Ditzy and Dotty

Valentines Card

2012-02-14T09:00:00.000Z

I thought I’d show you the Valentines card I’ve made for Mr D&D.

I wish I could take all the credit for this, but I found the paper pattern on an email from Etsy labs. Click here for the link to the pattern. It was created by Naomi Shiek of Woodland Papercuts, who makes the most gorgeous papercut pictures.
I must admit that cutting all of the tiny little holes in the piece of card did challenge me, and there are a couple of places where I didn’t cut quite carefully enough and it tore, however I love the overall look of it. I backed the cutout on a piece of red handmade paper and glued the whole lot to a plain white card. I printed out the greeting on the front as my handwriting leaves a lot to be desired!
Hope everyone has a lovely Valentines day.
Sally
xxx

Padded Gadget Case

2012-02-11T17:36:00.001Z

What a perfect start to my day - the arrival of my fabric from Fabric Rehab. I’d ordered some gorgeous fabric for my next projects in Simply Homemade, but while I was placing my order I couldn’t resist adding a few bits of my own, namely their emergency budget bundles in pink, blue and yellow.

How gorgeous are these? The pieces of fabric were also much larger than I’d thought they’d be too.

Daisy spotted the fabric before I’d hidden it away and asked if I could make her a case for her new ipod – guess which fabric she picked?

A good choice I’m sure you’ll agree. I added a layer of wadding to make it a little bit more padded, and used a piece of fabric from my scrap box to line it.

If you are very observant, you will notice I managed to sew the buttonhole slightly (or strongly) to one side. Luckily Daisy is not fussy and is very happy with her gadget case. The best bit is I have enough of the monkey fabric left to make another case!

Hope everyone else had as good a day as me

Sally

xxx

Fabric Purses

2012-02-10T11:28:00.001Z

I had some small scraps of fabric left over from the window seat cushion I made, and rather than adding them to my overflowing scraps box, I thought I’d make something with them.

The front and back of the first one. Very bright and cheerful colours!

The second one is slightly calmer!

As you can see I’m having a few problems getting the background colour right. I was hoping it would be white, but it seems to always come out grey. I guess it’s to do with the lighting in the room I’m in. I did buy this book:

a couple of weeks ago, so I guess I’m going to have to go back to it and read it rather than just going through looking at the lovely photos!

Anyway I’ve put the purses up for sale in my shop, so if anyone is interested, hop over there & have a look.

Have a lovely weekend

Sally

xxx

Window Seat Cushion and Fabric Photos (again)!

2012-02-06T14:52:00.001Z

Well, I did it, I finally finished my cushion at 7pm last night!

It was so much harder to make than I’d ever thought it would be, as its an odd shape. I drew around the cushion and cut it from the fabric I’d already patchworked. Then I had to fit it to the edging – which resulted in me sewing it wrong the first time & having to unpick it before I decided that I wouldn’t try to cut corners and I would really have to pin it together before stitching it! Getting the foam into the cover was slightly tricky too (should’ve bought a longer zip!) but after 10 minutes of wrestling and bending the foam, I managed it.

Here is a slightly closer photo of the fabric, just so you can see how lovely the colours are.

I’ve also just got the latest copy of Simply Homemade Magazine & any regular readers of my blog may recognise some of the things in there:

Patterns for making my fabric pictures are now featured in there, along with a stitched family word search and how to make a fabric picture of your house. Obviously my house doesn’t have yellow walls and an orange roof, and at this time of the year, my tree is definitely not that green, but to all intents and purposes, that is my house.

Sally

xxx

Work in progress–window seat cushion

2012-01-26T20:15:00.001Z

Apologies for the lack of posting – I’ve had a bit of a busy couple of weeks working. Sadly no crafting accomplished, but I have earned a little bit of money so that I can indulge my fabric habit!

Anyway, my latest project is to make a cover for my window seat.

I order some fabric from Fabricworm, which arrived a couple of weeks ago & which I absolutely love.

So for the last couple of days I’ve been cutting squares and sewing them together. I’ve managed to make the top, bottom and side pieces, all that is left now is to put them together.

I did start cutting the squares out with the Accuquilt cutter I won, but sadly the 5” square die doesn’t cut at all cleanly and I was finding that I had to finish cutting all of the squares out manually, and I was getting a bit annoyed with it. So I went back to the cutting mat & rotary cutter and millions (well, it felt like that) of squares later I had enough to make the cover.

Shall I say I’ll put it all together tomorrow? or will you hold me to it? I know - I’ll say I’ll finish it by the end of next week and then it’ll be a nice surprise & will make me look highly efficient when I finish it early!

Sally

xxx

Tutorial Simple Paper Boxes

2012-01-03T19:04:00.001Z

I thought I’d share a quick tutorial with you today. Simple paper boxes that are ideal for putting small handmade gifts or chocolates in.

The good thing about these boxes is that you can make them whatever size you like – there is no real measuring involved and only 4 cuts to make – easy huh?

You will need 2 square pieces of paper - 1 for the top & 1 for the bottom of the box. A4 paper cut into a square will make a box base or lid 3” x 3” (7.5cm x 7.5cm)

Find the middle, I would suggest you draw faint lines on the wrong side from corner to corner to find the middle. These won’t be seen when the box is finished. Then take each corner to the middle point and crease the fold.

Repeat for each of the corners

Then open them out again.

Next fold each corner up until it touches the fold on the opposite side

Repeat for all of the other corners. Then fold each corner down to touch the line nearest to it. (ignore the pink lines – they will be used later, I forgot to photograph this step so did it later!)

Are you still with me? I hope this has made some sense! Folding over now, next take your scissors and cut along the lines I’ve highlighted in pink (see I told you they would be used later!) The ideas is that you cut down past 2 folded lines on opposite corners & down one fold on the other two corners. Hopefully these photos will explain things a bit better.

Now for the part where you need more hands than you actually have! Take one of the corners with the shorter cut & fold it over as in the photo below. You will have to reverse the fold nearest to the corner point to make it lay flat on the base of the box.

Fold the opposite corner in the same way and hold it.

Then fold one of the longer edges up and over the sides.

Repeat for the other side.

Hey presto, the bottom of a box. Repeat the above for a second time to make the lid of the box. If you are using paper you can make both pieces the same size & they will fit together. If you are using card or thicker paper, I suggest you make the bottom of the box slightly smaller so it will fit nicely inside the top.

Hope these boxes come in handy for lots of things.

Sally

xxx

Lucky End to the Year

2012-01-01T15:33:00.001Z

At the beginning of December, I was lucky enough to win an Accuquilt Go!Baby cutter & 3 dies, in a giveaway over on Pings&Needles. (Go have a look at Sarah’s blog if you’ve not visited before – its fab!) Well it arrived 2 days ago (the cutter that is) & I’ve been playing with it ever since!

(I really should tidy my workspace before taking photos – maybe a new years resolution?)

Look at what I’ve cut so far:

Some felt flowers using the funky flowers die, and grey shapes using the rag star & heart die. Here is a close up of the fringing on the edge of the star:

I also cut some flowers from bright fabrics backed with bondaweb and then appliqued them to both sides of a plain white tote bag using free motion embroidery.

I then cut some 5” squares with the third cutter and used them to start making a cushion cover for my living room.

Phew, I have been busy over the last two days!

So thank you to Sarah at Pings&Needles for finishing my year in a really lovely way.

Hope that you all have a very Happy New Year, and here’s hoping that 2012 will be filled with lots of fabric and crafting.

Sally

xxx

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

2011-12-24T19:13:00.001Z

Just wanted to wish everyone a fantastic Christmas & hope 2012 brings you all everything that you wish for.

Sally

xxx

Help … there’s a sock monster in my Christmas tree

2011-12-16T20:26:00.001Z

You know when you find a pair of socks that just cries out to be made into something else? I found some socks just like that today. They are the kind with separate toes, just perfect for making a monster with a mohican & mouth tentacles.

This is my first attempt at making any sock creatures & I’ve got a feeling I’m going to be hooked on it.

Have a good weekend everyone

Sally

xxx

Lots and Lots of Crafting

2011-12-13T16:32:00.001Z

Right back to crafting! I have a few bits and bobs that I’ve saved up to show you.

Firstly, the latest issue of Simply Homemade has some New Year projects that I designed.

There is a wall hanging, notepad cover, fabric covered canvas and a purse time-capsule. They all use freezer paper to print from the computer. These were the first things I’d made using freezer paper, and I was really surprised how easy it was to do. I like it for adding lettering to fabric as my handwriting isn’t always the neatest.

On Saturday we had a Christmas celebration in our village. There was festive music, a street market and also (I was very excited about this one!) Santa arrived, walking down the high street accompanied by his elves. I was lucky enough to be offered space in a local shop (the carpet shop where I work part-time) to set up my stall, so I didn’t have to spend the evening freezing on an outdoor market stall.

It was a great evening. My lovely mum came to help & we spent the evening socialising as well as selling a few bits and bobs.

Before I went I spent a bit of time making some gift bags to give away with purchases.

I used some decorative papers that I had got free with a couple of different crafting magazines, and just cut & glued them into small bags. I then put a thank you note inside each bag, with my contact details. I also used the embellishments from the paper books to add to some plain white boxes, and again stuck the same little notes inside the top cover.

Everyone seemed pleased with the little boxes and bags, and hopefully some will lead to repeat business.

And finally last night I braved the horrendous weather & went to a wreath making workshop. Please bear in mind that I am not a flower arranger – my attempts at arranging the odd bouquet I get consist of snipping the binding and throwing the flowers as they are into a vase. But I did however manage to create this from various foliage that grows locally, plus a few artificial berries and some cinnamon sticks.

I’m very proud of myself as it actually looks like its supposed to, and for once, I’m not embarrassed to show you what I’ve done!

Right off for a lie down after all this creativity!

Sally

xxx

We have a winner….

2011-12-11T20:03:00.001Z

The winner of the My Memories Scrapbooking software is

Number 2 - Quiltin’ Sandy who said…

What a lovely giveaway! I have never tried scrapbooking. There are so many beautiful designs, it is so hard to choose just one, but Life Love is very pretty. :) Sandy.

Thanks to those who entered and I hope Sandy enjoys the software as much as I did.

Normal craft blogging will resume in the next couple of days, as I have lots of pretty things to share with you all.

Sally

xxx

Last chance to enter my giveaway

2011-12-10T20:29:00.001Z

Only 24 hours left to enter the giveaway for the brilliant My Memories scrapbooking software. I haven’t had too many comments on this so you are in with a good chance of winning if you pop over here and enter.

I will draw the winner tomorrow evening at 7pm.

Good luck

Sally

xxx

New Banner & Don’t forget my giveaway

2011-12-07T11:13:00.001Z

What do you think? I created my new banner with the My Memories scrapbooking software that I was given.

