Flaming Nora

2012-01-28T07:51:00.005Z

GREENERY!

I found this meme over at Punky and me.

And I thought why not.

I can show off some more of my new crochet skills at the same time!

They are just a very large version of the monsters really,

I kept increasing until its seemed big enough and then went on spiralling up.

Then I tried one with a wibbly edge

And then I tried stripes.

Next week I will have some VERY interesting news for you all.

But in the mean time I've found a pattern for crochet fishies to try out.

Love Nora xxx

2012-01-28T07:16:00.004Z

YES SIR I CAN CROCHET,

CROCHET CROCHET ALL NIGHT LONG!

After literally years of being befuddled by crochet, I have finally cracked it.

You see I saw these.

And I knew I had to pull my self together and sort it out.

So with a little help from you tube and some well timed advice about the interface of new skills and post new years eve home made vodka hangover VS anger management, from the Hippy

I cracked it.

And these little critters came to visit.

There were many many more of them

but they all found new homes amongst the Bombshell's little friends.

You see we had one of these last week

So I take back all I have ever said about crochet,

because as my good friend Ali pointed out

it has a vey nice action!

Happy weekend.

Love Nora xxx

2012-01-25T20:17:00.008Z

IDLE DAY DREAMS PART TWO

Casting our minds backwards some of us may remember that I recently proved that idle day dreams as not a waste of time and they can come true.

I am of course referring to Joan and her amazing fabric stash.

But let me tell you a secret, thats not the only idle day dream I have had.

Oh no.

I also have one where I stumble upon an amazing but virtually unknown shop full of beautiful vintage haberdashery (did I ever mention my haberdashery obsession?)

that is having an every thing must go sale.

The kind of sale that leaves you breathless and dizzy.

Well the shop wasn't quite unknown, not to me, and not to you, as I do believe I have mentioned Wayward and the lovely Betty on more than one occasion.

But I was not prepared for the fact it was closing down and really and truly

every thing had to go.

Thank fully I was in St Leonards on Sea at the right time.

And doubly thankfully even though they were closing down,

they are reopening a few doors up the road soon.

The prices were insane, I don't think any thing I bought cost more that £2 an item.

And by item I mean each of the boxes of buttons above were £2,

and the huge bundles of ribbon £1.

It was like living in a dream, an idle day dream even!

I came away with bags full of booty, I probably could have bought so much more, but to be honest it was all a little overwhelming.

So here's to keeping all of our dreams alive!

I am a lucky girl.

Love Nora xxx

2012-01-23T20:57:00.006Z

THE LESSER SPOTTED BEARDED BIRTHDAY TIT.

A few days ago my dear old Dad became another year older.

It is from he that I have inhereted my love of our feathered friends.

When I was young he had magnifcent 1970's full on ginger beard.

So I did a bit of head scratching, but not much as the result was a given really.

I delved deep in to the fabric stash and came up empty handed.

How can this be?

I was perplexed, I was upset, my stash had let me down.

But then I remembered Joan.

I remembered all the bits of her stash I had put aside to giveaway, and I knew what I needed to do.

I came up with this pile.

Serves me right for wanting to down size my collection!

After fiddling and faddling about for a while this beauty emerged.

I must admit I enjoyed the hand stitching and embroidery more than I thought.

Usually when I embroider I do it on the machine, but doing it by hand made me feel more connected with the whole process.

I took the image from here.

Happy Birthday Dad.

Love Nora xxx

New John Carter Trailer introduced by Andrew Stanton | Official Disney 2...

2012-01-12T10:52:00.002Z

WHAT NORA GETS UP TO WHEN NO ONE IS LOOKING.

I took the ginger one and his friend Emily to the cinema the other day.

We were all very excited to see the trailer for the upcoming Disney spectacular

"John Carter"

If you watch very carefully at about 2.09 mins in you will see the

golden bridesmaids costumes I made.

The are only there for a moment so don't blink!

Hopefully there will be more of them in the film!

It is out in the UK at the beginning of March.

We are all very excited!

Love Nora xxx

2012-01-09T10:33:00.004Z

HAVE YOU EVER HAD A IDLE DAY DREAM?

The kind of one that would never come real?

The kind of one you hear vague urban myths about and think "oh if only"?

Well guess what Ladies and Gentlemen, Cats and Dogs, dreams now matter how idle

no matter how vague and unformed

come

true!

But really this is the very end of the story and I guess social convention dictates we start at the beginning.

Oh hold my hand we are going a long way back now and I don't want you to get lost.

Trust me there is some murky stuff back there,

The 1970's weren't always the glorious Technicolor party we now like to remember them as.

There was bad food, mental clothes, warm milk at school and pipes, no Dad worth his salt went on a family walk with out his pipe, oh and a whole heap of cigarette smoke.

So much smoke, so so much smoke.

Right are you holding on tight?

Then lets go back to September 1974.

A little red headed girl with green ribbons woven in to her plats and scabby knees

set off on a BIG adventure.

And when she got there she found another little girl with dark hair and scabby knees

(there were a lot of scabby knees in those days).

The two little girls were only separated by one letter.

And so on the first day of term at their first school Jane and Janet skipped round the playground hand in hand comparing scabs and trading stories of horrible brothers.

Though I must admit Janet nearly always won on both these counts

as she had OLDER brothers.

And they as we know are a dangerous and unpredictable beastie.

