Craft Archives - Felicia Thomas

In Classes/ Craft/ Painting

In Person Classes

In Person Classes are back!!

I am thrilled to announce that I will be teaching three separate classes in Cork.

The lovely Susan Herlihy is hosting a series of art classes at her studio in Midleton.

I have the privilege of starting off her “Crafty Hands Create” programme on Saturday June 17th.

At 10.30 – 1pm I will be teaching the “Whimsical Florals” class.

During this class we will get passed the idea of how things ‘should’ look and create florals from your imagination.

Don’t worry if you are new to painting, I will explain every step. You will learn how to choose your colour palette, and what brushes work best for this style.

At the end of the class you will have a framed painting ready to take home, and hopefully a spark of interest to do more!

Then from 2-4pm it is Beaded Jewellery time.

This class is great for people who prefer crafting to painting.

You will get to use pliers and crimping tools to create a necklace and earrings.

It can be a little fiddly so if you wear glasses for close work then please bring them!

Just so you know, the colours we use on the day may vary from the photo.

All the findings (hooks and clasps etc) are nickel free and hypoallergenic.

For this class there are only six places and for the painting class there are eight.

If you would like to book a spot please email Susan on craftyhands@outlook.ie

or call her on 087 902 8186.

The third class is very special. It takes place on 19th August from 10.30 to 4pm

I am calling it the Meraki art journal class.

“What does that mean?” I hear you ask…..

Well, Meraki means this:

This deserves it’s own post to explain it, so I will do just that!

21/05/2023 By felicia

In Blogging/ Craft/ Life in General

Humbug Free Christmas Shopping.

Well, even though the TV and shops were shouting about it since Halloween, Christmas is finally here!

The tree is up since the 1st December (it’s never been that early before), mince pies have been consumed and Hallmark movies are on a loop.

What have I been doing since my last post you may ask… well considering that was early last year, quite a lot!

Too much to tell you really, so I’m going to skip ahead to now and pretend you’re all up to date.

Last Christmas I joined the Old Market Flea in Killarney. It is found at the back of The Laurels pub on the second Sunday of each month and every Saturday & Sunday in December.

I have been there for most of them, I think I missed two. It has been such a lovely market, I’ve met new customers and made lovely friends with other stall holders.

This Sunday is my last one for the year. It will be on for the following weekend too, but i’m declaring Christmas holidays after this one!

So, if you want to get a print, a framed print, a card or a cushion (I’ve only got three left) come in and see me.

Humbug free Christmas Shopping.

(Look how nice the cushions look piled onto a bed!)

There are so many different stalls from cakes and doughnuts to wood carving and antiques. Vintage clothes and fairies to jewellery and art. With so many things in one place it definitely makes Christmas shopping Humbug free!

Have a lovely weekend,

F xx

14/12/2018 By felicia

In Craft/ House Love/ Painting

Cushions!

Polly Dolly Cushions are here!

Thanks to the amazing people at Pixalili in Donegal, I now have a lovely range of hand sewn cushions.

(Pink Polly)

Measuring 50 cm square, they are made of 100% cotton with a polyester pillow stuffer inside.

The backing fabric is a lovely duck egg blue cotton…. they are such amazing quality, I’m so impressed with the way they have been made!

At the moment I have three different designs, Pink Polly, The Bride & Groom and The Travelling Boy.

(Bride & Groom)

(The Travelling Boy)

I like to think that each of these little characters has a story of their own. The Travelling Boy, is bravely exploring the world in his Land Rover. In the background of his cushion you can find maps and a compass – very important for adventuring!

The Bride & Groom, are madly in love, they make each other laugh, respect each other and will always together.

Pink Polly is a little fairy, you can just see her gossamer wings. She likes to cast spells of bravery and confidence on those around her, believing that we can all achieve our dreams.

If you think any of these cushions would be a perfect gift for someone in your life ( or maybe you want to treat yourself),

just click on the names under each picture. This will take you directly to my Etsy shop where you can see all the details.

I have ordered two more designs, which hopefully will be here soon…..

They will all be coming with me to Art Source at the RDS in Dublin. I’ll be there from Thursday 8th to Sunday 11th November, stand A55, so if you are visiting come and say hello.

I have also been painting away to make a new collection for Art Source, It features quirky houses, which is not really a big surprise is it?!

I will try to get some images up soon.

Enjoy whats left of the Bank Holiday,

F xx

29/10/2018 By felicia

In Blogging/ Craft

How to sew a Goose.

How to sew a goose.

We’ll get to the goose soon….

Once upon a time I started a blog. This blog was called Scrapzville and I had it for many years.

Looking back at the first year or two I see that I wrote long, rambling posts, as if you (the reader) and I were sitting at the kitchen table having a chat. Not only did I post long rambling blogs, I posted often. So what changed?

