~ My Very First Giveaway ~

Well I can hardly believe it, I have only been blogging for a few weeks and already have 30 followers!

Thank you all so very much, you cheer me on with your little comments and encourage me to get on and make stuff instead of sitting looking at it, which was the whole reason for starting this blog.

As a thank you I would like to present my first ever little giveaway:

All of these items were handmade by me with love and care. They are not perfect but that's because I'm not :)

The stash above includes:

Kandipandi Union Jack Makeup Bag

Kandipandi Antique Bronze Effect Stretch Bracelet

Kandipandi Antique Bronze Effect Earrings

Kandipandi Antique Bronze Effect Dragonfly Necklace

Simple rules:
1). To enter the giveaway you don't have to be a follower but I do need to be able to contact you, just leave a comment here and I will add you to the list.
2). If you have your own blog and if you wish; please feel free to copy my button for your sidebar and I will give you an additional entry (please let me know if you do so I can add you twice)!

~ I will draw the winner in two weeks time on the 13th May 2010.

That's it I think, if I have forgotten anything please let me know as this is my very first giveaway, please spread the word ~ be lucky x

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Sew! Cath Kidston

Well, we are at the end of another week ~ how did that happen? At least we get a long weekend, and for you guys who work normal(ish) hours and get the three days off, enjoy it; for those that have to work it, my commiserations. Thanks to all you lovely ladies who have entered my giveaway, keep spreading the word and we will have the draw on the 13th May!

On a similar note, I have been allocated my partner for the Fabric Swap organised by Crafty Helen @ Home and it is the lovely Vanilla from Sew.Vanilla. I will be gathering my stuff together this weekend to send on to her, she has totally different tastes to mine so this will be quite interesting for me to put myself in someone elses shoes when choosing what to send. I hope she likes it as it's my first ever swap.

Well, a while ago I had my eye on this little book and a few people who already had it kind of put me off it, so I left well alone. Recently though, I was reliably informed that it was half price on amazon (£7.48) so I thought why not just go for it, if it is rubbish I can (palm if off on some poor soul) kindly pass it on to someone.

Well, it's brill! I am really pleased with it, when I opened it I went 'Mweeppp' (that is my excited squeak) and I smiled for a good while, how often does that happen in a day?
I was not expecting what I got to be honest, I am not sure what I expected but this wasn't it. If I had actually picked it up and looked through it before now I would have bought it at full price (well, probably ~ I'm a bit tight and hate to pay full price for anything).
There is a range of ideas of things to make in there, loads and loads of them in a similar vein to the Tilda books. I have the Sew Pretty Homestyle Tilda book which I really do love, but there are not too many practical things to make in there in my opinion, there are only so many spooky angels one girl needs. This Sew Book however is more up my street.

I have taken a few quick snaps in my excitement of the things that immediately popped onto my to do list:

Ain't the birdies cute?
Desperately need one of these oven gloves as mine is rotten!

More cute birdies :)

All of the patterns are given with the book on a huge gridded A1 sheet of paper, which is brill!

I set myself away and made the bag, I added some lining and a little inside pocket. To be honest the instructions were not brilliant, I just set myself away and did it how I thought it should be, for example their method of making the button loop was a bit like passing a camel through the eye of a needle!

So, here it is all made up, its been through the washer already trying to 'shabby' it up a bit, but I am pleased with it and might give it an outing later today. Be warned though it is quite dinky (about 8inches high by about 12 inches wide), I think the photos are deceiving.

Anyone else made the bag from this book?

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Poorly Tums and Patriotism

Well Monday was not a good day in some ways. I woke up feeling rubbish, I had been up most of the night with a poorly tum (say no more) and sickness so I was shattered! Due to the desperate need for sleep I rang in sick at work ~ something that I hate doing. So, I went back to bed and slept the morning away pretty much and after lunch started to feel a little better, so I got my fabric out and started pottering.

I keep meaning to publish a list of things I want to make at the side of my blog but have never found the time to do it (perhaps tomorrow), but one of the things that I have really wanted to do was a Union Jack Cushion or Makeup Bag.