Janet's house was a wonder to me, always loud and fun.

It had a shed with a carpet and curtains at the windows that housed her Dad's remote controlled aeroplanes.

It had apples trees in the garden which we spent hours climbing.

There were teapots in the kitchen in the shape of country cottages and always that air of chaos that having 3 children in a small house with two working parents brings.

I loved it and I loved Janet.

But then we moved and though we tried hard after a few years and moving on up to big school we drifted apart.

But before we moved I remember a jacket of much toe curling jealousy inducing wonder and splenderment.

Hand knitted by Janet's Nan and covered in the most amazing bobbles.

Janet swanked round the neighbourhood in it and I trailed along in a cloud of green envy.

Probably a good job we moved because I may well have stolen it, such was my longing for a knitted bobble jacket of glory.

Time passed all contact was lost, it was one of those things, it happens.

But then through the glory of facebook after about 20 years contact was made.

Now it must be said not much has changed, in eight years we have only managed to meet up a couple of times.

But its good to keep up and have those weird non conversation conversations that facebook occasionally throws at you.

And its is time to have our annual lets meet up at half term spate of messages.

Who knows may be this year we will actually get round to doing it.

Here's hoping.

Now you may think I have just wandered too far from the point and am now just rambling.

You are probably right.

But look here are the tracks and we are going to jump back on them.

I have a day dream, I can bet its the kind of daydream that many of you out there have too.

The one when some one gets in contact and says the following beautiful words

" An aged relative of mine who was an avid stitcher and crafter, not to mention most importantly hoarder has sadly passed away and I need to sort out her stuff could you help?"

I never really believed this could possibly happen to little old me.

But......

again through the glory of fb Janet's Mum Bev contacted me with the sad news that Joan the afore mentioned bobble jacket knitting Nan had passed away and could I help her sort out all the crafting stash. Oh and by the way there is rather a lot of it.

Let me tell you Joan was a wonder.

Nothing and I think I really do mean nothing that could have been put to a use was thrown away, but it wasn't a mess of old bits of knicker elastic.

Oh no.

All things neatly folded, wound on to cards or stashed in boxes.

I had such fun and came away with a car load of the most amazing stuff.

A box of old children's boot buttons.

I am still trying to sort through every thing, but this is a small selection of some of it.

A box full of colour coordinated hexies all tacked and ready to go!

No pics of the fabrics yet, or the amazing scrapbooks I'll show them soon.

There is just so much stuff I really can't use it all my self so in the next week or so when I have finished the sorting and photographing I am going to add it all to the stash for the scrap heap challenge and carry on giving it all away.

I solemnly promise you will be the first to know when I've got my act together.

In the mean time, thank you Joan, thank you Bev and thank you Janet.

Dreams do come true!!

Love Nora xxxx

2012-01-01T15:36:00.000Z

HAPPY 2012 EVERY ONE!

Let the good times roll out before us like a deep thick shag pile carpet

that absorbs the spills,

doesn't show the dirt,

is always warm underfoot

and softens the bumps when we fall over.

And trust me after last night I really need one of them!

This fantastic calendar was sent to me by Nicola Killeen Textiles early on in December.

I have wanted to show it to you ever since.

Each month is a sample one of their dye processes.

If I were to be really organised I could photograph all 12 months and pre prepare a post for the beginning of every month.

That is a really big IF though.

Would I ever be that consistent/ persistent?

Keeping up an idea for a whole 12 months, with no sudden about turns or about faces.

Who knows. I make no promises.

I don't really believe in new years resolutions,

I always let my self down.

But the Bombshell was given this book by his Nana

and we think it would be fun to try and do as much of it as possible this year.

Hope you are all recovering from the festivities.

See you in a day or two.

Love Nora xxx

2011-12-20T22:11:00.002Z

HAPPY KNITMAS EVERY ONE.

This evening I went carolling.

The Ninjas were there too.

Bringing their own special brand of Christmas cheer.

Happy Christmas every one.

See you on the other side!

Love Nora and the Ninjas xxxx

2011-12-18T09:30:00.008Z

CHRISTMAS SWAPSHOPAROONIE

Quite a long time ago the lovely Ali at Very Berry decided to give a christmas twist to one of her fantastic swaps.

A Christmas decoration scrappy swap.

The gauntlet was thrown down, the challenge accepted and very unusually for me I got on with it almost straight away.

And then I put it all away I just had to hammer in a copper nail and take some photos.

LOADS of time to do that thought I.

Tick tock tick tock

Emails passed between mine own self and Linnhie of Wee mindings, my swap partner.

Tick Tock.

Deadlines were set.

Tick tock

Trips to the frozen north taken.

Tick Tock

Reminders sent.

Tickerty tickerty tick tock.

A beautiful parcel arrived on my doorstep.

Ticker ticker ticker tick tock.

Hasty photos taken, nails quickly banged.

Package wrapped, pen in hand, no address.

Emails searched, hair pulled.

Frantic email sent to avery calm and forgiving Linnhie

And finally a mad late evening dash to the post box.

Fingers crossed they arrive in time.

I do wonder why this always happens.

But I guess I'm just too old to change now.

I know it naughty because Linnhie won't have received her package yet, but if I don't show you now I never will.

So here are some sneaky peekies of what I sent.

"Snow" garland

And Reel christmas token, you may remember the reel love tokens from earlier in the year.

So now I am off to do a bit of light relaxing as for the first time ever I have finished my christmas shopping with a week to go.

