Clothcat - Fun and Funky Felt and Fabric

Autumn inspirations

2011-08-23T09:14:00.001-07:00

P1020521, a photo by Cloth cat on Flickr.

The soft purples, greens and yellows of the heather form a wonderful colour pallette for the Autumn season. I think I will keep my eye out for fabrics matching this pallette for my upcoming Autumn wardrobe.

The View From Here - The Ring of Brodgar

2011-08-23T09:10:00.001-07:00

P1020522, a photo by Cloth cat on Flickr.

These stones have stood here for nigh on 5000 years - part of a neolithic site believed to be linked to worship located on the Orkney mainland. Also to be found close to this site is Maes Howe - a neolithic burial tomb (vandalised by those naughty vikings and covered in rune grafitti inside) and a new finding - the Ness of Brodgar - reported to be a 'Neolithic Cathederal for the whole of Scotland': http://www.orkneyjar.com/archaeology/nessofbrodgar/
The view from here is stunning - so much more mystical and evocative than the overcrowed, wire-fenced Stonehenge with it's views of the busy A3.

Knight in training

2011-08-11T06:14:00.001-07:00

Knight in training, a photo by Cloth cat on Flickr.

The view from here

2011-08-11T06:13:00.001-07:00

View from Warwick castle turret, a photo by Cloth cat on Flickr.

Took big C up to Warwick castle yesterday to make up for his trip with the holiday club there being cancelled (never was there such a disappointed boy).

Much fun was had by him doing archery, knight school, talking to dragons and generally watching knights knock each other about on the battle field. I enjoyed the views from the parapet - Warwick looks like a very pretty town from up here, unfortunately I didn't have the time to see the rest of it.

At the Shalleys - New Brighton

2011-08-08T05:34:00.001-07:00

Album 2 murraypage 009a, a photo by Cloth cat on Flickr.

And these were our ones...

At the Shalleys 3

2011-08-08T05:32:00.003-07:00

P1020346, a photo by Cloth cat on Flickr.

And somewhere to put your feet up with a good book.

At the Shalleys 2

2011-08-08T05:32:00.001-07:00

P1020348, a photo by Cloth cat on Flickr.

Another peek inside the Southbank one - everything you need for a cuppa.

Shalley interior

2011-08-08T05:31:00.001-07:00

P1020347, a photo by Cloth cat on Flickr.

Ah those were the days!

Photographed at the Southbank.

Down at the Shalleys 1

2011-08-08T04:24:00.001-07:00

P1020333, a photo by Cloth cat on Flickr.

Another pic from the Southbank - this time the shalleys along the water front (sorry but they are shalleys NOT beach huts to me and always will be). These reminded me of the one we had in New Brighton as kids (sadly no more). We will be making a big move back there (very) shortly. It makes me wonder what memories my kids will make of the area. New Brighton is undergoing a redevelopment on the waterfront at the moment - not all to the good it has to be said (whoever thought of plonking a warehouse shaped Morrisons on the waterfront needs drowing in the briny), but at least the Lido will be returning. Who knows - maybe the council could be persuaded to bring back the shalleys some day?

All the fun of the fair

2011-08-08T04:12:00.001-07:00

P1020350, a photo by Cloth cat on Flickr.

Love this old fashioned helta-skelta - seen at the Vintage at Southbank fair last week. Would have loved to have a nose round all the vintage stalls too, but with two small children in tow it wasn't to be - maybe next year I'll have to sneak down on my own!

For Japan

2011-03-16T05:52:00.000-07:00

As I'm sure many people have been, I have been horrified watching the effects of the earthquake and it's aftermath on the people of Japan since Friday. It seems especially close to me as I have familiy over there, but really it should not matter whether I know someone there or not - the human toll is still the same. It is a strange effect of the human mind that somehow when we hear of disasters affecting 10's of thousands of people that it can seem much more distant and unreal than if we hear the story of one person. I would therefore urge people to do this - forget about the headlines of 10,000 plus people missing for a minute and imagine. Imagine a family who's house has been washed away, they do not know the whereabouts of all their friends and family, they have lost all your possessions, food and shelter are scarce, there are warnings about radiation leakage. They are frightened and have no idea what the future will hold for them and if there ever will be a normal again.

Please help those in Japan by donating either to the Red Cross:
http://www.redcross.org.uk/Donate-Now/Make-a-single-donation/Japan-Tsunami-Appeal

or to Shelterbox: http://www.shelterbox.org/

Both these charities are on the ground in Japan trying to help the survivors. Your donation will be very gratefully recieved and will be put to good use.

Thankyou.

Hello Kitty!

2011-02-16T05:02:00.000-08:00

It was little C's second birthday this weekend and at the moment she is totally obsessed with Hello Kitty. Not sure quite what came over me, but I decided that along with all the rest of the organising I had to do for the birthday party I would make a batch of Hello Kitty fairy cakes. At first I had an idea that I'd just ice them on (thank goodness I didn't go down that route), but then I found a hello kitty cookie cutter online and decided to go the fondant route instead (still rather time consuming, but at least it stood half a chance of actually looking like the kitty herself). In the end, the cakes were fairly easy if rather time consuming. I started by rolling out the fondant icing and cutting out the kitty heads:

Then I did the whiskers with black writing icing and rolled balls of black fondant to make the eyes which I then stuck on with the writing icing. This was a little bit messy and I ended up getting some gum arabic to make up into a paste to stick the rest of the decorations on. The eyes ended up a bit too close together compared to real Kitty so if I were to do these again I'd start with the nose next time I think and work my way from there.

The bows were made by rolling red fondant and then using a pizza wheel to cut thin strips which were then cut to about 1" pieces. I folded the two ends to the middle, squashed them down then pinched in the sides to give a bow shape. After sticking them on with the gum arabic they were left to dry over night. In the morning I made the fairy cakes and iced them with buttercream icing then just stuck the kitty heads straight on to that. I made 24 of them in total - by the time I was half way through I was starting to curse myself for the idea!

As well as the fairy cakes I also made a hello kitty birthday cake:

This was made with butter cream icing, writing icing for the outline and fondant icing with pigment powder for the flowers.

Snow Fun

2011-01-06T05:01:00.001-08:00

P1010120
Originally uploaded by Cloth cat

Snowman

2011-01-06T04:59:00.001-08:00

P1010116
Originally uploaded by Cloth cat

Now sadly missing - all that's left are the buttons and the carrot.

