Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Hooly hoops are taking over the world!

Maybe the title of this blog is a slight exaggeration but wouldn't it be great?!  I can just imagine bright, colourful, beautifully sewn, Button Fayre hoop art all over the place and I know it would make me happy, he he he.



What's going on right now?  Well, I suppose a blog is a great place to kind of put a little bit of you into things too and so it's a great time to say that I have a couple of rather hectic, stressful, weeks coming up so may be a little slow with Button Fayre but will do my best to stay on top of things ( and thank goodness I do have Button Fayre to keep me sane! )

My eldest daughter will be getting on a bus from our small town at 8am on Saturday 3rd May and heading towards St. Raphael on the French Riviera!  She travelled up to Paris for a job interview last week, a two day trip as the travelling itself took 7 hours with several train changes and the metro to deal with, which was pretty nerve wrecking for both of us ( I was calling her every half an hour ) and we were over the moon to receive a phone call the day after she came home to say she had the job!  
So, now my problem is the fact that she's leaving, it's pretty heart breaking and I didn't think I'd ever feel this way.  The last 20 years has flown by and feels like she's always been with me and now she's flying away but I'm so incredibly proud and so happy for her too, she's a wonderful young woman and I know I've done a great job with her.

I also have to travel back to the chidlren's hospital in Limoges this Friday with my other daughter ( the one with Crohn's disease ) for an appointment with the anaesthetist as she's being admitted on the 8th and 9th for further examinations under a general anaesthetic and of course I'm going to stay with her....I've told her we're going to buy magazines and take books and just have a really girly time together in our pj's, he he he.
So, as you can see, it's a bit of a turbulent personal time for me but I'm taking it all in my stride and positively, it's onwards and upwards in this house!

I've been super busy today getting a 4 inch hoop order done and it's beautiful, truly stunning.  It took me a lot longer than I'd anticipated but that's just because I'm a perfectionist and love designing too, I can't help myself but to add extra things here and there and although I have a fixed idea of the design, once I start sewing it's inevitable that things may get changed slightly or added to....that's the beauty of sewing though!

Here it is and I hope you like it, I was asked for specific colours and used mostly Liberty fabrics for the flowers which look so pretty on their own, nevermind the hand sewn embroidery which really makes it fly.


I LOVE doing hoops, I'm loving them more and more as I evolve with them and what better way to decorate a wall!

Next time I'm going to tell you more about my new studio/craft room plans as the focal point wallpaper's turned up, I'm skipping with excitement because it's gorgeous.

Oooh, don't forget about the ' Great Button Fayre Sewing Buzz ' competition on my Facebook page too, a wonderful opportunity to use your design and sewing skills to the max, really let go, and be in with the chance of winning some beautiful prizes!  There's a children's category too and all entries are extremely, warmly, welcomed because I'm running an online auction with them all in July to raise money for CICRA ( research for children with Crohn's and Colitis ).  Thank you, thank you, thank you so much to all entrants so far and to all who are in the middle of sewing their hearts out especially for the competition.

Lucy x

Monday, April 21, 2014

The excitement of hand sewing into a design!

I'm a colourful person, in fact, I'm a very colourful person.  I've always loved filling my home with colour and have never been afraid to go for bright colour schemes.  I seem to have mellowed somewhat in my 30's however and now use colour that doesn't clash too much although I make up for it in Button Fayre's design work....it has to come out somewhere! 
I'm about to start decorating my new craft room, well, it was my therapy room when I practiced reflexology a few years ago and then it became somewhat of a ' squat ' for my almost 18 year old son ( if you have a teenage son then you'll know why I called it a squat ).  My eldest daughter is about to fly the nest which is exciting for her but it means that my son moves into her bedroom and I get my room back, yay and yippeeeee.  This time around it's being painted white, yes, plain old white.  However, there's a good reason for this in the shape of some gorgeous vintage 1970's wallpaper that's on it's way to me as I type and I'm going to use the paper as a focal point on the main, largest, wall in the room, almost as though it's been framed.  I obviously can't show you until it's done so you'll just have to imagine for now but trust me, it's going to look amazing.

Spring has well and truly sprung now and some of my first bulbs have already blossomed and started to whither but fresh ones are always coming through and I spent some of last week out in the garden, in the sunshine, planting some gorgeous plants in my secret garden, I even have a rose bush now, yay!
I love the spring so much, the world seems to come to life again with colour, but I don't forget the winter time as it's a moment full of colour too, darker colours yes but still colours!

I've been run off my feet lately, bursting with new ideas, and just haven't found the time to get them all going properly but have been treading the water with them bit by bit and am feeling rather proud at the start I've made.  I think the biggest thing I've been doing has to be hand sewn embroidery.  I've been doing this for as long as I can remember and adore it but it's just so time consuming and considering that one cushion design can already take me anything up to 18 hours to achieve then is it any wonder I've not yet considered adding some hand embroidery into things?  This spring I've forced myself and so happy I did, the results are astounding and I've loved mixing machine appliqué, freehand machine embroidery and hand sewn embroidery together, what gorgeous results!

I'm only going to talk about my latest cushion design for today though ( if you'd like to know a bit more about the other things going on then take a look at my blog over on my website, www.buttonfayre.com ) and what an amazing design it is too, something really and truly unique.  I've used my appliqué and freehand machine embroidery skills to bring something already gorgeous into the world and not only that but I spent, quite literally, hours on some hand sewn ideas.  We're talking sequins, pearls, beads, in fact, anything sparkly and creative that adds colour and real life into the design.