Hurrah!

Love Nora xxx

The Wombles Wombling merry Christmas

2011-12-12T09:46:00.002Z

REMEMBER YOU'RE A WOMBLE.

Good morning to you all.

A friend of mine, possibly the oldest friend I have

(first day at infants school and all that)

has started something.

In the spirit of sharing the christmas love I bring you direct from the vaults

Christmas 1975 to be precise,

this piece of wonderful Christmas cheer.

If it doesn't make you smile then you have had too many humbugs already.

You can join in the fun here.

Ho Ho Ho.

Love Nora xxx

2011-12-10T21:40:00.010Z

IN SEARCH OF THE ELUSIVE WOOLY HAT.

I've been to the frozen north

I've climbed an iceberg made of stone

I've trodden the cold streets

I've searched a Saumi tent

I've spent unmentionable amounts of money on a pint of beer.

I've worked hard and I've hunted high and low.

Every where I went people knew exactly what I wanted,

they could even name the style of pattern.

I found it in jumpers

I found it in socks

In gloves and I suspect even in a dodgy pair of nylon leggings

But let me say there was NOT ONE single wooly hat of the correct traditional design in the whole of blooming Oslo.

However There were breath taking views

Amazing decorations

Beautiful knits

Reunions with flame haired Glamorous ex assistants

and these socks.

If only I could have afforded them and they were in an adult size!

Moving tributes out side the Cathedral to the massacre in July

More hard work

And just as I exited the Stage door to return to the airport

Snow!

Brrrr!

Love Nora xxx

2011-12-07T21:18:00.003Z

SOMETHING COMPLETELY OTHER THAN WHAT IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE.

I was going to be telling you all about my flying visit to the

far and frozen north.

Oslo.

Its a beautiful place.

I was going to be telling you about all that I saw and explored when I was there.

But then this evening I was given the most wonderful present.

I went to pick up the boys from Bernie our childminder's house.

When I arrived there was a lot of excited giggling and loud whispering coming from her daughter's bedroom.

"You can't go in Nadine's room Mummy."

So I didn't.

I sat and waited in the living room, I had a brief and amusing gossip with Bernie.

Then the command came.

"Close your eyes Mummy"

Lots more giggling and the heavy footsteps of someone carrying a weighty item.

"Put your arms out Mummy"

I did.

"Happy Christmas Mummy"

Look what I had delivered straight in to my waiting arms.

A gift wrapped Bombshell.

I hope Father Christmas brings you something as lovely for Christmas.

Love Nora xx

2011-12-03T19:18:00.007Z

GAZING IN TO THE MIDDLE DISTANCE.

Just now I found my self after a busy day sitting doing nothing.

Not thinking, not doing, nothing.

Just nothing.

It didn't last long I was brought down to earth by the Hippy.

"Whats the matter with You? You've got a face like a slapped behind"

Oh.

May be thats what nothing looks like.

Sitting doing nothing was so very pleasurable I think I may do more of it in future.

I realised I do very little nothing any more.

This on top of a comment from one of my cousins this week asking if there are 28 hours in a day where I live as there is no other earthly way I could fit it all in.

Any way Nothing is great, but really is it as good as cogitating?

I love a bit of cogitating.

But it is a delicate beast, easily scared away.

It needs a distinct lack of children in the immediate vicinity.

Noises (happy) off stage left is fine, but when it invades the cogitating arena, poof!

Is gone I tell you, gone.

Beverages are essential, cold or hot I'm not sure it matters.

And no I repeat No phone calls.

Often it is best if the Hippy has may be snuck out for a sneaky

early evening pint of ale.

This evening I have been cogitating upon the theme of Christmas.

For two reasons other than the obvious.

Firstly our friend Catherine brought some thing round for me to see this morning.

A thing of such joy and wonder that I know you will understand my excitement.

A crochet nativity!

CROCHET

NATIVITY

I mean, come on!

How have I lived for over 40 years with out one of these?

There is a huge a gaping hole in my life, and it needs to be filled.

And secondly today was the day of the Winter Warmers sewing classes for crafty boys and girls.

3 classes with a fairly quick turn around.

They were noisy, messy, silly and funny.

Boy did they make me laugh.

There are more pictures here is anyone is interested.

Any way it is nearly oh so nearly time to watch Merlin.

Pjs must be on, quilties warmed on the radiator, snacks and drinks procured.

Then the boys and I have a hot date with the sofa an the T.V for an hour.

So I am offski.

Happy Christmas every one.

Happy Christmas!

Love Nora xx

2011-11-30T21:07:00.007Z

WREATH: n.

A circlet of interwoven materials: To form by twisting: to twist together: to twine about or encircle: to twist.

Last night I was a busy Nora.

With the grand opening of 2011 official and global Christmas festivities due upon us tomorrow there was just about enough time for a bit of last minute craftiness.

Last night 20 lovely ladies joined mine own self and the glamourous assistant, Kirsty, at our local pub.

And we made wreaths.

Lots and lots of wreaths.

We ate chocolate, we drank drinks, we met up with friends and new people.

But mainly we enjoyed ourselves.

At the end of the night Kirsty and I decide it was one of the most enjoyable classes I have run so far.

Lots of old faces, some recent faces and some new faces.

Such fun.

There is nothing Nora likes more than chatting over a pile of fabric.

You can see more of what the ladies created here.