Once I’d figured out how big the banner should be (1200 pixels in my case), it was fairly easy to design a banner by adding the elements that are contained in the software. It took me a couple of minutes to figure out how to save it as a jpg file, but once I’d found the right menu option, it was easy to do. Then of course I couldn’t resist tinkering with the rest of my blog!

If you are interested in winning a copy of the My Memories software for yourself, click here, and leave me a comment.

Sally

xxx

My Memories–Scrapbooking Software Giveaway

2011-12-05T10:36:00.001Z

The lovely people at MyMemories offered me the chance to have a copy of their My Memories Suite Scrapbook software to have a play with and the best bit, a copy for me to giveaway to one of my followers.

Prior to this the extent of my scrapbooking experience had been to just throw a couple of photos and a scattering of stickers onto a piece of patterned paper, so I was interested as to whether I’d be able to make anything that actually looked half decent. The answer is YES!!!

This was made using one of their template layouts (nice and easy for a beginner to use), just drag and drop photos into it.

And this one was created from scratch by me – and I’m very proud of it!

There are loads and loads of different designs, embellishments and papers to choose from, so I think I’m going to be playing with this software for ages.

Anyway back to the giveaway – to enter, all you have to do is to visit the My Memories website (click here) and leave me a comment to tell me which is your favourite kit.

I will draw the winner on Sunday 11th December at 7pm, which should give you time to create a couple of last minute cards or scrapbooking pages for Christmas pressies.

Sally

xxx

My Little Gallery is finished.

2011-11-24T14:42:00.001Z

Hooray, I’ve finally finished my free motion embroidery gallery, with the addition of my last picture:

Daisy has now joined her brothers.

Here is a close up of the picture:

Again I think it looks better from a distance.

My family is now complete – and I promise to put my sewing machine away and do some organising for Christmas … but then again I do quite have a fancy to make a map of the world in the same way, or perhaps a picture of the front of my house … watch this space!

Sally

xxx

My embroidery gallery grows

2011-11-22T14:55:00.001Z

Help, I’m completely addicted to free motion embroidery! My wall is now sporting 4 pictures and I have another one half made, but not yet ready to be put on display.

This is my fabric image of my eldest son:

Like the previous fabric image I did, looking at it close up it seems a bit weird & I did get complaints from him that I’d used flowery fabric and its a bit girly!

This picture was my attempt at being romantic for Mr D&D’s birthday last week.

It’s the words and music for ‘our’ song, the first one we danced to, many years ago. (22 to be precise!) It was a bit fiddly to make, and the machine sewed writing did turn out to be a bit like a young child’s scrawl, but he appreciated all the work that went into it. I was dreading cutting out all the circles by hand as they’re pretty small, but then I realised I had just the thing – Sizzix die cutter, with the Hello Kitty die – her eyes and nose shapes were just the perfect size and shape.

What’s the most romantic thing you’ve ever made or received?

Sally

xxx

Free motion Embroidery

2011-11-09T18:46:00.001Z

I’ve been going through a bit of a machine embroidery phase at the moment and as I have so many freshly painted white walls in my new room, I’ve been making some bright pictures that will eventually get hung on the walls.

See the one on top of the piano? It’s a photo of my son, but I’ve cut the shapes out from fabric. It’s supposed to be viewed from a distance, hence the far away photo, but here’s a close-up view of it:

You can probably now see why I put the distance photo up first as it looks a bit odd close up! It’s not clear from the photo, but its made up of 3 different fabrics, and then I’ve used free motion embroidery to outline each piece.

The jury is still out on whether its going to make it up onto the wall as I’m not sure that I like the effect. I think I’ll just leave it on the piano for a few more days & see if it grows on me.

Sally

xxx

Magazines & a sneak peak of a Christmas Present.

2011-11-08T14:23:00.001Z

A little bit of excitement this week, firstly my reindeer project appeared in Simply Homemade. A cushion, Santa sack, card holder & tree decoration, all based on my Rudolf template. Very quick and easy projects using fleece and felt so no need for lots of fiddly hems!

They were great fun to make, although I did make them in August so I feel like Christmas has been and gone!!!

Second piece of news is that my banana basques (click here for pattern) were featured on the Mollie Makes blog & Facebook page in their Monday Moodboard. I must admit I did wonder why the number of visitors to my visitors shot up!

Right, time for a sneak peak of one of the Christmas presents I’ve been making – I wrote last year about how my family set a small price limit on what we can buy for each adult, and every year we have a theme. Last year was a challenge as we set the price at £0!!! A big challenge, but one that we all embraced and had great fun with (see this post). This year we have a limit of £2 but for that we must buy a pressie starting with the same letter as the name of the recipient. My younger brother Dan & I have a bit of a joke going about Duct tape & how it can solve anything, so this year I have created his present from the same stuff:

Voila, a waterproof messenger/laptop bag made completely from duct tape.

Now I’ve got to think of £2 gifts starting with the following letters:

M – female, P – male, C – female, another female C, S – male, D – female.

Any suggestions??

Sally

xxx

Crochet a banana cosy pattern /Banana Basque for beginners

2011-11-02T19:36:00.001Z

Taking inspiration from the apple cosies in Mollie Makes magazine, (and with tongue firmly in cheek) here is my pattern for crocheting a banana basque! If you hate bruised bananas then this is the pattern for you – protect your banana whilst also making it look beautiful!

Please bear with me on this pattern as I’m a novice at crochet and I’ve never written a crochet pattern before – I hope it makes some sense!

Row 1 – Chain 30

Round 2 – ch2, dc into 3rd ch from hook, dc into each stitch until the end of the row, 5dc into the end stitch, and then turn the row so you are working into the bottom of each chain. dc into each stitch until the end chain & 5dc into the end chain. Slip stitch the round together. This should surround the whole of your chain with double crochets.

Round 3 – ch2 *2dc into next stitch, dc into next 2 stitches* repeat from * to * until you reach the beginning of the round again. Slip stitch into beginning chain of round.

Round 4– ch3 & then 1tr into each stitch all the way round. Slip stitch into beginning chain of round.

Rounds 5 & 6 ch 2 & then dc into each stitch, Slip stitch into beginning chain of round.

Round 7 – *ch 3, miss one stitch and slip stitch into next stitch. dc into next 5 stitches* Repeat until you have made 5 loops in total along the edge, dc into next 23 stitches repeat* to * until you have 5 loops on the second side. Dc around the end until you reach the start of the round. Slip stitch together and cast off.

Thread ribbon through the loops you created with your chains, place your banana in its basque – and voila, a cheeky but cosy banana!!!

I’d love to know if anybody makes them – please feel free to let me know if I’ve written the pattern wrong – as I say its the first one I’ve made!

Enjoy your bananas.

Sally

xxx

A months worth of crafting in one post!

2011-10-30T09:47:00.001Z

I can’t believe how long its been since I’ve posted – I don’t think I’ve ever had such a long break from here. I wish I could say that something exciting has happened to stop me from posting, but I can’t – I’ve just been really busy with life!

Anyway I have been crafting during my absence & I thought today I’d post some of the projects I’ve been working on, so without further ado, settle down for a long-ish post, with lots of photos. (well 5 actually, but it seems a lot as I’ve not been here for so long!)

Firstly, I have a couple of projects in the latest issue of Sew Hip:

A whole page photo for to each of them – I’m really excited.

I also made a picture for my new lounge:

Mr D&D still has his obsession with VW vans and he requested a fabric VW for the wall.

I found a packet of large coloured wooden beads for £1 – bargain, and used them to decorate the plain mirror in our downstairs loo:

and added them to the light pull too – I’m of the opinion that you can never have too many beads or too much colour!

I’ve also made a simple peg bag for a friend:

I think perhaps that is enough posting & photos for today, but I do have another couple of projects to share – and one tutorial which I’m hoping to take photos of while making – want a clue? I was inspired by the apple cosy crochet pattern in Mollie Makes … say no more, but anyone who likes crocheting for all the fruit in their life should check back soon!!!!!

Have a great Sunday

Sally

xxx

Carnival Costumes

2011-10-03T17:42:00.001+01:00

It was our village carnival on 24th September, and my children all wanted to join in. Luckily the primary school had the theme of Where’s Wally, so all we had to do was find costumes in red and white stripes with bobble hats – easy.

Sadly the theme my sons chose was a bit more challenging.

Batman Villains – Jack (my eldest) is the Riddler and Harry is the Joker. Luckily I found a couple of pairs of light jeans in the charity shop, and made the jackets from an old bedsheet. We then dyed them, and along with 2 old green t-shirts (converted into waistcoats) and a couple of bright t-shirts for underneath, their costumes were complete. We couldn’t find any green hairspray for Harry’s hair, but we discovered that by covering it in gel, we could then add green face-paint to colour it.

They came second in the afternoon parade (beaten by some VERY cute 4 year old smurfs!) But in the evening they won 1st place. Yippeeeeee!

Made it all worth while really.

Sally

xxx

Fame … ish!

2011-09-29T19:48:00.001+01:00

Has anyone seen the latest issue of Craftseller? A couple of months ago they asked me for a true story about sewing and my business, and this month it was published. How very exciting.

There are some lovely photos of things I sell too, so hopefully it’ll lead to more people visiting my little shop.

Sewing-wise I’ve made this cushion for a friends daughter who was 13 a couple of weeks ago.

She asked me for a cushion with a horse on it, in light blue or light pink. She loved it, and as she’s such a sweet girl, it gave me a lot of pleasure to make it for her. Sadly as you will see from the creases, my ironing board was hidden away in the kitchen, right where the builders were working (that’s my excuse anyway!) but she didn’t even mind the creases.

Sally

xxx

Mix and Match Corsages

2011-09-23T19:31:00.001+01:00

I just wanted to share with you the latest products I’m selling on my website.

These are mix and match flower corsages – just choose your button badge, choose the flower sizes and colours you want, add some leaves and wear them with pride.

The petals and leaves simply hook around the button, allowing you to change the layers and colours easily. There are 3 sizes of petals to choose from, in lots of pretty colours, so you can make a single colour or multi-coloured flower.

I have also added lots of fabric covered button badges to finish your flower off.

Why not add them to hats, scarves, coats, bags, purses, slippers … the list is endless.

I also have crochet flowers which are made to order to the colours you want. Again these fit around the buttons I sell.

Hope you like them

Sally

xxx

VW Doorstop

2011-09-15T18:54:00.001+01:00

At the moment we have builders in. We are having our garage converted to a living room, so everything is in a bit of a muddle. As I was stuck indoors today waiting for a couple of deliveries, I needed to find something to do that would be quick and easy. So I dug out the templates I made for Simply Homemade and made this doorstop.

I’ve used velcro to make an opening so that I can post it unfilled, saving on postage.

