Finished Blind!

Well that's another 2 blinds out of the way! The blinds were fitted in a top floor flat, my friend wanted a plain fabric so she can accessorize with cushions and throws! Now I just need to finish off the other curtain job I have, and then I can start having some fun again.

Lazy Weekend

Well it was my new years resolution to post on a more regular basis, but I've broken it already! and I had been getting new followers and more readers which I am so pleased about so I must carry on the good work! I cant even put it down to being particularly busy, I think it's just the first few weeks back at work after such a long break!

Well the pic above is what I'm doing at the moment, it's a pair of roman blinds I'm finishing off, I'll post a pic of when they are fitted!

I have also been inspired by a new friend I have made in blog world called 'silversewer' she is so organised with her meal planning, and I am as far away from that as can be! I am as we speak roasting a chicken, stuffing roast potatoes and veg, which is rare for us! I usually cook what ever processed frozen food is left in the freezer and if the freezer is empty I order a takeaway! Really wasteful and I need to save some money this year for a few things I'm planning, so I can do without takeaways at £20 a throw!

Back to the subject of crafting!! I have so much curtain work to finish off it's untrue! I'm going to get my head down now and plough through it then I can start being a bit more creative again with the cushions and embroidery etc.

I hope you are all well, and I'll be back in a few day's!

Lovely Day

well I had a lovely day today! bagged another day off of work and so decided to have a bit of a day out! First of all a trip to Hobbycraft, really only needed a few rolls of thread and thought I might find some inspiration, felt it was a little bit samey, nothing really unusual just tapestry kits teddy bear making kits and lots of art stuff, oh well I then had to run an errand for a friend in Wiltshire, so I decided to ask my Aunt if she fancied a trip in the car, she had been snow bound for about a week, she has a problem with her hip and didn't want to risk a slip on the ice so she was well happy to get out for a few hours!

So after we did the errand we had a quick look round Dunelm Mill in Swindon, the sale was on and they had some good stuff! I bought some buckram and a few other bits I needed, we then nipped into Sainsburys where my aunt did a little shop, she doesn't drive and rely's on her pushbike to get shopping, so I think she appreciated the day out as much as I enjoyed her company!

Above are a few of the purchases and finally I have machine appliqued the Love Cushion, only my second attempt but I can really see i've improved, what do you think about a matching tassle in each corner when I turn it into a cushion??

Lark Rise to Candleford

Yes the new series started tonight! And as usual excellent viewing! I just finished watching the first episode, and now i'm wondering why can't we have a permanent 3 times a week soap of it? no more Eastenders, Coronation Street, Emmerdale need I go on! We are all unfortunately too aware that we must lose loved one's that children take drugs and people get stabbed walking to the shops, so why would anyone want to watch it on TV 3 or 4 nights a week and then all showed again at the weekend for those who had the good fortune to miss it!

Let's have make believe televison land where for a few hours a week we can dream of how much better life used to be! Of how wonderful it would be to live somewhere with a Greengrocers a Tailors and a Forge, much better I think than a Pimp, Dealer, and a shady car sales man!

Is it just me?

Inspired!

Well I didn't have any correct coloured thread to finish the Love cushion, so I had a go with some other scraps of fabric so I could practise my zig zag applique, I really need more practise as you can see! but I am really pleased with the overall look and as they say practise makes perfect! And then I thought while I'm at it i'll pipe it and turn into a cushion cover!

Love Cushions

Well I must be bored today, or should I say inspired? I have recently become a huge fan of Jan Constantine's embroidery, in fact I have ordered the book, but tonight after looking at her web site I decided to have a go at a cushion cover, I know some of the letters blend into the gingham background but I think if I embroider or zig zag stitch in the matching claret shade it will stand out well, I hope anyway! But this will just be a practise run as the fabrics were all I could find tonight.

So far I have just cut out the lettering and used bondaweb to attach to the back fabric, but again tricky part is finishing it off!

Sew!

Well I have been a bit bored today snow is still outside so rather be in a warm house looking out at it! So I thought I'd have a go with a few of these Cath Kidston projects! Well the supplied pre-cut fabric for the bag was a nightmare or rather I should say the roule loop! bagging out 3mm of fabric and navvies hands are not a marriage made in heaven!

So i've started the bag but I am leaving the button holes and roule loops for when I have more patience! The padded heart was much easier thankfully!

Happy!

Well even though I did have to go back into work thurs and fri, and I had gotten very depressed after finishing work on the 19th December, and returning on wednesday 6th January, and then being snowed in on the wednesday an extra day I wasn't expecting! too much of a good thing syndrome me thinks! and the thought of going back filled me with dread! However It's friday night! And I received lots of wonderful things in the post! See pics! Kath Kidstons Sew finally arrived belated christmas present! Everywhere around here had sold out of it! And my most favourite magazine House & Gardens!

Not sure what i'm going to do with the hand bag thing when i've made it! Don't Laugh!! If my mother doesn't want it I will do a draw and one of you can have it LOL

Oh and new people have admitted to following my blog and added themselves as friends! So many thanks for that and I hope I don't dissapoint with boring posts!

Let it Snow Let it Snow Let it snow

Well it was meant to be my first day back at work today after the Christmas break but just after 6am I received a text from my boss saying the office was closed! So I took some pictures of the snow and found a black and white picture of the cottage! Hope your all enjoying being snowed in!

