Taking Time Out

I was so excited when I got back from the fair on Saturday to see that my copy of  Molly Makes had arrived. I first read about this new handmade living magazine on twitter and had high expectations and so far I have not been disappointed.

Sitting there Saturday evening, flickering through this gorgeous magazine which is packed with lovely photos, inspiring articles and things that I want to make was just what I needed to help me relax. Such perfect timing as I had given myself Saturday night off from sewing!!

My photos do not do this attractive magazine justice and with contributors like Dotty Angel, Fine Little Day and Lola Nova you know that it's going to be high quality it reads like a best ever blog list.

Like many of us I had high hopes for Sew Hip which started so well but has never really recovered from losing Manda from treefall design as Editor so I do think there is a place for magazines like this. Even with most of us following blogs which are great inspiring reads I do love to buy and hold a paper magazine. 

Even Mr D has picked this magazine up and commented on how well it is put together. There is a great mix of things to make, ideas for sewing, places to go, but it is the articles of people's homes that interest me the most. It has come at a time when I really need to rethink my work space and try and organise it so I can be better prepared and more productive, so pictures like the one above and below have given me loads of ideas on how I can go about achieving my goal. Wouldn't you just love a space like Zee Longenecker's workspace below!

There is a very reasonable offer on at the moment 3 issues for £5 which is a great way of trying this magazine out at very little cost. And believe me you will be left wanting more. I am so pleased that this is a monthly magazine, I am already counting the days until the next issues comes through my door!

Here We Go!

Well I'm all packed up and as ready as I'll ever be for my second fair tomorrow. 

I'm surprisingly more nervous about tomorrow than I was about the first fair I did a month ago and I feel some what less organised largely down to all the holidays and short weeks the boys have been having lately. When I agreed to do to this fair I completely forgot about the Easter holidays and no school/pre-school means I get very little sewing time so the last few days whilst they have been back at their various places I have been sewing like crazy!

 

I haven't finished all the projects I had hoped to have completed and some have been shelved for another time! But I have managed to get a couple of tea cosies sewn up one in a gorgeous retro tea time print and one out of some vintage fabric out of my stash. I've also made some mini bunting that looked so perfect on my daughters shelving that I'm almost tempted to not take it to the fair!

As I type this, the photos are starting to appear blurred so I think it must be time to get some well earned sleep, well after I've finished hand writing the last of my labels for my bibs. I must look into a better way of doing my care labels! I can only hope that the rain that is pelting down now eases off tomorrow otherwise there won't be a single sole at the fair!! Never mind!

Right now I'm actually looking forward to an evening tomorrow doing 

No sewing!

Infectious Enthusiasm

Do you ever get caught up in other peoples enthusiasm and before you know it find yourself agreeing to things that if you had any sense you would say no to!

Well after phoning to enquire about putting my name down for a Christmas craft fair (yes, I really was thinking that far ahead!) I found myself signing up for a craft fair that was to happen in 2 weeks time. It wasn't until I was telling Mr D and a friend all about it and seeing the look of horror on their faces that the realisation of what I had agreed to started to dawn on me. How an earth was I going to be able to sew enough stock in 14 days to fill a 6ft table!!

Well let's just say a very helpful and patient husband helps and plenty of sleepless nights! It's quite surprising what you can achieve when focused and somewhat stressed! I don't recommend it though. Trying to create a stall worth of stock in such little time as well as looking after 3 young kids it's quite hard work!

But standing there on Saturday behind my stall and making my first sale which luckily wasn't my last, all the lack of sleep, nerves and stress seemed worth it. And to be quite honest I felt very proud of myself. I had a good morning though the fair went quiet in the afternoon, I think the warm sunshine probably had a lot to do with that. I had a very positive reaction from both buyers and other stall holders so the event has certainly not put me off doing another one.

 

 I now have some good stock which I can 'slowly' add to! I have been loading some of my new stock to my new on-line shop
a crafty hen where I will be selling items I make using new fabrics. But for now we have the Easter holidays to attend to, a house that needs spring cleaning due to hardly any house work having been done in the last two weeks and my mum coming to stay, so I best go and get the hoover out!

