Posted by Sally SetsForth on Thursday, June 28, 2012,
A Christmassy/crafty post in June - why not? ;) Each year for the last few years I've made little ornaments for my sisters' Christmas trees. Photos of some of my previous efforts are on Flickr HERE. For Christmas last year I didn't have much time to put something together, so I decided to make something I'd been wanting to try my hand at for a while - pom poms! It sounded so simple :) I soon learned that there are a few important things to take into consideration when making yarn pom poms. The ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Sally SetsForth on Wednesday, June 27, 2012,
While I was out walking this morning, I came across some startling red seeds amongst the leaf litter. I just had to collect a few, they were so pretty - hard, shiny and very colourful! I asked a friend on Twitter - @lokilovesyou - who makes beautiful seed jewellery if she knew what they were called. She told me that the seeds are from Adenanthera pavonina, also known as the Red Bead Tree (fitting!), Saga Tree or Red Sandalwood.  I'm not sure yet if I'll try making jewellery with them in future. ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Sally SetsForth on Wednesday, June 27, 2012,
I know, I know! You've been waiting *all year* for another instalment of vintage craft! Well, I try not to disappoint ;) "Creative Needlework" (1974) by Jo Springer is another gem from my Mum's collection. It has some fantastic retro styling that is quite on-trend at the moment.     But then it starts getting a little iffy ...   Until eventually - dear God, won't someone please think of the children!?!?   Luckily, there are a couple of dapper chaps playing with model trains to rescue us all at the end ;)... Continue reading ...
Posted by Sally SetsForth on Friday, June 22, 2012,
A couple of years ago, my Mum was in hospital and I was planning to buy her some flowers. Then I remembered an online tutorial that I'd come across for making carnations using tissue paper. I'd never really been one for paper crafts before, but these were really pretty - they would last longer than real flowers, and my Mum would always know that they were made with love.  The tutorial for tissue paper carnations was from the Folding Trees blog. The blog authors have stopped posting new material... Continue reading ...
Posted by Sally SetsForth on Monday, June 4, 2012,
I'd never tried origami before this year, but in the space of a few months I picked up the bug! I bought a book on origami for beginners (oh alright, it's actually called Origami for Children), some lovely origami paper from a couple of Japanese shops in Melbourne, and an origami-a-day calendar for 2012. A friend of mine also gave me some origami paper that she'd bought in Japan. My origami paper supplies are still boxed up in the craft room / home office - I can't wait to unpack them! - but I... Continue reading ...
Posted by Sally SetsForth on Monday, September 26, 2011,
Do you see what I did there? Well if you don't, maybe you haven't come across needle felting before ... :) It's a craft technique that involves shaping wool roving into, well, shapes. And then stabbing it again and again with a small barbed needle until the wool sticks (felts) together to become a solid mass in whatever shape you desire. There are many different colours of wool available, and different needles (fine or coarse) allow you to control the amount of detail. Needle felting is most com... Continue reading ...
Posted by Sally SetsForth on Saturday, June 18, 2011,
Ever since our last #blogeverydayofjune adventure I've been meaning to post another instalment of vintage craft :) Last time I blogged about one of my favourite vintage craft books, "Crafts for Fun and Profit". That book is part of my own craft book collection, but originally belonged to my Mum. Today's book is one that my Mum has hung on to - I took these photos when I visited at Christmas. The book is called "Celebrity Needlepoint" (1972) by Joan Scobey and Lee Parr McGrath. It doesn't have a... Continue reading ...
Posted by Sally SetsForth on Monday, June 13, 2011,
Last year I blogged about trying kumihimo (Japanese braiding) for the first time. Since then, I've bought supplies and set to work making a number of braids using this technique. I find it very enjoyable and relaxing, and easy to do while travelling or watching TV. I've learnt about colour combinations and patterns, and my technique is definitely improving.    I'm planning to use these braids to create bracelets. I've bought the jewellery findings, but turning the braids into "wearable art" is a w... Continue reading ...
Posted by Sally SetsForth on Sunday, February 13, 2011,
So, I'm still taking part in the Daily Image 2011 challenge on Flickr. I'm slightly surprised that I'm still going, and haven't missed a day yet. Even when the last thing I've felt like doing was taking a photo of myself, I've still managed to give myself a little push and do it. And I'm glad, because although I'm getting sick of the sight of myself ;) I'm really enjoying being part of this community activity and seeing the interesting photos being posted by all of the participants :) You can... Continue reading ...
Posted by Sally SetsForth on Saturday, January 8, 2011,
My best wishes to all of you for a happy and healthy 2011! The last few months of 2010 were pretty tough for me, for a variety of reasons that I won't go into here. And I'm pretty sure that 2011 will also throw a few challenges my way. I generally try to blog in a positive frame of mind, so posts have been few and far between while I've been in struggle-mode. But it's a new year, and I'm ready to get back on board :) I've got plenty of blog posts in draft mode, just waiting to be polished and ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Sally SetsForth on Sunday, June 27, 2010,
Well, I missed another #blogeverydayofjune post yesterday due to illness. I don't know if I can make up for it in the few days left, but I'll do my best ;) I love flicking through vintage craft books. Occasionally I will buy one to add to my book collection, but there are so many out there that I have to restrain myself! I try to only collect books that have continuing appeal, but I must confess to having picked up a so-bad-it's-good book from time to time :) This book is one of my faves. It wa... Continue reading ...
