Birthday gifts from Alex

And yes I do know I am very late in posting these to the blog (my birthday was in January) But hey they only got their photographs taken on Sunday!

I got one of her very pretty aprons - but only a half apron as I am not a fan of  full aprons. I also got a mini pencil case (handbag size!), some pencils and a notebook. She knows me well! Close up photographs below.

The presents were all wrapped up in gold tissue paper which has now been claimed by the girls for their crafty drawers and they were delivered in this pretty wire box. Alex included it for me as she thought I would be able to use it in some crafty way. I have an idea but I'm not sure if it will work - I will let you know!

Pretty Spring colours - I might wear it later this week when I attempt to make lemon cheese. Yummy! It's also quite fitting that I am posting this on Alex's birthday - pop over and wish her many happy returns!

A few things

1. When I get out of the habit of blogging everyday it is very tricky to get back into it - does anyone else feel like that? It's not that I have nothing to talk about but I just can't seem to find the time! I will try to find the time this week but I am attending a fair on Saturday (more later) and need to get organised for that. Also point number 4 might get in the way of that too!

2. I have bought the binding for the baby quilt and only have two more squares to quilt before I can start attaching it. I don't think it is going to be ready for Monday as it will need washing and drying before it is gifted but hopefully this week.

3. I have loads of stock ready photographed to list but again it is all about finding the time! I have lots of chickens, hundreds of badges (and I'm not exaggerating - Matt is speedy on the ol' badge machine!) a few stickers and some gift tags. Oh and a bag full of stock that has come back from a stockist that I need to go through and see if I have photographs before listing it all!

4. I am taking part in the Quake Appeal for Japan that is being organised by Jo. I'm not sure yet if I am going to do a raffle or an auction and as yet I am not sure what exactly I will be donating but more on that later in the week. There are some good crafty names involved so far and if you want to join up then Jo would be ever so grateful I'm sure. Just get in touch but be aware that she is in Japan and they are being urged to conserve energy so it might take a little while for her to get back to you.

5. Anya woke me up at 6.05am this morning (on a Sunday too!) but I am going to take the extra time given and get on with our day. We might go to a local car boot sale but I will see if we get organised enough. We haven't had breakfast yet......

6. That is all!

A few highlights of my week

Going to wake Tara up one day this week and finding her inside her pillowcase complete with pillow, blanket x2, a life vest and various teddy bears. She was being a snail!

Chicken Pox got bored during his photoshoot (his old photo's needed updating) and decided to have a lie down :)

When I was ironing the fabric for the baby quilt the girls stood and watched me. Anya then proclaimed 'So that's what an iron is for!' I held my laughter in until then had gone and then laughed my head off! Can you tell I don't iron anything?

My Creative Space

In my Creative Space today there is a quilt/playmat for a tiny new baby that was born on Tuesday. She arrived a little earlier than anticipated which is why I only started it last night!

I'm cheating a bit and using a whole piece of fabric for the front rather than patchwork and I am hand quilting around the rectangles. The back is a rather fetching pink polka dot and a wool blanket is the filling in the sandwich.

I'm quilting around the rectangles apart from when the tree shape comes out of the rectangle - it adds a little bit of interest. I'm sure that little E won't care but mum might!


I am aiming to get this quilted, bound, washed and dried by Monday so wishes of luck will be much appreciated! For more Creative Spaces head over to Kootoyoo who is also doing battle with a quilt!

Cool interview with me, me, me!

There is an interview with me over on Charlotte Hupfields blog and it's rather good if I do say so myself :)

Charlotte makes gorgeous ceramics and you really should check out her shop on Folksy and her shop on Etsy.

A few new things

I now have lots of stock and come Thursday I will have more (picking up stock from a shop as they aren't doing sale or return any more*) I am trying to list this stock as quickly as I can but I'm sure you know how it can be! The three things below are now available in my Folksy shop. The tags will also be available in my Etsy shop soon.

Giant Superman badge

Cute lion gift tags

Owl gift tags

*They are moving to wholesale which would be better for both me and them - fingers crossed they place an order :)

I made some badges :)

Which is quite something when I have been chaining* Matt to the badge machine and making him work! I got to have a play the other day when one of my lovely customers asked me if I could custom make some badge for a family members hen night. And here they are!

I decided to go for the larger badges so that they didn't get 'lost' on the clothes of those wearing them. And now I have my snazzy new machine (and willing helper!) then I can custom make badges for all occasions.



*Kidding!

Lotso badges!

Remember the circles from the other day? Well this is what they are now!

That's quite a few badges! There are actually more than 300 in various sizes in the front room but it's too dark yet to take a photograph of them all! Lets take a closer look....

And out of the 300+ badges I have only made 12 (for a custom order that you will see over the weekend) so I think Matt deserves a night off and a big thank you :) Oh and some of these badges will be coming to my shops soon!

First jumble sale finds

It's such fun going to the sale as you never know what you will find. Matt grabbed some storage jars for us in his £3 bag* so these probably cost less than 50p for the set (there are two more of the green and red ones that are destined for the craft room!)

Now we didn't really need any more storage jars as the old ones were perfectly functional but they were shiny metal and almost impossible to keep clean.

See - shiny! These are now in the charity shop hopefully raising some money :)

I really like my new storage jars and blogging about them today fits in nicely with a post I saw over on The Really Good Life about second hand kitchenalia. A huge amount of the stuff in our kitchen is secondhand and very little matches which makes it fun I think! In fact if you look at the first picture again the Bob the Builder mug, the apple storage jars and the mug tree are all secondhand. In fact I must do a blog post about all the thrifted/gifted stuff in our kitchen.

*It's a 4 day sale and on the last day you can fill a black bin bag full of stuff for £3 - bargain! Although I do remember when it used to cost £1 per bag :)

Circles

These circles were cut out on Sunday night ready for me to turn them into teeny badges. I'm planning on having a bowl full of them at my next craft fair (19th March in Clitheroe) so that people can rummage through them and choose which ones they want. I will be selling the smaller ones in my shops too but not until after the fair. As they are so small they only take up a small amount of room so I* am having to make lots and lots!

*When I say I, I of course mean Matt who has made about 100 of these so far for me :)