Monday 30 March 2009

Summer Time is on its way..honestly!

I am trying to stick to one of my New Year Resolutions to actually make use of the little online shops that I have joined as I did not really give much attention to them last year as I might have done. I made loads of things but they stay in my sewing room. Not anymore (hopefully).
So I feel that Spring and Summer are in the air so I have been finishing off a few bags that have been cut out. (along side a creative swap 12x12" Quiltie).

I have made another one similar to this with a different colour proportion and I do not think I ever showed it to you. Tut Tut.

This has been listed on Etsy and it was when I was putting it away that I found the other one hung up! I will do that tomorrow as I find listing rather boring I am sorry to say.

I have been spending much of the weekend cutting out or decorating Sophie's room. I did manage to embroider the missing square for my blue and white quilt. I shall sew it together then show you an update. It is going a little better than the last one I made. Therefore I have not much else to show you but there are plenty of things in the pipeline. I also hope to do a tutorial over Easter as I have one that is part done and it has been a while since I posted a tutorial.

I have had my first Bag sale on Etsy and it was this one...

Tomorrow it will be winging its way to Denver, USA.
Sophie is sleeping in the attic conversion while we are doing her room and she can not hear my sewing machine going. So I am taking advantage of this by doing some machine embroidery on this 12x12" quilt, get the noisy bit out of the way while my husband watches Robson Greene frightening some fish on 'Extreme Fishing' or whatever it is called.
So I shall see you again, tomorrow most likely.
Take care
xx

Sunday 29 March 2009

Have a Happy Folksy Easter


These little cuties are now on Folksy. More can be made to order - UK buyers only due to time scale. Email me. Off to make some more, oh and clean the bathroom joy of joy!
Updated:
Just two hours after listing these little cuties three of them have sold! I am gob smacked. I am off to pack them up and post them tomorrow.

Friday 27 March 2009

Film Friday....Daniel Craig

A return to an old regular posting.
Has anyone else seen this yet?
I am going to sit down with a drink of some kind, some sewing and drool over this....

At work we all seem to have had the same idea and bought this DVD with our weekly shop. I enjoyed Casino Royale so looking forward to seeing what this film is like.

Ballet tomorrow morning and then decorating Sophie's room, well it is going to rain for most of the weekend, isn't it?

Enjoy the evening.

xx

Updated on Saturday

Well...the film was very different to the last one and the stunt coordinators and actors must have needed constant first aid whilst filming the action scenes. I thought it started off ok, could follow what was happening then lost it as it did appear that there was not anything to follow. I have to agree with April that there did not seem to be a very clear story line other than Bond wanting revenge which was clear, but where the rest fitted in was not made very clear and people were being bumped off left right and centre. Daniel Craig did a very good job though and I have gotten used to him playing the role, but the story must have a beginning and middle and an ending. Basic story writing skills. I am more than willing to proof read the next one if it helps.( ha ha). If you have not seen it do, you may fell differently. My hubby has yet to see it so I do not have the male view yet.

Wednesday 25 March 2009

Wacky Egg Cosies


I am going to try and do two things at once today with this post. One is to show you that youngsters stitching in schools is still very alive despite some very silly blogs I have stumbled on and not returned to over the past 18 months and to try and take part in Nannybirds Wacky Wednesday. Having the same Year 7 group all day is a bit Wacky anyway and knackers you for the rest of the week, we have had a lot of success with the work we have done and made many things. So feast your eyes on these little lovelies.....
This is a selection of the Egg cosies that they finished today and were proudly taken home. We went through what felt is and why it is different to cotton fabric. Then we had a basic run through of how felt could be made by hand.
I buy this through the school catalogue.

We had looked at abstract design as part of their wall hangings so we made an abstract felt design. It is a little messy, which they love, and a few volunteers make it fun the watch. It is not fully dried yet but when it is I shall cut it up and they can have a section each which they can then compare their shop bought felt with.Check Spelling


I have made several Chick Egg Cosies and I have now started some basic egg shaped one which I shall try and list in Folksy for UK buyers only so that they can get to you in time. I am now off to my sewing group to do some more work on my blue and white quilt.


Bye for now.


xx

Tuesday 24 March 2009

My new Pin Pal...


