Creative swap entry...

My entry into the latest Creative Swap in America hosted by the very hardworking and lovely Lenna has arrived and is posted on her blog. I am on the current post there, but my name is also in the side bar. If you scroll down and click on my name you can view everything that I have entered over the past two(ish) years. There are lots and lots of other work to look at too. it is worth popping over and taking a look.

I want to put it here too.. It is a theme that I have used before for my City and Guilds but it is a colour scheme and them that i never get bored of...

I took this picture outside but I am not sure it really does the colour justice. The background is fabric painted and some salt has been added to get a mottled effect. Machine embroidery is then added to the fabric. Using a combination if fabric manipulation and beading further detail is then added...I have some fabric that is pre-folded if sewn in a circle will then fan out and then stitched here and there to keep it in place.

The last few pictures do the colour a little more justice. I also used handmade felt which I had made a little while ago. Plus some heated/melted Tyvek, which is pretty weird to use, and stitched that down lightly as it is prone to cracking. Then some Angelina fibres which is created during a day class but I can not remember how!?

Anyway, I was pleased with the outcome and it survived the trip to America. I now just need to wait and see who receives my creation in the post.

I have been sent info about an ATC swap from a friend of mine in Australia so I will post about that at the weekend as it might be a good intro to these as they are very small and I only need 6 people to take part. I might need to send some details by snail mail for you but I will see if I can scan the pictures I have as they would be a good start to get the ideas flowing.

Many thanks to the new visitors to my blog since the weekend. Two of you do not have a way for me to reply to you which is a pity so maybe you could email me instead as I would like to reply.

Back tomorrow with some more goodies.

Take care

xx

Clutch Change...

In my last post I mentioned that I was going to try the above project out of my new book, "Bend the Rules".

I decided to use leftover curtain lining to try out the pattern.

The book uses stretchy cord which I do not have and I am determined to use what I have rather than buy more. So I have used a large loop of thin ribbon into which I had put a knot. Partly to make it a tighter fit around a button, but it can be undone to give more expansion, but the very end knot will also give it something for the user to hold when un-looping the bag open.

I then wanted to come up with my own version so I looked at creating a curved edge to the clutch bag with the idea of making it into a new make-up bag.

The bag is fully lined and I found a large pink button in my button tin.

I then made another version. I used some of the gingham left over from Sophie's curtains, plus a white FQ with butterflies on.

The curved flap when folded down will show some of the lining so this could be made quite plain on the outside and quite a bright flashy lining could be used on the inside.

This is quite a big button, one of a set of three. I bought it last October whilst visiting my Mum. The other two are blue based and green. These buttons caught my eye and as is always the case I decided to buy them with the 'I will use those for something' approach! I really like this button and when I visit my Mum again I hope that the shop will have some more.

I like working with this gingham, it irons nicely, finger creases well and gingham always looks so crisp and fresh. I am certainly going to make some more of these. I have a couple of birthdays coming up and these would be ideal especially as they will need to be posted.

Back at work today and all went well, lovely weather but this cold is still with me. It has gone down to my chest and I spent most of the day trying to catch my breath. So an early night with my book tonight I think.

xx

A sneaky peek...

Twiggy asked if she could see inside the 'Bend the rules' sewing book by Amy Karol, (the cheek! seeing as you asked so nicely..) well as requested here are a few pictures.I had a go at this clutch last night and came up with my own version. I shall post about them later because I want to make one more first.

A little wallet for coins, notes and cards.

Different types of totes and bags with step by step instructions.

I think that this bag would also look good as a mini version.

Straight forward quilts for anyone who has not tried on before. Good for using up all of those lovely scraps that many of us have tucked away.

Items for the kitchen such as tea cosies, coasters, place mats etc.

I will finish my clutch efforts and post those tomorrow. I am in the middle of marking another set of files and I want to finish those first.

So Twiggy.... tempted? Go on treat yourself or maybe someone else will. I do not think that you will be disappointed, it is a book that you will come back to again and again.

