Best laid plans and all that

So it's been a while, sorry my loveys, I always have been a lazy blogger. To be fair though, at the moment it feels like I get home from work and have no ability to anything except sit on the couch and maybe do a tiny bit of sewing/knitting/embroidery/crochet. 

The main reason I haven't posted though? Because I haven't finished anything! Lots has been going on but nothing has been finished!

My hexagon quilting isn't much bigger than the old pics i have posted, this is because I've done it a little bit wrong and stitched two together the wrong way, when i started to unpick it a bit of fabric ripped. I panicked, put it down, and haven't picked it back up yet :s

But it's all good. Because... I have been given a gift...

It doesn't look as gorgeous here as it does in real life. I think that is mainly down to the fact that daylight only happens while I am at work so I don't get the chance to take many pictures in good light. 

Maggie, the lovely colleague who gifted this to me started it when pregnant with her daughter but after a while it got tucked away and left. Now when she was clearing out I get it! I think I can class it as vintage, we reckon it's 24ish years old. My new rule is, if its older than me then I can call it vintage. And its a while year older than me!!

It has a pattern to it, about a third of the quilt is handstitched together so far and I can see it but there are no instructions to carry it on with. Is that a problem? NO!!!! because of this...

Every single hexagon is numbered so i know how to attach them all perfectly!! I started on wednesday, cuddled up in bed watching the final of celebrity big brother whilst the mr watched the football in the living room. I didn't get masses done but CBB was worth it. I can't believe Jim Davidson won!

The next thing I wanted to share were some new additions to our home since the last time I blogged

These little darlings live with me now! I love them to pieces!!!! I feel that I need sewing baskets, this is because my house is full of plastic carrier bags with half done sewing projects and I don't want them to be in plastic bags. I want them to be in pretty pretty boxes that I can be proud off. 

These are all from vintage mischief in Beccles and I love to think about the people that used them and loved them before they came to me. The aqua and cream one is my favourite. It looks a lot smaller than it really is in this picture. The little green sugar bowl will end up with candles or trinket in it when we have redone our living room. At the moment we have a dark red feature wall and lots of browns and reds. Instead we are going for lovely fresh greens when we get round to it and can afford the things we want in there. 

I was lucky too with the aqua basket, these sort of size ones I have seen in that shop are £25 and upwards. I was chatting to the man and he told me he had just had this in. I loved it stacks but it needed a really good clean inside and out (some parts were dark blue before they were baby wiped) so he said I could have it as is for £15!!! Bargain! It's sitting next to my couch because it's just too pretty to put away yet!

The other one is a cutie too but I really loved it for the material on the top. It's on the insides too!

It makes me want to sssqqqqquuueeeeeeeeee!

Thats it for now folks! It's getting past my bed time and even though it's the weekend tomorrow I have to be up early! Going on a trek to London with my Breakthrough Breast Cancer ladies to go to a charity event. Want to know the best bit though? I get to meet up with my bestie flatmate from uni!! Literally can't wait! And I'm taking my camera and some spare batteries for the trip so hopefully I'll come back with lots to share. I've got my fingers crossed for something sewish.

I'll leave you with a pic of my beautiful Mimi. Black and white too, I'm learning to use the camera!

Happy sewing!

a late night

I'm soooo tired!!! This has been a late one, I'm an early to bed girl and it's past my bed time. On top of that it was my late night at work today and I nipped in to see my mum on my way home. I got home at 8.20 and I am so so tired. After having my dinner and tackling the mountain of washing up I collapsed on the couch and did a little bit of this...

can you guess what it is? I bet you can't!
And because I am so tired I am doing a bit of a cop out tonight, it's all pictures peeps!

These are all the odd handknit socks in my clean washing basket. I do not understand where all their mates have gone! This is hours of work and I can't wear a pair! I realise there hasn't been much knitting on this blog. I'm sort of taking a break from it, I have fits of different hobbies and this is the only one that has never been left behind, my grandma taught me when I was very young and I have been doing it ever since.

This is where my cat has decided her new home is. The wicker basket with tissue and some old scraps in, there is nothing in there I love so I'm not too bothered but it was pretty creepy to be sitting at my sewing table and here her meowing to me. It took me a long time to realise she was right above me, I think she was just messing with me. 

A piccie of my vintage sewing box, can't remember if I have posted about this but it is from the vintage shop in town and i love it to pieces. unfortunately so does the cat and she has started sitting on it when I walk past her and give her no attention. I'm going to have to sort that.