My blue and white quilt has generated some good sized leftovers and because the fabric is good quality patchwork fabric I can no bare to just throw it out. So more pincushion pals have been made, I have some more in the pipeline. I did make this one a little differently this time. I stitched some of the pieces to make a larger bit, then put some fleecy interfacing behind it and then with silver embroidery thread I did some free-machine embroidery on the surface.

I think that these beaded pins look good in it. I always use these type of pins due to having a cat as well as a 6 year old because I can easily see them if I should drop any on the floor.
I then added one of my labels. I do not have many of these left and once they have gone I am going to design a new more eye catching label for my larger items and maybe keep this one in a darker blue for smaller items.


The base is ceramic which makes it stable and sturdy when sat on a table and I a good size.

This will be listed and I thought that I should start adding more items to my Folksy shop. Just need to find my password because I seem to have forgotten it!

I like making these and trying to come up with different versions. I have decided to keep my cupcake pincushion that I featured last week and make a different cupcake one for listing.

Tonight I think I shall do a little marking and then some patchwork. I have also started something more creative for my latest Creative Swap challenge and I painted the base fabric during lunch at work today. I have had to leave it at work to finish drying then I may let you have a little peek before I start the main work on it.

It has been yet another lovely day today, could we be lucky enough to have another good weekend or is it too soon to say?

Take care.

xx

Monday 23 March 2009

My Mum's gifts.

I now know that everything arrived in time for Mother's Day so I can let you see. I range up a florist just up the road from my Mum and ordered multi-coloured roses. My Mum lives 6 hours away but 2years ago there was a dreadful mix up and the flowers I ordered from my area were delivered to the wrong house and a dear old couple wandered around the village until they found my Mum. So the next time I visited I walked into the village and spoke to the florist and now I ring her directly knowing that they will get delivered properly.
Sophie and I also found this...

This made us smile when we saw it. A ginger biscuit with piped icing. I wrapped it in bubble wrap, wrote 'Please do not bend' on the envelope and hoped that my Mum would not need a straw to suck up the crumb's! It arrived with only one small crack in it. Not bad for the GPO.
I made her this card using a little embroidery machine which is no longer made (typical) a Brother e-touch..

Luckily everything arrived on time and I had a phone call just before we left for Wadebridge.

I have some craft items to show but it is getting busy at work with the exam season starting to loom. A new pincushion, my quilt and I have started a new mat/blanket for our cat Tiger as well. The knitting has taken a bit of a back seat again. Tut Tut!

Enjoy the evening.

XX

Oh nearly forgot, if you shop at Sainsbury's and been getting some vouchers with serial numbers on them then go on the website shown and type in the numbers to enter a draw. I did and I won a £50.00 gift card!! Wish the Lottery numbers would come up too, does lightening ever strike twice do you think?

Sunday 22 March 2009

Mothers Day Treat...

The first treat this morning was finding lovely weather outside! The next is obviously Sophie's little surprises for Mummy's Day as she likes to call it. The card above she made at school and must have taken quite a while to do. It is lovely and bright! At school they have little gifts that the children can choose from for a £1. It was wrapped up with white wallpaper and a little label made by Sophie and had BEST MUM on a heart. It is a little like a charm bracelet. Can not get an in focus shot of it, too small.
Hubby and Sophie had also been to Monsoon (my fav clothes shop) and found a double mirror compact to go in with the rest of my collection.
This photo came out quite well. The colours are lovely and it already has pride of place in the cabinet.
Due to the lovely weather we have decided to put off wallpapering one wall of Sophie's room and go out on our bikes. We are going to cycle from Wadebridge to Padstow which we did last year. Laat year Sophie rode in a little wagon attached to the back of hubby's bike, this time she is going to have a go at cycling the distance herself.
Have a great day.
PS We have just got back from the Camel Trail. I am really proud of Sophie (slushy Mummy moment) she cycled the 5 miles with only a 5min break and then cycled back in one go without stopping!! We are now home and she is watching CBeebies while I type this and hubby is cooking dinner. It has been a glorious day! I hope the rest of the week pans out just as well.
Take care all.
xx
PP.SS The Stash Busting Sale went ok and there was a constant dribble of people. My cards, pincushions etc went down well and I did come back with less than I went with. It was a good day to chat to friends that I do not always get a chance to talk with. Sophie helped and really enjoyed it especially the little play area outside the hall. There may well be another one at Christmas near St Ives but we shall have to see. I may do that even though it is a fair way as I have never taken part in a Christmas Fair and it could be good fun.

