Trying to keep up...

Well I am ashamed to say that I am already slipping behind on the 30 posts in 30 days challenge. So far I have missed three days. And it's only the 13th of June!

In my defence I have been prepping for a craft fair that wasn't even booked when I set myself the challenge and that is really taking all my spare time.  It's been a while since my last crafty outing and as sales on Folksy have been quite steady so far this year I really didn't notice how little stock I had left!

I showed you the hearts and birds I started work on last week. Today my marvellous mother in law picked Roo up from school and took him over to his cousins house for tea and play, giving me a whole 8 hours to sew like a mutha!! My fingers are sore, my back a bit cramped and there are bits of fluff, thread and the odd button scattered about the house. It was hard slog but look what I did today...

from this....

...to this.

ah, who am I trying to kid? I spent 8 hours playing with buttons and felt and pretty fabric and colourful embroidery threads. Is it really work if you love doing it so much?

In other news, my other challenge is going well - today was also my fourth fasting day. I'd like to be able to say just how difficult it's been and how I am such a martyr to weight loss, suffering in silence whilst watching all those around me tucking into lovely food I can't have, but it's not been like that at all!! I lost 2 1/4lb in my first week, which is just fine by me. If I can continue at that rate I will be back to pre-baby weight by October. Just in time for a special 60's dance I am attending, celebrating the life of local music supremo Joe Meek.  

And yes, I have set myself yet another challenge - I am going to make my own dress for the event!

*gulps*

 Never let it be said I don't enjoy a challenge...

On that note I will leave you with my favourite photo of today's makes.

New stock - Lavender stuffed hearts and birds

I have a craft fair in less than 2 weeks. It's the first one I've done this year and I am sharing a table with a friend who has just started her own craft business. She makes the most adorable baby dresses - mostly inspired by her adorable baby girl ;-)

I still have some stock left over from Christmas - mostly of the red and white felt birds and hearts like these - but I decided that this fair is an opportunity to try out a few new items.

After the success of my reversible tea towel I bit the bullet and bought a couple of metres of pure Irish linen to make some more pretty tea towels (or dish cloths if you are American!) - I am planning on doing applique motifs, ribbon and ric rac trim, maybe a little embroidery too.  Who says drying the dishes has to be boring? I can't wait to get going on those and show you the results!

In the meantime I have been making a few of my best selling lavender stuffed hearts and birds using some of the bright, pretty and just plain quirky fabrics in my stash...

Completely hand stitched using some lovely vintage Sylko mercerised cotton with fab names like 'green plume' and 'wedgewood blue'.

Did you spot the gorgeous vintage thimble I found in Nan's old sewing box?

I can't believe how much quicker I could sew whilst wearing it! The stitches were much neater and more even too as I got a good rhythm going and I didn't have to stop every few seconds because I'd pricked my finger again!

Adding the dried lavender - using a paper funnel is much easier and less messy than trying to just drop it in! I lightly stuff with super soft carded polyester stuffing first then add a generous scoop of home grown and dried lavender flowers.

I dry lavender from my mother in law's garden by tying it up in bunches then hanging it in a paper carrier bag away from damp and drafts for a few months. The bag catches any loose bits that fall off so it doesn't make a mess! Once properly dried out I strip the flowers from the stalks and store in a large glass jar.  Just coz it looks pretty, especially with a lovely piece of ribbon from Jane Means tied around the neck! :-)

This year I hope to start my own lavender border - it will be a few years before it is established enough to harvest from though!

Once the lavender is in I add a bit more stuffing then stitch up the gap.

Once they are all stuffed and sewn up I will embellish them and add little metal hoops to hang them by.

But that's a job for another day.

I do so love my work!

Woven Ribbon Lavender Pillow Tutorial

Now we have Bonfire Night out of the way, I guess it's time mention the 'C' word...

Let's not get too festive and sparkly just yet (no, really, plenty of time for that NEXT month!) but those of you who aspire to a Handmade Christmas really should start thinking pressies if you haven't already.  I have about 5 half completed pressie projects on the go at the mo. I'm not panicking. Yet.

