Piling Up

My WIPs seem to be piling up at the moment, I hate having too many things sitting there so I am determined to hurry up and get a few things finished asap

I have my brother in laws pouch to finish

My ironing board cover

My sisters ironing board cover

 5 quilt tops that need quilting

A baby quilt my sister commissioned for her SIL

and im sure there are loads more that aren't coming to mind at the moment!

One of the reasons that they have been put to one side is because of a secret project I have on the go, I cant give too much away in case nothing comes of it but here is a little sneak peak

Working things out

Ive been asked by my sister to make a laptop pouch for her husband (in return she is sending shoes over for the boys, super cute ones)
I have done the front and back

I just need to assemble it, I know how I want it to be when its finished, I just need to work out how to do it. Working things out often hurts my brain so I dont think, I just sew. Thats probably what I need to do, maybe I should just bite the bullet, sew and hope!

Do You Crochet? Help Please!

A couple of years ago I learnt the basics of crocheting, I made a babies ripple blanket and I started another with straight lines. However I have no idea how to follow a pattern, and guess what? I have found a pattern I really want to follow!

These are the instructions, can anyone please explain them too me, I would love you forever

Now I took these photos on my iphone and now have no idea where I got them from and so im so sorry that I dont know who to credit these too but I am desperate to make a blanket full of these. If you know who this belongs to then please let me know so I can credit them.
Thanks so much :-)
Edited to add - Thanks so much to Laura at Made In Oxford, this is the source for these photos and instructions
And a big thank you to everyone who has been helping me decipher this, especially the lovely Laura

Sundays Sewing Space - Narcoleptic in a Cupboard

Yay we are back with another great sewing space, today we have the lovely, talented and funny Sarah from Narcoleptic in a Cupboard. Sarah always makes me smile/laugh out loud when I read her blog and if you are not familiar with her then definitely go and check her out. She was worried that her space wasn't as wonderful as some others but I think its great - check out how much stuff she has, she must be seriously well organised (something I really envy!) Any way thanks so much Sarah for showing us around, over to you...

Thank you so much for inviting me to join in with your fantastic series.  I should warn you and your readers now that this wont be one of those visits that makes your jaw drop and your heart flutter a bit...  Nope.  No enviable "space" here......  But anyway, its so lovely to be asked, and I do like to join in.

Where is your Sewing Space?

This house has a bit of an odd layout which leaves us with a room accessible only through the spare room.  I say "room"... Before I moved in with Man it was a cupboard of the  "shut eyes - open door - chuck in - close door and run" variety.... One delivery from a certain Swedish outlet, and a whole ton of work from my mum (thanks mum!), and we have the sewing cupboard.  

What 3 words do you feel best describes it?

Cosy.  Interesting.  FULL!!!

What are your most important things in there?

Fabric.  Fabric.  And some more Fabric.  My sewing machine.  And Granny's table...  I sew at the same table my gran did most of her sewing at when it was her dining table!  It looked a whole lot different then, had a very very dark lacquer on it, no pin marks, no squeaks...   Years ago when it came to me I spent a few days stripping and waxing it.  A couple of years of sewing on it have taken their toll, but I love it though!  

How is the room laid out?

The room is too small to take pictures that show it, so here's a rough layout...  Clockwise from top right!

1. Drawer cabinet with paper (including tracing paper, foundation paper, stitch and tear etc), quilting stuff (gloves, tape, basting stuff etc) postage stuff (bags, labels, envelopes, tissue paper, ribbons etc) Stacked on top of drawers we have flannel bedding for quilt backs, and all my batting.
2. The massive amount of shelving that houses pretty much everything else
3. CD Tower stuffed with fabric
4. 2 wooden boxes stacked.  Bottom one has all my interfacings, and top one has W.I.P's
5. Stool for putting laptop on... or stuff that wont fit on table when I'm working!
6. Granny's table.  Sewing machine live on or under it, alternating with the cutting mat.  
7. Window ledge!  Handy for threads and the essential dab radio so I can listen to Radcliffe & Maconi and Radio 4 Extra.

Do you have anything in the room for inspiration?

I don't have anything on the walls - sticky stuff don't stick and if we hammered a nail in them they'd crack even more....lol   But I do have a shelf full of sewing books, sewing magazines etc, and honestly I mostly use the Internet and my stash for inspiration.  I do have a narrow bit of design wall though, and that is definitely something I'd recommend if you can squeeze it in somewhere.  Mine is a bit of insulation board I got a friendly builder to fix to the wall, covered with batting.  Its about 7ft tall but only about 30 inches wide.  Its still a massive help though!

Where do you keep your fabric stash and how do you organise it?

I obsessively fold, open out, stroke, re-fold and organise my fabric in transparent boxes on a regular basis...  I think I'd probably get more sewing done if my stash was in another room entirely!  Hmmmm  might try that...

Do you have any top tips to do with work spaces?


Only to take full advantage of all the storage and organisation methods that Swedish meatball place offers...  Its all you can do to use the space you've got and enjoy it, however poky and dilapidated it may be....  We'd all love a dedicated sewing studio, and I'll bet those with one still wish they had somewhere bigger!

