The Quilter's Trug by Brenda Walker

I won't say these have been easy to make as I have certainly had a few "moments" during the making but I'm thrilled with the results.

They are made with linen and Craf-Tex to give them stability. As ever, my measuring and cutting out left something to be desired (will I ever learn?) and before I had even got the fabric out I had had to call the shop that I had bought the kit from because I thought I was missing a piece of the pattern (I wasn't but I'm apparently not the only one to have asked). Still, no pain, no gain - and my fingers are killing me from passing the needle through all the layers! According to the pattern, there should be a padded heart on each side at the join with the handle but I wasn't pleased with how they turned out so I opted for a button - who doesn't love a button?

I will be linking up with Handmade Monday as usual (http://handmadeharbour.blogspot.co.uk/). Thank you all for your lovely comments last week. I shall enjoy sitting on the patio reading through everyone's blogs - hurrah that we finally have the weather to do so!

Love Natalie

I've been doing all sort of little crafty things this week. I started off having a bit of a tidy up, especially in Number One Son's room as he was away with school for the whole week. He is always wandering about with pieces of paper in his hand because he draws constantly, so I decided that he needed  a desk tidy of sorts to keep them altogether (my Mum and I have tried buying all manner of sketch books, folders and bags but nothing seems as good as a plain piece of A4 for some reason). I brought home a paper box lid from work and did a bit of decopatching!

Since I had the glue and brushes out, I thought I would give my button jars a bit of cheering up too.

I think I will get round to wrapping the jars in a bit of ribbon at some point (except for the jar at the front that has already had words of mothers-day wisdom written on it by one of the boys). Feeling that he'd been left out of the fun, Number 3 son asked if he could do some decopatch yesterday so I let him decorate a heart box very kindly donated by BFF. As of today, it is my new thread box.

All of the decopatch paper has been left over from previous projects - I don't have any left now so will have to restock should I decide to decorate anything else.

I needed a really simple "craft" one evening in the week after a particularly busy day so I prepared some price tags for my craft stall.

I used some stamps that came free with Craftseller magazine which seemed particularly appropriate, and I think it always helps when things have a price tag as it can be intimidating to have to ask all the time "how much is this?". I stamped about 60 so that should get me going!

My main craft activity this week has been making a quilted trug but I've found it quite tricky for a variety of reasons - I will do a full post on this next week hopefully - so I have found all sorts of other little things to distract me. I had a couple of x-stitch motifs that I had intended to use as keyrings, so I finished them off.

I asked the boys last night if they thought the double heart one was crooked and they said no but looking at this photo, it is certainly not straight! I also "finished" 2 more sunglasses cases - they were the first 2 that I knitted but when I pressed them, my iron blew up because it overheated and during the process, they felted slightly. They have been sitting on the side ever since, so I finally sewed them together (I didn't bother to line them or put on a fastening as I will use them myself). I even managed to make 4 cushion covers for my craft stall using up the vintage spaceship curtain material that I had and the old football duvet cover. They are all of the distractions I've been able to think of so I really will have to get on with the trug now.

I was lucky enough on Wednesday to be able to squeeze in a whistle stop tour of the Kaffee Fassett exhibition in London. On another of the Handmade Monday blogs last week (I'm really sorry not to be able to recall which one as there are so many of us now, but you know who you are!), photos of the exhibition were posted and as a lover of all things bright and colourful I thought it would be silly not to take the time to see his work. I'm so glad that I went! Although I came away feeling very much like I needed more time, money and talent, it was amazing to be in a room of such beautiful colours and fabrics. I took some very dodgy photos on my phone whilst I was there (what do you mean, you're not surprised?!!) which I'm too embarrassed to show here, but they will remind me not to be ashamed of my love of bright, bold colours and patterns.

Wednesday also happened to be Roman Day around these parts, so just for a laugh.......

I shall be linking up with Handmade Monday http://handmadeharbour.blogspot.co.uk/ later, catching up on what everyone else has been up to.

Hope you enjoy a crafty week,
Love Natalie

This week started with a certain "young" mans birthday so a cake was called for. Those of you that have read this blog a few times over the last 8 months will know that a certain family member can make all sorts of flashy birthday cakes - not this one! I made this with my own fair hands - butter icing and white maltesers, you can't get much better than that!

