Sunshine Post!

OK I might be going on a bit now about the gorgeous start to Spring we are having but I really can't help myself. Even today after being stuck at work all day whist starng out the window at the cafe opposite where people sat, laughed and enjoyed themselves I can't help but feel upbeat. Tomorrow with temperatures promised to be not unlike summer we are off for a well earned family trip to the beach. No doubt we will not be alone but to smell the sea air will be worth all the crowds!

And yes all this sunshine probably has gone to my head but I couldn't resist these bright patterned fabrics. I missed the pezzy print the first time it came out so I am really pleased they have bought out more. And I'm a bit like a kid in a sweet shop as I really want to have it in all it's colour ways.

The same with this pearl bracelet fabric. I really love this print but again are late to it and are now trying to track it down in it's past colours!

The pink and blue are very delicate and mix lovely with some of the other fabrics I've been using lately. Right drooling over I must go and get ready for day out. 

Nets, buckets and spades at the ready!

Animal Zoo

I've really enjoyed working on my latest commission not only is it made using one of my all time favourite boys prints but also because it was my son's teaching assistant who asked me to make it for her friend's baby.   

Now this teaching assistant has become very dear to us and to my son, who she has worked wonders with. Drawing him more and more out of his shell, knowing when to push him and knowing maybe more importantly when to stop! They have built up a lovely trusting relationship. She has helped him to actually enjoy school and even {pauses for breath} has helped to make him  

{drum roll please......} enjoy reading! 

Oh yes she has worked miracles!

 

 

This Baby Boys Set comprises of two bibs, a couple of burp cloths, a matching ribbon tag blanket and a small rectangle cushion which I based on this square cushion which was what the TA had originally seen at a school fair I attended a few weeks ago and goes to prove that sometimes these events are worth doing even if you don't sell much at the fair it can lead to other things!

A Little Spring Cleaning!

The sun has been shining the last couple of days and if you can get in the sunshine, out of the wind, then you can feel heat from the sun beaming down on you and you can smell the first signs of growth it really is beautiful. Spring is among us, and I can truly say I love this time of year.

I love everything about it, the brighter evenings, noticing plants re-emerging into life, I don't even mind sharing my sewing space with the propagators full of tiny tomato and chilli seedlings! Trips to the beach that you know are the first of many more, and the cooking of sausages and the toasting of marshmallows on our new rocket stove, (an anniversary present to ourselves) that will be the first of many more dinners alfresco! 

I also love the little extra energy that Spring seems to give you, that little lift to the spirit, the rays of sunlight beaming into the house waking it up after it's winter sleep. I'll look past the dust and the cobwebs that the sun highlights ignoring it as I sit in the sunshine enjoying a cup of tea and listening to the kids claiming back the garden from the Winter.
Oh yes I am definitely a Spring girl.

Time

So there I stood Monday night in my only sewing time of the day starring at my bulging fabric cupboard and instead of sewing the pile of bibs that lay by my machine ready for finishing off for the local shop in town, I found myself wondering 'What If'.

 You see it all started on Sunday morning with a phone call. The call that stops you in your tracks, a call that makes you wish you were still a child and unaware of life's wicked twist and turns. A phone call that seems all to common these days, the call that tells of another tortured soul that has decided to pass away. That call that makes you shiver and wonder why.

 So here my OH was listening to a kind and loving mother telling him of her loss of her son and asking him if he will still please tend her garden just as he always does on a Monday as the plants will still grow. So we carry on our day taking the kids out for a 'scoot' on Dartmoor and we watch and we laugh as our 2yr old, who has very quickly mastered her Christmas scooter, overtakes her 4yr brother who has a somewhat more relaxed action on his scooter and we take in the stunning views and we walk and we talk and then we go silent and you just know without words being exchanged that your minds have wandered to the same place, the place of unknown and you find yourself looking at your children and you can't help but hope that they are happy. And that's it, a parents hope for their child, not fame or fortune but happiness and fulfilment. You look into their eyes as they laugh and gaze back at you and you hope that they will be the ones seeing you into your grave.

So there I found myself Monday evening staring at my fabric stash and wondering what would happen to it all if I was to die suddenly. And I imagine the scene and the conversation as my family empty my cupboard and the four Orla Kiely Tesco bags overspilling with fabric 'What an earth did she intend to do with all this!?'

And then I start hunting. Searching for those 6inch squares that I cut this time last year that were suppose to become a large cosy quilt that we would all spend winter snuggled under. And there they were neglected and forgotten about at the back of my cupboard and I start to pull out new fabric and to cut more squares. And the pile of 'important' bibs were no longer as important as they had been before Sunday. And that sometimes it really would be good to get things finished before too much more life passes by.

