Saturday Night dress up

I am writing with a slight hangover. We went to a ball last night and I wasn't driving! Just a quick post because I have forgotten how to spell, but here is my handmade dress and my matching bag is already in the car to go. It was really comfy and I danced till midnight.

I have show time things to show you but I just can't do it today!

Jo x

Cake Stands

My friend and I are trying to make some cake stands from old plates to sell at a local Christmas fayre.I have learnt lots about drilling plates.

 

Bloke showed me how to put tape on the plate to stop the drill bit from skidding around. I used a 6mm tile drill bit (borrowed from my dad)but some plates were easier than others. Earthenware plates were fine but bone china ones were much harder to drill. Unfortunately the prettiest plates we had were all bone china so we have had to buy new drill bits because I burnt out my dads one. Whoops!

 

This one has a sort of game bird theme with pheasants and ducks but I think it will be a one off customer who wants this one!

 

It has been a very enjoyable upcycling project.

So, ten more to go...

 

It is showtime here tomorrow so today we will be busy, baking, collecting, harvesting and crafting all day long - so much Fun, fun, fun! Jo x

New Shoes

Followers of this blog may recall that I have made an evening dress from some fabric I found under the bed from over 10 years ago to wear to a ball on Saturday. Well eeeek! The tickets came today and I went and bought new shoes!

Shiny, shiny shoes. I don't wear heels very much (too used to Dr Martens) but I thought these seemed manageable. Also they were Clarks shoes with comfy soles for £20 which was the ultimate clincher.

You can see the whole outfit on Saturday. Jo x

Hooray! Autumn Pinafore

Here is my new Autumn pinafore. A fine smooth cord pinafore from a pattern in Ottobre magazine. The whole thing cost me £3.75 and I have taken my time working hour by hour

I am having a photo shoot with Little M who is 3. "I am nearly 4," she says quickly. Hang on let me get my work tag off...beaded lanyard from Emma Varnam blog in case you are wondering because crochet can solve most problems in my life.

 

The pockets are in the right place, I am just squeezed into the corner
of the kitchen trying to get further and further away from her close ups.

I really must teach her to change the ISO when the sun comes out!

 

Bit out of focus but hey ho.

 

I never thought I would wear black and blue together - it was one of my fashion no, no's. I don't have many but that WAS one. Not anymore, the tights are a great match and I wore it to a meeting at work on Monday morning, it was comfy, people said they liked it and as Chrissie commented 'pinafores can be chic'.

 

Then Big Sis said can you make me a pinafore and Little M said I want one too but I think we might look like The Waltons all dressed in the same fabric! Thanks for looking.x

 

Yesterdays 1000th comment came from Jennifer at Thistle bear USA. Congratulations and thank you all for taking the time to give me warm comments on many of my blog posts, they really do encourage me to make more things.  Email me your details and I will send you your thank you pressie.

Jo x

 

 

1000 Giveaway

Today, somebody, one of you lovely loyal fans will leave this  humble blog it's 1000th comment. I wonder who it will be?



Whoever it is, will get a little handmade card from my collection and a little gift. So when that ticker goes to 1000, it could be you... Tell me anything you like...

Good Luck!

Stitch along

I am joining in with the Stitch along with Chrissie from Chrissie crafts, I have chosen a project to do with everyone else because I really want to learn more but to get me in the mood I have done this...

My Auntie has a die cutting machine and she had borrowed an Owl die off my other Auntie and was taking it back to Yorkshire so I went round with my scraps bag and cut out 14 Owls! I wanted to remind myself of the stitches I knew.

A very uneven looking blanket stitch, a wonky back stitch and two knobbly French knots.

I needed a little project to put into our local craft and horticultural show on Saturday in the embroidery class (let's hope there are few entries!) So I had a little practise.

My chosen project is this hen from Cath Kidston's book 'Patch'. I thought it looked easy and I could concentrate on preparation techniques rather than lots of stitches.

 

 

I have checked out lots of blogs and there are going to be some lovely projects on the go, I especially like the flower border from Joy. Go and take a look.

New crocheters tonight so wish me luck! Jo x

Hooray! Dinner Mats

I have made two dinner mats for the girls today.

 

They are not tremendously well colour coordinated but this was a need project not eye candy. I had a bit of Cath Kidston 'Provence Rose' left over from my kitchen curtains I made 3 years ago, some gingham from a machine patchwork duvet cover from 5 years ago, some red floral from Laura Ashley..oooh I made a waistcoat from that in the early nineties and finally some spotty fabric recycled from a summer Dress that was too small for Little M.(that is the one that irks me)

 

I used up some bias binding out of my sewing basket which isn't probably the ideal colour but there you are. Why is it a need project then? Because this weekend we had to sand the table to get the Spaghetti bolognese/chocolate/food stains out of the table!

 

 

Nice action Big Sis!

After they had waxed it, I decided to make mats to catch the food stains so I really don't mind what happens to them which is why I didn't agonise over the colour combos. They are 12" x 16". I have cut out two more so we can all have one.

Hope you have had either a relaxing or productive weekend. Jo x