Needle Books

Hi! Long time, no see. Sorry about that but I've been spending a lot of time in my craft room completing orders, playing around with new patterns and watching episodes of Grand Designs and The Great British Sewing Bee. I have, however, been taking photos of my newest creations which I plan to share over the next few days.

What are your thoughts on needle books? daggy? old fashioned? I think not, and after making this one a couple of months ago, I refuse to stick a needle in a pin cushion or tin again! So I recently decided to create my own couple of designs. The structure is relatively simple, an outside cover featuring a design and a felt sheet in the centre to secure your needles and pins. I am enjoying designing the covers and, of course, I love hand stitching. They also add a decorative touch to a craft space.

The babushka and owl designs are both available in my madeit store and the chook was a custom order. 

 

 

 

Product Styling

 

Unfortunately I have very limited photography skills. I bought a digital SLR camera last year in an attempt to improve my skills and be more proactive with taking photos, and to date this has happened. Enrolling in a course is on my list along with reading the 'how to' books on my shelf. But the reality is that I will just play around with my camera, the settings, light and composition myself when I can.

A light box arrived this week so I've started to play around with it and a couple of items. I will need to add another lamp to the setup and again, to do some reading about to get the best out of it. The main reason behind purchasing the light box is to be able to capture the small details in my work, ie the stitching. Quite clearly the 'styling' also needs some work but I have to start somewhere. I love seeing pictures of beautifully and creatively arranged items, hopefully I'll learn to take some myself.

 

 

It's live!

I finally got around to purchasing two domain names for my business a couple of months ago. After the kerfuffle with my business name registration, I realised that I needed to purchase these before they too became unavailable. My initial plan was to have a simple landing page that directed people to my madeit store, Facebook page and this blog. However, a couple of weeks ago I came across a 4 page web design package on special and within a few short days of working with the designer, www.little-cloud-factory.com.au went live.

I am overjoyed with the final result; the colours, the design elements and layout, all of which make it an easy and colourful site to navigate. The multiple emails and design tweaks were carried out effortlessly by Wendy, the designer, making the process quick and very easy. (Site Fresh Web Design) I will be able to update the site with new designs and future market details.

I'm in love with it and am hoping that it will be a wonderful tool to help me build my future business. What do you think of the site?

This post was not sponsored by site fresh web designs.

And the winner is.....

This giveaway was fun! So much fun that I'll definitely be doing it again in the not too distant future.

Thank you to all of the lovely people who left comments, each one made me smile and I truly appreciate the continued support from so many of you. This handmade community is really something special so it is nice to stop and say thank you.

My trusty assistant did the random draw.

The winner is......Becca Lavery who left the comment:

Hi there, I am a FB fan and have shared your post. Congrats on all your milestones, 20,000 blog visits - shoot! I would ♡ a new pin cushion! My current one is about a decade old... it was my first hexagon patch project - it's so thin now I stab myself and curse it all the time!

Becca, I hope your new pin cushion means no more stabbing incidents! Happy sewing

Skirt Making

I made a promise to myself in January that I was going to make birthday presents this year for Michaela's friends. And so far, so good. I've made two girls dresses and more recently, three twirly skirts using the Boo! Designs pattern. The bunny fabric skirt is for Michaela and is awaiting a matching Easter T-shirt for this Sunday. I'm still getting the hang of the gathering, might look into purchasing a gathering foot or just get in some more practice. This design is the Twirly skirt.

I also recently ordered some wooden buttons from etsy which make a lovely addition to my clothing items.

Don't forget to visit the previous post to enter my pin cushion giveaway. Just leave a comment to be in the running with the draw taking place next Wednesday.

Until then, wishing you a chocolate and fun filled Easter. Hope you get to relax with your loved ones and enjoy the Easter break.

Penelope x

A Giveaway!

Once again, I have neglected my little ol' blog. It's been a busy few weeks with market prep for Perth Upmarket, followed up with lots of custom orders and present making for friends' birthdays. I also have some new ideas and patterns which I'm making my way through slowly and am planning a Market Night on Facebook for next month so unfortunately blog posts have taken the hit.

I had another WONDERFUL experience at this month's Perth Upmarket, my new softies were well received, I met lots of new people, saw some familiar faces and I came away with new ideas to implement next time. I'll put together a little recap post of the market shortly ;)

With all this production going on behind the scenes, I'm so excited to see that little cloud factory is reaching some very cool milestones~ almost 1200 Facebook likers, 20,000 blog visits and I received the exciting news yesterday that little cloud factory will be appearing at the June Perth Upmarket. So, to celebrate and say Thank you, someone will receive this cute apple pin cushion (made from a pattern by Retro Mama). To enter the giveaway, all you need to do is be a liker of LCF's Facebook page and leave a comment below. To receive an extra entry and increase your chances of winning, please share this post or the Facebook Giveaway post on Facebook or Twitter and let me know you've done so in the comments below.

This giveaway is only open to Australian residents and will remain open until 6pm WST Wednesday 3rd April 2013. Giveaway includes postage.

**THIS GIVEAWAY HAS CLOSED**

Good Luck!

Mushroom Central

There appears to be a small fascination with all things fungi in my craft room at the moment.

I purchased Gnomeville by Michael Miller recently from Modes 4 U, a great online store for gorgeous prints and unique Japanese fabrics. Again I chose to use the brownie goose Nelle pattern and using the 4-5T size, made this little number for Michaela. It is a little shorter than I would have liked (despite adding an extra inch and a half to the pattern suggestion) but as a tunic style dress, it fits well everywhere and will look especially sweet with leggings in the cooler months. I also love that you don't have to make bias tape on the bias for this dress, bonus!

 

My mind is obviously working over time at the moment with ideas. The other night I woke with the idea of making a cupcake shaped needle book. The idea came out of nowhere and kept me awake thinking about a design, materials and practicalities. Yesterday, by coincidence, I found this pattern and tutorial and as you can see, I couldn't resist making myself one.

I'm not sure whether I will have the time to design and make a few cupcake needle books in time for the next Upmarket, but maybe in time for Mothers' Day. Can't believe I'm thinking about May already!