Happy doodles

 

Today was spent mostly finishing off these: 

A whole bunch of cheery little embroidered flowers - to be turned into brooches

I tend to do them first thing in the day, to use up scraps and to 'warm up' to doodling with my machine! 

They go out on a 'thank you' tag with every purchase from my shop - a little extra something for everyone who buys from me :) ....

...and of course - a happy way to start my working day!

A paper pieced flower patch!

 

As I mentioned in my last post, it took me so long to finish  my crochet blanket, that we moved house in the middle and it no longer fitted with the new colour scheme.

 

So I began a new project.

 

One I'd never done before.

 

It's become a bit of an addiction.

 

And slowly my flower patch is growing,

 

one hexagon at a time!

 

I'm hoping this one will be finished before we move house again,

 

so that it can sit at the foot of our bed,

 

- but who knows?!

 

Cath Kidston fabric paper pieced hexagon flowers, surrounded by white vintage sheeting. All sewn by hand...

Inspired

These have been on my Pinterest page for aaaaaaaages, and with a little time on my hands, I made my own version.

I love how bright and cheery they make my window look :)

Etsy

The eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed that I finally got around to opening up an Etsy shop! Well, it's actually been 'open' since January 2011 when I reserved the name - but I recently put some items in to sell!

Today I have been included in this lovely treasury

Feel free to take a peek. I will be adding some Christmas decorations and appliqué hot water bottle covers soon :)

ahem!

I'm a little bit excited at the moment! The novelty of having my first ever article in a magazine will take a little while to wear off methinks...

 

I've been promised two copies of the Simply Handmade sewing edition that my notebook appears in, so as soon as they arrive I'll offer one up as a give away.

Excuse me while I go away and have another squeek at seeing my name in print ....!

Gifted

While things may have been a tad quiet (ahem!) on the old blogging front, it doesn't mean that I've been sitting back and twiddling my thumbs - no siree!!

Apart from the usual busyness that summer holidays bring, this year they have brought along with them a number of tiny new arrivals (for friends, not me, I hasten to add..)  And of course, new babies need presents....

Burp cloths, because you can never have too many of these... 

An 'in threes' cardigan in deliciously squooshy Madelinetosh Vintage DK...

A teeny, tiny 'pebble' vest made out of a surprisingly soft skein of Noro Silk garden

To go with the vest, something I haven't made for aaaaages : a nappy cake!

It wasn't all about the babies though, oh no. A lovely little lady celebrated her first birthday too. On special request, a blanket for her doll's crib was made.

.. and because I liked the first one so much, another 'in threes' was produced.

Not too bad eh?!

In the eye of the beholder.....

Well, I think she looks a bit 'odd'...

  But a certain four year old thinks that she is beautiful, so who am I to argue?!

 

Lula doll from this book, knitted with oddments of wool and without the flowery bits as a certain little lady was trying to be so very patient, and they would have taken longer!

Also being made this week:

 crochet bunny from here

and a pile of felt squares destined to be coasters!

And another one....

I'll move on from houses soon, I promise. 

Just as soon as everyone has finished moving!

In the hood...!

Once again, I had the chance to pattern test for the lovely Kitschycoo. This time it was for her reversible zipper hoody, and once again, it was a breeze to make!

Ladybug had the pleasure of modelling the finished article and helped to choose the fabrics. I love how it turned out and despite vowing never to sew with shaggy fleece/fur ever ever again ( 5 needles and HOW much fluff??) I can see another few of these on the horizon...

Amanda is having a give-away over on her blog for a chance to win the pattern. Pop over and say 'Hi' !

This weeks makes..

I'm getting back into my usual routine and am spending at least part of every day behind my sewing machine - yay!



This weeks makes have included a gift for a tiny new baby born ten weeks too early. I made it from the softest minky chenille and girly floral fabrics but am convinced that its going to be much bigger than she is. I've had the idea in my head for a while and managed to put it together in an evening. There are things that I'm definitely going to change for next time though.



I also managed to put together another idea that has been floating around in my head for a while - a cat collar!! our cats regularly come back home minus their collars and I really begrudge paying €7 or so for a collar that I don't really like. A month or so ago I ordered a whole batch of safety clasps and so when Mr Marmalade (guess which cat the children named..!) came home sans collar last night, it was a perfect time to put ideas into practice - and this is the result :



I am ridiculously pleased with it, though next time will do a double thickness of ribbon to make it a bit sturdier.



And here's a picture of the fat man himself wearing it!



This week I have also struggled with and given up on 'the dress that nightmares are made from'....
Will show you more next time!