New Things! and some Good News

I am very much in baby mode at the moment. I have another grandchild to look forward to, yippee. I am so loving my new role as a Nanna.
Not that I need any excuse to make baby goodies. Just listed today is this lovely fabric edged crochet blanket in delicious ice cream shades. You can snap it up right here!!  I love the corner to corner crochet process and have another two to finish off and show you.

Other baby blankies in the shop are these

Crisp feminine colours that would tone beautifully with Cath Kidston fabricstion

   

Blue and yellow for a boy or a girl

Perfect Purple Granny Squares

More to come as I say and I know I have some patchwork bibs to finish and list and some super cute booties.  So off to finish some things to show you next time.

P.S would love to know which baby blanket is your favaourite. 

New Year, New Look, New Resolutions

I am sure no one remembers, but it has been a whopping 15 months since my last blog post!!!!! I know, that's really slacking isn't it?
Life has been odd, tiresome and difficult. I will not bore anyone with details, but things are looking positive now.

My little grandson is growing up fast and just enjoyed his second Christmas and this morning I woke up with some renewed resolve to get both my etsy shop up and running at a level that we all enjoyed with Cutey Critters (more on that at some point), and blog with some actual repetition!!!! Kick me if I do not lovely readers...please.

So, I have sifted, tested and trawled to gift the blog a facelift and changed the title to match the shop. What do you think. I just love it. Not only does the vintage sewing pattern design tone beautifully with my header, but actually says what I am all about.

I have lots of ideas up my sleeve for new items and look forward to getting those to fruition and sharing with you on here.

All the delicate embellished hearts are on sale at £2 each. They look so sweet on a door handle or as I saw at a friends house hanging from a curtain hold back. Some are festive but many would work all year around. Ideal for the children to buy for mothers day at pocket money prices. Have a look and start thinking what dull little areas of your home you can adorn. Don't forget to browse the rest of the shop. I have dusted and hoovered in there so you should not find any cobwebs.

Flowers

Short and sweet post today. I week or 2 ago I was lucky enough to receive a beautiful bouquet of flowers. I actually forgot to take a photo of them believe it or not. On their demise, I realised i really liked having fresh flowers in the house so went on  a hunt in the garden to come up with a replacement. This is what I came up with. I think I shall add some cutting type flowers to the garden this year as I am loving the whole floristry thing at the mo, even if I am not up to professional standards.  I do have one tip. Apologies if you know this. Years ago a friend did floristry and passed onto me that to replace that little sachet of feed when you either change the water or pick your own. Add a tiniest drop of bleach to the water to guard against smelly water and a bit (about half a teaspoon or so depending on your vase) of sugar to feed the flowers. It does seem to work.

Upcycling!

So last weekend I did a bit of non toy sewing.  I have been meaning to get around to this for a week or two.  I bought my self a gorgeous blouse from Boden.  I thought I would probably wear it with jeans. I did then spot this lightweight needlecord skirt in my wardrobe. Now this skirt has been a bit of a pain to me. Unless I wear it with boots, it does nothing for me at all. The length is all wrong for my leg shape (I don't seem to have the slenderest ankles to my dismay).

 It is quite a lightweight fabric so not ideal for winter wear really and I never wear it in the summer as you might imagine, yet I still couldn't bring myself to ditch it. This made me think.  Nothing to lose other than a wee bit of time and maybe a couple of quid on the right trim. I actually spent longer looking for the fabric than I did doing the work I think. I was about to give up when I found this one under another in John Lewis.
So, I shortened it to just the right length for my stupidly proportioned legs and made some bias from the floral fabric to cover the selvedge. I saw no point in hemming when I could make it beautiful in this way. Then, added a thinner strip over some purple ready made bias further up.  I had intended to add some flowers in the style of this one which I loved. Although, once I reached this point, I thought it was probably just right in the less is more category

 I couldn't get a shot of me in them, but trust me, the length is now the perfect length for me and I realised that these Birkenstocks I have will make it look like I have spent a fortune! Will have to paint those toenails before the sun comes back out though.

BNR this weekend

I have a spot in craftbritannias` BNR on etsy this weekend.  The way it works is you buy from a shop featured in the BNR treasury (ask if its free first as its often a bit busy), then your etsy shop replaces that spot.  Its a good social event and results in plenty of sales.  It does not need to be the item featured BTW just from the featured shop so plenty of scope for browsing and probably finding lots of new favourite shops. You do not have to be a member of the team, but if you are a UK etsy seller I can heartily recommend joining this team as its very welcoming and supportive.

The link to the preview is right here. Look forward to seeing you there.

New Bag and new fave supplier

Its been so cold in my sewing room I have to say that the knitting has taken preference over the winter.  I dont know what it is about that side of the house, but for a 4 year old house it is like a different climate in the dining room and the sewing room above it. I really dont know how my daughter slept in there in the winter.
However,  having discovered this lovely lady in the teambritannia forum I have fallen in love with sewing again, if not my ageing and very annoying sewing machine. Now, even the cold will not stop me. These handmade buttons are just fantastic and have inspired some new bags.

The first is here, and has a lovely summery feel.  The best thing of all is its reversible, so actually 2 bags in one.  I already have a few more combos planned so leave some buttons for me please.

On a final note, the pattern was from Lisa Lams` Bagmaking Bible which I treated myself to just before Christmas.   Great book with lots of clear instructions and such inspiring pictures.