She's Been A Wandering Again.... (or Unfinished)

Can it really be over a month since I last blogged? And I've had so much to blog about too - so many lovely vintage finds and gifts, breakfasts at Bill's, days out, catch ups with friends (and even a night away with Mr B) and new friends of the four legged variety to fall in love with. So many photographs taken with the intention of sharing!

What I haven't done a lot of is making things. Oh, I've started OK but finishing is another matter! 

Bags

(in an attempt to use some of my huge amount of fabric)

I've enjoyed making the bags bit but I'm putting off making the handles - a bit of a boring job for me.

Cards

Started well but just lost enthusiasm

Sewing project bag

Used my favourite fabric (the cross stitch one), enjoyed choosing the fabrics but again, fell at the last hurdle (handles).

Quilt as you go cushion

Will probably never finish this, love the fabric but it doesn't go with anything in my house plus, it's a bit puffy for my liking!

Bunting

This is to decorate the craft fair venue not to sell. I actually have a good reason this isn't finished - I need to measure the space.

There's probably even more that I've forgotten about and will stumble upon one day....

How is your making going at the moment?

Thanks for visiting

xXx

Evening out

Despite having a stinky cold I'll soon be heading off here

to do this

really looking forward to it, and hoping there will be a shopping opportunity too!

Have a great evening

&

thank you for visiting

xXx



A Hello and a Catch up...

Firstly, I must thank you all for your lovely comments about my bicycle.

I have such super feedback and admiring glances when I use it that I know I'm a really lucky girl to be given such a wonderful gift from Mr B.

(And yes, Mrs C I really need to look for a way to attach the vintage picnic hamper to the back as it does look so perfect!).

I have changed my mind yet again about how to decorate the kitchen - instead of a feature wall (after buying 3 different wallpapers - luckily none of them expensive), I am just going with all plain painted walls. The reason is this...

the most gorgeous fabric that I have found for the roman blinds.

I love birds but I don't love making blinds or curtains, I think though, with such beautiful fabric it's going to be a real labour of love this time.

 

I have been doing some research for a project I've been thinking about doing for a long time, my work colleague has convinced me to give it a go sooner rather than later - I'll keep you posted (it's going to be a steep learning curve)!

 

Earlier today I popped into town to have lunch with a couple of friends and came back with these

 

  I don't ever wear my hair up but whilst reading this book

I came across a tip to use elastic hair bands as closures, one of those things that seem so obvious that I wonder why I've not thought of it!

Our annual holiday is coming up soon and I want a portable project to take with me, inspired by an earlier project of mine (above) I have been preparing to make some mini patchwork pieces to then embroider or applique a picture on  (see here for the original post) so I'm off to cut out templates etc.

OOh, I almost forgot to show you my little charity shop haul today...

all of this for under £5 - I'm very happy!

Hope you are all having a fab week so far, what's the weather like with you? Here it is drab and grey but dry - good for getting things done!!



Grey day..

Here today in 'Sunny Worthing' it is grey and cold. I quite like days like this, I get those things done that I've been putting off! Do you remember weeks ago I started making a new throw for my sofa? Well, here it is - finished!

Some of you may remember that I had a dilema when I discovered that the backing fabric was slightly too small. Here is what I went with in the end and I'm happy I did it that way.

All of the fabric is French General by Moda. I love the reds in this range.

A few pics of Meet and Make this week, didn't remember to get my camera out until the lovely Kerry reminded me!

(This plate is from a dinner set I won on ebay. It

is the only piece that made it through the post intact.

To say I was gutted is an understatement!!)

The lovely Kerry's masterpiece using Staz On white ink

Our two newest members

A bit of crochet going on

Ehrm, what can I say about this pair?!!

More crochet love!

A couple of weeks ago I discovered Photobucket, I was so excited and had a play. When I went back on Friday it had all changed and the mosaic tool that I had planned to use was gone. Instead was a collage tool, after more than an hour I gave up! I couldn't get it to work.

Does anyone know of a free image hosting site that offers simple mosaics for your photos?

Thanks for visiting.

I hope you are all having a lovely (if wet) BH weekend.

xXx

WOYWW 149 - What's on your Workdesk Wednesday

Pondering....

Sadly, the EE isn't mine, although if it stays there much longer....

I started the patchwork throw back in February, sewed the squares together and then lost interest. On Sunday I decided to finish it. All was going well until I got to the the backing stage and found my fabric was slightly too small!