So now this corner of south London is a little readier for the Christmas onslaught.

Phew! Thank Goodness for that.

If you like the look of the wreaths you can find out how to make them here.

The only difference being our wreath frames were a double ring, so I made the strips slightly shorter, about 5".

I am off next week to a really Christmassy place in the far north.

If there is no snow I will throw a tantrum. Work or no work!

Much Love Nora xx

2011-11-24T09:32:00.004Z

ITS ALL GONE A LITTLE BIT WONKY

Long long time readers of this blog may remember the original wonky and some of the less than encouraging comments the Hippy made about him.

But Wonky has been a well loved member of the gang often being lobbed out of bedroom windows just to see how far and how fast a wonky can really go.

But someone other than the boys really really loved Wonky.

Louis.

He is a dear and special friend to all of us is Lou.

It was his birthday.

So a dear and special wonky was called for.

And so I bring you the Flaming Wonky.

With hooves of fire he travels the neighbourhood bringing warmth and comfort to all who meet him.

The glowing embers of his face welcoming friends new and old.

And his ring of fire repelling those who have annoyed,

or big sisters who are being too bossy.

Happy birthday Louis and good luck in your new home Flaming Wonky.

May you keep each other forever warm.

I am thinking how much I enjoyed making another Wonky and that if I can muster the energy (for I too along with other members of the household am feeling a little wonky at the moment) may post a how to about him.

Is this a good idea?

Or is it only me, the boys and Lou that love a wonky?

See you on the other side of all the aches, pains and general grumbly grumpyness.

Nora xx

2011-11-16T21:14:00.008Z

PROCRASTINATION YOU ARE A CLOSE FRIEND,

BUT REALLY YOU HAVE NOW OUT STAYED YOUR WELCOME!

Oh and while you are about it you can take your close friend inertia with you.

My very best friend once told me that our problem was that unless the deadline is biting us on the bum we really just do not get on with it.

Oh how true that is.

I am currently working on quite a big job for my day job.

A production of "West side story" for a theatre in Norway to be precise.

8 beautiful 1950's party dresses designed by some one I really like and admire.

So why are they still hanging there looking at me accusingly?

Why are they not nearly ready for their second fittings in a couple of weeks time?

I mean I've had long enough, we started them in September for goodness sake.

I realise now its because I've had a visitor.

They are a stealthy visitor. One I didn't notice for quite a long time.

To be honest Procrastination is a very low maintanence house guest.

I think he moved in at the beginning of October.

The arrival was soon followed by me signing up for Karen Ruane's buttons and more class.

Its good to keep your self open to new ideas. It keeps me fresh and up to date, stops me from going stale etc etc.

Oh how you must have heard it all before.

We all do it.

Now don't get me wrong, Karen's course is AMAZING.

It really really is.

I have no regrets and it did all of the above listed things.

But was it the beginning of Procrastinations extended visit?

Lets face it we have all been enjoying the spoils of his visit, the tales from the scrap heap, the tutorials. I've been having a great time!

But all the time tick tock tick tock.

I have so many blog posts I want to write, so many things I want to make, cards to send, workshops to organise, bedrooms to decorate, a house to clean and yet they are still undone.

Why is this?

Ah Inertia the whispy and transparent friend of Mr P I see you have arrived under the cover of darkness, snuck in on a blast of cold air one evening when I went to put the rubbish out.

Well now I say BE GONE!

And so I bring you the real post as opposed to the very long pre amble you have just read.

"BUTTON YOUR LIP YOUNG LADY!"

(OR MY CREATIVE SPACE.)

Always that was said in that steely tone of voice that only your own mother can muster, and that you seem to fail at miserably every time you attempt it.

Buttons and More.

Karen Ruan's excellent course.

I found it really inspiring and so much fun.

I've been meaning to share with you what I made for ages, but for the reasons listed above it hasn't happened.

Before I show you my masterpieces (ahem, cough cough)

I must tell you that karen is re running her course starting next week.

You can find all the details here.

She is a great tutor giving clear instructions and video lessons as well as loads of fantastic advice and feed back.

And at only £30 for a 3 week course an absolute bargain. I would happily have paid double that.

And so to the pictures.

Barroque noughts and crosses.

Cut work button with web stitch and french knots.

Sun a rise early in the morning.

The union flag.

As ever going slightly off piste, a piece of drift wood covered with linen, covered in embriodery, destined to be a brooch.

And then as you do I got interested in something else.

Japanese Borro textiles.

Which lead to this

and this

which made me think about Japanese wood cuts,

which lead me to waves

And finally...

A dorset button.

Not sure I'll revisit this one, but I guess it was interesting to make one!

And the mad thing is there are at least 3 types of button I haven't got round to yet.

You can see more creative spaces here.

Much love and many thanks for bearing with me on this ramble.

The unwanted guests are packing their bags as I type.

So hopefully normality will resume soon.

Love Nora xxx

2011-11-15T13:13:00.005Z

R AND R

We have just come back from a wonderful weekend staying with

the Hippy's family back in the flat lands.

A weekend of leaf covered trampolines.

A weekend of bike rides in the lane.

A weekend of night time walks to the pub to catch up with friends.

A weekend of Autumn colour,

mouldering piles of leaves,

and strange and wild beasties.

A happy cozy Autumn to you all.

Love Nora xx

2011-11-09T21:22:00.007Z

BACK TO SCHOOL.