Snow fun

2011-01-06T04:47:00.001-08:00

P1010110
Originally uploaded by Cloth cat

You're not supposed to eat the snowmans nose.

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T10:38:00.000-07:00

Mwahhhaaah! Happy Halloween to all you spooks out there. Yet again it's been a while since I posted, but at least I have been making something. If I'd had my thinking cap on I'd have taken some photos as I was doing it, but this Halloween mask is really sooo simple to make it I think you can do without them. First take a rectangle of grey felt long enough and wide enough to fit round your eyes (you could measure this, but really you'll get a good enough result by guesstimating). Then take a square of medium weight iron on interfacing the same size as the felt and iron it on to the back. Next iron on some bondaweb onto the front followed by the spiderweb lace (cover with a tea towel when ironing this on). Then you just need to draw your mask shape on to the back of the interfacing and cut out (you may want to practice and make up a paper template first). To get the right positioning for the eyes I put my glasses down on the back of the mask and marked round them. If you don't wear glasses then you could try holding on to your face the wrong way round (interfacing outwards) and marking the points for the outer corners of your eyes that way. It's a good idea to cut one eye first then fold the mask in half and draw round the cut out for the second eye to ensure that they're positioned symmetrically. Now you just need to sew on some elastic (measure it round your head from one side of the mask to the other and remember to make it a little shorter so it isn't loose). Here's how the finished mask looks without spookyvision:

Looking back to my halloween photos from last year shows just what a difference a year makes. Two have grown and one (me) has shrunk. I don't know why I haven't got round to blogging about it, but since March this year I've been doing weight watchers and finally reached my goal weight last Tuesday having lost 2st 11.5 lb - quite a chunk of me really. If you're struggling to visualise just how much that is (and I can never quite get my head round it) it's basically as much as the young skeleton in this years picture - don't think I'd fancy carrying round one of him all day now, but I was!

New word

2010-10-27T05:57:00.001-07:00

New word
Originally uploaded by Cloth cat

Slowly and surely new words are starting to emerge. Mama, dada and brother have been around for a while now. The latests two are:

knee (as in 'I want to sit on your' or just 'knee, knee, knee' in lottalingo.
no - I think I'm going to be hearing a lot of this last one.

Flower Garden Bag

2010-08-25T04:58:00.001-07:00

Flower Garden Bag
Originally uploaded by Cloth cat

Don't seem to get much time for crafting at the moment, but did manage to make a small handbag for one of my friends daughters last month. These a quite an easy make and they're a good way to use up the jelly roll strips I bought a while back and have been wondering what to do with (though could just curse myself for not getting a coordinating fabric from the same range - now discontinued - to use for the lining. Just goes to show you really should bag that fabric while you can even if you don't know what you're going to use it for (ahem).

Quite shocking to see that the last time that I blogged was Easter - not very good going. I've had to switch comments on to moderation now after that last post was deluged with spam comments in chinese (?) script.

Happy Easter

2010-04-04T05:57:00.001-07:00

089
Originally uploaded by Cloth cat

Happy Easter everybody! Trying to avoid too much chocolate for the little ones this year (especially as I'm weight watching at the moment so watching other people eat piles of chocolate is torture), so I though I'd have another go at one of the projects from Poppy Treffry's book, this time the egg cozies. I am sooo pleased with the way they turned out - I'd never have thought I had it in me to draw something like these little chicks with the sewing machine, but it was really quite easy once I'd followed the picture. I tend to be the sort of person that normally buys craft books, pours through them then never makes any of the projects inside, but this book really has me itching to make all the items inside it. Well done Poppy for a fabulous book!

Happy Birthday

2010-02-18T04:32:00.001-08:00

Birthday card
Originally uploaded by Cloth cat

Can't believe how quickly it has come round, but my little daughter is now one! The last year just seems to have flown by. It feels a little sad as I don't really feel like I had the time to enjoy my time off with her like I did with my first one, but I guess that's just the way that it goes when you've got more than one little one to contend with.

Anyway I thought the occasion deserved to be marked with something special - I've been itching to have a go at making one of these machine embroidered cards since I got a copy of Poppy Treffry's 'Free and Easy Stitch Style' for christmas (a great book by the way - I would reccomend it to anyone wanting to have a go at this style of machine embroidery/applique). I thought it was a great idea to cover the whole card with fabric - I've seen lots before which just have a little embroidered or appliqued motif stuck to the front of the card, but covering the whole card with fabric gives it a really nice finish and has the bonus of making a good dent in my fabric stash too. Assuming I can find the time, I can see myself making quite a few more of these especially as I have a number of birthdays coming up in the near future.

New resoloutions

2010-02-02T00:23:00.000-08:00

Well last year I started with no resoloutions so I can truthfully say I didn't fall behind on any of them! This year though I'd like to try and get a bit more done on the crafting front so I was delighted to see that Helen has started A Make a Month group on flickr Crafting 365 certainly ain't going to happen for me, but I think one make a month is a nice achievable target to set and if I manage more then so much the better.

I had already planned to make a taggie blanket as a birthday present for my little girl who will be one in February and is starting nursery soon (yikes - where has the time gone)! She seems to be rather taken with blankies at the moment so I decided to take the plunge and buy some minkie to make one. Originally I was planning to make a patchwork one with some lovely Liberty Tania Lawn fabric I bought recently, but after taking stock I realised I'd never get it done in time so I raided my stash of Japanese prints and found this adorable fabric which I hadn't quite known what to do with.

An Apple a Day...

2009-08-28T08:41:00.001-07:00

Sadly it looks like it will be our last holiday at the Pressoir this year (or possibly second to last) as my parents will be putting it up for sale next year. The old cider pressior in Normandy was bought as a do-er upper, but due to finances and ill health never quite got properly done up. Having said that, despite the acro props holding up the wall in the bedroom and the lack of a bath, shower or any hot running water for that matter we have had some really lovely holidays over there in the last few years, especially since we have had the kids it has really come into it's own.

A windfall gift from the neighbours:

Sewing again

2009-08-24T11:47:00.000-07:00

It has been absoloutely yonks since I've had time to get the sewing machine out what with the littlest one only taking half hour naps and everything (arrrggghh). So I was delighted recently to finally get the chance to do a quick mini project I have been meaning to do for months. This little bag is a present for the daughter of a friend of mine. Originally I had hoped to do one for her birthday, but that came and passed with no time to get it done, but I've now done one as a thank you present instead(along with a box of something yummy for her mum) for lending me all her old clothes to use for my little girl.