As I battled through my illness (don't snigger) in true British fashion, stiff upper lip and all that, I decided that I would have a go today with what I could find in my stash.

Here is what I came up with:

A navy blue pillowcase, some ribbons, some old lace (from girls vintage dress), and some spotty red fabric from a fat quarter I bought a while ago.

Then I just followed my picture and made a flag:

If you are Scottish (my second favourite country) stop here ~ you are done! :)

While I had all the stuff out I made two at the same time.

My zips were ladies skirt zips and were a touch too short so I added to them.

The finished article:

The back is the red spotty fabric and the lining is the blue pillowcase:

My little bags just needed a little something extra so I added some 'crown jewels', in red white and blue of course:

I can see myself brandishing this at the last night of the proms singing along to Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 in D major (I have never actually been but it's one of my ambitions!).

Rule Britannia!

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Shabby Makeup Bags

I have got my sewing head back on for the minute, I think it's the shame of having a mountain of fabric staring at me begging to be made into something.

I am mad for bags and makeup bags and I think they are a nice easy thing to make and if I end up with a mountain of them they are good to give away as gifts. Delving into my fabric stash I found these materials, these particular ones were swatches sent to me be by a sofa company, so I turned them into little makeup bags.

The fabric is upholstery fabric and they are lined with plain cream cotton, so I didn't bother to interface or use wadding so these were ultra quick and easy to make. I only stopped as I ran out of co-ordinating zips. Cutting the materials and gathering the supplies took longer than it did to run them up on the machine.

The lace and ribbon were added from my stash and the lace was preciously the neckline and petticoat bottom of a child's vintage dress.

Once finished I added little beaded zip pulls.

It was my intention last year to learn how to make jewellery so that I could add little embellishments to my sewing things, like zip pulls and bag charms, but the pesky jewellery making embedded itself into my head and it took over the sewing!

Now I am back to where I intended to be, lots of sewing, little bit of jewellery, let's see how long that lasts :)

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Did you hear the one about the magic Kaftan.....

....... it turned into a bag! (sorry that was rubbish wasn't it).

My charity shop find from last week keeps peeking out of my sewing box and its so colourful that I couldn't ignore it much longer. The material is a very thin cotton so I thought my best bet would be to turn it into a book bag or simple tote bag to take shopping (I call them not a carrier bag, bag). As the material if quite thin it folds up into a tiny little bundle which will easily fit into a pocket or inside pocket in a handbag. This is what it was in a former life:

And now it is a cheerful little bag:

With a rosette to spice it up a bit (it's on a safety pin, so it can be removed) - with a (previously a slipper) heart button in the middle.

This pic is just to show you the size. Incase anyone is interested, that magazine is great by the way it has been on my coffee table for weeks now I keep going back to it, it is however American; so all of the shops and suppliers advertised are in the USA and not all of them post to the UK ~ shame.

I have made several of these bags now, they were one of the first things I made when I started sewing again. I followed the tutorial here from the All about You Site ~ Prima magazines online magazine. If you have not already it is worth a look on there for sewing and general craft ideas.

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Haircuts and Trampolines

Well, I did it, I had my haircut and it's actually different to the usual cut I have every time. I have had about 6 inches cut off the length!! It's very drastic for me, but I am getting used to it, when I feel braver I will post a picture of it.

We have spent hours today fiddling about at the back of the garden, my DH dismantled the old trampoline and it has found a new home as our Nephew has claimed it. The new one took lots of tugging and effort, and a couple of little swear words, and after a long afternoon it was ready and the kids were really pleased and spent about 1 hour playing....... with the box!!!!

Then after the novelty of the huge box wore off they actually gave the trampoline a go, it's rather huge, much larger than the last one (i'm quite glad it is tucked away at the back of the garden)!

And it's a hit!

However, this means that I was not able to get anything crafty done at all. I did however buy a nice purple glass bead necklace from the charity shop today for £1.30, which will be chopped up and made into something else, so that's preparation for crafting I guess, does that count?