Posted by Sally SetsForth on Sunday, June 20, 2010,
I was a bit surprised that I hadn't written more craft-related blog posts this month, considering how much I talk (and think) about it, but then I realised that I've spent so much of my spare time blogging that I didn't have much time left over for crafting! Despite that, I did find some time to play with my new crafty toy. It's a French knitting bee, also known as a knitting nancy or a spool knitter (remember those cotton spools with nails hammered into the top?). Most people come across thes... Continue reading ...
Posted by Sally SetsForth on Sunday, June 13, 2010,
Thank you so much to Kim for giving Ruth, Zaana and I our first crochet lessons on Saturday! We were all terrible fumble fingers to begin with, but one by one we started to get the hang of it :)  My first attempt is pretty wobbly looking. I accidentally twisted it at some point, so I'm pretending that it's a crocheted Möbius strip ;)  I've been itching to learn crochet for *so* long! The technique feels very strange, especially for an ex-knitter (though not a very good one). I can see a lot of pr... Continue reading ...
Posted by Sally SetsForth on Saturday, June 12, 2010,
Today I spent an awesome afternoon with fellow Twitterers, librarians and crafters Ruth, Kim and Zaana when we met up for a #creativebarter swap session. I've described #creativebarter in a previous blog entry - basically we swap items that utilise our own special creative skills. Kim creates amazing crochet pieces, Ruth makes gorgeous pottery, and Zaana is a talented artist and print maker. Oh, and I cross stitch amongst other things :) I'd like to extend my personal thanks to Zaana for being ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Sally SetsForth on Saturday, May 22, 2010,
A couple of weeks ago, I went along to the Stitches & Craft Show in Melbourne. I went on a bit of a shopping spree (which I'll probably blog about later), but I also took the opportunity to go along to a class on Japanese braiding, run by Trish of TrishAlan Designs. I'd never even heard of Japanese braiding (known as kumihimo) before doing the class. It's a bit like friendship bracelet making - which I never got the hang of in my school years - but there is a lot more variety to it. There are ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Sally SetsForth on Sunday, May 16, 2010,
Man, oh man, oh man! It really has been ages since I last blogged! Whilst I won't go into all the reasons why I've been a bit quiet online lately (let's just say I tend to withdraw from the world when I'm under stress), there have been a few changes in my life lately ... Our long-anticipated move north is on hold (again), this time due to family circumstances. We may still be looking at moving in July/August, but it will very much depend on what else is happening at the time. We'll just have to... Continue reading ...
Posted by Sally SetsForth on Tuesday, March 23, 2010,
The last month has very been stressful for me and my family, especially this last week. This isn't the place to go into further detail, so I'll just leave it at that. But perhaps it will explain the lack of blog posts - my mind has most decidedly been somewhere else! I've got a backlog of half-complete posts waiting to be finished about VALA2010, the Tour Down Under, decluttering, and an assortment of topics inspired by Twitter conversations. Hopefully they will appear soon. In the meantime, t... Continue reading ...
Posted by Sally SetsForth on Sunday, December 20, 2009,
I love finding inspiration on the internet, and when I came across this Zakka Life tutorial for felt Christmas decorations, I knew I had to make some! I gave these to some good friends of ours as a housewarming gift :)  If you haven't come across the term "zakka" before, I'll take a stab at describing it. Zakka is a design movement encompassing a wide variety of hand-sewn household items, usually functional. Their style is often a little bit kitsch or cute. You can view some nice examples at the... Continue reading ...
Posted by Sally SetsForth on Friday, December 18, 2009,
Sorry about the lack of a blog post yesterday - I was stitching to a deadline and ran out of time! I've been meaning to post here for some time about crafty stuff - crafts that I currently do and crafts that I want to learn. That blog post is still in the pipeline, but for now I'll show you my latest cross stitch project of robots mucking around in a photo booth :) (click on the photo to see a larger version on Flickr). The pattern was created by Krupp at Mr X Stitch. I loved the design as soo... Continue reading ...
Posted by Sally SetsForth on Saturday, November 21, 2009,
If you've visited my site lately, you may have noticed a new entry on the left-hand menu. It's called "Tumblr" and it links to a web page with my latest ten Tumblr posts. In case you haven't come across Tumblr before, it's a microblogging site, but it's quite different to that most well-known microblogging service, Twitter. With Tumblr, you can quickly and easily grab interesting things off the internet - web pages, photos, videos, quotes, blog posts, etc. - and display them on Tumblr with a c... Continue reading ...
Posted by Sally SetsForth on Sunday, October 4, 2009,
Ahem ... it's been a little while between blog posts, hasn't it? I can't believe it's October already! The time has been flying, but what have I been up to? Well, at the end of July I went straight from work into full-time study. Surprise, surprise (not) I struggled to get back into the swing of it. Full-time distance study requires motivation and discipline, and I was lacking both. One of the big differences between this time studying (to complete the Masters) and the last time (for the Grad D... Continue reading ...
Posted by Sally SetsForth on Thursday, April 30, 2009,
Righto, I'll start with some information about myself...
I currently live in Melbourne (Victoria), Australia. I've lived there for most of my life, with the exception of four years spent in sunny Canberra (Australian Capital Territory). Later this year, my partner, Tim, and I will be moving to tropical Darwin (Northern Territory) - a place we've always loved.
I work as a librarian, and think it's a terrific profession to be a part of. I really enjoy helping others find information and resourc... Continue reading ...
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