Make Up Brush Roll for Facebook giveaway

Tonight I finally found some time to make a giveaway item.  I'm running this giveaway from my Facebook page, so head on over there to enter. I will post anywhere, Ireland or internationally, so its open to anyone.

This is made from a very cute floral print, pink on white and uses a fabric from the same range as a contrast. The main fabric is "Darla" by Tanya Whelan.

It measure 24cm x 20 cm and holds 7-8 brushes, depending on size.

It rolls up and has a ribbon tie sewn in. I love it! Its a straightforward make, perfect for gift giving.

*In case ye were wondering, the make up and brushes are not included!! :-)

Progress Report! And opinions please!

I've been quiet on the blogging front this week - for 2 reasons. I have lost my good camera. Disaster! And I've been really busy working on 3 quilts. I finished the quilt top for the little girl's one tonight. (Sorry the pics aren't better, luckily I was too lazy to Freecycle my old camera before Chrismas so at least I could get some!)

I used 7.5 inch squares for most of it, with a small number of squares pieced from smaller squares. The dominant colours are shades of red and green (although some of the cooler green shades are coming up with a blue tone in this photo), but I used a range of bright, cheerful colours and prints to give it a vibrant, colourful look. The quilt top needs borders and I hope to baste it tomorrow/Wednesday and get it quilted by the weekend. I'm going to quilt it lengthwise in wide, wavy lines in keeping with the modern, contemporary look. I can't wait to see how it looks when its finished, there is such a difference between mid project and the finished object!

It took quite a long time to get the squares laid out in an arrangement that I was happy with, balancing colours, sizes of prints and dark/light shades. I really missed my camera here, I usually take pics of various layouts and then look at them on screen which I find very helpful. But I think I managed ok! I pieced the 8 rows yesterday and then this evening, pieced all the rows together. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I'll use a solid colour to bind it as the top is so busy.

 I've used a very eclectic combination of fabrics for this quilt. There are lots of Ann Kelle prints - the bright butterflies, stripes, the owls, the argyle print. Also some of the Bliss collection by Bonnie and Camille. Some lovely Michael Miller Ta-Dot and Daisy prints, Amy Schimler cat and owl prints, Riley Blake's Love Birds, Summer Song & Rainy Days collections and even a lovely Kokka Russian Doll print. Plus a few others too!

More detail here:

 I love this arrangement of the owls and the hedgehogs:

So I am pleased to be making progress. I need to measure it again tomorrow night and decide on whether to add sashing or not, if I do it will be solid white. I'm thinking either a solid red or a solid green for the binding - I'd love to hear your opinions! So please leave a comment if you would have a preference. I know what red I would use - one similar to the red dots in the photo just above, but if I go with a green I could use either a lime green shade, or a grass green. I think the darker shade would probably be better but still thinking about it. I'm veering towards the darker green if I'm honest as there's a lot of red in the quilt top, and also to bring out the green tones more.

I'm cutting the pieces for the boys quilt this week too. I'm using a different design for that one which I'm not going to attempt to explain at this time of night!

Finally, in my little report, remember this Bliss charm pack which I picked up at the Knitting and Stitching show?

It's now looking like this:

As you can see, I'm still in the middle of quilting it and there are pins everywhere! I couldn't get a decent picture of the whole thing due to the light/camera issue (plus the fact that Himself was watching something very important and not as willing to come out and hold it up for photos as he was for the other quilt). I am using Kristie's McKinley quilt pattern with some adjustments to make it slightly bigger and really enjoying it. I picked up the sashing fabric at the Knitting and Stitching show too and wasn't sure how it would work but its actually really nice against the Bliss squares - a picture in daylight would show the effect much better than the above pic - its not as mottled as it looks here. It's quilted on the edges of the square and the sashing in straight lines, quite close together. I have the horizontal quilting lines almost done and need to do the vertical ones next. Then just bind it and its done! Yippee, it will be lovely on our sofa as a throw and will fit in perfectly in our room. I found the basting a little tricky because the backing fabric was pieced with some stripes but got there eventually.

