Sew; Cushion Tutes Roundup #2

I have been veeeeeeeeery slack in posting the rest of the tute round ups – apologies! If you are still thinking about what to do for the swap, here are some more ideas:

The trusty shirt back cushion – hardly needs a tute, but here is one anywho.

Try a swish zippered version with this great tute,

..or transform a humble tea towel into a lovely piece of home decor here…

Create a beautiful bloom to top your cushion cover with this cute tute -

…or use up your fabric scraps with something like this:

February was ‘Pillow Month’ over at Sew, Mama, Sew! So there is a bunch of cushiony inspiration over there too!

Perfect timing.

I was in town yesterday with Suspence when we accidentally drove by a new oppy. Of course I did a U-turn at the first possible moment & hurried back for a peruse.

Suspence was not at all in the mood for opping though & although I did see a commemorative plate of Charles, Di, a young Will & a baby Harry (so should have bought it to sell on Ebay… kicking myself!), there wasn’t much in the way of treasure so after a quick look we headed back out; but just as we were leaving I saw a little collection of clocks on a table that was absolutely not there when we came in.

These two had to be mine. When I took them to the counter the woman said “Well I put those out at the right time didn’t I?”.

They are so great. The pink one is my favourite – when was the last time you saw something that was made in Scotland, that wasn’t a person?? (I say this as I have lately taken to watching the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. I don’t know if I like it yet, but it’s kind of weird & I like weird…) I wanted to put it in Punk’s room but once wound it ticks SO LOUD. I think they may have used it in movies to indicate THERE IS A BOMB HERE, YA HEAR?! Serious ticking then. It spent the night in the kitchen but I’ve moved it now out to the sewing room, it’s that noisy.

The other is much more delicate sounding & oh how I would love it next to the bed… but Stoopid Head is all “I can’t sleep with a ticking clock around!” & as much as I want to retort “Well, I can’t sleep with a snoring snory-butt around!”, I know he’d whinge too much for me to be able to enjoy the gentle ticking so it will have to live elsewhere.

I love my opping luck. Love it. I could only be happier if I had lotto luck….!

Etsy; Rainbows & Lollipops or Anything for a buck?

Since I discovered it some years ago, Etsy has been a favourite place of mine to visit. I love browsing all the handmade goodies, both for unique gifts to buy & ideas for things to make, I’ve even found some great blogs via the writer’s Etsy store, but has Etsy become just as soulless as any other business?

This post by Regretsy is a sobering reminder that we need to be vigilant when shopping handmade & cannot rely on Etsy, whether they market themselves as a handmade market place or not, to ensure that the things sold through them are indeed handmade.

It makes me sad that not only do people try to profit from the handmade movement by buying cheap crap & selling it on to unsuspecting buyers, but that the powers that be at Etsy HQ could care less.

I know personally one Etsy seller who was smacked on the hand for a perceived copyright infringement, & being a good seller & conscientious maker she removed the offending listing & carried on, even though she could see others not doing the same, yet they let blatant reselling, FRAUD, and stealing of other seller’s concepts to run rampant.

If you look at it from their point of view, of course it makes sense; the more their sellers list & sell, the more profit they make, so they have no real interest in policing their seller’s ethics; but how can genuine sellers compete on price & quantity in such a huge “marketplace”? One of their excuses for letting this sort of thing slide is that they don’t want Etsy or the Etsy forums to be a nasty place. Other sellers are not to be big meanies by pointing out that someone is ripping you off. That is not nice; they cannot enjoy their cupcakes with pink frosting & penguin shaped cakepops when you do that. So shhh. Let buyers be duped. Let buyers receive something at an inflated price that they could import for peanuts. Let the principles of buying, selling & creating handmade be walked all over.

Even before this sort of thing was brought to light I had been moving from browsing & shopping a lot on Etsy to buying directly from bloggers I know, read & trust; not only do I know that I am supporting their crafty endeavours, but I get something awesome in return that feels almost as though it were made by a friend. I can look around my house right now & point out so many things that I have because of blogging – toys, art, accessories, clothes – & looking at & using these things give me a much nicer feeling than something I bought from someone I don’t “know”, even if it is handmade. (I’m talking strictly about online purchases here – if I buy from a seller at a real market I have similar feel good connotations; the experience, the array of lovely goodies, the memories)

Do you use Etsy to sell? How has it been treating you? Do you buy from there? Is it time to move on & support handmade in other ways?

Pimp’n aint easy….

…but it’s always fun.

The other day, I asked this chicky, jokingly, to get the universe to send me a jogger pram (not for jogging sillies! How daft! Just for dawdling, wandering & moseying…) & then on Friday I found this one for $30. It was in really good condition apart from a bit of sun fade, so from Friday evening until last night, I gussied her up a bit.

Now she’s the Echino Pushchair. The Pimped Pram. The Crafty Chariot…. you get the idea…

The sun is a-shining today so we’re going to take her for a spin!

In the zone.

Can you guess what I’m doing?

Just stopping in quickly… I’m totally in the zone but I’ve a LOT more to do. Why do I only have one pair of hands? Why do these children need things like attention… and food??

Today is the day…

…that Kate marries the wrong brother.

Or not.

My Creative Space.

I have a confession.

I have no frikkin idea how to correctly sew on a button.

I have sewn buttons on before, but not with any particular method. I just kind of knot & stab & twist & stick & knot & knot & knot again until it stays on kinda ok when I tug it. It looks like a bird’s nest on the underside of buttons I attempt to sew on.

This afternoon I almost finished a magnetic wrist pin-cushion cuff thingy for someone… apart from the bloody buttons. I made an attempt but it just wasn’t working out. What if she, like, looks under there?

So this evening’s mission is to look up how to correctly secure a button. I shall absorb this vital information like a sponge & accomplish the task at hand. I will finally know how to do something my decidedly un-crafty Mr has known how to do since catholic school when he was made to sew shirt buttons ripped off in schoolyard fights back on properly…

Do you have an embarrassing craft-related confession? This is a long way from being my only one, but it’s probably one of the worst.

More creative spaces over here, with people who are much more accomplished in the button-sewing-on department, I’m sure.