Teatime...

Week two of the fabulous Zakka 2.0 sew along making Patchwork Please! projects, and tea towels are getting the Ayumi treatment.

Not that I am cheeky or anything, but I opted to go simply for 'Tea' and to decorate a bargain tea towel from Tesco; I am British after all!

I got the binding stitched down whilst at my Mum and Dad's yesterday, and then promptly gave it straight to my Mum for keeps; out of sight, out of mind when it comes to using it on actual dishes!!!

I googled for a teapot template and happily found this.

This was a totally quick make, a great gift idea, and had I thought more deeply about it, I could have gone more masculine and given it as a not-so-subtle Father's Day gift to dear hubby!  Dammit!

Linking with lovely Lindsey once again x

PS.  Thank you all so much for the Marcelle Medallion love - I will try to work my way through my chocablock Inbox later!

Sweet Valentines...

Thank you for all the Sidekick Tote love, I am terribly behind on emails again, but will catch up at some point over the weekend.  Today has been filled with way too much domestic activity, Rainbows being invested and the arrival of my Pretty Little Pouch Swap parcel, but that will get a post all of its own.

This evening I am therefore just going to put my feet up, and relax, after showing you a couple of pics from yesterday.

Last week I pulled out my Zakka Style to make dear hubby something for Valentine's Day that he had actually asked for, a pen case.  I gave him a swanky fountain pen for Christmas, and it needed a cosy home.

I used the same man-flannel that I made man-presents from at Christmas, and even though I have made a few of these, that turning through bit at the end always makes me worry that it is all going to go horribly wrong!

It didn't.  Success all round.

And as if roses and chocolates weren't enough, dear husband and I headed over to Chichester for the day.  We has breakfast at John Lewis at Home, and then we went to The Eternal Maker. 

I say 'we'.  I went in for a while, whilst he waited patiently in the car, and just as it was time to pay, my gallant knight strode in and paid for my wares.  How lucky am I!?

4 half meters of the newly delivered Architextures, my favourite Aurifil thread, some luscious Cosmos floss and a meter of measuring tape. 

Gifts don't get much more perfect than that xxx

Calm before the storm...

Today it was bitterly cold, so as soon as the kids were deposited at school, I was on lockdown.

Firstly I whipped up my last 5 #xplusalong blocks, then spent some time arranging all 25 on the floor and getting them into nice numbered piles.

I then made my husband a Valentine's present, but that will remain under wraps until next week.  Without giving the game away, I can tell you it's a Zakka Man-Style gift!

Then the Postie came with a secret Stitch Tease block from Danny and my loot from Kerry's destash.  Wonderful lovely lady that she is, she added in a couple of treats of the fabric variety to supplement my Hoey-love!

And Kerry was also integral in the present that came for my sister yesterday.  Having posted an update on all the lovely tea towels Al has on sale right now, I had to have this one...

This is how I like my animals!

I can't rate Al highly enough; I reviewed his online store last year too, and the speed he mails things out and customer service is second to none.  My bargainiferous tea towel was ordered over the weekend, with free postage and a free coaster, (which I have forgotten to photograph, but you can chose your own on promotion right now, and I chose this one), and it arrived on Tuesday, from Ireland!

Back to today, and I snuggled up with a film, Source Code, Sky+ed from the weekend, until pick up time.  I don't take time out like that often enough, so I may need to make it a regular habit; unfortunately I lose next week's freetime to an Inset Day swap on friday, but maybe the week after!

With no more ballet; twin 2 decided to leave after Christmas (hurray!) as both girls are now going to Rainbows, and Wednesday Beavers has become Tuesday Cubs, so I was able to get a bit more sewing in before teatime.

My Sew Stitchy blocks are now all sewn together...

I have sashing to add, to take this from 50" square to 60" square, and a backside to ponder.  It is so bright and fun, it already makes me really happy.