Thursday 19 March 2009

Project Improv Quilting...

I am taking part in Project Improv with Tall Grass Prairie. I signed up to make a charity block with the specific colour scheme of pink and orange. Not my colour choice at all which is why I picked. the chance to use colours such as these for a good reason... I went to Truro and bought some fabric. I thought I had some orange tucked away, left over from a project. but as usual I could not find it. I then cut it up and because I am on the log cabin trail again I made the above block.

I had cut up two fat quarters and still had some left so I made another one. The centre has not quite gone right and I did not spot this until it was too late. I am not an expert at this so hopefully it will still be acceptable. After I had ironed it I then went back to my sewing table and guess what?!

I had enough to make a third one! Tried to create a bit of a Improv pattern and managed to use up all of the bits. This will be sent off to America at the weekend.

The other part of the project is to make something and if my understanding is right my blue and white quilt fits the bill. This is why I have been blogging a little bit about it. Once I have finished it I can upload my finished quilt onto a group flickr page. It has spurred me on to work on it along side other things.


I have actually completed all of the squares since taking this picture but it gives an idea of how it looks at the moment. There will be bands along all of the sections to the quilt to divide them up.

Here is a close up of some of the squares. The log cabin is completely random as I doubted that I could stick to a pattern. See blocks above! I can not believe that it is nearly a year since I made Sophie's quilt. If I do another one I really must try a harder pattern/design. What would you suggest for a fairly new quilter?

Enjoy your evening

x

Wednesday 18 March 2009

Wall of Roses...

If you like roses then you might like this.....
An applique rose wall-hanging using a binding technique which gives it a stained glass window effect. I like roses, flowers and anything a little Mackintosh-like. This took ages to make and was a lot of fun. I will confess it was not made recently and has spent its time wrapped up in tissue paper! Criminal isn't it? Anyway it is to be listed in Etsy as it needs a new home. It does not come with the hanger as it is the last one I have and I have another wall hanging in progress. I have decided to go back and make some more wall-hangings which I used to do a lot of, mainly commissions, and I sort of miss doing them.

This picture has not represented the colours too well, the bigger picture is better. You can see the dark grey binding which was hand cut, ironed, pinned and machine stitch onto the background fabric.

I used satins and silks for the roses and the leaves.

I am attending a stash busting/ Craft Fair on Saturday at Peranwell on the way to Falmouth and if this does not sell there then it will be listed on Sunday.

My next wall hanging has a fairy theme. I made one for Sophie when she was about two so I shall take some pictures and show that too.

I went to my sewing group tonight and I have finished all of the main blocks, so the next stage is to cut and stitch the strips on the edges to sew the whole thing together. Then it is the bit I do not like, quilting it without puckering all of it.

XX

Monday 16 March 2009

Seal Sanctuary

The weather yesterday was just too good to stay indoors and seeing as many of the boring jobs such as washing had been done we decided to drive down to Gweek and visit the Seal Sanctuary. I took many pictures, so I shall keep the text to a minimum so that you can take in the pictures of these lovely creatures.
The tide was out when we arrived. This is about 2pm.

We saw these seals in the very first area which was not labelled. There were about 6 of them and I had a job getting them all in one picture.

Got them in a group in the end.Sophie has been here before but she was quite young so she was very much looking forward to this so she ran on ahead wearing a natty little Easter Bonnet which I bought at The Range just in case I get a letter from school for an Easter Bonnet in two days sort of thing!

The is the area where the seals go when they first arrive and there were some seals in here who are getting ready to go back into the wild.

This is the convalescent pool and this big old boy was sunny himself whilst having a snooze.

There are places where yo can see through windows under the waterline and I am surprised that this picture actually came out without any back flash.

The is a fur seal and he is MASSIVE! Came dashing up to the perspex window and you could not help but move backwards.

Scenic shot.

We then went to watch some Otters being feed.

Due to getting there a little later and there being so few people Sophie was one of a few little ones who had the chance to help feed the large seals. They stood up on a gallery otherwise I think Sophie would have been the dinner! She was not at all bothered about picking up slimy fish with gloves on and throwing them to the seals. There was a little boy who preferred to just watch. That's my girl!!

