Wednesday 6 April 2011

Update

Haven't stopped making, baking and growing things whilst I've been away.

Here are some pics of my biggest project - a play tent for my niece from Santa.



We've also moved house from the centre of Edinburgh to a house with a bigger garden. It's lovely!

Oops

Been a long time since I posted. Been working on a new project. Due in July.

Wednesday 12 August 2009

Argh. I've still not been feeling great hence no posts. Not really made anything of late. Still need to get hubby to take pics of skirts, and there's a dress I made a while back too.
Here are some pics of my sewing bag. It has all my embroidery threads, scissors, needlebook etc in it. Made with some fabric from a sample book and some heavy duty canvas. It was my first attempt at free-motion quilting. It was quite fun. The bag can stand up on its own which is funny.







In my area there is an Art exhibition which takes place in people's homes, the organsiers asked people if they could donate fabric triangles for bunting, with time on my hands I cut out a LOT of triangles but also decided to make a bag for the bunting. I tried writing with the sewing machine for the first time, I am quite proud that it's legible!





And finally pictures of growing things...


Tomatoes which will hopefully ripen at some point.

Pretty pink dahlia, never grown these before but they are very happy in the garden!



And lovely lilies, they smell gorgeous!



And finally the first pea pod!! They were great but we need to be better organised next year and grow more. We're still munching our way through mountains of mangetout which are delicious.



Off on holiday next week but promise when I get back I will be better at posting and indeed crafting! Got orders from my sister in law for crayon rolls and tiny tote bags for her friends' kids for Xmas, so I really will need to get on.

Tuesday 28 July 2009

eugh been feeling rubbish for the past couple of weeks, now have temperature, sore throat etc and have been sleeping lots, done some crafting but not taken any pics. I have made two skirts from Sew What? Skirts and have played around with the embroidery stitches on my Pfaff machine but no pictures.
Garden is growing well with all the rain we're having, here's a pic of my first dahlia...
and some of the baby carrots, courgette and new potatoes.


Anyway whilst I am not feeling well I have made a start on an embroidery transfer of my Gran's, first project like this since I was a child!!!

Friday 17 July 2009

sewing joy

I'm a happy bunny!!! I was in John Lewis yesterday picking up birthday presents for my inlaws and popped into the sewing section and spotted one solitary copy of Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross which I have been waiting for the library to stock, well I couldn't resist, and I had some vouchers in my bag (from our wedding three years ago!) Ooh I am looking forward to making things from it!

I also managed to get hold of bobbins for the Pfaff machine, took a while of searching by the women of Drummonds on Haymarket, such a lovely shop, sewing machine heaven!!! And later I was playing with the machine trying out the stitches and it has many many combinations, not sure what I will use them for, suggestions on a postcard please!



In addition to buying gifts I also made a couple of things for our niece. I had already made a bag with this fabric so I made her a crayon roll too, I have never made one, or indeed seen one of these other than on the internet. It was pretty simple really, although as they are so chunky I couldn't fit all of the colours in (there were 20 in the pack, with 2 of each colour - Early Learning Centre, £3 for 40), so I selected the main colours she will probably use. I used a hair elastic and button as the closing so she can do it herself (she's only two after all).


She is also getting a cat softie, made from a merino wool jumper, it is similar to the other one I made for friend's wee one, but to be honest I am not totally happy with the finish, but I am sure she won't mind!

In addition to all this I also went to a fabric shop which I have not visited in years, and the sale was on.... I picked up these fabrics, some were remnants, the kids prints were in the sale at £1.99 per metre, I am sure I'll be able to make a few bags and crayon rolls from a metre of each! The cream fabric is really soft, I think I'll use it for kids aprons, although it might be too open a weave for that, not sure. The rose one I couldn't resist, it was only £1.60 for 1.6m. I'll probably use it for either bags or cushions. Phew, it's not really surprising that I am feeling really tired and sore, is it?

Wednesday 15 July 2009

more flowers



As I mentioned before my friends came to visit on Sunday bringing with them gorgeous roses for me. I love flowers and try to always have some in the house (even if I have to buy them myself, or pick them out the garden). I think I have picked this up from my Mum, she loves flowers and arranges them in floral arrangements (or floral art as she insists it is called!). I occasionally try my hand at it but more often than not plonk them in a vase! Here are a couple of pics of the lovely orange edged yellow roses.

Tuesday 14 July 2009

Links

On the right you will find a very long list of links, this is so that if my computer dies (like it did a couple of weeks ago, I had to reinstall everything :-( ) I don't lose my bookmarks. It's a nightmare I have lost all my sewing/crafty links and all my teaching resources links , argh!!!! So have a look through, there is a mixture of tutorials I have tried, ones I want to try and blogs/sites I like. I will continue adding to it as I find interesting stuff!