The Special Skirt

Yesterday I tackled something I had never tackled before. You can see there is a tale coming can't you!
I attempted making a skirt, not such a big deal you say, well I did it using a pattern, a real pattern bought from a shop, not one made from newspaper by me which I usually use.

All I can say is there was so much reading to do, if I wanted to read i'd get a book! Little symbols to understand, what! I didn't want a lesson in decoding! Anyway suffice to say that everything that could go wrong did, so lots of sewing and unpicking and resewing went on.

As you can see the skirt is nearly done. Just (just she says!) got to fit the zip, side seam, waist band and hem it up. Adventures will be had today!

This skirt is a special skirt. You know it is really nice fabric, we can see that but that is not what makes it special. My sister who has cancer, you may remember this post, doesn't 'do' skirts is going into hospital tomorrow to have a colostomy operation. This will mean her wearing a stoma bag which will be difficult at first with trousers till she can get used to it.

She wanted to have a nice skirt for when she comes out of hospital so I am trying to get it done so that she has it there ready for her. She loves it so far and I really want to get it right cos it's special.

MK Etsy meet up

The MK Etsy meet up happened last night, it was great! There was spugmeistress, MrXStitch and myself of course. We talked for hours about local groups, about crafting and how we are going to be setting up our own ninja style, hit squad, bad boy/girl crafting set, more of that to come later.

They brought along a couple of bits that they had made so we could have a photograph, sorry it's a bit dark but if I used flash it washed it out.

Mr X Stitch brought along some copies of the local craft matters mag which is fab and news of a contemporary craft show happening in September at Madcap Theatre in Milton Keynes.

It was a great evening and we are on the lookout for you local crafters, just cos they say your paranoid doesn't mean your not being watched!

My Creative Space

Today my creative space is a sea of Felt and Embroidery threads. I am making more fridge magnets and I am going to make some felt creatures which are the same as the fridge magnets but with suckers instead. Mmmm lovely felt in lots of different colours yum!

For more creative spaces go and take a looksie over here.

Labels - Woohoo!

At last my labels have arrived I have been waiting for them forever! Well around 3 weeks at any rate. When I ordered them the blue looked more like the blue in my banner but hey I still think they are cute!

Sorry about the poorly lit picture it is a very dark and rainy day here in the UK today!

Yumski Fabric

I have had an enquiry about a custom purse on etsy so I took a few pictures of some of my fabric so that she could choose. They look so nice I thought I would share the pics here.

Featured Coriandr Shop

Coriandr featured shop today is Kitty Ballistic (fab name for a start!). Kitty Ballistic makes felt items and jewelery. Here are a few things from her shop that I like. Go take a look for yourself here.

It's Tuesday and I can't wait...

...till tomorrow eve when a group of local etsy'ers are meeting up at my house. How exciting is that! I will blog about it after the event as well. To take a look at a few folks who will be here look on etsy on 'shop local' and search for 'Milton Keynes'. Above I have shown a couple of pics from Milton Keynes etsians stores.
If you want to take part in 'It's Tuesday' comment over here.

Featured Coriandr Shop

My next featured Coriandr shop is Julie Mills Design. Julie makes things like purses, scarfs and a few other little bits, I like the sweet little purses particularly, birds are featured quite a lot, which can't be a bad thing. She not only makes her own items she prints the fabric as well. See what you think, take a look here.

Little Brown Owl

This is the latest in my Little fridge magnet collection. I got the urge to make a little brown owl and thought he would be nice as a fridge magnet. So here he is. I am quite pleased with how he turned out.

Sunday Stash #3

Hello my friends, have a good day! I set my heart on having this piece of fabric as soon as I saw it. I love those cute mushrooms and fawns (they are just out of shot, they are very shy you know!).
To see other delicious fabrics get on over here.

Featured Coriandr Shop

I have decided to have something new on my blog. It is going to be a very small feature on a Coriandr shop. Coriandr is a relatively new UK based site for handmade, vintage and supplies. It is a great little community and I want to share the love. This may happen often or maybe not. We will see, but lets see who is first.

OK BlueFishHandmade has some fabbo stuff in her shop. I have chosen a couple of items that I really like but it is worth going on over and taking a look as there is much more on offer. She even does knicky knacks!

Finished Frame Bag

Well this is the finished result. It looks ok at first glance but has a couple of little bits that I will do different next time. It is a little wonky and the open sides of the bag come down a little further than the bag frame. But all things considered not bad at all as I didn't get glue anywhere else other than where it was meant to be.

Featured on Mr X Stitch

I have been featured on Mr X Stitches blog. He showcases a new embroiderer or stitchist each week and this Thursday it is my turn! He has shown a few pics of my Onesies which amazingly look so much better on his blog.
Take a look at some of the other stitchists he features, some are not for the faint hearted, but all of them are really fantastic. Thank you Mr X Stitch, go take a look.

My Creative Space

My creative space today was in fact started yesterday to be continued today. I am so excited and scared because it is the first time I have attempted a frame bag. The bit I am most worried about is the glueing side of things. I am bound to get glue everywhere except where it is needed! It is already a little wonky but I will be able to use it myself. It is lovely fabric so that is good enough! Who cares about a little wonky with handmade?

For more fabbo creative spaces looksie here Where this meme has gone crazy!!!

