I hope everyone has had a lovely Christmas and that 2017 will be a great year for you all. 

Just before Christmas I went down to stay with my Mum for a few days. Mainly to decorate the tree but we also found time for some festive sewing and made some Christmassy cushion covers for her new sofa using a Moda Basic Grey layer cake she had in her fabric stash. My Mum really has a great fabric stash, it's like being in a quilting shop!

On her mantelpiece she had these two great decorations this year. That crowd of crabs in Santa hats make me smile each time I see them! 

- L xx

Granny square quilt

I am feeling a bit under the weather today, I think I might have caught the cold bug that has been going around at work. Looking on the bright side it's a good excuse for staying in and sewing!
I have been wanting to start a granny square quilt for a while after seeing so many on Pinterest. I figured it wouldn't tax my poorly brain so much as some of my other projects might. It is turning into quite a relaxing project and I'm having fun with the colour combinations

- L xx

Cute craft room storage

I love pottering round second hand shops looking for interesting storage items for my craft room.

The blue shelf that now holds my buttons was from a little shop in Congleton. It was a bit more than I'd usually pay but it had already been painted a lovely shade of blue so I couldn't resist. It's a perfect size for the Ikea spice jars and small jam jars that hold all of my buttons and bits

The little chest of drawers came from Lady Heyes and was an awful varnished yellow pine. I reprinted it in pink emulsion (gotta love DIY store sample pots) and then a coat of matt varnish. The insides of the drawers were a bit grubby looking so I have lined them with some pretty papers. They are now a perfect spot for my washi tapes and other bits and bobs.

I've also been rearranging the drawers underneath (Ikea Alex) to make better use of the space. When I get chance to take some photos I'll post about my recycled drawer organisers.

- L xx

Wrapped and ready

My first handmade christmas gift of 2013 is wrapped up and ready to go! I figure if I wrap them as I complete them I will be able to put them away and not worry about them getting dusty or grubby. I'll just ignore the fact that there are still birthdays in the next couple of months that I don't have gifts for and pretend I am organised for once!



Trying my hand at machine appliqué today. Another gift, this time a cot size quilt. Loving the happy cat with his trumpet. If this quilt was bigger I think I'd struggle to give it away, I'm planning to back it in pink minky which I can't stop stroking, it's so soft.
Think I might do a bit of Halloweeney decorating later. Might be back with some pics...

- L xx

A whole year!

I can't believe it has been almost a whole year since my last post. Things have been pottering along here as usual. Crafty and bakey and gardeningey as always, I just don't seem to have gotten around to blogging about any of it.

Anyway pretty much following on from my last post I am in the middle of my pre-Christmas crafting frenzy once again. Handmade gifts, decorations, cards... whenever I am off work I am covered in threads or glitter or paint!

I thought I'd share the first completed gift I can tick off my to do list. It's a lap quilt for a friend of mine who shares my love of being cosy under a quilt watching dvds. Sorry about the poor photos, they're suffering from a lack of natural light like me!


I really love the scribble backing fabric. I couldn't work out what fabric I could use to pull all the bright colours together until I spotted this one.


- L xx

Pre Christmas Crafty Panic

It is that time of year again. The point at the start of November where I begin to feel overwhelmed by the number of crafty things I want to get done in time for Christmas. In addition to the present buying and general holiday planning I have a huge to do list of crafty projects.
There's the sad, lonely projects that weren't finished in time for last Christmas (or for the one before that!). Then there are the ideas I have had during the past year of things I'd like to do (chains of pink white and teal paper honeycomb balls anyone?).
Finally as the blogosphere gets festive there are all the pretty things other people have created that I just can't resist. Where oh where do I start?

- L xx

Olympic tickets

Just been to collect our football tickets for Saturday's mens q-final. I've never got around to seeing a match at Old Trafford and I've never been to the Olympics, so i am excited to have the chance to experience two firsts in one day. Sad to see the Manchester weather back to its usual damp self though!

- L xx

Cute cat guest

I had the patio doors open the other day and this cutie pie strolled in. She has a diamanté collar which says she is Dolly Polly!

- L xx

Craft room makeover

I have an overwhelming urge to spruce up my craft room today. It's all pinterest's fault, there are so many pretty craft spaces out there. Loving the primrose yellow, such a happy colour

- L xx

Supplies : template, patterned papers, woodgrain paper

Digi layout about my attempts at gardening

Addicted to pinning?