Ok, so that's my report. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the binding for the first quilt and keep your fingers and toes crossed my camera turns up!

Happy new year to me!

Today, I allowed myself a little retail indulgence with some of my Christmas vouchers and came home very excited with my purchases! I tried to do show and tell with Himself but he promptly hot-footed it out the door on an urgent errand to the..... credit union. So. Sitting here all alone (kids have childcare today, thank God, they needed the break from me more than I needed it from them! I never saw kids to run so fast in my life as they did this morning to greet their little friends :-) ) I thought I'd post a few pics of my purchases. Sharing is caring, right?? You'll be glad to know I didn't photo everything.

This is my favourite:


I love Amy Butler's bag designs and as well as the voucher I had to get it, it was 20% off! Bargain, right? (Cork ladies, Vibes and Scribes have 20% off all crafting books and have a brill selection!) Of course, then I had to go to Hickeys and pick up some Amy Butler fabric (sale there too of course!) I picked up this to make something from the book all for myself:


I know it looks a bit wonky in the photo, it was a bolt end so I got the extra bit (40cm, pretty decent!) for free. Wahoo!!!

I went to Eason's for a browse around and picked up another book, this time to help me be a more efficient person and eat better:



I thought it looked practical and lots of yummy recipes in there. I really need to cut back on the grocery bill so hoping the whole "economy gastronomy" thing works for me! I treated myself to a couple of magazines too



I love these 2 magazines and plan on sitting down with a cup of coffee in front of the fire later to read them.

I picked up other fabrics and quilt batting too but no pics today of those. Finally I got home to find a lovely package I ordered last week arrived:



Kate Spain's Fandango range charm pack for a quilt for our room. Love the colours in this one.

So there you go! Has anyone already got these books? If so, what do you think of them? Would love to hear your comments!

New Year's Challenge - I need your help!

OK, so in this post I am shamelessly asking for your help!

I found a fab challenge through a blog I read and decided I would like to take part. If you get selected as one of the finalists, you get to work with one of 12 amazing crafting bloggers - what a fantastic opportunity!

I entered my Charlotte Bag as my initial project - I am really proud of it, its all my own design, and I love the shape of it and the long strap.

So I would really love if you could do just 2 things for me:

1. I know I have lots of regular readers who are not signed in as "followers" of this blog. I would really love if you could follow the link in the sidebar to Follow my blog.

2. Click on THIS LINK for the competition site.

Then scroll down through the thumbnails and click on the photo of my bag (its no. 56) to link back here.



Thanks so much!

Sarah

PS. - I am working on something nice for a giveaway next week - keep an eye on the blog and/or my Facebook page for news!

2010 - My Favourite Things



My Favourite Makes of 2010

2010 has been good to me, with lots more ups than downs!

In the real world, we, like most other people, have battled with reduced income and general stress brought on by recession woes, but we are extremely lucky to both have good jobs. We've continued to find our way (slowly at times!) through the maze of parenthood, but that has brought joys far in excess of its undoubted challenges. We have had two new additions to our extended family, my gorgeous niece and nephew. We have seen lots of our family and friends, although we'd always like to see more of them. Overall, its pretty positive, looking back :-)

On a personal note, 2010 has been really great for me. I started this blog back in August and set up a Facebook page for it soon afterwards and I have been overwhelmed at the response I've gotten. Its really lovely to read people's comments and to get emails from them about things I've made. I've really enjoyed sharing my crafting and participating in the online blogging and crafting communities - there are so many extraordinarily talented people out there, I am in awe of some of them!

I am slowly but surely discovering a new creative confidence in myself and defining my own style in terms of design and colour. I think the thing I am most thrilled about is that so much of what I have made this year was from my own head - the blankets, the handbags, the taggie comforters. I am also pretty amused that I cannot, just cannot seem to follow a pattern exactly any more. I now tweak and adjust and generally make a pattern suit what I want it to do, which is something I would not have had the confidence to do 18 months ago. Not that I think I can improve on all these patterns, mind, its more that now the patterns are a starting point rather than an end point for me.

