Makes for my shop

I have been quite busy since my daughters birthday. I have made myself a gorgeous top courtesy of a pattern from Sew magazine. I altered it slightly as the material I wanted to use was quite see-through so I lined it first.

I have also started to make a few Christmas cards for the wonderful ladies on the CB forum. I have also made my latest postcard for the swap. this month it is - Winter Wonderland. Do you think it fits the brief?

Finally I have been adding a few items to my shop. First I have my cushion covers which I just loved making. They are 14" and an envelope style. I also have a stitched picture of the sign from Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows. Finally I have just made some gorgeous jade green flower brooches which I love and want to keep myself! If any interest you, please have a look at my Folksy shop, the link is on the left.

My Daughter's Birthday

Monday was my daughters 4th birthday. I can't believe how fast the 4 years have gone! For months she has been saying that she wanted a Princess birthday cake until two weeks before when she decided it should be a Fifi And The Flowertots cake instead! So that's what I made for her. It took in total about 5 hours as i bakes the cake and then decorated it. It tasted good and it didn't look as evil in real life as it does on the picture!

SOME OF MY MAKES

I have been very busy the last few weeks and I thought I would keep this short and sweet and just show you some of my makes. My daughter in her Jasmine costume, again in her new pyjama's, a wallet for my sister and a four seasons stitched picture. And thats not eveything!

It's been ages!

I can't believe it has been over a month since I last posted! I have been rather busy! I'm slowly starting to work my way through my list of 'to do's. The problem is for everyone I finish I add two to the list!
Recently I have done another fabric postcard for the Craft's Beautiful forum and I'm working on the next one. I have made myself a pair of linen trousers, the first adult trousers I have ever made. I completed the alteration of my work colleagues skirt and I was so happy that she was pleased with the result. I have also tried some embroidery on paper for a forum competition.
Finally I have made my daughter a pair of pyjama's. She picked her own fabric and I have to say it is rather bright! She is currently going through the stage of being scared of the dark so now she will probably glow!
I will post some pictures very shortly of all of the things that I have made recently and I will post again soon!

FAIRY POSTCARD

Now that the swap is over I though I would post a picture of the fairy postcard that I made for the Crafts beautiful forum swap.

I embroidered the fairy onto white cotton and the mounted it onto some lace and stitched some sequins around the edge. I then padded it and stitched it onto a postcard. I am really pleased with it and i think it is better than the Lion King one. Practise does help!

The next swap is themed 'My Favourite Place' and I know exactly what I am going to do for that one!

In the meantime I have bought a beautiful 1941 Singer Sewing Machine - a bargain at only £20 as well as lots of ribbons, lace, thread etc. Monday night is the night for altering my work colleagues skirt. I'm going to take a before and after shot so that I can see just how much I had to alter. Ive also bought a load of fabric so I can start making clothes again.

Finally I have a wedding in November and I'm hopefully going to make a 50's inspired dress for it. I love wearing my own creations because you know you wont get caught wearing the same thing as someone else! I wore a dress I made last week for my first anniversary and I felt really confident in it!

NEARLY THERE

I have had a busy weekend. My husband went for a walk up to the top of Ben Nevis (training for his charity event next year - see the link on the left hand side) so I had time to do a bit of crafting. I made my postcard with a Fairy theme for the swap on the Crafts Beautiful forum. I will post a picture of it when the swap has taken place. I also managed to get all of the cross stitch finished on my Tweety and Sylvester cross stitch and I am just working my way through the outline.

I have my first alteration to do as well! I colleague at work is the Mother of the Bride in 8 weeks time and needs her skirt altering, I have volunteered myself and it is now hanging in my bedroom ready to be altered. Sounds easy, however it needs to be altered from the waist because of the decorative hem so I have to unpick everything, take nearly a foot off (!), reposition the zip and add the elastic back along the sides! I'm really looking forward to it because I know that I can do it and it's really nice that someone else has faith in me as well. I think it helps that I keep showing her the clothes I make for the kids!

Well I better get on and do a bit more publicising of the hubby's charity event to try and raise the £1000 for Nottingham rape Crisis Centre.

LOADS OF FUN!

Wow! It has been a little while since I last posted on here and I have been busy busy busy!

I love the forum for Crafts Beautiful and I recently won the insect inspired challenge with the caterpillar cake I made my son for his birthday. I was so shocked because there are so many talented crafters on the forum! I have also signed up for my very first swap, a postcard swap. The theme is fairies and fantasy so I have got to get my thinking cap on to make an amazing card. I had a practise with the theme that didnt win - Disney Characters. What do you think?

Other than that I have been working hard on my cross-stitch so that I can enter the pets competition and I made an apron for the Sew Magazine first birthday competition! (I like competitions!)

I've also treated myself a little bit. I bought a few bits from HabbyWorld and they arrived today. Loads of lace, ribbons and sequins! I don't actually need them for anything in particular but I thought I would treat myself! Next month its off to the fabric shop for loads and loads of fabric and I can't wait!

I've also got to make a holder for my husband that can fit on his bike. It needs to be able to hold a water bottle, walkie talkie, food and anything else he can think of for his charity bike ride without impeding his movements. That should be good fun. Take a look at his JustGiving site and see just how much of an amazing man my husband is: http://www.justgiving.com/challenge1.

All of this and I have been on holiday! Well that's all for now, have a look at my latest makes.

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!

PYJAMAS

HI!

I have been very busy this week completing a pair of pyjama's for my son, Lucas. I have to give a lot of credit to Sew Magazine as that is where I got the pattern from. I have never used a pattern before, I remember my mum using them all the time when I was a dancer but I never really understood why. Now I know! It makes things very simple to do!.

I am very proud of the pyjama's I made. I love the little shirt type top, I started to struggle with the collar until I noticed that I had cut only half a collar in the first place so no wonder it didn't fit!!!

The best thing is that my son loves his new pyjama's and my husband gave me loads of compliments, saying they look shop bought and I have a talent he didn't know about!!!

By the way, the pyjama's were made out of an unwanted quilt cover and a few scraps of material, the only thing I actually bought were the buttons. The whole project cost exactly £1 and I recycled in the process!

Now I have finished the pyjama's I am trying to finish a cross stitch that I have had sitting in my cupboard for nearly 10 years (!). It is Tweety Pie and Sylvester. There are lots of blocks of colour so it feels like it is taking forever! I'm still trying to knit as well but I'm not getting very far with it!

HI THERE!

Hi!

As this is my first post I thought I better introduce myself!

My name is Debbie and I am 27 years old. I am married to the most wonderful man and we have three children, two boys aged 8 and 1 and a girl aged 3.

Ever since I was a child I have enjoyed making things. Cross stitch, knitting, decoupage, you name it I tried it. I was also a dancer and my mum had to make me so many costumes over the years I picked up loads of tips in dressmaking from her.

I studies Textiles to GCSE level and I loved every lesson. I wish I had carrie don with my A Level.

A friend told me recently I needed to do something for myself that I would be proud of. So, I decided to start making again. I was given a sewing machine for my birthday last year so I dusted that off, destroyed an old skirt of mine and made my daughter a dress.

OK it's not perfect but for a first attempt after 10 years of not sewing I was pleased.

I'm starting this blog so that I can keep a diary of my makes and finds. I will post pictures of what I make and let you know how I am getting on with new projects and techniques.

I hope you will enjoy this blog as much as I will!