Oh yes folks Nora is going back to school.

Not only that but Nora has been back at school.

Two different schools, two different projects.

One to come, one in the past.

Let me take you back to my first school adventure.

Because trust me it was an adventure.

The Ginger ninja's school have started a programme of parent volunteers.

Sadly I am never going to be good at sitting in a class room reading with

bored children.

I politely explained this but did say I had other more crafty skill to offer.

I was collared by Mr D, the Ginger one's teacher from last year.

"I'm not very good at craft, please help!"

Ooh hoo! I do so love a challenge.

So just before half term in I wandered to have a chat with the kids in year 5.

They explained to me that they were in the middle of a BIG project.

The apprentice.

The children are in enterprise groups.

Each group has to come up with an idea.

An idea that will make some money.

An idea that will bowl every one over at the school christmas fair.

The groups are putting their pitches to the headmaster

and the lucky ones will have their own stall.

So we all sat down and came up with some ideas of

what they thought they could make.

A week later armed with lots of felt, beads, buttons and

colourful fabrics I was back again.

Even though it was only mid October and felt quite frankly wrong we all set to making Christmas decorations.

5M's decorations

5D's decorations

It was quite a challenge for me.

My classes usually only have 10 - 15 children in them, and then I have a glamourous assistant.

That day I worked with both classes in the year group so that was probably pushing 60 students over the whole day.

But the teachers were all amazing getting really involved and helping the children.

Though as I now recall it I don't believe I ever saw Mr D with a needle in his hand!

The students worked really hard and came up with some great ideas.

Some were neat

Some were inventive, yes that is lavender stitched on to the star.

Some were traditional.

And some were so amazing they still make me smile and laugh when every I think of them. Before you ask this is of course a Henry Hoover.

I can't put a photo of every single decoration here,

but let me say they were all fantastic.

And I went home at the end of the day, exhausted, having more or less lost my voice (a blessing for some) and feeling very very excited about what we had all achieved.

So excited in fact that I have been asked to go back after Christmas and do something relating to the Tudors and Elizabethans.

I feel a costume extravaganza coming on!

Let me tell you as some one who made Colin Firth's costumes for "Shakespeare in Love" and Cate Blanchete's costumes for "Elizabeth"

this is some thing I do know about!

And so on to my upcoming school adventure.

I have been asked by the lovely people at Telferscott school to host

an evening sewing workshop for adults.

So I bring you

The Flora Extravaganza.

We shall be making beautiful floral brooches.

There will be lots of amazing fabrics and trims for people to play with.

In fact I went today to my secret stash, so secret it is locked away in a top secret location away from the rambling shed.

So secret and wondrous are the fabrics stashed there that I had forgotten some of them existed as I rummaged wildly looking for the prefect leaf fabric.

Needless to say I brought lots of brooch making goodies back with me.

So on to the nitty gritty.

The class is on the evening of 17th November

at Telferscot Primary school in Balham SW London.

It costs £10.

If you are in the vicinity and fancy taking part let me know.

Love Nora xxx

2011-11-04T21:48:00.003Z

TALES FROM THE SCRAP HEAP #4

So here we are again, back on the scrap heap.

I have been pondering what to do next with the fast dwindling supplies of the scrap heap.

A large wall seemed to have been erected through my head.

The ponderings were getting me no where.

And then I couldn't sleep.

And then I started musing on some of the wonderful things I have been given over the years.

It would appear I have been given quite a few over the years.

And then the wall crumbled and I danced delightedly upon its rubble.

Fuse your obsessions girls, fuse your obsessions.

Brooches, birds, birds, brooches....

Eureka!

So yesterday I took my miners lamp, a pick axe, a whistle and a very long length of string and set forth to mine the scrap heap for the exactly right scraps.

We are now well and truly in to November so I feel no remorse in mentioning the c word.

I bring you a Christmassy festive brooch.

I started with a rather poor and tiny sketch of our favourite Christmas bird.

The brooches are about 1.5" wide by 2.5" long.

After a lot of frustrated rubbing out and starting again. I realised I should draw round my brooch base before commencing drawing.

It was at this point the plan started to come together.

I should mention here how I make the bases for my brooches.

I use 3 layers of heavy wool felt.

I tend to make a large sheet of it up and then cut it up in to the smaller shapes. I stitch the outer edges of the 3 layers together and then stitch in a random zig zag pattern back and forth across the felt.

I like the texture this gives the finished brooch base as well as the stability it offers.

I don't worry about cutting through threads or finishing ends off, it all adds to the frayed organic look!

At this point sketch the out line of your bird on to the brooch base.

After much rummaging in the scrap heap I found a selection that pleased this old girls eye.

The floral piece in the background became the body of the robin, with the cream back ground as its tummy. The red silk dupion became the breast and the rust silk? Well sadly it was relegated back to the heap.

I also like on small pieces of machine embroidery and applique like this to use up all those annoying bobbins with colours you may not need again. In fact if they are the right colour I use them as the top thread.

Cut out your Robin shapes from the scraps.

Place the body on to the brooch.

I don't bother pinning it, but I have done very little with my life over the last 24 years other than sit at a machine and sew!

So please pin if you don't feel confident.

I sew my shapes on using free hand machine embroidery. If you have never done this before, plunge in to the deep end and have a go. Its so much fun.

Consult your manual for how to do this on your machine.

