Guest Post from Fran Swaine of www.skullsandponies.com
I love making lists (who doesn’t?) and the New Year is a great excuse as a crafter to make a list of your craft related resolutions. Last year I made a list of all of the craft projects I wanted to work on, and you know what? I actually completed most of them, which as resolutions go is pretty good!
Here is my craft resolution list for 2012:
Here is my craft resolution list for 2012:
- Attend a class
- Source sustainable fabrics
Last year I did a bit of research trying to establish how ethical fabric is. It was really interesting to find out how much information fabric suppliers have on their supply chain. In 2012 I want to try and only buy fabric from places I know are ethical. Unfortunately this does exclude some of the cheaper fabric shops I have historically used, but will just encourage me to be resourceful and much less wasteful. I will of course continue to upcycle clothes and buy from charity shops as much as I can!
- Make at least one thing from each of my craft books
I don’t know about you, but I have so many craft books; I think I’m addicted! Even though I’ve got tonnes and tonnes on my shelf, I keep buying them! It’s fantastic that so many crafters are putting together useful resources, but I need to make sure I’m actually making things rather than simply looking at the pretty pictures!
This time I’d like to have more structure to a club, and each session be led by one member of the group. I’d like it to be a place where people can teach what they know and learn something they didn’t. I’d love for it to become a group that people look forward to and can share their love of crafting.
- Start a Local Craft Club
This time I’d like to have more structure to a club, and each session be led by one member of the group. I’d like it to be a place where people can teach what they know and learn something they didn’t. I’d love for it to become a group that people look forward to and can share their love of crafting.
- Finish my cross stitch
Ever start a project that feels so massive you think you’ll never finish it? Well that’s me all over with my Emily Peacock ‘Hug’ design. I started it last January and it’s still nowhere near finished! The problem is it feels so far off completion, I never give it the time it deserves and instead work on projects where I can see an end in sight. So I don’t care if it takes me all year, but by Christmas I want it done! Otherwise I think I’ll never cross stitch again!
- Design my own patterns
I’ve done a few of my own designs and really want to try and spend more time on this:
I’ve already bought some graph paper so I can start working on cross stitch designs! This shows willing right?
My great aunt gave me this beautiful 1950’s Singer sewing machine. It’s a hand machine and utterly stunning. To be entirely honest, I only ever intended for it to be an object of beauty but I’d like to use it to sew something, even if it’s just a small cushion cover. My great aunt used to sew all her own clothes using this machine, so it’d be a nice experience and probably make me value my current electric singer even more!
2011 was a great year for me; I started blogging and discovered a whole world of craft bloggers. So many of the things I have decided to pursue or make have been inspired by other craft bloggers. Whether it be finding an amazing pattern, having a comment or tweet from a fellow crafter that has encouraged me to try something new or just feeling excited at sharing and learning with other bloggers. In 2012 I want to continue to be part of that online community, to both inspire and be inspired.
So that’s my list! I really feel that this is an achievable list of things to do this year and hopefully I can put them all into action.
- Take better photographs of my makes
I share a lot of my makes on my blog and also have a small folksy shop. I’ve already started to try and think about lighting and composition when taking photographs but for 2012 I want this to be a real focus point for me. On Craft Blog UK there are lots of great posts on taking better photos and it’s my mission to start taking it all on board!
- Make more time for crafting
- Use my vintage sewing machine
My great aunt gave me this beautiful 1950’s Singer sewing machine. It’s a hand machine and utterly stunning. To be entirely honest, I only ever intended for it to be an object of beauty but I’d like to use it to sew something, even if it’s just a small cushion cover. My great aunt used to sew all her own clothes using this machine, so it’d be a nice experience and probably make me value my current electric singer even more!
- Continue to be inspired by others
2011 was a great year for me; I started blogging and discovered a whole world of craft bloggers. So many of the things I have decided to pursue or make have been inspired by other craft bloggers. Whether it be finding an amazing pattern, having a comment or tweet from a fellow crafter that has encouraged me to try something new or just feeling excited at sharing and learning with other bloggers. In 2012 I want to continue to be part of that online community, to both inspire and be inspired.
So that’s my list! I really feel that this is an achievable list of things to do this year and hopefully I can put them all into action.
If you would like to post something right here on Craft Blog UK, just get in touch - haptree@gmail.com - I'm not in the slightest bit scary, and I'm not a craft snob either! I would love to chat about guest post ideas and see some of your previous blog posts :)