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.

Tales of a Crafting Weekend

So, this is a long post. With lots of pictures. You have been warned!

Its about time to go to bed and get ready for work in the morning but it would be a shame to do it without reflecting on a great crafting weekend. I decided that it was important to make some time to make things for my own family and home, as I've been so busy with orders lately that I haven't been able to do anything for myself. So my project for the weekend was to get as many things finished as I could and I didn't do badly at all!

First off, I think its important to say: I am totally in love with my new sewing machine:





Is it really possible to be in love with a machine? I'm not sure of the answer to that one, but if it is then that is me covered. My new Pfaff Expression 2.0 machine arrived during the week (a day early, thanks to the brilliant John in the Singer Sewing Centre in Waterford) and I just couldn't wait to get started with it. Funnily enough, my old machine had gone totally kaput the night before, so it was great timing. It really is a thing of beauty. I adore the fact that I can set the stitch length and width with the computer programme rather than fiddling around with dials, it makes it all so easy. It's really REALLY precise and exact when its sewing and I have been getting through work much faster than previously because I don't have to compensate for temperamental stitches and weird fabric feed issues. It has (the main reason I bought it) an integrated walking foot which means the fabric feed is completely even all the time and I just LOVE this. The stitch quality is excellent. It also has lots of dinky little features that just make things easier: the thread cutter is on the side; there is a little ruler/tape measure indented into the accessory board in a really useful place; there are width markings on both sides of the stitch plate; it has automatic needle down function which is brilliant for all my applique work, and it has automatic tie off too. Not to mention it has a gazillion beautiful decorative stitches. So there you go: I'm officially in love. Yes, those of you who used to know me as a wild young thing will wonder what has happend to me!!

I decided to put it through its paces on Friday night and make a skirt for myself. I've had my eye on the simple A line skirt in this book for a while:  

And I had some heavy cotton fabric that I got in Vibes and Scribes a month or two back that I wanted to use. I just love this book - I have it on loan from the library for months now, I just keep renewing it. I love the "can do" attitude and the lack of fuss - no fiddly patterns, just draw a shape and get on with it. This approach kind of suits me, I'm all about simplicity and I don't like a lot of the dress making patterns that are available to buy because there's just too much work in them! It also has a superb tutorial on putting in a zip - really really simple, and works perfectly! So, I sat down and in a couple of hours I had a new skirt! Thanks in no small part to how fast I could zig zag and sew the seams. I hand finished the button embellishment this afternoon in front of the fire and hey presto, a new wardrobe item for me! I'm really pleased with how it turned out, as I don't do a huge amount of dressmaking except for some simple toddler/pre-school dresses.

I love the button detail - I got this button in A.Rubanesque in Powerscourt centre in Dublin on a recent trip and have been saving it for something lovely. Funnily enough, it was the owner of this shop who gave the workshop on customising your wardrobe at the Knitting and Stitching show and I guess her words were ringing in my ears when I finished putting the skirt together. I decided to add a soft teal coloured trim to it at the bottom for extra interest and then remembered this button and added that on too. I'm not sure how it would wash, so the embellishment is actually sewn onto a small circle of felt and pinned onto the skirt so I can remove it when washing. It completely changes the look of the skirt from what it was.

Also, in front of the fire this afternoon, I finally put the brooch pin in the corsage I made after the Knitting and Stitching show a few weeks ago. This was covered in the above-mentioned workshop and I love how it turned out. I'm going to pin it to my boring black work jackets to brighten them up!

My next project: child's scarf. My little lady, E, has been asking for a scarf these last few mornings, now that the weather has gotten colder. I made the (very stupid) mistake of throwing out last year's one because it had gotten too old and worn, knowing that I had bought some yarn a few weeks ago to make a new one for her. I'm nearly halfway there already thanks to treble crochet stitches and chunky yarn. Its a marbled acrylic chunky yarn and, despite the yarn snob in me, I really like the colourway and the pattern in it. Plus it doesn't irritate me or her! Its very soft and squashy, perfect scarf yarn and I'm very tempted to do one for myself if there's enough yarn left over from the massive ball.

