out with the old...in with the new, soon!

'Half Price Sale Items at Homespun Ireland' by homespunireland

Items half price until 31/10/11

HALF PRICE -- Hexagon Q... homespunirelan... $20.00	HALF PRICE -- Vintage W... homespunirelan... $9.00	HALF PRICE -- Fabric Fl... homespunirelan... $5.00	HALF PRICE -- Crazy Qui... homespunirelan... $20.00
HALF PRICE -- Pin Cushi... homespunirelan... $15.00	HALF PRICE -- Needle Bo... homespunirelan... $7.50	HALF PRICE-- Crazy Quil... homespunirelan... $20.00	HALF PRICE -- Needle Bo... homespunirelan... $7.50
HALF PRICE -- Vintage W... homespunirelan... $9.00	HALF PRICE -- Crazy Qui... homespunirelan... $20.00	HALF PRICE -- Crazy Qui... homespunirelan... $15.00	HALF PRICE -- Mixed Med... homespunirelan... $10.00
HALF PRICE -- Mixed Med... homespunirelan... $10.00	HALF PRICE -- Crazy Qui... homespunirelan... $25.00	HALF PRICE -- Wool Felt... homespunirelan... $6.00	HALF PRICE -- Mixed Med... homespunirelan... $20.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

jumping through hoops

 

I have been absolutely useless at blogging for the past month.  Not just here!  Any blog I have, a deserted wasteland.  Tumbleweeds blowing through.  I don't know why, lets just pretend I was on an exotic holiday.

I have gotten my creative juices flowing again.  I think halloween is a bit of a disruption for me, because although it's an Irish holiday, it's not really much use to me creatively.  It doesn't lend itself to the Homespun treatment, it's so difficult to nail down in  my style.  But christmas!  Let's begin!  I am really going to try to pack my shop this year, I already have dozens of items in the wings.

I listed a few crazy quilt collages, put them in embroidery hoops as wall hangings, I really like how they turned out.  I enjoy making framed collages, but they are risky to ship with the glass.  These will be risky too, at least the delicate wooden hoops.  But I like them very much.  I feel like you'd need a few hoops to create a nice display, there are dozens of lovely ones on Etsy.  Perhaps I will post them next, now that I'm back from my holiday.

These are in my Etsy shop, you can use the little widget on your right to have a look!

vintage thimble pincushion pendants

Today I made these pretty thimble pincushion pendants.  So many china thimbles in the world, all completely useless as thimbles...I wracked my brain thinking of something to make out of them.  The best part of these is that it is so useful to have a pincushion on a chain!  My husband is always finding needles on the floor and announcing 'THERE WAS A NEEDLE ON THE FLOOR' because he is in charge of health and safety when it comes to needles on the floor, only.  Nobody has ever stepped on one, but 'SOMEONE COULD STEP ON ONE', so these pendants not only are sweet and pretty, but also will keep your home safe from minor albeit painful foot injuries.

The best part is the tiny little tomato cushions.  Aren't they adorable?  With the little buttons.  My fascination with pincushions is bordering on obsession.  And the bizarre thing is that I haven't got a decent pincushion in the house, I use a pin dish.  That is why we have so many needles on the floor.

These are on Etsy!

fabric flower brooches

I was looking to make up something cheap and cheerful to put in my Etsy shop.  I have a few very intricate items that were time consuming to make in my shop, that really seem unlikely to sell in this economy...I do enjoy getting the views and the 'hearts' on those items, though, so I pay the 20 cents to keep them listed, a small price to pay for the validation!

But I know from shopping on Etsy myself, that it's nice to be able to buy something small just as a treat, so I came up with these little brooches.  They have all of my favourite materials packed into them, thick wool felt and vintage lace and buttons.  Fun to make, I hope someone likes them!  Or even five people.  Or one person who likes them a whole lot and has four friends with birthdays soon.

vintage wool and lace ring pillow

I had an enjoyable, productive day in the studio...completed another wedding ring pillow!  I enjoy making these and wanted to make one in order to create a listing for custom orders on Etsy.  The pillows are really easily customisable and can be personalised with the bride and groom's names and the wedding date, as well as incorporating any mementos or bits of textiles that are meaningful to the recipient.

I would love to have some examples of personalised pillows to use in my listings...if any of my readers are interested, I am offering 25% off the price in order to assemble some sample photos, just comment here or email me!

I completed a few other goodies today, just need to finish up some photos to list them during the week, yay!

shawleens

I haven't made dollies in years.  I used to make them regularly, and sell them on Ebay...I enjoyed making them but they were incredibly time consuming.  They had long arms and legs, and I made their bodies myself, stuffing them and painting the muslin and sanding it, and then making their dresses, complete with sleeves and an apron.  I adored them, but once I opened the shop, I just didn't have time anymore.