Basically you will have to drop the teeth or feed dog on the machine. Though on more modern machines you may have a plate that you attach over the plate to stop the feed dog from working.

The feed dog is the moving part of the machine just under the foot. It is what moves the fabric through the machine. By dropping it it is up to you to move the fabric through the machine. Which gives you loads of scope to stitch any which way you like!

Stitch on the tummy. I have given it some more texture by stitching back and forth across it.

Now I really like the raw frayed edges. I feel it makes the bird look more alive, gives it more movement.

But I realise this may not be to every ones taste or style.

If this is the case and you want a cleaner line I would suggest you iron some bondina on to the back of your scraps, then fuse your shapes on to place brooch base.

This will prevent the fraying and give a cleaner line.

Stitch on you breast.

A robin has a blue grey highlight round the breast and on to the tummy. I did this in a contrasting thread.

At this point I also stitched on the outline of the wing with a few extra lines to help with the definition.

Then the finishing details.

Eye, beak and legs.

Snip off all your threads, sew a brooch clasp on to the back and DAAA DAAA!

A christmassy bird brooch!

In fact I loved making this bird so much that I carried on playing around and experimenting. And so I give you

A king fisher

and a yellowhammer

I was having so much fun exploring the return my inner stitched twitcher that I made a whole flock of the robins.

I have put them and the other birds in my shop if you haven't got the time or quite frankly can't be bothered to make one of your own!

And speaking of my shop.

There are still a few freebie Tales from the scrap heap scrap bags (you just pay the postage) left.

And I am thinking of listing some scrap bags of coloured linings if any one is interested.

Happy stitching kids.

Love Nora xx

2011-10-31T06:43:00.003Z

BE AFRAID BE VERY AFRAID!

I may look scary

but don't worry

when I'd put me teeth in and me specs on all was back to normal.

Vampire dork.

Happy Halloween every one.

Love Nora xx

2011-10-27T07:02:00.006+01:00

HALF TERM SUPER SAVER RETURN TO THE NORTH.

OR ANTHONY GORMLEY AND STEAM TRAINS.

Last night the boys and I returned from our trip to see Grandma.

A journey that involved a train, a tube, a big train and a tram, and then the same again in reverse on the way home.

We arrived and left in blazing sunshine, but the days in between, well...

Lets just say it thankfully didn't rain.

For years now I have wanted to see "Another place".

The exhibit of Anthony Gormley statues on Corby beach just above Liverpool.

In fact I've wanted to go since it was first put up.

But somehow every time we go a visiting to the north it hasn't worked out.

Until now.

I was not disappointed.

And somehow I managed to persuade the boys interacting with a work of art

was more fun than the playground.

The rest of the holiday went in a blur of spectacular sunsets,

steam trains,

goose impersonations

and finding easy ways for a 3 yr old to carve a pumpkin.

Hope you are enjoying a few days off too.

Love Nora xx

2011-10-20T10:16:00.014+01:00

TALES FROM THE SCRAP HEAP #3

So here I am back again, still going on about the flaming scrap fabric.

But this time some thing to do with your fabrics.

I have got some scrap bags left, so if you missed out in the mad scramble for them over the weekend you will have another chance.

I will list them in my Folksy shop after the half term holiday.

A day late, but as promised here is the how to on making scrap bag roses.

* First things first, choose your fabrics. You don't need huge scraps for this project, but you do need to be able to cut Bias strips at least 10" long for your roses.

The background fabric should be of a sturdier weight that the flowers. I used a piece of the same silk dupion in a different colour and then ironed a rectangle of interfacing on to the back of it. If your fabric is too flimsy it will just pucker up when you are sewing the flowers on.

* Cut you bias strips.

They should be at least 10" long.

I cut them at different widths. Some were 3/4", some were 1" and some were 1 1/4".

The wider flowers will need a slightly longer length, but not much just an inch or two.

If you don't understand what the bias means then here is a quick explanation.

Bias is cutting diagonally across the grain of the fabric. See the picture.

We do this because the weave of the fabric is what gives it its stability, so if you cut diagonally across the weave you are reducing this stability and making the fabric easier to stretch and mould in to new shapes.

(Sally I hope this makes you happy!)

* It is up to you how many flowers to make.

I did 6.

Fold your fabric not quite in half along the length.

As you can see in the picture one side is about 1/8" longer than the other.

I do this because it helps to give the edge of the flowers more definition.

You will be stitching on the folded edge.

*Then press your strips in to a slight curve.

Do this as you are ironing the strip.

Using lots of steam helps!

Just keep curving the fabric round as you move the iron over it.

* Cut the end of your bias strip to a point sloping in towards the fabric.

This is so you don't have an ugly blunt end of fabric to start you flower with.

Start sewing your flower.

I do it by eye, but you may want to lightly chalk a spiral on to the fabric where you wish the flower to go.

I have never managed to make a flower with more than 3 swirls in it, so keep it simple!

The spiral should be about 1 1/2" - 2" wide.

Because you have already pressed the bias strip in to a curve it should start to naturally follow the spiral.

I use a dressmaking awl to help hold the fabric in place. But a long pin works just as well.

* Keep following your spiral round.

Always finish with your needle in the fabric.

You will need to lift the foot, move the fabric round, put it down, stitch a couple of stitches, lift the foot, move the fabric rounds, etc. This is where having that long pin or awl becomes indispensable, to tease the fabric in to position and push other parts of the spiral out of the way.

