More beautiful things from beautiful people...

After a tough day at work I came home to this one night not long ago, I was not expecting anything so was really suprised to find this;

A beautifully wrapped gift from the lovely Sue, this was a thank you gift and just look what was inside;

A most lovely vintage patchwork cushion, I adore it and it is currently pride of place on my bed, as if that was not enough there was also a lovely lavender heart in there too which is on my bedpost.

Thank you so much Sue this arrived just at the right time when I needed it most, isn't it funny how that happens?

You remember the Tilda book I won from Lynda, well she went mad and sent me extra gifts, she forgot to add one and sent it later and I love it loads and wanted to show you, its a beautiful brooch:

Thank you lovely friends!

~ ♥ Back Soon ♥ ~

Pay it Forward

It may appear that I have been a lazy girl and not been making much recently, but I have been busy I promise. I have been making stuff to give away so couldn’t post about it before now.

I joined in the pay it forward and promised to make gifts for three people, expecting nothing in return, in the hope that they will also send on three gifts to three people thus spreading a web of happiness!

I tried to make them something I thought they might like and asked if they wanted anything specific, none of them did so I made surprises. As I have posted them now I can show you what I made.

This was for Alex, her only guidelines were nothing pink!

I know she loves green and reading so I made her this green charm bookmark, I made her a bracelet from the same beads and a little keyring with her name on.

Hope you liked it Alex.

For Sue, I made a little Tilda button bag, from Tilda cotton and hand embroidered with ‘Sue’s Buttons’, the bag is full of a mixture of new and vintage buttons to hang on her lovely new peg rack. I made her a little coin purse too from CK fabric and added some CK smellies in there. I recieved a wonderful present from Sue yesterday, I will show you what she made me soon, thanks so much you clever thing xx

For Nadine, I made a good sized makeup bag from CK Candy Flowers Cotton Duck, I embellished it with lace, ribbons and glass beads and added some CK smellies to that too.

I know I had 365 days to send something but I got excited and was afraid I would forget and then I would have felt terrible!

Hope you liked your little gifts ladies; don’t forget to Pay It Forward.

p.s. I knitted a cotton dishcloth to send to the lovely Annie as a small thank you (as I know she likes them).

I managed to crochet a little flower to add to it, this was a great achivement for me and took some patience but I was pleased as punch with myself, thanks for the guidance Amanada. x

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Tina's Fabric Swap

The lovely Tina organised a fabric swap recently, the idea started on Money Saving Expert so the swap was to have a money saving theme. I am not sure I did too well with that considering I usually use recycled materials, but I only went and bought the magazine, I had everything else already.
I was paired up with Cate who does not have a blog but she does have a flikr account so I scoured that for ideas. I tried to choose fabric I thought she might like (one of the fabrics I sent started life as a vintage bed sheet ~ very MSE). This is what I sent:

I made a little needle case from an antique purple fabric using the tutorial in the Sew Hip Magazine (not the one I used this is a new one!), Cate makes lots of little hexies so I thought this might be quite apt for her. The tutorial was created by this lovely lady if you have not already seen it pop over she has made some beautiful things. I also made a button bag for Cate from a William Morris style fabric, and added lots of new and vintage buttons inside it.

Hope you liked it Cate x

Look what I received, naughty Cate went mad and sent loads of beautiful bits!

Look at my new stash, so much fab stuff I don't know where to start...

beautiful vintage fabrics...

The sweetest little hexie case for my hexie tin...

Cotton, bows, bells, buttons, badges brooches, trims and birdies... my son was very smitten with the striped birdie so I let him run off with it, he said thanks!

Incredible little handmade envelopes full of little bits of fabric and hexies ready to go!

Amazing, I am so pleased thank you so much Cate.

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More Folk Dolls Fabric Makes

As mentioned in my last post I got busy with that lovely Folk Dolls fabric and made a door stop. I have had one of these in mind for some time now and this is what I made.

To be honest it went wrong, it turned out ok but it was not supposed to be like this, oh well, come with me and see what a pigs ear I made of this.

It all started so well, I sketched out a rough idea of what I wanted to make with dimensions:

I assembled my bits, neatly trimmed my fabric and interlining and ironed it all:

I very consideratly left a small space between each interlining panel in an attempt to keep a box shape to the finished item (which worked a treat by the way):

I turned all my seam allowances and ironed them for accuracy:

I then stitched the top square very carefully all around and trimmed it up inside and secured it with another ziz zag stitch, only to realise I had forgotten to add the bloody handle!! It was impossible to take apart and the upshot was that I had to make that the bottom and change my idea. Arggghhh!

I wanted the zip at the bottom so it was out of view but due to my stupidity I had to settle for having it at the top in plain view.

So I made a top this time with handle, I and sewed on one side to what should have been the bottom of my box shape:

I added a long zip to go round the three sides so that I could easily replace the contents if necessary.

Then I trotted off to the supermarket for 2kg of rice (which was not enough and I used about 3.5kg in total!!) Oops, forgot to add that I made another bag with slightly smaller dimensions from scrap blue fabric to hold the rice and lavender inside.

And here it is all done, the main box is upside down and the zip is at the top instead of the bottom, but when all is said and done it does the job and holds the door open, so I suppose I could call that a mini success...


When this was finished I was suprised at how big it is, but once it's in front of the door, it looks just right.

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Matroyshka Pouches

I love the new Kokka Folk Dolls fabric I bought recently from Fancy Moon. I was a little sad to cut it to be honest, but I am glad I did. I made a couple of lovely good sized pouches, I added the cotton lace and ribbon as it has a kind of folky feel to it and added some of my precious buttons.

I scoured my stash for some of the last of my little milliefiori hearts to add to the zip pulls.

I really don't want to part with these, I do love russian dolls. I made another lovely thing with this fabric I will share that once I finish it off, need to pop to the supermarket first...

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Owls

Not quite sure how, but I appear to have developed a little thing for owls.

I loved this owl fabric from fabric rehab and made a little purse lined with lovely felt from the beautiful Annie, I thought this would be a nice way to stash my phone or ipod as the felt lining will protect it. I like to keep my memory sticks in a little pouch too. I must say it was very hard to turn through with having a felt lining (hence the oddly angled top).

I then made a couple of larger pouches, that would be a good size for a hearty makeup bag or a general store it all, which I use you know the thing, pens, chewing gum, painkillers etc.

Again I used owls, the Michael Miller Hoot fabric, I love it, check out his little face...

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Another Giveaway Win

Did I mention that I won another giveaway?

The beautiful Lynda from Hookin’ with LaaLaa was offering this Tilda book and it arrived on Saturday together with a lovely Yankee Candle – wish I could upload smells for you.

There are some lovely makes in this book and I have fallen for this little lamb, he will be the first thing I attempt :

these are the other things I want to make too;

I promise to show anything I make from this book.

Thanks so much Lynda I love it.

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