This is what I bought on monday, I love this yarn, I made my cousin a blanket from this yarn in pinks and purples when her baby was born. These might go on crochet projects, something I can do in front of the TV when I get a minute to watch it. My fave is the mustard.

SO thats almost it for tonight. But one little shout out, I have a very nice email pen pal but I have been locked out of the email acc I use to speak to her. I feel a bit cut off and I can't tell her that I haven't just forgotten about her :( 

Calli! If you happen upon this, I am a total numpty who has forgotten her email password. I will get back in i promise!!!! 

Happy sewing everyone x

A day away... makes me grow lazier

A change is definitely not as good as a rest, we went to the pub last night, which meant I had nothing ready to go on my Etsy shop tonight and I was shattered and on top of all that I have the looming thought that I have to work tomorrow. As it is my week to work Saturday that means a 5.5 day week :(

Even though its only a half day it feels like it really cuts into the weekend. Luckily I work with some fabulous people. 

Today I was brought gifts, some of which were these...

These beautiful ladies were in the Debenhams sale and I'm hoping another lovely person can grab me some more tomorrow, I have big plans for these girls. A mini wardrobe of plans!!! So watch out, once I have completed a few outfits for each little lady I will post them on my etsy shop.

This is what went into the shop today...

It's a sandwich bag full of scraps and that really is a full bag. It's on etsy for £2 which I think is quite good, some of the bits of fabric are very big and it's a great way to grow a stash and it is especially good if you use it for any little quilting bits because you get variety.

I've been working on my piece of hexagon quilting and whilst it is a lot bigger than it has been it doesn't really look much different. I'll bore you with it tomorrow when I have nothing else to think off.

Also, there has been facebook success. more than 50 likes in less than a week, I know it's not many compared to other pages but I'm beaming with quite a lot of pride right now! Considering that most of the people that have been exposed to it are family or old school friends and I don't really think many of them are that interested in any kind of stitchery so I am feeling very supported.

So for now I'm going to go find my bed.

Before I go let me share this blog, it belongs to one of those facebook friends that I've known for a while but not too well, she's crafty!! yippee!! I get quite a lot of joy out of finding out someone else has a crafty bone. The mr is not the most craft-friendly, he doesnt make a fuss about me doing it, mostly he lets me get on with it. But his face goes very sad/bored if I try and force him into a conversation and I feel bad. Therefore I have you (blog peeps) and any crafty friends I can gather to talk to about it.

Happy sewing!

ps. check out the etsy shop and facebook page!!!

In front of the tele

Today we got home late, the fella (part time angel) went and cooked tea (we had these fried chicken fajitas which were amazing) whilst I cut my next pack of charm squares.
I'm trying to add one thing to Etsy a day at the moment and I am always staying a day ahead. That way if I have no time one evening I can still catch up the next day without too much work.

This is what went onto the Shop today...

Oh my gosh do I love these prints!!! The two on the bottom are Amy Butler (sqqqeeeeee) and the top right is called Charleston Farmhouse by Felicity Miller, It's my favourite and I think I might be keeping the rest to myself from now on. This is another 3.5" charm pack and its my favourite one thats gone together yet. 

This is what I have cut for tomorrow

The bottom left is another Amy Butler but this pack of 40 charm squares is a little different from the ones I have made so far. These are 5" squares!!! Big ones!!!

I think these have a bit more use than the 3.5" because they can be cut into more squares for smaller projects. I'm sharing this with you because tomorrow I'll be back late from work and then it's pub night so there'll be no blogging or playing with the rotary cutter.

After my little bit at the cutting mat I parked my bum on the couch and got on with my little hexagons. This is where I was at yesterday

This was yesterday, I forgot to take any pictures today but it has grown, this is the second square of these I've made and I'm hoping to make a little mini quilt. I have a dream of someone using it for a itty bitty dolls quilt.

I'm off to bed, but before I go... THE FACEBOOK PAGE HAS MORE THAN 50 LIKES!!!! I may well do a dance, we are half way to a giveaway! It might even be a mini quilt!!!

Anyway I'm tired, work tomorrow so sleep now.

Happy Sewing!

Progress

There has been some major progress over here at the mad house! 

My Facebook page is up and running!

If you would like to take a look then come on over (woop another link! The novelty hasn't worn off yet!)

