Colour Swap Partners

Here are your partners ladies for the colour swap. Hopefully the links will work (let me know if not) and you can make contact as soon as you can with your partner, and swap info, addresses etc....
**(sorry I have had to do a bit of jiffling, hope this doesn't cause too many problems x)**

Shannon (RED) swaps with Tammy (PURPLE)
Made with Love (GREEN) and Dotty Daisies (BRIGHT GREEN)
The English Teacup (RED) and Bekimarie (PINK)
Mary Poppins (PINK) and Jozen (PINK and BROWN)
Mrs Yappy Dog (MINT GREEN) and Chez Sophie (PINK)
Groovy Moon Child (PINK) and Miya (GREEN)
The Vintage Gardener (ORANGE) and Crafty Helen (RED)
Ticking Stripes (GREEN) and Lissy Lou (PINK)
Born to Sew (DENIM BLUE) and Lalalibaby (GREEN)
Vintage Vicki (RED, GREEN or PINK) and The Madhouse (GREEN or PINK)
MitMot (RED) and Lemonade Kitty (PINK)
Dawn (PINK) and Della (YELLOW)
Flutter (PINK) and Country Girl (BLUE)
Blingabonga (PURPLE) and JoJoDesigns (GREEN)
Dolly Dollop (GREEN) and Laura Gladwyn (PURPLE)
Mad about Bags (GREEN) and Fairly Girly (GREEN or PURPLE)
Contented (PURPLE)) and A Mermaids Purse (RED)
Little Gem (PINK) and Sew Scrumptious (BLUE)
Kate (PINK) and Lexiloo (PINK OR GREEN)
Little Bear Stories (PALE BLUE) and Vanilla (RED)

And as Seranata is in New Zealand until after the swap ends, I'm going to have an additional swap and we will be partnered for a late finishing colour swap!!
Seranata (BLUE) swaps with Dolly Dollop (RED).

(The list is now closed, however I am waiting to hear if someone still wants to join in, so there may be another pairing later!!)
Quick reminder of "the rules"...

You will send minimum of 5 items to your partner..themed round their fave colour(in brackets next to your partners name)

At least 1 handmade item, the others could be thrifted or bought

Post so that your partner recieves by 31st March 2010.

(any probs with this please let me or your partner know as soon as possible x)

So, in the words of Shania Twain...lets go girls!!!

Happy Swapping xxx

ps I've set up a flickr group here for all the pics of your lovely makes :)

Monday again.

Back to school for some of my boys today, thats another half term over and done with. The weather has been truly awful..with the exception of one day in the week. We have had no white stuff here...and Saturday looked a lot like this:Sunday brought lots of rain, which still hasn't stopped so as it was so wet and dark all day, we did some of this:

Stone painting...followed by playdough..new pots of playdough, what a treat!!!..I love that stuff it smells good enough to eat!! (which R tried to do...) I also found some fimo in the back of the craft cupboard, so will try making buttons I think at some stage...

I managed to sew some more hexagons this weekend, and I have been making some embroidered applique pictures - more on those later...so I really must do some chores today to make up for it ;)

Thank you for all your lovely comments about my candles..they were really the easiest thing to make. I bought wax from here (delivered in 2 days) and just melted it in a saucepan on top of another pan of water (my double boiler improvisation!!), I don't have a microwave but I reckon you could melt the wax in one?? Its a mineral wax and literally just wiped out of the pan. I've been burning a teacup candle all weekend, smells gorgeous and we have been wowed by how long and evenly it burns...its so annoying when you have a container candle and it only burns in the middle and leaves wax up the sides!!!

I'm now off to sort out partners for the colour swap..hopefully later today or tomorrow I'll be back with a list.

Also, I am sorry to disappoint anyone but I'm going to have to say that you must have a blog to take part, sorry if I've already been in touch with you. I have a lot of ladies to partner up and having a blog makes it easier for me and for partners to communicate with each other. x

Tea with Mother.....

I'm having a great time making crafty at the minute, latest obsession...lovely scented (with Rose fragrance) teacup candles.

I have been burning a candle I made since Friday afternoon on and off - the house smells divine and the wax is still going strong.

I love that the teacups can be wiped out and used again once the candle has burnt away.

