Claire's blog

After drooling over all the glorious needlework at Ma Mercerie blog I decided to try my hand at Japanese thimble making this weekend, using the instructions kindly posted on the blog. Overall, I’m quite pleased. Sure, my stitching needs work (and I’d use a totally different thread next time), but for a first attempt I […]

Drum roll please…. I’ve finally finished the doll I’ve been making! (click on the pictures to see larger versions) The bodice gave me some trouble, but was finally completed. It’s made from silk, embroidered with beads and couched metallic thread, and trimmed with hand-dyed lace (that I prepared at this workshop – knew it would […]

Back in 2005 I made a doll as my entry to the Beadworkers Guild Challenge.  The theme that year was ‘In Full Bloom’ so I made a flower fairy, and named her ‘Bloomin’ June’ – and was thrilled when she picked up the prize for ‘Member’s Choice’ that year!!! June was based on a pattern […]

Headed off to Manchester today to visit the Manchester Antique Textile Fair organised by the Textile Society.  I’d never been to anything like this before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect.  It was quite a strange experience, with some stands piled high with scraps and oddments jostling for space with expensive antique dresses, embroideries […]

No posts for a while, as between Christmas, moving house and starting a new job I’ve been pretty busy.  But last weekend I headed down to Hampton Court Palace to take a course at the Royal School of Needlework, and that seemed like the perfect opportunity to start blogging again! It’s a wonderful place to […]

I’ve taken the plunge, and I’m joining in with October FolkFest over at Folksy (where you try and list one item every day for October) to fill up my Folksy Shop.  I should think I’ll be doing a blog post later about some of the great stuff that’s being listed, but for today I’m writing […]

Last Saturday I went with Mum for a day out at the Festival of Quilts at the NEC.  I’m not a quilter, but you can always get me along to a textile or craft exhibition and after seeing the fabrics, threads and books for sale together with the amazing exhibition and competition quilts I really […]

I picked up my copy of the latest issue of Bead Magazine on my way home today, and got to see my profile in print! They’ve written a lovely article about me, and I’m really thrilled to see it. There’s also a project/pattern from me giving instructions to weave my Daisy design. I forgot to […]

It’s a glorious weekend, so we headed out for the day.  I’ve been hankering after making a patchwork quilt for a while, and with our interest in batik raised by the class last week we headed off to visit Textile Traders in Bishops Castle. Textile Traders specialise in fabrics from Thailand, Java, Malaysia….  We were […]

At the Festival we saw the lovely work of Marie-Thérèse King & Sarah Jones, who are Eekbatik.  They run workshops from The Fold in Worcestershire, where they also show their work, so yesterday I set off there with Mum as neither of us had ever tried batik before! We started off by drawing with wax […]

With all the stress (and fun!) of preparing for the Festival and surviving through it, I was just looking for something relaxing to do when Mum pointed out the Joggles newsletter to me with a link to this article.  So I read round a bit about Zentangles and did this in my doodle/sketch book… That […]

Today the weather was lovely and people came out in droves.  Dad came in with us, which meant that we could all go for a proper look round the Festival. Each year there are a number of painters demonstrating and talking about their art, at various sites around the Festival. The World Owl Trust have […]

The weather cleared up and the sun came out!  Thirty-two coachloads today, and so many cars we moved onto the overflow car-park. I’m all talked out, as lots of lovely people came visiting who were interested in finding out what we do.  In between chatting I was working on some chain maille, and Mum was […]

Yesterday my latest order of Moo cards arrived!  They look fab as always – I particularly like that fact that you can now customise the back, allowing me to add a picture of mybeaded tree I’ve started using as a logo. The beaded champagne bottle is a new picture I’m trying on a card, I’m […]

…because my right hand is covered in henna!  I really fancied having it done for the Patchings Festival, and we had all the necessary stuff (henna, lemons, etc), so Mum’s just finished doing my hand for me. I’m now sitting here carefully looking after my hand, applying lemon and sugar while trying not to flake […]

I’ve been a member of the Beadworkers Guild for about 8 years now, and when I can I really enjoy entering their Challenge.  Each year they set a theme and invite their members to submit work inspired by it.  This year the theme was ‘Music Matters’, and I made this doll, Brunnhilde. I wanted to […]

So this post is running a couple of weeks late, as I’ve been poorly sick for a bit (nothing serious, just a virus-thingy that knocked me back a bit). Both me and Mum were supposed to be going on another workshop with Janet Humphrey (who’s just launched her new website), this time on Victoriana.  Mum’s […]

On Saturday I went with Mum to the Venetian Glory textile class run by Janet Humphrey.  The class was to make an over-the-top embellished pouch bag inspired by some that Janet had seen in Venice. We started off with a base fabric (I used some Indian silk, Mum used a piece of hand-dyed velvet), and […]

Tomorrow is Mother’s Day over here, and having read this post on Etsy about crafting Mothers and daughters I wanted to write about my Mum – without her I wouldn’t be sewing/beading/knitting/drawing… For as long as I can remember Mum’s been teaching me to make things.  One of the first crafty things I remember was […]

Some new windows are being fitted tomorrow, so I’ve spent some of today sorting out the spare room/study/library/general dumping ground so the fitters can actually make it as far of the window.  As a lot of what’s in there is books I’ve mostly been straightening up the bookcases that line the room, and along the […]