It's a pretty basic design, but I'm very pleased with how it turned out, especially as it only took about an hour to knock together once I'd finally got round to digging my sewing machine again. It was also a nifty bit of up-cycling, the denim coming from my old pair of maternity jeans. The rear side (which I unfortunatly forgot to photograph) has a jeans pocket on it (no sewing required - just strategic placing of the pattern when cutting it out).

Christmas all over again

2009-06-01T09:36:00.001-07:00

For christmas last year I recieved a David Austin bare root rose called 'Young Lycidias' from my mum. Now the bush is finally in bloom and I have to say both the flowers and the scent are divine. A wonderful christmas present in June!

Simple tastes

2009-05-27T13:02:00.001-07:00

I can't remember the last time I made a victoria sponge. Usually it ends up being fairy cakes and biscuits that I bake with the boy, but for some reason the other weekend I couldn't get the idea of making one of these out of my head. Luckily I had a friend coming over for Sunday lunch to give me the excuse to make one. I'd forgotten just how quick and easy they are to make (though it's a lot quicker if you actually have two sandwich tins unlike me). It's a basic recepie that you can find in pretty much every cook book with a baking section, but I'll repeat it here anyway:

Victoria Sponge

225g butter, very soft
225g caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 large eggs
225g self raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder (if using a food processer)
3-4 tablespoons milk

2 x 20 cm sandwich tins, buttered and floured (this was where I fell down and had to bake 1/2 mixture twice, as for some strange I only have one sandwich tin - go figure)

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees C, gas mark 4.

If using the food processor, put everything bar the milk in and whiz until it makes up smooth batter. Then add the milk 1 tablespoon at a time and pulse until the batter has a soft dropping consistency.

If not using a food processer cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy then add the vanilla and the eggs one at a time and beat them in. Sieve in the flour and baking powder and fold in gently with a metal spoon.

Spread the mixture between the two sandwich tins and bake for about 25 minutes. The cake is done when it has a springy texture when pushed (gently) at the top and it has come away from the edges. Turn the cake out onto a cake rack to cool.

When the cake has completely cooled, spread with the jam of your choice, add some berries (in my case strawberries) then spread on some whipped cream and sandwich the two layers together. Finish off by sprinkling caster sugar over the top of the cake.

Best scoffed quickly - the cream won't keep very long.

Welcome to the Jungle

2009-05-04T08:26:00.000-07:00

Well, more of a wood really, but my 3 year old decided that it was a jungle - just with ducks and ponies rather than monkies and tigers! The woods in question are Burnham Beeches not far from us. I don't know why, but in the 8 years that we've been living in this area this is the first time we've actually gone for a walk there. We've definately been missing out as the photos show. It is a lovely place for a leisurely weekend stroll with the kids.

First Bloom

2009-04-24T07:13:00.001-07:00

After loosing my two pear trees to the builders last year I was keen to replace them with another fruit tree once we replanted the garden. As we only have a small patch we went for an apple on dwarfing root stock so it wouldn't overwhelm the garden like the pears did. I was delighted to see the first blossom arrive on the tree a few weeks ago. I'm hoping for a decent crop of apples come the autumn - there was only one on the tree last year but it was a very tasty one!

Rather them than me

2009-04-22T13:36:00.001-07:00

Rather them than me
Originally uploaded by Cloth cat

The Royal Windsor Wheel has returned to Alexander Park earlier this year. Normally it doesn't appear until the school summer holidays, but this year it was up in time for Easter. Whilst walking through the park into town I caught sight of a couple of the engineers doing safety checks on the spokes - not a job I would fancy, but good to know it's being done. If you're planning a trip to Windsor any time I can reccomend the wheel as a great way to get a good view of the surrounding area.

Pram Quilt

2009-04-19T09:11:00.001-07:00

Pram Quilt
Originally uploaded by Cloth cat

Making some progress on the quilt now. Have used a 'cheat' technique for the heart appliques which involves sewing two hearts right sides together then putting a slit in the backing one to turn it inside out, rather than having to carefully tuck the fabric under as you sew. The technique is described in the book 'Sew Pretty Homestyle' by Tonne Finnanger. Also in the book is the template for the rose embroidery. The book has some lovely ideas in it. Not sure how many of the actual projects I would ever do, but a lot of them have good ideas or templates such as the rose one which you can incorporate into your own work.

Pram Quilt

2009-04-15T01:04:00.000-07:00

I don't know what the difference is between girls and boys, but for some reason I've been a lot more inclined to make things for my new baby girl than I am for my son - a chance to use all the pretty fabrics out there I guess and also I'm a lot more into sewing now than I was three years ago when my son was born.

Having seen the most gorgeous quilted foot muff in Mamma's & Pappas on a shopping trip about a month ago I decided that I'd have a go at making a pram quilt in a similar style. This is my first ever quilt, so it's probably a good idea to be starting small. So far I've managed to mess up slightly on the cutting out, but I'm just telling myself that it adds to the 'homespun' feel (ahem). Besides I didn't fancy wasting all that fabric. Here's the progress so far (note slightly wonky cutting out at the top end - oops):

I suspect I will end up making two of these - this first one will be a practise run and will be handy as a spare when the other one is in the wash. The two patterned fabrics are Cath Kidston from John Lewis and the plain fabrics are from a new find (well new to me) Lady Sew and Sew in Marlow - what with that and the Pin Cushion new Dedworth shop just opened round the corner from me I am now well sorted for local sewing suppliers!

Little Stitches

2009-03-27T01:46:00.000-07:00

I bought the Amy Butlet book "Little Stitches for Little People" back in the autumn with the intention of working my way through several of the projects before the arrival of my baby in February, but somehow work and home life consipired against me and by the end of the year I had still not started a single one. After christmas once I'd finished work I had a bit more time on my hands before the baby arrived so I decided to tackle the 'jumper dress' projects from the book. I had in my stash a lovely lilac and pink Liberty fabric that I'd bought from the Happy Crafters destash shop and found a nice lilac chambray in John Lewis to go with it. I managed to make one or two mistakes along the way (due to my usual problem of not reading the pattern carefully enough), but generally given that it was first every clothing project, I was really happy with the way it turned out.