So to round out the year nicely, I want to say a massive THANK YOU to everyone who reads this blog, to my wonderful husband & kids who never complain when I pull out the sewing machine, to all my friends who have supported me and given me advice, and most especially to my fab friend Helen who has been there giving me advice and great ideas since before the start of it all, and who we can't wait to see in January - lets just hope its not a hat-trick of visits cancelled due to snow! Thanks hon xx

Festive cheer & my Christmas gifts revealed!

I just love the few days between Christmas and New Year. The Christmas mania is over and there's lots of down time, with opportunities to meet friends, laze around the house in PJs and spend some fun time with the kids. We just got back from my mum's today after a lovely few days with my parents, my sister and her husband and my brothers and sister in law. Also, maybe most importantly, my niece and nephew who are 8 and 9 months old. It was really great seeing my kids with their baby cousins - they got such a kick from making them laugh and playing with them. We still have lots of people to see in the coming days so I'm glad I have another whole week before I am back to work, not least because of the piles of laundry and the general tidy up that is needed in the house at this stage. At least our water came back this afternoon!

 

Yesterday morning, I met one of my oldest friends and her two girls for our annual Christmas meet up. This year, I made the girls' Christmas presents - bunting for both their rooms, and a cute drawstring bag for Fiona who is my goddaughter.

 

I'm hoping she will get lots of use out of it for her PE classes, or swimming lessons or similar. The "right side" of the bag is made from 3 main fabrics, and an edging strip at the top for the drawstring which is made from a soft pink cord.

  

I used a pink ribbon with a heart pattern to make the loops for the cord at the bottom.

 

I made the bunting for Niamh similar to Fiona's but with some differences. I used the pinking shears to give them a decorative edge and used a slightly different, but complimentary, fabric selection.

Finally, I brought some crochet with me to do in the evenings when watching some films in my mum's and she loved the yarn, so I gave her the finished scarf for her birthday next week.  I bought the yarn last year in Kenmare and can no longer find the ball band, but it is a ribbon texture and is in a beautiful colourway. After trying a couple of different patterns which didn't do it justice, I decided to do a simple, fine, treble crochet scarf to show it off in its beauty.

I did a simple, loose picot edging to finish it off. I love the sea colours in this scarf - teals, moss greens, pinks, pale blues. It will look lovely on my Mum.

Felt Phone Cozy

 

I've been doing a lot of crafty blog reading lately and over the last week or so decided to treat myself to a few pattern downloads! I picked out some beautiful quilt patterns to work on in the New Year (my main resolution!) - Alice from Red Pepper Quilts and Skittles and Charm Bracelets from Kate Conklin Designs. I have a lovely charm pack I bought at the Knitting and Stitching show in October that I'm thinking of using for the Charm Bracelets. Then, as I was on a role, I went and downloaded this pattern for phone cosies from http://www.mmmcrafts.blogspots.com/. I've been reading Larissa's blog for a long time and love her crafty style. I saw these cosies when she first posted them and thought they were gorgeous. So tonight I was in need of something completely different and had one sewn up in no time. They are a lovely, easy make and I just love working with felt, it's such a great, tactile fabric.

The pattern is sized both for an iPhone and a smaller version for a smaller phone. It fits my iPhone perfectly and I can attach to my bag using the ribbon loop. I made this with a lovely purple wool mix felt and appliquéd on the poppies in blues and pinks and think the colours work well together. The felt is top stitched with wonky lines and I love the effect.

 I also put on a pocket at the back for my headphones - no more rummaging around in the bottom of my bag.

I put a small snap fastener on the tab closure and I added a little ribbon trim on the inside of the cozy for some extra interest!

I will definitely be making some of the other versions of this phone cozy, using up my large felt stash and it will make a perfect addition to some of my Christmas gifts this year.