Excitement Builds!

A walk to one of the highest Churches still holding service,

A moment to take in the amazing views,

and to understand why people believed it was the nearest Church to heaven.

And after the marching and climbing a Hot Chocolate to warm our souls!

Not a bad way to spend Christmas Eve.

Have a very Happy Christmas

J x

Sewing on the Countdown

Surprisingly this Christmas I found myself with only one present to make [so mum if your about to read this before xmas day please look away now!] So I felt under no pressure as I was sure having the week before Christmas to make a set of cushions for my mum would be plenty of time. Of course if I had stuck to my original plan and had no last minute shopping to do, lots of wrapping to get done and the entertaining of 3 very excited kids to contend with, then yes a week would have been fine!

 Ever since this mail bag arrived in the post I've been wishing I could get a fabric just like it so as soon as I saw Joel Dewberry's Heirloom collection over at  M is for Make I feel in love with the colours and patterns and set about quickly cutting and sewing up the cushion fronts. I love Dewberry's Rose Bouquet in gold and it is more of a gold than a yellow as it has come up in my photos and the leaves are a deeper purple. I do have a concern that the colours are a bit bright for my parents house who like their neutral colours but it's been lovely working with such bright and luxurious colours I'm just hoping they will fall in love with them just as much as I have.



 For the second cushion rather than sticking with my original idea of doing a log cabin block I decided to try something I've never attempted before but has been on my to do list for sometime! Of course this is the moment the 'no pressure sewing' turned into a complete nightmare as I got totally confused with how the blocks of two strips of different fabrics that I'd made were ever going to form a zigzag but eventually after quite a lot of head scratching and wasted time I managed to make cushion 2!

I'll be honest and admit that the lines of zigzags were supposed to be all different, but as I said I did get confused and found having every other line as the plain fabric made it easier to put it all together. I also didn't realise until after I'd sewn the cushion front together that it was too small, and not being able to add more blocks to it I decided to put a thin border in which I think has worked out well.

I thoroughly enjoyed making it and could have quite easily carried on sewing the zigzags together to form a quilt top if I'd had more time. So whilst I can remember how to do it I'm definitely going to be making more! Both cushion fronts have been lightly quilted, with a layer of flannel and then some plain fabric. I also sewed the cushions together using French seams, as I wanted them to be neat for my mum, though in doing so the corners are rather bulky and cushion #1 has become a bit smaller than I had hoped for. The envelope backs are made using a linen/cotton blend fabric and I've finished them off with a decorative stitch.



 So now I just need to get them wrapped up and finish the kids wrapping so it looks like we're in for a busy evening but then I think we maybe ready for the big day. 
Of course the kids have been ready for Christmas Day ever since the first decorations arrived in the shops in September!!

Counting down!

The countdown for Christmas is among us, 

in fact for me it feels like it has nearly ended as I will be closing my a crafty hen shops tonight at 9pm so I can get orders wrapped and ready for posting on my way to work Wednesday morning. My OH asked why I was closing the shops and not keeping them open, making it clear that after Wednesday I couldn't guarantee arrival of parcels before Christmas day, but no I can already feel myself slowing down and the last few months have been good, and profitable but very hard work and I'm quite desperate to have a moment to catch my breathe!

 {last stocking in shop}

Anyway I still have Christmas presents to make and projects for the house to complete and then there's the trousers for #2 and #3 I've been meaning to make and the tunics for #3, and the quilt for snuggling underneath on the sofa to finish that I started this time last year, and the wholesale enquiry that I need to consider and then of course there are the usual demands of Christmas that young children bring, the nativity plays, award assembles, xmas parties, quite frankly my head is spinning and I need a rest!

{new fun cushions in my shop}

2011 has been an amazing year for me. Starting out as 'Sew Vintage Obsessed' as a hobby and ending with 'a crafty hen' as a small business. I have a lot of thinking and refining to do and I also need to remember everything I have learnt along the way and are still learning, good and bad and to take it all on board.

{Gorgeous Gift Set with a lovely Scandinavian Xmas feel to it}

So for me the nights of working into the small hours completing orders and making stock for fairs is coming to an end, and I'm looking forward to finishing off personal projects for my family and then I'm also excited about new ideas and fabrics that I have to make new stock for filling my shops with for the New Year, 

so in fact I have a feeling I won't be slowing down at all!