Obviously he was older than 1 but the number of candles required would have been a fire hazard.....

I then spent the week finishing off the sunglasses cases I've been working on. They were made using a pattern in the current issue of Craftseller magazine, although I've tweaked them slightly.

I have lined them with plain cotton fabric I had lying around because I thought that the arms of glasses could get caught in the wool that is carried behind the sunglasses shapes, and instead of crocheting a loop I have sewn in a ribbon loop, hiding the fastening behind the lining. This is a great stash buster project and I have a couple more items for my craft stall! If I have time, I will try and make some more - somebody has pointed out that I tend to use bright, primary colours, so perhaps I ought to use some paler, pastel yarn next time.

Join me over at Handmade Mondayhttp://handmadeharbour.blogspot.co.uk/ to see what everybody has been up to this past week. Then off to bed early for me as I have an early start getting Number 1 Son off to school for his French trip!

Love Natalie

I was really pleased to finish my Bird Doorstops this week (I'm opting for "bird" as there seems to be much debate over the species!).

Somehow, I've managed to sew a crease into the fabric on one of them (I think the base had been cut out slightly wonky) but I needed one for my bedroom anyway, so I'll be keeping that one. So three more items for my Craft Fair Stock bag!  I've used different stuffing than that that I used for the original one and if I'm honest, I don't like it so much (it was a bit clumpy). I only really noticed a difference as I was putting the kids to bed and moving Bird I into place on George's bedroom door - it seems a little "plumper". Still, it won't be there at the fair for comparison and next time I need stuffing I'll know which type to buy.

Other than finishing these, my week has passed quickly in a haze of school/sport/children related activities. I thought this last half term would be a bit of a drag, especially given the impending Move to Big School for number 1 son but it's going by in a flash!

Thank you all for your helpful comments last week in regard to making cushions for Craft Fairs. I've decided I'm going to go with some covers and some pads, then people can see what the cover looks like "on" but can decide whether they want to buy it with or without the pad. My next job craft wise is to make said cushion covers but due to a cricket match on Saturday morning and then a tournament all day Sunday (to say nothing of Husband's birthday tomorrow and Fathers Day) I'm not sure that there will be a lot of crafting in these parts next week. Still, I shall keep an eye on what everyone else has been up to via Handmade Monday regardless (http://handmadeharbour.blogspot.co.uk/).

Hope you all have a fab week,
Love Natalie

Book Review: The Hand-Stitched Home by Caroline Zoob, and a Giveaway!

Neither the review nor the giveaway are from me but if you fancy entering a competition to win a copy of this book, which is by all accounts filled with inspiring photos and projects, then head over to A Time for Stitching http://atimeforstitching.blogspot.co.uk/ and leave a comment. I'm a sucker for gorgeous books about crafting so my entry is in!

Love Natalie

Time, eh? Where does it go? I actually started this post last week but ran out of time. So here I am finishing it off - I thought I'd have more to add but I seem to not have done anything all week! I have been doing some little bits of cross stitch to use at a later date and I have nearly finished a sunglasses case as featured in this months Craftseller Magazine but nothing finished to show off with. But it has been half term so I guess I was probably being overly optimistic that I could get much done.
What I have been doing is spending time in the evenings working on little projects to build up my craft stall stock. Love Stitching Magazine has some great little patterns for small projects so I worked up a few heart motifs that could be used on all manner of things. So here are the finished items so far:

And I also finished some keyring coin purses that were made using one of Wendy Massey's patterns:

Thinking that I ought to have some bigger items on my stall as well, I cut out the materials to make some more Duck Doorstops yesterday so I shall do some work on those during the week. And I'm having a great debate with myself about cushions for the stall - I really love decorating plain cushion covers or upcycling old fabrics into cushion covers. If I do this for the stall, should I sell them as replacement cushion covers or buy cushion pads and sell them as the finished item? Having not had a stall at a fair before, I'm mindful of the fact that sales aren't always high and I don't really want to end up with 10 cushions to store in the house! Thankfully I've still got a few weeks to decide.

Join me for Handmade Monday here http://handmadeharbour.blogspot.co.uk/.

Have a great week!

Love Natalie