What would your ideal workspace look like/be?

Can you just imagine this place as a dedicated sewing studio?  

:

source :  amazing loft studio

Sweet dreams!!

OMG I love that dream space and I too love that Swedish Meatball place! Thanks again for showing us around Sarah xxx

Domesticated moi?

In my quest to be slightly more domesticated and convince hairy that I am a great housewife (im really not, I hate cleaning with a passion, I would much rather be sewing or reading!) I decided that I needed a peg bag! I know that this is a strange confession but I love my washing line at our new house, its one of those ones that spins around and it has a handle that turns to make it go up and down. Its really old fashioned but I really like it. Seeing as im enjoying hanging out the washing at the moment, I thought my life would be made easier with a peg bag

I wanted something that was weather related and had what I thought was a pretty cool idea, I wanted to make the hole for the pegs the sun.

I dont have a picture of the initial sketch I did, but I liked the sketch more than the finished item, even though I am pleased with it

First I had to work out how to actually make it. I decided I wanted it to contain wadding so it wasnt flimsy. Once I got my head around it, it came together pretty quickly

I wish that I had made the sunshine rays more obvious and I wish I had quilted the back. Overall I am very happy with it though, It brightens up a boring household chore

Reading has taken over - Temporarily!

I have always loved reading, as a child, I would climb into the attic, sit on the chaise lounge that was up there and read for hours. I would stay up half of the night if I had a good book and be tired for school the next day. But I loved it, I loved getting engrossed in a different world, in a wonderful story.

When I had the boys I didn't have time for reading, and when I got back into sewing I certainly didn't even have a spare minute because as soon as the boys were asleep or entertained with something else then I was sewing or blogging or reading blogs

I am still sewing but as I dont have the internet at home at the moment then much less of my time is taken up with keeping up with things online. I do have my iphone that keeps me from being totally out of the loop thank goodness. This all means that I have finally found some time for reading again.

I thought I would tell you what Ive been reading recently as I have read some really good stuff. Im not going to write reviews or give you loads of info on them, but I thought I would give you a list of what I have read and a brief description so if you fancy reading some stuff you can go look them up on Amazon (I bought all of these on Amazon, for my kindle app on my iphone, most of them were really cheap, some were free!)

It started with the Hunger Games Trilogy, im sure you have read them, Im sure I was the last person to discover these, my sister was telling me to read them for ages. They were brilliant, I loved them

I then read Prophecy, this is also a trilogy about vampires and werewolves and really enjoyable. The author F.E Heaton has written more that are in this series. I read the 5th in the series, called Spellbound and im not going to recommend that one to you unless you particularly want to read a short story that is basically just vampire porn! I was not aware that that it was it was until I was reading it!!! The first 3 were good though and I would recommend them

I then read Gabriels Inferno by Sylvain Reynard. This one is about a Dante lecturer that is a fallen angel and the innocent girl that falls in love with him. Really good, definitely recommend

My sister then told me I had to read Divergent and sent me an Amazon gift voucher so I was forced to buy it, I also bought the sequel Insurgent. I loved these so much, a brilliant read, I cant recommend them highly enough. I am just sad that the third in the trilogy is not out until next year, I hate that, I am far too impatient and want to know what happens now!

I just started reading Reckless Magic by Rachel Higginson and am halfway through it and loving it. This one was free on Amazon, so if you have a Kindle or Kindle app then you cant go wrong really

Hope you dont mind me spouting on about something other than sewing, I just thought if anyone out there loves reading, its nice to get some recommendations. The next post will be back to sewing I promise

Have you read any of these? what did you think? Oh and by the way, I am not at all linked to or sponsored by Amazon, it just happens to be where I bought them from

Moving and Blogging

Yay we moved, did I tell you that already? sorry I probably did. Anyway its great, we are settling in nicely, however I do not have the internet and it looks like we may not have it for a while :-( however luckily my in laws are just up the road and they have it, so posts will be written from theirs or the local coffee shop ;-)

I have been sewing, mainly getting back on track with bee blocks, I was ridiculously behind but am now slowly catching up

Sew Bee Joyful
April - Tea Block

May - Book Block

Piece Bee With You
April - Cold and Flu Block

I just have Mays Piece Bee With You Block to do, and both for June and I will be up to date, I am definitely going to get them all done by the end of the month, I HATE being behind, makes me feel so disorganised

Will have lots of posts coming up soon showing you what I else I have been up to

Sew Mama Sew Winner

Sorry for posting this late but the winner of my giveaway is
Khaos Cat.
I can't get to your email on my iPhone so if you can email me your address that would be fab.

Quiet

So that things have been quiet here again, we just moved into our own house which is lovely but things have just been slightly manic!
We also have a few family issues that need our attention
And as yet we don't have the Internet at our new house!
All of which have made me a bit quiet, but I will be back and I have been sewing








Mainly blinds for the house but there has been some pouch sewing too!

Will be back shortly to announce my sew mama sew giveaway winner!