Big cook, little cook

2009-03-05T07:28:00.000-08:00

Found a lovely mini rolling pin and wooden spoon in Kitchen Capers the other week that I just had to buy for my son. We have been spending a lot of time cooking together recently (was a great way to keep him occupied without me having to move around a lot whilst heavily pregnant) and he really loves it. Having bought the utensils I decided to make him a pinny to go with as his other one is permanently splattered with paint so not really suitable for cooking with. Found a cheap remnant of fabric at John Lewis to form the base of the pinny then made the pocket from a piece of Japanese fabric that I've had for ages, but haven't been able to work out what to do with. I'm quite pleased with the result. Unfortunately (as you can see from the picture) the little man wasn't too keen on modelling the finished article for me, but he was happy to wear it while we made orange and chocolate chip biscuits.

New Arrival(s)

2009-02-23T03:05:00.001-08:00

I'm pleased to annouce the arrival at last of my new little bundle. Like her brother she was 6 days late in the end (boy do you feel about to burst by that point), but unlike him she had a very quick and relatively painless delivery (well ok not really that painless, but it went on for a lot less time so it was much more bearable). The first couple of nights were a bit of a nightmare as she decided she wanted to stay up and feed all night then sleep all day, but she's managing to sleep for 3-4 hr stretches through the night now which is a bit more bearable. Luckily she seems a very contented baby for the most part - doesn't cry much, but instead mews a bit like a cat! Major hurdle now is trying to balance all the time I need to spend with her feeding etc with trying not to leave out my very boisterous 34 month old son and keep him entertained and happy - talk about exhausting! I've been lucky to have my parents down this last week, so he's been showered with their attention, but now they've gone back home it'll be a different story.

On a slightly different tack, there has also been another new arrival in the area recently. When I went to the post office round the corner a couple of weeks ago, I was surprised (and delighted) to see that the betting shop opposite had now become a haberdashery/knitting shop. Previously I have had to hike all the way into Reading to get a decent selection of yarn, but now I have somewhere 5 mins round the corner from my house - talk about dangerous, especially with all the lovely baby patterns they have there!

Clearance Sale

2009-01-13T04:25:00.000-08:00

Well with less than a month now until the baby arrives, I've decided to shut down my Etsy shop at the end of January (or possibly earlier if the baby is impatient). I'm not sure yet if this will be a temporary or a permanent thing. On the one hand being at home might give me more time to give it the attention it needs but on the other hand I'll be looking after two children instead of one this time (one of which no longer naps) so I probably won't have a minute to spare. Anyway before the shop shuts I will be having a clearance sale to get rid of the current stock - all items will be reduced by 25% or more so if there's anything you fancy the look of, buy it now before it's gone for good: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5161553

Retraction

2009-01-02T09:19:00.000-08:00

Well okay. So maybe I should have made a new years resoloution to do something with my existing fabric stash and not buy any more until I have made a dent in the pile.

New Year, No Resoloutions

2009-01-01T01:32:00.000-08:00

Happy new year to you all. As you can probably see this blog has been desperately neglected this past year what with various things going on (building work on the house, panic stations at work following a poor inspection and general running round after a two year old). I had contemplated making it a new year resoloution to do better this year, but on reflection I think that is a hiding to nothing. I have a new baby on the way at the beginning of February (at least I hope it will be then - I'm looking forward to having a month of peace off work before it arrives!) and once that arrives I'm likely to be stretched for time, though at least I won't have to be going into work every day. Anyway I have decided to do away with resoloutions for this year and just take things as they come - though hopefully over the next few weeks while I am off pre-baby and the munchkin is still in nursery I will have a bit of time to get done all the craft things I've been wanting to do but haven't had the time, but I know in reality the weeks will fly by and before I know it I'll be up all night feeding and all day changing nappies, so I'll just see what I can do in the time and even if that's only one thing then I'll be happy with that.

This pregnancy has been slightly frustrating in that when I went for the 21 week scan, they couldn't see the sex of the baby because the cord was in the way. I know some people like the idea of a suprise, but me I'm a planner. Having a little boy already I'm desperate to know if I should be getting all his old clothes down from the loft and washing them ready for boy number 2 or if I should be hitting the January sales with a vengance for some pretty girly clothes. Not to mention all the fabric I'd love to be buying to make a little quilt or some dresses or something while I still have time - frustrating!!!! I have another scan next week to check on a low lying placenta, so I've all my fingers crossed they'll be able to tell me then so I can make a start on making something or other. What do you think I can get done in three weeks?

We Make Meet

2008-05-30T04:55:00.001-07:00

Helen
Originally uploaded by Cloth cat

In an effort to get prepared for the up coming We Make fair Helen (Angharad) and I met up for a coffee and planning session in Windsor last Sunday. It was good to be able to bounce ideas off each other and we've come up with a list of all the stuff we'll need for the fair. Now I just need to get the time to get/make it all!

The pink and white one

2008-05-28T05:04:00.001-07:00

The pink and white one
Originally uploaded by Cloth cat

Time is flying by and the We Make craft fair is rapidly approaching and I haven't made nearly as much stuff as I would have wanted to what with builders and everything. Still I managed to steal some crafting time whilst my husband was away the other week and had a bit of a felt making frenzy. These sheets will be make up into flower corsages.

The green one

2008-05-28T05:03:00.001-07:00

The green one
Originally uploaded by Cloth cat

This one will probably become leaves.

The orange and pink one

2008-05-28T05:02:00.005-07:00

The orange and pink one
Originally uploaded by Cloth cat

The purple one

2008-05-28T05:02:00.003-07:00

The purple one
Originally uploaded by Cloth cat

The red one

2008-05-28T05:02:00.001-07:00

The red one
Originally uploaded by Cloth cat

Exterminate!

2008-04-12T11:24:00.000-07:00

I saw this packet mix in Sainsburys the other day and just couldn't resist getting it if only to have the cookie cutter. I rationalised it to myself at the time that I was buying them because Calum would have great fun baking them with me - yeah right! It's not as if he's even seen an episode of Dr Who yet. Anyway I had great fun baking them and they aren't too bad taste wise for a packet mix, but I think in future I'll be making them as gingerbread biscuits with chocolate chips for the round bulb bits (not sure what the technical term is - maybe a Dr Who afficionado can advise me).

A little bit of history

2008-04-06T02:56:00.000-07:00

Couldn't resist buying this wooden bobbin with white merino roving from Wingham Woolwork when I saw them in their newsletter. They come from worsted spinners Joseph Horsfall of Halifax which have now closed down. Wingham Woolwork bought up all their stock of wool and it came on the bobbins that they used for spinning. Each bobbin holds about 1kg of roving so it should keep me busy for a while. I'm planning to knit, felt and dye some handbags from it.