Tomorrow I will don my metaphorical crisp-lady hat and spend an unpleasant hour at the Key Stage One disco, so please don't expect me to be in quite such a jovial mood when we next cross paths!

iCosy

Firstly thank you all so much for all your lovely giveaway comments and some down-right crazy choices for Olympic crafts so far; some of you have really thought long and hard about it - excellent!

So what have I been doing whilst you have racked your brains on how to score knitting or win at crochet...  Finally getting a case made for my iPad, that's what.

I pinned and Googled and went round in circles until it came to me... scale up the Zakka Style pencil case!!!

So I did...

If it had ended up a few millimetres narrower, it would have been too small, but through complete fluke and wishful thinking, it turned out perfectly!

I used some of my awesome So Happy Scribble, lined it with AMH Folksy flannel, and used fusible fleece on both with a piece of medium interfacing in the middle for good measure.

iSnuggly.

Always the sun...

Remember the sun?  I have passed down stories of it to my children, you know, the sun you see when you break through the clouds in an airplane, the sun that, according to legend, used to shine in these parts in something called 'the summer'... in the days before the rain came.

So this weeks Zakka Style sew-along project, the Rain Cloud Mug Rug needed a pick me up... there was no way I was sewing rain!  I have had e-bloody-nough of the real thing!

So may I present my take on this project...

A fussy-cut Heather Ross sunshine, looking a bit bemused by all the clouds in the way, but trying to shine none-the-less...

You can just about make out the detail on the clouds; fancy eh?  Bondaweb, not needle-turned appliqué is my friend, if it's good enough for John, aka Quilt Dad, it's good enough for me.

On the reverse I even went a bit wild, having broken open the variegated yellow Aurifil for the rays, I machine embroidered the words to the song that has been going round and round in my head...

It was all made with scraps, and it may not be my best or favourite project so far, but it's growing on me.

In case you are in need of a pick me up or a bit of teenage/80s reminiscing too, this one's for you...

Finally, a huge thank you for all the comments left so far on the Fluffy Sheep Quilting giveaway post yesterday... there's still time to enter or take advantage of Cindy's discount code, so if you haven't already, please take a look... there will be further reminders... and what could possibly make a cold miserable day feel better than a bit of online fabric shopping eh!?

At last!

Look what we had today, all day and still shining; what a refreshing change...

 And to top it off, here's a little finish for you...

Nova's Zakka Itty Bitty Magnets.  I think they are rather sweet, and I am going to take them to work on Monday to adorn my shelf fronts in an attempt to cheer up my boring little corner.

To prove they do actually stick, here they are on the 'specially polished for the photoshoot' cooker hood...

oooh look there's me!

I am hoping that this is a good omen, and for all our weekends to be as full of sunshine and makery xxx

Please... No More Rain!

I am fed up.

I have had enough of the wettest drought in history.  I have helped a dozen 5 year olds to read this morning, so excuse me if I think I deserve to spend a little of my day off sat in the sun, relaxing and enjoying the peace and quiet.

So I am going to snuggle up on the sofa like it was WINTER, because I can't take the sound of the rain on the conservatory roof any longer, and do some hand-stitching on the next project in the Zakka Sew Along - Nova's lovely Itty Bitty Quilt Block Magnets...

I sewed up the fronts last night.  For those not in the know, these measure 2" square.  I am awaiting a sheet of magnetic... um... magnets to come, so it's all preparation.

Oh, and if you are enjoying some warm dry weather, please don't tell me, as I am already turning into a crazy woman, and I will not be held responsible for my actions!

3 is the magic number...

So another week and another Zakka project under my belt.  Rain-induced productivity yesterday at its best!

Fortunately I was able to stave off the onset of rickets though today and enjoy a rather nice hour in the sun this afternoon and I got some photos taken at the same time, bonus.

My deviation from the Zakka Style pattern was to fussy cut my panel for the front rather than using 3 strips, but Kerry's full-on adaptation makes me kind of wish I had waited to see how she had interpreted the pattern.

