Emily Pickle

I found this lovely blog whilst blog hopping at the weekend.

Aswell as her lovely blog, Kate makes lovely things and I happened to notice she is having a summer sale in her folksy shop.

You know how one thing leads to another.....and today this was delivered...

how special did this make me feel!!!!

wrapped so beautifully..

oh what did I get??

3 gorgeous fat quarters in shades of blue

There are still some lovelies left....hurry over just a few more days :)

crafting with polka dots

sorry I'm going to show you what I've been making again!!

hanging boat in girls colours!!!

(soon to be available in my blogshop!!)

this was an experiment...union jack heart wall hanging.

Its got a thin layer of wadding in the middle - the protype had interfacing but it crinkled when I turned it the right way and was made worse with ironing...so its in one of the boys bedrooms!! As from a distance it looks good!

cutlery roll , I've made myself one for my hols and another for my friends birthday, they are one of the latest obsessions!!

and a felt and fabric brooch...teeny fabric yoyo in the middle .

And another of these bags...I LOVE making these, the first one was a bit of a trickster round that binding but gets easier with practise!! The cutting out takes longer than the sewing together!!

This one is globaltex dotty with a vintage CK paisley lining :)

These were for a swap over at SCC.

Lacey waited forever and a day for it to get to her lol....she has posted about it here.

pink sewing box

the sewing box - started here....finished during May half term but just plonked in spare room and forgot about!! Need to cover a lampshade to go on top of it.

Painted in Cath Kidston, Nursery Pink and drawer lined with CK antique roses wallpaper (thank you Wendy for the piece of white, knew I'd put it to good use xx!!)

The inside is painted with CK apple green...I bought that with the plan to paint my freecycled (last year, really must get a shake on!!) dresser, but it is far too green!!

So thats one thing off the to paint list painted - lots more to go!!

another seaside swap post :)

I was very lucky to have Jo as my swap partner in the Seaside Swap, and on Tuesday the postie knocked with a fabulous parcel for me :)I was so spoilt! I locked the boys in another room so I could open in peace lol!!

Ice Cream Sundae embroidery on a personalised tea towel. I just love a personalised item, and this is 1 teatowel that most definately won't get used!

More embroidery now, fantastic birthday cards with beach scenes, and more ice creams!!
I have spent a long time admiring the machine embroidery and am convincing myself that I neeeed a new machine (think I'll have to wait!!) - its genius!!!

I shall try hard to actually use the cards and not be precious and just save them!!

Jo knows that I will be going on holiday very soon and has made me some very useful items....

How cute is this fabric! A lovely make up bag, sunglasses case (complete with sunglasses)and a cashless wallet.

They are all going to come in so handy for my holiday :)
My eldest started hovering shortly after my opening my packages and tells me that the sugar dummy below was delicious!!
And for my trips to the beach, a gorgeous and very roomy bag....

I think I could well have lost one of my gifts.....

a beautiful seaside print bear. He really is gorgeous :)

Cute face......

(excuse the mess in the background, ikea bags etc - it is the spare room lol!!!)And already quite at home!!!

I wrestled him off C as I got all precious about him getting spoiled!!!

Somebody loves him VERY much!!

Thank You so much Jo for being a great swap partner, I am thrilled with everything and really appreciate all your hard work xxx

(Jo's folksy shop is here if you want to see some more of her lovely makes x)

the week that was!!

Long rambly post alert!!
I have had a week where everything I touched turned to poo!

Crafting wise the start of the week was a total wash out....not the ideal situation when you are late with one swap and have a deadline with the other!!

I have lots more scraps in my scrap basket, and scraps are always handy, yes???!!!

For example, I made a cushion for my (hopefully opened very soon) blogshop, was really pleased with it, started sewing on the embellishments and noticed that the fabric on the reverse had been sewn on the wrong way round!!!

Like so!! Spot the (not so) deliberate mistake!!!

Then I decided to make some fabric covered hangers...sounds simple? Thats what I thought....I googled and there are very few tutorials and I couldn't find one that would make the hangers look how I wanted them to..with lots of gathers and with the fabric tight to the padding...

So this is my effort....

Can't see on the pic but I needed to shape the corners that was an oversight on my part!! But it doesn't look how I wanted it to :(

I will be keeping it and using it (it'll look great with a cardy on covering it up lol!!) because the flipping handstitching took ages!!

On top of this I had the dreaded 'Flu' symptoms all week...I wasn't 'ill' merely unwell!! I went into the pharmacy on Friday for anti sickness drugs and he took a step back and told me I had SF symptoms!! Well thankfully it hasn't come to much - I feel well again today!! But a week of feeling sick, well took me back to pregnancy - and not in a good way!!

It wasn't all bad....

On Thursday I recieved some samples of CK fabric - without 'sample' stamped all over them so that brought a smile to my face. I smiled all the time I was on the phone placing an order with Cath!! (free p&p with the code that came with the samples!!)

I will be making my friend one of these bags for her birthday next week, so this fabric has come to live with me

and these 2 tshirts for C...they were in the sale....I won't pay £15 for a tshirt for me let alone for a 4 year old lol!! He'll be banned from staining foods so that they keep nice for his younger brother too - I love recycling!!

Is it inappropriate to put a 4year old in a bib???

