Contented

Finished Christmas table runner

This morning I finished making the Rail Fence table runner from Sew Hip magazine.  It was really straightforward to put together - no unpicking required!

I'm so pleased with how it turned out.  It's a little smaller than I anticipated, but I can live with that.  And I just love the fabrics - they're such "happy" prints, pretty but not too girly.

Next on the to-do list is a set of 4 Christmas stockings that my friend has asked me to make for her kids.  Just waiting for some more fabric to arrive...
 

R x

Eye candy part two - Country Living Christmas Fair

I had a lovely day out on Friday with my best friend Hazel, at the Country Living Christmas Fair up in Islington (despite the absolutely God-awful weather!)  We managed to find each other on the train and had a lovely natter on the way up - I don't get to see her very often and, when I do, it's normally with the kids, so this was extra-specially nice!  Neither of us had ever been to the fair before, so weren't quite sure what to expect, but we weren't disappointed!  The place is huge - over 3 levels - and it was absolutely HEAVING!!  I'm so glad we got there early.  Needless to say, we had a wonderful time, really enjoyed looking at all the lovely things, and found plenty to spend our pennies on!  Having said that, I was actually very good and did keep within my budget, although there were several stalls that I thought I might go back to and never did - for which I'm quietly kicking myself now - and there were probably lots that we didn't even see as it was so jam packed, especially on the top level.  (Good reason for me to go back again next year, I say!!)

So, do you want to see what I got?

a wooden "noel" sign and some pretty paper chains...

a little ceramic heart...

a terracotta robin and some beautiful ceramic snowflakes...

another ceramic birdie and two more hearts (do you sense a theme developing here?)...

two little Christmassy stamps and ink pads...

oh, and what's this?  Not more birds?!  What can I say, I just love that kind of birdie shape.  This beautiful garland was actually bought for me by Hazel as a belated birthday present (thank you honey!)  I also bought a little ceramic tile decoration with an oyster catcher on, as a gift for my mum, but, of course, completely forgot to take a pic of it before I gave it to her!

Although this is all very Christmassy stuff, I strongly suspect that one or two of the items will end up staying on permanent display!  
 

By about two o'clock we were starting to feel pretty tired so we called it a day.  My feet were killing me by the time I got home, but it was so worth it, we had a fab day out.  I'm now really hoping to go to the Spring fair next March - best start saving!

R x
 
 
 

Eye candy part one - Swap goodies!

WARNING: Picture heavy post!

Last week, Thursday I think it was, I received my paperbag swap parcel from my partner, Claire.

All beautifully wrapped, and I love the stripy string Claire used!  You will notice in the above picture that the top parcel is labelled "early christmas present" - well of course I opened that one first!!  Yes, I admit I have no restraint whatsoever!  Inside was this lovely stocking...

which contained these lovely little parcels...

which contained all these lovely goodies!

You can't really see it properly, but the book is a colouring book, full of winter scenes...

I love it!  Such an original idea.   Anyway, onto the main parcel, which contained the items made with the fabric I had sent to Claire - once again, beautifully wrapped in pink tissue paper and ribbon.

The sweetest little fabric and felt house picture, in a lovely antique effect frame.

A GORGEOUS fabric owl garland, already hanging in pride of place in my hallway.  Not sure if you can see but the letters on the owls spell out "WELCOME"

This last item is in fact an apron, which I just realised I didn't get round to photographing in it's entirety but, trust me, it's beautiful!  It has the two hexagon flowers on the front, the back is lined in pretty pink gingham and there are sweet little daisies embroidered on the waistband.  (I will try and get a proper pic of it for next time - promise!).  I admitted to Claire that I don't actually wear aprons at home normally, but I think she might have changed all that!  Thank you SO MUCH Claire, I love all the goodies you sent me and I just hope you will like what I'm sending you.
 
I'm aiming to post my parcel to Claire tomorrow, so will hopefully be able to show you what I made for her later this week.  To all the other paperbag swappers - please do let me know once you have blogged about your parcels so that I can pop by and check them all out!
 
Tomorrow I shall be back to tell you all about the wonderful Country Living Christmas Fair.

See you then!

R x
 
 
 
 

 
 

Friday

It's Friday and we're coming to the end of our half term break.  It's been a lovely, lazy sort of week, but the weekend is actually going to be quite a busy one.  It's Joe's 7th birthday next week so we are having his little birthday outing on Sunday (he doesn't really do parties) - a trip to the cinema to see Fantastic Mr Fox with his two best friends.  Tomorrow I will probably be whizzing around like a mad thing shopping, tidying and baking in readiness - we're coming back here after the movie for birthday cake so the dining room at least needs to be tidied up!  At the moment it's covered in school books, toys, random bits of paper etc - the usual crap!   On Joe's actual birthday we will have a little tea party with both sets of grandparents coming to visit, so that'll be another cake to make!  I must check our candle situation too....

