Book review - "Small Space Big Ideas"

As you know I often get asked to review items, sometimes gardening or chicken keeping equipment and sometimes books. Recently I was sent a press release for a new book by Phillipa Pearson, published by Dorling Kindersley called Small Space, Big Ideas.

The press release said the book would  provide inspiration and practical projects to get balconies, window-sills, porches, patios, roof gardens and even stairs and walls blooming. It also mentioned that the book had a crafty homemade approach to gardening 

I thought it sounded interesting so I agreed to have a copy to review.

When the book arrived I was really rather impressed with it - a substantial hard backed book with beautiful illustrations and a very comprehensive set of instructions accompanying each of the 40 gardening projects in the book.

This book does indeed have a very "crafty" feel to it - lots of the ideas would not look out of place in a craft magazine like Mollie Makes- but the the book is still very much oriented to growing and gardening. Both ornamental and edible plants are grown in the projects and there is an emphasis on being able to produce both food and beauty in even small gardens.

Although I have a large garden, you can see I have marked a lot of projects in this book which I want to try! I particularly liked the Colourful Salad Colander ( p32) - I first saw a similar idea at the Yeo Valley Organic Gardens cafe and I can vouch for how spectacular it can look.

The Saddlebag Balcony Planters (p 74) made from oilcloth and filled with plants to hang either side of a balcony are really great - I would be quite tempted to have some on my actual bicycle :)


 


The Portable Hanging Insect House (p 198) looks wonderful and would appeal to many a diy enthusiast as well as a gardener - and the finished product looks both effective and very stylish.





I really liked the Wildlife Hamper (p210)- insect attracting flowers growing in a basket  - I think this could make a wonderful gift if the basket were given as a kit with the seed packets in it. I did a similar thing last year to grow Celery, and it is still going strong in the polytunnel so I know this technique does work.


In fact I liked the whole book, I really enjoyed looking through it; there are some good ideas which I want to try and as an inspiration and source of ideas this book is really brilliant. 

Although not explicitly organic, I could see no use of chemicals (apart from paint and varnish) and lots of organic growing methods were mentioned, such as companion planting and attracting beneficial insects to the garden. Composting and maintaining a healthy ecological balance in the garden was also discussed and various methods outlined. The book has a useful section on how to grow and maintain plants, with general care and harvesting advice. It also has a very good contents list at the front and index at the back, along with a list of suppliers.

I do wonder if some of the containers could be obtained as easily as the book assumes (old zinc tubs are quite expensive and I don't often see them!) and I was a bit disappointed not to see more prominent mention of using peat free growing medium rather than just saying to buy multi purpose compost.

These are minor quibbles and this book would make an interesting and attractive addition to the bookshelves of a gardener and/or craft person or indeed to a beginner in either.

Small Space, Big Ideas

Author: Philippa Pearson

Publisher: DK 

Publication date: 1st March 2014

£16.99

With thanks to Vivienne  at DK for sending me the books. More about the other book in another post :)

A crafty challenge - with fabric from Hillarys Blinds

If you remember, I was recently sent some lovely fabric by Hillarys Blinds as part of a competition to design and make a craft item from a 100 x 100 cm piece of fabric chosen from one of their fabulous Country Retreat fabrics.





I chose the Wild Poppies Vermillion design and have had such fun over the last week or so making things with it.

I love a challenge so I decided to see how many items I could make from the square metre of fabric. I also decided to have a go at making or crafting things I had never made before and to use recycled materials wherever possible in addition to the sample of Country Retreat fabric I was sent (ambitious, or what!)

I have written here  and  here  about my efforts so far; this post tells you more and reveals what I managed to make. So read on...

As I looked at the very lovely fabric, the design of the flowers simply begged me do something involving a frame and paint.  So I decided to mount some of it in a frame and hang it as a picture. I selected and cut out some of the fabric and mounted it onto canvas using pva glue. When that had dried I began by adding some gold fabric paint as a colourwash over the cream background.

Mounted and waiting for inspiration

Once that had dried I then used a selection of fabric paints and metallic acrylic paints, which I got from the Scrapstore some time ago, to change the colours and alter and (hopefully) enhance the fabrics. I wanted to end up with some original artwork which reflected and echoed the pattern on the soft furnishing item I also planned to make from the fabric (but more of that later on).

 
The fabric before I got to work

 

 and after

(colours are not this orange really, I am afraid it is the artificial lighting)

I also did two smaller pictures and experimented with altering the background colour using fabric paints as well as adding paint to the surface of the fabric.

I reused some old frames from prints I found in a charity shop to add the final touches to the "paintings" I had made.

Having satisfied my painting urge I went back to playing with the fabric. I used a kit I had previously found in a charity shop from a craft magazine (Mollie Makes) which contained the materials to make a small metal clasped purse. I used "my" fabric rather than the one in the kit, and after choosing a striking flower from the design and cutting it out of the fabric, a bit of hand sewing and gluing of the clasp produced this.
 