Available here.

Nursery Favourites

I am hoping that somebody will be able to help me dating a thrifty find.I have googled but its not turning up anything...so anybody remember this (or anyone seen one ever???)

Its a 45rpm plastic flexi record with nursery rhymes on.

Its a promotional item from Heinz Baby Foods..not dated but Susan Baxter was the lady you needed to write to back then at the Baby Foods Advisory Service.

I wonder if its 1960's or 1970's??

Inside it asks if you have the newly revised booklet 'From Milk to Mixed Diet'..

As you can see the baby on the inside photo looks fairly vintage!

I picked it up in a charity shop a while ago..I thought I would frame it as I like the vintage nursery rhyme pictures..but when I found it the other day I decided I would try and find out when it was given out.

I wonder if it came free with Heinz baby milk (devout breastfeeder here so maybe I should boycott it lol!! - these days the milk companies are not allowed to promote in the same ways!!!)

Or were there 'bounty packs' of sorts in the 60's or 70's??

Hmm - maybe I need to ring or email Heinz to find out...only thought of that whilst I was typing duh!!!

Maybe one of you have a copy yourself, I'd love to know how they were issued x

Handbag contents tag...

Beki asked me to show the contents of my handbag and although I am notoriously rubbish at taking up tags etc I just had to show you how organised and meticulous I am in my day to day life....

This is my current handbag, I love these CK messenger bag's - they stop me needing a baby bag if I'm only out for half a day or so, the only problem is they are sometimes a bit deep and I look slightly silly and like I am losing my arm trying to get something out :)

(note to self...need a bag organiser...)

This is my bag contents just dolloped out...

And on closer inspection, I spy with my beady eye...

an eco bag.

a pink purse (a gift from my mother in law and although it is Radley and not my cup of cha one bit, it is a great purse with a place for everything)

2 notebooks..one has been in my bag since New York and has the names and addresses of a couple of restaurants written in it and a list of Christmas presents left to buy, the other was made for me by Natasha, and has a list of library books I wanted to order. oh and 4 pens....and a bookmark.

A teeny diary.

a children's purse, a postman pat van, a camper van and a nappy.

2 lipsticks, lip balm, a concealer and a mascara.

pack of tissues and antibacterial hand gel - known as magic soap in this house.

usb memory stick - has photo's on that I need to get processed.

Terms of Endearment DVD free in Tuesday's Daily Mail that Mum gave me.

camera case..made by me last April from vintage CK fabric, still not finished needs a button or something to fasten it!!

manky tissue - yes its used!!,nearly empty packets of painkillers, pack of softmints with 1 sweetie left in..

key to mum's house....who knows where mine are...I won't know til I want to go out and need house and car keys, then I'll yell at everyone til I find them....

Nintendo DS and 2 styluses (????)

and a lovely christmas card bought at the castle museum the other day....

Tipping it out did shame me into sorting it out, and putting the red bag into the wash :)

I take after my Aunt, her handbag always came with a health warning, my mums on the other hand is uber organised and tidy!!!

Wordless Wednesday....

Otherwise known as 'What I've made Wednesday'

Patchwork cushion with heart applique for Ginger Pudding.

Small tote bag lined with heart fabric sent to Lissy Lou for her Red for Heart event...

patchwork cushions

This weekend was all about making cushions!

The string patch cushion was made from the smaller (because I went wrong) patches from my first attempt!!

I then deliberately cut another couple smaller and made a cushion front (it has a white and multi coloured spot envelope back)

I decided to turn the hexes I had started to sew together into a cushion after all. I figured that if they bugged me now then I probably wouldn't be able to muster up enough enthusiasm to turn it into a big quilt...the big quilt will be more carefully planned.
I backed it with a dress I rescued from the to be ebayed pile.
In the meantime, I am getting organised. I will sew up all the hexagon patches before I arrange them in a 'random' pattern...and I am getting a lot of pleasure from seeing them in my new filing system (shoe box!!) Some of my new favourites, fabric gifted to me by Gem.

Thank you for signing up for the colour swap..if you haven't already...comment on this post by Monday 22nd.....if you are feeling particularly full of mojo, there is another lovely swap here.

