A quickie

Just a quick hello today. I have had no sleep for two nights (literally) as Martha is really very poorly with her asthma and a chest infection. A year ago we had the same problem and she ended up in hospital on oxygen so I am hoping that we are not going down that route again.

I am trying to spend every spare minute during the day sewing for the craft fairs next week when yes i know i should be catching up on sleep. I have been told off by Andrew Anyway i got two orders out last week for funky school bags.

They are just plain totes, made in a heavy canvas so that they did not need to be lined or interfaced. The leopard skin one is groovy and is for Georgina who loves black and hates pink. A girl after my own heart. The second is for her sister Lizzie, who wanted a picture of all of her favourite animals on the front but after discussions with her mum we settled for a black cat. Hats off to all of you who create with applique, I find it so tricky although i am happy with the cat.

The photos are crap because their uncle was waiting downstairs to take them seconds after i had cut the last threads off so i had a second to take a quick photo.

The labels are my new hang tags from moo cards

The little one

So I mentioned that i had an order for 2 bags, one for the mum and one for the 5 year old daughter. I have finished the small one and i am so pleased with it. It is a similar shape to the brown basket but much much smaller and no bag feet or hard bag bottom. I did use craft pelmet interfacing though to give it structure.

I was pleased with the colour of the pink, it is almost a perfect match to the pink in the flowered fabric

This photo is quite deceptive, I will post a photo of the two bags together tomorrow to show accurately how small it is in comparison. The weather has been so shitty here today that we have just had no light.

I added some yo yos on for detail which i feel adds a nice detail and a magnetic closure

Altogether i am really happy with it what do you think??

Busy Busy

The days seem to have disappeared in a flurry of chaos otherwise known as swimming lessons, french lessons, doctors appointments and sewing sewing sewing. Oliver's social life is so hectic at the moment god only knows what it will be like when he is a teenager!!!!!!!!!!!

Martha decided to eat coffee granules which was an entertaining half hour last week. Before you have me down as an absolutely awful mother (which is not far off the truth), the jar was by the door for recycling, she managed to unscrew the lid and stick her cereal spoon in and scrape out the dregs. NICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Had a fab time with my friend Liz on Friday night. We managed to venture into 5 pubs in the village in the course of the evening, we were hoping to do all 7 plus the fire station bar but old age drew us to the comfy leather sofas in The Angel and there we stopped. It was not a drunken evening i hasten to add although not completely sober either. We bumped into lots of old friends, one lad i hadn't seen for 16 years!!!!!!!!!!!! It was a good night.

Anna aka Marmadaisy sent me some gorgeous hair slides she makes with yo yos on. She has been selling them at craft fairs and sent me a couple of examples so i could copy the idea for my fairs on the 3rd and 7th. I have bought the slides to decorate today.

I am not holding out too much hope of selling bags but hope to sell little bits and bobs and hand people my card for future reference. I will get busy with these over the weekend and next week especially now Amy Karol has given permission for deisgns from her book to be sold. I have had lots of interest in Martha's hat so it will be fun to make some to sell. I have just finished one in cow print fleece with a small felt cow dangling down. I will do a hat photo post soon.

I have made a couple of bags in the last week and I am working on a couple more.

The following is a bag i made yet again from my fav Amy Butler pattern this is for my friend Hazel. She fell in love with the fabric. Alas there is no more

The other bags i have been working on are orders I have received, 3 from the last bag party i held and 2 from a friend of a friend of a friend of a etc etc etc.

One of the orders is for matching bags for a mother and daughter. I have been given complete control over style and fabric etc. As the daughter is only 5 i have chosen to make a smaller more girly version of the mothers bag as opposed to identical.

The fabric and handles and pretty much everything apart from the lining is from U-Handbag. I am really pleased with the way it has turned out and i love the toffee coloured handles. I should have taken a photo of the bags bottom because it is extremely neat (even if i do say so myself).

I have picked the paler pink from the flowers as the colour for the exterior fabric of the daughters bag. This is a scaled down version of the basic basket but with fabric handles and yo yo decoration. The lining fabric will be the flowered fabric featured here. I thought using the same fabric but in slightly different ways was a cute idea for mother and daughter. I am making the smaller bag at the minute and will hopefully have photos here tomorrow.

Origami was my new crafty venture for today. The ring i had bought for Naomi my sister in law arrived today so i followed Lisa's tutorial which can be found here to make a gift box for it. this is how it turned out. Maybe not as neat as Lisa's but not bad for a first try. I really like the patterned paper inside, i bought it today from Hobbycraft

Wordless Wednesday - Sometimes the only solution is.........