I'm thinking of a Giveaway soon, maybe if i can get the page to 100 likes then we'll have one to celebrate. I was thinking a choice giveaway, we'll have one winner and a choice of two prizes, one made item and one item that is craft supplies, that way whoever wins gets something they would really like or use.

I've been cutting some more charm squares and have put another pack on Etsy today and have got a pack ready to go on tomorrow. I can't have any pictures of them in this post because it's on my laptop and my lovely fabric pictures are on the Ipad :( But I will say this... I've cut into some of my favourites and I wasn't planning on that happening but they were so so pretty I had to share! 

So, I know this has been short (hopefully sweet) so I'll leave you with a pic that makes me happy (and was already on the laptop)

This was my first ever quilt, made for the beautiful daughter of my darling cousin early this year. Look at the sunshine, I miss it. Apparently we are getting snow next week!  

Happy Sewing

The new look

I just wrote a whole post then google chrome crashed and I lost it all :[ 

So a quick run down of what I said that was deleted by the hateful internets!

LOOK AT THE BLOG! Changed huh!!! I am in love with this new look! No more pink stripes or boring unedited template!

I used this tutorial to make the header, look here... this one- and that's a link! See a link! Not like the one didn't work in the last post! By George I think she's got it!

Now I realise there has been quite a few !!!! in this blog. But it really is a whole blog of firsts, I'm learning a bundle, but I still have a bundle to go.

Lets have a picture so I can calm down.

See those? Those are charm squares. 3.5" packs of 40 charm squares to be precise. All hand cut by myself and 2 of which are now residing in my Etsy shop.

I think they are so so pretty, but this is the beginning. The very very start of the very very slow beginning of me trying to work with fabric. I don't care how little time I get to do it, as long as I get to do it. We'll see how it goes. I have a lot more plans but they all require some pretty steep learning curves so it might be slow going. 

This post is one of the first to come from my laptop instead of my ipad, the formats always come out a bit funny on the ipad and last week I wrote a post on the app which said it was all done and uploaded but never made its way to the internets! I didn't discover this until this evening and my cross face is finally going away. But only because of my banner making success. It's all swings and roundabouts though, I made my beautiful banner, put it on my blog, went to put it on my etsy page and found that I could no longer find it :( I know it is saved somewhere in my laptop but i have no idea where. I was sad for a moment but I have just realised this means I can make a whole new one for Etsy! 

Anyway, I have a lot more fun to share, here is one little bit of it...

I am having major love for these little hexagons right now.

But for now I have a million emails to send and a few little bits to sort and it's less than an hour till bed time, so I better get cracking. 

If you want to visit my Etsy Shop then please go ahead, I would love the views, and I will see you next time, when I get to tell you about a lovely package I have recieved and maybe a facebook page!! (maybe, I'm not that organised).

Happy Sewing!

Ps. Thats one post, two links!!!

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas is over

Wow what a Christmas!!! I hope everyone was thoroughly spoilt! I was!!! The lead up to the big day was lovely, even though I had to work we got to have 2 non uniform days and my Christmas cardi was present for both of them.what with working in a bank I did get the bank holidays off which was nice but I still think back to being in school and getting a few weeks and the whole time thinking about how rubbish it is that I have to go back to school at the end and how I'd love to be a grown up with a job. I never thought my mum would be right when she said I'd look back and miss it!!!

I took pictures of my pressies too, is that sad? One of the main reasons I did it was because they looked so pretty all laid out and it almost made me teary to think of all those lovely people who had thought about getting me something. Now I'm not religious and I know Christmas isn't really about the presents, but I love the spirit of giving and I spend a lot of time choosing and making presents for others and I'm a fan of both the giving and the getting.

The presents. Spoiled Laura. 

In those pressies were these packs of fabric, when my mum asked me if there was anything I would like I told her about a few fabric selections I had seen on <a href="http://www.emmasfabricstudio.co.uk">this site</a>  and really liked. I just tried to do my first link with something apparently called HTML because I'm using the blogger app and there is no link button and I'm not sure if it worked. This might become a day of firsts, perhaps my first day to edit my blog so I don't look stupid! 

Here's a quick close up of the fabric in there

I didn't want to undo the twine yet so you can't see them all, too pretty to play with at the moment.

I don't usually go out in the Boxing Day sales but this year I was tempted.i didn't go for the 6am start or any of that but I had some money and vouchers and the mr has a younger  sister who was up for going too. There were many discounts to be had and this is what I came home with is lot...