I also have been working away on orders I have gotten in the last couple of weeks. I'm almost finished an order for 3 baby comforter/taggies - I just need to stitch the seams on the last one, and embroider the babies' names on the backs. The first two turned out lovely, and I'm hoping to finish them off tomorrow night. The last one is a rocket one for a baby boy.

Finally, I got around to making some fabric pictures using the frames I got on the last trip I did to Ikea. I have had the idea for these floating around for a week or two now - I just picked some of my favourite fabrics and used Bondaweb to make some heart shapes. They are for my "craft corner" whenever I get to make the space for it in the playroom. I'm planning to buy a small desk and some shelves to put on the wall and set my machine up permanently with my sewing box, button jar and fat quarter box on the shelves. I also want to make some kind of an inspiration line/board for my little corner. It would really be great if I could get it done sooner rather than later as my sewing stuff is taking over the kitchen bit by bit! Anyway, while I'm waiting for my little corner, I've stuck these on the shelves in our living room where they are adding a gorgeous splash of fresh colour. I just love them and am tempted to make some more to use for little Christmas presents.

All in all, a very satisfying and crafty weekend! I got lots done (the X Factor provides great handstitching/crochet/knitting time!) and still managed to fit in lots of fun with D and E, meeting up with some friends and their kids, a lovely lie in this morning thanks to my wonderful husband T, and (shock horror) I even managed to get the house reasonably clean and tidy.

Sadly its back to reality tomorrow with a big day at work, but I'll be looking forward to cosying up on the sofa in front of the fire tomorrow evening and finishing the scarf for E.



Happy day

Yesterday I had my first trip to the Knitting and Stitching Show in the RDS. I had an absolutely fabulous day, it really was all I expected and more!! I didn't get to go at the last minute last year so was really anxious that nothing would stop me this year!

I got there just after 11 and the first person I met in the car park was my sister in law and her sister! Complete and lucky coincidence! We wandered around for a little while until I took myself off to the sewing machine manufacturers displays. I looked at lots of machines and wound up very confused and not at all sure what way to progress. Luckily H arrived at that very moment and dragged me off for a sandwich and a sit down and we were soon ready to start again.

I couldn't believe how busy the exhibition was, there were people everywhere and I noticed a huge range of ages and interests in those attending. Some of the displays were just stunning, I was in awe looking at some of the quilting work in particular. Unfortunately I didn't leave myself enough time to look at some of the artistic exhibitions which I was a bit disappointed about but there was so much to see it was hard to do it all. I met some great Irish suppliers I didn't know about and got great recommendations and advice from them, as well as making some contacts. I picked up lots of lovely fabrics in colours I am a little shy on!






I also picked up a charm pack in the new Bliss line by Moda which I just adore:





I love the colours and patterns in this line:




I'm going to use it to make a quilted throw for our living room.

I picked up lots of little bits too, beads, brooch pins, and mini coloured pegs for noticeboards.

One of the highlights of the day was the workshop in customising your clothes run by A.Rubanesque. It was really fab, lots of brilliant ideas to jazz up clothes, lots of well kept secrets revealed! I was inspired to purchase some ribbons and beads to make a corsage for myself. Hopefully it will all be as easy as it looked yesterday!

But my most significant purchase of the day was my brand new, fab-a-roony, all bells and whistles new sewing machine. I'm SO excited about it and can't wait for it to be delivered next week. It's a Pfaff Expression 2.0 which I bought from the Pfaff exhibitor who was the Pfaff/Singer/Husqvarna centre in Waterford which is great for me from a servicing point of view compared to Dublin. It is a big investment but I am sure it will be worth it. I got a heap of add-ons too, including an extension table and a quilting foot. I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on it and trying it out.

The day finished in real style with a lovely relaxed dinner with a bunch of my best friends who I don't see nearly often enough since moving to Cork. We had a great girlie chat and catch up, the only pity being that not everyone was there.

All in all, fantastic!