Sharing (Part Two)

And as promised...here it is.....

So, this Make started life quite differently.  As a Roman Blind!  Look.....

Lovely and bright and many of the colours in my Soon-to-be-God-Daughters bedroom.

Drew up this template on a bit of discarded cereal packet - always handy for templates.  I also have a template folder in case I want to do this again, then I don't have to draw it out again.  The cardboard lasts better than paper.

Anyway measuring and marking a 176mm line across the top, mark halfway (88mm) and draw a line down 210mm, join this 'point' of your flag to the two ends of the 176mm line to make a triangle, like this.......

Used it to start cutting the blind.  Some of the triangles were cut with the stripe one way and some the other.

Pinned the triangles together and used the template to draw myself a guide line for sewing. 

Once sewn, I trimmed with pinking shears.

I turned the flags the right way round and slipped the template back inside to keep the shape whilst I ironed them.

Also left the template in whilst I trimmed the top edge like this......

So here we have them, six flags showing a horizontal stripe (vertical on the back)......

...and six flags showing a vertical stripe (horizontal on the back).........

I had been searching for ribbon for this and had found none that I liked (hence this project didn't progress very quickly from this point!).

Then I went into our local fabric shop and found this lovely stripey ribbon in exactly the right colours....what do you think?

I pinned it to my flags and used a lime coloured zigzag stitch to catch up the doubled over ribbon with the flag trapped between.....

....like this.....

And there we have it....one unused blind and a length of ribbon later.....some bunting.....

......Ta-Daaaaaaaaah...........!

Very colourful....just right for my Little Honey.  She's outgrowing her Moses Basket, so will be in her big cot in her own room very soon, The Bunting will be perfect to stare at!

Hope you enjoyed that, would love to stay and chat but I can sense another project calling to me!

See you soon,

Nora x

Sharing (Part One)

So after alot of baking, a little teasing and some sharing of stash....we move onto sharing of a different kind.....

A very exciting Share that I mentioned here and here.

It started with this fabric.....

It's VERY old....in fact if I find out how old I will let you know.  It has followed me from house to house as I have moved and I've never been able to part with it....but I can't put my finger on why.

Then I read about this and followed the link to here for the pattern and tutorial, here's the pattern all cut out and ready to go (you can see where Tiddly Toes 'helped' with the cutting along the bottom edge!).

So, pattern pinned to my fabric, cut, and then the bottom hem pinned and sewn......

Next, turn over, iron and pin the necks, sew, these are now casings for elastic.  Pop the elastic in and secure at each end.

Pin the bias binding around the armholes leaving sufficient to make shoulder ties. 

Pin on some pretty, bright ric-rac.

Sew the binding and ric-rac on with matching thread, like this...........

And......... I'm excited - hope you are too!........... here we go.........

Ta-Daaaaaaaaaahhh..........!!!

And here it is modelled by the lovely Tiddly Toes......

This is my prototype before some friends and I try for a Sew-in on Africa Day to make as many dresses as we can.

Well that's one!

Share (Part Two) follows shortly, until then take care.

N xx

Stash and stuff...

As I explained in this post, I do love colour.  You've only got to look at my Pinterest boards (especially the quilt one) to see what sort of colours are my true loves.

Colours that clash a little are growing on me, although I've always loved orange and purple flowers together in the garden, may sound vile, but looks lovely and zingy!

Oh! And speaking of which look at 2 photographs I've taken in the last few days that just sung out to me.....

....Springtime!!

Gorgeous purple crocus nodding in the sunshine and some beautiful bright yellow daffodils bought for me by my husband.....

Sorry about the light quality on that photograph, really they are THE brightest daffs.

But anyway, back to the matter in hand.

After debating on projects for the Pinaddicts Challenge I told you about here AND having a discount code from a magazine to use at Fabric Rehab, I decided to treat myself to some stash....Just In Case.....!

This I got with my daughter in mind, she LOVES butterflies, then there's this.....

I like to think that I don't do Pink, but actually I do do it!  More than I care to admit!  I can't say what it was about this but I'm glad it has a lovely, clashy plain yellow to set the patterned fabrics off.

Then there's this.....

Can't really say why I was drawn to this either.  I do LOVE lime green. I do LOVE blue.  And I do LOVE red, especially were there are splashes of it.

In my kitchen I have a blue sugar canister and a red lightshade, and when I get round to making the Roman Blinds, there'll be more blue, red and....yes, OK, pink!

But this fabric could be destined for Sprocket Pillows which I shall make with the help of the fantastic tutorial on Cluck Cluck Sew.