Sakura

2008-04-05T08:42:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd share with you the link Ichiro sent me to the lovely Sakura photos: http://www.imamiya.jp/haruhanakyoko/haruhana/photograph01.htm

New Fabrics

2008-04-05T08:41:00.001-07:00

New Fabrics
Originally uploaded by Cloth cat

I'm really not supposed to be buying any new fabrics at the moment. I have a huge stash that I haven't had time to do much with, but when hippyofdoom posted the link to Ichiro's Kimono Fleamarket website I just couldn't resist! I have to say the service from Ichiro was fantastic - very polite, prompt delivery and they've sent me some beautiful pictures of the cherry blossom (sakura) which is currently in season.

Front Page Glory

2008-04-05T06:52:00.001-07:00

Etsy __ Your place to buy and sell all things handmade
Originally uploaded by Cloth cat

Yay! Thanks to Curiositykilled's fabulous treasury that she was so kind to include my rose garden brooch in I found myself on the Etsy front page today when I logged in. Congrats also to all the other great UK'ers who also featured. Great timing as my shop could do with a bit of a boost as I haven't had much time to make new things for it recently t's been languishing a bit. Hopefully this will give me the spur to rev it up a bit.

Nooooo my pear trees!

2008-03-29T11:02:00.001-07:00

Nooooo my pear trees!
Originally uploaded by Cloth cat

Tis a sad day. When we moved into this house about 6 years ago now there were two lovely pear trees in the garden. Ok so they were rather over grown, but we got some very yummy pears every October. At the moment we have the builders in putting in an extension to the back which will form part of a new kitchen diner - I've been waiting for this work to happen for a couple of years now, so I'm really happy that things are finally starting to happen, but yesterday I came home to find the two pear trees are now sadly deceased. Apparently the builiding regulations inspector took a disliking to the being to close to the foundations and ordered them gone (or v.expensive foundations twice as deep). *Sob*

I think it will be a long while before our garden is in any fit state for anything, but I'd like to think we get some new pear tree planted at some point.

Centerparcs Whinfell Review Continued

2008-03-29T10:01:00.001-07:00

As promised I'm finishing off my review of the Whinfell Centerparcs. For the final part of the review I'm going to concentrate on the resteraunts on site (again apologies for the complete lack of photos - so unlike me!). All of the accomodation on site has good kitchen facilities so you don't need to eat out at all - we mostly ate at home (made the most of having a willing Mum to do all the cooking for me), but we did try out a couple of places.

Rajinder Pradesh - this is an upmarket indian resteraunt, with the option to either takeaway or eat in. Mark & I ate here on the Wednesday night (it was his compensation for having to suffer the Salsa class with me) and I can heartily reccomend it. The portions are on the large side so unless you have a really big appetite I wouldn't reccomend going for a starter - we just had a couple of poppadums. I had the chicken shishlak which was a sizzling chicken tikka dish served with a salad and yoghurt dressing - very delicious! We shared a rice, naan and a gobi aloo saag - again all very nice. Mark had a lamb curry (sorry I can't remember which)which I tried a bit of and again I'd give it a big thumbs up.

The only thing I would say about eating out at Centreparcs is that as it's very much a family resort the peak time for eating seems to be between 7-9 as many people bring their children with them (but I can reccomend the luxury of bringing the grandparents to babysit). As a result of this, most places seem to be dead after 9pm, so if you do book yourself a baby sitter don't get too excited at the thought of a wild night out!

The other place we ate was the Cafe Rouge in the Village Centre. This was pretty much the same as any other Cafe Rouge you'd find on the high street and the staff were very friendly and helpful. Most of us had the special which was a pork fillet in a calvados sauce with mash - very yummy, but I didn't realise it came without any vegetables so I would have ordered some on the side had I known.

Other places we visited but didn't eat in were the Lakeside Pub, Sportsbar and the Rock Cafe. I was less impressed by. The Lakeside pub was rather brightly lit so lacked atmosphere and the food that I saw by the bar looked rather unappetising pre-prepared frozen stuff kept hot under lamps. They did have a better selection of beer here than in the sportsbar however. The sportsbar is quite popular, but I was put off by the rather loud TV's blaring out sport - I guess this is some people's idea of entertainment but I find it a bit of a turn off myself. The Rock Cafe is a kind of Hard Rock Cafe/TGI Fridays type of place. We only had a beer in here so I can't really comment much on it. They have a longish cocktail list, but again the place was fairly empty by 9pm.

Other places on site we didn't visit were Bella Italia and Cafe Fresh in the Village Centre. Yuzen (a Chinese/Thai resteraunt) in the Sports Plaza. Also there are two Starbucks that were in the process of being built whilst we were there due to open shortly.

Oh and there's also a supermarket in the Village Centre for provisions with a nice fresh bakery.

Overall I would definately reccomend it to anyone looking for a family holiday, though it can be quite pricey if you don't go out of season like we did. There are many great activities to do, but be careful not to overbook yourself or you'll end up running round like a mad thing and after all holidays are meant for relaxing! If possible I'd reccomend bringing extra familiy such as the grandparents along to do a bit of babysitting - this will allow you time to do activities together and to get out occasionally in the evenings. I know we will definately be going again some time.

Enjoying the facilites

2008-03-23T13:56:00.000-07:00

Happy holidays - Centreparcs Whinfell review

2008-03-23T08:31:00.000-07:00

I've just spent the last week at the Whinfell Centerparcs and have had the most fantastic time. The first time I went to a Centreparcs last year, it was just me and my husband, so we ended up playing tag team with one of us looking after the little one whilst the other one went off to do an activity - it made booking stuff a nightmare especially as the creche times didn't seem to coincide with any of the activities we wanted to do. This time I brought my parents along which gave us a chance to do things together whilst they looked after our son. I had meant to take a load of photos whilst we were there, but I ended running round so much from one thing to the other I never seemed to get the time! So you'll just have to believe me when I say that I actually managed to drum up the courage to go abseiling (probably had something to do with most of the group being under 12 years old - just would have been way too embarrasing if I bottled it in front of them when they did it)!