All the best to you.

xx

PS. Josie wonders if anyone has bought 'Sewing in no Time' to make projects in a weekend and is it worth buying? Leave a comment if you can help. I would be interested too. Would be nice of we could help each other with this type of question. Twiggy, you may have started something here.

Something Old Something New

Yesterday Sophie and her friend played really nicely together and gave me a chance to finish the curtains quicker than I thought I would.

Firstly I would like to show you something old which I moved to take the curtain photo.

Meet this old fella who used to belong to my Uncle when he was small (sadly no longer with us) and then was given to me when I was a baby. My uncle died in his mid-forties and I am going to be forty this coming Christmas so this is one old little bear. I passed him onto Sophie and he is not for playing with due to his grand age but I thought you might like to see him. By today's standards he is made of quite coarse fur, he has movable joints and toy eyes. He does not have any labels so certain age or where he was bought can not be determined. I do not think I ever gave him a name, he was simply Teddy.
His nose is a bit off centre, I think one of our family dogs had a bit of a go at him one day but he was repaired. I bet this little fella could tell some stories if he could talk.

Anyway back to the curtains, I needed this..

100% pure cotton fabric all the way from France. Cost about £5.99 plus 4 metres of 3 inch curtain tape for £1.50.

All very important, especially that mug of tea!

I have had this machine for about 10 years and it is brilliant. i can buy all sorts of attachments for it, a Husquavarna Lily.

Sadly it is no longer made, but parts and attachments for new machines still fit mine. I wish all companies thought ahead like that...

...and hopefully you end up with lovely curtains for about £15.00. I did take more photos but the flash kicked in and they did not come out properly. They are not quite as full when shut as I would have liked because I was recycling the blackout curtain fabric from the last set and that really 'fixed' the size for me. they look really good closed, (honestly) and Sophie is delighted with them. There is some gingham left over so I am going to buy a plain white single duvet cover and decorate it with the gingham. I have managed to make or embellish bed linen for Sophie ever since she was born. The pink quilt I made her last summer will go on top and will still be used for really hot nights instead of the duvet. Sophie has insisted on that bless her.

As for the bed, well, can I have a little moan please?

I rang up on 2nd April to enquire about stock, delivery etc and all was ok. Rang back two days later and it was out of stock. Ok, so when will it get to me?, well they will not be in stock until 14th April and then we can deliver. Well, we were going to be away for a bit so we said ok and I have not been able to find another bed that fits the bill, needs storage underneath etc. Tuesday 14th rang again, they had arrived but were being checked, rang again today still being checked and another delivery van will not be coming to Cornwall until 30th!! For petes sake, Cornwall is attached to the rest of the country, also why was the van situation not mentioned before? Also Sophie's old bed has been taken apart, she is in the attic which is not ideal for her (too complex to explain here) I shall be spending quite a bit here yet there seems to be no speed or urgency to get their hands on my money!! How b****y long does it take to check a bed for scratches or whatever it is. We were told there are 50 of them, but as I pointed out I only want ONE bed. So we are in limbo, so much for getting her room decorated, bed in shelves up etc before school starts! This is going to roll into next week. I would have preferred to have been told what was going to happen because their website, catalogue and my phone call all said a couple of days to be delivered, not a month.

Hay Ho!! But the curtains look great!!??

Wedding Anniversary

On the 11th April it was our Wedding Anniversary and this year we decided not to do anything in particular just yet. All possible babysitters were busy so we have put any meal etc off for the moment. We have also been busy with things around the house too.

However we did go into Waterstones in Truro and Hubby treated me to these:

There some lovely ideas here which could be used as starting points for your own ideas.

I also got this book too. I have tried wet felting with Year 7 at school and they enjoyed it. Year 10 have felting on their syllabus so I thought this might give me some ideas and methods that would work well. Some lovely pictures and instructions to follow.

I also got the Amy Butler "In Stitches" book but I can not find the picture for it! I read that in bed last night and I have many items that I want to try out. Firstly I must finish Sophie's new curtains which I hope to have to show you tomorrow. I felt to awful yesterday that I did not go to my sewing group so the quilt is in one bag and the wadding is still sitting in another so no progress there at the moment. Sophie has a friend coming over to play in about 45 mins and the weather is much brighter today for them. Hubby is off to Dartmouth to do a stability test on a boat and I need to do some more marking. So a busy day ahead of me I think.

