My bedtime reading........

.....is not going to be books for the next few nights. I *think* I might try and make my way through the 1000+ items I have in my google reader instead!

That will teach me to go away on a holiday with no internet connection, no phone signal and no work sewing! Actually it won't as it was lovely :)

Business cards

For those of you who have been asking to see what my business cards look like then here they are. I have punched a fair few since my last post and some of them have been used in these.

I like making these cards as they are very easy to do, use up my fabric scraps, lend themselves well to my recycling ethos, make people stop and chat at my stall and people seem less inclined to throw them away when they see that I have made them myself.

I have made quite a few so far for a 3 day fair I have at the end of May. I want to fill this box completely before then!

In my future - part two

I have been making lots of business cards recently but have run out of ready punched cards!

I foresee lots of punching in my future! If you come round for a cuppa then you may be asked to help out :)

In my future - part 1

While sorting out my scraps basket (it used to be a mending pile too!) I came across this bag that was accidentally broken by sister in law in a pushchair incident a few years ago. I have decided to use the embroidery threads that I have recently sorted to mend it.

I thought about mending it discretely with similar coloured thread but I am going to go for bright!

I'm thinking some sort of jazzy stitching too but we will see!

Tidy shelf

The shelf is now tidy :) And the skeins of thread now have a home outside of the kitchen!

Whilst tidying I found these things. The cross stitch came from Sams I think and the girl panels came from the lovely Ric Rac. I have plans for the little girls and it doesn't involve swear words coming out of their mouths!

Easter time

It's the Easter holidays here so I will be trying (hah!) to stay away from the computer a little bit* and spend time with the family. We have lots of fun things planned so you might get a sneaky peek of them!

Or you might just be shown pretty pictures like this one of my fabric drawer - lots of bits waiting to be turned into quilts :)

*I may be back sooner rather than later........

Part of my day today

Has been spent playing with these little fabric squares that you may well remember seeing here.

They have since been turned into this lovely pile of patchwork strips (ends now tied off too)

They just need to be sewn together to form the quilt tops and once I have found the offcut of wool blanket* that will be used as batting then I will show you what I have achieved.

*offcut of blanket was seen in the big craft room tidy up of 2011 but I haven't seen it since. Lets hope it turns up soon!

P.S. As these are going to be for the girls teddies for Christmas (well the girls really but you know what I mean) then I feel quite smug in saying that I have nearly crossed one thing off the list!

Wow - busy day!

The craft room tidying is going very nicely and got a good boost when my friend decided that the girls could go to hers for tea and that I wouldn't have to pick them up until 6.30pm! Woot!! So I had a huge block of time to play with and it didn't get wasted. I fixed the holes in two pairs of Anya's tights, cut some chickens out (I'm having a mammoth chicken sewing session one day this week!), made some business cards, sorted more scraps, sorted more fabric to go up to school, covered the addresses on jiffy envelopes so they can be used again, chopped up some cardboard, ripped pages out of damaged books, sorted some boxes and emptied 4 bags of stuff. That was all this morning too!

This afternoon was different though as one of the bags held lots and lots of skeins of embroidery thread that needed sorting (3 quid from a charity shop earlier in the year!) Fast forward 3 hours (yes really) and this is where I am. Actually I'm a bit further on than this as the picture was taken an hour ago but I still have all the browns and greys to sort!

All this sorting is well and good but I now have to find a place for this set of threads and the other one that used to live downstairs in the kitchen (don't tell me you don't have craft stuff in every room!)

This is where it is meant to live so I can sense some more sorting in my future! It's 6.15pm so I'd better go and get the girls from my wonderful friend. I'm helping her alter a dress so she won't mind me being a bit late I'm sure!

Mothers Day!

After tweeting that we don't really do presents in this house Matt and the girls surprised me with some badges from Beanforest. I like Beanforest a lot!

I got this musical badge (even though I can't sing a note!) Because it really would be great if life was a musical although not if it took a turn for the worse like in the Buffy episode Once More With Feeling.

I also got these - one each from the girls. I like to think I am always the angel but.....

I already own this one and it is very true. I am the person that holds the door open for you and says 'Thank You' in a loud voice when you don't say it yourself! The midwife when I was giving birth to Anya thought it was very strange that I kept saying thanks to Matt when he was giving me things even during contractions but hey, that's just the way I roll!

I quite fancy these two badges too so just in case anyone is looking for Christmas.....

If you are a mum then I hope you are having a lovely Mothers Day and if you have a mum then I hope you are spoiling her :)

Progress in the craft room!

There is progress - really!

Look there is a clear desk! Of course it isn't now but the things that are on are just waiting to be put away and aren't piled there for the long term.

The scrap pile isn't threatening to fall over as much as it was before. It has been re-homed in a bigger basket and a lot of scraps went up to school as they are materials that fray easily and therefore are no good for business cards.

The drawers have come back into my craft room (they were originally near the door but kept leaning over) Now that they are wedged between the fabric shelves and the desk there is no room for them to fall over and it gives much needed storage space in here!

And the shelf that was wedged between the shelves and the desk has been turned on it's side and is now home to my ever growing button collection :) It's good up there actually as it means I don't need to stack button jars on top of each other and I can get to them all easily. However I do have 5 boxes of buttons that need to be sorted into these jars which will take a good while!

Next time the blog post might just be about something I am creating rather than just about the craft room being sorted :) I might surprise you!