Cross stitch birthday card

I made this card back in February for a friend's birthday. The pattern is from Donna Kooler's 555 Fabulous Cross-Stitch Patterns (Chapelle Limited, 1996).

For the most part I was please with how it turned out. My only niggle is that the style of writing used results in a huge space before the -y in 'birthday' which leaves it looking as though something went very wrong somewhere. If I were to make the card again, I'd lose a couple of the stitches that make up the join.

Button Bracelet

I love browsing through charity shops and one of my favourite things to find is a tin of buttons. Consequently, I now have a zillion buttons lying around the place so I decided to try and make a bracelet from them.

I went for the easiest option I could think of: threading buttons onto brown stretchy thread and using the end loop to fasten the bracelet by hooking it over one of the buttons.

This is the result.

Who, What & Why

Hello! I recently finished writing my PhD thesis and - overqualified and underexperienced for every job in Scotland - found myself with copious amounts of time on my hands.

So I started crafting.

First I got back into cross stitch, which I'd done as a teenager until my hellishly bad GCSE textiles teacher made me loathe all things fabric.

Then I started making jewellery again, having made some atrociously tasteless things as a teenager.

Next came card-making, ATCs, then crochet (oh, how addictive it is), then origami, then needle felting, then... you get the gist.

I'm a member of SwapBot so take part in crafty swaps when I can afford to, and I set myself up an Etsy shop, but I wanted a space where I could record all the things I make. So that's what this blog is for.

Where I used a pattern online, I'll provide a link to it. Where I used a pattern from a book, I'll credit it. And where I made something up as I went along, it'll be painfully obvious...