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Weekend starts here..

Well, I have made it through another week! Weekends are just the best.

Not many plans for this weekend, other than the usual shopping, charity shop/car boot hunt, making bits and bobs, and entertaining bored children (including buying a new trampoline and assembling it!!).

Bit of a downer on the weekend is that I am off to have my hair cut today. I'm not like normal women, I just hate having my hair cut, I do it out of necessity only. It has taken a long time (about 9 years) to find a hairdresser that I feel comfortable going back to, she is really sweet and feels the same about having her hair cut as I do so it's relatively quick and painless. Each time I go my lovely husband comments that my hair looks wonderful, even though I have exactly the same haircut every time; bless him, perhaps one day I will suprise him!

I have noticed that although my little blog has only been going for a couple of weeks I have lots of lovely followers!

Can I say, thank you all so much; you have all given me the encouragement to get on with making stuff instead of sitting just thinking about it. It has been suggested that I should consider a giveaway once it reaches 30. Now to put my thinking cap on for ideas of what to give (providing I can find another few souls to read my ramblings), any ideas of what my giveaway should include? I'm thinking some jewellery I have made and something I have sewn and perhaps a little kit for someone to have a go themselves - what do you think?

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Ways with Yo-Yos...

In an attempt to make some use of the Yo-Yos I have recently made I decided to make an Ipod cover and add them to the front, I know it's a case of the tail wagging the dog!

Using some flowery cotton (previously an (unused) vintage bed sheet in a former life), and some fleece as wadding, I made a simple cover for an Ipod touch or Iphone (or infact most phones). This was really simple to make I used the tutorial from Sewchristine's Blog ~ if you have not already; have a look at her blog she is a very talented lady!

This one was a bit rushed and is a bit on the shabby side, but here is another I made previously with a lovely blue fabric, I use this every day as my phone cover.

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Little book recommendation

At work this week the 'book man' came and dropped off a box of books. In amongst them was this rather hefty hardback on the subject of sewing, I obviously had to have it:

www.amazon.co.uk/.../dp/1405335556

The books product description says it better than I could, so essentially the book is:
the ultimate sewing bible for beginners, students and seasoned stitchers wanting to perfect their skills. Whether you want to make soft furnishings, clothing or just do alterations this is the book that everyone interested in sewing needs. Follow step-by-steps and master every technique you'll ever need; from machine-stitching a buttonhole and attaching a collar, to altering patterns and building a basic sewing kit. Every hand and machine stitch and technique is clearly shown and easy to follow, guiding you through every move. Follow 25 stylish projects, for the home and to wear, which will enable you to take your sewing skills to perfection. Plus, get properly kitted out; close up photographs of hand and machine tools show you the best equipment for the job and guarantee you know exactly how to use it. Tucks, pleats, hems, darts, edges, pockets, buttonholes, zips; whatever you want to sew find out how.

I have been pawing through it at lunchtime today and I am really pleased with it, once I venture into making clothes I think it will be a real help, but the simple easy for follow photos and instructions are great. I bought it from The Book People and it was £9 ~ this was at work so there was no postage and I think for that price I will get my moneys worth from it.

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Scraps & Yo Yo Makes

Having recently acquired my new rotary cutter I was itching to try it out. Fortunately I am a bit of a hoarder and I keep lots of off cuts; so delving through my 'rubbish' bag I came up with loads of little scraps that I cut into circles to make Yo-Yos.

I don't know how I managed without a rotary cutter before now ~ it's fab! I was able to cut through 4 layers in one go saving loads of time, and cutting in circles with the cutter is not easy (I should have tried it out on squares I guess, I never go for the easy option!) but it worked.

I really enjoyed pottering with these, they were quick and easy to do, and I got to use some of my lovely buttons. So instead of a bag of scraps I now have a bag of Yo-Yos.

I'm not entirely sure how I will use them at the moment, perhaps a necklace or a couple of brooches, or just to add to makeup bags etc. but whatever they turn into I will be sure to let you see.

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