Thursday 29 April 2010

Spring Swap to Russia

My parcel finally arrived with my swap partner in Moscow so I can now show you what I sent.
Oh dear these pictures have not turned out very bright. Sorry, they looked much better on the camera! Oh well, never mind.
I made this cute bag which has a big wooden button and a popper underneath as I thought that a button hole that big might not look very good. It is lined with pink cotton fabric and can be worn on the shoulder or as a handbag.


There is a nice pleat in the centre front and back of the bag which gives the bag more room to put things in it.
I also added two fat quarters, a keyring, some posh tissues, flower post-its, and a cupcake card with a recipe on the back.
I really enjoyed this swap and I have made a blog link with Tatyana in Russia which I would not normally have had the chance to do.
I shall be making another one of those bags too, I think!!
xx

Monday 26 April 2010

Skirting the issue 2.....

After having made two skirts last summer I wanted to have another go with a different style.
So, using Newlook pattern 6843 I decided to splash out on some Amy Butler fabric. Very straight forward pattern and ideal if you have never made a skirt before. Suitable shape for wearing to work too. Three styles/shapes come in the pattern.

Now, I will need to confess that I actually bought this fabric last November and quickly cut it out and then...............nothing. Very naughty I know, but Christmas, kitchen, work, commissions etc just needed to be done first.

However, after the New Year I had decided to concentrate on all of my UFO's and this was one of them.

I did make a few changes. Firstly, I hate waistbands so I replaced this with navy blue bias binding to conceal the raw edge at the top of the skirt. Also by using the same skirt patterns I added a lining to the skirt just to make it a little thicker for our lovely UK weather!

I then used my overlocker foot on my machine, overlocked the hem then decided to do a double turn hem. The overlocking actually made the edge firmer and easier to get a smoother hem. Always iron the hem before stitching it. It is a lot easier and will give neater results. By using the sewing machine attachment you do not actually cut anything off.

A tip is to iron your garment at each step of making then when you get to the end it should be lovely and ready to hang up/wear.

I am really pleased with this and it does fit. Beautifully modelled by Rose of course. Next on the dress form is a blanket jacket, however marking exam coursework has to come first at the moment. I can not say that another skirt may also be in the pipeline before the summer is out!

xx

Saturday 24 April 2010

100th Follower is..............

Today I reached 100 followers!! I am really quite speechless (and a bit surprised) that so many have signed up since I added the button and I thank each and every one of you.
Quiltygal left a comment on my Felty friends post and signed up.
Do pop over and take a look at her blog. I pinched one of her recent quilt pictures I hope that is ok. I am fairly new to quilting and I have learnt a lot over the past year but the quilt above really has my admiration. All that measuring, cutting and working out. it is such a lovely design as well.
Best wishes to all of my followers. I do try and say thank you individually but blogger sometimes will not let me use the link. Has anyone else found that to be a problem too?
Have a great weekend.
Tonight I thought that I would pay a little attention to my Etsy and Folksy shops. Got quite a bit of listing to try and do.
xx

Friday 23 April 2010

From Russia........Swap parcel

Last month I signed up for a spring swap and I was partnered with Tatyana.
Today I shall show what she sent me and then when her parcel arrives in Moscow I shall post what I made and sent. It is taking quite a while for her parcel to arrive.

Firstly everything was wrapped up some very zingy coloured crepe paper. I opened the paper and there were lovely items inside, such as this hand stitched pin cushion with owls on it. Stitched on a cotton fabric ( the name escapes me and I have some in the attic).

Then these lovely and colourful Russian Dolls. they are brighter that the picture shows. Sophie really liked these.

Some lovely fabric, which I will have to think about what to make from it and a postcard which I shall keep safely. On the left there is a beaded bag charm which also has a little metal owl at the end of it. Too small for my camera to put in focus I am afraid. Lovely parcel which had to travel a very long way and my first blog friend from Russia.

Many thanks for your lovely parcel Tatyana.

You brightened up my day and created a lovely start to Spring.

xx

Thursday 22 April 2010

Quilting Fun.....ssshhhhhh, it is for Christmas

Many of you will now that I have been working with a group of lovely ladies in the Around the World Quilting Bee. Due to various things a year later we are still going and hopefully I shall see my dear old quilt again very soon.
Well.....in a moment of creative weakness I found myself signing up with some of the same members to create some Christmas Blocks In the Around he World Christmas. I am sooooo sorry to say the Christmas word so early in the year but we have to start making them now so that they will be ready for the festive season.