Thanks for the comments about my planned table runner.  For those that were interested, this is the pattern I have my eye on..

It's the Rail Fence Runner pattern that was in Sew Hip magazine a couple of months back.  It looks pretty straightforward, but I'll let you know how I get on with it.

In the meantime, looky what arrived in the post this morning...

Have a great weekend!

R x
  

Swap news

Hopefully, everyone participating in the paper-bag swap has made contact with their partners now and are busy making friends!  The deadline for posting out your paper bag of supplies isn't until Monday (19th) but myself & my partner Claire, have already exchanged parcels - they both arrived today!  And rather spookily, we both sent rather similar fabrics!

Here's what I sent to Claire...

 

Some scrummy French Hatbox - a floral and a polka dot - and this is what Claire sent to me...

 

...a very pretty pink floral and a polka dot!!  What can I say, great minds obviously think alike!  Despite this being my swap, I found it really hard to choose what to send, at one point my dining room table was literally covered with fabric as I "auditioned" combinations! 

 

Claire and I didn't pick a theme for our makes, but we have agreed to make one thing useful and one thing "pointless but pretty"!  I've been busy today looking online and through all my craft books for some inspiration and ideas and, to be honest, I'm not sure I can pick just two things to make!  But I'm really looking forward to it and I know that my fabric is in safe hands too.

R x

 

Starting small

It feels like an absolute age since I've started any new sewing projects.  Since finishing the quilt, the only sewing going on has been the very boring but necessary, back-to-school kind - taking up trousers and sewing in name tapes etc.  Amazing how quickly you can fall out of the habit of doing something!  And, although the hols aren't over quite yet, this morning I felt like I really wanted to start on something now.  I recently discovered this lovely blog and browsing through the posts this morning gave me just the inspiration I needed!  Melissa makes some amazing things from felt and when I found this fab tutorial of hers on Sew-Mama-Sew I knew it was the perfect project to get me back in the swing of things!  Unfortunately, I also decided that it would make a lovely present for someone, so I can't show you any pics of the finished article yet - sorry! 

 

But it was such fun to make, choosing all the different colours and cutting out the little shapes.  And I think it's given me just the oomph that I needed, so that now I cannot wait til I can get the sewing maching out again, and maybe start on another quilt!

Have a great week!

R x

Another random post

* Yesterday I wanted to crack on with the zippy pouches I still needed to make for the summer fair - it did not go well!  First I realised that I had bought the wrong kind of interfacing (for the SECOND time running!) but I carried on, completely f***ed it up anyway and broke a needle in the process.  Grrrr.  Today I had another go, BROKE ANOTHER NEEDLE, but did at least manage to work out where I went wrong yesterday and produced one pouch.  But I'm now so hacked off about it that I've decided not to make any more (just for the time being) - what I've made so far will have to be enough!

* Luckily, just at that moment the postman knocked, and delivered some canvas fabric, which meant I could make a start on the end of term gifts for Joe's teachers.  I've decided to make them a simple tote bag each - I don't think you can ever have too many of those, especially when you have school books and stuff to lug around.

Usually we just make some fudge or brownies for the teachers but I really want to show my appreciation for everything that has been done for Joe, so figured that, hopefully, something handmade will be a bit more meaningful.

* Another lovely thing - in the playground this morning Kate, a TA who's recently been brought into Joe's class to work with him on a one to one basis, came up to me and said how much she loves working with Joe, "he's a little breath of fresh air" she said!  It makes me feel so relieved & happy that the people who are working with him really do seem to care about him (and that he likes them too!) 

* I think I may have spoken too soon - almost as soon as I had written that I would not be starting any more big projects for the summer, than I started to think that I really, REALLY wanted to start on another quilt!!  But I will at least restrain myself until I've checked off all the other things on the list first!

* Speaking of which, I've had a few ideas for word play.  When I think of sugar I think "white" - so I want to use some different white fabrics and then some white on white embroidery.  Which means another trip to the fabric shop as I have no white embroidery thread! 

Sorry for the randomness of this post, my mind seems to be a bit all over the place today!

Enjoy the rest of the week!

