Pandora and chicks!

I have had a pretty rubbish day today... The stress and strains of the past 6 months are finally being released! But on a positive note I did find my favourite pandora charm which my mum gave me. It's a cupcake!! I found it under the bed, I don't know why I didn't look there originally!!





And I also sewed some Easter cards for mum and dad, my aunt and uncle, brother and his gf and my darling husband! I'm quite pleased with them providing I whipped them up at the last minute!!

Christmas is on it's way!

Whoop Christmas is on it's way! My colleagues put up the Christmas tree today which was ordered from Homebase and got delivered yesterday. We aren't decorating it until next week, thank goodness! I think I would get bored of Christmas otherwise!

I have found a new website I like:  http://folksy.com/

On Folksy I found lots of nice gifts, decorations and cards I would like to make. Although my only concern is that making these things can often come out being more expensive than buying them!

I love these felt decorations and the heart garland. Felt is so simple to work with and cheap.

I really like the birds and the reindeer!

Also I think this pop up card is cute and fairly simple.

Although how you would neaty cut the crinkles into the bottom I don't kneweven with crinkle sissors!

This card looks more achievable but again small details worry me like how to contro my machine well enough the mak ethe holly or the wiggle lines. I definatly would turn of the feeder.

My favourite decoration from the website however is this reindeer head made from willow!

Ho ho ho!

Only 32 days, 7 hours, 11 mins and 3 seconds until Christmas!

Snowcrastination

Happy snowy Sunday! After a failed attempt at preparing for a job interview for next week i decided that i needed a few hours of sewing. I decided to embark on drafting the dress pattern for one of my bridesmaids. The last dress I made was a little small I think for the measurements I had taken although I think I may have gone the other way now! I am using New Look 6776 view D, currently I am on the toile version.

I laid out the dress to photograph and Nala decided to sprawl all over it as I had been ignoring her whilst I sewed!











This is the front of the dress without Nala on it!








And this is the back of the dress.








So now I have finished the toile and need to visit Beka to see whether it fits all I can do now is get back to interview prep. Yawwwnnn.

Oh well I guess I can't sew all day long. Instead I'll sit t my desk with this view :-) trying to articulate why I should have a job I would love, finding relevant examples for the job. I'll keep you posted! Enjoy the snow xx

Shopping Trip

Today I met with Beka to chose her bridesmaid dress pattern and get some calico to make her toile dress.






We chose the New Look 6776 pattern using view D, a V-neck dress with sash. It looks lovely so I can't wait to start sewing. I treated myself to new scissors as mine are as blunt as anything. I bout really posh ones so hopefully they will a pleasure to use. I also bought myself some more oil for my machine as I haven't oiled it since I got it in 2008. I bought some carbon paper as when making toiles I need some coloured carbon paper but on opening it, the sheets are only A4 size... I am gutted! At least I bought 2 packs. Time to edit the pattern....

Location:Nottingham

Lavender Wheat Bag

I was looking through my sewing photo album and found this. I made this lavender hot wheat bag at Christmas as a present for Doug's grandma :-) she liked the way I packaged it up with the tag and ribbon so much she refused to untie it!!

I made an inner wheat bag which was made using two rectangles of heavy weight cotton slowly filled at intervals with a mix of lavender, wheat and a few drops of lavender oil. Every few inches I sewed across the rectangular bag to make parcels of the lavender wheat mix. This stopped it moving around too much inside the inner bag. I then made the outer purple case as shown in the pictures with a flap at the back to allow Doug's Grandma to wash it.

Bag Tidy

I have been meaning to make myself a handbag organiser for a while so when Doug was out on Friday night I spent a few hours making this before going out myself.

I used the thick cotton I bought from Lincoln and made a lined IPad case with pockets on one side for my phone and handbag bits and pieces and a pocket for paperwork on the other side. It had been annoying me that when I took my iPad out of my handbag all of my handbag contents fell to the bottom of the bag, this is the solution.

The front...




The back...





The organiser inside my handbag...



I made this by cutting up 4 rectangles with 2cm squares cut out of the bottom two corners. The I made two more similar pieces, one was wider than the rest to allow for the pockets and one was less deep than the rest to make a pocket for papers.

My initial square without the notches taken out of the bottom...




The bag cut up and sewn prior to assembling...




The left pieces made the outer bag and the right hand piece made the lining of the bag.

I then used some straps I had pulled off a rucksack Doug had thrown out a while ago for making little handles for the sides and a key holder. The last pocket was a struggle so I made life easier and sewed pen holders.

I am so pleased with this, not only because I didn't use a pattern but also for coming up with the design, making it neatly and choosing a fabric which worked perfectly. It's strength and weight means it holds itself up without the iPad in it and i think the colour and design are great :-)

My favourite creation so far!

Sail away purse

I decided when I saw this tutorial that I wanted to make myself a purse. I love making useful things like bags, iPod cases etc and find them easier and quicker to make than clothing so this appealed. I had bought some cute boat fabric from Lincoln a few weeks ago. At the time I thought I would use to make myself a beach bag but I'm not sure what I want the bag to look like so in the time being I decided a cute boat purse would be nice.




I like using the fabric's pattern to my advantage, in this case I wanted a boat on one side of my purse and the beach huts on the other.

The front...



The back...





I found it quite simple to make and the tutorial was easy to follow. I didn't use any interfacing in the end as I forgot to use a tea towel when I ironed the interfacing and as a result it stuck to the iron. Opps. So instead I depended on the strength of the fabric. The only things I would change are the alignment of the zip, and less seam allowance so the card pockets are less tight. The top stitching was tough due to the thickness of the fabric and I had to go really slow. I have plans for another purse!

I am really pleased with my purse :-)

After years of sewing, perfecting my cake recipes and trawling the internet for inspiration I felt the time has come to record my discoveries somewhere for myself and others who may benefit.  Most of the females in my family can't eat wheat and fortunately while I can dig into a nice chunck of freshly baked break I can't eat dairy so I have learnt to cook without these ingredients. My mum and I have been adapting recipes, making minor changes to being just plain adventurous.  I would like to pass these onto other people who struggle to find a good victoria sponge cake or a nice chocolate brownie recipe!  So  I hope that you enjoy my new blog as much as I enjoy creating it :-D

Clare x