Winter coat

Today I finally finished my coat. Woo Hoo!
My mother in law and I started this project so long ago!
Marilyn my MIL has been a complete sewing rock for me this last year.
I can't actually remember when we began, but it was at least 6 months ago.
The pattern is simplicity.
After cutting the pattern we stopped working on it for one reason or another.
At the start of the six weeks summer holidays we pieced together the body and it sat like this until last week:

We have spent two and a half days on it since and it is now finished.

I wore it to school today to pick the girls up and I got some lovely feedback.

The fabric is from Ikea, the lining is from my local dressmakers store, Watson & Thornton
and the buttons are vintage 60's from Marilyn's stash.

It is the biggest project I have taken on since I began sewing, which was amazingly only a year ago.
I couldn't have achieved it on my own, so as a thank you I bought Marilyn a new Beswick Beatrix Potter figurine, Samuel Whiskers.

She has been collecting them for at least 40 years and this character has always been missing!
I hope she likes it as much as I like my coat :)
Don't forget, my first giveaway finishes in 2 days! Be sure to take part by leaving a comment here.

Showbiz

I made a dress today, well last night, but I finished it today, just now!
Its a simple dress, but I made it with Jersey.
I have never used it before, and I was kinda scared.
I have heard its horrible to work with.
Anyway, I loved it! It was nice to work with.
Maybe this was helped by a simple pattern, but I enjoyed myself.

The dress looked like this on the pattern:

and it looks like this on flo:

The best bit was that I got to use one of my toys, the pin it:

It is basically a little ruler on a stand with a metal clip that slides up or down,

depending on the length you want your hem.

You put your fabric in between the two pieces of metal and pin.

I love it! Its amazing!
Its maybe not as quick as a chalk marker, but I love retro gadgets.

Also, BIG NEWS for me! One of my pieces of work has been featured on Rowen Tree design's Folksy Friday!
Whoop for me and kisses for them.
How very showbiz!
Have a great weekend everyone
:)

White room

After the non starter craft fair I decided that the way forward was to take all my stuff to the white room in town and make my stuff look as gorgeous on film as it does in the flesh.
It turns out that the local white room is actually a fantasy shared amongst my friends and not an actual place.
Poo :(
In desperation I decided to make one out of a corner of the workwomb and two sheets.

I thought it worked out ok. Some of my pictures came out quite nice:

and others were not so great:

Its really hit and miss as to what looks good.

Maybe I am being over critical, but I think that some of my work looks a bit crap.
Please go and have a look at my Folksy Page and tell me what you think.

I think I need a tripod. I also think that maybe sheets are not the best thing to use.
Anyone else had any experience of self made white rooms?
Hints and tips gratefully received!

Monster pin cushion

My friend Helen aka Wonky Owl  made me a pin cushion one night when we were crafting in the workwomb, but the poor wee thing has now been over stabbed, so I made a monster!

I still love my old one, so I will use it for my machine needles & hand sewing ones :)

I've got it covered!

Buttons that is! My fingers are so sore,

worst then when I started (and stopped) playing guitar!

I think its worth it though, they look adorable, just like my little Babushkas!

Ten hour days

I am still working flat out.
Haven't had a sit down meal with the family since last Thursday!
I have been on the PC all day, in the Workwomb most of the evening.
I even missed out on taking the girls to the village carnival on Saturday and I still have so much to do!
This is the bottom section of my to do list, which is two A4 sheets stuck together! Look no ticks anywhere!

It doesn't help that I keep running out of  thread. My tin looks like its overflowing, which it is really, but I never seem to have enough of the right colour at the moment.

The nearest shop that sells good thread (I mainly use Gutermann or Coats) is a 28 mile round trip, so takes at least an hour all in.
Anyway,  I bought more thread and a tray to put it all on. It's amazing how few I seem to have, even though I spent £24 on thread just today!

Still, I am loving all this work, if you can call it that, because its fun and a challenge.
It could be worse, I could be like this little guy Farm boy found in the garden trying to find somewhere to hibernate.
I found him a tiny pot of his own and popped him in to protect him a bit. Bless him!

Hope you have all had a good weekend :)

Technical overload!

Hello there!
I've not put my laptop down for the last few days.
Even though I've not posted I have been here for hours, working through my blog making little adjustments and improvements.
I've joined Twitter, Flickr and Folksy, I made a favicon, I signed up to directories and search engines. I've pinged and buzzed and stumbled upon!
I made a button that you can have on your page if you so desire and I also added a disclosure policy to the bottom of my blog.
I think for now I have tweaked enough and should again concentrate on getting more content on here rather than shiny things!

I have also been keeping up with the blogs I am following and seeing all the wonderful stuff that the creative folk around me are up to, I especially enjoyed reading the Autumn issue of UK Handmade.
What a cool e zine.

I have joined a free motion quilt along over at lovely Christina's blog a few scraps. I am not making a full quilt at this stage, just a practice pad, or a sewing machine rest as I like to call it! Christina is really friendly and totally puts you at ease, what a good teacher!
I have also signed up for the great stocking swap over at Selina's Vintage. Basically you make a stocking and send it off to your swap partner and they do the same. Brilliant! What a cool idea.

All this media overload has meant I was in need of an escape, so the family decided to go and play in the woods and watch the sunset, which is getting scarily earlier every night!

Then it was back home to finish up a couple of  Lapsnugs for my stall next week. I can't believe its so soon!

Bagtastic!

I have been in my workwomb nearly all of this bank holiday as I was so behind on preparations for my first craft fair.
My lovely farm boy took the girls out for the afternoon today and yesterday while I cracked on and I am happy to say success!
I managed to design, cut, build and finish my first bag design!
I have decided to call it The Tilley Bag, as that is where is was born! :)

 It has two front panel pockets, as well as two zipper pockets inside those front panel pockets

and another two panel pockets on the back.

It is big enough to hold a laptop, in my laptop snug.

I am feeling pretty chuffed with myself.

Of course there will be tweaks and improvements but for tonight, I am happy with it.

 The Tilley Bag

Modeled by Farm boy

I think the girls enjoyed being out with daddy and the chickens too!

Breath in...and relax

I have my first ever craft show on 11th September, which means I am furiously making stuff, like all the time.
Well, that's the theory!
The reality is that it's only three weeks into the six weeks summer holidays so my wonderful girls are at home with me all day.
This also means that all my friends children are off too and well, they are BORED!
Which all adds up to well meaning sabotage, all week!
Ho hum!
So now, I am up to my eyes in it!
Today I am making five different versions of Pink Chalk Studio's Mail sack

I am slowly moving in the right direction!

My single hole punch came today, so I can finish off my fat chick price tags:

And I finished my lapsnug too!

Maybe these little helpers have been sewing of a night?

Or maybe it's the peaceful moments that I take when I am in the garden?

The cyclamen has just burst though. It's so delicate, almost like origami.

And the sweetpeas are still going strong, as is the Lavender.
Maybe I just need to think like a flower and blooming get on with it!