A pattern of confusion

Guess what was featured on Cuteable yesterday? This rainbow pillow! I was so excited to see it there, thank you Lynsey for featuring me on your fabulous blog!



Some of you may remember, I mentioned a while ago about wanting to have a go at dress making. Well I finally got round to purchasing a pattern, and I also treated myself to a Japanese pattern book.

This pattern above is the one I am attempting at the moment, which is not as bad as this one below!

Can someone please tell me what all those lines, dots and triangles are for!? Some how, in all that, there are several patterns for several garments. Sadly I see it all a bit too confusing!

Despite all this, I got my tracing paper, and managed to draft out the size I need from the picture above. After a lot of tears (I was having one of those days) and a few seams later, I had constructed my first muslin. You may see that there is a no picture of said garment, well I will save your eyes from such a sight. Not that it is that awful, I would just rather wait to show you the completed project.

I am awaiting a delivery of some lovely linen fabric, and once that has arrived I will attempt to make it properly. Once that mission is completed, I will brave the Japanese patterns, and it really will be a brave attempt as there is no English instructions!!

Finally, some more goodies arrived in the post for me today. Some gorgeous gocco prints from Bunny on Etsy.

Aren't they just the greatest? Bunny has two shops on Etsy, and really has some fab items in them. She is a real whizz with the photo shop, and can transform any picture of you or you pet into something really magical! Not only that, but also customises shoes too! Something I really want to save my pennies for, being the avid shoe fan that I am. Of course she also has some great artwork, and prints as well, hop on over and check her out, and take an extra moment to check out her other shop Lapin Noir, where you will find more amazing prints, and a 50% sale! Definitely worth a look.

That's all from me for now. Have a happy Friday!

x

A cute delivery

I just bought this cute doll off Wunderkind over on Etsy, and she arrived in super speedy time yesterday! I saw her shop featured on Cuteable a few weeks ago, and knew straight away I HAD to have one! She doesn't just have dolls, but also cute magnets and other goodies, please check her out. Such a lovely seller.

Here she is settled into her new home. For notes on on what else is in the pic, please feel free to check out the photo on my flickr page

As promised although admittedly a little late, here is a picture of the antiques centre I went to the other day. Sadly inside was a little dark, and I fear they would of told me off for taking pictures! They have three barns in all, crammed with everything imaginable, from furniture, books, trinkets, clothes and well everything! I had to question the antiquity of the clothes though, as one of them had a New Look label in it!! Anyway this picture is of the courtyard between 2 of the barns and on the left there, is a little tea shop.

After our little browse (only purchase was a sorry looking bag of buttons), we headed back to mum's for a cup of tea. Only to bump into her neighbour who had asked where we had been. Mum explained the mission (I had snuck away) saying that we had gone in search for buttons etc, but had not had much luck. 2 minutes later she comes down the stairs with this huge bucket of buttons! For me to keep! I was in shock, and as anyone who loves buttons very excited!

The neighbour is in her 60's and she said they were her mum's, so proper vintage, and after having a real rummage through, there really is some very old buttons in there.

A close up, of a fraction of what was in the pot.

Its Friday!

Apologies for the rather obvious and unoriginal title, it was a struggle to come up with something a little more imaginative (it being Friday n'all).

I got lucky last week, and was the lucky winner on Lisa's blog. Lisa is the owner of the fab online store U-Handbag
Look! What a fab prize! A purse frame, cant wait to give it a go, I have some lovely fabric that would just look great with this frame. Just have to get to grips with how it all comes together.

The weather was so gorgeous yesterday, I took a wander into my little town. Not having any money to spend I was quite content window shopping, and having a rummage through some of the charity shops.

I'm a huge lover of craft books, and have an ever growing collection! So couldn't resist this sewing book in Oxfam for only £2.50. The pictures inside are a little dated though, and I did have a little chuckle to myself...

Bet you cant guess which decade this was published in? lol

Finally onto some cuteness. I have been wanting to use this fabric to make a make-up bag for a while now, and finally got around to doing it.

I really love this fabric and think I will struggle to list it, but I will and will be in the shop soon!

Thats all from me for now. Tomorrow should be a good day, I'm off to an antiques barn with mum, and they have alsorts of goodies. I have mentioned it before in my blog, but forgot my camera, so will make sure I get some pictures tomorrow.

Have a good evening x

Getting there...

Thank you to everyone who left kind comments. I am getting there slowly and now have the task of playing catch up! The saying it never rains but it pours is oh so true! I did have something to cheer me up this morning...
I got a lovely parcel of new fabrics, and cannot wait to get started on making some more cute purses! I also have a ton of zips, so expect to see some new items soon.

I have also been working on a few new ideas for some bags. I originally started thinking of tote bags, but have also decided to do some smaller handbags. I am working on a couple at the moment and will be posting pictures very soon!

Oh so tired...

Today has been a really nothing of a day for me. For some reason these past couple of days, I have had an overwhelming feeling of fatigue, you know the kind of tiredness that makes you want to cry.

I often go through days like this (hence the lack of posting the past month) and am really trying to go with it and let myself rest, rather than beating myself up that I have not done anything. I am hoping for a refreshing nights sleep tonight, and be back to normal tomorrow.

Before I say goodnight, I will leave you with my treasury, that I managed to grab last night. I never really took much of an interest in robots, until I started browsing on Etsy and seeing so many cute robot themed items. Here is the link, if you would like to have a closer look and see who the artists are.

I hope to be back with you tomorrow, fully refreshed and able to carry out my tagged task.

Goodnight x

Its been a long time...

I am sorry for the blog silence for such a loooong time. The past month as certainly had its ups and downs. More downs than up unfortunately, and I hope you can understand that when things are going bad, you don't really want to document them. When things were OK, I was so exhausted that I couldn't get my head into blogging mode and just couldn't think of what to write. I was pleasantly surprised though to receive a few comments and emails, asking me to get back to blogging. I really didn't realise I would be missed. So thank you.
I thought as it has been such a long delay it would be rather fitting to start this post with the same picture as the last post. Of course now we are having glorious sunshine and not a snow flake in sight! Oh how I am much happier in this weather.

I recently joined a group on Flickr. Its called Cake Off, for UK peeps. You get partnered up with a baking buddy, and you make some baked goodies and post them off to them! So much fun. I love to bake, but being just me I don't always see the point of baking, so it was nice to have someone to bake for.

I decided to go with banana loaf cake, pictured above. One of my all time favourite cakes, ever since I was a child, always begging my mum to make it for me. The trick with banana cake is to use those left over bananas, you know the ones that are always left at the bottom of the fruit bowl looking rather brown and unloved. It adds to the moistness and flavour of the cake.

My second cakey goodness was double choc chip cookies! Cookies are another of my favourites and well you cant beat double choc chop ones! I love how these are nice and gooey and just melt in your mouth. So hopefully my partner will be happy with her goodies. She is a fellow Etsian and has two fabulous shops, one called The Birch Tree, and one that I just want everything in Birch Tree Boutique, where she designs and makes some gorgeous clothes. Worth checking out!

I shall leave you now with a little Mosaic of some of the things I have been doing. Although I did neglect my blog, I have kept up the sewing. All the items are available now in my shop. Apart from the bottom right corner, which was a custom order.

I have been tagged by the lovely Ruth, of Tip Top Toppers, and will tomorrow reveal 7 facts about me ; )

x