Colour Swap

*LIST NOW CLOSED *

Well, it was a definate yes to the colour swap.
Thank You for helping me out by voting!!
So...who wants to take part in the.......
Rules...so to speak.....are:

1) Let me know your current favourite colour when you leave a comment to say 'count me in' for the swap.
2) You will send 5 items to your partner..themed round their fave colour.
3) At least 1 handmade item, the others could be thrifted or bought.
4) Post so that your partner recieves by 31st March 2010.
5) Open to oversea's bloggers too, so please also let me know if you are not able to send overseas, so I can work this when sorting partners.
6) Pop the 'colour swap' button on your blog.

Leave me a comment on this post before next Monday, the 22nd, when I'll put your names in a hat and partner you up!!!

Hope everyone who celebrates had a good Valentine's Day. We don't indulge chez dollop, but I did buy a packet of heart shaped jellies which I shared with lovely husband...well I say shared....he had 1 or 2 ;)

It is half term in these here parts of the country, I like to start the week with a pyjama morning, doing not much at all...but it hasn't been too relaxing so far!!! Hope its not going to be a long week!!

I have taxi duties to perform this morning but this afternoon is all about me and my sewing machine, I have a little something to finish for Lissy and more string patches...After laying them out on my large dining table, we discovered that I need 21 more to have enough for a small quilt for the sofa!!! Good job they are quick, fun and addictive to do!!

Time for a Swap?

I've been having a few thoughts about swaps. A few of you said you'd be interested in taking part in a swap, and as I have nothing better to do (ha!) I thought maybe I could host my first ever one!!
But indecisive me needs your help...I have a couple of ideas, but I figure that if I'm the only one who likes the idea, it'll be a very boring swap!!!

So there is a poll on the sidebar, to see what you think about

• Step into Spring Swap

All things Springlike...spring colours, flowers etc.

• Colour Swap

You tell your partner your favourite colour and the swap parcel is themed around that colour, something made, bought, thrifted...

My making mojo is back, so I hope that some of you will want to join in!!! I'll leave the poll open until after the weekend.

Boys Toys?

Inspired by this post I decided to dig out the dolls crib of my childhood and make some new bedding, using the fab fabric given to me by Natasha for the Friends swap last summer.

I gave a sneaky peek in my last post......

As I have mentioned before neither mum nor I are great ' keepers of stuff ' but along with the appliqued bed throw, my dolls crib given to me for Christmas '77 or '78, survived our numerous moves. It wasn't new when I got it so I should think its 40 years old....

Mum kept it I expect for my children, and as we are all aware I got blue flavoured children, each pregnancy mum would say perhaps we'll get to have our crib out......

We did get it out for the boys, but I think certain things are programmed by nature and none of them have shown that much interest in it, after the initial novelty of something different being out to play with. My eldest (now 14) showed the most interest when I had just had his brother, now 12...he would put his stuffed teletubby in there to sleep and take Po out to breastfeed him....bless :)

(We do finally have a little pink baby in the family, courtesy of my sister in law -but they are a fan of the shiny new plastic stuff so don't think they will appreciate vintage!! Anyway tis mine!!!hehehe)

It took me a while to get round to finishing it...the patchwork was done last September...the binding last week!!!

tada....(I cut a piece of spotty fleece to make a sheet for the 1970's esque mattress in the crib)

Dolly has been named Harry by C. So he is now round at Grandma's having new pyjama's made for him...boy colours..it makes daddy feel a bit better!!! (not much though..but we are ignoring him!!!)hmm....not sure what daddy will think about me playing with this baby...oh who cares...dolly needs a kiss!!!!

The crib is in the little boys bedroom, I'm hoping they will play with it...but R (pictured above) is a bit rough, he wanted it downstairs the other day and chucked it...and C keeps saying MY dolly(no its mummy's)...so I'm being a bit precious and limiting the time its played with.
I enjoyed making the little quilt..well I say quilt its not actually quilted, it has a plain flannel backing and as I am chuffed with how it turned out I don't want to spoil it by messing upthe stitching!! The handmade binding is far from perfect, but for a first attempt I am very pleased with how it turned out, the mitred corners were easier than I thought...I am learning very quick that if I take my time things work..I know what a revelation!!
I think I am going to make another for my friends baby. Maybe 1 row longer and wider, then it will be just the right size for the moses basket.

magazine swap

I was really excited to be taking part in Floss's no strings magazine swap, at the thought of feasting my eyes on a non English magazine...
I was partnered with Juanita, and received a package from her at the weekend.