Is anyone else out there suffering from Pinterest addiction? I have just realised how dangerous joining this site actually is. It has already swallowed hours of my free time just browsing and oohing and ahhing at all the visual loveliness. I had heard that because the site is invite only it is difficult sometimes to get an account but the blogging world is full of kindness and Cristian Monroy offered me an invite. Does anyone else need an invite as I want to pay the kindness forward? If you are looking for a Pinterest invite then leave me a comment letting me know what you would pin on your boards and I'll pass out some invites x

Looking at my photos from last month I realised that January can be beautiful too...

Busy bee

Yesterday I started out on this lovely cardi from Stitch 'N Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker. I have already completed a full repeat of the pattern. I have only been grabbing 15 mins of hooky time during my breaks at work, I can't believe how quick it grows or how easy this pattern has turned out to be.

Really I should be working on my two blanket WIPs but I find it really hot working on blankets when the sun is shining.



I am also in the middle of attempting to make a dress for my workmate's wedding. I have chosen a stupidly complicated pattern for only my second proper (from a commercial pattern) dressmaking project. It has boning and a lace overlay and all sorts of headache inducing stuff. I have managed to borrow a dressmakers dummy from my mum's friend which has helped enormously. I have discovered that there is nothing harder than trying to fit a bodice to yourself! Only problem is I only have until September 3rd to get it done. I know how I'll be spending my next four days off work!

I have also treated myself for a lovely "just in case" dress from Phase Eight that I figured will be ok for the wedding dressed up with heels and jewellery but will also get lots of wear as a casual dress with sandals for what might remain of the summer...

Folksy Finds

adorable polymer clay mole

cute brooch

holga bottle opener

beautiful glass bunting

Crochet baby hat

Really enjoyed crocheting this baby beanie hat found on ravelry. The pattern can be found on The Dainty Daisy. Its the first (non-granny) chrochet pattern following I've attempted and after 1 failed attempt...

Mental note: wrong yarn + hook size = hat sized for a tennis ball!

I'm pretty happy with how it actually turned out.

I have a patten for a lovely cardi with shell stitch pannels and knitted rib cuffs and waistband in one of my crochet books but not quite sure I'm feeling brave enough for that just yet...

Pretty flowers

After the what has probably been the worst 4 day shift I have ever experienced at work I really needed some cheering up. Luckily yesterday was sunshiney and spring-like (albeit a bit chilly) so off we went to Dunham Massey for a wander around the gardens and a bit of afternoon tea. The Winter Garden is looking so lovely right now with all the pretty spring flowers coming up.

On a roll

I really seem to be on a roll with digi crafting at the moment. I recently made my first all digi greetings card - a new home card for a friend who just moved. My digi scapping is progressing in leaps and bounds right now, I even found myself hunting out a tutorial to teach me how to create a torn paper edge. If you too have the need to make your own digi torn paper the really helpful tutorial I used is here. The kit I used for my layout was from The Daily Digi, their monthy kits are huge and great value for money. I love the cartoony style of this particular section of the kit, especially those dotty clouds!

Christmas Crafting

I found this rather adorable reindeer pattern while blog hopping ages ago. It has been on my "things to do" pile for far too long so I finally made a start on a little christmas embroidery. So far so good, though I think I need a little more practice at embroidering in straight lines as he has rather wobbly legs!

Check out Andrea Zuill's blog for lots of fantastic free patterns and her Etsy for some of the most adorable prints. The goldfish print is definitely going on my christmas wish list, so sweet x

Off to look for some inspiration for handmade christmas gifts now, any ideas?

Digi scrapping

As a birthday present to me I treated myself to the Now We're Rockin' with Photoshop class over at Jessica Sprague. I actually managed to complete all the lessons during the 4 weeks which is a first for me, I rarely complete online classes and never within the class timeframe. I really enjoyed the lessons, was impressed with the new skills I was learning and pleased with the finished layouts, all of which helped motivate me to finish the class. I am tempted to join the next session of Digi in Deep to add to my new found Photoshop skills and am also keeping my eyes peeled for the next pen tablet class as I am still getting to grips with mine and really don't think I have found out its true potential yet. Anyway here are a couple of the layouts from the lessons...

Layouts challenge

Feeling rather guilty about the growing stack of untouched Scrapagogo kits building up under my desk I decided to set myself a challenge to make a layout from every one of them before my September kit arrived. That didn't sound too tough until I realised that I had 10 kits completely unused meaning I had 10 layouts to make in just under a month. Amazingly I did manage it and have finally got around to photographing and uploading the results. I have now discovered that having a deadline really helps to get me motivated to get things done.

Here are a few of the layouts that I created...

Sweet - using July's kit

Cute - using February's kit

Kiss - using March's kit

Beautiful Sunset - using August's kit