2019 - A Year in Crafts

Hi there everyone 😀

I know I've shared bits and pieces of the things that I've made over the course of the year, both here and on Facebook, with some on my Hand Made at Number 27 page. I thought it would be nice to just bring them all together again for a bit of an annual round up ...

January to March
It's always nice and quiet for Hand Made at Number 27 in January so it's a good time to have a go at making something just for me. I decided that I would finally have a go at making something with mosaic and made a start at my January craft group and I'm really pleased with how it turned out ...
Inspired by my first attempt it wasn't long before I had another go ... this time it was more of a recycling project, using old tiles ...
There were also a couple of sewing days, making up plenty of reusable facewipes and peg bags for stock, another session making up beeswax wraps and a gorgeous snuggly baby blanket for a customer who had bought a sensory blanket from me in 2018 ...

April - June
The second quarter of the year was a busy one on the crafting front. With craft fairs on the horizon it was time to get busy making up lots of our best selling items ... more beeswax wraps and reusable face wipes, which have sold like hot cakes right across the year ... I'm really pleased that both of my best selling items are in line with our journey to zero waste ... long may it continue ...
As well as the popular old favourites I got to have a go a few new bits and pieces too ... some 'men's shirt' bunting, some little house key rings, where I had the chance to try out free motion machine embroidery and another two mosaic hearts ...
April saw our first of a number of craft fairs that we attended across the course of the year ...
Exciting news from my good friends, who became grandparents in the spring was another good cause for getting the sewing machine out ... and in May we were all delighted to welcome Emma Holly to the World ...
There was a bit of button art ...
... and time to have a go at something new for me, which didn't end up working out that well. It looked fine, but the soap bag just wouldn't dry out after use and using soap in the shower just left such a mess that it was abandoned as soon as it was started ... definitely a bit of a zero waste fail for us there ...
There was a totally unexpected and random order that I picked up from someone putting a call out on our local 'Spotted ...' Facebook page ...
Inspired by the Great British Sewing Bee I thought I'd have a go at making something to wear ... I think the least said about this project the better ...

And finally for this quarter ... do you remember this? Well it's been an ongoing project for about two years now but there was a bit of a spurt of progress ...


July to September
This quarter started off with a button art order picked up from our visit to the Lullington Open Gardens event with the craft stall, where we were blessed with glorious weather for a lovely couple of days ...
As seems to becoming the theme there were plenty more beeswax wraps and reusable face wipes made up ...
I tried a few new bits ... including fabric bookmarks ...
and ... after having fallen in love with all thing William Morris following a visit to Whitwick Manor ... I had another go at free motion machine embroidery when making these simple gift cards ...
There was time for me to finally make up some home made dish cloths for the kitchen ...
And ... though it seemed early ... it was time to start getting ready with a few Christmas makes ...

October to December
After our three week break on the Isle of Wight this quarter started off with some more card making ... this time using some positive 'self-affirmation' papers that I'd had free with a magazine ... trimmed up with bits of lace or ribbon. I'm really pleased with how professional they ended up looking ...
It was then time to start making for Christmas craft fairs in earnest ...

There were a couple of short notice Scrabble frame gifts made up which I don't seem to have photographed, along with a Christmas gift for Baby Emma ...
There were lots more beeswax wraps and reusable face wipes, including some larger sized ones, which continued to sell really well and are still doing so into 2020 ...
There were the regular Christmas gift tags, which are always popular ...
... and I added matching bookmarks to my William Morris cards ...
There was a bit of a last minute rush on Scrabble name tags ...
For me there was the 2020 calendar ...
... and my first ever Christmas wreath, made at the last craft group of the year ...
My very last crafty make of the year came in that quiet period between Christmas and New year when we finally decided to have a go at doing something with the candle ends we'd been saving across the year. We built up the courage to make some new candles and, whilst not perfect, we were both pretty pleased with how they turned out ...

Looking back I have been quite surprised at how much crafting I have actually done. I consciously decided not to do quite as much this year, concentrating more on attending monthly craft fairs than trying to sell on Facebook and it has actually gone pretty well.

I'm really pleased that my most popular makes for Hand Made at Number 27 are showing that more people are starting to think more about reusable options to replace single use and I love the fact that there has been a little bit of recycling in the mix too.

