Swapsies August

During the month of August I took part in two different craft swaps.

The first swap that I signed up to was a Pin cushion swap with Hannah at Squintessential.  With my new found love for the sewing machine, I thought that this would be a great swap to take part in.  The rules to this one was basically, you have to make it yourself.  Simple enough!

For this swap, I was paired up with Anna from Black Cactus London.

I had come across an 'In the Hoop' pattern for the embroidery machine from http://www.memories-in-thread.net/ which I had been meaning to try out, so I thought that this would be the perfect opportunity.  I chose to use a teapot fabric that I have in my stash, back with a matching red spotty fabric that I also have.

I was a little disappointed that the final product didn't actually show much of the teapot design on the fabric, but here is a picture of the fabric so that you can see how gorgeous it is! lol.  Apart from that though, I am happy with the overall outcome of the pin cushion and hope that Anna is too!

The finished pin cushion

The teapot fabric

The second swap was hosted by the lovely Kat and was an August Summer Swap.  The rules were simple, to make something that reminds you of summer.  It could be in any craft format that you liked, as long as it is handmade by you.  You also had to send a fridge magnet as well.

I was paired up with Hannah, who coincidently is the same person who is running the pin cushion swap!

My first thought was that this was going to be easy!  Ha, how wrong I was!  It took me ages to decide on what to make!  When I did finally make my decision, it was pretty straight forward from then on.  Trying to decide on something summery to make for someone who makes such beautiful jewellery was really hard.  I could tell from Hannah's blog and twitter that she is quite crafty herself and enjoys taking part in craft swaps, so I wanted to do something a bit different.  In the end, I remembered something I used to love doing....cross stitch.  Once I'd decided on that, I had a look about for a kit.  I found loads of different scenes that would be perfect for the theme, but in the end I settled on a beach scene.  Once I made the cross stitch, I then put it in a frame bordered with some craft paper.  I had forgotten about getting a magnet for Hannah, but a quick look on my fridge and I remembered that I had a duplicate of the same magnet from Cape Town, South Africa, so I sent one of those over to Hannah.

Cross stitch in frame

Fridge magnet

I really hope she likes them!

To see the other Summer crafty swaps, check out the linky below:


Jackie. x

Buttercup Bag - Take 2

This week over at The Crafty Bums Sewing Group, we have been set the challenge of making the fabulous Buttercup Bag from Made by Rae.  As you may recall, last month I made this bag using my gorgeous teapot fabric, but felt it would be cheating to enter something that wasn't made that week.

Therefore the sewing machine came back out and I hijacked a pair of hubby's jeans to make this denim version.  For the lining I found a lovely purple fabric in my stash, which I think compliments the denim well.

I decided that as it was a plain colour, it needed something to liven it up a bit, so after a little look around the web to find a good tutorial, I made the flower out of a jelly roll strip left over from my quilt and finished it off with a button from my collection.  I then sewed the flower onto a safety pin, so that it can be taken off if necessary.

I think the overall result has come out really well.  What do you think?  I am loving the Buttercup bag pattern and I think it's only a matter of time until I buy the bigger pattern for it!

Jackie. x

Superheroes and Theme Parks

Hello again.

We have had a rather fun packed few days.  While everyone else was caught up in the Opening Ceremony on Friday night, I was busy making my Superhero costume for work on Saturday!  As I have mentioned before, I work at a local theme park and last weekend was our Superheroes event.  Staff members (and guests) were encouraged to dress up as superheroes.

GS Girl!

After a quick trip to the supermarket, I was unable to find a suitable t-shirt (really, when I don't want one, they are everywhere!!), so I ended up getting a plain tanktop and some felt.  I drew out a design and then cut it out of the felt and stuck it onto the top using fabric adhesive.  I then got about a meter of plain red cotton fabric, cut it into a trapezoid shape and pinned it onto the top using safety pins.  Voilà, a superhero costume.

Captain America & Thor

Of course, we didn't want the boys to be left out either, but I did cheat for their costumes and bought ready made ones.  Say hello to Captian America (Aled) and Thor (Noah).  They loved being able to wear their costumes all day and, for the most of it, they kept them on!  Occasionally Noah did take his costume off for about 10 mins 'to be Noah again'.  I am loving this age with Noah and the funny little things he comes out with!

The fun didn't stop there though.  Saturday night was also a kind of 'Date Night' for me and hubby.  The girls night out that I was supposed to be going on ended up getting cancelled, so me and hubby went out instead. We went for a Chinese at a local restaurant, which we have been to many times and as it always is, the food was gorgeous.  After the meal we met up with some friends for a 40th birthday party.  All in all, we had a great night and rolled home, rather merry, at about 3am.  My sister was sleeping over, so I was happy in knowing that I could just send the monsters in to her when they woke up!  Hubby did end up getting up with the kids and I had a lie in until about 11am on Sunday.  Perfect. :-)

On Monday, as a treat to the eldest PJ, we went to Thorpe Park with my mum, sister and a friend of PJ's.  We hadn't been before, so it was all new for us.  PJ, his friend and my sister went off to go on the big rides and me, the little ones and my mum explored the more tamer rides of the park.  Having researched the park on their website, I was rather disappointed to find that the man made beach area was closed.  I was planning on spending alot of our time in there, knowing that there isn't much for the younger boys.  We ended up going on about 5 rides that were suitable for the boys, some of them a couple of times.  The rest of the day was spent just walking around the park.  The boys really enjoyed watching the wave of water from the Tidal Wave ride come down over the bridge onto the pathway and by the end of the day I gave up trying to keep them away and let them go into the splash zone!