Small change purse

Next I decided to make a slightly larger, zipped purse. I have put in a few zips on skirts (many years ago!) but have never made a lined purse like this. No pressure then!


 

The size of purse I wanted to make was dictated by the recycled small zip I had to use - so I cut out the fabric and recycled liner freehand to fit it and then put in the zip by hand, as it was a bit small and fiddly to do on the machine. I also like hand sewing! After a bit of thought and head scratching and looking around online, I worked out what to do next to sew up the liner and fabric so they would end up how I wanted it. I did actually get this bit wrong a couple of times, but that is what a seam ripper is for.

I put the right sides of the liner and patterned fabrics together (as above) and stitched around the hem.

 ...leaving a small gap in the liner to turn it all " right way round" by pulling the whole lot through the liner hole. Which is harder than it sounds!  I then hand sewed up the inner hole in the liner and stuffed the liner inside the purse having turned it the right way round.

I knew I also wanted to make a cushion and a tote bag from the material and looking at my fabric, I could see I would have around an A4 sized piece left over.

After a bit of thought I decided to make an A5 notebook cover.

I cut out the fabric so it was slightly larger than an opened out A5 hardback book and hemmed all around the edge - I used a 1 cm seam allowance.  I then folded the top and bottom over the book cover to mark where to stitch and then made a small pocket to slip the edge of the cover in each end.

Here are the notebook, metal clasp and zipped top purse waiting to be finished off. Lots of loose threads to tidy up and lots on the floor, the rug, the cats, me...

 I felt flushed with success at my efforts so far :) So I decided  to have a go at a simple envelope type cushion cover. I looked at a pillowcase and worked out how to make it and got cutting. I used a cushion pad I already had, free hand cut a rectangle of material slightly larger and then hemmed all around it.

I then turned over one end to make a pocket and pinned it , then with the rest of the fabric right side to right side I hemmed around three sides ( not the opening side, of course!) 

 Cushion waiting to have the ends sewn in, with the fabric pocket for the pad now hidden inside at the top.

 
I had planned to have just enough material left over to make a small tote bag which would hold a magazine and purse, phone etc. I cut two strips for the handles and hemmed them all around, folded them wrong side to wrong side and stitched along one side as close to the edge as possible.

Bag handles

I made a simple bag shape by hemming the rectangle of fabric all round, folding it in half lengthwise and then right side to right side stitching the two long sides. I attached the handles and squared off the bottom of the bag inside by stitching across the corners. I then attached the handles to the inside at the top.

 After all this flurry of activity I had some very small scraps of fabric left over - about 20 cm x 20 cm. I had to think very hard what to make with them.

 
 But I did use them up :)

...............................................................................................

  So - the big reveal! How many items did I manage to make from a metre square of fabric?

A cushion

Tote bag, notebook and zipped purse

Large framed painting on fabric,  next to cushion to show size

 

A very small fabric chicken :)

Small framed paintings on fabric

Collection of things I made

Large painted fabric

From a square metre of Country Retreat Wild Poppies Vermillion fabric I ended up making 

A cushion (35 x 30 cm)

A tote bag (30 x 40 cm)

An A5 notebook cover

A small clasp purse

A small zippered purse

1 large (35 x25 cm) painting

2  small (15 x 11 cm) paintings

and a very small chicken !

 

and I have two fabric scraps left over measuring about 10 cm x 3 cm which I might turn into bookmarks...

 
I really enjoyed making items for this competition - I must thank Hillarys for sending me the georgeous fabric to work with - I have no idea if I have satisifed the competition rules as I don't really think I have done anything "original" - all the techniques I have employed are all "out there" somewhere, but regardless of that I have really enjoyed myself. Everything I have made (apart from the chicken) was the first time I had tried to make that particular craft item.

Quilting

I have started a new quilting project - you can read more about it on the latest blog post   on my other blog The Crafty Compostwoman

Decluttering and selling stuff

 
Last month, as part of my mission to declutter the place, I went through my wardrobe. I realised I hadn't worn most of the clothes in it for at least 2 years, if not longer. And the rest got worn all the time, in rotation.

 A lot of the (now) unworn clothes either

1. no longer fit me or
2. no longer appeal to me or
3. no longer are suitable to my lifestyle (a number of smart suits - I only need one or two for funerals and smart meetings - not more!)
4. are in materials which I can no longer wear (mainly poly/cotton mixes and some all wool tops)

or a combination of all the above!

I used to attend lots of balls and award dinners every year but have not done so for 15 years - so lots of posh frocks have been taking up space since then, beautiful, but unworn. To be truthful I can't remember the last time I wore a dress - 8 years ago? I just don't ever dress up like that any more.

So - I had a ruthless clear out and lots of the items in my wardrobe have now gone to be sold or to the charity shop.