So for the review:

First thing was the accomodation. We had a 3 bedroom Comfort plus logde which was set in woodland and very comfortable though the decor is a little dated (I belive they are currently undergoing a rennovation program for a number of the lodges to a more modern style). We were situated fairly close to the Sports Pavillion which was quite handy for most of the activities we had booked. You have all the comforts of home apart from washing machine, but there is a laundrette on site. Down stairs there is a large open plan kitchen/dining/lounge area and one bedroom with an en-suite. Upstairs was another bathroom and two twin rooms. There's a collapsable cot provided which we put in one of the twin rooms though our little one still seemed to end up in our bed most nights!

Getting about:

There are cycle tracks and footpaths throughout the site and you can hire bikes on site or bring your own. The terrain is a bit undulating though if you don't like cycling up hill. We didn't bother with bikes and just walked everywhere this time which we found easy enough.

Activities:

If you have small children I would definately reccomend bringing along the grandparents to do a bit of babysitting (luckily ours are very ameniable to this as we live far away so unfortunately they don't get to see him very often). I'd also reccomend not being too ambitious and booking lots of activities otherwise you end up running yourself ragged trying to get from one thing to another (which can take a while on the large site). First off Mark did the Quad Biking experience followed by Abseiling for both of us. I somewhat foolhardily signed up for this one thinking it might be something like a rock face, but was rather daunted to see it involved climbing up to a platform about the height of my town house roof (eek), standing with your back against the wall while they check your harness then most scarry of all, stepping forward to the edge of the platform while they connect you to the second rope. Then you have to turn round and slowly lean back over the edge, letting the second rope out as you go. I'd thought going over the edge would be the worst bit, but as you can't see down at that point and you can feel the the rope is taught and holding you it's not so bad. It's just that bit when you're standing at the top on the edge that really makes your heart sink to your toes. After I'd done it the first time, I knew what was coming so it wasn't quite so terrifying - I was really pleased with myself at the end of it for not bottling out.

After the abseling, I had a quick dash back to the lodge to get changed, grab a sandwich and run back over to the village centre for the pottery painting session I'd booked (not realising the abseiling was 2hrs, I mucked my timing up a bit hence having to dash all over the place). At Whinfell the pottery painting (done in association with Flying Saucers) is done in the Green Room where they have evening entertainments. It wasn't as good a set up as in Longleat where they had a dedicated Pottery Painting cafe, but the staff there were very helpful and fetched me a cup of tea from the bar whilst I did my painting. It wasn't quite the relaxing experience I'd intended as I was still pumping with adrenaline from the absailing and my hands were shaking quite a bit, but I enjoyed myself and painted a plate to match the mug that I'd done at Longleat last year.

Wednesday we did the snorkelling session which was great fun, followed by a morning in the pool. In the afternoon I had an art class where the teacher had example paintinings with step by step pictures of how they were done for people to copy. I'm not much of a painter, but I was fairly happy with what I did (though not enough for it to be hanging on the wall any time soon) given that we only had 2 hours.

Thursday morning Mark & I went off site for a pony trek - would have been fab apart from the biting cold (really wish I'd remembered my gloves), but despite that we had a great time. Next time if we go I'd like to do the young families trek - our son was just shy of the cut off age by about a month this time, but I think he'd have been a bit little even if it was after his birthday. They did all look very cute on their tiny ponies though - just like something out of a Thellwell cartoon. After the trek we went back to the Lodge to defrost and have lunch. In the afternoon I hit the spa with my mum - very relaxing. It has a number of different spa's and saunas that you can wonder round (such as Balinese Steam room, Greek Herbal Spa, Turkish Hammam etc), two pools and lots of areas for relaxing. You can also book additionally (or seperately) for various massage/facial type treatments.

Well, with various interruptions etc this has taken me most of the day to write (yeah I know I'm dead slow), so I think I'll call it a day for now. Tomorrow I hope to have time to cover some of the other bits like the resteraunts on site. Ta ta for now.

Big thanks KMC!

2008-03-15T13:13:00.000-07:00

Yay - thanks to some help from the wonderful KMC, I have finally managed to get 3 columns in my blog. Still need to populate them with something, but at least the framework is now in place. If you haven't come across her before, KMC makes the most excellent duct tape bags and wallets around. Her shop is definately worth a look:

Tagged continued

2008-03-09T13:01:00.001-07:00

Album 1 murraypage_008c
Originally uploaded by Cloth cat

Looking back at my tag answers, the post looked a little bare, so I thought I'd add this pic of me as a kid. Yes that was probably the last time I wore a bikini.

I've been tagged

2008-03-08T13:22:00.000-08:00

I've been tagged by the lovely Siansburys http://siansburys.blogspot.com/ and Nutty Knitter http://thenuttyknittersblog.blogspot.com/ ! This means I have to tell you 7 random facts about myself. Rules are:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog

So here goes (I should warn you as I write this I've had a glass or two of wine so it should all be taken with a pinch of salt) :

1. I am a leftie - handed that is. Some might think this is a disadvantage as there are so many things that are orientated to right handed people, but for me this has resulted in me becoming near enough ambidextrous as you just have to get used to using your right hand for somethings.

2. Useless talent - I can mirror write (i.e. write backwards). No actual use for this that I can see, but it's amusing some times.

3. My favourite colours is... well I'm not quite sure as it's always changing, but at the moment I love teal, turquoise, olive green and red.

4. I am an eldest child, hence supposed to be sensible.

5. When I was about 5, I did ballet class and we had to do a show where we danced with our teddy bears. One of the other girls in class pushed in front of me so I clonked her one with my teddy bear. Don't mess with the cloth.

6. I am afraid of confined spaces. I don't have a problem with things like lifts or cuboards, but any tunnel where you have to stoop to get through freaks me out something chronic. I only have to watch someone caving on tv to start hypoventilating. Why would anyone want to do that? I managed to get into the burial chamber at Maes Howe, but only by making everyone else go in first so I had a clear route to the exit behind me.

7. I love chocolate - who doesn't?

I think most people I know have been tagged already, but here are a few that don't seem to have been:

Coldcell http://coldcellphotography.blogspot.com/
Giggleicious http://giggleicious.blogspot.com/
Kala http://karenjinks.blogspot.com/
MadebyCara http://madebycara.blogspot.com/

errr I think I've run out now. Everyone else has been tagged. Will add a few more if I find anyone else.

