Last week I took the big step of putting in my notice at Spotify. I’ve been there for four years now, and I’ve worked on a lot of different things, with a lot of great people. Things have been changing, and I’ve changed, and it’s time for a new chapter.
I’ve been searching for a way to better organise all the things I’m working on and ideas I have for future projects. I bought this Filofax years ago, I believe as a reward to myself for passing my degree! It had some numbered dividers in it, but I didn’t really need all 6 sections and it ended up just being messy and underutilised.
I had seen some laser cut cross stitch blanks made out of wood on Etsy, and I really liked the concept. It did make me wonder though, would these work made out of acrylic? And as with everything I make lately, would these work as earrings??
I had this idea to make 3D photo frames using my laser cutter, and thought since we don’t have many of our wedding pictures up in the house that would be a nice one to start with. I didn’t want to use any hardware, so I came up with a way to have it be one piece - the photo can be dropped in from a slot in the top. I also attached magnets to the back so it could be displayed on my fridge, and I really like how it looks in our kitchen.
After getting so much enjoyment from my embroidered orange necklace, I thought I’d have a go at a pair of earrings. I used a much lower gauge wire than for the orange, and only one strand of floss to allow the right level of detail on something so small.
These butterfly earrings were designed in a different way than my other wooden earrings. I used a photo of a monarch butterfly and traced it using Procreate. I did the drawing using a pencil brush, which gave it a sketchy quality I really like. I had to simplify the drawing for the earrings since they are so small, but I’m planning to make a brooch with the original detailed drawing.
This necklace was my first attempt at stumpwork embroidery. I’d been wanting to try it ever since I saw an artwork by Lucy Martin, the Preciousness of Life. When I saw it in the Fashion and Textile museum in London I knew I had to try it for myself.
This robin pattern is from a beautiful book called Paint with Thread by Emilie Ferris. I saw this book in my local Waterstones quite a while ago and I couldn’t resist it! I had a course booked at Hand and Lock to learn Silk Shading in November though (blog post about that here), so I waited until after the course to start any of the patterns.
Before I had the Glowforge, I had tried making some things with wood veneer using my Cricut. It is technically possible, but what I found was that the pressure from the blade would splinter and snap the wood, and the pieces that were cut out would often spring off the mat and get lost or broken. All in all it was a really frustrating experience.
I made a lot of gifts this year, and they were mostly knitwear. I have made my mother-in-law several things in the past, but they were all quite practical, like socks. I wanted to make her something this year that was more of a treat. One hurdle was that she is allergic to wool, so I had to find something else that would work - I found some beautiful cotton yarn, but ultimately it didn’t have the soft, luxurious feeling I was looking for. I then found out that alpaca yarn is hypoallergenic, which was a big relief! I could only find a lace weight yarn that didn't include any sheep's wool, so I bought that - Malabrigo Silkpaca in two colours, a blue and a green. I held two strands together to make up the 4ply weight needed.
In September I attended a silk shading class at Hand & Lock, an embroidery house in central London. It was a really nice experience and I learned so much, I can't wait to work on some more projects
This rainbow stripe jumper from Run and Fly is one of my favourite things to wear. It's bright and cheerful and practical. I was wearing it on a trip with my husband and a close friend, when it got tragically stained by a deadly combination of pasta sauce and panicked application of a red napkin. It had a pink mark right in the middle that no amount of stain remover and elbow grease could get rid of. I was about to give up, when I realised that the fabric was a tight rib knit that was the same on the front and back.
On a whim I decided to make this veneer box for my husband, using a small unfinished wood box from Hobbycraft I had in my cupboard, and some veneer off-cuts from another project. I drew up the design in Affinity Designer on my iPad, and imported it into Design Space.
I'm going to start off with one of my favourite makes, which started in May 2020. I fell in love with the colourwork pattern of the Birkin jumper, but I knew that while the pattern was chunky and oversized, that style wasn't for me at the time. I decided to fit the body using the shaping instructions from my recent Honey Bop cardigan, which fit exactly how I wanted. This meant decrease rows to bring in the waist and then increasing again for the hips. I also adjusted the sleeves using the same method, to bring them in as fitted sleeves.
I'm a software engineer by trade and a maker at heart. I'm transitioning my career from corporate life into something new - follow my journey here.
