Etsy Treasury Love

 I wanted to share with you this lovely treasury on Etsy where Heather Dodgers has kindly included my 'Baby Burp Cloths Modern Grey' in her Treasury

 'Soft Grey Collection'. 

These have become my 'best' seller on etsy and have now been sent all over the world which feels quite odd really! And it is treasury's like this that help to get them noticed. 

This is not the first time they have appeared in one, but it the first time I have found out how to post the treasury on blogger thanks to this post here. 

Thank goodness the web is a wealth of information!

 

 

'Soft Grey Collection' by lanyapstudios

White Ancient Art S... Tshirt99 $15.99	chalkboard with dri... DAcustomframes $59.99	Set of two 18x18 Gr... DreamPillowZzz $30.00	Grey Lace Cowl / kn... theYarnKitchen $40.00
Extra Large Grey Ye... retrofied $88.00	Felt Flower Brooch-... lapetiteposy $12.50	Gray / Aqua Lake Su... nickelplatepre... $36.00	Wolf MacBook Air 13... BoutiqueID $89.00
Melange gray wool a... BagyBag $93.70	Grey & White Pillow... TangerineHome $32.00	Kindle Case sleeve ... Cartergray $27.00	Five Bunnies are Sh... Periay $22.00
Lace Fleur de lis H... DoogleBambaje $9.99	Weekend SALE text g... artlab $68.00	Baby Burp Cloths Mo... acraftyhen $22.00	Hakuna Matata Burno... ShopRIC $28.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio

A Much Needed Day!

So did you have a nice Easter, is the question I keep getting asked and my answer of no terrible is often met with surprise. You see we really did have an awful fortnight for on the first Sunday on the way to see family we hadn't seen for over a year and some who had never even met our youngest who is now 29 months we broke down leaving us stranded in a lay-by and with learning that our turbo had gone we spent a frustrating time waiting to be relayed home. The whole episode took 4 hours to get home after breaking down an hour away from our house! 

Not the best start to the holidays and we then spent the Easter fortnight without a car. Lets just say thank goodness for lego it saved the boys from getting bored in fact it was our holiday the boys loved spending hours wrapped up in their games. But if at that point we thought the holidays couldn't get any more frustrating or expensive we were wrong as our washing machine broke on the last Saturday of the holidays and a few days later a mechanic gave us the news that it was a right off and a new machine was needed so as our oldest confirmed "This holiday has been rubbish"!

To hear your child claim that there school holidays were rubbish is awful so we have been determined to have some nice family days out since getting the car fixed. So after reading that the National Trust was holding a 'free' weekend we jumped at the chance to go and spend a day out at one of the properties by us.

The National Trust seem to get it right time and time again. We spent an amazing time exploring an incredibly well preserved house that showed us glimpses of life 'downstairs' and 'upstairs' and by offering a 'find the trains' quiz for children it kept them going through 50 fascinating rooms and then after a hot chocolate in the stables we went exploring the grounds.

Considering we were dressed for the rain and watched the showers come and go we were very lucky to walk the grounds in the dry and even see glimpses of sun! And considering it was a dull early Spring April day the gardens were packed full of interest and delight.

 I came away full of ideas of how I would like to see the borders in our garden much to the 'delight' of my OH!!

 We are yet to become National Trust members but after having such a special day out like today where we can all come away feeling like we have enjoyed ourselves and have learnt and seen something new I can only think it is a matter or time!

And thankfully now after a day of exploring and climbing the 'rubbish' holiday seems a very long time ago!!

Fabric Stash Not at its Best!

Do I show and tell or hide away all incriminating evidence of how much of a mess my fabric stash has become? Believe me I have asked myself that a few times over the last day or so!! You see I'm lucky enough to have a lovely large cupboard from IKEA that was bought especially for my fabric but over the last few months as 'a crafty hen' has got busier and busier so my 'cupboard' has got untidier and untidier to the stage it has become impossible to find anything or even to put any fabric away in there. So the question has been do I admit to working in these conditions or lead you to believe that my work space is one of calm and serenity. 

Oh well here goes!

  

It started off as such a lovely space to organise and display my stash in lovely neat stacks of colour and pattern. A way of finding fabric quickly and being constantly inspired but alas no! My work time has swapped from nap time which is no longer to an hour or two of an evening and most nights I work until I can no longer focus on my sewing as my eyelids are closing or until my OH wants to claim my 'work space' back to the bedroom it shares with and kicks me out so he can go to sleep! So I inevitably leave my fabrics out or do I quick tidy away which has over time become a case of 'folding' and placing in a bag conveniently placed by my cutting table.

  

So enough is enough! I can't continue like this with such a mess and a disgrace of a fabric stash on my hands! So a plan of action has been made and my plan for the Easter holidays is to have a BIG tidy up!! 

My plan is to remove most of the fabric on the left hand side which is vintage or thrifted and in general the fabric that I am not using as much at the moment and to store it in the loft, you didn't think I would be able to part with any did you?!! This is where to me my plan has faults as I really don't like the idea of not having all my fabric to hand! But I'm going to have to learn to cope! I'm hoping to them rearrange my piles and hopefully to leave at least one shelf clear that will house the fabrics that I am currently working with which means they have room to go even when time is short.

So yes when others have Easter plans of camping trips and days of relaxation mine are of folding and stacking fabric! With the odd day out of course! I have already made a start and already it feels good! A little organisation and tidy up is, I think going to be good for 'a crafty hen' and as I've already managed to do a little I'm already beginning to notice a difference. 

So there it is a little like airing your dirty laundry in public! I've gone and done it and it feels ok!! In fact I feel even more determined to sort it out though it's going to be slow progress as I keep getting distracted by all the fabric I had forgotten about and remembering what I bought it for and all the projects I have yet to sew!

But one thing at a time!

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.