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!

Still here!

I'm still here just! With a head spinning of all I need to get done for fairs in the next coming weeks, stock to take into local shop, commissions to finish and an online shop and my folksy shop to keep stocked!! I'm starting to feel a little stressed. As ever in the back of my mind I am wondering if I have bitten off more than I can chew, but I keep telling myself that once November is over I think things will calm down. I am already looking forward to an evening when I have no sewing, no cutting of labels, no stuffing of items to be done, and I know Mr D is looking forward to not being on cooking duty every night of the week! However we did find the time to take the kids out trick and treating for the first time, with friends and they had a wonderful time. It made me realise how generous our neighbours are and what a wonderful neighbourhood spirit our village has. I really can't believe how excited the kids got about Halloween and after coming back with bags full of goodies I some how don't think this will be the last time we go trick or treating, though trying to explain to our 2yr old that putting her witches hat on and going out in the dark doesn't mean she'll get sweets is proving difficult!!

Regular blogging will resume soon, I promise, especially as I have so much to share with you! I'll see you then!

Me Time!

Tonight I am enjoying the view of my sewing area.
For today I have finally managed to do some sewing for myself and family! 

And it feels good!

Hello September, Hello New Stock!

I wasn't expecting to get much sewing done through the school holidays, maybe a little for myself, but not a lot for my shop. I started the holiday with finishing off commissions, lost the middle of the month to life in general and then somehow out of nowhere I have managed to grab little opportunities throughout the day to get ironing and cutting done which has then meant that I have got quite a bit of sewing done in the evening.

I have completed three new baby gift sets, each comprises of a matching bib, burp cloth and come nestled in a storage basket, which can be used for so many things. I adore making these and are pleased that they sell so well. The set above is made using Carolyn Gavin's Spring Street which is such a bright and cheerful print that is perfect for both boys and girls.

This farmyard set uses one of my favourite boys prints. I love the tractors with their smiley faces and the cute vegetables and teamed with the red gingham fabric I think it is adorable. And then I've finally got round to restocking this Girls Scandinavian Gift Set. The first time I listed it on Folksy it sold within a day so I have my fingers crossed that this one will do as well!

I have also made matching ribbon blankets, though I have listed them separately as they make for lovely presents whether on their own or bought with a matching gift set. 

 

All the gift sets and blankets are available in my a crafty hen shop and I will be listing the items on Folksy over the Next few days. 

Well if I can carry on at this medium pace I might just get ready for the few Christmas fairs I have planned! And as for the bit of sewing for myself, that never happened, though I did buy some gorgeous fabrics for myself, so I guess that is a start!!

That Feeling......

Ever since #1 started school I seem to reach this time of year feeling guilty. It is a strange feeling of guilt as it is based on various thoughts. The thought that part of me is happy that in a weeks time life will go back to some sort of routine, whilst the other part of me is feeling guilty about how sad I feel that our time together chilling out is coming to an end. Also I know that for the first few weeks of school #1 will be upset which makes me already feel upset. And then there is the feeling of guilt that I have, over whether we really have made the most of the last 5 weeks off. Of course British summer time has had a part to play and in many ways has let us down again in giving us dreary wet days that don't lend themselves to picnics and days spent splashing in the paddling pool. I do seem to have kids that love being at home and the boys by and large have got on better than they ever have, and it has been very special to see them engrossed in their lego and make believe games, it's been a real sign that they are growing up. But this and endless rain, has lead to many days inside and I do worry that they will return to school and preschool to hear stories of flights and holidays spent exploring places new and exotic and when asked what they have done there answer of "played lego in my bedroom with  my brother" will sound extremely bland and boring. But heh this wasn't the case for all the days oh no!! We did manage a camping trip to Cornwall and even though 4 out of the 5 days were wet we got around and saw things that we hadn't seen before and had experiences that quite frankly I can't imagine we will experience again!

On the second day of our camping trip we set off across the coast to St Ives. #1 was very unimpressed with the whole day we had planned as whilst we were in St Ives we wanted to visit the Tate Gallery and the Barbara Hepworth  Museum, neither of which filled him with delight, but as I tried to explain we all had things we wanted to do on our holiday and if the rain disappeared we would spend the rest of the day on the beach. Well we eventually got to the Tate, I say eventually as we ended up following signs for the car park only to find ourselves parked a good distance away and with no pushchair we did end up dragging (quite literally) the 3 kids quite away to reach our finally destination. And just when the day couldn't get much more unexciting for them, and the thoughts of why are we trying to go round an art gallery with a 6, 3 and 1 yr old we spied the balloons. And in answer I'm sure to my 6 yr olds dreams yes you 'even' got to go in with them. Now that is an experience I'm sure we won't get again!

The experience of walking through a room full of balloons (curtsey of Martin Creed) is crazy and incredibly fun, (possibly not what our 1yr old thought) but whether or not it got you thinking about spacial awareness as it was intended to, it certainly lifted the spirits of two young boys and followed by being measured for another installation the Tate got the thumbs up! And the boys left having seen and experienced things that they didn't except to and that is in many ways the delights of Art.

Measuring the Universe by Roman Ondák is a mark of your height with just your name and date taken written which when viewed looks like the words speed past you from right to left, a very clever idea and probably my favourite room in the gallery. The trip to the Barbara Hepworth Museum didn't manage to stimulate the kids in the same way but for me it was so worth the visit and a fascinating view into a life of a very creative mind.

Thankfully the rest of the holiday followed suit and we had some lovely days exploring gardens in between showers and finding beaches that we hadn't set foot on before.

So maybe that's it. The day before they return to school and preschool we should have a slide show. Just to jog their memories of the days spent as explorers finding our way through the undergrowth of the Cornish jungle! Of the sights, smells and tastes of experiences new. Of the evening spent in the drizzle crabbing when 'mummy' was so petrified that #3 (22mth old) was going to full head first into the sea over the harbour wall that I wouldn't even let go of her long enough to take a photo, though I wish I had when 'daddy' decided to let the bucket of crabs go on the wall and seemed to think that they would all naturally jump back into the sea. The sound of the kids squealing as the crabs went in every direction other than the sea was delightful. Of the evening spent sitting in a steamed up car eating a tea of fish and chips whilst watching the fishermen (in the rain) and realising we weren't haven't to tell the kids to 'eat' every five minutes. Of the only dry evening spent running around the campsite playing a family version of football that left us all crying with laughter. These memories I hope will stay with the children for a long time because for me they have made my summer.