Since then I've been thinking about whether to make the border smaller (but it is the fabric I like most in the design!), or whether to add some blocks to the backing fabric to extend it. What do you think? Much as I'm tempted to go with the first option I think I'll probably extend the back as I think it will niggle me forever knowing that I didn't do it properly, and I want it to last a looong time. The previous one I did, not that long ago, is falling apart already!

And finally, this is what happens in our house if you try to work on the floor!

Thanks to all the WOYWWers who visited last week, I loved having a nosey around all the desks.

Pop over to Julia's to see what this is all about if you fancy a look yourself!

Thanks for visiting

xXx

Finished!

Mini Patchwork

This is a quick post about a quick project!

A little while ago I bought a square frame in a Charity Shop, as soon as I saw it I knew what I wanted to do with it.

And here it is

Mini Log Cabin.

Of course, I was too impatient to paint the frame before putting the patchwork in! It will be painted my favourite neutral colour, Farrow and Ball's Old White (eventually).

Look, I even planned the design on paper first!

Above is my first attempt, as well as it being a bit wonky, the randomness of the colours just didn't do it for me.

Have you managed to get any crafting done this BH weekend?

Thanks for visiting.

Lovely Lewes

Yesterday I had a jolly day out in Lewes with Kerry and Jane. We started here for breakfast, a place I'd heard about but never visited.

I had granola and Jane and Kerry had grilled vine tomatoes, I can certainly recommend the granola, I'd be happy to have it for breakfast every day (with someone to prepare it for me, of course!). I loved everything about the place, but especially the food. Having tasted some of Bill's Rhubarb and Ginger Jam I had to bring some home to share with my husband, and some tasty looking bread to go with it.

We had a mooch around the charity shop next door. I bought a beautiful tablecloth and have ambitious plans to make a lined skirt from it. In another charity shop I found a bottle of dried lavender for 50p, I bought it for the bottle but will still use the lavender. The small bottle was bought from the rather pricey Flea Market.

We then made our way up the hill to the Needlemakers where we visited the wonderful Patchwork Dog and Basket.  The owner was helpul and friendly and had a gorgeous little dog. I would certainly recommend a visit, the range of fabrics is super and I really like the way there are so many quilts around the shop to inspire. There are also lots of vintage items on display. I just wish it was closer.

Here are some photos I took

This is what I bought

The spotty and flowery fabric will be used to make a skirt and the stripey fabric a top (well, I am a dressmaker now you know!)

The top fabric on the right is by French General, a range that I love and have a lot of around my home.

Here is what Jane splashed out on

Kerry chose these lovely fabrics and trims

I'm really loving the cowboy fabric!

Then it was tea and a scone at The Needlemaker Cafe before making our way home.

We used to go to Lewes a lot when the children were younger, and I'd forgotten what a great place it is. I'm intending to return very soon.

Thankyou Kerry and Jane for a lovely day and big thanks to Kerry for driving us there (and back).

 XX

Thanks for visiting

Week seven project

Inspired by Jess's wonderful quilt top and some fridge magnets I bought at the quilt exhibition held at the V and A a couple of years ago, I decided to make a mini quilt top as my project for week seven.

 I recently bought a charm pack based on fabric of the 1930's, it has some lovely, bright patterns. I began by drawing round one of my magnets to get a template for the paper pieces and then cut 60 paper, and 60 slightly larger fabric hexagons. Then I sewed a piece of fabric around each paper hexagon, I think this method is called paper piecing. After that it was just (!) a case of sewing all the hexagons together. This took a lot longer than I anticipated and I went a day over with this project. I've only ever done machine patchwork before but have been intending to try this method for a while.

Here it is almost finished, I'm loving the summery colours!

I have decided to leave the edges unfinished in case I want to add to it in the future as I still have lots of the fabric left. I also have some other ideas that I may add in the future, I think it would look good with Home Sweet Home appliqued on it, or maybe some buttons or mini doilies. For now though I consider it finished.

Here is the completed project

I am surprised how much I enjoyed making this, I'm not one for hand sewing usually - too impatient, I think. This is something I'm sure I'll do again, it was very relaxing sitting listening to music whilst hand sewing. In fact I'm already dreaming of sitting in the garden in the summer surrounded by scented roses and with a jug of pimms on the garden table, hand sewing in the sunshine (now that really IS a dream!)

Do you prefer hand or machine sewing? I always thought it was machine sewing for me, but now I'm not so sure.

The reality!

Thanks, as always, for visiting.