I picked up a copy of "Stitch craft create" Spring 2013 which included a Russian Doll Decoration kit. The magazine itself is excellent and although a little more expensive than I usually pay for a craft magazine (£9.99), it has a lot of fab projects for me to try out.
The kit comes with material, templates, thread, ribbon and felt for 3 russian dolls. I must admit this project was a lot more difficult than the cross stitching I had been doing as there was a lot of fiddling around trying to cut out and position the felt pieces ready to sew on. The sewing itself was quite difficult to push the needle through 2 x felt and then material. The material was very fragile so you have to be careful not to tear it. I managed one doll before deciding that I really must get on with the Christmas gifts so I will return to this at a later date.
First doll isn't perfect but I'm sure I'll get better as I go along. I will show the steps for the next one instead of just the end result.
My second "magazine" project came once again from CrossStitcher Magazine. It was the very cute funky felt owl keyring. I have a real thing about owls since they became fashionable and am now banned from purchasing any further owl cushions!
The kit from the magazine included pre cut felt, soluable canvas, threads, needle, keyring and ribbon which basically is everything you need. To get going I had to pin the soluable canvas in place on one of the owl shaped pieces of felt and get stiching!
Once again just like the previous kit, I did not have enough purple thread to finish the owl. I managed to grab some from my stash and finish it off without it looking too weird. I did learn a couple of new stitches in completing this project, the first being the backstitch which I must admit I didn't do perfectly but I have now got the hang of.
Once the cross stitching was complete, it was time to finish off the owl and learn my second new stitch which was the blanket stitch. I got on OK apart from when I reached the wings. I saw on the CrossStitcher Facebook page that others were equally as confused! I finally managed to figure it out and complete the project not before buying some toy stuffing and making my owl really fat!
I have to admit to getting a little obsessed with craft mags. It all started with CrossStitcher issue 264 April 2013 when the free gift of a vintage wooden rose keyring tempted me. I was on a few days holiday from work and thought it would be a nice little project to get me going and keep me occupied.
This was going to be my first attempt at cross stitching but I found I took to it quite easily. I did have a bit of trouble with the free kit in that it didn't provide enough blue thread but a quick trip to my local craft store with my unfinished keyring to match thread was successful and I finished my project. I didn't like the back of the keyring as it looked messy so I cut out a piece of felt and added a running stitch around the circle and glued it onto the back of my keyring. It now has pride of place on one of my bags and I am really pleased with it.
Hello and welcome to my new blog "I'll try anything crafty"
I'm just about to start on adventure into the big wide World of crafting - never to return :) I started with knitting a couple of years ago and dabbled on and off with it but found the pressures of work plus other life events got in the way. I am now learning other crafts to broaden my horizons.
I have so far attempted cross stitch, sewing and knitting. I'm going to try sewing with a machine (just bought my first one!), crochet and card making. I have a few Christmas projects to be getting on with which I will share.
For now - onwards and upwards!