I’ve put it up for sale on The Fabric Market Place, along with a couple of pumpkin Halloween bags. So hop on over there if you are interested,

Sally

xxx

Crochet string bag from T-shirt

2011-09-12T11:41:00.001+01:00

I’ve had a few old t-shirts hanging around for a while and I didn’t know what to do with them. They were too faded and stretched out to go to the charity shop, but as they’re fabric, I just couldn’t part with them. But then I discovered that you could cut them up to make a ball of yarn & there was no stopping me:

I just made up the pattern as I went along & I now have a lovely string bag, made in just one evening, that looks just like an ice-cream. I would love to say I’d planned it to come out like this, just so I could look clever, but honesty forces me to say it was completely unplanned and random.

If anyone is interested in the pattern and method, leave me a comment & I’ll try to do a tutorial on here.

Sally

xxx

A missing couple of weeks

2011-09-07T18:47:00.001+01:00

What have I been up to while I’ve been missing? Well short answer, I’m not sure. I’ve had a couple of weeks of seeming to run round madly while getting nowhere fast!

We did go to see Batman Live at the O2 in London, an end of holidays treat for the children.

I did manage to get them all kitted out for school.

I managed to crochet a string bag (but haven’t got as far as taking a photo of it!)

and I have managed to fulfil a couple of magazine commissions (more of that when the magazines in question appear in the shops!)

Well looking at that list, I guess I have actually managed to get somewhere – I’m off for a well earned lie down!

Not such a lucky break & Magazines for sale

2011-08-24T20:35:00.001+01:00

Poor Mr D&D – he’s still having a bad time with his broken finger. The hospital have told him he needs an operation on it and so tomorrow we’ve got to be up at the crack of dawn to go to the hospital for him to have the bone wired back together. The most annoying thing for him is that he’s on a weeks holiday from work & has spent most of it going backwards and forwards to the hospital! In hindsight it would have been much easier to just go out and buy a go-kart!

I’ve just added a few of my old copies of Sew Hip onto The Fabric Market Place. They’re all priced at £1.50 with £1.50 P&P. I’m trying to get organised and need to make some room so I can buy new magazines!

I’ve put the following issues on there:

Issue 22

Issue 23

Issue 24

and Issue 26

Not quite sure where I’ve hidden issue 25 – but when I find it I’ll probably add it to the website too. I’m fairly sure I’ve got some really old issues of the magazine hidden around the house somewhere too. Wish I was a tidy person!

Sally

xxx

The 2nd A&E trip of the holidays, a go kart & vehicle doorstops.

2011-08-22T17:30:00.001+01:00

Right, I’m back from the second trip to A&E of the holidays, this time for Mr D&D, who was building this rather cool go-kart for the children and managed to break his finger when the saw hit a knot in the wood and kicked the wood back at him.

Tomorrow’s day out is to the plastic surgery trauma clinic! And there was me thinking that it was the riding of go-karts that was dangerous!

In between providing sympathy, I did manage to get out & buy the latest copy of Simply Homemade magazine.

Which has these patterns I designed in it:

In case you can’t tell from the photos, they are a series of 4 doorstops, each with a vehicle appliqued onto them. I like the London bus best, but my second favourite is the VW van. They’re quite time-consuming to make, but the finished doorstops are really worth it.

Sally

xxx

Best Dressed Tea Pot

2011-08-21T17:01:00.001+01:00

I am just back from a lovely week in Wales. After 6 years of camping, this year we went slightly upmarket & booked ourselves a caravan. What a revelation – no more walking across damp fields to use the loo, no more having to wrap up with 10 layers as no matter what time of year it is, the nights are always freezing, and best of all, when it rained, the caravan didn’t spring a leak!

As I say we haven’t been in a caravan for a long time, but did you know they now have central heating? They are also much taller, which is a bonus for my hubby who at 6ft 4 & who only managed to bang his head a couple of times in the whole week.

As I couldn’t live a week without crafting, this year I took some wool, some crochet hooks and continued my love affair with crochet.

Have you guessed that I’m completely addicted to making tea cosies? The bottom one is my favourite, but I do love the bright acid colours of the granny style ones.

Oh yes, a bit more excitement before I go – I made my first sale on The Fabric Market Place. I’d put a couple of unwanted sewing magazines on there, and they sold. If you haven’t visited, then its well worth a look, an online site just dedicated to all things fabric.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend

Sally

xxx

A Week of Fun

2011-08-09T19:23:00.001+01:00

Have had a lovely few days since my last entry on here, our friends came to visit and we had a good couple of hours at the Ansty Maize maze:

Girls versus boys to find the middle – sadly the boys beat us (even though we’d sneakily bought a map without telling them – says a lot for girls & map reading skills!)

My daughter has also outgrown all of her nightclothes, but I hate just throwing them away so I got an old t-shirt of mine that had stretched out of shape & added a panel to each of her nightdresses:

Slightly more comfortable for her now.

My love affair with crochet is also continuing – here is my latest project, a bright and cheerful tea cosy to wake me up on even the darkest morning!

I found the free tutorial on Crochet With Raymond – click here to go to her lovely site.

Hmm what else can I crochet now? I’m off to search the internet for more patterns.

Sally

xxx

What to do….?

2011-08-04T09:12:00.001+01:00

You know when you get that itch to create something but you don’t know what to make – well I have that at the moment. My magazine commissions are all up to date, the children are occupied with the TV (bad mother I know, but it is raining!!) and I have a couple of hours until my next house guest arrives with her children, so what can I make?

My stash is calling out to me, desperate for me to rescue it from the plastic box it’s been relegated to, my sewing machine is revved up and ready, but inspiration is just refusing to strike.

If anyone has any ideas then I’d love to hear them, what do you make when you need a sewing fix?

Sally

xxx

Crochet flowers

2011-08-01T14:37:00.001+01:00

Its the summer holidays and it is as mad as usual – so far we’ve had 4 guests to stay, 3 trips to the open air pool, 2 days out and 1 trip to minor injuries clinic (Daisy fell down, put her teeth through her lip & gashed under her chin)

BUT – I have managed to do a little crafting throughout this chaos. I managed to find issue 3 of Mollie makes with these lovely crochet flowers on the front:

So I got stuck in & made some, and then some more, and then some more:

I’m completely addicted, they’re such fun to make, now I just need to find something to do with them!

Any ideas?

Sally

xxx

Bird Blocks

2011-07-22T16:33:00.001+01:00

Last week I bought a couple of patterns from the shop Precious Patterns on Etsy. I fell in love with their cute bird blocks pdf pattern, and here are the two I’ve made so far:

I think they’re lovely and so easy to make, I knocked them up in probably less than an hour in total (split over several sewing sessions – it is the school holidays after all!) They’re stitched together so they are suitable for babies too, but I don’t think that the are going to be given to any babies – they’re going to sit on my shelves & watch over my sewing space.

Here is a close up of Mrs Bird – I don’t unfortunately have a close up of Mr Bird as he must’ve moved when I was taking his portrait as the photo was blurry (nothing to do with my photography skills!)

The pattern includes several other bird patterns, such as penguin, flamingo, cockatoo, owl, parrot & chick. I think they’re so gorgeous that I’m going to be working my way through each of them by the end of the summer.

Hope everyone is surviving the school holidays so far.

Sally

xxx

The Fabric Marketplace

2011-07-21T10:57:00.000+01:00

Emma over at It's All About the Fabric has just launched a new website. TheFabricMarketplace.com "A place to buy and sell all things fabric"

It's a great site, well worth a look, and a brilliant way to start a small fabric business. As if that wasn't good enough, there are no listing fees at the moment too.

To celebrate, she is also having a fantastic fabric giveaway - click here for your chance to win.

Sally

xxx

Teachers Gifts

2011-07-18T18:54:00.001+01:00

School for my youngest two children finishes tomorrow – not quite sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing yet! But sewing-wise it gave me the excuse to make presents for their teachers. Last year they had purses, so this year I racked my brains & scoured the internet, and this is what I came up with:

This is the inside & outside of the first notebook cover – with a pink pocket inside for holding teacher-y things. Then I made the following ones for the other teachers:

I hope they like them!

Sally

xxx

Now appearing in Simply Homemade

2011-07-17T22:38:00.001+01:00

Just picked up this months issue of Simply Homemade & my patterns are featured in it.

Some lovely table linen I designed, and yes that is a photo of me! It’s so exciting to see something I’ve made in a fab magazine. And the best bit is that next month there will be more of my patterns appearing!

Sally

xxx

New Website & New Bag

2011-07-10T16:34:00.001+01:00

Wow, what a busy weekend! Firstly I finished the redesign of my little shop – www.DitzyandDotty.co.uk where you will find all my new lunch bags and some new little purses, along with all of the other usual bags that are on there. I’ve decided to offer free delivery on all of my patterns, so if you are interested in any patterns, feel free to go have a look. I’d love to know what you think of the site.

I’ve also been crafting. This time a bag for myself.

I fell in love with this fabric at Franklins in Salisbury & couldn’t resist making something to keep. I also used fusible fleece for the first time & I think its great. Just adds a bit more ‘puffy-ness’ to the bag.

Again I loved these 2 fabrics for the lining and as I didn’t have enough of either to make the whole of the lining, I used both!! The best bit about this bag is that its completely reversible too.

Even though its a bit mad, I love it.

Hope you’ve all had nice crafty weekends.

Sally

xxx

VW Van Lunch Bag

2011-07-06T18:50:00.001+01:00

My poor husband puts up with a lot from me and my obsession with all things crafty, from having to move piles of fabric before he can put his dinner plate on the table, to having our bedroom overrun by boxes of scraps and patterns, and he doesn’t complain (well not very often anyway!)

So, today I decided that I would actually make something for him to show him how much I appreciate him. Voila, a lunch bag.

I’ve had the fabric for a while, and had only used a small amount to make a picture for my bathroom (click here if you want to see the post about that), and what better use for the rest of it, than a lunch bag for my hubby. I used a Fat Quarter of fabric for the outside and some white poly cotton for the inside. Sadly you can’t see the handle in this photo, so you’ll just have to believe me that there is one on there!

The bag is made using the Yum Yum lunch bag pattern which is available in my shop if anyone is interested.

Sally

xxx

Big Beach Bag & Pattern soon to be available

2011-07-05T17:03:00.001+01:00

Yippee, I finally got my sewing machine out today! It’s been so long I’d almost forgotten what it looked like.

Today I decided to make a beach bag as I’d been asked for one at the Tisbury market a couple of weeks ago, and hadn’t actually got round to making it. I had some lovely charity shop red stripy fabric and some cream calico & here is the finished bag.

The pattern for it is in the first testing phase right now (well my friend has a copy & some fabric and has promised to make one for me!) Once she has tried it out & I’ve had another couple of people test it, it will be available as either an e-pattern or a paper pattern in my shop.

The pattern is quite quick and easy to make, it only took me an hour today to put this one together. They’re great for holidays too as you can screw them up in your luggage, and then when you get home you can throw them in the washing machine (depending on your choice of fabric).

Hope you like it as much as I do.

Sally

xxx

A Splash of Colour

2011-07-03T18:48:00.001+01:00

No sewing this weekend, however a friend & I took our youngest children to a pottery cafe in Salisbury. Its called A Splash of colour, and is just off of the centre of Salisbury. Daisy and I have been before, but it was all new to our friends.