It must be the sunshine!

The weather over the last few days really has been magnificent.

Blue skies, a warmth in the sun, a smell about the air that is a sign that everything is beginning to wake up. Little by little there are true signs of spring, the birds are singing the spring bulbs are brightening the garden up and the seedlings are making good progress in the greenhouse. And as for me, 

I've been surrounding myself with 'spring' fabrics!

It's been a real joy to pick out this gorgeous orange and pink vintage floral print and match it up with other vintage and new fabrics. With the sun streaming through the window whilst I sew, creating this large drawstring bag has been a pleasure.

Both sides are different and are finished with a trim of velvet ribbon. 

It is fully lined with another summery vintage print and closes with a cream barley twist rope. It is a perfect size for keeping laundry in or even toys.

It is part of my slowly increasing 'Dotty Vintage' range in my Folksy shop . I have also added a set of two burp cloths also made out of this lovely range of cheerful fabrics.

These handy cloths match perfectly with my 'dotty vintage' bib making it a lovely idea for a gift.

Well that's me done!! 

I'm off to have a good night sleep as tomorrow we are digging over the allotment, a job that needs doing but is rather back breaking! At least it looks like we will be doing it in sunshine!

Enjoy :)

The Post I've Been Meaning To Write!

Honestly this is one of those blog posts I've mean being to write for the past few weeks!
I've been very lucky to have been passed 2 blog awards a Stylish Award from Emily Parkes and Lou at littlegreenshed and a Liebster award from Justine at sewjustinesew. A big thank you to all three of you, it's always lovely to know that people do read what you waffle on about!!
One of the parts of the award is to list 7 facts about yourself, interesting facts!! And this is where my mind goes blank! I have been lucky enough to receive a couple of awards before and did manage then to come up with 7 facts, but another 7 things, do I have that many more interesting facts about myself!! I must have! I am very happy to realise that I am not the only one who has struggled to think of things. Beth at Thelinencat  made me laugh when she wrote "let’s face it, obviously I’m just very dull" when she suffered a mental block when trying to think of those 7 things! I can understand entirely how Beth was feeling.

 But not to be defeated I have put my thinking cap on and have had a brainstorming session . This got me thinking, "What intrigues me about people I'm interested in?" I'm always fascinated to see inside someone's home, even better inside someone's work space/studio this got me thinking about people's collections. What someone collects can often tell you a lot about someone and then I got thinking about fabric! At the end of the day I collect fabric and the nosey person I am always enjoys seeing other peoples fabric stash!
So I thought I would show you my 7 favourite prints that I have stashed away!!

I once read an article about fabric shopping that said people who buy fabric come under one of two categorises; one who buys fabric to use for a project, and the other, a person who buys fabric on impulse. Well I do both! But it is the fabrics that get my heart pumping that little bit quicker that really excite me. I often have an idea in my mind of what I will eventually use them for others I quite frankly just have to have!!! The following fabrics are in no particular order but this one has got to be the one that I am most precious about. I am yet to use it and am annoyed that I only have a fat quarter to play with! I bought it from  Isabelleandkate's shop on folksy which I didn't realise until much later was misformake's shop.

I have no idea who the designer of the fabric is other than it is Japanese. I love the simplicity of the design and the colours and know that one day when I use this fabric it will definitely be for a project for myself!!
 The next fabric is a vintage piece. It's called 'Heidi' and is by Genia Sapper. I fell in love with the print when I spotted it in a design magazine and spent awhile tracking it down, I eventually found the odd piece on ebay. After being outbid many times I finally 'won' this piece which was used as a curtain. I intend to use it for cushions but haven't yet been able to bring myself to cut into it!

 My third fabric is an Amy Butler print called Chrysanthemum. I love the olive colour of the background and the sky blue leaves of the chrysanthemum's. Let's be honest no fabric stash would be complete without an Amy Butler fabric!

 Anna Maria Horner is another designer I can't imagine my fabric stash being without! I've been slowly collecting her Little Folks Voile to make a quilt for my daughter and it is this print that especially stands out for me. It's the use of the deep colour's that I particularly like and can imagine using it one day for a top for myself.