Well, two things. Firstly, I started to get ‘followers’. People, some of whom I knew and some I didn’t, started to read it, and I got an unmerciful dose of the ‘What will they think of me?’ bug. I got shy and bothered and started to write what I thought it would be OK for people to read, instead of what I wanted to write. So, I wrote less and less and eventually I decided on a big change in the hope of a fresh start.

The second thing, after I changed from Blogger to WordPress was the bloody SEO scores! I like long sentences, the SEO does not. There are these little spots of colour at the top of the page, it starts off red, orange is ‘needs improvement’ and green is good. I’m at the mercy of these spots, shortening sentences all over the place for the elusive green!

(I bet you’re wondering about the goose?)

All this to say that I want to go back to rambling. I’ve been gone for so long that I doubt anyone will read this, I will though. Sometimes I go back and read really old posts, it’s like an online diary, it’s cosy, I like it.

So, if you are still here, well done. Make some tea or coffee and we’ll get to the goose!

Last weekend I took a notion to sew something, and for some reason I decided on a goose. Now, I don’t have a pattern for it so I looked on Pinterest (where else?!) but none of them were the right shape. Apparently there is a quilting pattern called ‘Silly Goose’ so that came up a lot, but very few soft toy types.

Eventually, I drew out my own. This is a very ‘make it up as you go’ kind of thing, so this could be a very odd looking creature.

I cut out the pieces ( I could’ve ironed the fabric first…) and started sewing.

I was doing so well until I turned the neck the right side out. This is what comes from making it up as you go, I forgot to turn the beak the right way before I sewed it in. This meant battling that long skinny neck with a knitting needle to turn it seam side out, unpicking the beak and starting again.

(Just so you know, the little spot has gone orange, it didn’t like that last sentence!)

Eventually I had a shape that looked fairly good. I used toy stuffing, sewed her up added a bow and Ta da… a Goose!!

Now, the only thing that I would change is the position of the legs. They are quite far forward which makes her look a bit like the Loch Ness monster, but for a first attempt at pattern making I think it’s pretty good.

So there you have it. There is a goose, loose about this hoose!

It’s a lovely day here, I hope it’s nice where you are too.

Thank you for stopping by,

F xx

26/07/2017 By felicia

In Blogging/ Craft/ Painting

Quilt update.

Remember that quilt?

I’m pretty sure my last blog post said something like,” Tune in next week for an update…”

well, here it is almost a month later!

I actually did finish it within that first week, of course you’ll just have to take my word for it, but I did.

But here it is!

(That chair was once teak with a really rotten gold draylon seat cover – but that’s another story).

The pink velvet was perfect as a backing. It’s so soft!

Aren’t they the prettiest colours? Tilda fabric is just lovely, I got mine from the Crafty Fox but i’m not sure of the name of this particular collection.

Toby has declared it suitable for cuddling up on. He likes to burrow underneath of it so he can sit on the velvety side. I could try and keep him off of it, keep it ‘for best’, but along with everything else in this house, it was made to be used.

What else has happened since my last post?

Well, last Sunday I was at the Airport hotel in Cork for the Cloggers event. Marie and Shell put a huge amount of work into these events and I was really pleased to get to one. Cloggers are a group of bloggers in the Cork region ( I think it covers most of Munster) they blog about many subjects from fashion, make up, lifestyle & healthy eating to Horror themed books!

As usual there were a great bunch of people there with some lovely stands.

Ebony and I put our work together for this one:

I happen to think this little rabbit is the cutest thing in the world!

(Available from The Little Things Company)

So, that has been my month, thank you for stopping by!

F xx

26/02/2017 By felicia

In Blogging/ Craft

Super Easy Quilt Making.

‘Super easy quilt making’ is probably the wrong title for this post.

It should actually read, ‘ Make it up as you go ‘.

This morning I was doing my favourite Sunday morning activity. That would be drinking coffee in my p.j’s whilst browsing Pinterest – when I came across this:

(Credit)

I love fabric, I love making things but i’m not very precise with them. My seams don’t line up and my sewing is only straight-ish. So I clicked into the post, read it all (it is a really good read) and decided that I would make a start on a quilt.

At the knit & Stitch show 2015 (yes, it was that long ago) I got some gorgeous Tilda fabric from The Crafty Fox stand.

Then last year I bought some pale pink velvet to make a backing for said fabric.

The tutorial said that she had used fabric of all sizes. Since I had bought fat quarters I thought i’d cut them a little more evenly to get the best layout from them.

The ‘How To’ bit…

First of all I ironed them (being folded for a year and a half really sets those creases!) Then marked them every 4 1/2 inches and drew a pencil line.

I do have a rotary cutter but I just can’t get along with it, so I used scissors.

