some summery things.....

summer flower garland

I have been sorting out my craft/work space just lately. Actually I've been sorting out my whole house really. A lot of purging and clearing has been going on here behind the scenes. I think it might be never ending, I've been doing it for years. I'm also good at bringing it in though. But saying that, car loads have left, and it's beginning to feel like there's a little more space around things.

A happy discovery was this garland I found in my bag of crochet things. It's from a couple of years ago. I love it, it reminds me of when I first discovered the joys of crochet. I love all the different colours, you can see that can't you! Some I don't have anymore, lovely Rowan wool.

blues and greens on the common

In life, I feel like I'm getting ready to move into a new role. At home we are just beginning the last 6 weeks of school. After that I will no longer be a Mum of a school age child. It will be college and a whole new chapter. I feel like we are in a transition or getting ready for one.
.
I want to keep on blogging but I feel I need to wear it loosely.
Really I just want to make sure my focus is where it's needed, especially over this next six weeks.

a Peony saved from the mower

So I stepped back a little from blogging, I kind of gave myself a week or two off. It felt good, to just relax and be a reader instead.
I find it can take a long time to blog, or maybe it's just how I have been doing it.

By the second week I was starting to compose blog posts in my head!

fabric memories

I was sent a lovely gift of this Greensleeves fabric, by Claire from Poppysnest, who kindly agreed to a little blog swap. My Mum had curtains in her living room made from this material, which I spotted on her blog. It's a very much now fabric with Honeysuckle and summer flowers. Thank you Claire.

blue gingham nets

There has been a bit of sewing recently.
These blue gingham nets are a little experiment around where we eat. I was hoping to encourage my teen to sit here again, now it feels a little less like a gold fish bowl! I like it, it feels a bit cafe style, and a bit more private. Not that I want to shut anyone out, but the arrangement of people moving around here has changed thanks to a stuck door. Some of you might remember I have a couple of hardy cabin dwellers living here too. We share some parts of the house. There are some things you not allowed to build in your garden, without serious planning permission anyway!

lego vintage style caravan

 Well who spotted the cavaran?! This was a christmas present to me from my teen who found a long forgotten still valid lego voucher! The only things he would have ordered cost hundreds, and it wasn't going to happen. So I asked if he wouldn't mind me very much getting the caravan! I know, it's really childish. It took me about 5 months to make it. Isn't it sweet and why do they always put in extra parts?! I think it was the bunting and flowers on the window sill which sold it to me. Oh and the back opens and the sunbeds come out, easy now!

Anyway back to grown up things.

I made a little place for plants and crystals.

 I think I may be a bit more relaxed about blogging, whatever that means. Of course you will often find me and my photos on flickr and a little bit on instagram, which I like as much as putting a nice sweet in my mouth and then forgetting about it once it's eaten!

widflowers on the common

And you will always find me up here everyday with my camera, because this is my sanity and my breathing out, oh and my exercise!

the first climbing rose

So until next time, go well, and enjoy the weekend.

♥

summery makes part 1

After last nights three hour deluge of rain, thunder and lightning, following an extremely hot day, I think we can officially declare British summertime is here.

Not that anyone is complaining, it really was rather spendid and all that water on the plants after all that heat can only be a good thing.

So it's time for me to show the first of my new summer makes. I found a couple of vintage curtains to transform. The dark blue floral fabric is some lovely Sanderson fabric. A pretty table cloth and a serviette! I based the size on a bag I already have, made some lining, added a flap and a little pocket. I feel like the bag is a cross between Cath kidston and the lovely granny chic of dottie angel. I'm not sure how either of them would actually feel about that!

Lest that sound too easy, I can assure you I had a good wrestle with the lining fabric and strap! But it somehow all found it's place.

All I need now is a dusting of granny chic bravery as I step out wearing my transformed curtains, table cloth and serviette. What's that?......oh of course, that is the whole granny chic point!

Well I do love it so I shall be brave, and today's the day.

It was so nice to use up some of this fabric, I have been collecting madly. The cross stitch on the little handy pocket, inspired some more around the flap. This is a secret pocket/label for hiding secret lists in. Lists of adventurous and brave things. And maybe a shopping list too. So wish me luck as I step out with some hopeful granny chic bravery.

Oh and Miss Trissie was very happy about it too!

Have a lovely summery weekend.

creative makings

This week I have been bitten by the sewing bug. The need to sew and stitch had been coming on for quite some time. I was reading Mollie makes. An interview with Dutch designer Marieke Voorsluijs of Club Geluk, where she shared her top decorating tip, "don't think about it - just make it,"  was enough to topple me into action.

I would make a quilt, not a big and complicated quilt, but a smaller, more random one where I could experiment with what would be my first quilt, and how it all goes together. 

Started the evening before in my craft room, and then moved into a sunny spot in the living room to continue the next day. There I discovered there is nothing nicer than stitching together pretty pieces of vintage sheets, in the sunshine, with the doors open, and the sounds of birdsong wafting in!

