Mamta loves to make things

Lilac primrose tea cosy

2010-01-25T03:45:00.000-08:00

Phew - I finally finished sewing those flowers onto the tea cosy and tidying up the loose ends. I am really happy with the end result and am going to put it up for sale on etsy :-)

Saturday Second Hand Finds

2010-01-24T09:09:00.000-08:00

I was planning to go charity shop shopping on Saturday morning. To my delight I stepped out of the house and spotted a yard sale across the road from us. We are very lucky to live in a very Japanese neighbourhood and so these yard sales prove to very fruitful. Japanese cute stuff is hard to come by in London - it is expensive. Here are some of my finds.

A gorgeous vibrant orange baby Kimono. According to the lady I was talking to, when a baby is 100 days old there is a Hyakunichimairi ceremony. The family hold a celebration wishing the child good luck and a long healthy life. This a typical Kimono the baby would be dressed up in.

I also bought a blue butterfly pattern child's Kimono that I will take to Iain's school and donate as dressing up stuff.

The other stuff I found were this cute bag, mini suitcase and bottle bag. Handy things I can store craft things in - very cute! I also love the things they write on their products. Look at this - who wouldn't want to live on Rue de chocolat :-)

I finally did get to the charity shop and found these:
I wonder whether this is genuine or just a joke mug. Either way it made me smile.

A very cute looking sugar bowl and jar.
I think I will use the jar for Iain's sprinkles :-)

A friend for Mr Grumpty

2010-01-22T13:20:00.000-08:00

Poor Mr Grumpty - he felt alone in the world. So I made him a friend.

Hurdy birdy

2010-01-22T11:17:00.000-08:00

Today I bought the latest copy of Sew magazine and they had an adorable pattern for a bird pincushion. Here is my version of it that I made today.

I tried a little embroidery on his tail. A little rustic circle.

He is going to be my new pincushion. Rather cute I think.
I think I will make some more in bright funky colours and line them up on the window.

New fabric stash Amy Butler and Tanya Whelan

2010-01-21T05:18:00.000-08:00

I went out to Hobbycraft today after dropping Iain off at school. Well, since I am not smoking anymore I thought I could treat myself to some new fabrics. I could only afford a half yard of each but better a half yard than none. Look what I came home with. Some lovely Amy Butler and Tanya Whelan goodies - how gorgeous do they look?

Sidetracked by Mr Grumpty

2010-01-21T05:11:00.000-08:00

Well, I was supposed to be finishing of my teeny tiny pincushions last night. I just about managed to make four of them.

I ended up getting sidetracked by a glove. I was looking through my glove drawer and found some fleece gloves in white, grey and teal that I had never worn. The idea for Mr Grumpty came to me then and there. This is the result of my evening battle with scissors, needles and thread. He is called Mr Grumpty because he looks grumpy and is a numpty just like me...

This is what happens to people when they spend time with him.

My New Hat - thanks to the Vicar of Dibley for the entertainment

2010-01-21T04:58:00.000-08:00

I got fed up with the numerous hats I have and decided to knit one for myself. This is the result. I used Sirdar Big Softie wool and knitted it up in half an hour using size 10 (UK) needles. Amazing what you can do whilst watching The Vicar of Dibley.

The hat was too plain for my taste so I rummaged in my button box and found these retro coloured gems. They funky up this otherwise boring hat - don't ya fink?

Yippee!

2010-01-20T05:04:00.000-08:00

I have these egg cosies for sale on Etsy and they have been mentioned on the byhand.me website and the Shop byHand blog. Cool :-D

Knitted Easter Eggs - yum yum

2010-01-20T04:57:00.000-08:00

Easter is just around the corner and I always find that I am way behind when it comes to coming up with the appropriate craft for the occasion. This year I have vowed to myself that I will be on time. Here is my attempt at knitted easter eggs. I want to make knitted egg cups too but that will have to wait a while.

Cosy TEAser

2010-01-20T04:36:00.000-08:00

Excuse the tea pun - I just had to get that in there. I'm working on a knitted tea cosy at the moment. I absolutely adore tea cosies. I reckon it comes from my love of kitsch and all things granny :) I want to move on to toilet roll covers soon! Hah.

This teacosy started off very plain, but then I decided I wanted to jazz it up. I had been experimenting with knitting flowers.

So here is the result of the amalgamation of the two. It is still work in progress. I'm knitting a fringe for the bottom of the cosy at the moment. I'll keep you updated.

Teeny Tiny Pin Cushions

2010-01-20T04:24:00.000-08:00

Last year I bought a whole load of fabric charms. I have been wondering what to do with them for ages. Most of the pieces are and inch and a half square in size. Yesterday it occurred to me to make pincushions. I was looking at the one I have been using for a couple of years. She is an old doll head I made (weird I know). But she now looks like she has had a severe bout of acne.

So methinks it is time to come up with a new pincushion. These ones will be little more conservative but hey! I get to use up my stash of tiny pieces of fabric.

Introductions and other Formalities

2010-01-20T03:28:00.000-08:00

My name is Mamta. I'm 40 years old. By day I am a Technical Writer, but once the sun goes down I transform into a craft mad creature.

I am married to a gorgeous six foot six Dane called Allan. He is a total geek and an excellent photographer. I'm so lucky that I get to go to Denmark often enough to get an idea of the Scandinavian design trends. I am of Indian heritage (that is South Asian to friends in the USA :) So my influences are an eclectic mix of two diametrically opposed styles. Wow! that was a long sentence!

I have a lovely 7 year old son Iain (the light of my life, the apple of my eye) or as my mother used to say "a piece of my liver". It doesn't translate well from Hindi :-). He has his own blog too but hasn't posted for ages. I guess he will go back to it when the mood takes him :)

This is my lovely step daughter Anna. She is both gorgeous looking and has a brain the size of a planet. I love her to bits. She has been living with us for about three and a half years but she is leaving the UK to go back to study in Denmark in the summer. I will feel like a piece of my heart has gone too :'-(

Any road, welcome to my blog - it has only taken me half a lifetime to pluck the courage to do this. I LOVE crafting. I have always loved crafts. My first memory of making a cushion is at the age of 9.

However, I ended up in technology (there is only so much you can do with electronic engineering) and found that I was getting the crafting equivalent of writer's block. So I am going to try and recreate the unbridled bravery and creativity of my youth. Wish me luck.

I'll be posting progress on my everyday projects, any other fun stuff I come across and I hope to put some templates and tutorials up for you to share.

For now, have fun !