Finally finished Frances' bathmat!

I wanted to make the title 'Finally finished Frances' Fathmat' so it was alliteration but that would be a bit silly after all. Here's the work in progress post and here is the finished object!

It's a bit wonky and the anchor hasn't shown up as well as I'd like, I should have used thicker thread or done more of a block outline rather than a line outline (if that makes sense?!) but seeing as it's 4 months late already, I feel like I should just cut my losses and get it in the post. Gosh, looking at the picture, you can barely see the anchor against those lines! I'm a terrible friend, to everyone reading this, I solemnly promise to be better organised at keeping in touch when I graduate.



Also, check out these amazing tartan skirts I thrifted over the weekend. I'm considering keeping the blue one and just shortening it, though I'm not sure I've got anything that would go with it! It's such lovely material though, 100% wool, I don't really want to part with them. But since they were both over my budget for buying for my Etsy shop anyway, I feel like they're going to have to work for their keep and will have to be listed. I might hold onto them for a little while though, just so I can stroke them from time to time...

Work in progress: bathmat

Years ago I made this bathmat from knitted t-shirts. It's practical but as my first attempt, it's pretty wonky and ugly. It's the back-up bathmat for the second one I made, which is pretty much used every day except the 2 days it takes to wash and dry it! I like this one much better, it's less wonky because I worked out that I had to try and cut the t-shirts the same width each time, otherwise you end up with one really thick row followed by one really thin (you can see a work in progress photo over here). As you can see this still didn't quite work in this one either but at least I know where I went wrong!



I'm not entirely happy with this one still though, if I was to make it again I'd try and choose my colours better, this one is a bit random and not in a good way. It's because I was just using up what t-shirts I had when Andrew's old flatmate gave me a load to craft with, I'd like to make it again without the wonky edges and with more of a chosen colour scheme. For the moment though, I'm happy to just use what I have, I'm in no great hurry to try making another one, it took me ages to cut up those t-shirts and knit with them!



On the subject of bathmats (now there's a sentence), I'm in the process of making a jaunty nautical-themed bath mat for Frances' new house. I say new, she moved into this house back in November and I promised I'd make her a bath mat as a house warming present, since I made her last one and apparently they used it until it fell to pieces. I like the style of that one, but I wanted something quicker this time, since I'm already 3 months late! So I ditched the patchwork idea and just went with a big rectangle instead. I thought I'd jolly it up a bit with an embroidered anchor but I'm not sure it's going to look very good in the end. I figure I'm so late though, I'll just have to finish it up and send it off, I can make up for it's rubbishness with an extra special birthday present in April!

Embroidered wedding presents

I've only tried embroidery once before (and it sucked a little) but I've been inspired by some lovely things I've seen on Etsy recently so I thought I'd have another go.

A work colleague of Andrew's is getting married in August and we've been invited to the evening reception. I don't really know what the protocol is with evening guests and presents but since Andrew will be contributing to the work pool for her present, I thought I'd whip up something simple and quick as a more personal gift. I was going to get a nice card and bag to present it in, make it look a bit more professional!



I was inspired in part by this adorable 'engraved on a tree' embroidered cushion cover from Cosy Blue. Definitely hearted for the next anniversary present!



Speaking of embroidery (and this girl most definitely DOES NOT suck), how amazing are these silk clutches for bridesmaids from Clutch That? I almost feel like the wee birdie might fly away.



I love the idea of embroidering the wedding invitation artwork onto a pillow case as a wedding present, it's so personal. Brought to you by Elle Thornton.

Christmas presents part 2

I saw these over on Miso Funky and I could resist copying them for Christmas presents. These two went to Frances and Vicky, along with hand made floral aprons that my Mum's sewing machine chewed to pieces. Not my best work.





Apologies for the terrible photos, I ran out of time before Christmas and ended up having to package these as soon as they were finished, rather than waiting for natural light to take the photos :-(

I want to do one for me now, I'm thinking 'Darwin is my homeboy' with an outline of the man himself, or something equally nerdy ♥

Embroidered napkins

I made these for 2 friends about 2 years ago as an engagement present but I wasn't too impressed with how they turned out. It was my first attempt at embroidery and it's much harder than it looks!