When you finally feel you can stitch no further do a couple of back stitches and cut your threads.

Then cut the remains of the bias strip off at an angle sloping back in towards the flower.

* And there you have it a finished flower.

As you can see the raw edges are starting to fray a little.

Because they are cut on the bias this means they won't fray away, but will give a pleasing organic edge to the rose.

If you have shot fabric you can achieve some amazing results with this technique.

* Start stitching your next flower.

Try to start as close as possible to your first one. This will give the impression of the flowers being clustered together.

* Here it is with all six flowers sewn on.

It still looks a little spartan but panic not we haven't yet finished.

* And so on to the leaves.

I use two colours of scraps to make the leaves.

Cut out a shape that you like in the lighter fabric.

Make a paper template if you are not confident in doing it freehand.

Pin the lighter leaf to the darker fabric and then cut out making the second leaf about 1/8" larger all the way round.

I made 4 sets of leaves. Its up to you how many you want and how large they are.

* Stitch on the leaves.

As with the flowers I like the effect of them being nestled up close to each other.

You only need to do a single line of stitching down the centre of each leaf I like to make it slightly curved or with a little wiggle, as I find straight lines quite harsh.

* Nearly nearly finished now.

You may like your bunch of roses looking like this.

In which case, you have finished!

Read no further!

However I like to flatten mine out a little.

* Take your beautiful floral display back to the ironing board.

Turn the iron up high (though be careful if you are using synthetic fabrics) and use lots of steam.

You are not actually pressing the flowers, just steaming them.

Hold to iron so it is almost touching the flowers and steam them for a few seconds.

You can then if you want poke about with a pin and arrange the flowers in to the shapes you want and steam again.

Phew!

Well I hope that all made sense.

If you feel brave enough to have a go at some roses then you can upload the results here so every one can admire your efforts.

Good luck!

I am joining in today with My creative space.

Check out what every one else out there has been up to.

Love Nora xx

2011-10-17T21:52:00.008+01:00

MORE TALES FROM THE SCRAP HEAP.

To say I am stunned by the response to my scrap bag giveaway would probably be an understatement.

I guess the whiff of free fabric is one that travels far, in fact it travels to places so far flung from where I live that much further and you are on your way home again.

Really I should have known this would happen

I should have planned it better

I should have been prepared.

But...

I was so sick of this idea knocking around in my head,

so sick of the complicated filing system for scraps

(ones to send back, ones to keep, ones to give away, ones to recycle)

that I just had to do it.

Nothing like throwing yourself in at the deep end is there!

So many of you wonderful people commented on my last post that

I have now had to get a new note book on the go.

I am a woman who likes a new notebook, so this part really isn't a chore.

I very quickly exceeded the amount I could afford to spend on free postage and packing.

So...

After a bit of nifty thinking, and a coming to the conclusion that yes I don't like Etsy any more I listed the scrap bags on Folksy.

The charge only covers the p&p.

There was a point today when the orders were coming in so thick and fast I didn't think I could keep up.

However I'm sort of nearly there now.

Though this picture is by no means all of them.

So now for some fun and a new scrappy tale.

I have a friend, if you can call some one you have never met and don't really know very well a friend, but hey that's blogging for you!

Her name is Colette.

Some of you may know her.

In the summer I sent her some fabrics from the scrap heap.

She has made some amazing things.

What I love is that she has done things that I would never have dreamed of doing.

To me these fabrics are all about embellishment not practicality.

How wrong am I?

Go over to her place and check it out.

She even tells you how to make them and how to deal with some of the trickier fabrics.

In the mean time this is my favourite of all the things she made.

When your parcel arrives you can continue your own tale from the scrap heap here.

If you ordered fabrics via Folksy before 3 today they will be posted tomorrow afternoon, all the freebies are also being posted tomorrow.

Any one who I know who lives locally and has ordered one will I'm afraid just have to give me a day or so to catch my breath, sorry.

Any one who ordered after 3 will get theirs posted on Wednesday.

If you try to buy some and they are out of stock, don't worry

I am restocking a couple of times a day.

Right well that is the really boring bit over.

I will be back on Wednesday with that how to on the roses.

Thank you to every one who has joined in I really can't wait to see what you have all been up to!

Love Nora xxx

2011-10-14T21:14:00.004+01:00

ARE YOU SITTING COMFORTABLY?

GOOD.

THEN I SHALL BEGIN.

I am really quite excited about this post.

I've been planning it for really quite a while now.

But the day job just kept getting in the way.

But now I would like to introduce you to my new and quite frankly generous project.

TALES FROM THE SCRAP HEAP

As you probably know Flaming Nora is not my day job.

By day I make costumes for theatre and film.

So I get through a fairly huge amount of fabric.

Often quite odd, weird and interesting fabrics.

I try and recycle as much waste as I possibly can, the thought of adding to landfill always fills me with dread.

But there are some bits that are too small or just plain odd shaped to be reused.

They live in an ever growing series of checkie bags taking up room and getting under my feet.

Now some may say I'm a hoarder.

Some may say I have a problem with throwing things away.

Some may say in 20 yrs time I may be one of those mad old ladies who only have a 2 ft square area left in my house where I can eat, sleep and drink.

I say Phah! to all these doubters.

See look I'm giving the whole thundering lot away.

Yes thats right folks I'm giving it all away.

All this fabric is fab for small scale projects and children's crafts.

