all in a day's sewing...

so happy to be back in my studio...my second home where no housework or domestic chores exist to distract from my making mission...

 

a reddish pinky felted jumper is carefully cut to shape and I decide on a floral decoration...a bold choice of a lighter pink and some orangey wool fabrics with reddish buttons...seems an odd combination but it works for me...

a little creative machine embroidery...

one of my favourite pincushions ...from Eliza Conway who always has a wonderful stall full of handmade gooodies at Woolfest

 

 sew on the designer label...!!

choose a lining...and some buttons...more playing with colours

 top stitching the layers together...always a very pleasing moment!

all the leftovers are too enticing and delicious so they go in a bag and one day I WILL have an embellishing machine to turn them into something BEAUTIFUL...nothing is wasted...

and the finished bag has a moment of exitement as it stars in a photo shoot... what do you think?

I am soo happy! and the best bit is I can do it all again tomorrow...hope you've had a lovely day too...

chicken love...

when we've been away it's so nice to come home...and be greeted by two cats most indignant that we've not been there to let them into the warm cosy kitchen for snoozing...and a bevy of running hens scooting up the path from the orchard (well a bit of field with some fruit trees in)...even the geese honk a noisy greeting..home to fresh air and green grass and hills ,...and getting greener by the minute as the opening hawthorn leaves green up the hedgerows...breathe it all in...then into the house for the unpacking ceremony...piles to add to the piles...

many thanks to kind friends and neighbours for the looking after of everything...and thanks to chickens for the lovely brown eggs...which daughter mine soon has whipped up into a fab cake to share with friends...

thought I'd just share with you the inside story...no, not our house but the henhouse ...tho' the hens often want to pop into the kitchen to see us...and Emilia especially is always keen to join me in the studio...here's an insight into the secret life of our chickens...Rosa sitting patiently...clever girl...when she got off there were 2 eggs...and next time I visit...3...it's magic...beautiful warm fresh eggs and all we give them is food and water ...and some love

Bluebell looking in on me looking out! I think she wants to know who's on housework duty this week cos the perches could use a cleaning...

any chance of a little tasty something from the feed bin?

and here's the cat who thinks he's a dog...sharing the chicken's run outside... warm and happy cat!

off to my studio today for some making...Woolfest is in June and now I can sew again there's a lot to do but it's all exiting and feels so right...I just love being in the studio surrounded by fabrics and threads, able to stitch and sew and get on with setting up my workshops - got a new machine embroidery workshop to plan too...still couple of places on corsage making on Thursday 19th...leave a comment if you're interested...

hope you're having a lovely weekend too and getting some sunshine xx

Happy Easter

wishing you all a relaxed and happy day...cold and damp here in Cumbria... home again after our trip away...enjoying handmade homemade Easter craft by daughter mine...made with lots of love...cat snoozing in the kitchen...happy husband of patience not to be seen...he's straight outdoors to plant trees and tidy toolshed...alone with radio 4...daughter and me lazing on sofa as we enjoy a DVD together... watching 'Parentood' with Steve Martin...who I love...the joke being that she had to change the parent lock for me before we could watch it... what's that all about?!

make it...for Easter

April...sweet April..sunshine and showers...swelling and opening leaf buds on the trees...delicious colours of flowers and green shoots...and four feet of snow! Luckily not here..so the illusion of spring can continue...we've had rain to water the garden...a welcome refreshment...

 

 

Homes and Antiques calender full of loveliness to cheer and inspire when your own house is still full of wintery sloth and dust...a girl can dream...

feeling like a making session in the studio...and so (sew?!) a little something sunny and eastery has come to mind...playing with fabric...how easy to transform a piece of old woollen blanket and some little scraps into something pretty and homemade...use a touch of bondaweb if you have it...add some lace or ribbons...a little easy sewing and stitching...who needs to buy when you can make it yourself and have all the fun and pleasure of being crafty?

draw a little egg shape on paper to make a pattern and use that to draw lots of eggs on a piece of old blanket or thick felt...this is optional...sew 'happy easter' in the middle of each egg......take care it doesn't become happy eater...

use the pattern to cut out egg shapes from fabric - if you have any bondaweb iron it onto the fabric first then cut out..it is good to use as it keeps edges from fraying and makes it a bit stiffer to sew the next bit...add lace and ribbons...

once sewn in place trim to a nice egg shape...this bit is quite satisfying!

if you have sewn 'happy easter' onto the egg shapes on the blanket/felt..turn the fabric over and carefully lie the fabric egg shape over each set of words...bit tricky but do-able with care...otherwise just out the fabric eggs on anywhere...iron on if you've used bondaweb or just use an old fashioned pretty pin or two...

sew in place...note this egg has no ribbon or lace..it was actually a slightly different version when I was working out what order to sew things in...well spotted!

cut out... leave a little edge of blanket showing if you like...happiness is a little pile of egg shapes..aren't they just edible? positively almost as nice as choclate ones!

simply sew a nice piece of thickish thread with a good sturdy needle through the top of each egg...knot it to make aloop and voila...Easter starts here...

off to London for a few days now...to see wonderful grandparents...and getting much bigger 'small cousins' and favourite Swiss auntie and favourite uncle who are travelling over...hoping for more sunshine...may take my new Laura Ashley Spring skirt...I love the combo of pretty skirt...and my BIG boots which I adore...I call them my POWER boots cos they make me feel I CAN do anything!

hope you like my easter 'make it'...why not have a go..it's ever so easy and so pretty ..you could even write names on the back to give as personal little handmade presents...have a lovely week xx