Then watched this big seal being fed. He was very 'tame' then we were told that he is completely blind and listened for the fish, if that makes sense. Again he was huge.

It was a fantastic afternoon out, we all caught the sun very slightly and I hope we all have many more days like this as I think we were all cheated out of our Spring and Summer last year.

XX

Saturday 14 March 2009

Silk Route...


I made this silk book cover a little while ago with the intention of selling it but I just could not bring myself to list it! I do tend to get attached to items that I have worked on in special materials. However, if I am to to develop a little business then I am going to have to get less sentimental about parting with items I have made. That is why I like commissions, as I know it is not going to stay with me and that a new home is waiting.

Using silk was a bit of a challenge and care is needed, such as using a brand new machine needle to prevent pulling on the fibres when sewing.

Trying to use matching thread on all areas of the cover meant that I needed to have numerous filled bobbins so that I could colour easily. I have always enjoyed machine embroidery to I included this when adding the leaves and stems.

I wanted the back to look good too as this side is sometimes overlooked. I used a slightly quilted sewing-in interfacing to help with the quilting and add some strength to the cover.

The bookmark was made with a cord maker which basically looks like a little plastic hand drill with a hook on the end to attach your threads etc. it is very quick and effective to use. I do not know how I survived making cord before I found this gadget!

Well, now is the moment of truth and I am off to Etsy. Then some lunch with a slice of cake.

It is a lovely day here, the sun is shining, we have tidied the garage, and hubby has washed both cars!

Enjoy the weekend.xx

Friday 13 March 2009

Winging its way to Australia...

.....not me personally, mores the pity no but one of my favourite funky felt book and cover is!!
Looking at my Etsy shop I think the stock level has gradually dropped since the end of January, so I think this coming week I shall be trying to concentrate on filing it up a little. I have really enjoyed making the egg cosies and I want to include some of these. Do you think that having sets of the cosies would be better and if YES how many in a set? Maybe two or four?
We are a family of three and it is tricky even doing the family shop, we have to buy four of something , ie 2 boxes instead of one, to have enough to go around. What do you think? I have some new ideas that I want to try out. There is never enough time is there?
My main job tonight is to wrap up this little lovely so that I can post it tomorrow on the way back from Sophie's tap lesson. Then Sophie and need to pop round to next door and put my neighbours eye drops in for her, (been doing this since last September) then it is back to our house to watch..
...again and to have a go at making real pop corn straight from the grain. the instructions on the back of the bag seem simple enough, I hope.
Should be fun.
Enjoy the evening and I shall see you tomorrow.
xx

Wednesday 11 March 2009

Easter Thoughts...

I wanted to do a quick little project with Year 7 just before Easter. I made this last year and ideas began to grow...

I think this idea was a combination of me and an article found in an issue of Crafts Beautiful. It is on a standard egg cup. I really like using felt and showing the group the basics of making felt could be included. It is quite good fun and everyone can take it in turns to have a go.

I then found a pattern for this little chicken in an old magazine which was passed onto me and the cover is missing. I am not so sure about this one as I like shapes that are straight forward to cut and could lend itself to being developed into other things. Sweet nonetheless though. Then came this little cutie....

Now, I have love this little cosy and this I found in another issue of Crafts Beautiful and I am going to develop this into other versions but the basic idea and shape would be ideal to use with the group. I think that the stuents will also be able to develope it into other ideas such as different shaped birds.

Once I had made the above and my sewing table was completely covered with felt I went and got some paper and cut out various shapes until I end up with this...

have designed, cut and pinned the felt ready to stitch next time. One l...I had fun with this egg shaped cosy, choosing the colours, using the scissors to make different shapes in the felt and stitching it together. I have not finished with this idea and I have many more rushing around in my brain, which may be why I have had a headache which then developed into a migraine, so I am struggling to type this at the moment.

I showed all of this to my group today and they were impressed with it and they wanted to have a go. There was one lad who thought that I was making it up that egg cosies existed and that it was a joke and it was not until the others backed me up that he started to believe me and as for tea cosies he thought that there was no such thing. So there is a young man who definitely went home having learnt something yesterday!

I am off to have a lie down! Back with more crafty feltyness soon, once my head has stopped throbbing!

Take care xx

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