New Banner

I decided to add a new banner to the site today. It's taken from a photo I took a while ago in our back garden, a big tree with millions of berries all over it. It was easier than I thought to 'bannerise' it using Photoshop so now I know I can do it any time I want. Hurray!

All the sites I go to have lovely banners, like Posie gets Cozy, Wiksten Made, Homebug etc. and I always wondered how they did it. This whole template thing can get a bit complicated sometimes, and sometimes I'm afraid to monkey around with the settings too much in case I do something really horrible, and the whole thing goes up in flames. I think I'll just leave well enough alone now, and make tomato soup that will last me the week. Hurray :)

I Heart Paris

I think I've gotten a bit carried away with the making squashy hearts thing. I've made 3 in this pattern alone (which I am pleased to say have all found good homes!). As you can tell by the Eiffel Tower, the fabric has a Parisian feel to it, and because the grahpics aren't too large, it really lends itself well to making smaller items. To make these hearts extra special I added 2 cinnamon sticks to each, and when the scent fades a bit, I just break a section of it, which doesn't affect the overall shape of the heart at all, but releases a wonderful new burst of the winter spice.

New Knitting Bag

This is a really simple, really quick drawstring bag I ran up last weekend. I wasn't feeling well and I didn't leave the house, so naturally I got really bored and had to do something. I grabbed a few lumps of fabric I had in my box: linen, Japanese 'music town' fabric (from Matatabi at etsy) and some yellow gingham. I didnt even measure anything. I just cut out two rectangles of linen, cut the music town fabric in half, and sewed up the edges. Then I made a yellow gingham tube, turned it inside out and sewed along the top and bottom, making sure to keep the ends open for the cord to fit through. Simple. I now use it as a knitting bag, to keep all my wool and needles together, but it would be also perfect to bring on holiday as a small laundry bag, or flip flop bag.

How to Become a Famous Blogger!

I think this cartoon by Dave Walker is hilarious. Thank you to Jessica from How about Orange who featured one of Dave's cartoons on her cool orangey blog last week. Check out Dave's site, weblogcartoons.com for more great cartoons.

Good luck Kat!

I have just received an email from the lovely Kat over at Secrets of a Butterfly , whose blog I regularly read, to say that she has opened her etsy shop, also called Secrets of a Butterfly (of course!).

Kat specialises in making adorable vintage hand made cards, ATCs, beautiful lace bracelets and other treasures. It's really obvious that Kat puts a LOT of time, thought and effort into everything she makes and I'm sure her shop will be a huge success. Check it out.

Gingham Hearts

I started making these initialed gingham hearts for Christmas yesterday. I know Christmas is still miles away but I want to be a bit organised this year, and I didn't know how these would go, I thought it might take me 8 weeks to get it right! As it turned out I think they're coming along really nicely. The one with the letter 'T' is for my sister-in-law and the one with the 'R' is for her son.

To make the hearts I cut out 2 heart shapes from the red gingham, then I cut out a large letter'T' from the navy denim (leftover from the denim tote I made). I then cut out a smaller 'T' from the red felt, and sewed a white heart shaped button onto it. Then, because I used denim which is stretchy and will fray (unlike the felt), I sewed the 'T' onto one of the heart shapes using zig-zag stitch. Next I sewed the red 'T' onto the larger denim 'T', so the navy denim becomes a boarder around the red letter helping it to stand out more against the red and white check fabric. I then sewed the two hearts, and the hanging ribbon together leaving a gap to stuff it with cotton wool. I also stuffed a few cloves in there too to make it smell Christmasy, before stitching up the gap. They're really simple and fairly quick to make. If I'm not completely sick of them over the next few weeks I might make some more for around the house for all year round. I might make one for the kitchen adding coffee beans instead of cloves, and a nice change to the usual lavender hearts.