In between buying there has also been some making..... I need to photograph 2

Ta-Dah's to share with you.

There's also a new project being tinkered with!

It is to satisfy my Challenge to myself to adorn our front door with something seasonal EVERY month.  Do you remember the Winter Wreath here?  Well, I now have a beautiful woven wicker heart purchased from Lakeland.  Next up is Springtime!

I've coveted this little number for some time....

Isn't it B-E-A-Utiful?  As you might expect (if you've read other posts from me.....or maybe you read her blog....), this stunner is from the Uber-Talented Lucy at Attic24.  She provides a fabulous tutorial here, she talks you through each stage with amazingly detailed photographs to help you along (Thanks Lucy xx).

Finally I wanted to show you a fun, little make that I am finding VERY handy at the moment, useful AND with a 'cherry-on-the-top' *grin*...............

Does it count as a Ta-Dah as it's not a really recent make?

Oh well!  Ta-Dah..................

You could see it better if it wasn't stuffed with sooooooo many pins!  But you get the idea and what can I say - I'm using it!

Back very soon (maybe tomorrow) with at least 2 Ta-Dah's (but maybe more!!!!!).  How exciting!

Until then, see ya!

N xx

I did promise a bit of teasing.....

...and here it is.....

....some WIPs (Works In Progress) .....always sounds better than UFOs (UnFinished Objects!)

UFOs sounds like they've been abandoned....but WIPs sounds like they're on your mind....or work table!

Here we go with item 1...

This little creation under construction comes from this pile of stuff  here (first picture) and is destined for this!

WIP number 2......

....well I haven't shared this with you before but there will be an explanation and Ta-Dah coming VERY soon!  (Nice ribbon!)

WIP number 3.....

...one more side to go!

I've mentioned the fabric here (4th picture down)....it's destined for this super duper cause *smiley face*.

Then there's this....

and 2 more like it...it's related to this (2nd picture down).  But the idea developed, and soooooo quickly I'm short on photos!  But will share that Ta-Dah very soon..... *grin*.

It's quite a colourful little world I live in, so glad you could pop by and share a bit of it with me.

See you soon xx

Something Completely Different

Well, after my recent Bake-a Thon....as the saying goes....'Now for Something Completely Different'...(I know...showing my age!!)

No baking...but still kitchen focused....hmmmm!  Intrigued?

I only had a short time and a particular project had been hanging around....

You know how it is... you buy a magazine...it happens to have a free gift...not something that is soooo bad you want to throw it away but.....

Well let's be honest, I do buy magazines (2 or at a push 3 a month, tops...really, 3 tops), quite often they have free gifts...how many do you actually get on and do from the fronts of magazines?

Well I'm BAD!  Very rarely do I do anything with them.  Some I can add to my stash of buttons, ribbons, beads or whatever, but whole projects...mmmm!

So breaking with tradition I pulled out a magazine from around Christmas 2010 (I think! Could be 2011, but I feel I've had this longer than that!), look.......this one.....

The free gift was a very colourful Tea Cosy that looked like a scrap-pieced Union Jack, see what I mean...?

I'm still not very confident with sewing anything that isn't easy and straight!  Roman blinds are easy but a little Tea Cosy *builder-style teeth-sucking*...well!

I must have read the instructions SEVERAL times, look they're only tiny...how much could you forget in a few minutes?

Well anyway, I went for it.

And I have discovered that Tea Cosies are suprisingly easy to make!

I even got to practice on my new Brother Innov-is 350 SE, zig-zag and straight stitch around shapes, very small shapes at that!  It's not perfect....but I haven't quite got the hang of a stop/start button instead of a foot pedal.

Not bad for a first attempt though.

So finally, the whole thing......ready.....

Ta-Dahhhhhhhhh!!

Sorry, should've given it a little iron after turning...but I was too excited and just had to share...NOW!

And there it is, small and perfectly formed - absolutely ideal to brighten up our little caravan!  The zing on that is enough to rouse anyone from their sleeping bag!

At long last a Sewing Ta-Dah....and not a spatula in sight!

Bye for now, hope to see you again soon.

Nora xx

And a whole lot more baking.....

It's all I seem to do at the moment...... bake.....not that I'm complaining, it's just that I'd like to ease up on the baking and make time for some sewing or crochet.

But baking it is....and always in such a frenzy inbetween those wretched seasonal colds I keep catching...now that's NOT funny!

It has been fun though...take a look at this..... cute or what!

Just look at those little toes....and the concentration!

She was mixing the sponge bit for the man-sized Bakewell Tarts.

