Challenge No.4

Bunnies!

Lesley and I have decided to hurry spring along by making some bunnies for our next challenge. We have agreed that we will probably both be using this lovely Tilda book

available here and here

to make bunnies rather like these



but knowing us there will be plenty of differences, not least because I will be using these toddler trousers in mine and goodness knows what Lesley will find to "repurpose"!!!!!


So watch this space............!


And as always - feel free to join in!

Here be owls!

But do two owls count as a parliament? Or a stare?

Ho ho, bet you didn't expect to see us back so soon!! It's amazing what you can get done when you ignore the housework :)

We have completed our owl challenge so it's over to Lucy for her lovely tactile bird....


Here is mine and Lesley and I agree he is a wise Tawny Owl, made when I was meant to be completing some orders (and starting Kitty's doll - sorry Kitty, she's started in my head!)

I sketched out a rudimentary design based on some owls two of my older brothers had when I was growing up. Theirs were much larger but were made of a similar tweed and velvet combination and were lovely. I think a friend of the family had made them as presents.

I used some of my dad's old trousers and one of his tattersall check shirts (so I really hope he doesn't want either of them back!) and for authenticity I sewed the label from the trousers on the bottom of Owlie's foot. His back is made of some of the velvet I bought before Christmas and keep turning into bags, so he is very tactile.

I took him up to school (partly so I could get a good outdoor shot) and as each of the three children spotted him they said "Did you make him for me? Is he mine?" until they were practically fighting over him, so I guess that means he was a success!

Well Lucy, you obviously have two more to make!!!

I love Lucy's owl and think he's so smart in his checked shirt and best tweeds and what a fab idea to put the label on!! He also looks sufficiently wise!

My owl (s) is(are) also made from 'repurposed' fabric.

A couple of weeks ago I sketched out an idea and I have to say it doesn't get much simpler than an owl! I then drafted several pattern variations.

For this challenge I would like to introduce you to Priscilla who is a Little Owl. She is not the wise old owl of folklore but an owl of small stature who feasts on insects and tiny critters.

Priscilla is made from a pink wool scarf (£1 charity shop) with a pink felt chest and eye circles and purple felt beak and feet.

She is destined for my beautiful 15 year old niece as a surprise unbirthday present. Both her sisters received cuddlies from me on their birthday's last year but poor C missed out as her birthday felt just after Christmas and I wasn't organised enough!!

Here she is with the prototypes I made from my first pattern. Surprisingly they have

been adopted by my naughty children.

The purple one is Ozzie a Long Eared Owl - a nocturnal secretive creature who is most likely to be seen by accident. Most probably because he's made from some mad curtain fabric from the charity shop!

The red and green one is Pierre a European Eagle Owl who is likely to be an escapee from captivity. Or - he escaped from being a cushion being drooled on by the Moog!!!

Please note these owls are not to scale :)

Two owls may not count as a parliament but four most definately do and when they are joined by two more in the Locket household it will resemble the Houses of Parliament on a good day!!!

There will be news of the next challenge to follow very shortly. It will also be something cuddly in case you were wondering!!

Challenge No.3

After several discussions of the 'No, you choose' 'I don't mind' 'No, you choose' variety Mrs Locket and I have come to an agreement for our next challenge.


As Mrs Locket is 'easy' (her word) and I'm bossy (her my word) we will be making a soft toy each. An owl to be exact. We may make up our own patterns or we may use existing ones such as this or this.

There is a whole lot of owlie goodness in blogland right now. Here are some more links to whet your appetite:

Roberta Baird
While she naps
Etsy
Lucy Kate
Softies central

I'm really looking forward to this challenge - should be a hoot!!! sorry I know that was lame but I just couldn't help myself!

love Lesley and Lucy x

Challenge No.2 Completed!

This post is dedicated to Lucy's BIG sister Ally who didn't believe we would get these bags finished until next week at the earliest! I don't often get the chance to prove her wrong so I'm not letting this one pass!!!!

Your bit Lesley............................

Yup, we got there. Mrs Locket got there first by a couple of hours as I was in a big school governor's meeting deciding the future of primary education in the city - at least that's my excuse!!!

Although I initially set out to make a more 'Spring-like' bag I'm pretty pleased with my more Wintery one. As the Scrapstore fabrics I use are remnants they can be funny sizes. This one wasn't quite big enough for all the bag panels so I improvised with some toning dark red fabric for the reverse that no-one will see anyway.

The light here is appalling today so I apologise for the dark photos.

This was the only place I could photograph it without showing the piles of clutter!

We do have a very bad dose of 'piles' in this house!!

Here's a bit of a close-up of the fabric. It actually has

lovely texture but the flash has washed it out a bit.

The main fabric panels are stiffened with Vilene.

I've taken to using flanelette in my softer bags

but felt this needed something more substantial.

It certainly made the stitching up interesting!!!

I also put 'very useful pockets' in the lining for 'very useful things' to go in and a key clasp on a ribbon as I am always losing my keys in the bottom of my bag!

I like to think of my bag as 'quietly sophisticated' (nothing to do with envying Lucy's delicious fabric at all your honour!).

Now for Lucy's extremely gorgeous take on the 'Messenger Bag Challenge':

My bag definitely has a dual-personality thing going on!