We had a great time – spent about an hour and a half choosing and painting our items.

I painted this mug:

The colours are quite muted but am promised that they’ll be a lot brighter once its fired.

Here is Daisy with her pet Dragon

Her friend with his mug (and his can of drink – product placement, maybe I’ll get a free can of Tango now?!!!)

and finally my friends mug, which I absolutely love & wish I’d copied!

We’ve just got to cross our fingers and wait a week to find out what they look like after being fired.

Tomorrow I’m back to sewing, although its been so long since I had my sewing machine out, I’m not sure I’ll remember how to use it!

Enjoy the last dregs of your weekends –I have a pile of shirts waiting for me to iron them, roll on the school holidays.

Sally

xxx

Thank you & Winners

2011-06-29T20:26:00.001+01:00

Thank you to those people who commented on my website with their likes and dislikes, the comments were all very useful and I’ve taken them all on board. Hopefully it won’t be too long until the website is up and running with the changes. Anyway without further ado, the winners are:

Comment No 5 and No 3

PootleFlump and Emma Thomsen

Who both win a Yum Yum lunchbag e-pattern

I will email you both with your patterns, hope you like them.

Sally

xxx

Who Stole the sun? Pinafore to Skirt & Don’t forget my Giveaway.

2011-06-26T18:29:00.001+01:00

We were all completely fed up with the weather after the long period of rain, cloudy & cooler weather we’ve been having - so when the weather man promised wall to wall sunshine today we dressed in shorts & t-shirts and headed for the coast.

This is what the weather was like at Weymouth at 11.30 this morning! Cold, foggy & very very grey! As this is the UK, we weren’t the only ones mad enough to be on the beach, it was actually very busy on the main beach. Luckily it did brighten up – but only as we were heading back to the car! Here is a photo of my daughter proving that it was warm enough to paddle as we were leaving.

Anyway back to crafting. Yesterday I decided to turn one of Daisy’s school pinafores into a skirt as it had become increasingly short as she’s grown so much in the last year.

So I cut the top off

Sewed a casing for a piece of elastic and threaded it through.

A quick skirt to hopefully last her until the end of term!

And finally – for those people who have read my waffle until the end, don’t forget my giveaway for those lovely people who are willing to give me a bit of advice on my website. Click here to go to the page.

Sally

xxx

Shop advice wanted & Giveaway

2011-06-22T17:40:00.001+01:00

I have been very lax with posting on here – for a crafting blog there have been very few craft posts recently. However rest assured that I have been busy and in time I will share with you a couple of things I have been up to.

However… I am in the process of revamping my shop site, with lovely shiny new photos & hopefully a new look. And here’s the favour I’m asking - if anyone has a spare five minutes and feels like having a quick look at my old site, I’d love any comments with anything you like, don’t like and you’d do differently. Any advice with getting people to the shop (and making them spend some money while they’re there!) would also be much appreciated. Click here for my shop site.

As a big thank you (or bribe!), I’m giving away 2 copies of my Yum Yum lunch bag e-pattern for the first 2 comments I pull out of the hat in a weeks time (29th June at 8pm uk time)

Am leaving you with a couple of photos of variations of the lunch bag pattern you could soon be making.

Thank you all

Sally

xxx

My Lovely Doggy

2011-06-16T18:52:00.001+01:00

Today my little dog had his first professional photo shoot! Louise from “Stone Photo” was the photographer (Click here for her website)

This is the first one – doesn’t he look intelligent! It was quite a challenge for poor Louise as although he usually is quite calm during the day, today was a different story. He decided to be very awake & playful and wouldn’t sit still. However I think she did a fantastic job.

This is my favourite photo

It almost looks as though he is smiling.

All in all it was a really fun way to spend a rainy afternoon, even if the dog did jump all over me. Thanks Louise, I’ll definitely be ordering some photos.

Sally

xxx

A Boring afternoon

2011-06-14T20:16:00.001+01:00

Today my friend and I had booked into a seminar which promised 101 ways to bring visitors to your website. It was only 10 minutes down the road, and was completely free so we decided to give it a go.

My friend Louise is a very talented photographer (click here for her website) and I obviously have my little shop, so we thought it would be good for both of us.

Sadly it was completely wrong for the two of us with our little sites – it was aimed at bigger businesses. One of the suggestions was to advertise our sites on a hot air balloon (seriously!)

What do you think? Could you see it flying over your house?

Another of their ideas was to advertise on your car

hmm too fast – don’t think people would have time to read this one before it’d gone past

That’s better – if its good enough for Del boy, it’s good enough for me!

I was quite disappointed when I left the seminar, however the one thing I did take away from the presentation was that I should be updating my website more frequently – oh well something to do tomorrow.

If anyone has any better (or worse) ideas to advertise websites – I’d love to know them.

Sally

xxx

To charge or not to charge? Advice wanted!

2011-06-10T12:22:00.001+01:00

As more people are getting to know I do “sewing”, I’ve had a few people ask me to do little bits of work for them. Small things like let down hems in curtains, put new zips in things and take up jeans, you know what I mean, small, simple jobs that don’t cost me anything but time.

So far I’ve refused to charge for them, as each of the people are related to friends of mine, and I know them all personally. However by not charging, they have all felt that they have to buy me something and have all bought me a box of chocolates to say thank you. (Do you think they know me well???) While choccies are delicious and very much appreciated, my dilemma is – Should I start to charge or not? And if so, what price should I put on time?

What would you do?

Sally

xxx

You can never have too much fabric!

2011-06-04T20:52:00.001+01:00

Lisanne over at Sewciety is having a sale. I know lots of you left lovely comments on her fabric during my recent giveaway, so I thought I’d let you know. (Plus she’s a friend and you have to support their shops!)

I can vouch for the quality of the fabric as I have used lots of it to make various things as regular followers of this blog will know.

You could order Pat Bravo fabrics such as this beautiful Aqua Garden:

or some gorgeous Shwe Shwe:

or some yummy Heather Bailey:

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend.

Sally

xxx

Where has the last week gone?

2011-06-02T21:11:00.001+01:00

Do you ever have those weeks when it just flies by and you really don’t know where its gone? I know it’s half term and I have the children about, but we don’t seem to have done much and yet time has got away with me. So really not much to report, but I will leave you with a few photos of bits I’ve managed to make this week.

Some PE Bags for sale at the school fete in a couple of weeks (don’t you just love that cool blue monster fabric from Fabricland)

Some coin purses again for the school fete.

Some scrunchies

and last but not least a photo of my dog who can’t wait for the children to go back to school so he gets some rest!

Sally

xxx

Appliquéd Backpack

2011-05-24T20:02:00.001+01:00

Yesterday Lisanne from Sewciety came over to my house to play. We set our sewing machines up on either side of my dining table and proceeded to eat, chat and craft. She managed to make a couple of lunch bags, which I’m sure she’ll put on her blog in the next couple of days, and I managed to make my daughter a new bag for school.

Daisy is mad on Moshi monsters and had found a picture of her favourite one, and as she has so much faith in me as a crafter (hmm not sure her faith is justified!), asked me if I could make her a bag with it on. Unfortunately I didn’t quite have the right colour felt to make it (purple) but she was happy with the red and pink instead. I’ve lined it with a thick red corduroy, however I think if I make another one in the future I’ll add some sort of interfacing to the bag as it’s very soft at the moment.

Here is a photo of the reverse of the bag, with the straps and a hook to hang it up on her peg.

She was so pleased with it I was glad I’d made the effort for her. However I am beginning to worry that all this making of bags will cause her to have a handbag problem in later life!!

Sally

xxx

Bookcase Revamp – For Boys

2011-05-22T19:18:00.001+01:00

I thought I’d share a project with you that I am in the middle of. My son had this bookcase in his room and it’s a bit boring for an almost-teenage boy.

So, I ordered a cheap bundle of superhero comics from ebay and set about covering the bookcase. My lovely husband spent ages helping me by cutting out the pictures while I glued them down. This is as far as we got by the time the usual Sunday night routine interrupted us.

I just used PVA glue to stick them down, and then coated them again in PVA to hold them in place.

I’m hoping to finish gluing the pictures down tomorrow and then I will coat it in another coat or two of watered down PVA glue, and then once dry we can fill it with his books again.

This side is pretty complete so you can get an idea of how it will look.

Here is a view of inside the top shelf.

Will post some more photos when I’ve finished it.

Sally

xxx

A Lucky Winner

2011-05-19T21:06:00.001+01:00

And the winner is:

30. jennifer (who wrote on my Take 2 post)

and who likes the lime seeds fabric on Sewciety.

Congratulations Jennifer – I will email you for your details.

PLUS seeing as so many people sent lovely and kind comments, I’ve decided to add a second prize of a lunch bag e-pattern – and the winner of that is:

27. Yvonne (on the original post) who likes the Heather Bailey fabrics

I will email you too and get your details.

Thank you so much to everyone who entered, and who’ve become new followers – I’ve read all of your comments and enjoyed finding out which fabrics you all loved.

Thank you also to those who added my giveaway to their own blogs – I never thought I’d get so many entries and I owe it all to you. You are all so lovely & I look forward to getting to know you all.

Before this turns into an emotional Oscar-type acceptance speech I will go, leaving you with some images of the lunch bags I made over the last couple of days.

Happy Crafting

Sally

xxx

Giveaway - Last chance to enter

2011-05-19T09:32:00.000+01:00

Just wanted to let everyone know that I will be closing my giveaway tonight at 9pm (UK time).
So if you want to enter, you don't have long left! Click here to enter.

Thanks to everyone who has already entered and to those who also added this giveaway to their blog, you are all completely wonderful.

Good Luck

Sally
xxx

Big Hello & Car Seat Cover

2011-05-16T19:27:00.001+01:00

Just wanted to say Hi to all my new followers, its lovely to have you with me and I am looking forward to spending the next few days browsing around all of your lovely blogs.

Today I thought I’d share with you my weekend project. My friend had a booster seat for her car but sadly, as happens with these things, the cover had fallen apart and so the seat was in dire need of a makeover. Her daughter chose her favourite fabric from my stash and after making a rough pattern out of newspaper, I set about making the cover.

I’d been given a small cushion pad which luckily fitted perfectly onto the seat, and had some white poly-cotton for a backing, so I sewed them together with a bit of lime-green piping around the edge and the car seat came together quite quickly.

As you may be able to see from the above photo I’ve quilted around some of the circles just to hold the cushion in place. The whole thing is held on the chair by some elastic looped underneath. My friend’s daughter absolutely loved the cover and was looking forward to trying it out.

Right am off now to cut out some fabric to make more lunch bags – photos tomorrow.

