New Year, New Written Contract...

As we all know I am hideously bad at keeping my blog updated, so this is me making a written pledge to update this at least once a week....! I promise. 

Speaking of contracts.. I've started the year on an amazing high, I was promoted in my job to Assistant Supervisor and currently have something else in the pipeline too... Don't want to jynx it though so I'll do a big reveal when it's official :)

As for crafts I've been doing all sorts over the last couple of months. There are lots of baby bumps in my life at the minute so my current project is a baby blanket inspired by a tortoise shell for my friend. Here's how it's going...

As well as this I've developed a Yorkshire inspired range for my shelf at The Moon on a Stick I on Newland Avenue. I loooove the unusual sayings us up norf have adopted and have developed them into embroidery and crocheted pieces. Here's a few photos...

I've also got back on the bunny bandwagon and learnt an amazing new craft of cross stitching on crochet. When crocheting in the round it creates small squares - just like the cross stitch mesh you'd use normally. I'm waffling anyway so here's some pictures so you can see for yourself :) 

Introducing the minion army

I've been a busy bee recently, I was asked to make two minions (from Despicable Me) for a friend which I absolutely loved doing! Little did I know how much they'd take off, for the last month or so I've been taking orders for small minions, big minions and even purple minions. And I've loved every second of it! I'm currently working on an order to send off to my friends brand new shop in Nailsea called Ewe Knit. Here are a few pictures :)

Cuddly Toys

I've been pretty awful at keeping this updated recently but it's only because I've been so busy! 

I'm currently working on a collection of new products ready for a market in September (ages away I know but it takes me so long to get myself in order!) I found a pattern for cute little crochet animals recently as have put my own individual spin on it. Let me know what you think :)

A special baby boy bunny to celebrate the birth of the royal baby, fit for a (future) king :)

Zoo cafe's first summer fair

Last weekend saw our first market at Zoo Cafe on newland avenue, it was fantastic, even thought the weather wasn't on our side the cafe was brimming with people. It was our first venture into hosting a market so it was all hands on deck to set up and organise everything. 

We lined the tenfoot down the side of the cafe with market stalls and had various children's activities going on upstairs in the cafe itself. Never seen it so alive and full of happy faces I loved every minute of it. 

Looking forward to the next one :)

Hull School of Art and Design Final Degree Show

Can't believe it's that time of the year again, all the hard work of the Foundation Degree and BA Hons students at the Hull School of Art and Design has come together to create a beautiful degree show. I must admit it was lovely to be on the viewing side this year :)

                     Hannah Ladd

       Contact: hanladd@hotmail.co.uk

This beautiful work is by one of my best friends and third year art student Hannah Ladd, inspired by 'cropped photos of the body,' the aim of her pieces are to 'challenge western society's idea of the normal and perfect' I love the abstract feel she creates. 

        

                 Bernadette Newton

 Contact: bernadettenewton@ymail.com

I loved this installation, created by former textiles turned art student Bernadette Newton the piece consists of shredded tape measures knitted into hangings which 'become part of the existing architecture,' really love the texture!

                      Katy Wood

Love love love these prints by third year textile student Katy, I like the contrast between the abstract background and the intricate patterns on top. 

                   Najmeh Gadirian

Another fabulous collection of prints produced by textiles student Najmeh. Really like the use of colour, especially the splashes of yellow contrasting with the dark purples. 

                     Emilia Maley

Such a cute collection of knitted dog clothes created by textiles student Emilia, love the colours and the individuality of materials and techniques used. 

 

       Aimee ledger's Buns and Cosies 

Contact: buns_and_cosies@yahoo.com

This has to be one of my faves out of the whole show, Aimee's work is insane, individual, crazy and amazing just like her personality - you can definitely see how her own style has impacted on her final pieces. Love the wacky colours and techniques and the fact that the longer you look at each piece the more you discover. 

               Jurgita liaudanskaite

The colours and textures in these pieces created by Jurgita are amazing I love the deep purple and the layers of felt around the necklines. 

                     Emily Burman

I love the colours Emily has used, the purples and yellow/green compliment each other well whilst making the designs stand out. 

                       Jodie Biglin

Texture is my all time favourite element and this work creates this perfectly, I love the rusty colours!

                      Sarah Stewart 

Specialising in knit, third year textiles student Sarah has created this gorgeous knit covered chair made using natural wool. It a simple yet effective idea and looks amazing. 

                   Sarah Tomlinson 

Weave designer has created these lovey textural pieces using both natural and beautifully bright colours. 

                Rachael Sanders

These amazing pieces are made by textile student Rachael who specialises in weave. I love the colours used they have such an impact! 

There were so many more pieces I didn't get to photograph but loved - especially in the illustration room, it was such an amazing show full of a massive variety. It's definitely worth a visit and will be up at the Hull School of Art and Design for the rest of the week. 

New collections

I've been feeling a bit lost recently and unsure what to make. I think I got stuck in a bit of a rut making lots of random things. So I decided to reassess what has sold best at the shop and had a think about how I could reinvent my best sellers. 

The phone covers tended to be the most frequently sold items at The Moon on a Stick so I decided to focus on making more of those. I also realised that colour plays a big part in catching the eyes of potential customers and decided to create a 'collection' of items which would match in colour. I've made grey my constant theme throughout and have matched it with quite vintage colours; mustard, teal and prawn pink. 

I love the results of these phone cases and have tried out larger scale items like iPad covers. I can't wait to get these in the shop and see what feedback I get. Here are a few images :)

These were the first phone cases I tried out, it was more difficult than I expected to change colour because, unlike knit, crochet doesn't really have a back or a front so on one side the yarns kept getting in the way. I love this colour combination it's my favourite so far. 

This is the iPad cover, I found it a lot easier to create the pattern on this one because its a larger scale. For some reason the different coloured shapes don't seem to work out as well on a smaller scale. 

Button detail on the iPad cover. 

I really enjoyed working with the light teal/grey colour combination, I think it's quit subtle but still effective. 

Button detail on the phone cover. 

I also played around with appliqué, creating crochet bows to attach to each side. 

These photos don't do the pink much justice because of the lighting, it's a lot more shrimp coloured in real life. I really like this combination too it gives it that extra girly feel. 

Button detail on the pink stripy phone cover. 

I created this effect by changing colour on each stitch, I love it as it looks quite like a tweed. 

These were very fiddly and took a lot more time than any other I've made because I had to appliqué each bow on separately. I like the effect but it takes far too long to be cost effective I think. 

  

I'm really happy with my overall mini collection I think they all tie in nicely without looking too similar. I tried to make each one individual so that I can bran them as being unique. I really enjoyed working in the colour scheme so watch this space I'm sure there will be more to come :)