She had already helped cut pastry circles and hearts and fill pastry cases with jam before popping hearts on top (hence she calls then Jam Hearts!  Ahhh!)

Here they all are in the oven bubbling away..... 

and here are the finished Jam Hearts!

Ta-Dah....................!

Next up were individual cakes for Twelve-Teen Daughters friends to take home after Bowling and their Strada meal.

I lined up the individual Square Bakers Moulds that I bought from Lakeland at Christmas with the cases I used in this post.  They looked about the same size as my traybake which takes the 4 egg mixture in this same post .... so I made the 4 egg chocolate mixture and split between the 8 cases.

Like this...here they are just going into the oven! MMmmm!

 And here is a Little Lady (aka Tiddly Toes) helping with the clean up operation!!  Is that a sugar high I can see in her eyes...hahahaha!

Chocolate Icing was the order of the day....apparently my recipe tastes REALLY good! 

Want to know what it is?

Well, basically, beat 80g of butter until soft, add 250g of sifted icing sugar (including 40g of chocolate powder) and 25ml (1tbs and 1 dstsp) of milk and beat together thoroughly.  It has a lovely piping consistency and tastes VERY chocolatey without being too sickly.

It pipes quite nicely even for a complete Do-do like me....icing has never been my strong point.....rustic is the way to go!    But not for these...... 

My Twelve-Teen Daughter loved butterflies before they became fashionable...so on with the butterflies!

We thought Party Pokes with the girls names on and wrapped in cellophone sealed with curling ribbon would be pretty.

What do you think?

Ready........ Ta-Dah..............!

We are ridiculously proud of these, the girls loved them.....they are quite special though, don't you think?

Well Twelve-Teen Daughter is no longer....she is a Fully Fledged Teenager (Oh my!!  The blink of an eye and there they are all grown up!)

So, guess what?

Yep, you got it....Birthday Cake!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She asked for an over-sized cup cake and luckily I found a silicone mould in theworks for only £6!!

Wasn't sure the 4 egg mixture from here (again!) would be enough so I added 50% and made it a 6 egg mixture.

Here it is baking nicely....just needed to turn it so I grabbed a quick photo.

Once cooled, sandwiched together with apricot jam and buttercream (same recipe as above but no chocolate powder just the full 250g of icing sugar and half a teaspoon of vanilla essence instead).

Buttercream on top and yet MORE butterflies!  She loved it..... it tasted good...what more could a Mum ask for?  A big hug and thanks were mine!  Not all Teenage angst then?

Want to see.......

Oh go on then..........

Ta-Daaaaaaahh!................

Golly!  It's been a real Bake-a-Thon recently.  I'm quite giddy with it all.  Now maybe I can move on to some other kind of making!

Hope to see you soon, N x

UFO's....

Yes, my life is full of UFO's at the moment...no, not the alien type, the UnFinished Object type!
Ah!  Now you know where I'm coming from!

Do you remember in this post I mentioned the Pinterest Challenge with Blog Hop?  I entered my Banana Loaf from this post because I didn't have much time as I was off to the In-Laws for a few days and needed to take a cake with me!

BUT, whilst there Lovely Mother-in-Law and I viewed my Pinterest boards for ideas for future entries.


Great....forward planning.....MOST unlike me as you may already have worked out!  That's a good thing - right?  Well, you'd think so, but maybe not!  And part of the reason I don't forward plan is because it makes a mess (not good for my FlyLady vibes!!!).


You know the thing....you trawl through all your stash finding all the elements for different projects...... and once you've found them?  Well, you may as well get them out so that you know they are to hand for when Creativity strikes....hahaha!


Would you like a sneak preview of a few things?

OK, we have felt, buttons, floss and sequins....

this..... Rico Creative Cotton from my stash.......

lots of odd bits of double knit wool (mostly acrylic and some of it very old oddments from family)!  Two projects in the pipeline here!

THAT fabric that I referred to here from a project that deserves lots of support here (and this is only one of 6 or so suitable fabrics that I hope will make in excess of 12 dresses!)

...an fabric find that is YEARS old...but will make a good practice quilt, I feel....what do you think? (Colour is not great in this photo...sorry...but the light wasn't so good).

Excluding the blue fabric and it's friends destined for dresses during a 'Sew-In' in May (Africa Day, we hope), there are 5 UFO's...yes, that's right...I have attempted to start them all and so they all count as UnFinished!

Hopefully that little peek will keep you guessing whilst I beaver away in order to offer you SOMETHING Finished very soon!

In the meantime, take good care of yourself until we meet again.

Nora xx