Sally

xxx

Hooray – A Giveaway – Take 2

2011-05-13T19:11:00.001+01:00

Sadly it looks as though Blogger has eaten my last post, but luckily I had a copy on my computer. Obviously those lovely people who had already commented on it have also had their comments eaten, so to make it fair I will do a draw in the old fashioned way with pieces of paper with those who have already commented along with any new people who comment.

Apologies if blogger manages to find my post & it appears twice. Just comment on either & I’ll add your name to the hat.

Without further ado – here is my post from yesterday:

To celebrate the release of my ‘Yum Yum Lunch Bag’ pattern I’ve decided to have a giveaway. You could win… drum roll please… a pdf file of my lunch bag pattern PLUS a copy of the ‘Red Riding Hood Basket’ pattern which will be in my shop next week PLUS, if that wasn’t enough, Lisanne at Sewciety has donated a bundle of 4 gorgeous Fat Quarters for you to win. This is enough fabric to make both patterns.

All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is to become a follower or already be a follower of my blog, and leave me a comment.

For an extra chance of winning, blog about my giveaway and then leave me another comment.

And if you want one more chance to win, hop over to Sewciety shop & tell me which is your favourite fabric.

I will draw the winner in a weeks time (19th May) Good Luck to you all.

Sally

xxx

Hooray – A Giveaway

2011-05-12T17:04:00.000+01:00

All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is to become a follower or already be a follower of my blog, and leave me a comment.

For an extra chance of winning, blog about my giveaway and then leave me another comment.

And if you want one more chance to win, hop over to Sewciety shop & tell me which is your favourite fabric.

I will draw the winner in a weeks time (19th May) Good Luck to you all.

Sally

xxx

Patterns In My Shop

2011-05-11T19:47:00.001+01:00

Some more good news: I’ve finally finished writing my pattern for a washable lunch bag and have put it into my shop. Click here to visit it.

At the moment it’s only available as an pdf e-pattern, but once I’ve managed to order some supplies it’ll also be available as a paper pattern.

I love these lunch bags, as they’re washable, tumble-dry-able and best of all just chuck them in the wash at the end of the week and they never get smelly! My children have been using theirs since September and they’re still as good as new.

I’m also working on a pattern for a circular bag and that will hopefully be available as an e-pattern in the next couple of weeks.

I’ll leave you with a few more images of the lunch bags I’ve made.

Sally

xxx

An Exciting Week

2011-05-08T14:06:00.001+01:00

Been a great week for me, firstly I had 2 of my patterns published in the latest issue of Sew Hip magazine. A lion purse and a flower garland. Then I found out another of my patterns was in the first issue of this new magazine:

They’d kindly asked my permission to reprint a picnic blanket pattern I wrote for Sew Hip about a year ago, but I didn’t realise it would be in the first issue.

Three patterns in a month – wonder how long I’ll have to wait to get any more patterns published.

Sally

xxx

Ps Before I go, do hop over to Lisanne at Sewciety’s website for a chance to win in her latest giveaway.

Scooby-Doo Summer Dress

2011-04-26T18:20:00.001+01:00

I had a nice trip to Fabricland in Salisbury over the weekend, and my daughter Daisy found some fabric that she fell in love with. I must admit I was a bit dubious, to me it looks like something out of Scooby-doo, but she wouldn’t change her mind – this was the fabric for her. And now its made I have to say I agree with her choice.

She is in desperate need of summer clothes having grown 4” in the last year, so much so that her skirts from last year are now mini-skirts and her mini-skirts - I won’t even go there!!!

So this is what I made, beautifully modelled by her.

Its not very clear from the photo but the top of the dress is shearing elastic & the skirt is made from three tiers/layers. The good thing is that I have a bit of the fabric left over, so next year I can add another tier and she’ll yet again have something that fits!

Sally

xxx

Dyeing Blankets : Final instalment

2011-04-20T19:39:00.001+01:00

Full of enthusiasm for dyeing blankets, I bought a pink dye and set about dyeing some more blankets. This time I left out the red blanket and added the following blankets to the machine:

When I got them out I was so pleased with the colour, the strong pink is gorgeous, exactly as I hoped it would be.

Very bright and cheerful I’m sure you’ll agree. Then as the packet of dye had suggested I set my washing machine to rinse, added the detergent & wandered off. I came back a while later to an error message flashing up on the display – to cut a long story short, one of the blankets had shed masses of fluff and it’s managed to clog up my machine. Sadly I can’t open the filter so I can’t clear it out myself, looks like its down to the engineer who’s due to come next Tuesday!

Think I’ll give home dyeing a miss and just buy the felt ready dyed – I’m sure it’ll be cheaper in the long run.

Sally

xxx

Giveaway over at Sewciety

2011-04-17T20:59:00.000+01:00

Just a quick entry to say that Lisanne at Sewciety is having a pattern giveaway, so hop on over for your chance to win one of them. Click here to go to her site.

Sally
xxx

My First Attempt at Dyeing

2011-04-12T19:43:00.001+01:00

I’ve had some pieces of woollen blanket knocking about for a while and I’d always intended in dyeing them to make more purses from, but hadn’t got round to buying the dye and then doing it. Well yesterday after a lovely day at Wilton House Gardens with the children (doing my “good mother” bit!) I decided that the time was right to dye the blankets.

Here are photos of the original blankets, alongside the newly dyed ones. Can you guess what colour dye I used?

The bright red blanket is the pre-dyed above, and the cream and green is the original one below.

(The colours are slightly off on this last photo, the original is a soft yellow and the dyed one is a muddy brown colour.)

Yep, that’s right, I used Ocean Blue! What I hadn’t taken into account is that the dye in the bright red blanket would run and change the colour of the other blankets!

I really like the colour that the red blanket has turned out and quite like the purpley shades of the cream/green blanket. I not so keen on the muddy brown colour though so I think I’ll have to get another box of dye and try again. This time leaving out the red blanket! Will let you know how I get on.

Sally

xxx

Owl Pencil case

2011-04-07T18:44:00.002+01:00

After a few weeks of not adding anything to this blog, today I thought I’d actually share one of the things I’ve recently made.

A lovely and cheerful owl pencil case. I’ve used recycled denim to make this one – it used to be the leg of a pair of jeans that one of my children had outgrown. Quite a good way to use up lots of scraps of fabric.

Anyway I promise not to leave it so long again.
Sally
xxx
PS if you are at the Stitch and Creative Craft show in Shepton Mallet over the next few days, go say hi to Lisanne at the Sewciety stand. I’m sure she’d love to say hello.

More Easter Bags

2011-03-18T18:46:00.002Z

Today my youngest son returned from a couple of nights away on a school trip. It was lovely to see him and to hear about all he’d done while he was away, but it was even better to see him home again. It seemed so quiet without him (even though my other two children tried to make up for it!), and I found it quite hard to settle, but now he’s home our house seems complete again.
While I was waiting for his return, I managed to make a couple more Easter themed bags ready for the Tisbury Country Market tomorrow morning.
A bunny and an Easter egg. Here are the insides:
They should be just the right size for Easter Egg hunt bags, so keeping my fingers crossed that they sell tomorrow.
Weekend Wishes to you all
Sally
xxx

Pockets and Travel Trays

2011-03-16T19:34:00.001Z

I didn’t have a lot of time to sew today, but I did manage to knock up a couple of bits for my lovely mum, who is heading to Australia for a holiday. I’d made her a bag a while back, but didn’t put any pockets in it, so she asked me to make her some pockets to attach to the bag.

I’m just going to hand stitch them to the lining, and hopefully if I’m careful, the stitching shouldn’t show through to the right side of the bag.

As my mum is away for mother’s day, I wanted to make her something before she went. I saw a pattern for travel trays in this months Sew Hip magazine, and here is the tray I made.

It’s such a good idea, just a square of fabric, with press studs at the corners to fasten when you want it to be a tray. Very useful for jewellery/keys/loose change, especially in a hotel room.

Hopefully it’ll come in useful for her & as its so light, it won’t take up any of her precious baggage allowance.

Sally

xxx

Easter Egg Hunt Bags

2011-03-14T20:29:00.001Z

Thought today I’d share some Easter bags I’ve been making.

and a close up of the chicken as the photo didn’t come out too well.

This is the inside of the same chicken bag, just some children’s cotton I had hanging about:

I also made this bag, which is slightly madder as I suffer badly from trying to use too many different patterns on the same bag! Perhaps next time I’ll tone it down a little.

These bags are just the right size for Easter Egg hunting. I’ve made them in the same way as my monster & embroidered bags, but this time I’ve just added a chicken appliqué to them. I used bondaweb to attach the chicken to the bags, but I’ve also sewn the chicken on too as I wanted to make sure they were suitable for young children. The legs of the patterned chicken are just attached using a 6 stranded piece of embroidery thread.

Am planning on making another couple of bags with bunnies or Easter eggs on them, but that is a job for another day.

Sally

xxx

Beaded Lampshade Tutorial

2011-03-06T16:56:00.002Z

I’ve finally finished the beaded lampshade I was making for my bathroom, and thought I’d make a tutorial on how to do it. I’ve used lots of photos so hopefully even if my descriptions don’t make a lot of sense, the photos will!
Here is the lampshade, proudly hung for all to see!
First things first – get some lovely glass beads. I got mine from Hobbycraft, and I bought 2 of the small pick and mix pots that you can buy in there. I also used a pack of smaller glass beads to mix in with them. You will also need some seed beads, thin wire, some jump rings and a lampshade frame.
Lay the beads out in the pattern you want them. I used alternating large and small beads.
Take a piece of wire, about 4” in length and create a loop about 1” from the end. Wrap the tail of the wire around the other end, like in the photo here:
Add a seed bead to the wire, then a small bead and then one of the larger beads, followed by a small bead and then another seed bead.

Create a loop and twist at the other end of the wire to complete your link.

To make the bottom link I looped the wire through a seed bead, then passed both wire ends up and through the large bead, and another seed bead, then I made a loop and twist on the top of the bead.

Join your links together using jump rings. I made 8 large chains, which used a total of 7 beads on each, and I also made 8 smaller chains of 5 beads.

Take your lampshade frame (I bought a cheap lampshade for £2 and cut it up to get the frame out). Wire the chains around the frame by creating a twist of wire over the frame.

Continue to add them around the frame until you have used all of your chains.

Position the chains where you want them and wrap the ends of the wire around the frame to hold them in place.

Your lampshade is finished.

If you are making a bigger lampshade to the one I’ve made, you may have to shorten your chains as even though my shade is only small, it is quite heavy. I guess you could use plastic beads, however I’m not sure how they would be if the bulb gets hot. I’ve used mine with a low energy light bulb.

I’d love to see photos if anyone else makes one of these.

Sally

xxx

A Missing Couple of Weeks

2011-03-01T19:14:00.001Z

I’ve not been around on here for a while, mainly due to kids & tummy bugs, half term and the new addition to our family:
A rescue dog called Snoop. Sadly prior to coming to us he was badly neglected and at the moment he is so nervous we are having to be very calm and try to build him up both physically and mentally. He’s very gentle even with all he’s been through, so fingers crossed he’ll make a lovely member of our family.

