Hochanda

Join us at this year's Stitching, Sewing & Hobbycrafts Show!  2nd - 5th November NEC Birmingham. You can grab the hottest ICHF Event tickets right here ! This year's Stitching, Sewing & Hobbycrafts show is going to be even bigger and better than ever, not only will you be able to explore the latest crafting supplies, exclusive product launches and expert demonstrations - a true crafters paradise; there is also free entry to Simply Christmas and Cake International! Taking place at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) Birmingham from the 2nd - 5th November, discover a whole new world full of creative inspiration all under one roof - and this year there is no compromise! We will be broadcasting live for a full 4 hours a day joined by our very own presenter enthusiasts including Leonie Pujol, Yiannis Morgan, Hayley West, Dave Bradford and Matt MacNamara. Conducting live demonstrations, audience Q&A’s and photo signing opportunities, this is your opportuni

Hi crafters. I don’t know about you but I love flowers and frankly, I am too scared to count how many flower dies and templates I have; yet somehow, I can always find a need for more. I recently bought a new Sizzix flower die (pictured right) and as usual couldn’t wait to start playing with it. After buying a new die, I usually cut everything out in scrap card and start playing with the pieces, moving them around to see how the die works and how many different ways I could adapt the shape for differing uses.  I made up a flower out of card and loved it, so I wanted to see how it looked in fabric so I found some scraps of fabrics and started cutting. I put different types and thicknesses of fabric through my Sizzix Big Shot Plus as I wasn’t sure if thinner fabrics would hold up the flower form as well. I got quite carried away with the cutting and ended up with lots of petals, especially in the cottons as my Sizzix Big Shot Plus easily cuts six layers of cott

Itching to take on a stitchy project after visiting the amazing Festival of Quilts show recently, I was delighted when my daughter asked me to make a card for a friend who is moving house, as this presented the perfect opportunity.   This new home card combines sewing and cardmaking skills, but could just as easily be adapted to make a small cushion, bag panel or quilt block instead.  What I used: ·       A4 sheet of plain paper ·       Pencil ·       Ruler ·       Bondaweb ·       Iron and ironing board ·       Scissors ·       Fabric scraps ·       Embroidery thread ·       Hand sewing needle ·       Assorted colours of cardstock for layering ·       8x8 card blank 1.  To start – measure out and draw a square the size that you would like your finished project to be. I chose a square 6 inches by 6 inches.  2.  Now plan your design, keeping your choice fairly simple. I chose a basic house design since it is a new home card, but you might deci

Hello again everyone, I have a completely different post for you this time! I keep buying all this ‘stuff’ and it’s so nice I can’t bring myself to use it … but it’s starting to get out of control and taking over my home!! So I’m challenging myself on 2 levels – 1) use up my stuff; and 2) try something new. Well I had some empty candle jars so I thought this would be a good way to use up some stuff and try something new at the same time and this is what I came up with. I am over the moon with the results as it’s the first time I’ve tried anything like this. What I used: ·       Empty candle jar ·       Decoart white gesso ·       Starlight paints ·       Decoart metallic paints ·       Imagination Crafts rice papers ·       Imagination Crafts fabric glue ·       Twine ·       Raffia ·       Hessian ·       Ribbon ·       Paper flowers and embellishments from craft box Here’s what I did: Firstly, I applied a coat of white gesso to the

The Festival of Quilts is Europe’s leading patchwork and quilting event and this year I had the privilege of attending with Hochanda . Attracting more than 25,000 visitors from all over the world, honestly there were bus loads rolling in daily from Australia, it was truly an international event. Prior to the show, I was unsure what to expect but to put it mildly I was blown away by the entire experience, from the organisation and layout of the three halls down to the incredible talent on show. Celebrating quilting in all forms, there were over 300 exhibitors providing endless stalls to purchase all your quilting essentials , incredible galleries displaying what I can only describe as the most ore-inspiring quilts I have ever seen. One that stands out for me was The Women’s Quilt . It was made up of 598 patches, a patch to commemorate 598 women killed as a result of domestic violence between 2009 and 2015. The quilt is

Hello Crafters, This week we received an amazing gift from a family member and I set about making an appropriate card to say thank you. This needed to be something very special and what better way to say a special thank you than to use the gorgeous Sue Wilson dies for a card in the style of the wonderful Phill Martin.                   Despite looking rather elaborate, this 8x8 card is easy to achieve and uses relatively few supplies (as above). The first step in making this card is to get all of the die cutting out of the way. I find this much more time efficient than stopping to cut out the bits you need at each stage. Using the Sue Wilson Ornate Pierced Squares from the Noble Collection, cut out the ornate focal point for the centre of the card in cream cardstock. Then roughly cut a spare piece of cream card, which will sit behind this feature when the card is constructed. You will also need to cut the largest and the second sma