MEH!

How rubbish am I? Break a camera and it brings a halt to everything!!

I did take it easy with the making over the summer, then there was all the chaos and heart wrenching of Freddie starting school.. I felt more than a little out of sorts for a while, though I did settle back down to making bits and pieces for The Hope Emporium shop but still haven't replaced the camera and even managed to mess up my phone's camera trying to get it to speak to the computer - tech hates me!

In the meantime, my daughter became a teenager (aaarrgghh!!) she's just fine, just I feel very old now, turning a ripe old age next week in fact.

So I am sans camera, still and it's nearly Christmas, well, 4 weeks away... ahaa, an idea has struck! Think I've been good enough?

Crafty Sunday (eventually)

I've been very quiet on the blogging front lately, apologies. Summer got into my bones and life has been all about playing out of recent, which has been much, much fun. Beach trips, walks and a festival have kept me very busy and very happy indeed.

This quite insular mood about making and sharing began with the miserable news that the Lord of the Rings event for which I was excited about designing and making a complete kit for has been postponed which kinda messed up my drive for creating stuff. I've got my head around it now and its actually handy to not have it hanging over me during the long holiday starting next week.

Another thing probably affecting me more than I may realise is that September is looming fast. September means my little one starts school which includes all those usual emotions involved in your children's milestones, but also loses my one excuse I have for not doing all that much in a week!

It's a real test coming up. Full time school means a lot more time to get on and be productive rather than procrastinate and put off. I'm really quite nervous of letting myself and the family down.

I'm also wondering how I will feel about it all, time to focus on me and my life's journey - eek!

Thankfully I have the 6 week holiday in between now and then which I plan to enjoy as much as possible so I may not post much as I may not be doing anything I feel is worth sharing.

I did get a few bits made this week but only have pictures of one due to camera problems again but also due to the fact that as soon as they were completed they were out the door in use!

I do have pics of this however

An order for a military style tactical vest for a 3 day airsofting event that has just finished today, I can't wait to hear how it was received and if it lived up to it's job!

All those straps I thought would be a nightmare of a job. I was right! They were quite a pain but could have been much worse, at least it was all straight lines! The shoulders Velcro together and shock cord lacing down the sides plus the webbing adjusters on the back so adjustments to fit are numerable. All in all I was happy with the job, I just want to hear the tales the vest got up to this weekend now!!

While the boys were away shooting each other, us girls and kids had a nice time too, strolling through the woods after the children who are getting quite skilled at hiding and sneaking whilst herding the toddler onward to ice cream at the end. The evenings were taken with a few good bottles of wine and much putting the world to rights. Very enjoyable indeed... I wonder when the boys will want to do it again?? Fingers crossed it's soon!

Crafty Sunday (i've lost count)

I am sat here ringing out my brain, but i can't think what on earth happened this week to show for

I don't think I completed anything.

I altered a few bits of my other half's clothing, I made an impromptu net for the pool when the old one finally broke, I cut out a couple more of the Steampunk Hip Pouches in large and small sizes, the small in black this time. I am more than half way through one kit order and the design board for the Lord of the Rings costume is looking good, its just decision time now and how to cram it all into the budget, then I can go fabric hunting :)

The week has been good though, all this sun and warmth is just lovely and yesterday we went to see the kids Godparents and their 2 boys for a well overdue visit. It was great to see them all and we stayed for the Doctor Who finale as no one wanted to leave. The best bit I think is that we left having arranged the next visit already. Though there was a bonus to the trip, Jo and I did a surprise stash swap, I took a piece of Kaffe Fasset and a couple of bits of Amy Butler's Love range, but I think I very much won as Jo gave me some amazing pieces from a US designer, whose name escapes me, but the range is called 'Prarie Gothic' (I think) which have gone straight into my sit and stare at and occasionally stroke pile.

Seeing how easy it was for Jo to see her fabrics and therefore gain her inspiration for her fabulous quilts (see here ) I have been quite amazing today and reorganised my entire stash onto shelves and see through box drawers. This feels good, though strange to not have to rummage in baskets and bags for the slightest thing. (OK, in truth, half of it is sorted but I still have a basket and 2 bags I can rummage in, for now).

So, looking forward to a productive week, though now I have said that, who knows what may distract me, whatever it is, I hope it's fun!

(sorry there's no photos, I want to catch the last of the sun instead of sitting here!!)

Mission Accomplished

Tis done and delivered. I think it's liked and definitely appreciated. What a nice feeling :)

I ended up quilting it, adding a ribbon loop to hang it by. I went through many options first, but for not finding a hacksaw for dowel mounting or a staple gun for mounting it onto wood as a canvas, I opted for the all fabric approach adding a batting and backing. It means its gently washable too, which is handy for a child's room decoration.

