexie Blog's BOM challenge. Who would have guessed it would have been a Valentine's heart block.

Whilst the original version looks very pretty in pink, I have stuck with my plan to use up some more of the fat quarter material used in my January BOM. So here's finished block number 2!

I finished this at the end of February just in time for the March block to be revealed. It's then only taken me a month to get a picture of it! It's so hard at this time of year to get good pictures, as by the time you get home in an evening the light has gone.

I've actually already finished the March block too! So now let's see how long it takes me to get a picture of that one!

A special cross stitch kit

Recently my boyfriend's Grandma has been very unwell and I was given some of her crafting materials. In amongst them was a lovely cross stitch pattern that she had adapted to use for someone's birthday. It was a beautiful design with a cream heart and wild flowers. We'd been looking for a picture with some meaning for Dad for a while and this seemed perfect. For Christmas, Mum turned the pattern into a lovely kit for me - complete with a beautiful storage box!

We've changed the colours on the design so that the roses are yellow which have a significant meaning for us. The design is already well underway and I think it's going to look great once it is completed. More updates to follow!

A little bit of embroidery

At the end of last week I saw a post on the Glee and cakes blog of a lovely piece of embroidery. This reminded me how much I enjoyed embroidery when I finished a couple of small individual motifs a while ago. So I raided the fabric stash for a piece of plain material, some threads and a needle and got going.

You can draw the design straight on to the fabric using washable fabric pencils. Once the design was drawn out it was time to start sewing - picking difference stitch types as I went. I decided I wanted quite a simple look so I chose to use only three colours of thread throughout - blue, white and purple. I also only used four types of stitch - lazy daisy, chain stitch, couching, and french knots.

I really like the finished design and the process of making it. Now just to decide what design to do next...

Hexie BOM: January

There's been a bit of a delay since the last post, but nevermind. I managed to finish the January hexie block before the end of January! Hooray! One block down and still on schedule. Here it is:

The Hexie Blog BOM has a yahoo group set up where everyone can post pictures of their completed blocks. It's amazing how many people are taking part and also how different the blocks look. Everyone is working from the same simple pattern, but by changing the colours or fabrics used the finished blocks all have their own personalities.

My quilt's personality is definitely going to be loud and bright. I went shopping for the backing fabrics for the blocks and this is the happy collection I came back with.

I love the colours and can't wait to see it all come together!

Hexie Block a Month Challenge

The other day I decided to have a browse around on Pinterest. A dangerous thing to do as a quick couple of minutes on the craft boards inevitably turns into a much longer time! However, I came across an idea for a Block a Month challenge using hexagon patchwork. Julia from The HEXIE Blog is going to post a Block a Month throughout the year.

I have to confess that I quite enjoy the process of making paper pieced hexagons – although I know that there are quicker methods. I already had a small stash of hexagons that I had been making whenever I had a minute with the idea that I’d sew them all together at some point. So the idea of being given a block to complete each month seemed ideal. It would actually make me sit down and sew some of them together and I’d have 12 completed blocks by the end of 2014! As each block is supposed to measure around 15” square that’s a lot of finished patchwork!

Hexie stash

 The materials I had already been using to make hexagons are a selection of fat quarter pieces that we had picked up on various visits to the local material shop. I’ve already started the January block which Julia calls a Snowflake block and she uses a few shades of blue materials. 

January's Snowflake block - Julia at The HEXIE Blog

Mine may look a little more summery than a snowflake but I still like the idea of leaving some gaps in the hexagon pattern. The only thing I need to decide now is what colour material to use as the backing square. Oh and finish sewing the hexagons together obviously!

January: My 'Snowflake' block - work in progress

Project 2014

So welcome to our new blog. We've been talking about starting one for a while but have never got around to it. Too much talking about how to do it, what to write about, what it should look like. Well 2014 is a new year and our only resolution was to just get on with things and give them a go without just talking about them.

You may have seen an idea that seems to be all over the web this year: keep a jar and throughout the year you write things that happen on bits of paper and pop them in the jar. Next New Year you open the jar and look back at all the lovely things you've done.

The 'Good Things' Jar from Louise at Decoding Happiness

Well me and mum have decided to roll the two things together. We thought it lent itself to a craft slant. We will be writing about and taking pictures of all of the different craft things we complete this year. It's very easy to feel like all the other 'crafters' you know seem to have twice as many hours in their weeks and make far more things than you. So we've decided to keep a record and see just what we do do with our time!