The above logo will be in the side bar with a direct link to our flickr group. We have not actually started yet but you can also see our current Quilting Bee and all of our blocks so far. Feel free to comment on any of them and say that I sent you.
Best Wishes
xx

Monday 19 April 2010

ATC Swap Challenge

I recently sent a load of ATC's to some ladies in Australia and because the theme was open I decided to go back to a favourite topic of mine "Water". This is the first time that I have made any of these and I am not really sure if I created anything much here. They are pretty and i hope that they go down well.

I needed to add them to trading cards card and not really knowing the best way I just put them under the sewing machine and stitched them on. I found a wavey stitch on the machine and added that as well. I think that I could get quite hooked on making these little works of art although I need a bit more practice.

This is another of my OPAM 2010 finishes. It took me more that 20 minutes but I think I can do those in batches.
Bye for now.
xx

Sunday 18 April 2010

Inspired by India

I bought these fabric packs last summer and whilst looking for something else I stumbled on them again.

Much of it are off-cuts from sari's which seems a dreadful shame that they may have been cut up so I like to think they are left overs from making the sari's.

The colours are very rich with plenty of detailing and sequins.

I am not entirely sure what to do with them yet. Any ideas?

Some kind of crazey patchwork might be needed as some of the pieces are odd shapes.

I have a couple of other projects to finish, some items to list in my shops and another quilting bee block to start. However, these lovely pieces of fabric will be in my thoughts over the next few weeks.

I hope that those of you who have had little ones at home for the past 2 weeks have had a good time. we have been very lucky with the weather here in Cornwall and I really do hope it lasts a little longer.

xx

Saturday 17 April 2010

Award Time........

This lovely award has been given to me by Twiggy.
Many thanks Twiggy, a lovely surprise.
I now need to pass this on to 10 other beautiful bloggers. Not easy this and as you may know I do try to spread these out a bit each time I am lucky enough to get and award. So here goes.
Sadie @ Summersadie
Tatyana @ Mouse House
Many thanks to many other people who visit here as well. I shall spread another award around, should I ever get another that is.
I now need to go and send a few emails.
Bye
xx

Friday 16 April 2010

Vroooom! Vrooom!

My hubby was 40 on 31st December 2008. Some of his family clubbed together to hire him this 1965 Austin Healey 3000. We picked it up from Lanhydrock Golf and Country Club at 11am last Saturday and my hubby had a very big grin on his face until it was returned at 11am on Sunday.

It took my dear hubby a while to finally book this and it did clash with my parents visiting, but it actually made it more fun as everyone was able to have a go in it. including Sophie who had never seen a car like this before. Educational bit there, did you see that coming.

Apparently this is the most popular colour combination and being a two seater (could be four but the owners were concerned that back seat passengers heads were above the windscreen) meant that having extra people around helped otherwise we would have had an issue with Sophie. Hubby drove over to his parents and his Dad was given a ride. Even our neighbour who simply came to have a quick look got whisked around some Cornish roads!

We both then drove off my ourselves. On the way back to Fowey a very large Rook shot out of a hedge and hit the car. It frightened the life out of me as there was an almighty bang, and Hubby's face fell as he thought that it would have damaged the car and kissed good bye to his £500 deposit!!

Luckily (not for the bird of course) it did not damage the car, we had to pull over and check to be sure. There was egg all over the front bumper to it looked like the Rook had just stolen an egg and was making his get away with it.

Any way, Hubby was rather crest fallen when we had to return it the following day and I have to say that having been in a Austin Healey 3000 I can see why they are so popular.

I also think that cars today may be fast and have all the latest technology but they lack a certain something that these old classic cars had by the bucket full!!

xx

Tuesday 13 April 2010

"Kelp" scarf - Version 2


Here is another version of my "Kelp" scarf which will be going into my Etsy shop this evening. It seems to get viewed more after 7pm UK time. (Update: now listed on Etsy)

Usually I only like making one or at the most two of anything like this, but I have found it quite addictive making these. since taking these pictures I have made a nice light weight cream scarf in some very soft wool. Goes with everything and still looks very summery too.

At the moment I am working on my secret project and I have got myself a little muddled with what to send where. I may have to send an email to just confirm, but I want to get the whole thing done by the end of the week as I go back to work next week and it will get very, very hectic with exams etc. So I shall come back to this project in the near future.

I have been a little busy trying to finish some projects off last week which I hope to show here over the next few days. My parents have been visiting and the lure of the sun has kept me away from the laptop, crafting and uploading pictures. Sorry, but we see it so rarely in this country and as for several days on the trot, well we are being really spoilt at the moment. So I think we are off the the garden centre and maybe the fair ground which has just arrived in town this week.

Take care

Back tomorrow

xx

Monday 12 April 2010

More Crafty Knitting..........

Here, my lovely Sophie is modelling my latest Lacey knit cloche hat. I liked the cream one, but with strawberry blonde hair it made my look even more pale. So a nice dark purple was called for.

