In the UK we’ve just seen the longest prolonged heatwave in seven years. In fact yesterday was the hottest day since July 2006. It’s been pretty tough keeping the children happy and out of the sun but we’ve kept busy with lots of crafts. I even managed to sew these fun felt ice lollies, slightly less calories than the ones we have been indulging in! To celebrate Summer I have a fantastic giveaway for all my lovely readers. Today you have the chance to win an amazing £50 Amazon voucher. You can spend it on whatever you wish. You all…
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I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias and their client. You all know I’m a huge fan of Pinterest, so much so that I actually guest post every week over at the PinAddicts Challenge! I love to make the things I pin and thought it was about time I showed that here on my own blog as well. I’m an avid pinner and after attending a pretty inspiring Pinterest session at BritMums at the weekend I’ve spent a couple of…
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I Spy with my little eye, something beginning with Q. I have completed a project! I’ve been working on a doll quilt for Little Sis for quite a while. She has a growing collection which I am very happy to add to. The pattern is from pretty in patchwork doll quilts which is easily my favourite craft book at the moment. Fortunately for me the quilt came together in several distinct steps so I was able to work on it over a couple of weeks. First of all I chose and made the 24 hexagons, then arranged them again and…
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We’ve had an amazingly busy weekend. It was lovely to do some non-house related stuff and we had a great day out in London as well as a fun playdate with friends. Somehow I managed to finish the latest BritMums bookclub book – Ancient Lights by John Banville. It was the strangest book I’ve read in a long time. The main character of the book is a complete narcissist and I found him difficult to like. He was very wordy too…. Anyway, the premise is that in a small town in Ireland in the 1950s a fifteen-year-old boy has illicit…
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There’s something lovely about old wool blankets. They feel lovely and are easy to transform into something useful, thank goodness we no longer need them on our beds. I’ve been on the lookout for vintage wool blankets for ages and recently bought a double blanket in perfect condition in a charity shop in Frome for only £3.99. They seem to be getting harder to find but I was really pleased with this one. It still had its original label and was an unusual peach colour. Dyeing wool blankets It was too big to use so I cut it into several…
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I think this is the third time I’ve joined up with the Sew, Mama, Sew! giveaway day. I love to craft so I thought this would be a great chance to have a de-stash of my sewing supplies. I’d love to say that moving house has helped me to organise my sewing supplies but it seems there are more important things to unpack. However I have some lovely Sewing + Craft Supplies up for grabs and I am happy to send worldwide. My giveaway bundle includes: 3m of white pom poms which are great for embellishing cushions or doll quilts…
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It’s been far too long since I made anything with felt but we watched Finding Nemo for the first time this week and thought we could make a related fish craft. This took a little preparation before it all came together. Make your own Finding Nemo You will need: paper plate blue paint and brush orange, white and black felt selection of felt basic sewing kit How to make your own Finding Nemo First paint your paper plate with blue paint and leave to dry. Make up your felt clownfish and stuff lightly. I made two the same so my…
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How are you all enjoying The Great British Sewing Bee? I have to say I’m still hooked and so disappointed it’s only 4 episodes. Watching it has definitely spurred me on with my creativity and over the last few weeks I’ve finished off re-sizing a duvet cover for the toddler and made lots of progress with my grandmothers flower garden quilt and another doll quilt for Little Sis. I love hand sewing but watching TGBSB has really encouraged me to improve my machine sewing skills too. Last week I had my first machine sewing lesson which was a brilliant investment.…
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It’s three weeks since I wrote about the Grandmother’s Flower Garden doll quilt I’ve been working on. You may remember I asked for some advice as I’d got to a mini crisis point. I loved reading everyone’s suggestions so I thought I’d share a little update. I was lucky enough to find a remnant of the green material I was using for the flower border which made things much easier. My first step was to square off each end with half flowers as someone suggested so the whole shape was rectangular. Then my problems started again! I realised it was…