Travel Wallet

2008-03-04T13:30:00.001-08:00

Travel Wallet
Originally uploaded by Cloth cat

Travel wallet

2008-03-04T13:27:00.001-08:00

Travel wallet inside
Originally uploaded by Cloth cat

Well I finally got round to finishing the travel wallet. I'm quite please with how it came out, though there are a couple of tweaks I shall make to the next one. Just need to get the time to make more and get this one listed on Etsy.

Tickets, money, passport

2008-02-25T13:34:00.001-08:00

I don't know about you, but every time I go on holiday I'm always convinced I've forgotten something important. I've found having everything in one place always helps a lot - I've been using a travel wallet I got free with one of the glossy magazines for the last year or so, but it is looking a bit tired and was never really that stylish in the first place so I've decided now that I'm sewing I should make one myself. Quite pleased with how it's turning out so far, luckily the little one had quite a long nap today so I managed to get most of it done. Just need to do the side pieces tomorrow and it will be finished. Once I see how I get on with the prototype, I'm planning to do a load more in different fabrics for my Etsy shop.

Clutter, clutter, clutter

2008-02-25T13:16:00.001-08:00

Our house is heaving with clutter, in particular my various crafting items. I'm afraid I'm not very good at letting go of anything that I think I might have a use for (but never get round to using). I had a wardrobe clear out recently which left me with enough space (after some rearranging) to leave the bottom drawer of my chest of drawers empty only to be filled up with all my fabric stash. Some of the items wound there way back into the bottom draw (honest I will use the fabric really), but most have been bagged up for the charity shop (just need to get round to actually taking it there - ahem).

Finishing off

2008-02-22T04:53:00.001-08:00

Turquoise velvet flower cuff
Originally uploaded by Cloth cat

Finally got round to finishing off my flower bracelets and uploading to Etsy - only took me about two weeks, ahem. Definately need to get myself a bit more organised about making stuff.

Most annoying

2008-02-22T04:48:00.000-08:00

Finally got round to a bit more blogging last night and did it direct from flickr so save time uploading the photos. Now it seems to have dissapeared. Grrrrrrrr.

Spring sorting

2008-02-22T04:44:00.001-08:00

Buttons
Originally uploaded by Cloth cat

I became overcome by the urge to sort through all my buttons last weekend. So much so that I moved all my beads out of this box and into one with smaller compartments so that I can fit all my beads in here. Not sure quite what drove me to it other than generally being a bit sick of hunting round the bottom of my sewing box.

Home Farm & Paddock

2008-02-21T12:24:00.001-08:00

IMGP2772
Originally uploaded by Cloth cat

The farm house and paddock opposite. Unfortunately the horses had gone out on the last morning so we didn't get to say goodbye.

Murder Mystery

2008-02-21T12:21:00.001-08:00

Knowlton 053
Originally uploaded by lizmuz

Me at the autioneer in the murder mystery. To my left my mum as inspector Clue d'eau.

Dower House

2008-02-21T12:19:00.001-08:00

Dower House
Originally uploaded by Cloth cat

Ok, so I'm not keeping up with the blog entries very well. I'll try and catch up a couple in one go.

Weekend before last was my Auntie Sal's 50th birthday. She organised a big party weekend down in Kent. She rented the Dower House (see picture) and Home Farm on the grounds of Knowlton Court for everyone to stay in and we had a murder mystery party in the Dower House on the Saturday (real Agatha Christie type setting - an absoloute scream). Given that it was the beginning of February we had the most amazing weather with beautiful blue skies. I stayed in Home Farm with my family - just opposite the front door was a paddock with stables and 3 horses - my little boy was absoloutely mad about them wanting to go out and look at them every 5 minutes. I'd reccomend it to anyone looking for somewhere to stay in the Canterbury neck of the woods.

I've won, I've won, I've won!

2008-02-05T12:57:00.001-08:00

Mouse with ear on back
Originally uploaded by Cloth cat

Found out this afternoon that my entry for the January UK Challenge has won wooohooo! The challenge for this month was Weird Science and my entry was a needle felted mouse with an ear on it's back. This is the first time I've managed to get round to entering the competition, so I'm well chuffed to have won it. The theme this month particularly appealed to me coming from a science background. I hummed and hawed a bit about what to do then just had one of those light bulb moments. Once I'd thought of the Vacanti mouse, I was desperate to get it finished and posted as soons as possible as I was sure someone else would have the same idea as it's such a well known photo. As it turned out, there were only two other entries this month so I needn't have worried.

Februarys theme is sweets from my childhood, so I'm going to have to get my thinking cap on for that one. Think January is going to be a hard one to follow up though!

Going down town

2008-02-01T23:58:00.001-08:00

I'm off into London today for the first time in ages (first time since the London Etsy meet up I think) to meet my friend Jeanette who is over from Norway for the weekend. Really looking forwards to it as I haven't seen her in ages. Not one to miss up an opportuntity for a bit of habadashery shopping though I shall be calling in at VV Rouleaux http://www.vvrouleaux.com/ to augment my ribbon stash. Hopefully I'll manage to get out without spending too much money.

A long yarn

2008-01-31T13:03:00.000-08:00

About a year and a half ago I was up in Orkney visiting the in laws familiy when I came across an ad for the workshops of Tait & Style (http://www.taitandstyle.co.uk/) in one of the tourist brochures. Not being one to miss an opportunity to do some crafty shopping I dragged everyone else and had a look round. Their workshop is in a converted old school house in Stromness - the view from the car park is stunning looking down to the harbour. As well as all the lovely knitted goods that they are known for, they also had a big basket full of scrummy yarns. I just had to buy a couple of them. Then me, being me they sat in my knitting box for another year and half! Anyway I've finally got around to knitting the green one up over christmas and it found a buyer as soon as I posted a picture on flickr, before it was even listed in Etsy! I've just finished the second one and listed it: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=9276724

Weight Watchers Again

2008-01-29T13:16:00.000-08:00

Had my 2nd weight watchers meeting tonight and I've lost 2.5lb, so the truffles can't have done that much harm. A large part of the meeting is waiting for all the people to be weighed so they can start the meeting proper. I've decided to turn this waiting time to my advantage and took a little box of goodies to work on while I was sitting around waiting.

Back in November I took a course entitled 'Glamorous Corsages' run by the V&A museum. I thoroughly enjoyed it and came back full of ideas for things to make using the techniques, but what with christmas and Calum being sick it never really happend and all the material I bought got shoved to the back of the spare room where I keep most of my crafting stash. I decided to get it out again this week to make some floral bracelets. The fabric rolling technique is ideal for doing when you've got sitting around time, so I cut the pieces out the night before, put my little box of supplies together and took it along with me to the meeting. Managed to get 4 flowers made and didn't get too many weird stares.