I think I would call that a pretty major successful shopping trip! I stocked up on the makeup that doesn't make my skin rash and got a great haul in hobbycraft. Everything apart from the crafty stuff and the ring from pandora was reduced or crazy cheap. And I did get 10% off the quilting calendar because it was the last one and one edge is really banged up! but the insides are fine and I love it! I love finally having a rotary cutter and mat. Especially because I was all set to buy the mat from a shop in the town I work in for £30 and ended up getting it in hobbycraft for £18! Now all I need is a quilting ruler but I can't find one anywhere!! Hobbycraft were sold out and John Lewis didn't have any (I went shopping in John Lewis the Saturday after Xmas with vouchers because they were closed on Boxing Day which I was very upset about but I'll tell you about that in a bit). I'm going to look for one today in a shop I'll be passing but I'm not holding out too much hope. 




I've already made one of the blocks from my quilting calendar, it didn't come out perfect but I am happy with it. It's approx a 12" square and I'm going to make it into a mini quilt to top a side table. 

Hey my text went green for a bit in the middle there, I have no idea why so I think I'll just leave that alone. 

In my shopping picture you will also be able to see my next new hobby, SMASH! The boyfriends sister that I went shopping with had heard of project life and wanted a look. We went to the section of hobbycraft and if I'm honest it looked a little boring. I haven't had much of a poke around and I'm sure it's not boring at all, but at £92 to start up it is quite a bit out of my price range.

Instead I picked up a smash book, it's a memory keeping journal that you smash everything into! And it's not ridiculously big so you can carry it around with you. I've done a lot of pages already and bought a second book that is slightly smaller and titled LaDeDah, for when this one is full. For only £13 I think that's very good value especially when every page has something patterned onto it. 

One of my favourite purchases has got to be the little blue bin, it was in the next sale for £3 and now I finally have a bin in the sewing room for all my cut threads and bits of rubbish! I used to have a bag on the floor but would miss it most times and it looked a mess. Talking of the sewing room... I have cleaned it out! All the rubbish, piles of clothes, things that I didn't know if I wanted or needed to keep... All gone. I'm just waiting for my mum to come and pickup the big wooden antique box that I have been using but no longer need (she didn't want it so loaned it to me until I didn't want it and I think she will sell it now) and then I need to put the Weights bench the mr never uses onto eBay and once that has gone there will a ton more space in my lovely room. I might even be able to put the airer in there! When you live in a teeny tiny flat you need all the space you can get, especially in the craft room! 

Let me tell you about the John Lewis haul. I had a lot of vouchers. After vouchers I spent just £11. Their sale started on the 27th and I was in their sewing department on the 28th, these fabrics are usually £14-£16 a metre and I cannot afford that, but they are popular designers. They were half price. This is what I got...

How about another pic because they are so pretty...

They are sitting in a neat stack behind my sewing machine where I can just look at them. There are 19 1metre cuts and they are so so pretty, I cut into one for some of the blocks on my mini quilt top above. 

That fabric shopping trip was some of the best fun I have ever had in a shop. I took along my 10and 11 year old boy cousins who were on their very best behaviour. One of them held my handbag whilst the other held out his arms and I stacked him up with bolts, they both helped me find the ones with half price labels and desperately begged me to get one covered in Union jacks, I declined. As unpatriotic of me as it is. I don't think I'd ever use it! They then proceeded to have a very in depth conversation about Star Wars with one of the two lovely women who helped us at the cutting table. This was one of the few times I have recieved excellent customer service at that shop and it was really lovely. Most of the time the staff stand around chatting or chat whilst they serve which I thinkis really   unprofessional. This time they came and unloaded whichever boy I was stacking with bolts every few fabrics, checked I still wanted a metre and came and told me regularly how much money I was up to. My faith has been restored in John Lewis! 

That's pretty much all for today I think. It's early, the mr has just left for a work and I have a day off for some family stuff but I have been ill all night so am trying to feel human before I approach anyone today. I'll leave you with a picture of the toy I made yesterday that is on its way up to Yorkshire to my cousins little baby, the little one in question must be coming up to a year old soon and I have only met her once so the plan is that the week I have off in February that the mr hasn't got I'm going a visiting. This went up with some clothes I have made her...

I don't think it came out badly seeing as I don't usually make toys and I just drew out an elephant pattern on to fabric. The ears have ribbons on for little fingers to hold and I drew the eyes on with fabric marker so no little buttons can be chewed off.

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas!!!