Has anyone made anything from the books above at all? What did you make and how did it turn out?

Well have a great day, I am off to decided which of the above to do first.

xx

Recycled Quilt blocks.

Oh what to do with some left-over quilting blocks? Hmm well in this house there is usually a long things that need to be done and finding another bed for Tiger, who moults fur for England, has been on that list for some time.So, during some after school sessions I started to pin a few blocks together. After school I am not generally needed (sounds sad doesn't it?) the girls just need the time, space and advice when they get stuck, being exam work I do have to be careful how much I do. After several weeks of hovering, asking if they needed any help etc I decided to do some sewing instead. I do not remember seeing any of my teachers do what they taught and I am a firm believer that you should be able to do what you ask of others. I did not finish it so I brought it home and finished it before I went away last week.

I divided the blocks with some yellow strips that were in the bag. Now this bag was given to me about a year ago by a friend who was having a turn out. There is lots left and I am going to take them to work for Year 10 to have a practice on. " Waste not want not"! I will confess to not measuring anything, much of it was already cut to some degree. Sophie did ask if Tiger liked yellow or not which I thought was sweet. He did not seem to worry about the last blanket being bright orange!

The quilt stayed on the sofa for about 5 minutes before he settled himself down for a sleep. He is a little camera shy so this was the best picture i could get.

A happy cat on a new mat!

My posting has been a bit scant recently due to having problems installing my new computer anit-virus software. However Hubby has done it again and solved the problem! I knew there was a reason why I married him!

Back tomorrow.....

xx

Happy Easter everyone!!!

I can not find my proper Easter image so hopefully this will do. Happy easter and I hope you all have a fun day. Not sure what we are doing today so back later.

xx

Cath Kidston Brochure..take a look

This arrived just before I went away. Gosh I could spend a small fortune very easily!! Since ordering from them last year I now get sent these lovely brochures which are more like magazines. These will not be thrown out any time soon and the pictures are beautifully styled and taken. It is almost worth emailing them for the brochure alone. However you do run the risk of weakening and buying something! I have picked some of my favourite pages for you.

To spend money buying a purse to store your money in seems daft but who said shopping had to make sense? These look like they could last along time.
I do like snap purses too. This pink paisley pattern would suit any age range.
Don't they look lovely hanging up like this?

My breakfast table never looks this nice. More chaotic in our house I would say.All I can say is yum, yum fabric!!!Could sewing be any more enjoyable? Well maybe yes with some of these sewing bits.

Ahh!

Ooooo bags , bags glorious bags. I think I feel a little faint best get a cup of tea. See more here.

Have fun

x

We're Back and two Awards passed on..

Due to Hubby being self employed now (and work is going ok at the moment), he decided that seeing as work was a little quiet that we would have a few days in Chesterfield to visit his Aunt and some friends. it was a bit of a whirlwind visit but we came back today. Tiger has been fetched from the cattery, Sop0hie is playing up in the attic, hubby is finding something for dinner at Tesco and I am contemplating the washing! We visited Chatsworth and Bakewell, had a good drive round and the skies were very blue and the sun shone, a little nippy but then it is April. We were fed and made welcome and it was brilliant. We have had instructions not to leave it another 8 years before we go back again! Everyone now has children of the own and it was quite manic with all of them running around as they are all 7 or under and I lost count how many the final total was. Should now at a glance being a teacher but my Child counting radar is turned off for the next two weeks!

I did not do any sewing at all, did buy a few bits but nothing to get excited about and now I have come home with renewed vigour to make Sophie's new curtains and finish my latest swap entry. I did manage to do some reading back at the hotel which was a nice change. I will update you all with crafty stuff before the weekend. I was naughty and did not take any photos while we were away but sometimes you just don't feel like it do you?

I am a bad blogger because Kitty gave me this award ages ago and it got lost in all the pictures in my file, sorry Kitty!
I can not remember the rules for this either, detention for me.

So I am going to make up my own....