Weight Watchers

2008-01-29T12:57:00.000-08:00

Well I have taken the plunge and signed myself up to weight watchers properly now. As in properly going along to the meetings to get weighed and having someone tell you off if you've been naughty rather than the pretend weight watchers I've been paying for online and never actually recording my points or dieting in any way for the last goodness knows how long.

So in the spirit of my new diet, yesterday I decided to make chocolate truffles (ahem). Yes okay so not strictly diet food I agree, but I used the 'Eat Youself Thin' recepie so they come out kind of ok points wise as long as you stick to eating just one or two a day which mercifully I am doing at the moment. I used Grand Marnier for the flavouring so they're quite potent and you probably wouldn't want to scoff a whole load of them anyway. At least that's what I'm telling myself.

Star costume tutoria - the final say

2007-12-17T12:05:00.001-08:00

004
Originally uploaded by Cloth cat

Of course all that hard work may not be appriciated!

Star costume tutorial - step 5 Connect the Two Stars

2007-12-17T12:00:00.001-08:00

Star costume
Originally uploaded by Cloth cat

Now you have the two stars, put them face together with one point pointing downwards (so you have two points going upwards). The two upwards points will sit on the shoulders. Cut two pieces of elastic to approx the length you will need to sit across your tot's shoulders. Pin one to each of the two points on the first star. Now comes the dangerous bit - hold the first star against your tot with the silver side facing inwards (making sure the pins don't go into him/her), drap the elastic over their shoulders and place the other star (silver side inwards) on their back. Now pin the elastic to the second star to form should straps. Take the costume off your tot and sew these pieces of elastic in place.

You could stop there, but the costume will stay in place better if there is something to hold it in place around the waist, so cut another two pieces of elastic to the approx side needed. Pin them either side of the first star on the back and put the costume back on your tot inside out. Pin the other ends of the elastic to the back of the other star so it holds it comfortably around the waist. Take the costume off your tot again and sew the elastic in place.

Ta-dah! You have now finished your star costume.

An alternative if you have less time or material is to only make the one star and instead of having elastic shoulder straps, you could put a tie around the neck (like for an apron) and another one around the waist.

2007-12-17T11:48:00.001-08:00

015
Originally uploaded by Cloth cat

Voila you have created your first star. Now repeat this all again with the second lot of star shaped materials to make the other star.

Star costume tutorial - step 4 pin together and sew front

2007-12-17T10:58:00.001-08:00

014
Originally uploaded by Cloth cat

Take one silver star and lay face down. Now lay a one of the interfacing stars on it followed by one of the batting stars. Pin the layers together securely then baste around the edges of the star to hold the layers together.

Now take the backing material star and place it on the silver material 'front to front', pin together and stitch round the edges leaving one edge open to turn the star the right way out. Once you've stitched round the edges, clip off any excess round the curves to reduce bulkiness (you can see pictures of how to do this in this bag tutorial from U-handbag: http://u-handbag.typepad.com/uhandblog/2007/03/rather_sexy_wri.html ). Once you done that, you can turn the star the right way out using your fingers or something pointy like a pen (with the lid on) to push out the corners.

Now fold the open edge over (so it's like the other edges) and pin it in place. Normally I would say give it an iron to keep it in place, but I tried that the first time and it melted the silver fabric DOH! I guess it'll depend on what type of fabric you are using. Now top sew all the way around the outside of the star to give it a nice neat edge.

Voila you have created your first star. Now repeat this all again with the second lot of star shaped materials to make the other star.

Star costume tutorial - step 3 Cutting out

2007-12-17T10:54:00.001-08:00

012
Originally uploaded by Cloth cat

Fold your shiny fabric the width of the folded pattern (see photo) and pin into place. Cut around carefully and repeat to give you two star shapes.

Repeat the process with the interfacing, batting and backing fabrics to give you two stars in each material.

Star costume step 2 - making the pattern

2007-12-17T10:33:00.001-08:00

010
Originally uploaded by Cloth cat

First time I tried this, I drew the star free hand and it came out very wonky. By all means if you're great at drawing draw one free hand, but if like me you're rubbish at drawing here's how to come up with something reasonable looking.

First measure your tot that will be wearing the costume to get an idea of the overall size that you want it to be. Then take a piece of pattern paper (I just used newspaper) and fold it in half. Mark a centre point on the fold then draw a line straight up approx half your overall size. This forms your first point (this will be a 5 pointed star).

To get the positions of the other points take a protractor and measure an angle of 72 degrees (360/5 as there are 5 points) and draw a line the same length as the first one. Then repeat this again to give the third point. Then bisect (cut in half) each of these angles with a line that's about 1/3rd the size of the fist line. Draw from each of this points making it a bit curved to give a nice shape.

Cut out round the lines, unfold and voila you have your star shape.

Star Costume Tutorial Step 1

2007-12-17T10:21:00.001-08:00

011
Originally uploaded by Cloth cat

I thought I'd give you a simple tutorial to make a star costume based on the one I made my son for his nursery christmas show.

First off get your materials together. You will need:

shiny material in silver or gold
heavy weight sew in interfacing
batting
heavy weight backing material (I use a white cotton canvas)
thread

New laptop

2007-11-24T12:42:00.000-08:00

Woohoooo! I finally have my new laptop. We've also just go a wireless modem so I now should be able to access the internet unfetterd. No more fights with hubby on who's going to use the computer, so in theory at least I now have no excuse not to keep up with the blog a bit more. Of course I'll have to be careful otherwise I'll end up spending all my time on the internet and won't get any crafting done then!

Went into London shopping for the first time in ages today. Met up with a friend and dragged her through the haberdashery sections of Liberty - where I got some gorgeous buttons, John Lewis - where I got some silvery fabric to make my son a start costume for his first nursery christmas show (awwwwww!) and finally to McCulloch and Wallis where I got some cotton organdie to finish my corsage from the V&A course I went on.

Inaugural post

2007-11-13T05:14:00.000-08:00

Well this is the first post of my new blog. Decided to start a new one a bit more in keeping with what I'm up to now. Hopefully I will be a bit better at keeping this one updated on a regular basis. There's a bit of work to do tidying it up and putting together a banner, but that's all to come. Watch this space.