A very large amount of it is brightly coloured silk dupion.

I will be bagging it up and giving it all away as of now.

(well may be that is an exaggeration, its 9.45 on the friday evening of a weekend when the Hippy has gone a galavanting, lets say Monday)

I can't say exactly what you will be getting, every bag will be different.

The only thing I ask is that you take photos of your finished works of beauty

and send them to the flicker group.

I am happy to send the first 15 or so bags out for free to any where, then I will be putting them on etsy.

There will be no charge for the fabrics, just a small and fair charge to cover the postage and paypall fees.

Interested?

Leave me a comment at the end of this post leaving me a way of contacting you and I'll get on with it.

In the mean time I thought I would share some pictures of things I have made from the scrap heap.

You saw a hint of this yesterday.

A machine embroidered and appliqué picture for my Kiwi friend Sally.

You can see it here with the stamp I took the design from.

Thankfully Sally recognised it at once as a Kowhai and not just the jumble of threads and fabrics that it really is!

An embarrassingly late birthday present.

And this one you may have seen earlier in the summer as it was part of a swap and I blogged about it here.

I am really taken with making these roses and am going to do a how to later in the week.

Well that was quite a long post!

Hope you are all felling inspired!

OK FOLKS THE RESPONSE TO THIS HAS BEEN SOME WHAT OVER WHELMING!

I AM AMAZED AND DELIGHTED AT HOW MANY OF YOU WANT TO SAVE THESE FABRICS FROM LAND FILL!

BUT I HAVE NOW REACHED BEYOND THE LIMIT OF WHAT I CAN AFFORD TO SEND OUT FOR FREE.

SO PLEASE FOLLOW THE LINK TO MY FOLKSY SHOP ON THE SIDE BAR WHERE YOU CAN BUY THEM.

THE COST IN THE UK IS £2.50

FOR EVERY WHERE ELSE IT IS £4.00

THIS LITERALLY JUST COVERS THE COST OF SENDING IT, NOTHING ELSE.

Love Nora xxx

2011-10-13T20:36:00.004+01:00

MISS ME?

Remember me?

Hello I'm back.

Back from here there and every flipping where.

It feels like 3 months since I was last here, but I just looked it up and it was only

TWO WEEKS!

But wow did I fit in a lot in those 2 weeks.

13 costumes delivered to one west end show.

8 costumes cut and made ready for fittings.

A quick over night stay in Oslo to fit the afore mentioned costumes.

A few days teaching on the south coast and a rather interesting talk

to the yr. 5 pupils at the Ginger one's school.

A complicated homework for Ginger

that involved Winston Churchill, mummification and the ancient Egyptians.

Oh and packet lunches, school runs, washing and ignoring the cleaning,

ya ya ya!

So I thought what is best to do when having a bit of down time after all that rush?

Rather than doing what any one with half a brain would opt for, sitting staring at the wall whilst drinking tea, (to be honest there have been times this last couple of weeks when the thought of watching paint dry has been very pleasing)

I decided to enrol on a course.

WHAT?

Whaty whaty what what?

Are you insane woman?

Actually I suspect so.

But I have been admiring Karen's work for a long time now.

Her embroideries always seem tell a story but apparently, or so she keeps telling me, I am always way off the mark.

One day I will tell you the tail of young Bess and her trip to the seaside as seen through the fair needle of Karen Ruane and slightly skewed mind of Flaming Nora.

Any way back to the point.

She has recently started running online classes.

Buttons and more is a quick trip in to the world of hand embellished buttons

(and more, but I don't know what the more is yet!)

It started on Monday and so far I haven't achieved a great deal

except to find out two important things.

1. I have been doing french knots wrong since I was a kid.

Blame Grandma she taught me.

2. I am now really over the whole french knot thing.

You can see the results of my frenchknotarama session at the top of the page.

I think I'm pleased with it.

I've had lots of really great comments over on Flickr.

But really its just a bit too, I don't know, grown up?

Unfunny?

Serious?

So I decided to make some teeny tiny halloween buttons.

I haven't photographed them made up yet.

The Hippy has gone away for a few days and some how I am now in sole charge of two hungry and slightly grubby boys, so things are slipping.

I know you understand.

I was feeling pleased with the spooky web things, but then the Hippy said they looked like iced gem biscuits, so that was the end of that!

So then I decided I should really finish off (start) my friends Birthday present.

Its a little late.

Well very late, sort of March kind of late.

I can't show it all to you yet as I haven't given it to her.

But It is a good point for me to let you know about something exciting.

A very exciting project.

A slightly interactive project that will be involving lots of free fabric for all!

Tune back in tomorrow and I will spill the beans.

Gee its good to be back.

Love Nora xxx

2011-09-28T21:04:00.004+01:00

NORMAL SERVICE WILL RESUME SHORTLY

I've decided to take a bit of a break from my lovely blog.

Just a couple of weeks or so.

Every since the beginning of July I have been so very very busy.

I am just taking a few moments out from the eye of the storm to say hi and bye.

Deadlines, deadlines, deadlines.

I am eating, sleeping, drinking, dreaming deadlines at the moment.

I will be back with more tales of sewing, ridiculous knitting

and life in the flaming household soon.

In the mean time here are some fab images from a machine embroidery class I held last Saturday.

Not one had done any machine embroidery before.

Aren't they a clever bunch?

See you soon.

Love Nora xxx