Paper Shoes

Well paper shoe actually. It is amazing how inspiring boredom can be isn't it. I had nothing to do earlier after spending all day fulfilling the orders I had from the FruteJuce party, there was some paper knocking around on the table so I was fiddling around with it. It ended up being this little paper shoe that I quite like for some reason.

Sunday Stash #2

Here is my latest piece of fabric, I know it is very popular but it is mine, all mine!! I am planning to make a little bag for my Sister with it. She will love it.

To see more fantastic stash's get on over here.

The Frutejuce Party

Hi, If any of you get the chance to take your things to a selling party go for it. I got 4 sales and 5 orders. Well worth doing. The girls selling jewellery did well but the Body Shop lady didn't make many sales at all.

New Grandchild

Hi all, as some of you may have noticed from my profile I have been expecting a new grandchild. Well the little chap was born today and all is well. He weighs 8lb.7oz. I haven't slept for 2 days as my daughter in law was in slow labour at first but in the end she had a home birth, no drugs or any intervention. Perfect textbook birth. Welcome to the world little boy with no name.

My Layout

OK here is most of my stuff laid out in a dummy run before this evening. I am going to my friends house where she is having a Body Shop, Jewelry and FruteJuce party! It is very scary as I know all of the people that will be there. A lot of them have not seen my things before and I feel really shy! What is that about? Wish me luck and wish me orders please. I will report in later and tell you if I am a billy no mates and no one buys anything.

Laters...

My Creative Space

My creative space today involves buttons, lots of them, vintage buttons that have been sitting in this pretty tin for many many years. They used to belong to my ex mother in law and they have been passed onto me. I love button tins, I could footer through them for hours at a time. Not only for the buttons but all the other little bits that find their way into them. Fun time!

Take a looksie at other creative spaces here.

I love purses

I appear to have been bitten by the purse bug! I have made another four little purses today, they have sweet lining as well. I have been asked to take my stuff to a friends house on Thursday evening as she is having a jewellery party and a body shop party and my stuff all in one. I am planning on doing a couple more vests and T-shirts as well to take. I also did a bad thing today. I ordered a couple more FQ. I really shouldn't have as neither me nor Will have much work but hey what else am I going to be doing with myself. I have to indulge now and again.

New Purse

Here is the result of the purse back that was in My Creative Space on Thursday. This Kokka fabric is so popular and pretty and lovely and I wanted to make something with it besides the Lavender bags. I am really pleased with how they have turned out and looking forward to how they are received at the craft fair.

My Creative Space

My creative space today is very exciting! (sorry but it is to me). I have managed to do another type of zip insertion, don't remember what it is called but it is blimmin' lovely. I have been sitting and looking at how nice it sits in its lovely little zippy groove! It is the reverse side of a different kind of purse I am making. I was spurred by my success with the other zippy purses.

Also in my creative space I have been folding my Fat Quarters just because they look so nice folded like this. Inspired by Kootoyoo's folding tutorial here.

Also take a look at other creative spaces here, I love it. Nosyness abounds for me.

Apple Fridge Magnet

This apple has been picked for the 2nd treasury of the day on Etsy! Fab! I am so proud of the little seedy thing. Thanks to the curators of both treasuries. They can be seen here and here.
Edited to add, it has also been picked for Etsy front page today, Wow that generates a lot of views doesn't it!

Sewing With Mum

My Mum came round today to use my table to cut out a skirt pattern for herself. She lives in sheltered housing and she doesn't have enough room for a large table so she uses mine. Take a close look at the fabric, it's cute!
She cut out the fabric and was going to take it home to sew as she prefers hand sewing everything. I offered to do it on my machine so that we could sit and chat for longer. We had a lovely time talking about relatives and family stuff. A nice afternoon.

Sunday Stash #1

My first stash entry. I think this is a great meme as I love nosying at fabric. It does give me stash envy though and could in fact lead to buying more fabric. I won't be joining every week perhaps as my stash isn't very big, but they say it's not the size that counts it what you do with it!

To join in get on over here and share the love.

Wonderful Breakfast

I came down to this lovely breakfast made for me by Will, very kind of him. Mango, Grapfruit, apple, pear, melon, grapes, satsuma, banana. Yum Yum! One of my favourite breakfasts!

First sale on Coriandr

Hoorah! Put out the flags, hire the dancing girls I have had my first sale on Coriandr. Whoop! Whoop! It is my pretty purse that I listed a couple of weeks ago. I am one happy bunny!

Moving On

Thought I would share my finished purse and Bunny love.

The purse is now finished and I am pleased with it if I say so myself. I love the way the zip is encased between the lining and the outer fabric, nice. I was brave and sewed very close to the edge of the zip which paid off as it sits nicely in the purse rather than jutting out the top if you see what I mean. I was worried it was going to be one of those where you can hardly get the thing open. I am about to buy some coloured zips from ebay so that I can use some of my other fabrics. Co-ordinated zips now there's a thing!
I embroidered bunny face on as well. I wanted it to be very simple and as you can see, ta daa, simple bunny face. Now for the skirt. I am having to talk my way through this one every step of the way as it is another one of those that has been hanging on for a bit so I am geeing myself up via blog!
Nearly forgot! Pinch and a punch, first day of the month!