Every cloud has a silver lining so they say....

.....and the silver lining to the cloud that is this awful weather is that I have had lots of time for crafting. Due to a certain young mans birthday the week before last, I didn't have a lot of time to do anything - I was caught up in a whirlwind of cakes, family dinners, sleepovers and go-carting. To say nothing of going to see The Script with everyone in tow just hours after number 2 son returned from a school residential. Busy, busy, busy! But I was left feeling like my mojo had gone a bit. I did sit at the table last weekend with every intention of crafting for maybe an hour but I felt entirely uninspired. Thank goodness for Handmade Monday - I sat and read through everyone else's posts on Sunday evening and I cheered right up, I even wrote myself a list of standby things to make if bored, to refer to the next time I feel like I'm twiddling my thumbs.

So here we are at the end of what, for me, has been a fabulous weekend. I've done the obligatory housework and washing and ironing of school uniforms but have also done plenty of crafting.

I have had 2 more bunting commissions so on Friday evening I sat and did all the cutting out whilst listening to Dan Johnson on Miskin Radio - it's an Internet station that is well worth a listen. His show is all 80's which is brilliant! He even gave my husband and I a shout out as it had been our wedding anniversary in the week.

On Saturday I decided to finish the cushion covers that I had started for my sofa after we finished the decorating. Although it doesn't seem like that long ago, since buying the fabric and cutting it to size, I've made a lot more cushion covers and so realised that my skills have improved - when I went to sew the covers together, I realised that my cutting out was all over the place. I only made 3 in the end but the results we good.

I made the 3 cushions at the front. The fabric is a suiting material, 1 with silver flecks, 2 with gold.
(Note I'm back to dodgy photos - too much snow outside to contemplate a picture in the garden).

I had really liked the look of the keyring coin purse that Wendy had given a tutorial for last week on Handmade Harbour so I decided to make one with some of the grey suiting I had on the table after making the cushion cover.

Voila! It was really simple, the tutorial was so clear and this is such a handy little purse. I'm going to make a couple more because when my boys have to take 20p for a cookie on a Friday, it invariably gets lost from pockets so now I can attach one of these to each of their school bags. A big thanks to Wendy for her inspiration.

My final make of the weekend is a bag made with the gorgeous peacock fabric I bought some time ago.

I'm not sure that the photo does it justice but it's actually darker outside than in so no hope of a well lit photo! I used a pattern from the Liberty Sewing book I was given for my birthday - a new experience for me in the drawing up of the paper pattern and I could do with a bit more practise but I'm very pleased with the bag. I absolutely love this fabric so I'll be really proud to carry it around with me.

Like the rest of the country, I'm hoping for an improvement in the weather (it can't get any worse, can it?) but all in all I think I've made the most of a couple of days stuck in the house!

As ever I'll be linking this post with Handmade Monday http://handmadeharbour.blogspot.co.uk/  - have a look around everyone else's blogs if you can, it will certainly get your mojo going!

Have a good week,
Love Natalie