Over the past few months I've had a compulsion to make them again, I still have lots of paperclay and wool for hair, everything I could need.  But I still am always caught for time and didn't see how I could make it happen.  But I had a brainwave after seeing the proliferation of matryoshka dolls on Etsy...sure, weren't the shawlies I make just Irish babushkas?  And couldn't I make dolls like the matryoshkas, and cut out the process of making the long arms and legs, which were half the work?

So I got out some clay and started sculpting, actually intending to make more stylised faces than I used to...but out of the clay peered the little face, and it was the same shawlies back.  It was as if they were saying 'hello!  there you are!'.  The little wrinkled smiling faces were just the same girls as always.  So I made their little bodies and their dresses and their aprons, and even though it was easier not making the arms and legs, the process was the same, the same needle-felted hair and wool shawls, and they hold all the same magic for  me, the same little people in the room with me.  I missed them!  I can't wait to see who else turns up.

Both of these dolls, Mrs. Dineen up above, and  Mrs. Motherway (named for the corner shop in our village!), are listed on Etsy, if you'd like to see more!

Little China Pincushions

This week I made pincushions!  I found a little china jar with no lid at the car boot sale in Shanagarry a couple of weeks ago, and it said to me 'pincushion'.  It is startling how many things say that to me.  So this past weekend at the awesome Carrigtwohill car boot sale, I bought some more bits of china to make into even more pincushions.  I even made one with the little shot glass with the milkmaid on it.  I literally eyed up everything as a possible pincushion, but I think it's out of my system now.

My favourite is the Carrigaline china dish with the shamrocks on it, as it came out satisfyingly round.  I also love the little vase with the strawberries on it.  These are all very good pincushions, they sit very still while you do your business of putting pins in them, no trying to get away.

I took my photos in a different spot with a different camera today.  My beloved Lumix has memory card issues and really needs to pop up to Dublin to get sorted out, meanwhile I am using Kieran's little pocket cam.  I took the photos on a shelf in the flower shop, instead of the window where I usually take them.  They came out like a lightbox...I don't like it!  I want my overexposed, Etsy-angle photos back!

These will probably not make it up on Etsy until Monday.  I suspect I will retake the pictures, I just can't let good enough alone.

Vote for Me!

My Mother's Day Vintage Wool Pillow has been chosen as one of the items in the latest Voter feature on Etsy!

If you're not familiar with Voter, it's a chance to browse some themed items selected by Etsy and pick your favourite.  There's no prize, just a bit of fun.  But it's great exposure to be picked, I am delighted!

I hope you'll head over and pick a favourite!  It doesn't have to be mine,  but that would be nice:D

Click here to vote!

Catholic Crafts

My grandmother was in the Workers of Mary when I was a girl.  One of the things they would do is get together and make rosaries and scapulars to sell.  Those ladies were all so crafty, they made everything, it was a virtue.  So when they got together to do their Mary work, it's not surprising that they decided to make Catholic crafts. 

I have a big box of vintage French prayer cards that I won on Ebay years ago, literally hundreds of them.  They are amazing, the illustrations and printing are exquisite.  Some of them are even hand painted, presumably by French nuns.  Those French nuns could have taught the Workers of Mary a thing or two about Catholic crafts.

So when I got a notion to make Communion rosettes, I hunted through the box and picked out some of the Communion souvenir ones to use.  Also in the box was a scapular, still in the packaging, that I must have bought at some point.  It just appealed to me, a little felty thing on a string.  I adore felty things and holy pictures and string, and soon I was making scapulars.  I thought for a minute that it might be a completely mental thing to make, but then I remembered the Workers of Mary, my Grandma and her old lady buddies all sitting around nattering while making rosaries and scapulars, and then it seemed kind of nice.

My fascination with Catholic accoutrements has little or nothing to do with the Church, it's just about my Grandma and making pretty things.  Everything is about making pretty things.

Learn more about my Communion rosettes and scapulars in my Etsy shop.

Some Crazy Quilt Pillows

Little crazy quilts are my favourite things to make right now.  The process is so cathartic.  I love sitting at my sewing table and going through all of my fabrics and lace and trims and ribbons and arranging and rearranging, not even thinking too hard about it, just waiting until I feel all "oh, whooo!" and knowing that's how I want it.

And then I pack my quilt into my little sewing case, and keep it with me all week, sneaking a bit of embroidery every chance I get.  With little two year old hands grabbing all the time..."No, Henry, that is mama's!" over and over and over.  And then eventually I reach a point were I can't think of anything else to embroider, all done.

I made four little quilts in this last batch, always make at least two of something for some reason, or three or four.  I made them into little pillows so that they seem useful.  These four have nothing to do with each other, all different colours, but all pretty much the same for me, in the process.

All of these are in my Etsy shop, as always:)