I was also a day of firsts for my mum.  She told me that she had never been on a carousel before in her life!  She got to do it three times on Monday! She also came onto a couple of the faster rides so that the boys could both go on together.  I think she was more scared than Noah on those!  The boys really enjoyed it and the older ones had a blast.  Although the queue lines were quite long for the big rides, we were lucky on the ones that we were able to get on and didn't have to queue for more than 10 minutes for a ride, which for my boys is a blessing!

Thorpe Park

Well, that is all the fun we are going to have for a little while going by the weather report at the moment!  Aled's speech therapy starts back up on Thursday for 4 weeks and I have *finally* got his appointment for the Child Development Centre, which is also this Thursday.  I really hope that the appointment goes well and we get the outcome we need for him.

Until next time..
Jackie. x

Hats on for the sun

Can you believe it, summer is finally here!  Yay. (although if BBC weather is anything to go by, it's not for long, boo).

Of course, for days out in this weather there are a few things that are essential for the little ones.  Sun cream for one and of course a hat!  I have been dying to attempt to make a bucket hat for my boys, so with the sun coming out and a trip to the park for a picnic with some friends meant that I needed to do it sooner rather than later.

Using the Oliver + S bucket hat pattern and tutorial, I made a start to them.  My mum had bought be some fab racing cars fabric and black & white gingham for the inside.  Due to evening commitments this week, I did have to make the hats during the day, with the two little monsters around.  Not something I will be in a rush to do again!!

Tuesday I spent the morning cutting out the fabric for both hats and then after lunch I got the sewing machine out for the sewing.  The number of times I had to say 'Don't touch', 'stop that', 'please leave that alone' was enough to drive anyone insane!

I did really well following the instructions until it got to the last stage.  Attaching the two hats together.  With this pattern, you attach the crown and sides of both fabric A (the outside) and fabric B (the inside).  Then you sew the brim of both fabrics together and attach that to the made up top of fabric A.  What the pattern then tells you to do is hand sew fabric B to the rest of the hat, using blind stiches and then top sew over the seam to reinforce it.

Of course, to me, firstly hand sewing is too much of a hassle and secondly, I haven't a clue how to blind stitch!  I thought that I would be clever and use the sewing machine for this part.  Unfortunately, when I turned the hat back around, the stitches were a bit all over the place!

For hat number two, I decided that it would be easier and tidier if I don't try to make the hat reversible.  This time I made up the sides and crown of both fabrics and attached the brim to both sides together.  The top of the hats wrong sides together and attached the brim as the tutorial shows for attaching to fabric A.  This does then have a seam on show on the inside of the hat, but the outside looks perfect.  I was really happy with the result of this hat.

In showing off my hats to a sewing group on Facebook, I have now been given a link to this tutorial for a bucket hat, which is a different way of making a bucket hat reversible, so I may have to get some more fabric to give that a go.  After all, a boy can't have too many hats can he?!

Jackie. x

Tea for two?

As mentioned in my blog post yesterday, I did manage to finish the handbag I started on Sunday night.  I had bought some gorgeous 'tea for two' fabric a few weeks ago from The Fabric Warehouse and as soon as I saw it I knew that it was perfect for the Buttercup Bag tutorial that I had found on Made By Rae's blog.  If you get the chance, go check out her blog, she has some fantastic patterns and tutorials on there.

All in all, the making of the bag went well.  I have never attempted to make a handbag like this before and I am really pleased with the result.  I did find that after putting the pleats in as directed, the main part of the bag was still a bit bigger than the top band, so I did have to trim that down to size.  Other than that, all went really smoothly.  My sewing is still a little bit wonky, but I'm sure that will improve with practice.

So, without further ado, I present you with my Tea for Two Buttercup Bag. :-)  I really can't wait for my night out on the 28th now so that I can show it off!  I may even take it for a trail run at darts tonight.

What better to line it with than cupcake patterned fabric. :-)

Jackie. x

Something a little bit crafty

At the beginning of term a few weeks ago Aled came home with a nursery newsletter advising me that they will be doing P.E. this term and he needs to bring shorts and a t-shirt in every Monday.  Now Aled already has a bag that is used for his spare change of clothes, but I thought it would be nice for him to have his own P.E. bag.

Tonight, I finally got around to making it.  Using this tutorial, I got to work.  I decided that I wanted a different coloured panel through the middle and this will (maybe) have his name appliquéd onto it.  I also decided that I wanted him to be able to wear the bag like a backpack, so added grosgrain ribbon tabs at the bottom to feed the drawstring through.  I am rather proud of myself, as this is the first bag that I have taken on by myself without needing my mum to take over!  I did run into some trouble with the 'tunnel' for the cord and ended up unpicking and restarting a few times, but all in all, it's not a bad try I think.

Hopefully I will get a photo of Aled wearing the bag, I am hoping it fits round his shoulders, but that will have to wait until tomorrow.  In the meantime, here is the finished article.

Jackie. x