I've raided my Jane Means ribbon stash again to come up with this stylish gift idea - and it's a great way to use any lavender you may have dried in the summer!



You will need a couple of meters of your chosen ribbon - I have used these lovely polka dot grosgrain ribbons in co-ordinating turquoise and chocolate brown - a couple of small pieces of fabric and some dried lavender.


First decide on the size of your pillow and cut out two pieces of cotton fabric approx 2cm larger than you want the finished size to be. Mine measures 10cm x 8cm finished so my base fabric pieces were approx 12cm x 10cm.

If your pillow is oblong, like mine, you will need to cut shorter lengths in one colour to fit the width and longer lengths in the contrast colour.  I used 7 x 10cm lengths of the turquoise ribbon and 6 x 12cm lengths of the chocolate brown ribbon.

Now, using one of the fabric pieces as your base begin weaving your ribbon strips. You may find it easier to pin the ribbons to the fabric or tack them in place around the edges as you go

Try and keep the ribbons matched up edge-to-edge for a neat finish. It's a bit fiddly but don't worry about it too much as you have the base fabric underneath to stop and lavender escaping the finished pillow!

When all the ribbon strips are in place and secure take you other piece of fabric and lay it, face down, on top of the ribbon panel. Pin, tack and stitch all the way around, leaving an opening in the middle of one long edge to turn the pillow the right way round.

Turn, stuff with dried lavender, stitch up the gap and you're done!!

These pillows are so easy to adapt too - use wider ribbons to make larger pillows. Use up your ribbon scraps and make a lovely colourful boho inspired pillow. Use all one colour for an elegent textured look.  You'll find loads of gorgeous ribbons on Jane Means website if you need any further inspiration!

Competiton wins!

Do you ever enter competitions on blogs or posted on Twitter or Facebook and then forget all about them? I know I do! Most of them require no more than a click to follow and a retweet or a comment left and then, as I never win anything, most of them get forgotten about!

One I had completely forgotten about was run by Yorkshire Lavender (you can follow them on Twitter @yorkslavender ) to win a kilo of their fabulous dried lavender. So as you can imagine I was thrilled when the congratulations tweet popped up in my mentions column on Tuesday :) My box of lavender arrived on Friday morning. Do you have any idea what a kilo of dried lavender looks like?

...yes that is a carrier bag full!!!

...and it smells divine :)



I use dried lavender a lot in my designs, usually homegrown and dried so I have limited stocks, so this prize was much appreciated!

We will be holidaying in Yorkshire later this year and we may even fit in a trip to the award winning Yorkshire Lavender farm and gardens and buy a few plants to add to my own garden.

As if that win wasn't enough on Saturday night I was notified that I had won another!  This one run by one of my favourite online fabric suppliers SeamStar . Their competitions are always popular and as this as a bumper giveaway open for a month I knew they would have A LOT of entries and my chance of winning would be minimal. But it didn't stop me hoping...

When Courtney at Seamstar tweeted that I had won one of the three amazing hampers I was over the moon!!!

It arrived yesterday. I hope you don't mind if I share...

Beautifully packaged!

It was my birthday last week - this was like an extra special birthday present :)

I mean - just look at all these lovelies. Who could not be inspired by this selection?

There are even a couple of lovely owl prints by one of my favourite designers Saffron Craig. This one might become the netbook sleeve I have been meaning to make...

Riley picked out this funky bright print 'Lollipop Dreams' by Patty Young as his favourite.

...and just look at this selection of gorgeous cotton voiles by Anna Maria Horner I really don't know what I am going to make with them yet, but whatever it is, it will be special!

There was also a big bag of grosgrain ribbons in just about every colour you could ever need!

Not to mention some habdash extras - pins, buttons and zips.

As competition prizes go this was pretty darn amazing so thank you once again Courtney and SeamStar for making my birthday week one to remember :) I can heartily recommend that you visit the wonderful 'Seamzine' blog for all the latest products, projects, competitions and giveaways.

And good luck...next time it could be you!