Friday 31 December 2010

For one night only...

Since having Felix I really have noticed that my fashion spending has dropped off a cliff.  This could be due to a number of factors:
  • Lack of time
  • Lack of cash
  • Lack of decent shops in Hastings (sorry folks, I love this place but I could do with a House of Fraser!)
Oh and of course...
  • Lack of a size 12 anymore
As a result, it's New Years Eve, we've got some folks coming round and I don't have a New Years outfit.     Well, correction, I DIDN'T have a New Years outfit until 10 minutes ago when I had a brainwave. I found an old pair of straight jeans in the wardrobe that still fit, turned them inside out and shoved them (literally) through the sewing machine running a seam all the way up the inside leg.  And now....

A new pair of Skinny's - woohoo!  Found a sparkly top and I'm all set! (sorry for the snap, the gorgeous James is still asleep!)


Now I don't recommend this really, as I've got a big chunk of denim seam rubbing my inside thigh and they probably won't last too long (plus those of you with dress-making skills will be cringing at my slap-dash approach) but for one night only - I am queen of the skinny jean!

Anyway, happy New Year one and all - I hope to be doing a lot more blogging in 2011, inspired by Felix of course, and also the fabulous stash that I was given for Christmas.


Marvellous Liberty fabrics from my stylish Aunty Jane, a whole new set of threads from my Mum and Dad, and James actually found his own way to http://www.fabricrehab.com/ and ordered me a fantastic bundle of joy plus some other fat quarters I shall have lots of fun with. Big love to you all :D

x

Monday 27 December 2010

Chrimble productivity

I've been a bit quiet on the blog front for the last few weeks, but I have a reason!  I've been making Christmas presents, and cards...and my own wrapping paper (but this last one was pretty tedious, given the volume I had to do!)

Of course I couldn't talk about my homemade gifts until the recipients had ooooed and ahhhed over their presents (bless my family for being lovely!).  Anyway, here are a couple of photos to show you how hard I've been working :)

This cushion went to Linsay's mum, Anne

and this pair were for my lovely stylish Aunty Jane and her fabulous new vaulted garden room

For the Christmas cards I continued on the fabric theme and appliqued baubles onto white cotton. 

In making these cards I've discovered a new technique which I'm itching to try out in patchwork...basically, the bauble design is drawn in powerpoint and then printed it directly onto patchwork cotton using my inkjet printer - how cool is that?!   It opens the door for personalised patchwork (think black and white photos, funky fonts and the potential for my own fabric design on a small scale) so watch this space!

If you want to try this yourself you'll need white patchwork cotton, freezer paper (this is a waxy paper with a shiny side that can be used for wrapping food; in craft world it's sometimes called quilters paper) and a printer.  Cut a piece of cotton slightly smaller than the A4 sheet of freezer paper and iron it to the shiny side of the freezer paper, then just feed it into the printer and print directly onto the cotton.  The paper will peel off afterwards and can be reused.

So much potential...so little time!  Oh, one thing, be aware that your print isn't washproof, I've found a product to make it so but not tried it yet.

On a final note, you don't think Christmas has been all work and no play do you?    Here's a gorgeous view from our traditional christmas walk down to the local pub...
lovely eh?

x

Sunday 12 December 2010

Secret Santa..

We had a Christmas lunch this week. By we, I mean the lovely "ladies with babies" I've met since moving here and having Felix..  It was a rather hectic affair (as you may imagine) but there was a moment when all 9 mums were seated at the table and we managed a Christmas toast before the next little person required attention.   Anyway, we'd decided to do a secret Santa, and I was determined to offer up a homemade gift if at all possible.  I went "googling" for speedy fabric based crafty projects suitable for new mums and ended up on this page

 http://www.mookychick.co.uk/diy_ethic/kanzashi_tutorial.php

- with instructions for Japanese fabric flowers called Kanzashi.  Check it out, they are very cute.  Half an hour later, I ended up with this brooch

 - which I love but, to be honest, was a bit wonky so I ended up giving the latest patchwork cushion to my (not really that secret) secret Santa person!

We are actually quite a crafty bunch and I was treated to a jar of homemade apple chutney as well as a gorgeous photo of Felix in a lovely hand-painted frame (thanks Sharon!).  Queen of the crafters, though, has to be Nikki who is working her way round all of us knitting our little ones the cutest ever hats.  The clever lady only picked up knitting needles a couple of months ago but is a human knitting machine.  Here's Felix modelling hers, oh and Nikki's cat modelling another (don't ask!)




Til next time x

Sunday 5 December 2010

Wonky or straight?

When it comes to patchwork, I'm actually a novice.  I know this because squares and stripes are all very well, but give me a triangle and it all goes...well, a bit wonky.  I got a bit ahead of myself recently and found a patchwork block called Tippencanoe. This block features three types of triangles and I thought I'd give it a go for a cushion

....hmmm

......three hours later and with high stress levels I finally produce said cushion.  See below for the culprit, it looks OK from a distance but close up non of the points match and one of the central triangles is definitely bigger than the others!   And this was after I unpicked it because I made perfect points on the edges only to realise I'd left no seam margins...grrrrrr


So for the moment, I'm sticking to wonky and not getting too bothered by my lack of technical prowess. Here's the latest creation, made with layers of random stripes so none of the seams match!



Maybe I'll try triangles again in 2011 :)

x

Thursday 2 December 2010

First post - how exciting!!

Well, this is a turn-up.  I've decided to do a blog.  Those of you who know me will know that the commitment associated with a blog is really not my thing!

So why now?  Well, I'm on maternity leave for starters (I'm not sure this helps, I seem to have less time now than ever before!), and have built a website to showcase the patchwork I've started doing. In case you are wondering, Felix is my daughter and she is truly inspiring so it seemed only fair to name this after her.

Anyway, maybe it was a pregnancy craving but I find myself suddenly addicted to fabric, patchwork and all things crafty so this blog will be (mainly) devoted to this subject, along with juggling motherhood and the odd observation on life in general.

The tea's ready so I'll finish here, but before I leave, I must just rave about a new magazine I bought in Tesco's the other day (Felix and I went to fill our afternoon, is that sad?).  It's called "Making" and is the first craft magazine I've found that is actually stylish, interesting and has achievable projects in it!  (plus, Issue 2 has a special on patchwork - could it get any better?)  Check it out if you get time
http://www.makingmagazine.com/

x