Transformers … cardies in disguise …

I recently acquired two men’s V-neck pullovers, one in grey and one in green. Now, given The Husband is more likely to flick a V than pick a V, I wasn’t quite sure what todo with them both. After a bit of a ponder, I got out the scissors and with a slice up the middle, a crop of the sleeves and a slash of the waist, a quick overlock on the sewing machine a few rows of crochet and a bit of creative knitting, these totally cute little cardies were created.

A proper transformation huh? Which is your favourite … the cherries or the daisies?

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Draw it! Tattoo it!

The Husband always says that if he can draw it then he can tattoo it, and given his drawings are pretty special then it goes without saying that his tattoos are mighty awesome too.

One recent customer tested that with a request for a tattoo of one of Lee’s fabulous Bic Biro skull drawings. As you all probably know Lee has a growing collection of skulls penned in Bic Biro destined for a coffee table book and which we have also printed onto our cool T-shirts and made into very unusual fabric. However, our lovely customer having a tattoo of one of the drawings … just absolutely class!!!

A Celebration Creation …

I am never really stuck for a special gift for someone. I just pop out to The ThreadShed and create something appropriate and personal. This week some friends in the village were celebrating their silver wedding anniversary with a party at their gorgeous beach front house The Dingle (Check it out as it’s available to rent for holidays in our beautiful village).

Let’s face it 25 years is mighty impressive in these days of ‘short term marriage’ so I really wanted to mark it with a special gift. After a bit of ‘mind craft’ I plumped for a plump, personalised cushion embroidered in silver of course.

The party was super, the Prosecco, was flowing, and the plump little cushion came up trumps.

Oh and I take orders for personalised cushions and I have hundreds of colours of beautiful embroidery threads and some gorgeous fabrics awaiting your own perfect creation for a perfect celebration.

London calling…

Sometimes a mother and daughter just need a little quiet time together away from the hustle and bustle of life. Visiting The ThreadShed recently was a lovely Mum and her very gorgeous Daughter, both from London. They were holidaying in the area to celebrate a birthday and a graduation, and of course Pembrokeshire is the perfect place to cosy away, relax, celebrate, appreciate, and simply just breathe awhile.

For Mum and Daughter, getting all “arty farty” at The ThreadShed, Fresh East brought back lots of memories of them doing creative activities together through Daughter’s childhood too. We started with T-shirts, took a break for a scrummy ‘lunch with a view’ at our picturesque village pub ‘the Freshwater Inn,’ and moved to mugs in the afternoon. We explored lots of different creative ideas for their designs, but both Mum and Daughter were chuffed to bits with their final choices.

They were happy, funny, interesting, smiling people and it was a joy to spend a few hours with them both. I am so glad London came calling on this faraway town (village actually … but that didn’t work as well) 😄.

Sea diamonds …

We walk our beach most days, usually at the shoreline where the best beach treasures can be found.

The Wiki article link explains how the sea tosses and tumbles the glass, sometimes over many decades, smoothing it all off and turning the glass opaque in colour. There is also sea pottery to be found on the shores. I like to imagine all our beach pickings have come from sunken ships and lost treasures. However, the commonest finds are probably soda bottles or milk bottles.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_glass

It is often used for jewellery but The Husband has made a sea glass skull and I like to make sea glass hair slides and hair ornaments.

We picked this little hoard up in just our regular half hour walk this evening. So, next time you walk the shores, look for the sparkling sea diamonds glinting in the sunshine and if you don’t know what to do with what you find then just pass it our way for our ‘arty farty’ creations ❤️

Tickled by Feathers…

Every so often I get gifted things to get all ‘arty farty’ with. Yesterday I was so excited when my lovely neighbour popped over to tell me that she had got her dad’s old trunk out of the attic and did I want to take a look. Of course I was gazing adoringly into the trunk practically before she had even finished her sentence, as it was absolutely filled to the brim with beautiful feathers, sparkly trims and chenille wools, and I really mean filled to the brim.

It transpired that my neighbour’s dad had been a passionate fisherman and the colourful contents of the trunk had been used for making his own flies and lures. I saw some examples of his work and they were an art form in their own right.

I had a glorious afternoon playing with the feathers and trims. I added in some of my vintage buttons and ric-rac, and I used my vintage daisy wheel to make flowers with the chenille. I am absolutely chuffed to bits with my first creations – two gorgeous, rockabilly fascinators.

So here’s to the proud and creative fisherman Lewis John Jenkins. I really hope that he is fishing at the end of the horizon somewhere stunning and smiling happily over his life’s collection being used in a very different ‘arty farty’ kinda way. ❤️

Digitising delight …

Now and again I enjoy playing with my posh embroidery machine. Up until now I’d only really used the built in designs or ones that had already been digitused for me. However, I decided to give the Sew Art Embroidery Digitiser a whirl on their free trial offer. I have 30 days to decide whether I’m going to purchase the full programme and during the 30 days I can enjoy digitising as many designs as I wish which I think is pretty damn good.

I started with a couple of very cool shirts for The Husband and his Oppo.

What do you think?