Once I had cut up all five fat quarters into the 4 1/2″ strips, I cut those strips into random sized pieces. I cut some lengths into two sections and some into four or five. There was some pretty fabric with buttons on it in my stash so I added a little of that as well as a few pieces of the darker green stripe (top left in the picture).

I had bought a full metre of the green stripe so I thought I’d use that for the binding. It’s a bit of a contrast to the main colours but by adding a few little bits into the quilt top it will all blend in. Remember the ‘make it up as you go ‘ theme? yep, that’s where the binding that doesn’t match came from.

To make the top I just sewed pieces from each pile together in a long strip. There was no pattern to it, just randomly choosing a piece and sewing to the last. It didn’t take very long – in no time at all I had this:

That’s a long strip of fabric!

Five fat quarters cut into 4 1/2 inch strips (with a little of the two other fabrics thrown in) came to an amazing 40 foot long strip!

Next I decided how wide I wanted my quilt to be (you can see how well I thought this out before I started can’t you?) which was 36 inches. By the time I had cut up the whole thing I had thirteen strips. The last one was slightly short so I just added an extra piece of button fabric.

You can see how the order you sew them together in doesn’t really matter. The different sized blocks make it less precise and you can move the strips around until you like the layout. Of course, then it all has to sewn together, but that is really easy especially if you’re not too precious about sewing straight. I do try, I line up my edges and keep the sewing machine foot on the edge but the straight line just alludes me. Real quilters are amazing, they make it look so easy!

(I should have ironed this before I took the photo……)

It took two and a half hours to go from Pinterest to having the quilt top sewn together, much faster then piecing squares! I have to get wadding tomorrow (if you live in a place where there is a fabric shop nearby that is open seven days a week then you are a very lucky person!) and then decide how to quilt the layers together. I would love to try some free motion quilting but i’m not brave enough yet.

Tune in next week to see if I’ve made any progress…… hopefully I will have a finished quilt to show off!

Felicia xx

29/01/2017 By felicia

In Craft

Tweed Tote Bag.

Tweed Tote Bag.

The Knitting and Stitching show was on in Dublin last week. There is no place like it for stocking up on crafting materials, especially the ones you didn’t know you needed!

I should take a list, write down all the projects i’d like to do and what I will need to make them. That would be sensible. However, by the time it comes around I’m a bit lacking in enthusiasm. The inspiration of last years show has worn off. What happens then is I go in thinking, “well, I need glue…. and maybe some Bondaweb”. But then you get freshly inspired by all of the products.

All the things you could make!

That leads from a hundred project ideas to getting totally overwhelmed, and being back to just getting glue.

So what did I buy?

This year I came home with fabric – lots of fabric! Some of it was for my Mum, but the rest was all mine.

Usually, I get lots of cotton fat quarters for quilting. I’m not very good at quilting, my seams never meet neatly. But they’re fun to make. Last year I got some gorgeous Tilda fabrics from The Crafty Fox stand. I have yet to cut into them so I’m on a self imposed ban – no more until I use what I have.

This year I was tempted by this grey heavy flannel and a tweed. What will I make with it?, I asked myself, A tote bag? Why not? Experience has taught me that if I don’t make it in the week after the show it won’t get made (which explains the quilt) so believe it or not, here it is!

(Finished bag size is 18″ x 15″ x 7″)

There are endless Youtube tutorials on how to do this, I used this one (without the patchwork bits obviously). My measurements were different to hers, but the process is the same.

If you are going to make this then here is a word of advice. Make your handles the same fabric on both sides. I wanted grey on the inside and tweed facing out. Seems simple enough doesn’t it?

It’s not!

When you make it the whole thing is inside out. For the life of me I couldn’t work out which way round the lay the handles. As you sew over the handles to secure them in place you’re sewing six layers of fabric. Only then, after turning the whole thing through a tiny gap in the seam did I discover my mistake.

No problem, I thought. Just stuff it all back through the gap in the seam, unpick all the sewing and re position the handles. I turned them around and started to re sew the top and broke not one but two sewing machine needles!

There may have been some unpolite expletives muttered……

But I do have a gorgeous bag to show for it. It is fully lined with the flannel which makes it cosy enough for Toby to sleep in. He looks most indignant when I take him out.

If and when I get the quilt finished i’ll post it here. A lovely pale pink velvet came home with me for the backing. I have all I need to make it now, so there is really no excuse……

Have a lovely Halloween weekend,

Felicia xx

28/10/2016 By felicia

In Craft/ Life in General/ Painting

The Paint Bug.

The last few weeks have been a bit crazy. A lot crazy actually. We were away on holiday, then Zac went back to college. Tim had an minor surgery and then we had a family wedding. The holiday and wedding were fantastic and the surgery and college move went smoothly. I’m not complaining at all, it was a great month, but I am totally wrecked!