It's also nice to see that I've had chance to try a few new makes from my ever increasing list of things I'd like to have a go at ... as well as making a few bits for myself.

We are already booked in for plenty of craft fairs across the year for 2020 so I'm sure it will be another productive and crafty year 😀 I can't wait to get cracking!

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An Easter Weekend full of my Favourite Things #2

Hi there everyone 😀

Welcome to my second post of Easter ramblings. As you will know we spent Good Friday having fun with David, Alison and Bobby. Saturday was to be a far more relaxed affair.

It was another corker of a day, full sunshine, clear blue skies and the temperature gradually rising over the course of the day.
We got a few errands done early on, leaving us with the rest of the day at home. We pretty much spent it all in the garden, nipping in and out of the shade of the umbrellas, whilst we matched up pots with saucers for the summer, diluted worm tea and gave all of the pots a good water and feed.

The garden is really starting to look lush and green, but there is plenty of colour too, both in the borders ...

Morello cherry, periwinkle, flowering currant, choisya, honeysuckle, honesty, kerria, summer snowflake

... and in the pots ...

Anemone, rhododendron, tree peony, primula

There is plenty of blossom on the trees ...

Lilac, flowering cherry, acer

... and the raised bed on the patio is starting to look really full, with lots of buds coming on the clematis and the rose. The plan was for there to be colour in this bed all year round and so far it's looking promising ...

Camassia, tulips, primulas

There is plenty going on in the greenhouse too. The summer basket plants we potted on are growing well ...

... and the seeds have all pretty much come through with the beans putting on a real spurt over the weekend ...

We didn't spend the whole day working out there though, it was just too hot. There were plenty of breaks with ice lollies from the freezer, cold drinks and a sneaky little read ...

... before enjoying another slow cooker dinner, though, to be fair, a BBQ would have gone down very nicely.

Sunday morning we were up bright and early. We were off to our first craft fair of the year so the car was packed to the rafters with all the paraphernalia needed to set us up for the day, including plenty of pack up and cold drinks.

It was forecast to be another glorious day and we managed to stop and catch a photo of the old colliery wheel in the early morning sunshine on our way ...

The craft fair we went to is a monthly one held at Hoar Park Craft Village. It's in a lovely spot and we've been a few times before. It's always lovely first thing ... dead calm and very quiet ...

 

Once those barn doors open though, at bang on 8.45am, that all changes and there's a bit of a manic hour whilst everyone is unloading and setting up ...

After lots of trips to and from the car for Martin and lots of unpacking boxes and titivating for me we were soon up and ready to go ...

It wasn't the busiest of days, but there was a steady trickle of people wandering round and we managed to sell a few bits and pieces. We more than covered the cost of the stall so overall we were happy with how the day had gone. We'd sat in comfy chairs, had an indoor picnic, chatted to lots of people, had lots of compliments on how nice our stuff was, done the crossword and weren't going home out of pocket, so no complaints from us.

There was also plenty of time for a bit of a wander in the sunshine ... I'm all right as long as I don't leave Martin on his own for too long ...

By the time we'd got home and unpacked the car we were both pretty shattered and just about fit to flop in front of Sunday night TV with a Chinese.

Monday morning and the last day of our long weekend. Martin was back at work for the rest of the week so we wanted to have a fairly slow day.

We started off calling in at Jackie and Phil's to drop off a baby gift that I'd made for Chris and Jenny's baby girl which really is due any time soon ...

From there we headed to a garden centre just the other side of Lichfield, which neither of us had ever visited before. There had been a new zero waste food shop open there over the weekend and I wanted to go and have a look. I was also hoping that it might be a good spot for something to eat whilst we were out and about.

It was definitely a good call for lunch. It was another glorious day and we found the perfect spot to sit for lunch outside, under the shade of a huge umbrella ...

The menu looked interesting and we were spoilt for choice. Martin opted for a burger and I went for a cheese and pickle sandwich with some sweet potato fries. It did take about half an hour for our food to arrive, but it was worth the wait ...

The portion sizes were decent and the food was very, very good ...

We had a good mooch round the garden centre, the craft cabins and the zero waste shop before heading for home, where we spent the rest of the afternoon just chilling out, Martin getting ready for work and me managing a few more rows of the border of my crocheted blanket ...

It had been a real cracker of an Easter weekend and we were both sad to see it end.

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