Christmas Crafting

So, on my handmade only present theme, I have ordered a fab cupcake ring off Robins Jewellery Box on Etsy, and a print for Andrew for Christmas from my friend Graham's site. Funnily enough i haven't bought one of the prints where he is showing everything he has got but walk 4 from Procession of the Dead. I am under the impression that Andrew never reads my blog so hopefully he will not know what he is getting. As you can tell if you link to Graham's site, his stuff may test the boundaries but it demonstrates what a talent he is. ( I was going to say what a talent he has but if you look at "meat the Grahams" this could be taken in the wrong way.)

Anyway, I have a table at a craft fair in the village on 3rd December and i am currently making little things that are not too expensive. Photos are to follow later but i keep forgetting to take them whilst making the stuff.

I am making little gift bags with a christmassy theme,
zippered pouches
I may make Christmas decorations
carrier bag holders

I also keep meaning to take photos of my moo cards but because my camera is constantly in a new hiding place away from Martha, I keep forgetting where i have put it.

Anyway photos to follow honest. Plus a new bag for my friend Hazel which is lovely.

Wordless Wednesday - the perfect ending

Onwards

So i have taken the Handmade Pledge see right toolbar. I have seen it on many blogs and then Lisa wrote about it here. It is just a fab idea.

I have a Christmas Shopping party to display my goodies at in November and a Christmas Fair in the Church at the beginning of December plus a few orders from the party last week to be getting on with so busy busy.

This is a new bag made from an Amy Butler pattern for my sister in law's birthday - It was only a month late hey ho. I am really pleased with. I have changed the pattern slightly in that i have used the button purely for decoration using a magnetic closure instead. I have also made the handle slightly longer so although it is a bag to be held in the hand if you want it over the shoulder the option is there.

I am not a big fan of the colour pink but i really adore this one. The fabric is from ReproDepot.

Anyway regarding the hat, see previous post, I calmed down during the day and eventually found it quite amusing that "hatgate" was tearing through the village of Toddington with spottings of Martha's hat on this little girl prior to my argument with her. It then mysteriously disappeared in the afternoon, probably the pointing and shouting of "isn't that Martha's hat" made the mother think that she should leave it at home. I am glad i kept my cool (to some extent - i didn't swear or call her names) and i have made Martha a lovely new one and have embroidered her name into it which is a sales trick i am going to try at the craft fair. every silver lining etc etc.

During my time which was meant to be spent tidying up the sewing room today I flicked over to Sew Mama Sew and they are posting tutorials for each day of November. It is only the 6th today and i have a list of stuff i want to make, so nip over there for Christmas prezzie ideas.

Oh yeh and before i finish here is another bag i have made in the last week - no wonder my sewing room is such a tip

So upset

Do you remember this hat i made for Martha??

We had mislaid it and I was getting a tad upset but thought that she had probably thrown it out of the pram when we were not looking and that some kind person would find it and put it on a wall somewhere in the village. This is what normally happens in this community when something is found on the road. Believe me i am always finding Martha's discarded socks lying neatly waiting to be collected.

This morning on the walk home from school, I saw a child in Martha's hat. Obviously Martha's no mistaking it and i did make it after all. I asked the mother if she had found it on the street as we had lost it. I was then told quite brazenly that she had bought it on Dunstable Market and that she had a matching scarf. I explained quite patiently that she could not have bought that particular hat on the market as I had made it, had photos of the process and the design at home. She continued to lie, I was so angry and told her so and then walked away. My friend was standing there open mouthed at the cheek of this person I know it is just a hat and that i can make another. But i am shocked and stunned at the way in which she told bare faced lies to my face.

I will make another one but my faith in human nature has been dented somewhat. That is the second rude person i have met in a week and the second to upset me. Maybe i should toughen up.

Thoughts, Bags and WOnderment

I am sitting here listening to the bangs of fireworks, a half finished bag to the side of me, a baby in bed who is shaking with fear and a son at the display eating hot dogs. I have spent the last 15 minutes or so reading some fantastic blogs. Suzannes and Ali's to name two. really thought provoking and interesting. When i read these blogs I am constantly amazed not only by how much enjoyment i get from reading them but how much some women seem to achieve in their day and yet still have time to write these fantastic words. Susanne is even going to attempt a novel in a month. I can tell you if i attempted that i would need a good Chenin Blanc on a drip. I am constantly amazed with the talent and versatility of people.

Anyway i have been busy making bags. Here are a few photos of them

The bottom basket is made from a faux suede and is glorious. The photo does not do it justice at all. It is a really elegant bag and i am proud of its finish. Alas it has gone to a new home. The top basket with the grey fabric with flowers is so special simply because of the fabric. Bought from the lovely Lisa it is just phenomenal. There are lots more bag photos to come but i just thought i would put these up for now.

Happy Bonfire Night everybody