Halloween at Belle & Boo

I have just received my latest delivery from Mandy at Belle and Boo. I love Halloween and I just couldn't resist this gorgeous print from Mandy's etsy shop. And, as if the print wasn't enough, the package also comes with 3 Boo Halloween tags. I can't wait to get home this evening and add these to my Hallween decorations (yes, I do decorate my house for Halloween, much to my husband's embarassment)

Take me to Marakesh

I just have to give this blog a special mention: it’s called My Marakesh. I stumbled upon it a few months ago, and was completely awed by its contents. Finding it was like discovering a beautiful (Moorish) secret garden.
The blog is about an American lady Maryam and her family’s efforts to build and open a guest house in Marakesh called ‘The Peacock Pavillions’ (they have 9 peacocks!). Maryam’s blog is crammed with the most colourful, vibrant photos you’ve ever seen (like the 2 above). Her work is so evocative of an exotic Morocco, you can almost smell the Jasmine and spices.
She captures not only her own family’s lives, but also the magic of the whole country. Think beautiful tiled fountains, bustling markets, coloured glass tea-sets, and crumbling, elegant French coffee houses
So, if you have a few minutes to spare why not visit her incredible site, I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Yummy Yummy Strawberry Smoothie

Oh I had fun today. It is a gloriously sunny autumn day here, it's hard to believe its October. Anyway, first thing this morning I went into town and bought a delicious Yankee Candle in 'Jasmine Green Tea', which I have been burning since I got home. It's so nice and fresh and it really, really does smell like jasmine green tea, which is awful to drink, but as a fragrance is so uplifting and clean (if that makes sense), it's delectable. Even my husband said it smelled nice, and usually he can't stand any kind of air freshner or scented candle. Praise indeed.

I also bought strawberries, probably one of the last of the summer batches (don't they look luscious?), and made completely gorgeous strawberry smoothies. Although I did cheat slightly, as you can see by the photo, I couldn't help adding some vanilla ice cream. I just adore strawberries with vanilla ice cream, so I had to include some in my otherwise very healthy smoothie!

Linen Bag

I made this lovely linen bag about a month ago. It's made from biscuit colour Irish linen (which I nabbed on sale), accented with pretty Japanese fabric showing autumn trees. I used simple cream coloured fabric for the interior, and more Japanese autumn trees for the row of pockets. I made fabric buttons in two different sizes, a large one on the front for the clasp and 4 tiny ones for the base of the handles. I also stamped the words 'apple..leaf' on sewing tape and stuck that on the front too.

This bag is great because I made it extra big. I could carry all of my groceries in this, or stuff a blanket and some food in it and go for a picnic in the local park. Autumn is my favourite season and I think the autumn trees will look fab this season.

Tissue Covers

I love these tissue covers. They are so quick and easy to make, plus you don't need much fabric to make them. They're great to keep in your bag, your desk drawer, your car, anywhere really. They look so much better than the plastic wrappers mini tissues usually come in when you buy them. These are all made from Japanese fabric (I just can't get enough), with contrasting interiors. The pink blossom and clocks one is lined with linen, the french kitchen one is lined with blue gingham, and the navy one with the trees is lined in yellow gingham, and is a perfect match for the denim bag I just posted about. If I make my sewing really, really neat, they can even be reversible.

It's really amazing, since I made one for myself, everyone wants one, so I've now made quite a few, but I don't mind because they don't take much time and you can just shove them into an envelope to post on to someone.

New Denim Tote

Well, finally, here are a few pictures of the denim tote bag I have been working on for the last week. I brought it into work with me today, and it was great. I made loads of pockets inside for my phone, ipod, keys, train ticket etc. and it also had plenty of room for my book, tissues, yoga magazine and all the other junk I lug around with me every day. In short, I'm really quite pleased with it. I'm particularly pleased with the bright yellow gingham interior, I hate when a bag has a dark lining and you can't find anything in it. Nothing will be able to hide in this yellow neon cavern! I'm also really happy with the covered buttons on the front, one for the clasp, and one stuck on the front yellow pocket. I cut out 2 trees from the Japanese fabric and squashed them into my button mould, it's so easy, but it looks great.

However as I said before, my camera is acting up and I'm not too thrilled about the photos. They came out really blurry. I could photograph a close up of a bird in a neighbour's tree, but it refuses to capture anything remotely close up, it drives me crazy, but it's probably user error!

Good luck Jenny

Best of luck today to the very talented Jenny over at Wiksten whose fabulously creative blog I regularly read. Jenny is opening her etsy shop today where she will be selling her beautiful handmade clothing designs. Jenny has been very careful not to give to much away, but I think we can expect pretty tunic tops with peter pan collars, or simple A-line dresses and skirts in adorable fabrics. Unfortunately, Jenny says that due to the limited amount of fabric she has, there will only be a handful of each garment made, so ladies form an orderly queue!