Pinky and Boo loveliness

Claire September 7th, 2007

It seems ages since I have had the time to write here, and even longer since I actually finished something I am making. I have tons of stuff that is half made, part completed, “work in progress” – whatever you want to call it, it’s simply not finished!

I made a concerted effort this week to do the stuff I find the most boring – cutting things out and checking what I have planned for Pinky and Boo when I get round to launching it. As well as the pin cushions I have shown you previously, I have a few bags that are made of vintage doilies and tray cloths that have been applique’d and embellished,

a couple of things made from vintage fabrics that have been hand beaded, and a range of household bits and bobs like aprons, peg bags etc that all have kitsch embroidery patches on them.
I adore the creative bit – embroidering the patches, crocheting the flowers etc, and find this the most rewarding. The bit I don’t like, for some strange reason is the making up of everything. Probably because I have to follow rules to make them look OK – find it a bit boring and something of a no-brainer when all I really want to do is play around with patterns and stitches and make things look pretty.
I have always made my own clothes – started when I was about 13, and I used to love it, and spend all my time cutting, pinning and sewing new things for me and my friends. Now, I simply can’t be bothered – it’s a means to an end.
Probably what hasn’t helped is the fact I no longer have “my” space for sewing. I used to have a reasonably large room to store junk/ stick glue and stitch in, and now I have a glorified cupboard that is full of junk and you have to haul everything out before you can get to anything else. It’s been ages since I saw more than a foot’s width of space, and even then I had to kick my shoes off to wedge myself in. David and I are going to be looking for houses soon for when we live together and one of my stipluations is having a room for us to do our hobbies in – I admittedly have far more stuff than he does, but he plays with tiny fighting men, which naturally take up less space than yards of fabric…. heaven only knows what will happen when we start planning children. I will probably camp out in a shed somewhere to have my creative space then. Either that or it’s where the kids will sleep… So in the meantime I am a bit cramped, which is probably why I am working on small detailed things.

I have also finished a couple of the project bags (something, at last, that’s completed!) and I am happy with them. I have something similar planned for Pinky and Boo shop but not using handerchiefs, but all will be revealed in time.

One of the reasons I started blogging was to get used to t’Internet and to become less afraid of computers. I would not say by any means I am a technophobe, I know what I need to use a computer for, and am pretty proficient at it, if I do say so myself. Apart from t’internet. That’s scary and I don’t want to mess things up. Which is why I have been a bit of an ostrich for so long.

Now I am enjoying blogging, I have now added a Flickr album, and feel OK with that, apart from it taking so, so long to load the images that I don’t have the time to add descriptions or captions to most of them. David is making sure I don’t back out of the website stuff and is showing me bits and bobs that admittedly aren’t rocket science to most people, but please me when I can do them. He realises I am not that confident in myself, so show me something to whet my appetite, that I can do over and over and feel comfortable with, and I want more. Like trying to coax a cat that doesn’t want to come in for the night with a tasty nibble. Thinking about it that’s quite a good analogy as I am quite food orientated….

Anyway, I have been taking more pictures of my stuff, so feel free to have a browse at them, and pass comments if you feel like it. All the time I took pictures I was being watched by a very grumpy Stella, who wasn’t fooled into coming in by the tasty nibble and spent the night on the tiles, and just wanted her bed. She’s like a stroppy teenager sometimes!
I plan on adding some free patterns soon – embroidery patterns and some instructions from some vintage 50′s sewing magazines I have to make model villages etc. I now know how to do them, only to find my scanner isn’t wanting to play with me and has decided to go on strike. So I will use the work one, when I have finished the mountain of paperwork I have at the minute.

I will also be planning a give away of buttons and zips, so watch out for that. Coming soon at a blog near you, and all that jazz..

Thanks for stopping by

Claire xoxo

• embroidery , pinky and boo
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