I would like to give it to the following as I would like to say thank you for your kind words about my ramblings on this blog:

Summersadie
MelMel

Bagladee

Inkberry Blue

Twiggpeasticks

Picciolo

Lesleys Creations

Nannybird

Primrose Corner

April - Cakes Makes the world go round.

Bliss Country Life

Marmaladekiss

They are all have very different blogs and their links are in the sidebar because linking here at the moment often causes problems with blogger and I then lose the whole post which is very annoying.

I was also lucky enough to be even this one from JoJo just before I went away. So I am going to pick 7 bloggers who I value popping by and saying Hello :

Silverpebble

Tiny White Daisies

Wonderwoman

Cathy's Crochet Cabin

Pink Penguin

The Chocolate Cat

I hope that some or all of these will be accepted, it is only a bit of fun. I am now off to tuck Sophie in bed and do some sewing.

Take care

x

Last batch has hatched....

This is the last batch of these little cuties for this year. I have really enjoyed making these and I have sketched out some further ideas for next year!

Many thanks again for the two new blogs I have found as a result of buyers viewing my Folksy shop too. I shall be adding them to my list in the sidebar.

I have bought the wadding for my quilt so I intend finishing it this Easter. I will let you know how I get on.

Take care.

xx

Minature Landscape Day Class...

Ballet has been cancelled for a couple of weeks due to Easter/School holidays but I still needed to get up early and go to an Embroiderers' Guild day class on Minature Landscapes. I have done this before but it is nice to meet up, take all the bits you think you will need and concentrate on something without being interrupted.

We needed to take a picture or two for inspiration so I took this photo which I took at Trelissik a year or two back. It features bluebells and Campion.

We were then shown several ways to add colour to the fabric including transfer crayons. I decided to use what I normally do which is dye paints and watercolours. If the item is not to be washed and is kept behind glass then I find that they do not fade and in fact I have a picture in my living room where I have used watercolours and they are as bright today as they were when I added them 10 years ago.

It does not look much but this is where it is so far.

I intend to machine embroider the tops of the trees. The bluebells and campion are french knots at the moment but I think I will also add some more machine embroidery here as well.

I think that once the frame is on it will look a good deal better. Here's hoping anyway!

XX

Here Chicky Chicky...

Gathered over at Folksy. Now for the next stage, I think tomorrow evening it will be bookcovers, knitting and a DVD. I am on my own tomorrow evening because Sophie is going radio control car racing with her Daddy. I am going to have to get up early Saturday because I have signed up for an Ebroiderers Guild day class on minature landscapes. I signed up ages ago and it has suddenly come round, I haven't sorted out what I need yet so I had better do that BEFORE the DVD I suppose.

Anyhow, it is Friday tomorrow and thank goodnes for that!

Take care all
xx

Update:
All gone! Only the orange one left. Guess what I am doing more of tonight. Many thanks to the lovely people who are as fond of these little cuties as I am.xx

Cutting out and Wallpapering...

It has been one of those weeks where you are very busy but not sure if you have actually got very far.

Sunday's Folksy sale caught me on the hop and I had not made any to fill the gap left. So I decided to have a massive cutting out session...

I love my little board here to keep all of the pieces on. Still manage to lose bits, but never mind.

Some more chicks....

Book covers (Sorry, this is a little over-exposed)

Plus some new shape keyring's.

These have been finished. Tried some egg shaped cosies for fun. I like the challenge of thinking of different patterns for these. Will list these as soon as I can.
I have finished the top of my quilt and I will take a picture at the weekend. Need to peg it out on the line to take a decent picture.

This week has also been taken up with papering one wall in Sophie's room. Her room and most of the upstairs is a total mess as the contents of her room is spread out all over the place. Then to add to it all I found out today that the bed I want to order is out of stock until14th April!!!AAARRRGGGH.

Anyway, this is where we are so far..

Sophie has probably the best room in the house, the sun shines in nearly all day.

Here is a close up of the wall paper that Sophie chose. Very grown up for a 6 year old. I do not like wallpaper, but I do like this.

We just need to paint the opposite wall then wait for the bed to be delivered.

xx