Again I decided to add a 100% cotton crochet flower and in the centre I crocheted a more loopy style flower and stitched them together.

This will be my Autumn/Winter hat and for once I am ahead of schedule for a change.

The tutorial for this hat is in the margin on your left. I now have my sights on another scarf. I have a couple of patterns, just need to get some wool.

So, this hat covered several 20 minutes of crafting and was also......

my April finish for OPAM 2010.

Hubby is out working tomorrow, so Sophie and I are going to have a fun day cooking, crafting and watch a bit of TV. However if the weather is good then some gardening instead. We are making a couple of little changes you see which I have yet to photograph.

xx

Wednesday 7 April 2010

Meet my New fashion Friend - ROSE

I have been researching into buying a dress form for some time, and I would like to thank Katy for her emails in answering some questions on them for me.

At college we used ones called KL which you can still get but they are over £600 and I can not justify buying one at that price. I do not like adjustable ones, never have, and I wanted one mainly for hanging, lining up, hems etc as the fit I can do off the dress form because when at college you get very good at making clothes on your own and fitting most areas by yourself!
At college it was normal to end up with a different size dress form to what you wanted due to the popularity of their use. First come first served etc. Also I find that adjustable dress forms become very wobbly and their accuracy reduces as nuts,bolts etc become loser with use. I always want to put a pin where there is a gap too, although you can get 'socks' to go over the dress form to block off the gaps.

So I looked at Morplan and online shops and Ebay. Finally I found the one above and it was on a bidding section of Ebay. I put in a maxium bid and went to work! When I came home I found that I had won and it cost me £45.00 plus P&P! Now I thought this was a bargin and was delighted.

It arrived very quickly and was well packaged. It fitted together easily and is not heavy to carry at all but is very stable with a solid wooden base. The main body is good and the fabric over the top is clean and tough so will withstand pins over a long period of time. I went for the floral option as it will look attractive even when not in use. Hence the name 'ROSE' for my dress form.

It has to have a name. I took it to school for a couple of weeks, which is why I have not posted about it sooner, to see what they thought and they really enjoyed using it. So I have permission to get another with reciepts etc for the school to have and seeing the numbers for next year I may need more tha one. The numbers taking textiles next year has doubled which I am delighted and releived about because if I could not get at least 15 students then the course was not going to be allowed to run!


Rose and I are getting on really well and she has been brought home for the holidays and we have been working together these past several days. There is another story about the bag she is wearing but I shall leave that for another day. Sorry that the pictures are a little dark but the days here have been very dull indeed!

If you would like to to know more about this dress form leave a comment because I can not find the link while I am sitting here. Why does that always happen when you are typing a post?

Take care all

xx

Saturday 3 April 2010

Felty Flower Friends...........

Well, you have meet my new teddy bears, now here are my next set of felty friends......The Flower Gang. This idea has been going around for months and the pink version was actually made nearly two years ago ( I do not like to rush myself!). These are for hanging up in any little girls room and are padded so that they give a 3D look. Sophie has a couple of these and has her eye on the purple one too.
Ideal for Spring, when it actually arrives as we have had large lumps of hail here in Cornwall.

They will come in a range of colours and I have started working on smaller versions and some key rings too which are ideal for putting on little princesses school bags for identification during the scrum to find their bag at the end of the school day! Also for big girls to put their car keys on! I shall be listing these and the bears this week as things have slowed down here a little.

I do need some names for these little friends. Any ideas for the flower above? I thought Flora but was not sure.


Also, is Violet too obvious? What do you think?

Any suggestions I would love to hear from you. I have several items which have been cut out ready and I have finally managed to get some more pale blue felt but I have still not been successful in getting any light brown for the bears. Must be very popular colours at the moment.

The egg cosies were fun to make again this year and I have ideas to expand these for other times of the year. Iwill have to have a little play with the ideas to see what happens.


I have lots of things planned for the next few days, including some cooking with Sophie as I think some Easter buns will be needed and I bought a new icing gun so that Sophie can have a go as she finds the piping bag a little tricky. I also want to make some more jam because I do not seem to have made any since the end of 2008! How did that happen?

I have 97 followers which I am very grateful for and I do try to reply but I find that I can not always get to you via the followers picture so if I have not gotten back to you then I am sorry but I do appreciate your interest in my blog. I think that when/if I get to 100 I shall have a little giveaway to show my appreciation.

Well, best get off and start on the list above. Hubby is putting some new tiles up in the kitchen which should finally finish it off and I have been told that it is a job for one and who am I to disagree. Can not both get in the same corner of the kitchen I suppose.

Have a very Happy Easter!

xx







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