Sneaky Peaky...

Happy Friday! I'm hoping to bring a bit of intrigue this week whilst I give you a few sneak peaks at what I have in the pipeline. Before you think it, this honestly isn't me admitting I have started lots of projects but not finished any, who would do that? I do however have lots of little projects on the go and nothing concrete to show and tell yet so I will give you a little bit of an insight into whats going on around here. Can I also say, that I no longer work Fridays! Woo Hoo! I am so pleased, I think for at least the next 8 weeks it will give me a day a week to myself, which really means a day in which to make stuff, Yay.

First up the picture above is me starting a lino cut project. I got some lino cutting stuff given to my by a friend which I  really like to use, but just sometimes lack the inspiration. I have however come up with a design I want to print now so started to cut it out. Yes, that is an ear you can see ;). This is literally as far as I got the other night before I brutally stabbed the tool into my finger, bled everywhere and decided I should probably wait until I had a bit more time and patience to complete it.

Next up, its a dull picture, sorry, but I have cast on ANOTHER knitting project. I don't think I have mentioned it, but since the Norton sweater I have nearly finished another baby knitting project (I ran out of wool right near the end so I just need to order another ball to finish it off before I show you). So this is now the third in the last few months.

I'm not sure if its my motherly instinct, the cold weather, or the fact that I have discovered baby knits are pretty quick and easy (prob all 3 to be honest) but I am loving a bit of knitting at the moment. I do often find I get the urge when it starts to get cold though. Hopefully I can get this one finished in the not too distant future but its a little knit so it might be a while. Do you get the urge to knit once it gets colder as well? I'm sure I can't be the only one.

Some of you might have spied my instagram picture the other day when I posted about cutting out this little fella on my lunch break at work. This is for a craft project I am working on with my boss at work for our project craft event. I am pretty excited about this one so look forward to cracking on with it next week. Hopefully it will all work out as planned.

I did have to play some Christmas tunes while I was doing it... I know, I know, its far too early but it just felt so appropriate, plus it made me happy. 

Linking in from the deer we are also working on another project which is some scented hand warmers. Ellen soaked some rice in some fantastic essences which we will use to pack the bags and I am going to be sewing them up. I prototyped these little guys this afternoon so there should be many more to follow. I just want to make sure they don't fray before I go make up hundreds of them, here's hoping, and I get to keep my hands nice and toasty while I test them!

Finally... I am currently soaking some stuff in some lovely summery 'Sunshine Yellow' Dylon fabric dye. I also have a packet of green to do another batch tomorrow. I am not sure how well my plans here are going to turn out but I am looking on the positive side. Hopefully you will get to see the fruits of my labour in the not too distant future. My worry when using Dylon (especially the sink type, the washing machine stuff is normally pretty good) is that you are going to end up with an icky pastel type shade instead of brights which I much prefer. The batch is in the machine doing a cycle now though so time will tell.

That's about it. We haven't got many weekend plans, but we have a man coming to fit a carpet in the baby's room tomorrow. Once that's done it will be all finished bar some furniture and some new curtains which I am hoping my mum will make up for us. I can't wait to see what it will be like when its an actual little space for our new little man, it's going to make it feel very real! Rest assured you will get to see it in all its glory once its done.

Have a great and productive weekend everyone

Helen
x

A sneak peak and the weekend I got my Husband back

Today is great, the sun is shining, its a 4 day week (followed by a 4 day weekend), I spend an hour less in my car each day on my commute, There was a man leading a trail of ducks and I saw a man with a beard like a walrus! Can the week start any better? As well as this, as you know, thanks to Mr Fox handing in his dissertation, I finally got my husband back. I can't tell you how much more relaxed we both feel now that is all over with, suddenly life seems a lot less stressful. It was however my intention to spend as much of the weekend together as possible and not run off to get lost in little projects on my own. So aside from taking a couple of pictures for my post the sewing has been strictly off limits.

We did however have a lovely weekend. We bought a BBQ (and lots of meat to go with it), ate pizza, saw friends and generally just hung out together. The sun has been shining here so everything is pretty good.

I am not a huge fan of a 'what's on my sewing table' post, but do you know what, that's about all I got for you right now so you will have to lump it! If you haven't noticed yet, yes that picture above is a piece of shocking pink leather!!! I know its incredible! I picked this up from the post office Saturday morning and I can't wait to get started on my little leather project. Since buying this piece of leather I have had so much inspiration of things to make with it. Assuming my little experiment with this stuff doesn't go hideously wrong I can see me buying many more pieces in my future. I am afraid the project is going to stay under wraps for the moment so you will just have to watch this space.

 

What actually is on my sewing table is this little number on top (can anyone guess the pattern from the sneaky peaky picture underneath?). The Jade/Teal is some stretch cotton sateen with some black stretch lace over the top. I don't think when I started this project I realised just what I was getting myself in for! You can see from the picture above that I have overlocked nearly all the seam edges to make sure that the lace and the sateen don't move about too much when sewing them together. Yes this did take me an age but hopefully it will make the assembly a whole lot easier. I have also decided that I really like Jade and Emerald greens for some reason, I think I need to find more excuses to work it into my wardrobe.

And to finish off I finally bought myself a copy of the Winifred Aldrich metric pattern cutting book which was recommended to my by my sister. This book supposedly gives you all the tools you need to be able to design your own patterns. I am not hugely interested in pattern drafting as a full time game (I would much rather leave this to Rachel) but as my main reason for sewing is to make things which fit better I hope this gives me a much better understanding for alterations and fit going forward. I look forward to getting into this book, though I fear it might bring on some headaches before I fully understand it all!

I hope you all had a good weekend and found something to celebrate like we did, here's looking forward to the 4 day weekend ahead.