This week I have had the luxury of mostly staying at home. Of course, as soon as I stopped racing around I caught a cold (doesn’t that always happen?) so I’m really making the most of it. Being at home doesn’t mean nothing to do though, I have taken a stall at the Women’s Inspire network event which is on the 5th October. This is a bit of a leap of faith, but nothing ventured and all that. I will need stock to sell, the cards are ready. The fauxdori’s are ready, the aprons arrived today, but I don’t have any paintings.

This was my desk today.

Fortunately, today was the day the paint bug hit! which means I don’t want to do anything else but paint pictures.

I set a task of finishing six 5″x 5″ paintings which of course I didn’t! Although I finished and framed two and drew out some outline ideas for the others I got stuck on the last one.

I love to paint houses, so I drew out some of those. After that I drew some floral outlines, and then while I was doodling these little characters appeared. I love it when that happens, I’m just painting away minding my own business and suddenly these little creatures turn up saying, “paint us, paint us!”

Because I have a very strange imagination (I’ve always said my head is a lovely place to live) they suddenly developed names and hobbies and a bit of a story…… and now I’ll never get the other paintings finished!

This is what they look like so far. Meet Doris and Hector! They look a bit like pigs but they won’t be when they’re finished, I really hope I can make them look like they do in my head.

I wonder if you can set up a stall with just two finished paintings?

If you are going to the Women’s Inspire event in Meath then please come and say hello, then you’ll see how many paintings I actually got finished!

Felicia xx

23/09/2016 By felicia

In Craft/ House Love

Home is the Nicest Word.

According to the dictionary it means, ‘House or other dwelling’. To me it means love, family, comfort, safety, coziness.

I am a home bird. My favourite place to be is home. Going on holiday is fabulous, but the day we’re returning i’m frantic to get back . It’s where my kids are (sometimes) & my dogs are. The word ‘home’ makes me happy.

It comes out a lot in things I make. There seem to be wonky roofed houses popping up everywhere- cards, paintings, notebooks, even necklaces. They make me smile, so I keep making them in the hope that they make someone else smile aswell! The obsession extends to real houses too, but until I get to build my dream home (a four bedroom bungalow , sounds fairly ordinary right? wrong- It’s going to freakin amazing!!!) I’m just making imaginary ones.

So, after making notebooks and painting pictures I moved on to wood. These houses are beyond quirky, they have been personalised with house numbers, family names, initials, but each one is made to bring a little magic into your home.

This one stands on the hearth in my sitting room, its 22″ tall and is nothing if not a conversation starter!

This one is available at The Beach House gallery in Dungarvan.

And you can find this one in Craft Makers, Tralee.

(Here is Miss Boo photobombing my house picture!)

I hope to have them on my Etsy shop soon, so if you want the perfect ‘new home’ gift for a friend or something made just for you and yours, you know where to come!

Felicia xx

16/08/2016 By felicia

In Craft

Knit one, Purl one.

Knit one, Purl one..

Do you knit? Do you like cosy fires and winter days and knitting away the winter?

In theory so do I, but for some reason whenever I get bitten by the knitting bug its summer time.

You could argue the summer part, officially its Autumn, but the days are still fairly warm (20°C today).

Also, this knitting bug only bites once in a blue moon. To call myself a knitter is stretching the truth a little.

The last time it struck was four years ago, I was knitting a shawl in a beautiful Debbie Bliss wool. Cashmerino Aran in Blackberry to be exact.

Now, as you may or may not know, my knitting was seriously hampered by this. It has taken a while to get back to it, I did make a rabbit for a friend, but as it happens I had knitted all the pieces before T.F.D. (That fateful day) so all I had to do was stuff it and sew the legs on.

But then,

I was scrolling through Pinterest as I do (the most enjoyable time waster ever!) and came across this:

(You can get it here)

And then I remembered my promise. About nine years ago Tim asked me to knit him an Aran jumper. He rarely asks for anything, and so I said, “Of course, you can have it for Christmas”. I promptly got the most amazing pattern and spent about a week knitting, then unpicking the stitches. That very complicated pattern was made for a better knitter than I!

Eventually I gave up and told him, “Next Christmas for sure”, which turned into, “You’ll have it before you retire”.

Well, the fifth anniversary of his retirement has just passed. Yes, I am a terrible person.

I even contemplated buying a jumper and cutting out the labels but my conscience got the better of that plan.

Although this doesn’t have any cable stitches its fairly close to what he wants, so I bought it, got the wool and here it is!

TA DAH!

You thought it was going to be finished didn’t you?

There are precisely five inches on the needles, but look at the pattern, isn’t it fab?! Because of the pattern changes it’s holding my interest, who knows, I might even finish it in time for Christmas!

Felicia xx

09/08/2016 By felicia

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