In quilting it though, it gave the addition of clouds in the sky, which I really like, so all in all I'm very pleased.

Time to make a start on those kit orders!

Mission Improbable

I set myself the task of making a 10th Birthday present for a family friend, something different, not too young and something to cherish and keep as reaching double figures in age is quite a milestone.

So, yesterday I played with scraps and motif making and made this panel.

(Blatantly ripped off from an old Laura Ashley design, but it's gift so I feel ok about it)

Today's mission I have chosen to accept: I have to work out how to mount the thing... wish me luck!!

Crafty Sunday VI - Made It!!!

Phew, I had pretty much written this week off after too good a weekend away with the family, reality was hard to accept. I was being all useless, not wanting to be productive or practical in any way.

I went with the feeling in the main and had a great week all told, lots of pottering doing nothing in particular, perfick.

The week was finished off by taking my son to his first taster session at his new school - a very emotional day saying goodbye, in fact I should admit here that he only said goodbye so very bravely due to the promise of me going straight to the shops for a big bag of sweets which he kindly insisted on sharing with his sister, I was given a few too as I had been very brave as well.

He, of course, had a fabulous time of playing in the forest (we are very lucky to have this school in the neighbourhood) and on his favourite tractor he knew from when his big sister went there.

Anyway, I really didn't think I would have anything to show for this week on top of completely forgetting to post anything at all last week (oops), but strangely I have made something, I have even surprised myself!

Another confession now, I have realised how much of a faddy crafter I am, I have loads of ideas and plans, get them to prototype stage, figure out the easy way to make them, then get bored and move on to something new. I must work on this, it is fun but it's not the best work ethic to have really.

So my latest fad is Steam punk. I am designing a few ideas but they will stay firmly on the drawing board for now, but I was sent a link from a friend to a Steam punk Etsy shop where I wowed a while, then looked at the prices, wowed some more, then thought... and had a dive deep into my scraps and bits and bobs stashes,

And made this today...

I really like it, I have made a few mistakes and would love to get more findings to attach like D-rings, cogs, clips etc. for the next ones. Going to make a larger one for the man in my life with the pockets sized to his effects for him to use on his boys weekend of Airsoft LRP coming up soon.

Whilst sketching, browsing and making this I also secured a couple of orders for costumes!! A Gondorian Ranger for a Lord of the Rings event and a fitted tactical vest (military style waistcoat) for the boys weekend. All very exciting stuff :)

Crafty Sunday IV

Well, I actually managed to make a little this week, and even more fun, I made stuff for the family, with the kids help...

We're going away camping for an LRP event soon and we have been rejigging and revamping our camping stuff and kit. The kids couldn't wait to try out their new sleeping bags which they do look snuggly in. I'm waiting in anticipation for my new cool box as it was due on Friday by courier and didn't arrive. Everything is crossed that it arrives tomorrow.

In the meantime, the kids and I decided to make a couple of quilted bags for things that are usually hard to find when you need them. One for torches

the disgustingly gaudy colours are so you can find it easily in the dark, and a first aid kit bag

which I think is really quite sweet with it's dotty motif and drawstring.

They have both come out just the right size for their purpose, which was more by luck than judgement as it all came out of my scraps baskets. The batting will be perfect to protect contents from the inevitable knocks and scrapes.

We also made a lot of Jedi capes in many colours for our collection of Lego figures. A pic of these will have to wait until tomorrow as they have been stashed safely away by the boy before he climbed the wooden hill.

I do feel slightly mad for spending an afternoon dressing up Lego figures, but it made a very happy 4 year old so it was well worth it.

I also finished my kit for LRP, but having looked back at the photos I had taken, I got very self conscious and can't bring myself to post them up here, cos I'm in them.

But I did manage to work a kit around the embroidered overdress I bought a few weeks ago by butchering this dress.

I made it years ago and never used as it was a bit too much (I made it to challenge myself but it was too OTT) so I ripped off the sleeves (yey) and shortened it (more yey)  and also did some lace up 'vents' in back, as it fit like a glove years ago and I've had another sprog since then (not so yey!).

Ok, ok...

I think I'm pleased with the overall result, it needs to sink in a bit really before I am truly satisfied. I am very pleased with the fact that nothing else new went into the kit just stuff I already had reworked to fit a new look.

Lastly we made some baggy cropped trews for my daughter, again out of scraps, isn't it incredible what gets relegated to the scraps pile? But they're not finished yet.

Next week I can't see much getting made as prep for going away takes precedence. Getting the house, garden and animals to a stage that it can be left for a few days entails a surprising amount of work that always catches me off guard.