Crafts-wise I’ve been making an odd few things, which I’ll show off properly over the next few days. Here are a few examples:

My first attempt at making felt slippers for my daughter, even though they resemble monster feet and even though they’re patchy, she seems to love them.

One of a series of Egg pictures I’m making.

and a sneak peak of a beaded lampshade tutorial I’m preparing. All I’ve got left to do is to find a smallish lampshade frame and then it’ll be all systems go.

Here’s to a crafty March.

Sally

xxx

Giveaway on Sewciety

2011-02-16T20:06:00.000Z

Just wanted to let everyone know that Lisanne of Sewciety is having a fantastic giveaway. 2 prizes of 5 fat quarters of Pat Bravo fabrics. Click here to go to her blog.

Take it from me, the fabric is as gorgeous in the flesh as it looks on the photos. Good luck to you all.

Sally

xxx

Fantastic Felt Class

2011-02-13T19:34:00.001Z

Yesterday Elisabeth from Sewciety had arranged a felting afternoon at her house, so along with my daughter and a friend and her family we descended on poor Elisabeth’s house. Not sure she knew what she was letting herself in for with us all trying to do everything at once, she was run ragged sorting out the adults (making wet felted slippers and tea cosies) and the children (making felt sheets, balls and cupcakes). It was fantastic though, we were made so welcome, and nothing was too much trouble.

For once I actually took my camera & I thought I’d show you a few photos of what took place.

My friend Louise looking like she knows what she is doing.

The children (plus I managed to catch Elisabeth when she wasn’t looking!)

Louise’s hubby Jon and his slippers before they were cut.

The girls after they’d raided Elisabeth’s box of felted jumpers.

As you can see we had a great time, and best of all we each made something lovely to bring home. Sadly I forgot to take a photo of my tea cosy after it was just felted, however today, after it had dried out and I’d embellished it with my sewing machine, I did take a couple of photos:

Now I need to go and buy a lovely teapot for it to keep warm!

Sally

xxx

Felt bags and VW Van Pictures

2011-02-11T20:16:00.001Z

I’ve had a bit of a mad week really, with varying bits of work, illnesses (children, not me luckily) and not very much crafting! I do have a few bits to show you if you are interested of things I’ve made over the last few weeks, that I’ve finally managed to finish.

Firstly I found a place for the VW van pictures I made. I think I’ve already shown you the top red coloured picture that I sewed and then painted with fabric paint. The bottom right I’ve appliquéd fabric in the shape of the same van and sewn around the edges of it. The top right and bottom left pictures are just some lovely fabric I got from Sewciety and framed.

Sadly this is the best photo I could get as they’re in my downstairs loo and its so tiny I couldn’t get far enough away to get a photo!

My felt craze is still continuing at a fast pace – I knitted a bag from 100% wool yarn, and washed it & this is how it turned out.

I knitted the handles too but the bag felted much more than the handles. I guess that I should probably have tested a piece of each first. I embroidered a heart onto it with embroidery thread after I’d felted it and also sewed the handles on post-washing machine. Its only a little bag but I’m sure I can find something to fill it with.

Finally here is the other piece of felting I’ve been playing with.

This time I made the bag in one piece by felting around a piece of oilcloth I’d cut into the shape I wanted. It was the first time I’d attempted something like this so am pleased that it came out in the right sort of shape. Have made some felted handles to attach to it but they’re still drying so will have to do that tomorrow.

Talking of tomorrow after a hard morning in the carpet shop I’m off to a felting class with Elisabeth at Sewciety. Can’t wait. Will try to remember my camera and take lots of lovely photos.

Sally

xxx

Owl Appliqué

2011-02-06T16:50:00.001Z

Daisy found an old denim jacket belonging to one of my older sons and has taken to wearing it everywhere. It was a bit boyish for her so for ages I’ve been promising to add some girlie detail to it for her. Today was the day.

I started with this jacket:

and using bondaweb added an owl made up of various pink/yellow fabrics. Then I appliquéd round the edges of the shapes, and this is what I ended up with:

I am going to add the owl template to my other blog Kids Get Messy, so if you want to nip over there & grab it, please feel free.

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend.

Sally

xxx

Toasty warm Felt Slippers

2011-02-03T20:19:00.001Z

This is the first post I’ve tried using Windows Live Writer, so if if comes out a bit strange, then apologies. Am hoping that it’ll make adding photos a lot easier.

I’m not quite sure where the last couple of days have gone, I’ve been so busy running after other people that I feel my feet have barely touched the ground. So this evening I was determined to carve out a little bit of time to make something I wanted to make.

Some slippers for my daughter. Probably not the right time of year to make them as the weather here has just begun to warm up, but I’m sure that we’ll get some more cold weather & she’ll be grateful for them! They’re lined with some of the lovely blanket felt I have, so not only are they cheerful, they’re warm too.

I got the pattern from a copy of Homestyle Sewing that I bought back in December.

I liked the pattern then & had been promising to make them. They went together fairly quickly, however I’m glad they were for my daughter and not me as they came out very narrow. They are a bit too long for her yet, but I’m going to add a bit of elastic at the heels and then they will be fine.

Maybe tomorrow I’ll adjust the pattern and make some for me.

Sally

xxx

Felt Purse

2011-02-02T16:59:00.001Z

Rather a quiet day at the carpet shop today, so I used my time wisely and made this rather lovely felt purse.

For obvious reasons I didn't have my sewing machine, so I resorted to hand-stitching.

The stitching is little bit wonky, but I think that just adds to the charm (that's my excuse anyway!) I have another couple cut out ready and waiting, one pink and one blue, each with slightly different pieces for the front.

I've also spent the last couple of days photographing and adding some new handbags and purses to my online shop Ditzy and Dotty. Its taken a while to do but I'm glad they're finally all up there.

Hope your day has been as productive as mine.

Sally
xxx

New Blog For Childrens Crafts

2011-02-01T19:50:00.000Z

Have decided to filter out the childrens crafts from here and have made another blog where I'm aiming to add all of the crafts I do with and for my children.

My new blog is: Kids Get Messy

If you've written any crafts aimed at children or have any ideas for crafts/projects I can cover, let me know and I'll link to you from my new blog.

I will still be writing about "grown-up" crafts here though, so don't abandon me ... please!

Sally
xxx

Some New Bags & Gorgeous Fabric

2011-01-31T18:58:00.001Z

Haven't been on here for a few days because Friday was my birthday, followed on Saturday by Daisy's 7th birthday - (Yep, she was a belated 30th birthday present for me!). We had a great weekend celebrating with her roller-disco party on Saturday afternoon, and a celebratory trip to Hobbycraft on Sunday to spend the money both me and Daisy had been gifted.

I have however been busy crafting in the odd quiet moments. Amongst other things I've made these two bags to put in my online shop:

The first one is made using some gorgeous fabric I got from Sewciety. Here is a slightly closer view of the fabrics:

I've used the pattern from Homespun Threads that I used before (see here), and this time have also added a pocket at the front. Again I've lined it with white cotton, and used a magnetic catch to fasten it.

The second bag is made from felt which I again bought from Sewciety.

I've used needle felting plus a bit of sewing to put the bag together. I am completely in love with the felted blanket pieces that Elisabeth sells, they're just so lovely to work with.

Anyway better go and start the bedtime routine!

Sally

xxx

Andy Warhol Meets Hello Kitty

2011-01-26T12:42:00.000Z

Don't ask me where my inspiration for this strange project came from - my mind and its often-weird imagination baffles me too!

A yet-to-be framed Pop Art Hello Kitty! I've cut the shapes using a Sizzix die and then just sewed them onto felt squares. I'll probably find another way of joining the squares as I don't like the fact you can see the stitching between them, but that's a job for another day.

Sally
xxx

North Cottage Buttons

2011-01-23T17:57:00.000Z

Had a really lovely day yesterday, really busy, but good. Firstly I was at the Tisbury Country Market, where although I didn't manage to sell anything, I did buy some beautiful handmade buttons from North Cottage Buttons.

They were a complete bargain at £1.50 a sheet. They're made from clay and are washable too. Sadly she doesn't yet have a website, (although I did point her in the direction of Misi), however if you are interested in buying any of them, you can contact her at baker_jaci(at)yahoo.co.uk - I also have her phone number which I will give you if you email me.

Following the market I worked for an hour and a half at the carpet shop in Tisbury, then after a hasty lunch we went to Southampton to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

It was fantastic. The songs had us singing all the way home (sorry to my neighbours if you heard us). We'd never taken the children to the theatre before, but they loved it too. Daisy even told me she hoped she'd dream about Joseph and was quite disappointed this morning that she hadn't.

Back to reality today though - I've been painting the bathroom - Does that count as a craft?

Sally
xxx

Messenger Bag Tutorial

2011-01-20T19:56:00.000Z

As promised, here is my tutorial for making a messenger bag. Lots of photos, and hopefully directions you will be able to follow, but if I've not made anything clear, just leave me a comment and I'll try to help.

As a reminder, here is my bag:

To make this bag, you will need the following fabrics cut out. I have labelled each side with a letter so that you can adjust this bag to whichever size you want. I think perhaps you could also make it into a laptop bag by incorporating batting between the layers. Side pockets are optional, pin them to the side pieces before you begin sewing the bag together.

I have used a heavy-weight fabric. If you are using a light-weight fabric, you may need to use interfacing.

Sew the side pieces to the long edges of the front piece, right sides together. Use whichever seam allowance you prefer, but stick to the same seam allowance through the whole pattern. I used 1/2". Sew bottom piece to short edge of front piece, right sides together. Then sew the back piece to the other side of the bottom piece. You should end up with a shape like this:

Now bring the back up and sew the sides of it to the side pieces. This makes the basic bag shape.

Open out the bottom corners and sew across them (where the pins in this photo are).

Turn your bag in the right way.

Add applique to the front of the flap piece. I made a flower and used free-motion embroidery to attach it to the bag in the top photo. For the bag I made for the tutorial, I added a felt heart and blanket stitched it around the edge. Let your imagination run wild here!

If you are using a fastener for your bag, add it to the centre of the flap lining piece now, about 2" up from the edge. Place flap pieces together, right sides together, and sew around the edge - leave a 2" gap at the top of the flap to turn in the right way.

Turn it in the right way and then top stitch along the edges of the flap.

Add your chosen fastening to the front of your bag. It must line up with where the flap will end up. I pinned the flap in position to check where the fastening should end up.

Now make the lining of the bag by placing the front and back right sides together and sewing down the edges and then along the bottom of the pieces.

Open out the corners and sew across them.

Leave the lining the way it is, and place it over the top of the bag (which should still be the right way out) and sew around the edges. Again leave a 2" opening so you can turn it through.

Pull it through the gap now & then top stitch around the edges of the bag.

Place the flap in position on the back of the bag and stitch it down, make sure the fastenings join up.