Now this fabric I bought the second I saw it! It's a great Japanese woodland print.



You'll probably see a theme running through my favourite 7 fabrics that I didn't quite realise until I started to photograph them, that they all tend to be blues and browns! Like this one again from Japan.

I bought this fabric from one of my favourite shops on etsy ikoplus. Again it's such a lovely simple design, and being a blend of cotton and linen makes the fabric such a lovely weight.  Staying with a simple design is this print from Joel Dewberry.

This is one of those fabrics where you buy a fat quarter, only to know as soon as you see it that, that won't be enough so immediately buy more, and then have a panic on when you realise that it's becoming more and more difficult to find!! I just love this print from his deer valley collection. It has a great vintage feel to the design. And then finally my 7th fabric choice is a vintage fabric that I picked up from the scrap store. I managed to find two pieces and have already cut one up ready to make into a quilt for our lounge.

So there you have it my favourite 7 fabrics. I've had great fun pulling out and choosing them and have come to the conclusion that instead of having them stacked away hidden in my cupboard, it would seem somewhat more sane if I was to use them all!
Why is it that some fabrics are just so difficult to cut into!!

Was that a glimpse of Spring?

I do believe it was!!

We have had a gorgeous spring weekend that has shown us a little of what is to come!

It's been the most perfect weekend to go exploring a spring bulb garden.

At varying paces!

Even the frogs had a spring in their hop!

Today's outing has almost been so perfect that I will just about forgive the fact that it is now pouring down and the forecast for the next five days of half term week is rain. 

Almost forgive I say but not quite!

Come back Spring!

Wait For Me!

I can't believe we are already in February,

February, where did January go? 

And yet in a weeks time it'll be half term and then March. 

I wish I could just slow down time just enough for me to catch up with it! Everywhere I look there is something to be done, many little jobs, some more important than others, but nevertheless they all need doing. I keep telling myself to concentrate (yes I talk to myself!! But that's I whole different story!) on one thing at a time but then the time runs out and something else pops up that needs doing immediately and the other job I was doing remains half done!! I know they are many of us out there swaying from one thing to another. Running from school to nursery, from washing machine to cooker, doing the shopping, the cleaning, trying to find the quiet times to encourage a reluctant 5 year old to read, the decorating of the bathroom that is long overdue and is turning into such a nightmare I'm beginning to wish we had never started.

And then there are the jobs that we create ourselves, no one told us to take on more allotment, no one told us to buy all the fruit bushes that were on offer and are now sitting outside our back door waiting to be planted into their new home. No one told us to order all the different varieties of tomato seeds that are now needing to be sown into their trays, which means finding the propagators and more importantly finding an area in the house that they can start their lives undisturbed by little hands! 

And I find myself when we finally sit down of an evening having to remind myself that all these extra jobs are ones that we have put upon ourselves, and the stresses that arise from them are stresses that we have created. And maybe life would run a little smoother and calmer if we didn't have all these extra pressures. And I realise that I am my own worst enemy. It was only me who agreed after a chance meeting, to go and see another local shop about supplying them with handmade bibs and possibly more. I could have quite easily said, "Thank you very much, but I'm not sure I have the time at the moment", and yet those words never came out!! Instead my head was whirling with possibilities, these chances don't come up everyday let alone appear right in front of you, when you least expect it. So I have to remind myself to remember that all these stresses and pressures and all the extra hobbies that we have are what make us. 

Mr D and I wouldn't be the same without these extra activities. The fact that we grow some of our own vegetables moulds who we are and changes what we believe in. The fact that I sew changes the way I see things. Someday I will have more time and as much as I find myself longing for these extra hours I know that they will come soon enough, and that right now I need to enjoy the busyness and lack of time that young children bring. 

And yes I am going to blog this post without photos as it means that I get this finished, as I have a kitchen full of shopping to put away, cooking of apple muffins to be done with #2 in the hour I have before picking #1 up from school!! So I must go and carry on running around, and unfortunately for now I think I'm just going to have except the fact that I have a hundred and one things that need doing!