Anthony Hill is fundraising for Nottingham Rape Crisis Centre

Anthony Hill is fundraising for Nottingham Rape Crisis Centre

Please take a look at his site and donate anything you can for this amazing cause!

MORE MAKES!

I have been busy making. After having a few weeks off I have finally got the sewing machine out again. I have been promising my daughter for about 8 weeks that I will make her a bag out of a pair of her jeans she has outgrown. After loads of comments from her I finally made it on Sunday night and I am really pleased with it. It is totally recycled, the jeans were hers and the lining and straps came from a top that I haven't worn in about 10 years!

The literally 20 minutes ago I made her a skirt. When we found the top to make the lining of the bag, my daughter went through my cupboard and picked out loads of my clothes that she would like me to change into something for her! Somethings I said no to but the first top that she picked she loved so much so I had to cut it up! Because of the design it works really well as a skirt for her. I hope she likes it when she sees it in the morning.

BUSY BUSY BUSY

Its been almost a month since I last posted on here and I have been really busy. Unfortunately not with crafting!

I have managed to make a little tie top for myself from a pattern I received with the latest Sew Magazine. I was really pleased and it only took me an hour or so from start to finish.

The main thing I have made this month is a coat for my daughter. I know it is the hottest time of the year but I had a cord skirt that I never wear and I thought it would look great as a coat! It took me ages to pick it all apart as it was in long, thin strips. I managed to sew them together to make it look like a design feature on the coat. The coat now has three seams down the back and the arms have a seam running over the top. I'm really pleased that they actually look like they are supposed to be there!

The next item I am making is a 'jeans bum bag' again for my daughter. It is basically a bag made from the bum part of a pair of jeans. Because she is a girl she has some very cute jeans that she has grown out of so I am going to use a pair of them, I'm just trying to find some material to line the bag with. I have to make it soon though, she wants it for her holiday!

MY SHOP

I have set up a shop!

As you can see by the link the the left hand side, I have decided to use DeWanda. That is basically because I am not sure how well things sell through craft websites and DeWanda have free listings at the moment. If all goes well I will eventually set up my own website. That's the plan anyway!


At the moment I only have one item for sale as I only started about an hour ago. It is a cute hair tie like the ones I make for my daughter. My daughter goes dancing and almost every child there has these hair ties so I thought, why buy when I can make my own. So that is what I did.



May be they will sell, maybe they wont. We will just have to wait and see. I must get making though to add more to the shop!

TRYING SOMETHING NEW

Last night I decided to have a little play around with my sewing machine to see if it can sew different types of material. I used an unwanted blanket and a scarf. I ended up making some mobile phone cases.

I decided to try a bit of simple embroidery on the on made from a blanket as I haven't done embroidery since I was about 10 years old. It was quite easy but I could still do with a bit more practise. I'm thinking about making a variety and then setting up an Etsy shop to try and sell a few.

I'm still working on my cross stitch and I'm in the process of making a coat for my daughter. It's on hold until I am able to get some thread to match the fabric. I should be able to complete it early next week. In time for our family holiday!

BIRTHDAYS, BIRTHDAYS AND MORE BIRTHDAYS

May is the busiest month in our house by far. Every year I suggest hibernating through it! This year, I had my sons second birthday, my sons ninth birthday, my husbands birthday and my daughters first dancing show!

That's not to mention the countless other birthdays during May, dress rehearsals, work etc!

So, this month the sewing has had to go on the back burner so that I could make birthday cakes. I did manage to make a Pirate shirt for my littlest boy to wear to a 50th birthday party also in May! (In the picture the red dress I am wearing is the first thing I made in 10 years!)

The first cake I made was a football shirt for Matt. He plays for a local football team and luckily his number is 9 so it made it a perfect cake for him. The following week I made a Noddy car for my youngest. Noddy isn't great but I was really pleased with how the car itself looked. Finally last week I cooked a more grown up cake for my husband, a Guinness cake. He was a bit dubious to start with as he doesn't like Guinness but the cake tasted gorgeous!

Now its back to the sewing. I have just dissected a skirt of mine that was too big and I'm hoping to make a coat for my daughter.

By the way, I also got a mention in the latest issue of Sew magazine. imagine my surprise flicking through it with a cup of coffee and there staring back at me is a photo of my youngest in the pyjamas I made for him!

THINGS TO DO

I have been busy the past week trying to complete my cross stitch. I have still got loads to do though! The more I make the more ideas I have bout what to make next. I have now got an ever growing list of things to do. Some are more important than others but I want to do them all by the end of the summer. That seems a long way away but in reality it isn't at all! I thought I would keep a permanent reminder of this list, so here goes:

Finish Pirate Shirt, Lara's pyjama's, finish Tweety cross stitch, Lucas's birthday cake, Tony's birthday cake, summer dresses for Lara, summer dresses for me, alter Lara's jeans she has outgrown into cropped trousers and shorts, learn how to make trousers, teddy bear cross stitch, hand puppets, sock monkeys for each of the children, headbands, a new bag for me, two ducks that match the pyjama's.

The list just goes on and on and on. First things first though is a birthday cake for Matt, he is going to be 9 so it has to be super cool, all he has told me is he wants a chocolate one!