Homestyle Sewing Bookazine Review

 

 

 

 

I was delighted to be sent a copy of  a beautiful and lovely sewing bookazine, Homestyle Sewing, published by Immediate Media Company for me to review. 

 

What struck me immediately, was the amount of good quality projects and the fact that it is jam packed with selection of projects for the every sewer from beginner to more advanced. 

 

Apart from only two pages taken up with adverts (which is extremely unusual), a 'things to do, places to go' section

and an article on individuals discussing

how they utilise Pinterest to their own style,

all  other pages are full of beautiful, and stunning photographs, comprehensive step by step guides and  'you will need' lists for each project. 

 

  

Every issue comes with a very comprehensive kit that relates to one of the major projects included in the issue.  The projects aren't Christmasy, apart from the Felt Folk Decorations, so they have longevity and can be used for gifts for all other occasions and for all.

 

 So I think that it is value for money in that respect and it is one that you will want to keep and refer back to again and again.  If you are anything like me, I keep all my magazines and often find inspiration in forgotten projects that I've had tucked away and it helps me to get my creativity flowing again.    

 

In particular, this issue comes with a pack for all one needs to make the 8 felt Christmas decorations (Shown below). I can't wait to have a go at making these as they look stunning. I love folk style decorations. I will show you later in the week my efforts so pop back soon to take a peek!
 

 

Homestyle Sewing was launched at the end of 2009 also with Christmas special.  

Since then, there have been 6 special seasonal issues so it is available twice a year and each issue comes with an assortment of free gifts.

So at £7.99 it is very good value. 

If anyone wants to get their hands on a copy,

you can order one, just click on the magazine cover at the top of the blog post for a link to the subscription page.

Bee x

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Big Crochet Flowers

Last week, you might remember me telling you that I was working on some over sized crochet flowers, to make into corsages and hair accessories, for my little shop, well here are the final ones ......I will be adding them to the shop shortly.



Crochet Roses

 These sparked off my interest in looking for crochet flower patterns and I found this one in Loop's Vintage Crochet book by Susan Cropper, which is full of beautiful patterns to crochet. 

The pattern is called Peony Corsage and is written by Kate Jenkins

I love the final results, it was fairly easy to crochet and stitch together. 

I used aran yarn so it changed the scale to make it larger than suggested. 

Peony Corsage

I think I will be whipping up some more of these as I think you will agree, it is stunning.

I hope you all had a good weekend

Bee x

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Things to do on a rainy day ..........

What a wet Sunday we had .... the ground was grateful though!

I pottered about the flat yesterday, reading magazines and looking at some library books I had got out which I love doing as it feels like getting a treat without spending anything. I love books.  That's my new thing, I've been borrowing books from the library that are available and then buying the books I can't get.  It costs 50p to reserve a book and you can search the catalogue online.  I've been looking at Amazon first and then searching for the books on the library catalogue, its good fun and I'm doing my bit to save the library too.  It takes me back to when I was a wee girl when my mum used to take 'me and my brother' to the library on a wet afternoon for a break.

I flicked through some old magazines as I like to tear out appealing images and articles for reference purposes.  I had the idea to cut out fun images and use them to decorate some greetings cards and this is what I came up with ......... 

magazine cut out cards

see tutorial for more information, although they are quite straight forward and easy to do. 

Mary Jane Slippers

I also started crocheting some 'Mary Jane slippers'.  I had cold feet all day, despite having two pairs of socks on and a pair of slippers!!!  It must be bad circulation.  There are lots of patterns available on the Internet for these little pretties, some are free, some are available for a small charge.  I found free instructions on 'Good Knits' blog.  So far I have done half a slipper and have found that I will need to increase the number of rows in the body section to get the correct size.  I will keep you posted on the results and if my tootsies warm up as a result.

work in progress to warm tootsies

I hope you all had a good weekend.

bee x

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Handicraft Book that started it all

This book started my crafting love affair,

 long ago in my childhood.

Being a 70's child, I was free to explore my gran's bookcase,

and guess what appeared!

Being a Blue Peter girl, the bright colourful pages,

conjured up majestic ideas of things to create,

along with a magical mess to tidy up.

Hours upon hours of crafty fun,

the time flew by,

along with the holiday sun,

and the time spent with my lovely gran.

 Now I am the proud owner of this book,

and the lovely memories of time spent learning with my gran,

are treasured all the more.

My love of craft books is still as strong,

my bookcase groans under the strain.

Still plenty of new skills to be found,

 time to expand knowledge is all the more rare,

where shall I start, I sit and stare.

Inspired by the 1970's The Complete Book of Handicrafts,

I choose an intrepid journey into Patchwork and Quilting,

a new challenge for this year.

So, I look forward to learning this new craft,

I aim to create a beautiful quilt,

to snuggle down on the sofa

with more crafty books to explore.

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Do you remember this book? 

Do you own this book?

Vote for your favourite Craft Book

Drop me a comment or emai,

I will list them for all to explore.

Please list title, author, and ISBN if possible

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