Cushions

I think this is my all time favourite fabric GP & J Bakers 'Fern' Although I think it might be made by somebody else now? I had kept a few scraps of this fabric since the early 1990's amazing it is still just as popular today, I haven't enough to make curtains to match, so I will have to use it as a border on the good old John lewis Casement cloth!

New Camera!

Well I finally have my own camera, now I won't need to keep borrowing the one from work so hopefully i'll start posting more often! Wishing you all a great Christmas! Oh by the way this is ralph one of our dogs.

Christmas Tree!

Well you might remember the log burner saga last christmas, I didn't even bother with a tree but this year I got started, well to tell the truth I cut the one down in our garden! And I have to say it looks great!

Windows

No I didn't make these, but don't they look amazing! The simplest idea's are always the best, i'm going through a bad patch again ie. not making enough curtains! I have made some cushion covers recently, and I am about to embark on the usual christmas curtain rush! So I will post some photos of them soon!

Laura Ashley

I have often wondered if Kath Kidston and Vanessa Arbuthnott are modern day Laura Ashley's? above anything else they all have an unbelievable cult following, there designs are so easily identifiable to there brand name, what is it about these designers that catapults there designs above everyone else's? and why do we follow them so loyally? I remember as a young teenager catching a bus into Oxford to visit the Laura Ashley shop in Little Clarendon Street, the mere sight of that green shop front and I couldn't wait to get inside, matching wallpaper, fabric, lampshades the possibilities were endless! I would save every penny I had to buy a few meters of fabric, to make what? I had no idea! I have always been such a spendthrift when it comes to fabric, well not just fabric if i'm being honest!! I recently bought 2 Laura Ashley catalogues from Ebay from the mid 80's, the designs and roomsets, sparked hundreds of memories of curtains and blinds that I had made over the years! Sadly Laura Ashley today is a somewhat different animal, although they still have some great designs I find the company a bit too commercialy led as opposed to being design led! Funny how times change!

Nostalgic Pictures

This is my mother and Aunt Jean on a Co operative Stores day trip to London.













This is my Aunt Jean's wedding day, my mother was the tallest bridesmaid in photo, and her younger sister is stood to her side and the bridesmaid the other side of the bride was a family friend. I think my Aunt Jean looks like a pure english rose in this photo and don't you just love the specs! Mind you I don't think millinery had caught on in those days!

I have always kept a black and white photograph of my Grandmother, sadly she is no longer with us but this pic always makes me smile! Anybody recognize these beach huts? Yes I know there isn't much to go on!

More Roman Blinds......

Sorry another quick post! just finished another blind for a friend who's got a good sense of style! Yes Kelly you know who you are!

Have you looked at www.panoramio.com?

This website is incredible, I found it by chance it has a small library of photos of almost everywhere! I just had to post this pic of the devastating floods we had in Witney, this picture is of Bridge Street, I remember standing in this road and seeing water gushing through people's front doors, many had to move out for many months whilst repairs were carried out to there properties, there has even been a play shown called 'The Caravan' which shows how one family coped with living in a Caravan whilst there home was repaired. I also love this picture of my town as it is so atmospheric.

Weekend Break

I have been a bit quite for a while, so just thought i'd write a quick post! Just spent a lovely weekend in Liverpool, top two photos are of a quite remarkable piece of art, the wall and all the windows etc. turn a full 360d amazing to watch! and the third picture is of the Boutique Hotel we

stayed in. I have always loved London and would never have thought of visiting Liverpool but it has an original untouched feeling to it which is wonderful, it has been used for many films, and I think should be used for more period drama's as some of the streets at night have such a dickensian feel to them. And I also had another look at the Albert Dock where Richard & Judy was filmed from, that programme was my saviour when working on my own from home all day making curtains, I so wish Richard and Judy had never left This Morning, but alas everything must change!

Before and After Hallway

Before and after Kitchen 2

Before and After Kitchen

Before and after theme

I've called this before and after because I have taken pictures of the house with bare windows and I will take pictures tomorrow when I have fitted the new curtains and Blinds! Unfortunately the curtains have not been made by me they are all ready mades but all the Roman Blinds have been made by me.

Cushion Covers!

Do you know when you have those weeks when you get round to doing everything you've been talking about doing ? Well it looks like it's one of those weeks for me at last! Made these cushion covers this evening out of some fabric remnants, the stripe you see is a false suede, and the leaf deign fabric is chenille one side and the side I've used is silky with the leaves in the chenille. The suede is what I made the headboard out of in earlier blogs I think it was Osbourne & Little and the Leaf fabric came from Dunelm Mill!

Before & After Ironing Board

Just a bit of fun really been meaning to do this for ages! Lost my rag the other weekend when I was trying to iron a Jacket to wear to a Christening and melted the lovely foam all over it LOL

So here we go a nice vintage cover I have yards of this fabric I know it's Laura Ashley it say's so on the selvedge but the name of it escapes me, it is printed on a woven dobby fabric. Any Idea's of the name?

Log Burner

I just remembered that I had found a pic I took when the fireplace and log burner were nearly finished! Well I say nearly the room only had a paint of magnolia, I still need to change the colour re-arrange the furniture and get some more pictures up, but here is a little look, and like the post before I will post again when it's finally finished!