I'm such a bad blogger...

I'm such a bad blogger, I haven't posted in months but I do have a fairly good excuse, I mean reason.  I've had to cover an additional area at work which is a 3 1/2 hour drive for me so I haven't had a whole lotta time to be creative.  When I haven't been traipsing across the country I've been completely exhausted.  On top of that my daughter started school in September and that's been hard going.  I truely expected her to love it but more often than not it's been tears and begging (her not me) to get her to stay.  It's back to school on Monday after a week in Spain for half term; I'm hoping it won't be too painful.  When I find where I left my memorystick ill upload some recent photos.

 

The Festival of Quilts

My mum and I had a fantastic time at the Festival of Quilts today.  Although we have been to "Stitching for Pleasure" at the NEC for the last 3 years, this was our first time at this show, but it certainly won't be the last! I bought loads of stitchery goodness; buttons, wadding, wool tops, thread, quilt and dress fabric.  If I wasn't so tired I'd been stitching right now! I hope everyone who has visited the show had as good a time as we did. 

                                                                    

I sooo love Pinterest

Thought for the day:

Source: etsy.com via Charmaine on Pinterest

Small New Blog Meet-Up

Fab blog Lily's Quilts is hosting a "Small New Blog Meet-Up" - a great chance to meet new online friends. Thanks for the opportunity Lynne. I love anything creative - especially to do with fabric. I'm a new quilter and love "blog land" for finding inspiration, ideas and information.

New Obsession - Cloth Dolls

Ok, so I have developed yet another crafting obsession - making cloth dolls.  My mum bought me the book "Introduction to making cloth dolls" by Jan Horrox and this is my first attempt at making one.  She is a woodland nymph and I've called her Mahala, after my nan.  I really enjoyed the whole process of putting her together; from painting her face to the free motion machine embroidery on her arms and legs.  I need to work on shaping the nose better next time but for a first effort, I was happy with the end result.

On another note, my "Night Before Christmas" quilt is coming along, although I haven't worked on it for a week or so because I got side tracked with the doll!  I'm kind of waiting until The Festival of Quilts at the NEC in August before I do any more to it, in case I find some fabric there I want to include.

Bethany finished playgroup this week - I admit I did shed a tear or two (what am I going to be like on her first day of school?)...so I probably won't get a whole lot of free time in the next couple of months.  I'll have to get my crafty fix from the children's centre sessions we'll be going to!!!

Creative catch-up

I haven't posted for such a long time but I'm on a roll this morning!  The last few weeks have been filled with Bethany having chicken pox, me having tonsilitus (whilst I was on holiday - how fun was that!), dieting (I've lost a stone yippee), redundancy worries blah blah blah BUT I have been working on a few crafty projects (when the going gets tough, get sewing!).

I made my daughter 3 dress to take on holiday - this is the only one she would wear.  In fact we had a spat about it which resulted in me decided never to make her any more clothes!  She told her dad "I wish mummy wouldn't make me dresses" so now I've got two dresses with no one to wear them.  Maybe I'll try putting them on Etsy.

Ok, so now I have another addiction...

Since I made my the T'Shirt quilt for Bethany I have become addicted to the idea of quilting.  Ok, so this is a little out of seanson, because we're in June but....

a couple of years ago I bought a design pack from Embroidery Library when they were having one of their fantastic special deals - "Night Before Christmas".  This story has been part of our family Christmas tradition since I was a child and I finally feel like I'm ready to have a go at making a quilt with the designs.  I know its going to take me a lonnnggg time (there are 30 embroidered blocks without counting any of the extras in the pack) so I wanted to start now in the hope that I would get it done by December!  

I've been trawling the web looking for Christmas fabrics to use in the quilt.  I have to say, I can't believe how much cheaper fabric is in the US.  A lot of the fabric I found was the same price in dollars as it is in pounds in the UK.  So I have ordered some fabric from America, because even with the postage cost, it works out cheaper than buying it in the UK - how crazy is that?

Anyway, I'm really enjoying the process at the moment.  I try to get one block embroidered a day - 10 stitched so far so I'm on target.  I can't wait to get my parcels in the post! :) 

Crafty Shopping Bag

 

I whipped up this shopping bag for my crafty friend Sally's birthday.  I always love making stuff for people who I know appreciate the work that goes into it.  The bird is machine embroidered and I bought the design from Embroidery Library.

Yo Yo T'Shirt

My sister bought herself this T'shirt and asked me if I could decorate it with some buttons or flowers to make it a little more special.  I made a bunch of little yo yo's ages ago, most of which had some green in the fabric so I thought they would look nice in a feature on the neckline.  I tried pinning them in various positions and when I was satisfied I hand stitched them on with invisible thread, then accented the centres with either buttons or beads.  Fingers crossed that my sister likes it!

T'Shirt Memory Quilt

This week I have been working on my first ever quilting project.  For a very long time I have been attracted to quilting but didn't know where to start and was quite overwhelmed by the thought of it.  I finally decided to bite the bullet and go for it.  I had been saving loads of Bethany's pretty T'shirts since she was born and I wanted to make them into quilt that she can use now but them pass on to her children.  I was surprised at how quickly it came together.  I enjoyed each step, even the hand stitching on the binding (I'm not a fan of hand stitching because I get a lot of pain in my wrists).  I can definately see how addictive quilting could be and it has given me the confidence to think about a bigger project.

Ladies Top to Girls Dress Refashion

I bought this ladies top for 50p from a car boot sale.  I knew it would be too small for me but thought I could use it to make something for Bethany.  The bright bold print would be perfect for her and she loves to help me sew.

The obvious thing was to make it into a summer dress, so after laundering, I measured her chest size, then pinned and cut along one side of the top.  I used the off-cuts to make tie straps and the flower embellishment.  The flower was created on my embroidery machine using a design from Pickle Pie Designs  Pretty cute eh?

Reversible Headband

I did a spot of blog hopping yesterday and came across a great tutorial for a headband: 
Brown Paper Packages: S4S- Extra-Curricular Activities, Part 2  Bethany asked me to make it for her so I set to it.  It didn't take long and as you can see she was pleased with the result.

 

Tatertots and Jello: One of my Favorite Things -- Jo Totes Camera Bag Giveaway!!!

Tatertots and Jello: One of my Favorite Things -- Jo Totes Camera Bag Giveaway!!!



Take a look at these fantastic camera bags.

A Throne fit for a Princess

I made this for Bethany's birthday party a couple of weeks ago.  I just used a couple of cardboard tubes (from the inside of wrapping paper rolls) and taped them onto a childs chair.  I then created the cover and embroidered the emblem to match Beth's princess dress.  All the little girls at the party wanted to try out the throne!