Take your two small rectangles and hem both short edges with a small hem. Fold long edges to centre and sew down each side.
Enclose D-ring in the centre of the strip and sew both ends to the side of the bag.

Repeat for the other small rectangle.

Now make the strap. Fold both short ends over a small amount and then fold the long edges to the centre of the strap. Fold the whole thing in half length ways enclosing the raw edges inside.

Topstitch down each edge of the strap to make it look nice.

Put the handle through the D rings and sew it in place. I used a slider to make the strap adjustable, but that is entirely optional.

This is how my bag turned out.

Anyway well done to those people who made it through a marathon post. Hope it helped show you how to make a messenger-type bag.

Enjoy

Sally
xxx

Felt Purses

2011-01-19T19:54:00.000Z

Apologies for the lack of messenger bag tutorial - life has just got in the way of crafting. Nothing serious has happened, I just don't know where the last couple of days have disappeared to! Rest assured the tutorial is in hand (ish) and I'm just waiting to take a few photos & then it'll be on here.

Back to what I have actually done. I've made these couple of purses from some blanket squares that Elisabeth at Sewciety had felted, dyed and cut up.

One is for the daughter of a friend, who is celebrating her 8th Birthday tomorrow, and the other is for ... me! I think I prefer the shape of the flowery one, as I blanket stitched around the edge with wrong sides facing. (Don't you just love the fact that felt doesn't fray). The heart one I sewed inside out and turned through.

I've needle felted the shapes on the front of both, which leaves me with lots of little holes. I actually kind of like them, but as I'm new to felting I'm not sure if there is a way to get rid of the holes.

Anyway more soon
Sally
xxx

Messenger bag & aprons

2011-01-17T16:58:00.000Z

A couple of weeks ago I was wandering around the charity shops, trying to find some wool jumpers to make felt from, when I came across these tea towels:

They only cost £3 or £4 for all of them, and as a bonus they were tied with some white cotton tapey-type thing (sorry don't know what its really called!). I fell in love with the apple/pear print, and bought them. Until recently I didn't know what I was going to do with them, but then inspiration struck - I made 2 aprons.

You can't really see the white tape on the green apron, but its the tape that the tea towels were tied together with. I simply used 2 of the towels as they were and cut the apple/pear print into thirds to make big pockets and sewed it on. Then I added tape to the top of the towel and voila - 2 simple aprons, with very little hemming required.

I thought afterwards that I could've made a full apron by sewing another tea towel on the top to make the bib piece, but that's a job for another day.

Today I've also made this messenger-type bag:

Am planning on making a simple pattern/tutorial for it, so watch out for that hopefully tomorrow.

Sally

xxx

Bags, Purses & Feltie things!

2011-01-13T19:21:00.041Z

My daughter has finally remembered to bring her zipped purse home from school, and as I promised her I'd put a photo of it on my blog, here it is:

She decided to put her initials on this side of it and on the other side a heart:

Colour is not great on this photo, but the heart is just red wool roving, needle felted in, and the edges are needle felted together. Thanks to Elisabeth at Sewciety for the idea.

My crafting month is still continuing with the following items:

I made these on Tuesday. I used my sizzix cutter and dies to cut out the shapes and then needle felted them together. I've used another layer of felt on the back of the cupcake to keep all the pieces together. I may put a brooch backing on them, or attach them to a bag or pencil case, I'm not sure yet.

Wednesday 12th's offering:

An apple purse made from fabric I got from FabricRehab. The inside is lined with a lovely pink retro fabric that I bought from Sewciety. Sadly I didn't take a photo of the inside, but I'm sure I'll use the rest of the fabric on something else, so I'll take a photo then.

Today I got organised and made another bag from a pattern at Homespun Threads. This time I made the Ariel bag, from fabric I had in my stash.

This is full size from the pattern and it makes a lovely big bag. I didn't have the hook that the original pattern called for so I just added a magnetic clasp to the underside of the flap. I'm thinking of adding a large sparkly button or brooch to the front of the flap, just to break the pattern up a bit, but I'm not sure if that will look right. Anyone got any ideas?

Sally
xxx

A New Bag

2011-01-10T18:55:00.000Z

Today the children were all at school (hooray & yippee), so I had a bit of time to do some serious sewing. A couple of weeks ago I downloaded some patterns from Homespun Threads, who was kindly giving them away for free. I particularly loved the pattern for the Maddie Handbag, and here is my version of it:

It has ties on the side to tighten the top, and a magnetic clasp to secure the top.

I did change the size of the bag slightly as I only had a fat quarter of the outer fabric, and the pattern called for 1/2 yard. It was quite easy to change as the bag is made from rectangles of fabric, and by slightly changing the height of the bag, and skipping the pockets, I managed to fit it onto the FQ. I love this floral fabric, its from Fabric Rehab, and better still I found it in their sale section!

I was also going to show a photo of a purse my daughter made from felt, but unfortunately she took it to school today to show her teacher and has left it there (isn't that always the way!) So I guess that will have to wait for another day to make its debut.

Sally

xxx

PS, Elisabeth (aka Lisanne) at Sewciety has started a new blog if anyone would like to say hello, you can find it here

Lots more Crafts

2011-01-09T19:43:00.003Z

More entries for my crafting Diary:

6th Jan - Having had a bit of a mad making of felt balls and small pieces of felt, I wondered what to do with them - this is what I came up with:

Not a brilliant photo, it was quite hard to get the lighting right as I've hung it right next to a window! Here are a couple of closer photos:

(Probably should've cut the extra bit of wool off at the bottom!)

I've just used a long piece of wool & knotted it just below where I wanted each ball or felt piece to go & then using a very strong needle, pushed each piece onto the wool.

7th Jan - Another pincushion to add to my collection!

I intended this one to be a cupcake, but sadly I couldn't get the shape right, so its ended up as a teapot!

8th Jan - Yet another pincushion (do you think I'm obsessed by pincushions now?)
This time I've made the ball shape & drawn round it onto a sheet of ready made felt. Then I cut out the inside petals & needle felted them half way up the ball shape. I repeated this for the outside petals but this time only felted them a quarter of the way up the ball shape. This is how it turned out:

Slightly wonky, but not bad for my first attempt.

9th Jan - Today I'd decided to rest from felting and have put together some patchwork. I think I'm going to make it into a new PE bag for my daughter, as then she'll never bring home the wrong bag!

I used a jelly roll I bought from FabricLand in Salisbury, joined the long strips and then cut and reassembled them into smaller squares.

Wonder if I can make something every day during January?

Sally
xxx

Kirstie is to blame for the mess in my house!

2011-01-05T18:50:00.000Z

Today I tried a slightly different craft - inspired by Kirstie Allsop on Kirstie's Homemade Home which I recorded before Christmas and have only now got round to watching. I wish she wouldn't try all these crafts as I get inspired to have a go & then my housekeeping goes right down to zero!

Anyway on the program I watched, she did some sewing machine embroidery, and this is my attempt at doing it. I drew the picture, traced over it and then sewed through the tracing paper & onto the fabric. I then painted it with some fabric paint I had.

Not sure what I'm going to do with it yet, but I like the effect - makes my childish drawings look halfway reasonable! Maybe tomorrow I might try the same thing, but by appliqueing fabric instead of painting it. Yet another day with no housework - thanks Kirstie.

Sally
xxx

NieNie Skirt

2011-01-04T14:57:00.000Z

As promised more detail about the skirt I've been making for Elisabeth at Sewciety. I've finally finished it and here it is, beautifully modelled by my daughter:

And a closer look at it:

It's made with lots of layers of ruffles and although at first it looks daunting to make, it went together pretty easily. It's probably not a pattern for a beginner, as a bit of knowledge is assumed, and it is quite time-consuming to make, however the results are well worth the time taken. If you've got a special occasion in mind then I would say go for it, just think how proud you'll feel when its finished and you can say that you made it!

The pattern is called the NieNie Skirt and is available on Sewciety's website. The Art Gallery fabric I've used is also from Sewciety, and is directly imported from USA. It is great to work with and is perfect for dressmaking as it falls beautifully. The site also has some unusual fabric which is imported from South Africa, called Shwe Shwe, have a look and see what you think.

Finally, when you put on a skirt like this, what should you do:

why twirl of course!

Sally
xxx

2011 - My year of crafting

2011-01-03T18:56:00.000Z

My resolution for 2011 - to do as much crafting as is possible with 3 children & 2 jobs! So to that end, even though I've had friends staying for the past couple of days, I've managed to do a little bit of crafting each day.

1st Jan
Spent half an hour working on a gorgeous skirt I'm making for Elisabeth at Sewciety. I will post more about this hopefully tomorrow when I've finished making it.

2nd Jan
More felt pin cushions:

I think I like the yellow one best, very chirpy and cheerful, and the best part is that they don't take too long to make.
3rd Jan
Today - A little bit more skirt making, and I also taught my friends daughter how to make felt balls, which she really enjoyed.

Just small amounts of crafting, but its lovely to look back each evening and know that I've accomplished something. This is one new years resolution I really want to keep.

Sally

xxx

My Last blog post of 2010

2010-12-31T16:40:00.000Z

Wow, I can't believe that 2010 is almost over - where has the time gone? Think I must be getting old as when I was young a year seemed to last forever, now its over before I've really gotten my teeth into it! So to that end I was determined to cram a couple of last minute crafts into the final hours of the year.

Yesterday I was lucky enough to find a copy of this book in the Works bookshop in Salisbury for a bargain £2.99 (sorry it was the last copy before you all rush down there to buy one)

Some of the projects in it were not to my taste, however they did have an idea for a felt pincushion. As a pincushion has been on my to do list for ages, I made one. I only followed their basic pattern for making the shape, I just decided to add my own design onto it. I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

It's still a little bit fluffy, but I've now filled it with pins and it works well. This is the other side of the cushion, just in case there was any doubt as to what its for!

The other project I've managed to fit in is to make some new cushions for our living room. They were desperately needed as the ones we had were not washable and they were so dirty I resorted to washing them, only for them to fall apart! Anyway these are the cushions I've made:

They're lovely and cheerful, and go with the wallpaper on our walls, which you can't see in this photo. They are just envelope type backs, and I've just added a strip of the front fabric to break up the plain cream colour.

Hmm its now 4.40pm, and there are just over 7 hours left to this year, I wonder what else I can make before 2011!

Happy New Year to you all, its been lovely having your company since I started this blog at the end of August. Here's to a crafty and fun 2011.

Sally

xxx

Happy Christmas

2010-12-24T11:20:00.000Z

What a lovely start to Christmas. I'd signed up for the secret Santa swap at It's all about the Fabric and yesterday I received a wonderful package from Bonnie at Fat Chick Design. (Great Blog, if you've not visited I'd recommend it)

I'm determined to put them under the tree and wait until Christmas day before opening them, but surely opening one little one wouldn't hurt?

Some gorgeous fabric - how exciting - beautiful colours which will fit in perfectly with other bits already in my stash. Hmm maybe I'll just open one more...