I love the lovely touch on the envelope - a felt stamp..genius....I love it!!!

And inside, Living &More.....Not a mag thats available in the UK (or if it is I've never clapped eyes on it!!!). I knew from the cover I was going to love it!!

Juanita hoped I would find some inspiration from this magazine....I'll let my favourite pictures answer that one!!!
this is lovely husbands favourite..he's a sucker for a woodburner shot!!!

I am in love with the crochet..the colours are fabulous.

Valentines food..heart shaped eggs or heart shaped courgette and mushroom pastries for tea!!

spring flowers and a crafty idea for displaying spring flowers.

I love this little girls bedroom..the LA wallpaper with hot pink bedding.

sigh* look away now if you are prone to shoe envy...

Thank You Juanita, we have had a lot of pleasure out of looking at the pictures in the mag and I hope my package gets to you soon.

January

I'm glad its over!!!

I hate January. Strong words, strong feelings!! Its such a meh kind of month after the exciting month of December and I always feel flat. I say always...last year was different as I was prepping for my wedding and didn't have the time to think about what month it was!!!

So I haven't done a lot this month. I had a self enforced no spend month, which was surprisingly easy. The string patches and hexes helped me use fabric I already had, without making me want new.(yeh right like you could ever stop wanting fabric!!!)

I have only had one trip into town to the charity shops all month...and because I have promised my husband I will find a home/get rid of last years finds before I pick up anymore crap...his words not mine....all I came home with was 2 bits of fabric.

Just over a metre of this one...enough for a new kitchen blind.

Laura Ashley for 60p!!!

Nearly 2 metres of this one for 10p. Its American I believe, but I haven't looked up the company yet.

A small person started full time school at the start of the month..This is another reason I have been out of sorts in January, and to be honest I am still struggling. Now I knew the time would come, I have been here twice before...but I was unprepared for how difficult it would make my life!! Getting out of the house on time..which is 8.20 at the very latest..... is proving to be a challenge. Its not as if I'm not up...R still wakes early, but we are pretty hopeless, I'm well out of practice.

There are daily hissy fits...sometimes even from C!!!

Also C has more homework in Reception than my eldest does for his GCSE's..and that isn't much of an exaggeration!! Reading book, Keywords folder, letter sounds, jolly phonic worksheets....I'm afraid we only do it if he is up to it..full time school is very tiring!!! I expect I'll be on the scummy mummy blacklist, what with my poor timekeeping and non compliance with homework!!!

I've discovered this month that I don't have to bake cake ever again!!

This is one of my 12 year old's.

His sponge is perfect. better than his Grandma's, better than mine!!

I intend to make sure he makes it regularly so he doesn't lose the skill ;)

I've been enjoying spring flowers indoors, whilst dodging the snow outdoors.

(not looking their best, but actually I like tulips when they start to flop!! These ones were delivered, a thank you from my sister in law for hosting Christmas.)

I have been staring at my dismal looking garden, wishing for better weather, and starting to plan what I will grow in my raised bed...

I have been finishing some projects from the list of last October!!!

(sneaky peek...more to follow..but check out my mitred corners...first time mitrer too!!!)

I know in January I was a bad blogger. I hardly posted, and I know I haven't replied to all the comments I got. I apologise. I have got lots of new followers, and I'm sorry that there isn't much for you to see round here at the minute!!!

I am working on the principle less time blogging means more time doing...which is true, but then I get that feeling of having forgot something when I don't blog!!!

Please do keep leaving me comments, I will eventually get round to visiting people...honest!!

Anyway its gone now for another year...no more January...so hopefully the cloud will lift and I can come back and have more to say!!

I'm also thinking about swaps....it seems quiet on the swap front right now (unless I just don't know where to look lol!!), so perhaps I should host one? Is it too soon after Christmas?

Let me know what you think...and I'll try and come up with some ideas!!

xxx