This is the calm, refined, bordering on elegant side, complete with dark blue velvet, vintage crocheted lace and mother of pearl buttons.

Sensible, almost grown up, and really fairly "quiet"..........................


.......................Just like me!????


But turn it round and something altogether different is going on!

Wild, wacky and very very LOUD!!!!!

Um, just like me????


Well, to be honest - neither side really matches my personality -
but the quirkiness and different-ness definitely does!

I put a couple of pockets on the inside - this large one on one side and a small thin one for my mobile phone on one of the gussets.

and even made a little detachable lipstick purse (although I very rarely wear ANY makeup!) because I was fiddling with a bit of fabric and this is what I came up with!

The bag is fairly sturdy because I layered the velvet with a fairly stiff canvas to stabilise it. I didn't follow a pattern for dimensions or method but I have made a couple of Amy Butler Messenger bags for Dorothy and her cousin so I just made it up based on what I had done before. I'm actually very pleased with how it turned out because I was beginning to think I wasn't going to have time to do it this week. And the great thing about it is that it is really quite big with plenty of room for knitting AND sewing AND a magazine AND a book AND my camera AND snacks for the children and anything else I want to drag around with me!

Bag Fabrics

It has been strangely busy chez Lucy-Locket lately - something to do with a swap I think! - so my creative productivity has been reduced! I'm part way through making a blanket order but, just to prove that I really am going to make my messenger bag, I thought I would show you the fabrics I have chosen.

At the top is a blue cotton velvet that I bought fairly cheaply before Christmas from Dunelm Mill. The VERY COLOURFUL fabrics at the front are ones I bought yesterday from Barbara's shop Ring a Rosie (except for the one on the far right which I bought before Christmas). These are quite a departure from the norm for me - much louder and busier than I would normally choose but they are so gorgeous!

I plan to make the bag reversible with a plain velvet side and a colourful side so I can change it to suit my mood! I am a bit out of my comfort zone with using such rich colours to show them at their best but I'll just have to see how it goes and hope I like the end result!

Lesley has been much more productive than me this week - not that I'm jealous or anything!!!

Over to Lesley...

Not so sure about the productive thing but I've managed to do a few bits! I thought that an interesting part of our challenge would be seeing how we each interpret our 'brief' - now I'm not so sure and kind of wish I had Lucy's pretty fabrics!!!

I was planning to do a turquoise bag with a piece of velvet from the Scrapstore. Unfortunately it turned out to be full of staple holes. After a quick rummage I came up with another piece of fabric from the Scrapstore. A piece of olive green and deep red chenilley type upholstery fabric.

The lining is Lucy's favourite '80's duvet cover from the charity shop!

Finger's crossed we'll be posting the finished articles very soon :)

love Lucy and Lesley x

If you want to play too here's a link

First of all thanks so much to everyone who has commented and visited Loo-sley Crafting over the past few days. We are delighted, to say the very least, by the response :o)

Our aim, sick children, crafting and blogging permitting, is to have made a messenger bag each by the end of this week.

If you would like to make one too and maybe email us a picture to post on the blog then please join in. If you like you can follow the instructions in this great tutorial.

love Lucy and Lesley xx

Throwing down the gauntlet!

Hello there crafty people and welcome to a new joint venture between Lucy Locket and Moogsmum !!

Here's a little background to help explain what on earth is going on!

Why 'Loo-sley Crafting' - a very clever amalgamation of Lucy and Lesley (her and me) - impressed? Good.

Lucy and I both started blogging our crafty doings last year and 'met' through blogland. We both live in the UK - in the England bit - Lucy in the North East and me in the South. Somehow we 'connected' and have struck up a very real imaginary friendship that involves filling each other's email inboxes with more mail than is healthy!!

Before Christmas we were both sewing like mad things making all manner of things for school fairs, orders and gifts. Once all that was done and dusted we started discussing ways to help keep up the creativity in the New Year.

We decided a Craft Challenge was in order. The Challenge will involve us setting projects for ourselves to make something new or to remake an old favourite. The timespan of each challenge will take into account the fact that we do (despite outward appearances) both have lives outside of blogging. Hopefully this will stop us cracking under the pressure of deadlines!!

In a very roundabout way that has led us to set up another blog to record our progress.

Our first Challenge, this week, happened entirely by coincidence when we realised we'd both made the sock monkeys we'd been wanting to make for ages - on the same day and at the same time! Spooky!

Mrs Locket produced the gorgeous Freddy using the best Primarni (Primark) socks:

Whilst I churned out Minnie Mabel and Peter Parker again using quality sockage - this time courtesy of Peacocks:

The pattern for these guys was obtained by following this link on the marvellous Monkee Maker's blog. Be ready with a goodly amount of stuffing if you plan to make one - and do at least double stitching on all the seams to avoid embarassing inner thigh burstage - on the monkey!?!

Crafty Challenge No.2 has been set for the coming week. Being girlies we both feel we need a new handbag. With this in mind we will both produce a messenger bag in which to transport all those little essentials (like Lucy's knitting and my 147 tissues!)

Watch this space.....

If you want to join in and send us your pictures then please feel free.

Here's to a Crafty New Year!

love Lucy Locket and Moogsmum xxx