Ooh yummy, some chocolate to nibble on while I'm sewing. I wonder what the soft squishy one is, maybe I'll just have a peak...

A gorgeous felt decoration - perfect for my tree, but equally as lovely after Christmas. Oh, I seemed to have opened most of the presents now, I guess there's no point in keeping the others wrapped...

And the last book shaped one in the lovely Christmassy paper:

Wow, what a fantastic santa swap. So thank you to Bonnie & thank you to Emma for arranging the swap, and thank you to all my lovely readers for your comments since I've started this blog.

Just want to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and hope that your New Year brings you everything you wish for.

Sally
xxx

Yay it's back!

2010-12-21T19:27:00.000Z

I would just like to announce that my darling sewing machine has been restored to full working order and has now returned to its rightful place on my kitchen table.

My wonderful delivery man battled through snow & ice, and even resorted to pulling on his walking boots and making the last part of the journey by foot - but he made it. As you can imagine I was more excited than my six year old on Christmas morning!

So hopefully normal (chaotic) service will now be resumed on my blog!

I'm going to have a lovely crafty Christmas now!

Sally
xxx

Teachers gifts and Sizzix Dies

2010-12-16T17:49:00.000Z

Tomorrow is the last day of school for my two youngest, and its that time of year when thoughts turn to teachers gifts. This year I've bought the two teachers bulbs in a basket to grow. It looked a bit plain and boring so I thought I'd jazz it up a bit. This is how one of them looked before (forgot to take a photo of the other one before I'd done it)

And this is how they look afterwards.

I weaved (wove?) a length of red gingham through the basket and then tied a knot at the front with another length of red gingham. A bit more festive than they were before. For the teaching assistants I've made small Christmas purses (like the ones I made here) and filled two with chocolate coins, and the other one with a felt flower brooch, as one of the TA's loved the one I made for my daughter.

Last weekend I treated myself to a Sizzix Big Shot cutter and some dies (my treat for working every Saturday for the last 3 months!) I've been playing with it and these are the things I've made.

A cupcake or three!

Some horses.

The detail is just added with some fabric paint I've had knocking around for ages. As I am sewing machine-less at the moment I haven't yet decided what to make from them, perhaps the horses may turn into a pencil case and the single cupcake into a bag (yes that is the leg of a pair of jeans that I cut off for my son when it was hot and he needed shorts!) Am thinking of making a frilled apron with a cupcake on the pocket, but that is most definitely a project for after the holidays.

Sally
xxx

A Mad Week!

2010-12-15T17:34:00.000Z

After a bit of a disastrous week which involved amongst other things, a sick bug (& an accompanying sleepless night), a sore throat/temperature bug, 2 school plays, 2 days of working, a carol concert, a hospital trip to check on my sons broken thumb and NO SEWING MACHINE - I've finally managed to get my secret Santa swap organised, wrapped and parcelled up.

I'm quite relieved as for once I'd been a smidgen more organised than usual, and had already finished making and collecting the gifts before my machine broke and before the usual Christmas school madness began.

I have as yet not made it to the post office to post it, but that is a job for the morning - it should then be winging its way with lots of handmade love to the recipient, who I'm hoping will enjoy the things I've put in there.

Good luck to everyone else with your last minute Christmas madness

Sally
xxx

Granny Squares

2010-12-10T19:52:00.001Z

As I am still without a sewing machine, I've decided to try to finish the blanket I'm crocheting for a certain person in my family who loves anything a bit kitsch and retro (& who I don't think reads this blog).

It's not a great photo, and there's nothing to scale it, but each of the big squares are made up of 9 6" granny squares, sewn together. I need to make at least another 2 big squares, plus then I've got to edge it, I was hoping I'd finish it before Christmas, but I think maybe that is a bit ambitious :)

Before this I hadn't crocheted for years, I think I learned when a child, but had to turn to the internet for a reminder of how to make granny squares. I must say I'd forgotten how relaxing it is to sit in front of the TV and just make something you don't really have to think about. They make up fairly quickly too, I usually get a couple of the smaller squares made in an evening.

Anyway better go & get on with it. Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Sally
xxx

My Sewing machine is poorly

2010-12-07T20:13:00.000Z

Am feeling rather sad tonight as my sewing machine has succumed to the cold & has refused to work.

It was merrily chugging along making a lovely skirt for Elisabeth at Sewciety, when it made a horrible grinding noise & froze solid. I can't move the needle at all (although if I want to wind a bobbin then I can).

Luckily its within the guarantee period, so am going to contact Sewing Machines Direct where I bought it from in the hope that they will come & collect it.

Am not quite sure what I'm going to do with myself in the meantime, although my husband did cheer when I told him & said that now he's going to get his wife back! I doubt that very much, not while I have hand sewing needles and a crochet hook!

Sally
xxx

Finished Christmas Wreath

2010-12-06T19:29:00.000Z

Here is the finished wreath.

I'm still not sure about it. But I've hung it up on our living room door and am going to live with it for a few days before deciding whether to keep it up or not.

Has anyone else made one?
Sally
xxx

A Break from Crafting

2010-12-05T20:45:00.001Z

I haven't had too much time for crafting over the last few days, yesterday was our village Christmas festivities and I was working in the gift shop. It was lovely, the Anonymous Travelling Market was in the high street, with food and gift stalls. There were carol singers and Father Christmas even put in an appearance. Luckily the snow and ice had pretty much defrosted so lots of people ventured out and there was a really festive atmosphere.

This morning I'd planned a lazy day with a spot of crafting thrown in, but unfortunately my 10 year old was out sledging yesterday, making the most of the tiny bit of snow we had left, and he managed to run his thumb over with the sledge & then to make matters worse he fell on it! So my relaxing morning was spent sitting in Salisbury A&E. To cut a long story short, his thumb is broken, so he now has a splint and a sling and instructions to be careful. Luckily for him its his right thumb, so he's hoping he gets away without writing at school tomorrow.

I did manage to steal half an hour this afternoon to do a tiny bit of crafting - I've decided to make a rag wreath to put on our front door. I haven't had a chance to finish it, but here it is half made:

I'm reserving judgement on it until its finished - I don't know if its going to look shabby chic or just shabby. Am hoping to finish it tomorrow & then make a decision on whether to hang it up or not.

Sally
xxx

Preparing For Christmas

2010-12-02T20:26:00.000Z

Yesterday the Wiltshire scrapstore came to our school. They collect waste from manufacturing companies, and then go round schools and childrens groups selling it. They have lots of offcuts of felt, plastics, fabric, corks, you name it they have it at some point. The only thing is that you cannot sell anything made from it. Its so cheap that we often fill a large carrier bag with "stuff", come home & make and do for hours. This time they had a lot of felt cut into strips and were selling it as felt chains for £1.50. So I bought some and made it into these ~~paper~~ felt chains.

Obviously they will not be living permanently on my kitchen cupboards, I'm going to find a bare corner for it to live in. I really love the way its turned out though, may try to remember this idea for next year and make some more.

I've also been making some lavender bags to sell at the country market on Saturday.

I made a few more Christmas Puddings to give to my friends. This time I needle-felted the white and leaves on & used a tiny red pompom which I stuck on with fabric glue.

Procrastination over, tomorrow I really must get down to doing at least one of the huge list of things I've got on my to-do-before-Christmas list.

Sally
xxx

My Favourite Christmas Decorations

2010-11-29T19:53:00.000Z

As it's too cold for me to sit at my kitchen table and sew (don't ask - storage heaters & a door that doesn't fit properly!), I thought today I'd share my favourite Christmas decorations with you. These have all been with me for about 10 years, and I love each and every one of them.

This one was made for me by my aunt. The triangles are filled with stuffing and its edged with ribbon. She also made this one for me too:

It's not a brilliant photo I'm afraid, but the bells are made up from panels of fabric. Plastic bells and ribbons hang down from each one & the fabric bells get larger as they go down.

This next decoration is from a kit by Bucilla. I bought it years ago, and started making it, but it was one of those things that never get finished. Luckily my mum-in-law came to the rescue and spent many hours hand stitching every sequin and felt piece together.

Don't you think she is very clever?

Finally this is the only decoration I can lay claim to making. Again it's a kit from Bucilla, and again I bought it years ago when my eldest was tiny. Only this time I did finish it. Every sequin, every stitch was hand sewn by me, a complete labour of love and every year I get it out and am amazed I actually had the patience to make it.

Let me know if you've got favourite decorations, I'd love to see them and hear the stories behind them.

Sally
xxx

Snow

2010-11-28T20:29:00.000Z

Thought I'd show you the scene we woke up to yesterday morning, very pretty don't you think.

The children loved it as you can imagine, and luckily this year I'd put by a sledge in the shop I work in, so I could pick it up and they could go out and play. Sadly I was working all day yesterday so I didn't get a chance to try it out myself, but they loved it.

I do like seeing an odd day of snow, but the cold does make me grumpy. I'd rather curl up with a mug of hot chocolate and look out of the window at it.

No such luck tonight, I'd booked a stall at a local pub's craft fair, and so had to venture forth across Salisbury plain to get to it. Due to the weather it was quite quiet, but luckily I managed to sell a few bits, and that coupled with the fact that I'd taken my mum with me for company meant that it was quite a fun evening. I did feel sorry for the people selling Christmas trees though who were standing outside in the -2 degree weather!

My mum was actually organised and took her camera, so here is my stall.

Enjoy the snow if you have any.

Sally

xxx

More Christmas Decorations

2010-11-26T19:59:00.002Z

I'm really really trying to get myself in the Christmas mood, so I made some more felt decorations today.

Firstly I finished the snowman I started a few days back:

I used black seed beads for his eyes and buttons, and used clear ones on his hat.

I also found a fantastic tutorial for felt Christmas puddings over at the wonderful Crafty Helen @ Home blog(click here for the tutorial) and decided to make some small ones to hang on my tree.

This tiny one is made from a circle the size of a candle votive, and I used seed beads to make the holly berries. I've used a 10p piece so that you can get an idea of how tiny the pudding worked out! I then made a slightly bigger one from the base of a candle holder, and this time used larger beads to make the holly berries.

They were really good fun to make, and so simple. All I need now is some glittery thread to make hangers from and I think they'll really look good on my tree.

Finally I found a new use for the felt balls I made the other day:

A teeny tiny snowman. A very colourful chap wouldn't you say!

Sally
xxx

Giveaway Winner

2010-11-25T21:02:00.001Z

And the winner is: Sarah@Pingsandneedles. Who said:

ooh I'm first! Yay! I'm already a follower :) and I think your little scrappy purse is fab and I'd love to win it - how lovely to include a little 'kit' too - very kind!

Sarah, if you want to email me your address I'll pop your parcel in the post. Thanks to everyone who entered, and welcome to my new followers.

Sally
xxx

Oops, nearly forgot, my email address is sally(at)DitzyandDotty.co.uk