what a smile:

Sorry I have not blogged for sometime now. I have been busy moving my Dad into a new home. I have not had any time for sewing as the move has been all consuming. Tankfully he is starting to settle in a bit now, so hopefully I will be back in my sewing room soon. In the meantime here is a recent photo of my lovely little man Cole. xx

Second half:

This is the other end of my sewing room all nice and neat and tidy. All I have left to do is sort through this box. After our journal cover class with Jackie Martin in 2007 I started to throw bits and bobs I came across, that I thought would come in handy when making a journal cover. You see Jackie Martin had a box of bits and bobs with this soul purpose in mind and it definitely was a treasure trove of goodies. Over the months anything and everything has been dropped in this box. However, I would not describe my box as a treasure trove, more like fly tipping in a confined space.

A room with two halfs: Part 1

This is one half of my sewing room. It has taken me the best part of yesterday and today to have a good old spring clean. I have re-arranged the shelving units which has freed up some floor space or room for more shelves? I have been extremely ruthless sorting through my fabric stash. The bag you see near the sewing room door is full of fabric that I hope will go to a good home. I did not realise I had accumulated so much, fabric, notions, paints, magazines books the list is endless. Now this side is complete it looks spic and span.

I've started so I'll finish:

I worked on this quilt top all day yesterday, in between loading and unloading the washing machine. I hope to have it completed for the weekend, so I can give it to Paige, who is looking forward to showing her Nana. When Eileen sees the quilt I am sure it will awake lots of holiday memories. The quilt comprises of eight t-shirts, seven of which depict a different country. One depicting a company that Eileen and Peter obviously travelled with. The t-shirts varied in size, the smallest would fit a toddler and the largest would have fitted a teenager. I hope Paige will be pleased with the finished quilt.

T-shirts from around the world:

My niece Paige has recently had her bedroom re-decorated with new fitted wardrobes. Yesterday my sister and I helped her sort through her clothes and hang them up, in the new wardrobes. Whilst doing this Paige came across all the t-shirts her Nana had brought her back from her holidays through out the years. Reluctant to throw these away, as they obviously held sentimental value to Paige, I suggested we turn them in to a memory quilt. Paige was delighted with this idea and i took the t-shirts home. This morning I have cut the all fronts of the t-shirts out. I have stabilized the fronts with bond-a web and white cotton fabric. White cotton fabric was recycled from Paige's school Lab coat. That's as far as I have got today. I now need to think about how to put all these pieces together?

Little man is growing:

I can not believe that this little chap will be 13 weeks old on Monday. Where does the time go. He is just adorable and such a good baby. He is going mad with his gums at the moment bless him.

Da Ja Vu:

Due to the adverse weather I was unable to make the trip into Liverpool town centre to purchase a bag of stuffing. It left me feeling quite frustrated, as I was itching to finish the second doll I had made. I decided to make the most of my confinement and I caught up on all the house hold chores. All that remained was my sewing room. There are times I feel when we need to be ruthless and have a good clear out. As I was about to start my daughter rang saying my little man had been given his first set of needles and he was most distressed by the ordeal. Thinking about my grandson and his needles as I walked back into my sewing room, I remembered I had ear marked a lovely little stitchery for a pin cushion in one of the Tone Finnanger books. Now all I need is some stuffing to complete this little project. Erm doesn't that sound like da ja vu?????

Dinosaurs-R-Us:

Isn't she such a little cuttie. I received this Susanatops from my niece Paige a few weeks ago. It is such a tiny money box that I decided to put only 5 pence's in it. Each time I pop one in it makes me smile,(Paige is only 14) you know what the young are like anyone over 20 are probably dinosaurs, so does that make me from the Jurassic period. lol

A Jane Austin heroine:

Isn't she such a pretty thing. As most of you know I love Tone Finnanger designs and I have all her books that are translated into English. This is one of the dolls from her latest book called Sew Sunny Homestyle. She has designed the dolls to represent the style of dress worn in Jane Austins time. I adore the Jane Austin novels and I have visited her little house in Chawton and even participated in a cup of tea over the road in Casandra's tea rooms. Out of all the heroines in the novels the one that springs to mind when I look at my doll, is Elizabeth Bennett.

Cat folder:

Just before Christmas my brother in-law Paul asked me to make a journal/organiser for his boss Babara for her Christmas gift. My instructions were simple it had to be A4 in size and it had to have cats on because Barbara loves cats. I had met Barbara briefly at Paul's 40Th Birthday party. She was a very classy lady so I knew straight away she would love the black and white cat fabric I specifically had in mind for the project. I did not take any photos of the finished piece of work but yesterday Barbara kindly sent me an e-mail saying how thrilled she was with her Journal/organiser and some photos. What a lovely lady she is and I am thrilled that she liked her gift. I could get quite use to being paid for items that I thoroughly enjoy making.

New beginings:

Happy new year to all my friends. Quite sometime ago I acquired a book of voile samples from my friend Lorraine. At the time I had high hopes for what I was going to do with these pieces of violes. However, every time I picked them up I developed a bad case of creativity block. This has become a regular occurrence over the last few months and I have produce very little work lately. Yesterday I was pottering around in my sewing room and once again I picked up the viole samples, suddenly an image popped in my mind. I decided to just go with it and see what happened. I really enjoyed seeing the image come alive on the viole. Maybe like the dandelion I need to blow the seeds of doubt away and allow for new growth.