A new year - a new blog

 

Happy New Year! Ok, I know that the year really hasn't started off on the best footing for any of us, but hopefully it will be much better than the last by the time we get to the end of it.

The image above is the wall in my craft room/dining room, complete with every button from last year's challenge. Eventually they will all be put into a set of boxes that Mark has built for me (he also made a set for the 2016 challenge buttons). But they will probably stay up for a few years - the others have only just come down :)

I've enjoyed a little of time away from social media - but I was doing bookkeeping. End of month and all that. Still has to be done, holiday season or not. 

Then, car issues. Garage shut until this week, so we've been carless. Add that to going into a full scale lockdown and stress levels started to rise. I know we aren't the only ones but still.

So, I've decided to take the time to get back to the new book, and it is going well! And that's enough of that, don't want to jinx anything.

Anyway, I will be keeping this blog this year - not every day, don't want to bore you, but a few times a week. I've got some plans for some hopefully interesting articles. 

Hang in there friends. Take care and be safe. xxx

The travelling buttons

Last weekend saw me rushing to get the above buttons sent over to Paris for the Au Ver a Soie exhibition by courier in the week. In the end, it was too painful for me to actually make any new buttons. It was not worth risking longer term damage. I had some in my samples made with their silk, and decided after much deliberation, to send others that made up part of my One Button a Day challenge in 2016. 

This was a big thing for me. I've cut them from their tags to mount them here, and there is always the very real possibility that they will go missing - either on the way out, or the way back to me. 

They've arrived safely in Paris, so stage one complete. 

Except the exhibition has now been cancelled until June, as the French government has banned gathering of over 200 people until then. 

So, I will get to stress for half the year. And, I could possibly have made new, different ones in a month or so, and would not have needed to take from the set. 

If anyone is interested, the mount for these was printed from our Button Backing Cards & Mounts CD - I printed it onto printable fabric, left the backing paper in place to stitch through. I think that by printing on the fabric the background better suits the fine silk of the buttons.

And so on to other news....

I have managed to complete the first slideshow of this year's buttons and have popped it over onto YouTube. I hope to have the second one completed this weekend. 

A month gone!

Well, that's it, January is gone. Here's the first 30 buttons on my board. Now it starts to get hard - remembering what day number it is :) Can't just look at the calendar to see what the date is now...

For the next couple of days it is all about getting things ready for our shows on Hochanda TV this Tuesday. I'll be on at 3pm and 7pm - it will certainly be interesting doing a late stint.

The 3pm show is buttons - and I'll be bringing along our latest Little Button Journal Kit. This one is Needle Pattern buttons - aka Pattern Darning, kogin, fancy darning, smøyg, and many other names. Whatever you call it, the technique makes great buttons!

At 7pm, we will be bringing back the Flowercomb ribbon ruching range with two new template packs, Nell and Alice. These two are particularly nice for trimmings. I'll be making quite a few flowers this weekend I think :)

Do keep an eye out on my facebook page for sneak previews closer to the day.