Like Sheila, I can fit my regular glasses in, but my sunnies are too big, and as they seem to spend more time in my bag than on my face at the moment, maybe I will attempt a larger version with some wadding in the future.

You won't be surprised to know that the orange Heather Ross froggy one is mine!

I ended up using medium-weight iron-on interfacing as I was all out of lightweight, and that made for a little trickier turning-through, but it works. 

Again, the pattern was foolproof to follow, although I was having difficulty imagining how it all worked from the diagrams, but these are definitely something I can see me making for the girl's friends and teachers as birthday pressies and whisper it, Christmas gifts. 

Retreat Treats part 2!

Over the last week I have been playing with the treats; I sewed the final button on this morning, having pretty much swam back from helping at school, and now they are done.

I am really pleased with the results.  They are all subtly different, as well as the colour, because that's obviously different!

Mine is the orange one, and I won't show too much detail of the others now, so there is a little surprise left at FQ Retreat.

The Pretty Linen Pouch pattern is another of the more simpler ones in the Zakka Style book; the time consuming bit putting these together was deciding which embellishments to use or disregard.

I hope my, as yet unknown, swap group like them.

They measure up at 5.5" x 7" and I think I will be using mine for all my machine feet and gubbins that currently reside in the original classy little plastic bags that came with my sewing machine.

I'm still waiting to hear of the safe arrival of the name tag, then I will relax and probably make a few more bits for Retreat just for the fun of it.

And because it would be silly not to say anything... there's still just about time to cast your vote for your favourite HST creation over at the  Canoe Ridge Creations - Festival of Half Square Triangles x

Pin me down...

As you know already, I love the Zakka Style book and am eager to make lots and lots from it over the coming months. 

Well I skipped the first couple of weeks of the brilliant Zakka Style Sew Along, due to bad timing, but this week, it's the turn of the Pincushion. 

Ayumi posted her lovely version yesterday as part of the series, and here are my, not quite so cute, pair...

Apologies for the rather dodgy photos, the weather hasn't exactly been playing kind!

I've up-cycled an aqua linen pillow case, one of a pair, for the buttons and backs, and I'm also using the same for the linings of the Retreat Treats; they were an absolute bargain find, and I am going to be sad when I have used them up!

These pin cushions are so quick to make and really rather satisfying!  Have you been caught by the Zakka bug yet?

Oh and for all your comments yesterday - I am so pleased I am not the only micro-hoarder x

Retreat Treats...

Well nothing that exciting happened yesterday; I finished all the background cutting for My Precious Retro Flowers QAL, and if you have done the same, you will know that cutting all those concave curves takes a long time, especially with an 18mm rotary cutter!

So I am good to go on that, and good to get on with my FQ Retreat swap gifts...

I am going to be making some small pouches from the Zakka Style book...

I have cut all my linen, lining and interfacing, gathered lots of little embellishments, but still need to sort out what exactly I am doing for the main fabric panels on the front...

I am envisaging a cool little collage on each one; we'll have to wait and see if I can get the ideas from my head actually onto fabric successfully!

I tried to do some small cross-stitch last night to add into the mix, but my eyes just weren't up to the job - I really think I need one of those big old-lady light-up magnifiers...

I am pleased to report though, that as part of the 'more organized me' regime, I have started using some plastic trays to store individual WiPs in, and unlike the scrap colour sorting, they are working well!

Zakka me!

I decided I needed another quick fix - so I headed for my Zakka Style book, and didn't even have to open it to decide the little storage case and pin cushion on the cover would be a nice addition to my expanding pouch collection!

Another stash make, using my Christmas Kokka linen, Momo Scissors and those gorgeous Kei dots...

So quick to make, even substituting the suggested leather ties with homemade ones, I had these cut and sewn up in a couple of hours.

Now what am I going to put in this one!?