First I made panels, very randomly. Mainly by eye and without a cutting mat or rotary cutter, so matching up squares was not really likely!  In my mind I had the idea of french seams. So after stitching and pressing, I turned over my panels and stitched them on top.

I top stitched above the pressed seam. Now in my mind this may be a french seam, but I can't swear on that! It may be that the seams need to be pressed open and stitched on both sides. Or possibly top-stitching isn't necessary at all. 

Anyway, after ensuring my seams weren't likely to come apart ever.

  

Each panel was then pinned, stitched and ironed together and the new joining seam was top-stitched. Miss trissie worked hard and was companionable. That is until I tried to short cut on filling up the bobbin and a rather rightious jam occured. Technical skills were needed together with a butter knife and a pair tweezers and say no more. Short cuts don't work, mainly.......     

I backed the quilt with a very pretty and soft terry fabric. I'm happy to have found something to use this for, because it really rather lovely. I folded the edges over and under to make the bias binding and you guessed it, top stitched around this, securing it nice and dandy. I won't mention the corners other than to say there is definitely a corner trick I really want to learn! The idea for using the backing material for the bias binding came from the lovely, and colourful, Lisa, of mrsbobobun on her post here. She makes me want to sew.

and sew I did. Here she is, done and dusted. Or should I say stitched and pretty.

Ready to?...... well, I'm not really sure. She measures 80cm x 120cm. Maybe a small throw, or a little something for somewhere. She will find her place.

I discovered that I love my pin cushion brought a few years ago at a craft market. It's big, which makes it nice to use. It can always be found.

I discovered that using a pretty mini quilt, also from a craft market, under miss trissie helps her to slide easily around on the table as we cavort.

I discovered that using my material cutting scissors for cutting up dog chews in the kitchen, wasn't a good idea. And that my Mum's lovely gold, vintage scissors need sharpening. How do I do this?

And just maybe a purchase of a cutting mat and rotary cutter might be considered. 

I also love the perfumey smell of the vintage sheets when they're being ironed. A little strange perhaps but it reminds me of all the towels and sheets in my Mum's linen cupboard! 

and it's been so nice to use my vintage fabric and actually work with it. I think a cushion might be next.

I have been pinning lots of vintage sheet inspiration here. Feel free to have a look. Right now there's a lawn that needs mowing!

Are you trying any new crafts lately?

hope you have a lovely day,

Heather

X

lots of colour changes!

You may have noticed some changes around this blog of mine! Isn't it fun changing things around. I've always liked moving things around and I've always been a fan of multi-coloured things so I expect I will eventually work my way through all the colours! I am remembering to back-up my template and blog, so if it all goes pear shaped I will be able to recover it! There is a great tutorial over at carina's craftblog which shows you how to back up your blog and your template on blogger, so thank you Carina! I will try and do it every week.

The seventies flower pattern that I've added to the header is from a plastic ring binder folder that used to belong to my mum, there's also a matching pen case to go with it, I'm so glad we kept it. I've had a lot of fun with pic monkey, a photo editing site. Just drag a photo from your computer into the edit photo box and off you go! Sometimes I think a good honest photo looks best though......

I would love to have a better camera. This just isn't possible at the moment, so I'm trying to make the best of what I've got, which is really a fujifilm happy snapper! I have had a good read of the instructions and now know how to bring more light in and use it for close up shots, and that it's best to turn the flash off. But it would be lovely to take really defined close up shots that I see around. So I'm practising with this one first.

It would be nice to get a really good close up shot of the wild flowers on the common at the moment. I realize that I love these wild flowers best. All the delicate flowers which have been grown by having their seeds scattered around in the wind. The cowparsley, the harebells and the pink clover and all the lovely wild grasses and meadow flowers, so pretty.....the purple flowers against the green grass, remind me of the curtains I had when I was young. Chosen by my mum, I think a lot of the fabric I love comes from my mum, who had flowers on everything!! .....and who also loved to sew, using the singer sewing machine, which belonged to her mum and that I use now.  

It's nice to have my feet back down the ground again after the whirl of London..... You may also have noticed I added solo mum to my profile. It might answer some questions and I think I like this term best, especially as it not one that seems to obviously refer to status, if that makes sense. This certainly isn't going to be a blog about that. It's not a big deal. Although sometimes it is.....! This is more a blog about making and being creative as well as the things that inspire and delight me! I have lots of ideas cooking and I hope to be able to bring them here somehow.....

I realise that I never showed you a picture of my sunshine pillows, made during that really hot weather we had in May? I can't remember now, it may even of been April.....very simple, envelope style. I made them after reading Homespun Style, the lovely book by Selina Lake. I challenge anyone not to read this book and not have to immediately go and make flowery cushions!!..... I'd like to make some more using lots of different fabrics, if I could just put down my crochet hook for a moment!

In the meantime I have an exciting craft project coming up soon, just one more layer of paint to go......

                                                                Catch you soon

                                                                       Heather