Like many pupils up and down the land, my sons wanted to give their teachers gifts at the end of the summer term. Sometimes I find this to be an arduous and costly task, since you don't really know these people so don't know if they prefer wine, chocolates, if you get them flowers, are they going on holiday etc etc. This year has been no problem though because all 3 of my sons wanted to make something! So I present to you the Junior Jones efforts:

Number 1 son left junior school last week so he wanted to do something really special for all of the teachers he has had through year 6. I noticed during Open Evening that they each had his graffitti-esque name drawings on paper in their rooms so I suggested to him that he make them a canvas version each, and this is the result.

Number 2 son is not quite as creative as his brothers (he is too busy playing sport) but asked if he could personalise a lavender heart for his teacher, so she now has something to remember him by!

Number 3 son has had a wonderful first year at junior school and has had a fantastic teacher so we decided she deserved something a bit special. He always enjoys the sewing in DT classes so we found a poem that we liked and he made this.....

He and his teacher decided to dispense with their correct names this year and have referred to themselves as Vaughny and Jonesy since Christmas, so he has signed himself off appropriately! I can honestly say that I only put the fabric into the ring at the end, he wrote out the poem, did the sewing and put the brads in place himself, and was mighty pleased with himself too!

He also had a wonderful teaching assistant so he personalised a lavender heart too.

 

 

I can't deny that I'm indulging in a proud Mummy moment looking at these photos, I'm sure the teachers were thrilled to have been given something handmade.

Join me over at Homemade Harbour (http://handmadeharbour.blogspot.co.uk/) for Handmade Monday, catching up on all that has been crafty this week. Having been away for a couple of weeks, I can't wait to catch up with everyone!

Love Natalie

I made it through my first craft fair! And I enjoyed every minute. Here are a couple of pictures of our stall.

 

 

 

These are lovely ribbon flowers made by my niece.

Mum's cards were popular as ever and she sold over 150! My sisters jeans bags were really popular too, she sold several of them. And lavender hearts were my most popular seller - I sold........2. And a keyring! Having read so many blogs over the last few months written by people who had had disappointing sales at craft fairs, I really wasn't expecting to sell anything so I was not surprised. Or upset, because the evening was to raise money for charity and so I was more than happy that the table cost (which was shared between the 3 of us) went to a good cause. I did come home with less than I went with - along with the sale of 3 items, my niece took a shine to a few things I had made so she went home with lots of goodies (if you can't make things for your niece, what can you do?). My Mum and Sister had their eyes on the Trugs, so they went to good homes too. As I said, I thoroughly enjoyed myself, chatting to lots of people and is was great to see Mum do so well. I would certainly do one again.

I'll be linking up with Handmade Harbour (http://handmadeharbour.blogspot.co.uk/) for Handmade Monday, so join me there if you can.

Love Natalie

As predicted, little crafting has been done this week but on the plus side, I'm still in possession of my wits and my children have made it through the week (though my husband is a little frayed around the edges!).

I was lucky enough to be given some beautiful old curtains that a friend no longer has use of. She had got them second hand herself but the material is so lovely she thought I could probably make them into something, and she wasn't wrong!

Bearing in mind I am having a stall at my first ever craft fair on Friday, I thought I'd whip up a couple more cushion covers. I love making new covers from old fabrics, it seems a great way of giving old fabrics a new lease of life. Even the lining was in good condition so I have tucked that away in my stash as it will definitely come in handy for something.

During the week I'm going to jazz up the roses with the addition of a few seed beads and french knots, what do you think?

I'll be linking this post to Handmade Monday over at http://handmadeharbour.blogspot.co.uk/. If you've not joined in before, head over there to catch up on the crafty goings on of so many talented people, and if you have a blog to share, leave your link!

Love Natalie

The week before last can be summed up in 1 word - Tonsillitis. Consequently, I was neither use nor ornament for what seemed like days, and the backlash of that is that this past week I have been up to my eyeballs in everything that didn't get done! Never mind, I think I'm finally over it - it seems to take a long time to get rid of the tiredness but I'm back up to speed now.

I needed something simple to keep me occupied but not too taxed last week, so I made a pair of baby booties (for no other reason than they are simple and sooo cute).

They will bring a little spot of colour to my stall in a couple of weeks time. And over the last few days I have managed to make 4 quilted boxes in stages (cutting out one day, sewing the next, quilting another etc etc) so I just have to sew down the inside seams and the fold overs.

There is still quite a lot of sport going on around here, and the inevitable end of term, so who knows if I'll get any crafting done this week? If I manage to get all of the children (mine and other peoples) where they need to be on the correct day, that'll be something to cheer about. At least the sunshine is now on full throttle - hurrah! - although could I just state that when I rule the world (you never know.....) I will be banning the sale and use of all paddling/swimming pools for the garden since I think they are the most stress inducing "fun" known to ever mother. Should my children read my blog this week, I would like to state for the record that - I do not want to be splashed/pushed in/dripped on/soaked; you WILL hurt yourself if you jump/slide/run etc despite the fact that you think you know better; the kitchen floor will end up like an ice rink if you pop in for a quick wee; there is no need on the hottest day of the year to utilise every single towel in cupboard. And finally, it will make your eyes water if you stick the jet of water from the hose up your nostril, regardless of what your Dad tells you. Is that OK with everyone?

I shall go and catch up with everyone at Handmade Monday in the evening sunshine. Thank you for all of your lovely comments about the Trugs a couple of weeks ago. Then I'll have a shower and try to dry myself on the lonely flannel that my children and husband have left for me.....

Love Natalie

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