"Hello Mr Sewing Machine, my how I have missed you"

It has been quite some time since myself and the above mentioned sewing machine have kept company, but over the last few days we have been getting reacquainted with one another. And what a jolly good time we have had!
Often I think I avoid sewing, because I can get myself in quite a tizzy over the whole process! Compared to all the other crafts I partake in, such as knitting and crochet, I find sewing HARD.
However over the last couple of days I've learnt that it is this which can make the results so very rewarding.
I mean I can sew and I'm not bad at it, I just think perhaps I lack the patience that is required of me. I like projects that I can finish quickly and gain instant satisfaction from, anything that takes more than a couple of days tends to get left to one side, hence the fact my craft room is cluttered with half finished blankets!
It is because of this quality I am so so pleased with this....

A quilt! A whole (all be it small) quilt.

Here are some more pictures, because I am after all so very very proud!

It's by no means perfect and I appreciate it is very simple, but I love it and it's very cosy (although I do keep finding pins still hiding in it!).

So after that great accomplishment I went on to achieve some smaller ones...

I really love these little tote bags, and this is not something that is totally new to me (unlike the quilt) I made lots for Christmas presents last year.

The love heart bag is already for sale in my shop, however the cupcakes still have an unknown future. I really love it and don't know if I could bare to part with it. I was thinking of filling it with lots of cupcake goodies, such as rings and broaches and buttons and magnets and selling it as a super special cupcake treat! The lining is just amazing and was in fact the inspiration for the whole thing. Here's a little snippet for you...

The red bag is still incomplete as I cannot decide what to put on the front. It also has a super cute lining...

I just keep drawing blanks on this one, so any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Well I'm off to do so more sewing, have a lovely Wednesday.

Did I mention that I made a quilt!!

Much more baking!

What a busy little crafter I have been again the last few days! And I have some very satisfying pictures to prove it!

I made a mountain of beads yesterday....

They just look so lovely all piled up like that! I'm actually selling them in bags of 30 in my shop and sell they have hence my making of so many more!

The white bits glow in the dark which I find so extremely exciting! I made myself this here bracelet from them...

Over the weekend I put together these note cards from some of my favourite pictures....

Today I've been baking again! I have spent all afternoon watching a film about Mozart (Graeme's choice) and making these little lovelies, of which I am very very proud!

The ones above are life size polymer clay replicas of yummy sugar cookies and the ones below are baby versions both are charms and are going to be for sale in my shop.

Well doesn't it just feel like "show and tell" today!

Maybe I should have been a baker....

Well I am looking for a career change and I do have this huge obsession with cupcakes at the moment!

I just absolutely adore the aesthetics of these lovely little scrumptious cakes. I am particularly proud of the little cupcake buttons I made this morning. I have already adorned my favourite cardigan with these treasures and it looks super cute. Daylight is fading here so I shall post a picture another time.

I also found this wonderful blog ooo la la cupcakes devoted entirely to the above mentioned cake. It really is a delight to the eyes!

My Esty shop really is looking like a super sweet patisserie at the moment!

Beauty in Unexpected Places

I just got back from a lovely spring walk around my little (well actually it's the biggest village in England, maybe even the world) village and it was so so surprising! We've lived here for almost 9 months now and yet there is so much more to it than I realised. The same thing happened in the summer when we decided to go wondering not expecting to find much, when we came across a lovely canal and a very pleasant afternoon it turned out to be! Today we headed towards the other side of the village and found ourselves immersed in many a beautiful, large and very old building, a wonderful church (to marry in maybe?!) and a lots of fields, streams and wildlife. We then headed to the pub for a pint of cider and local chat.

It really made me realise how beautiful so many places are if you just take the effort to go explore. The same thing happened to me when I first moved to Oxford and spent my time just getting the bus to and from work and never making the effort to see beyond that, which really was very foolish because Oxford it such a beautiful city. So from now on I'm going to make a conscious effort to go walk-a-bout whenever I get the chance (and as long as the weather permits!).

As for crafts I gave myself the morning off as it was so sunny and all but I did paint these lovelies last night....

They haven't been fired yet so still very pasty, but I'm really pleased with them I can't wait to see how they look!

Busy Bees

Indeed what a busy bee I was yesterday! Apart from all the boring things, going to the doctors, post office and food shopping, I also managed lots of creating!!

I am particularly proud of these....

I used glass beads for the sprinkles as a bit of an experiment and it worked! Horah!

I also painted some new ceramic magnets, this is them in their raw form, they still need to be glazed and fired...

I particularly like the cakes, for some reason I have an obsession with all things "afternoon tea" at the moment.

I think today will probably take the same route as yesterday, more polymer clay foodie things and then some painting. Although I think a trip to the library this morning might be in order.

A fun Day Out at the Craft Fair

Went to the Craft, Hobby and Stitch show at the NEC in Birmingham yesterday with my Mum and my sister. I've never been to the NEC before and wasn't really prepared for its vastness!! It kind of feels like an airport. However I had loads of fun, although it was incredibly exhausting. The really annoying thing was none of the stalls were actually allowed to sell anything there on the day, so despite seeing all these wonderful and inspiring things I came home empty handed. Which my bank account is probably quite happy about anyway.


However my Mum did place an order for lots of Sculpey Clay for her shop which makes me very happy as I now have a very cheap and accessible source for my polymer clay!

I still haven't finished my painting but have been quite busy making these little treasures...

The Cupcakes are a ring and broach that I made as a little gift for myself! However I have been working on some more today to add to my shop. The buttons and the beads are made from the wonderful glow in the dark fimo I discovered a few weeks ago and cannot get enough of!! Both are in my shop already.

Anyways back to work, I'm painting some new ceramic magnets for the shop today.

Craft Room Mayhem!!

I started to sort through all my craft supplies last night and my oh my are there a lot!!
Way more than I ever realised I possessed!!
After gathering everything from all it's little nooks and crannys around the house this is what it looked like...
Argh!! Once I had got this far I just wanted to give up on everything and go watch T.V. But I soldiered on through it and actually really enjoyed putting everything together in an order which actually makes sense to me and hopefully will prove to be more inspiring.

So this is the almost finished result...

I mean there is still more to do, like get a table and some storage boxes, and set my sewing machine up!! Since I can remember I have been sewing on a glass coffee table in my lounge, it really isn't practical and if you go to fast the whole table shakes and acts as though it might smash into a thousand pieces at any moment!

There were many good outcomes to this sorting, the best probably being the amount of half finished work I have been building up over time, lots of which I had completely forgotten even existed. So hopefully now I might even finish some of these projects....

I also came across the first thing I ever crocheted, this, still not finished (!), stripey scarf...

I've spent the morning moving flower corsages from my old etsy shop to my new one....

More tidying and sorting for me and the rest of day.