I won! I won!

I'm currently in 'chuffed mode' at the moment. Yesterday I received an email from Cloth Magazine saying I had won their bumper prize pack and could they get my details so they could post the BOX out! Yes... BOX! It arrived this morning (fast huh!) and I've been gushing over the lovely contents.

Although my husband laughed at me because I TOTALLY missed this page in the latest issue:

Yep, that's me!

This is what I've won from issue 6

Unbelievable. How on earth could I have missed seeing my own name in the magazine?! But how exciting. I never win anything... and to win a box full of crafting goodies just when I've been bitten by the sewing bug is brilliant. 

Here is my lucky stash...

What a lucky lass I am!

Fabulous florals from the new Freespirit collection 

Berisford ribbons, giant buttons, and gorgeous fabric from one of my favourite bloggers M is for Make

Wooden vintage pegs and Liberty print binding on a wooden bobbin. Too cute!

Logan gets a children's apron and some fish scissors!

A fabulous book to teach me lots of goodies to make

And wonderful Christmas fabric as a wee bonus.

At this rate I'm going to need to build an extension onto our new house to keep all my sewing goodies in! A massive massive thank you to the team at Cloth Magazine. You've made this lass very happy indeed. 

A new year beckons

After a pretty crappy Christmas (poor wee man had a fever and was miserable bless him) I'm all ready for new adventures in the world of sewing! This year I am going to become a real sewer... and to show my commitment to the crafting world, I've even picked the sewing machine I'll be buying soon.

Singer 4220 - soon to be mine!

So exciting. And even more exciting is I received two new sewing books for Christmas plus my lovely hubby went out and bought me lots of snippets of fabric. I just need to figure out what to do with them. I guess that's where the books come in handy. 

My first projects will be to finish the patchwork cushion I hand sewed together. The delay in finishing has been I haven't a scooby how to put a zip in, and I've also been waiting for my new sewing machine. The other project will be to make a cushion out of the gorgeous scarf I found at a charity shop. All simple projects, but I know not to get ahead of myself thesedays. With the wee man under foot there isn't much time to do anything advanced... not that I'm at that stage yet. 

Tomorrow I move into the category of 'Working Mum' - maternity leave is officially over (boo) and I head back to the office for three days a week. Logan's first full day of nursery is tomorrow so no doubt there will be tears from me. Speaking of the wee man... a waft of his nappy just hit me so I'll sign off.

Happy New Year. 

x

Homemade Christmas

It's a good thing I started making Christmas decorations as we haven't a clue where we packed the real decorations during the move. It looks a little amateurish (new word!) but kind of sweet. Below are some photos. I've attempted threading popcorn together to replace our missing lights and tinsel. 

One of my first stockings

From Paper-and-string's Reindeer kit

I've probably overkilled it on the stocking front

I managed to get a few hours to myself this week and hit the charity shops in search of cheap fabric. I found a gorgeous scarf which I'll attempt to make into a cushion. I also bought a pink zip for the patchwork cushion cover I made the other week. Will need to Google how to sew a zip in! This is where I need my Mum living in the same city/country/hemisphere so she can teach me. 

Too cute to stick pins into!

My latest projects have been some cute bunting (just waiting to get the bunting tape to put it all together). Nothing like an easy project like that to get the confidence up! I also made a new pin cushion which I might give to my sister as a bonus present as she's started cross stitching. Creative bunch!

Practice practice practice...

Baby Cube Number Two - done!

I'm well chuffed with this baby cube. It's so satisfying to have something sweet to look at after hand sewing it all. Shame I have to post it to a friend overseas who has just had a wee boy.

F for Fred

Stitching not perfect but I'm getting there!

I'm wishing now I inserted a wee bell or something that makes a rattling sound. Still, next attempt huh! (I need more friends to have babies).

As well as attempting more Christmas felt decorations for our tree I'm going to have a play with some ideas from this book I borrowed from the library yesterday. It's nice to get ideas from other sources... so many clever ladies out there with wonderful creations.

Let's hope I do them justice.

TCx

Slow and steady

Side 1

In between looking after the teething monster and packing up the house for the move in two weeks I find calm in sitting down and sewing little what-nots. This week the postman bought me stuffing (hooray!) so I can finally stop using all my cotton wool balls from the bathroom to fill my decorations with. I also got two of the Moda Charm Pack - Lollipop which I've been in love with for weeks now. My plan is (once I get better and more confident) is to attempt this project: Lollipop Quilt (Although I haven't got a clue what 'fusible webbing' means!) I think it's gorgeous... every charm pack I get makes me happy!

Side 2

With stuffing in hand I managed to finish my first baby cube (see right) but the end stitching is a bit wonky. Still, practice makes perfect... and my husband's cousin was good enough to have a baby girl the other week so my first baby cube will have an owner soon (with a note for the baby not to examine the stitching too closely).

I'm also making good progress on my friend's blue baby cube... I imagine once I get set up in the new house with a sewing machine these things will be a LOT quicker to make!

I managed to photograph my favourite xmas stocking (so far) too. I thought I'd sent it off to Mum and Dad before shooting it but hadn't sealed the package so grabbed it for a photo.

Santa stop here!

The things I get excited about now!

Training wheels are a bit wonky

Hmm... I need to tighten the bolts on my crafty training wheels a wee bit.  I've had loads of fun creating these Christmas stockings for my tree this year, and have sewn on some names to the top of some of them. My hand-sewing is a bit wonky to say the least but it's still early days I guess.

Bit wobbly, but Santa won't look too close

I watched how to do a 'blanket stitch' on You Tube which I attempted on a few stockings. Who would have thought learning a stitch would be fun?! In this past week I've also learned new words like: charm pack, brads and fat quarter. Whatta geek!

I received some gorgeous wooden painted buttons in the post today and also my first Moda Charm Pack. God knows what I'm going to do with them. I imagine for the next few weeks (until we move house) I'll just sit here and look at how pretty they are.

I have some questions for any 'pros' reading and wanting to help a newbie.
1 - Where on earth can I find small black 'brads' like the ones on the reindeer I made from the kit?
2 - What do you stuff your felt creations with?
3 - How can I make my stitches look better?

TCx

Beginnings of a crafty Christmas

Totally and utterly bitten by the crafting bug now. I spent last night making my first reindeer from the paper-and-string kit and loved every minute of it. Sure the ribbon at the top is a bit wonky and I really should have got lighter brown thread for his face - but it's my first attempt and I LOVE HIM!

Rudolph... after a few whiskies

I woke up this morning wanting to get my hands stuck into the craftiness of it all again so I made my parents some felt gift tags to go on the presents I wrapped them last night. Now normally I'm the worst gift wrapper in the world (read 'worst' as 'laziest') and throw the gift into whatever paper I can find, plonk some tape on the ends and Bob's ya Uncle. However, due to this crafty-fever I spent about an hour wrapping these gifts last night and trying different ribbon ideas.

Santa would be proud 

The tags don't really go with the ribbons so I guess in future I need to work on my co-ordination of styles but I have to pop these in the post today so it's as good as it's going to get.

Hopefully, (if the wee man lets me), I'll try my hand at some more Christmas tree decorations today. And try and hunt down some reindeer-coloured cotton!