And as we have now moved into the new bedroom I have had to transfer a lot of stuff into there which gave me the chance to declutter some more.

Four bags later!  I have a lot more space and a set of clothes which I can wear for tidy trips out and all my garden/hen clothes ( ie everyday wear) are in two drawers rather than scattered in several places.

Much easier to work out what I want to wear, now!

Hot Bin and Quilting

Now the days are getting longer ( and they are! They are!) I have been doing more outside work, like getting the latest batch of compost out of the HotBin. This is what the Hotbin has produced since the last emptying out, on Nov 3rd 2012. pretty impressive, I think and shows the value of an insulated compost bin in colder weather.

but as my back is still quite painful I have also been doing some indoor work as well, during the daytime. So, I have been doing lots of tidying and decluttering and cleaning windows and sowing seeds in the hotboxes etc.

 One of the indoor things I have been doing as well, is getting ready to make a quilt :-)

I have been sorting fabrics and cutting squares and arranging and re arranging them, until I had a pattern which pleased me.

And then on Tuesday I started to sew them together...

If you would like to see how I have been getting on, visit my crafting site to see more :-)

 If you would like to see what I have been up to, while inside more during the snowy weather, please pop over to my crafting blog

and have a look :-)

Thank you for reading xxx

New Year - hopefully a lot better?

A very Happy New Year to all of you :-)

I am sitting here at the desktop computer, listening to Santana on the mp3 player on my new phone, in a curiously ( unnervingly?) tidy Study. Today is the first day of 2013 and I have been decluttering and tidying...

The Study had become  a shameful dumping ground for junk and rubbish over the last month, and I also wanted to sort out the Tardis (a cupboard, where I keep a lot of crafting and work supplies - some of which now have other places to live -  mainly on my large crafting shelf or in the various plastic stacking boxes which hold bulk supplies of wool, yarn, fabric etc)

so today I was ruthless- lots of stuff went into the recycling bin ( when they finally make a collection here, been three weeks now - just don't ask!)  and lots more for the charity shop and rag bank. Nothing added to the landfill bin, which was pleasing.

We are also about to embark on the major refurbishment of yet another room ( yes, yes, I know, but there are only two left to do!) - more of the same (internal insulation, new floor, complete redecoration etc)  so all the contents have to come out and be found homes somewhere (!) - most of the stuff has gone into the loft, but as the guest bedroom gets used as a bit of a storage place there was a lot of stuff which needed to be moved somewhere else!

I also have started on a major clear out of my wardrobe - not quite the project 333 challenge, but not far off it! So lots of items have also made their way into the charity shop bag. Some have been earmarked for turning into crochet yarn, for another rug project.

I have spent a few enjoyable hours getting my new android phone sorted out - am very impressed with the features on it and can't help comparing it to the early computers I used at work many years (30 plus!)  ago - which probably had a 1000th of the computing power and cost many 100 times more...!

Guess this is old age finally catching up on me!

What did you do for New Year Day?

Photo of the crochet recycled rag rug

For all those who wanted a photo!

Still not completed, but you get the general size and shape from this photo

More detail on my crochet rag rug

For those of you who are interested

I cut up the cotton fabric into inch wide strips - and wound then into balls of yarn for easier handling.

Most of my tee shirts are not tubular round the middle section, so I could not use the "continuous spiral method" described in this link ( kindly given to me by Blue Witch ). They have seams up each side, so I had to cut them into long continuous strips, with a thicker section where I turn around and cut back down again.

As I also used the arms of some long sleeved tee shirts this gave me shorter lengths which have more knots in the ball of yarn.
 
So, having cut and joined the strips of tee shirt,  I then made a foundation chain of about 75 stitches using a 15 mm hook - I just made the chain as large as I wanted the width of the rug to be (about three feet)   and then I used (UK, not called the same in US!)  double crochet in rows, back and forth, - the rug is about 4 feet long now and VERY colourful :-)

The knots merge in with the holes in the crochet loops and it feels fine under foot, and I am very pleased with it :-)

Hope this helps you to get started.

Flannel shirts would work for this I think, as would fleece (spun polyester type) blankets - they can be found very cheaply in charity shops here so I am going to make one of these as a cat bed, next.

What I have been up to recently

  As you may recall, I have been slowly learning to crochet. Recently I decided to crochet a rag rug.

I have loads of old, worn or holed cotton tee shirts, which are no good for charity donation, so I keep for making rags. I had a look and sorted out some in bright colours to make into cotton yarn
 

 I cut strips about an inch wide and tied them together.

because the fabric is 100% cotton all the trimmings can go in the compost!

And then I started to crochet... using a 15 mm crochet hook

As you can see, it is going to be a good sized rug! It keeps me occupied during these dull wet days where I can't do much in the garden.

I will keep you all posted as to how I get on :-)