I've had a lovely couple of days, spending some quality time with the two boys in my life, enjoying the sun, catching up with some good friends, and doing a few chores around the house. Which has left me sadly short on the crafting front. I'm really not getting off to a very good start - The deadline I set myself for getting some items listed on Folksy by tomorrow is looking less and less likely..but I will get there soon! As I don't have any pictures of any work in progress to display, here is a picture of my latest ebay find .. a folding church chapel chair...

The John Lewis clearance sale has been given a wide berth also, so sadly no Orla goodies to display. I do have a pile of Orla fabric waiting to be used however... but that's for another day.

OH. MY. DAYS.

Orla Kiely bedding in John Lewis Clearance sale..

Monday Monday

A few months ago, I decided to have a try at some machine quilting. I thought I'd start off easy, and make a cot quilt for The Boy. Not having any idea about how well I would get on, I decided to keep things cheap, and pinned an ikea fleece to some old cotton sheeting. When I say machine quilting, I'm probably being a bit generous, as I've only really been sewing straight lines, albeit with coloured thread (again from ikea to keep it cheap while I found my way).

My throw-it-together-and-see-what-happens approach, resulted in me realising that I'd committed myself to stitching a blanket that was more double bed than cot sized, but I'm pretty happy with how it's turning out so far... even if it was supposed to be a project that i'd finish in a week, that I'm still working on I don't know how many months later! I think I've learnt a bit along the way (not to mention had the odd sewing machine drama or two) Unless you get up really really close, I'm not entirely sure that you can even tell that the cotton I've used is coloured (although I know that it is, and that makes me happy!) and If I'd thought through how large it was going to end up, I'd never have started stitching the lines so close together. Having said that, I've been quite pleased with the way it's turned out so far.. and I just love the crinkly scrunched up way that the back looks..all cosy and perfect for snuggling under on the sofa!

All I need to do now, is finish it!

To begin at the beginning

Having lurked around reading other peoples' blogs for far too long, and contemplated doing something a bit more rewarding and creative with my life for even longer, I've finally created this blog to chart my very tentative steps and I expect the rest of my life in the process! If I can come up with something that is an iota as inspiring and enjoyable to read as some of the blogs and people that have prompted me to start this, then I'll be one happy lady.

At the moment, I'm just throwing around lots of ideas for things I can make and eventually (I hope) come up with designs that might, just might, be good enough for someone else to part with some of their hard-earned pennies to buy

Should anyone stumble across this blog, then I do hope you'll join me for the journey.