Take a look for yourselves and it's available to purchase on my Facebook page or Button Fayre on Etsy, I've not had the time to add it to my website yet but will do so asap.


It's such a stunning design and almost 20 hours of work from start to finish which is why I feel so proud, whoever purchases this is kind of purchasing a piece of Button Fayre history too, it's wonderful.

I love flowers and I love sitting here drawing them and then cutting them out to use as templates.  Some of the flowers I used in this cushion design are cut out from vintage flowery fabric but the rest have been cut out from my very own templates ( and I use my templates a lot throughout all of my designs ).

I hope you like it and I almost forgot to say about the giveaway over Button Fayre's Facebook page!  It's gorgeous and you could win a fabulous newly designed brooch, a ' House Meadow ' design, super pretty with some machine and hand sewn embroidery work.

Happy Easter Monday to you all!

Lucy x

Monday, April 7, 2014

Summer's well on it's way

The great thing about the spring is that summer is almost upon us and when the days are longer, brighter and warmer, it makes you feel ' full of the joys of spring '...I love that expression.

I had a great week-end designing a wedding present which also gave me the idea of what I'm planning on making for the summer CICRA auction.  I've been spelling CICRA wrong all this time and feel awful about it, I'd gotten it into my head as CIRCA and so a  huge apology to everyone for that.  
I'm extremely excited about the ' Great Button Fayre Sewing Buzz ' competition and there are well over 20 entries so far which is amazing and a massive thank you to all because every penny counts towards the research into Crohn's disease.

https://www.facebook.com/events/236763479781446/

Abbie and I are off to Limoges on Wednesday to the children's hospital to see her specialist and I'm feeling apprehensive because after Abbie's recent flare up with absolutely no help at all from the specialist I do feel rather cold towards her now and am not sure what I'm going to say yet...I'm quite an impulsive person and do tend to say it how it is and so hopefully she'll appreciate my honesty!  he he he  
Helping CICRA means so much to me because they were there when I had no-one else to turn to and it would feel so good to be able to donate towards the research that may one day find a cure for these awful IBD illnesses.

I've managed to catch up with all recent orders and so this week will be working on my own designs, the wedding present, items for the auction and a few other ideas I've had over the week-end.

I do really adore mixing old with new and my house house is like it, there's nothing more exciting than adding something you've found in a brocante to your decor and I'm a bit of a hoarder for vintage tea cups, plates, jugs and vases. 

Last week I made some coasters and bunting with some vintage fabrics I've recently found ( I've already told you about the coasters ) and so here's a photo of the bunting.  I find things like this super funky as not only are you re-creating something modern out of old but you're kind of adding something unique to history too.....that's a bit deep! he he he  What better than using a part of history to re-create more history in the world of art and craft?!



It's gorgeous isn't it?  I've started this off at a special price too and there are over 4 metres of bunting in this photo too, it's just such a fabulous way to brighten up your home or garden.

Have a super day,

Lucy x

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Funky summer coasters

I've absolutely no idea yet, how Blogger works, nevermind Google Plus!  I really need to spend a few minutes looking into how I might find fellow crafters on here and even friends.  If you're on Blogger then give me a shout!  I am really enjoying this blog though, it's so easy to use.

I've spent a lot of time designing behind the scenes this week and managed to sew up 12 coasters today, yippeeeee.  However, they've disappointed me somewhat due to the time they actually take, that as a small business I just have to take into consideration when pricing, but their originality and the fact that they're lovingly home made just has to count.  The second however is that they're so super funky that I could actually go mad designing and making them, I'm filling my garden tables up with these this year and am sure they'll be a pleasure to put my glasses of home made lemonade on.  I think I'm going to make some table mats next but as usual my time is precious and I already have so much to be getting on with..... they're on their way though!

So here they are in all their funky glory, if you look closely you'll see an appliquéd apple on one of them and it's adorable.


I do love mix and match and my whole house is this way, and everything in it!  These coasters have been made with some vintage fabric finds and a couple of new fabrics too and so not only are they a set of 6 totally different coasters, they're also a set of 6 different coasters that have been made with fabrics from different generations, how cool is that?!  

These things float my boat, he he he.

Lucy x

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

All things bright and beautiful!

Lots of entries have been coming in for ' The Great Button Fayre Sewing Buzz ' competition on Button Fayre's Facebook page, it's brilliant!

As most followers of my work will have gathered by now, I love colour.  I find inspiration in absolutely everything as my eyes are always open to the world around me and I adore mixing and matching fabrics to create art work by means of sewing, it's such a beautiful, and elegant, form of art.

Here's my latest cushion design called ' Acorn Squirrel '.  This has taken weeks in the design, preparation and sewing and sewing the tail up was a task and a half, it's true when they say that sewing makes you squint.!

What a vibrant and unique design, I adore it and those fabrics are just lush....a lot of them are Liberty in fact and I must admit that I'm not a fan of all Liberty fabrics but I do love the smaller, brighter patterns.

If you're wondering about my sewing competition then please follow this link and take a look, it's free to enter and I'm hoping will be a massive success as the main aim is to raise money for CIRCA ( Children with Crohn's and Colitis ) by holding an online auction during the summer with all entries.
One of my daughter's was diagnosed at the age of 9, 3 and a half years ago, with Crohn's disease and she has it severely which is why it's so important for me to get involved and to help with the ongoing research.

https://www.facebook.com/events/236763479781446/

Enjoy the rest of your day!

Lucy x