He likes Stanley best - I prefer the planes!! And a little bird told me (well Mary Poppins!!) that Cath had brought out a new crush mug design......be rude not to buy one when Cath has designed it just for me haha!! And lovely husband is often heard moaning about the amount of girly mugs we have - so I ordered it for him ;)!!

Some crafting went right by the weekend...and a parcel is currently in the care of Royal Mail on the way to a special swap partner :)

And these worked too.....well so far they have worked.....I am looking forward to embellishing my interpretation of a dream catcher :)

The week ended with a trip to see my old friend Harry.

Now, forget the JK bashing that inevitably takes place when a film comes out, I fail to see how anyone can dispute that the Harry Potter films are good family films. I am a harry fan, books have been read within 2 days of release, over analyse the plot etc etc!! But even my lovely husband who has never read the books enjoys and looks forward to the release of the films. The film is a 12a and I strongly recommend for the sanity of the other viewers you don't take a child under 9 or 10. We had to endure a running commentary from the dad behind us explaining things to his 6ish year old son..is that snow? is that his old house? are they really flying? (on a broomstick aaggh!!)

Also go with an open mind..its a film...for older children....... man walking out behind us at the end..

" what a load of rubbish" - sat thru 3 hours though didn't you???

"missed out loads" - well yes the book took longer than 3 hours to read didn't it???

" nothing like the book" - well actually having read the book yes it was - but movies are seldom identical to the book!!!

plum!!! I don't go to the cinema very often - I am not a tolerant cinema goer!!

That was that week - this one is new...and we have no school (whoop!!) for 6 lovely lazy weeks :)

And today was sunny enough to wear my new (thrifted) skirt - its billabong, still had tags on and i think its my new favourite - £2 well spent!!!

Excuse the messy - part re-vamped crafty drawers behind me!!

Seaside Swap

I've been busy crafting lately but couldn't really post about it as its mostly been for swaps, but as Jo, my swap partner has recieved her parcel now, I can show.

Seaside was an excellent swap theme, plenty of room for interpretation...

I went for nautical...

close up of cushion..... an appliqued cushion. hanging boat and a wooden painted rowing boat decoration.

Then a day at the beach...

a cutlery roll to keep them knives and forks safe, with matching napkins, and some flags to put in the sandcastles you build.

And then some retro seaside fun!!!

Teeny bunting in a michael miller( I think?) seaside print and little deckchair tin.

I had great fun making for the seaside swap, next up finishing a swap over at SCC (very late sorry lacey xx) and finishing the sleepover swap.

union jacks in nature...

In the Times on Sunday (well one of the trillion supplements anyway!) there was an enviromental article about saving Britains wildlife. Its a very good article and definately worth a read,and has links to the RSPB who have a Homes for Wildlife programme.
I am loving this picture!!!! picture taken from thetimesonline

C has had a good study of it and pointed out all the things he recognises, but I just love that its yet another union jack!!!

I have to say we are not usually Times readers, but they had a free Specials CD in this weeks paper which lovely husband wanted...however there is a weeks worth of reading and some of the articles have stretched my stay at home baby obsessed brain a little further than it would usually reach!!

Elsewhere......more union jack obsession.........completed felt brooches

(these are for my future blogshop, still a work in progress both mentally and physically lol!)

Vintage Applique

I'm enjoying playing about with applique at the moment, and I'm wondering if its a case of the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!

My Grandma was a wonderful seamstress, she used to 'take in' sewing for extra spends while she was a stay at home mum, mainly dressmaking. One Christmas she made us young cousins fabulous tutus, mine was white, big puffy net skirt and a bodice with silver sequins on *sigh*, I wish we had kept it :(

Even though I had the grace of a baby elephant, a girl could dream!!

I don't ever remember her sewing the things I like to sew (ie things that serve no real practical purpose!!), but do recall handmade curtains, pinnys etc.

And this.....

This was a single bedspread, given to me as a Christmas gift about 30 years ago - how it survived I don't know as neither mum or me have ever been great savers of stuff! With good reason really, we have both moved house a lot over the years.

When my eldest was a toddler, it was found and turned into a floor cushion cover and used for a while before I stashed it away.

I remembered it the other week so dug deep in the loft and looked at it with different eyes!

What a labour of love :)

Its a great example of repurposed fabrics being used in crafting too...I reckon that most came from Grandmas dresses

I had a great time looking at this again, with my new crafty eyes lol -

The umbrella and vase are definately dress fabric.. I love the pram...I think that was clothing from one of my uncles...it looks familiar!!

And I love the queen!
The letter has my name on and a teeny appliqued stamp - I remember loving that as a girl!This sat on my 1970's bed with a skirt made of browny orange bri nylon - yum (some vintage things are best lost with time! )Mum took this off to make the cushion. And luckily she has literally just folded in half to make the cushion cover, and inserted a massive zip.

I have decided to turn it into a quilt. I have unpicked the zip and sides and I'm good to go! I shall back it with something a bit more modern, I think I may just stitch it on to a premade lightweight duvet and one of the little boys can use on their bed.

I've changed my mind, saving stuff is good as long as it has a purpose. This applique is not doing anyone any favours in a bag in the loft and I'm sure that my Grandma would rather things were used and loved.

Maybe one day my applique will be good enough to make something equally fabulous for my granddaughter (yes that specific I have 4 sons I have earnt my granddaughter lol!!). Not sure my embroidery will ever be good enough to go out in public though!!