R x

Sugar

 

The word chosen for round one of word play is "sugar".   I don't have the foggiest idea yet what I'm going to do with it - but I'm really excited about playing around with some ideas (once I get them that is!!).  I think I should be ok - I think I might have had trouble with some of the other words that were suggested, but they may still come up again in future months!  (The word I suggested was "warm", just in case you were interested)  I can't wait to see what everyone else is going to create. 

Just for the record, this is what my sewing to-do list is looking like at the moment:

1. Finish 4 zippy pouches for the summer fair - deadline 26th June

2. Finish tying Georgina quilt and bind - deadline - whenever!

3. Word play - deadline 14 July

4. Make end of year gifts for teachers - deadline 19th July

5. Seaside swap - deadline 31st July

So not looking too hectic then.  I'm not sure if I shall start any more big projects between the end of school and September - although there are lots of things I want to make, it won't be fair to the kids if I spend their summer hols sewing, so I might have to put the sewing machine away for August.  I have some sock yarn waiting in my knitting bag so maybe that'll be my summer holiday project - it's much easier to squeeze in a few minutes knitting here and there! 

Oh, and before I forget, here's the finished baby/lap quilt, all bound and washed and looking rather lovely, if I do say so myself!

 

 

Have a great week!

R x

A craft fair - and maybe a swap idea?

So, on Sunday morning my parents, brother and I went to the craft fair at Penshurst Place.  This is a lovely, big craft fair that is held twice a year, in May and September, and we usually go to at least one of these.  Having been there so often, a lot of the stalls are very familiar, but there are always some new ones too, and always lots of lovely things to look at. 

 

A not terribly good photo of the actual house.  The weather on Sunday was a bit of a mish mash, not quite knowing if it wanted to be cloudy or sunny!

I always come away with a few bits and pieces and this visit was no exception!  My first purchase was this gorgeous, walnut heart, which has been treated with lemon oil and so smells delicious!

 

It's currently hanging on a cupboard in the dining room but I want to find a better spot for it - perhaps if I ever finish decorating the hallway it could hang there?

I've built up rather a collection of hearts now.  Another thing I have quite a collection of, and have posted about before, is jugs, and I just couldn't resist this little one:

 

I'm trying to make more of an effort to actually use the jugs I have (rather than have them sitting, collecting dust in a cupboard) so I filled it with forget-me-knots from our garden and it's looking very pretty in our living room.

 

As well as some scrummy handmade chocolates (umm, yes, they've all gone now!) I also got three beach-hut themed things - the little tin and set of cards "Beach Huts in a Box" by Emma Ball, and then a lovely handmade card, based on an embroidered picture by Abigail Mill (check out her website - the embroidered pictures are absolutely beautiful!)

I think (no, actually I know) the reason I am drawn to the image of beach huts is that it is such a prominent memory from my childhood.  My grandparents lived in Devon and every summer holiday we would go and stay for the whole six weeks and spend almost every day down at the beach, at the hut that they owned.  And buying these things from the craft fair got me thinking how fun it might be to do a seaside themed swap.  I've not hosted a swap before but what do you think?  Is anyone up for it?  It doesn't have to be beach huts, you could have seashells, icecreams, sandcastles, fish, sailing boats, lighthouses - the list goes on!  Let me know what you think, and if I get enough interest then I'll get organising!  I know there are lots of other swaps/quilting bees etc going on (not to mention summer fairs to prepare for!) so I would give plenty of time for this one - thinking maybe end of July?  Anyway, just let me know what you think.

Have a great week!

R x

A week in pictures

This week I have been...

... sewing,

 

coin purses for my stall,

 

secret sewing for the Freestyle swap,

 

and, AT LAST, starting to piece my Georgina quilt top,

... receiving,

 

scrummy fat quarters purchased from here,

... reading,

 

a new magazine and a new book,

... and planting,

 

three little strawberry plants, bought for Joe, which he is going to take care of (with some help!)

There has also been plenty of other stuff that I don't have pictures for - such as knitting (secret), baking (eaten!) and a fair bit of Joe stuff, but I'll save all that for another post.

Hope you're all enjoying the beautiful weather we're having this weekend.  Tomorrow I'm off to Penshurst craft fair with the parents - so you can bet there will be a bit of show and tell afterwards!

Oh, and I just couldn't post without mentioning, but is it just me or did anyone else watch Kirstie's Homemade Home on Thursday and feel a bit shocked that she'd hung a "Never Mind the Bollocks" poster in the children's playroom?!! 

Happy Bank Holiday Weekend!

R x